Freelance Radio, Episode 35: When Humans Attack
The thirty-fifth episode of Freelance Radio, the official FreelanceSwitch podcast, is now available! This episode, the panel (John Brougher, Dickie Adams, Kristen Fischer and Von Glitschka) talks about dealing with negative, unsolicited feedback. Subscriptions to the podcast are available via iTunes and an archive of all podcasts will appear in the podcast section. We hope you enjoy it!
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The Shownotes:
- Theme of the Episode: This episode’s theme is dealing with negative, unsolicited feedback.
- Mailbag: We field a question about focusing one’s education, what major/degree to get to best prepare for a career in web design.
- Freelance Radio Recommends:
- Dickie: A collection of bumpers from Adult Swim.
- John: A series of deals and bargain sites, including Passwird.com, Dealnews.com, Slickdeals.net’s forums (as well as Slickdeals.net itself), Fatwallet.com’s Hot Deals forum (as well as Fatwallet.com itself), and the Bargainist. Suggest your own favorite in the comments section!
- Kristen: Site for dealing with pet loss Petloss.com.
- Von: Mike Rohde’s work, including a set of sketch notes he created and one of his Flickr sets of illustrations.
And that’s the episode! If you like it, please feel free to rate it in iTunes or your favorite podcast aggregator, and don’t forget to email your questions/comments via the Freelance Radio form. If you’d like to record a question/comment or submit an original outro song, you can upload them via this form.
Find out more about the panelists at the following sites:
- John Brougher, podcast host and new media/communications specialist: johnbrougher.com; John’s Twitter is at twitter.com/johnbrougher
- Dickie Adams, designer, photographer, technologist, jack-of-all-trades (and master of all): twitter.com/dickieadams
- Kristen Fischer, writer and author: kristenfischer.com; Kristen’s Twitter is at twitter.com/kristenfischer
- Von Glitschka, illustrator, designer and so much more: glitschka.com; Von’s Twitter is at twitter.com/vonster
About Von’s situation: Sounds like the lady picked up on your vibe that you thought the concept “we are the world” was tacky to you, and she took that to an unfortunate conclusion. So I guess the important thing to learn here is to make sure you don’t come across as judgmental about the client’s concept especially if circumstances mean you have to turn it down.
Thanks for listening!
This is a partial plug, since my wife works for the coupons side of the site, but might give http://www.gotapex.com/ a try — we’ve bought each of our computers for the last few years through deals on the site and have been pretty happy with the prices and how they walk you through what to add when you get to the ordering process to get the best deal.
I really liked this episode! I think it’s really important to deal with negativity professionally even though you’re dealing with very unprofessional behavior. I’ve never been the target of trolling or backlash from something I’ve said myself, but I’ve watched instances of it happening to others and have wondered what I would do if a situation like that ever happened to me.
Kristen: I got a little sad when you let everyone know your cat died. I’ll miss the little sniffle now and then! I’m sorry you had to say goodbye to your cat, it’s awful losing a pet.
Thanks for this, enjoyed it a lot.
Thanks Von for the very kind words about my sketchnotes! I’m honored to be mentioned in the ‘Recommends’ section of the podcast.
Keep up the great work guys, I love hearing your combined wisdom on each episode of podcast.
Erika, you are so sweet. That cat was really my freelancing buddy…she was there when I set up my business so it was really a loss to my professional side, too. Thanks for such a sweet comment. We will all miss Bobbie’s sniffles but I know she is healthy and sniffle-free now!:)
The simple fact of the matter is I had no time for the project I talked about in the podcast. My work schedule at that time was full, but that just wasn’t good enough of a reason for the lady I was talking too, she found it necessary to read into my explanation her own context that wasn’t based on reality.
I suppose someone might be able to say she picked up on a “vibe” but that’s no better speculation than what she accused me of to begin with either.
I was friendly with the lady. By the end of the discussion it did piss me off but I still attempted to reason with her but she felt obligated to embrace her prejudice and define my own motives rather than accepting the facts. Nothing I can do about that.
After that call I remember just sitting in my chair pondering the whole thing and thinking “What just happened?” I’d never in my life until that moment been accused of doing what this lady (A total stranger) was accusing me of doing and it left me feeling very violated.
I’ve always said “Life is too short for bad art.” but life is also too short to treat other people like crap too. It’s sad some people think this behavior is OK? Disagreements are unavoidable, but we should still be able to be civil about it.
Von
I agree Java it not the Bomb.
Great show all. Kristen sorry for the loss but your humor during the show is always a good remedy. Great job to Von, Dickie and John as well.
Hey Guys
Just wanted to give you a heads up that the link to The Bargainist is incorrect, should be http://www.bargainist.com/
Hey guys. I just wanted to thank you for such a great show! From one great design podcast to another.
Alan
Producer/Co-Host
CreativeXpert Design Interviews
I liked Kristen’s comment to the high schooler that was debating between majors.
That one can have the freedom to go off course without being off course. That can apply to just about anyone.
Thanks a lot. Very enjoy!
Really enjoying the podcasts guys!
I download them regularly via itunes to my ipod and usually listen to them whilst walking my dog over here in sunny South Australia or while I’m painting. Always interesting, always entertaining and always a worthwhile use of my time.
Besides, where else would I hear about Von having alergies and crotch problems..
hehee.. cheers guys!!
-Leith in Oz
This is my second podcast that I have listen too. This is going to be a new addition to my daily tasks! Great stuff….I would love an episode on how to set up a checklist for the financial side – such as llc – taxes and such.
Thank you it was really great.