Well, 

Episode 5 went up a week ago and the show is doing very well. I am told we had four hundred downloads on February 27th!

Very cool. This week we talked about our artistic processes. I thought it was really interesting to hear my friends discuss their approaches. Gave me a lot to think about.

I’ve also started to put together a contact list of potential clients for my new and growing body of work.

This has required a series of cold calls that I am slowly growing more accustomed to. I’m even starting to enjoy them to a degree.

I view each one as a new opportunity and a means to introduce myself.

I’ve started locally and this has kept me within my comfort zone as I make those first tentative steps to promoting my work.

I am currently creating illustrations for a New Hampshire Creative Club mailer in preparation for the year end show that I am chairing. This is the main character and he is essentially doing what I am doing right now…shouting the word out.

Copyright 2009 Jeremy McHugh

I know that self-promotion is one of the less enjoyable tasks of being a freelance artist, but I have finally decided that it is a process I must embrace as a businessperson. I even manage to do it with a smile now. If you, as a business owner, receive a call that starts like this, ” ….Ummmmm…helllloooo, sir or madam as the case may be…my name is Jeremy McHugh and I am a freelance illustrator…”

Please be gentle. I am new at this…

Mercifully, the majority of my calls have been accepted by receptionists and office managers who are comfortable answering my questions and who put me equally at ease with the whole process. They’ve all been very friendly thus far and now I don’t mind dialing up strangers and inquiring about their illustration needs.

I’ve even had post cards printed. they are good to go. Now to just complete an initial mailing list, get those bad boys in the mail and see if anything happens…

—Jeremy