I love the moment at an event like the Creative Freelancers Conference, when the people in the room look around and suddenly realize they're not alone. (It happened, too, at the In-HOWse Designer Conference, when all those corporate creatives, people who often are the only right brains in the room.) You recognize that there are lots and lots of people who have the same joys and challenges that you encounter in running your business. Cool.

Today's agenda carries on the introductory lesson from last night, with a whole notebook full of nuts-and-bolts strategies and tactics on client relationships and marketing. Following the eagerly attended breakfast roundtable discussions this morning, Joan Gladstone kicked off with a conversation about how to make clients love you. She started by talking about why clients leave (they're frustrated by a lack of follow-through, communication, enthusiasm or chemistry with their creative-service firm). And then she offered 12 tips on keeping that flame burning brightly. Some of it sounds simple enough (i.e., under-promise and over-deliver). But when you think about what those old rules mean (i.e., don't agree, out of desperation or eagerness, to deadlines you can't meet), you realize how NOT simple it is.

This morning's second session featured Colleen Wainright (my new idol) and Ilise Benun talking about how to build a marketing machine. They boiled this nebulous and intimidating concept (marketing) down to five must-have tools: a marketing-savvy website, e-mail marketing, networking, research calls (we don't call them cold calls anymore) and printed materials. They gave everyone a homework assignment: Come up with your 10-word blurb. Fill in the blanks:

I work with ___________ and I help them ___________ .

The key is starting this phrase with the market or group you're targeting. As the speakers noted, marketing is all about your prospects, not about you.

More later ...