Greetings from Chicago and the Creative Freelancer Conference, sponsored by HOW magazine and Marketing Mentor. This is a three-day business conference for what the show organizers call “solopreneurs”—that is, freelance designers, writers, photographers, and others in the graphic arts. Wednesday afternoon, in the bowels of the Hyatt Regency—far from the reach of the extortionate hotel WiFi—Ilise Benun and Peleg Top of Marketing Mentor introduced the crowd (of what looks to be a few hundred) to the definition, characteristics, care, and feeding of the “solopreneur.” It was a kick-off session that functioned as a prelude of the sessions to come.

After the intro, Dyana Valentine conducted a “creative collaboration workshop,” in which tables of attendees donned a variation on “Hello My Name Is” badges (reading, instead, “Hello, I Am Good At,” and most folks labored to think of something witty—hey, we’re creatives after all) and worked through an exercise designed to identify struggles (that is, what particular problem(s) is your design business having), then identify strengths (that is, what are you good at?), and then use those strengths to develop strategies for beating the struggles. It was a creative brainstorming session actually a very fruitful exercise—and a, well, creative one. (And was also a good ice-breaker.) At my table, we figured out how to use one designer's abilities as a drummer to enable him to better manage time. (He was not Keith Moon, it should be pointed out.) It's an exercise that perhaps people in any business could benefit from.

From talking to various folks during before and after the sessions, as well as at the subsequent happy hour, let’s make no bones about it: print design is alive and well. However, I have detected a subtext of polarity; that is, creatives will consider themselves “print designers” and often have to be dragged kicking and screaming into new media design. (Speaking of kicking and screaming into new media, I did meet a designer who—and I am not making this up—designed Web sites for the Amish. Markets in everything!) Or—and this is especially true among younger creatives—they are new media-centric and print is the cranky old grandfather you only visit once every so often, usually under duress. I inevitably launch into my usual spiel about “cross media,” “multichannel marketing,” “media mix,” et al., and everyone agrees that it is important to look holistically at the marketing media mix, but yet turning that into a strategy or an evolving skill set has yet to happen.

Earlier this month I was on the keynote panel for another debut conference, the Creative Transitions Conference in Milwaukee, and said the same basic thing with the same basic results: yes, it’s important; no, we have not figured out how to do it. Most creatives recognize the need to “keep up with changes and new media” but there are only so many hours in a day—and time management is one of the major topics of the Creative Freelancer Conference.

It will be interesting to get additional perspectives on this issue, and check out the additional sessions. Stay tuned...