We were lucky to catch up with Asaf Bochman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Asaf, appreciate you joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Earning a full-time living from creative work doesn’t happen overnight. Having reliable systems for marketing, sales, and customer service are crucial to a functioning business. Learning to create, implement, and improve these systems has been key to increasing revenue and the reliability of that revenue.

Out of my 20 years of customer service experience came the understanding that any single bad customer experience can break one’s trust in a brand. Ensuring positive experiences isn’t accidental and needs to be planned out as early as possible.

I approach potential clients with a genuine desire to help them resolve their problems using my skills. If I can’t, I will let them know. I’ve told several leads no who have eventually came back to become clients. Respect is the foundation of a relationship, and sales is built on relationships.

Don’t seek out to help millions of people right away, work to help one person fix a big problem. Build from that to systems you can help clients implement. Go beyond Photoshop and run a business that solves problems.

Asaf, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Becoming The Brand Chef wasn’t an overnight choice. I was a graphic designer bouncing around from gig to gig. Learning, designing, and all-around absorbing as much industry-related knowledge as possible, while working on improving my skills.

After some time I was able to venture into brand strategy, taking a wholistic approach to building brands, rather than being someone to execute someone else’s strategy. In 2022 I opened Boch Creative, my design studio that focuses on providing brand strategy, visual identity design, and web design to small businesses and nonprofits.

Specifically what I help my clients with is feeling clear about their brand strategy. Clients often come to me with what I call, bland brands. Many times business owners are trying to copy competition, rather than stand out. I help them understand what brand is, how it’s built, and how it grows to equip them with the tools to build their own brand with their own vision. Through workshops, frameworks, strategy, and design, I bring my clients’ brands to life, adding just the right amount of spice.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

As a freelancer I started my journey helping anyone I could. Anyone I spoke with was a potential customer and I aimed to overdeliver on every project. I soon learned there are many downsides to this approach because you are never seen as an expert, only as someone who is after a profit. This led me to choose a target market who thinks differently.

Most people are shocked when I tell them I help nonprofit organizations. Those who run and work at nonprofits are a different breed of people. They know money isn’t everything, only a means to solutions. I enjoy working with the Impact Sector due to their focus on solution-building.

I tend to say “nonprofit doesn’t mean no budget” to help put things in perspective with those who aren’t understanding my target market.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

In July I lost my job. It was the last one I’ll ever have. I was working on my side hustle for quite some time and my bosses decided it was time for me to go all in. They knew how much devotion I had to my business and felt like I could use the extra time to focus on growing my business.

That week I became aware of the networking world. Not webinars, content marketing, or cold calling. I was going to places and just talking to people, having conversations, building relationships, sharing knowledge.

Within a few months, two networking groups have singlehandedly helped me maintain and grow my revenue beyond what my job was providing. Embrace relationship building however you can. They will power your business forever.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bochcreative.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asafthebrandchef/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bochcreative/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/asaf-bochman/
• Other: https://www.webflow.com/@bochcreative

Image Credits

Edwin Chavez of Echavez Photos