Episode Recap: Becky Nelson is an award winning package designer in San Diego. After working with Suja she was able to take her status as an independent designer and grow to her own agency, BexBrands, that she runs with her husband.
The Start of BexBrands
Becky Nelson of BexBrands focuses on package design but it wasn’t always. While working with one of her restaurant clients they decided to start bottling juice. This eventually became Suja juice.
Before Suja and clients that would follow, Becky was freelancing for other agencies. Soon clients started coming to her directly. Her boyfriend, now husband, was doing similar type work and together they partnered to double their clientele. Becky suggests that you if you are not the type of creative that would not be comfortable handling budgets, timelines, client management and rent, you might better off with a partnership.
BexBrands (at the time of this recording) has one full time employee and hires her other freelancers on a per project basis that they believe are best suited for the job. If they are looking for a particular style, they look for a designer with that style.
Getting to the Top of Google
In order to climb the ranks in Google to be #2 Becky admits this is partially due to the design. She says the main reason is that her posts contain wordier content about her process to help boost Google rankings and searchability. Most competitor websites keep their copy short.
Her number one recommendation for solo freelancers is to go in depth with your process and keep your blog content up to date.
BexBrands enters Design USA’s competitions each year. After several years of entering and winning awards they were chosen to be featured as one of 2015’s People to Watch.
Working with your life partner and dog can make establishing boundaries tricky but they are able to set goals together and work on them simultaneously. Ultimately Becky loves what she does.
The Business of Design
Becky believes her best asset is considering her clients and what is best for them rather than the technical act of designing. She is also very picky about who she chooses as her clients because she wants to make sure they have the best fit. She tries to partner with those who only approve the best type of work.
BexBrands promotes itself by keeping their blog up to date and entering design competitions (The Dieline & Packaging of the World). Entering and winning design awards can really boost your SEO. It also helps aid the fear of nervous clients who are afraid to take a chance on a designer – awards can assure them.
Her most exciting project has been Suja since their brand has grown so much.
Gaining Inspiration
BexBrands tries to pull her inspiration from real life, movies and reading before going to Pinterest. She has taken different classes to expand her knowledge of different mediums like Chinese brush painting.
Three pieces of advice for new freelancers:
Working with Staffing Agencies
Becky had a lot of success working with staffing agencies when she was first starting as a freelancer – Briana on the other hand hasn’t had as much luck. If you do decide to go this route one option is Vitamin T. By going this way you pretty much have to take any work you can get at first. The temp agencies will take a big percentage.