Kyle Sorvick is a graphic designer who works with our team on a regular basis to create fresh, innovative branding for our clients. We asked him to share a few thoughts on leadership from the employee (or freelancer) perspective.
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What makes a strong company? Reflections from a freelancer’s perspective
Kyle Sorvick • June 16, 2020
Before beginning my career as a freelancer, I worked in a variety of industries and work environments. After experiencing agencies, corporations, and start-ups, I imagined shifting to a freelance role would feel similar to past roles I’d had.
I was wrong.
I quickly learned that every company operates differently when it comes to values, leadership, communication style, and expectations. Pivoting from client to client isn’t always easy, and learning how a client’s team operates and how I fit within that system is incredibly important for a lasting and successful relationship.
I’m going to share a few takeaways on strong companies that I’ve collected during my time as a freelancer.
Values, leadership, and communication build a foundation for a strong relationship
When I first look at a company that could use my services, their values are an important aspect to consider. If I don’t discover their values from researching their brand online or from our first conversation, I find that somewhat alarming. I want to know why a company is in their business or industry, the services they provide, what triggers their passion, and what they do to help and serve others.
Values in life, as well as business, help to define us and give us purpose. When a company lives out their values every day, it proves to customers, employees and colleagues what that company finds important and why.
Leadership also plays a key role in understanding how a company operates.
Ronald Reagan once said, "The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things."
True leaders prove their strength by selecting talented team members; then they lead that talent to produce excellent results. The companies I’ve most enjoyed working with all have one thing in common: a leader who is respected, appreciated, and valued. Unsurprisingly, that leader shares those same feelings for his or her team members.
Over my past 6+ years of freelancing as a graphic designer, it’s been fascinating to witness how different clients communicate. There is no right communication style – it just depends on how people are wired, what their preferences are, and their personalities.
I have had a relationship with a client in another state for over five years, and I have never spoken to him on the phone or chatted via video call. Still, we have a solid working relationship. On the other hand, some clients prefer to communicate via Skype, while others need to meet in person to discuss simple changes. Still, as long as the goals and objectives of a project are presented clearly, the style of communication doesn’t matter in the long run.
An important part of communication for a project is setting clear expectations. In my experience, this is the primary reason that business relationships fail.
Over the years, I have developed some strategies to combat project hiccups due to lack of communication. One of these involves laying out a questionnaire for first-time clients which allows me to get a better feel for their company, project, and expectations.
During that first project, I'm able to get a feel for how they work. Ultimately, expectations need to be set before a project begins. This takes some practice, but great companies know how to communicate expectations right away.
Ultimately, companies are all different which makes for an interesting and exciting experience for freelancers like myself. No day is the same, and there is always variety in what we do. In my experience, the best companies to work with are the ones who successfully balance the characteristics mentioned above. When handled this way, we can avoid letting common, individual obstacles like egos, laziness, and poor attitudes to fester, and instead, create a healthy environment for everyone on the team as well as outside of the organization.
The companies I have the strongest relationships with and the ones I enjoy working with the most are those that offer trust and respect to me and my craft. This motivates me to help their organization grow, and I become a cheerleader for them. I often find myself trying to help that organization grow in ways that don’t directly benefit me or my career, which is a continuous circle we all want to be part of and what makes us all stronger in the end.
We hope you enjoyed these thoughts on leadership and strong companies from Kyle’s perspective. Stay tuned to see what we’re cooking up next in the kitchen!
We are excited to announce the recipient of our most recent Food for Thought grant — the Hot Springs Food Pantry, located in Hot Springs, South Dakota. Food for Thought is a fund we created through The Community Foundation to offer grants to organizations that help feed children in our community. This isn’t just about money though. We’re also on the lookout for ways to teach kids about good food, to help them learn to prepare it, and to encourage them to love it as much as we do. We are always looking for organizations in our local communities whose mission aligns with ours and have specific needs we can provide grants for. Because our croux reaches far and wide, “local” doesn’t just mean Tennessee. In this case, the community is local to one of our core team members, Lauren. After moving back to her hometown of Hot Springs, South Dakota to be closer to family, she got involved with the local food pantry and saw a specific need there. The food pantry needed a refrigerator so they could provide more fresh produce and protein to families in the area. They were also seeing an above average need in the community due to rising costs which has depleted some of their funds. The grant received from Food for Thought will go towards these efforts and help provide fresh food for families in the area.
We’re back with another creative croux feature. Normally, these pieces are put together by one of our freelance writers, Annie Van Essen, but this time, we’re spotlighting her!
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Every January we like to gather as a croux and plan for the year ahead. It serves as a holiday celebration and a strategy session. We look forward to it every year. Over the last few years, we’ve also begun incorporating a “word of the year” practice, where we each choose a word that we will focus on throughout the year.
This year, we decided to take our merry-making to the streets of Nashville to see how well the average passerby could interpret some of our favorite Creole vocab. The results were… entertaining. See for yourself!
Every year, our croux puts together a roundup of our favorite Super Bowl commercials.
This time around, we thought we’d switch it up and ask for submissions of our team’s favorite commercials EVER. Whether from 2023 or 2003, we want to celebrate the advertising magic of Super Bowl Sunday.
Here at roux, we have a wonderful team of creatives supporting us, including photographers, videographers, writers, and designers.
Today, we’re excited to introduce you to Kyle Sorvick, one of the talented graphic designers we work with as part of our extended croux.
We all look forward to receiving Christmas greetings from friends and loved ones, whether it’s a social media post or a physical card to display in our house or hang on the fridge. But when it comes to company Christmas cards, corporate greetings can sometimes fall a bit flat. We love when a company spices things up and sends a message that’s genuine and fun. Videos can also be a more effective and affordable option for a company, when you consider the reach made possible with email and social media, and the savings on printing and postage. Averitt and JetRight are two local companies that knock it out of the park every year when it comes to their video Christmas cards. Whether they choose to be lighthearted and silly or share a heartwarming message, watching their videos shows you the real people and spirit behind the companies. Check them out below!