We were lucky to catch up with Lori Rock recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lori, thanks for joining us today. One of the toughest things about entrepreneurship is that there is almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

As a planner who tends to see the positive side of things, I found myself surprised when unexpected challenges would arise. Customers who were unclear about boundaries particularly created challenges for me.

In the end, the paperwork and the clear communication turned out to be the solution for me.

Here is the story – I was working with an international customer to produce a series of animations. It was a big project, and very exciting to be putting a whole series together. The Statement of Work I provided was very simple and easy to follow. But it didn’t include clear limits for the production process – like the number of drafts that would be included within the scope. Animation produces multiple deliveries that need approval before reaching the final product, so this got out of hand very quickly.

This big customer moved through the process, changing their minds, wanting to see 9 to 11 drafts of work product before making choices and generally thinking up new elements for the project as production was already underway. It was exhausting and frustrating. But I had to reflect on the fact that I hadn’t given any details about how much time to which I was committed for the project (in the form of a limit to drafts produced). It turned out to be a valuable learning experience.

A book by Mike Monteiro titled: Design is a Job, really helped clarify this dynamic for me. ” . . . no one is born knowing how to be a good client,”. (p. 27). He goes into details later in his book about how designers (or in this case, also business owners) are in the role of helping their customers understand what being a good client looks like. And if not done well, there is no one to be frustrated at, except ourselves. I’d never thought of this before.

Once I realized that setting clear expectations (including the limit on drafts during production) was the way to help my customers see how to be in the client role successfully, the pressures to please or be convinced to do something beyond the scope of work and beyond the budget (without added compensation) started to drift away.

When future clients began to ask for multiple extra drafts, I only had to circle back to our agreement which clearly stated the number for which the customer had signed.

While the initial international customer animation series was very painful, it resulted in very clear details to be included in my Statements of Work for all my future projects. And those details have created a lot of relief for me as well as helping my customers understand what is expected during the process.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

The roots for BigIdeaZoo started forming when I was a little girl. Both my parents spent time sketching and painting, so art was always around the house. It was my dad who really invited me to tap into my visual talents as together, with all three of us kids, he would settle on the living room floor with stacks of coloring books and a huge pile of crayons (I can still smell the scent of Crayolas to this day.)

He would pick a page and start coloring. And as we did the same, we watched how he filled every centimeter of the page with color. He added shades and multiple layers and I remember thinking how magical it was to watch the original black outlines on the white page transform into a rich, colorful world. And I learned how to do the same thing.

I always held these experiences as “play”. Until I I began to see how this visual intelligence could impact the work I was doing for Boeing, as an accountant, of all things. I was preparing and presenting budget presentations for departments and I kept thinking how dry and boring the data was. So I decided to add a few hand-drawn stick figures in the margins of my slide deck. Here, the human figures had looks of astonishment on their faces for over-spending, one set of figures I added orange and red flames as the spending seemed to be ON FIRE.

And people loved it. Suddenly, the boring, predictable budget meeting had people’s attention. And I knew I was on to something.

I got trained and certified in graphic facilitation and I started drawing imagery on big butcher paper on the wall to document brainstorm sessions, depict business processes and to engage coworkers in creative thinking. In the early days, I used a huge container of Crayola Crayons as my primary sources of color – thinking of those times on the living room floor with Dad.

Over time, these visual communications skills have been part of every step of my career – as an internal employee creating visual maps of strategy sessions and mission-driven work, to external consultant roles that had me in the role of Creative Strategist, helping customers uncover their own sense of creativity and purpose through guided facilitation and question-asking.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Listening. Full stop.

Effective listening has been the most profound secret to my company’s 10-year success!

If I am focused on impressing potential clients instead of really listening to who they are and what they’re facing, nothing works.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Delivering exactly what I’ve promised to deliver, within the timeframe I told my clients I’d deliver. This attention to the schedule and to following through on the things I’ve promised has built my company and created an identity that is unique in the creative industry.

Many clients have shared stories about overly excited teams that made all kinds of promises and then either seemed to lose momentum or interest. But when the deadlines pass, and no deliveries are made, clients notice.

My reputation of honesty, clarity and openness has created a solid foundation for BigIdeaZoo’s reputation.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bigideazoo.com/
• Instagram: @bigideazoo
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lori-rock-35086820/
• Twitter: @bigideazoo
• Other: https://vimeo.com/search?q=bigideazoo – these are some of the BigIdeaZoo animations.