About the Author

Martin Gomez is a creative director and the co-founder of Working Creative. He is a former agency owner, design school professor, and as a freelancer, has worked with household brands for Canada’s top marketing agencies. 

“When the pipeline starts to slow down, I grab coffee with 10 or so people and usually something shakes out.”

This is a quote from Ryan Anderson from Northern Army.

He’ll probably say I’m making him sound like an asshole, but these words, mixed in with all the thoughtful, genuinely caring questions and advice he serves in all his text messages, has echoed for years since he sent it. 

Of course, my reaction to it was “fuck off”.

At the time, I was navigating a deep ebb in client work and trying to find a way out. 

Whenever I come up with a money-making scheme, the first step (after getting out of the shower or off ChatGPT) is to run it past Ryan.

Context: Northern Army is the best design agency in Ottawa (and likely one of the best in the country) and that’s due in large part to their head of design, Rene (a mentor and friend for about 25 years) and his partner Ryan (a mentor and friend since Rene introduced us). 

But this… “10 meetings” ? This was surely one of his characteristically bone-dry jokes. It was insulting...

You already know where this is going.

I tried it. 

And here’s why it’s now my go-to move and my most common advice I give to creative professionals. 

The Magic of Meetings

I hate meetings. 

No that’s wrong. As a freelance creative, meetings are almost always great and I’m always energized and excited afterwards. 

I hate scheduling meetings. I hate asking someone to go have a meeting. I hate bothering people. 

“Here comes Gomez again and he’s got that look like he’s going to pitch us something.”

But that’s nonsense.

Here’s what Ryan understood that I didn’t. Meetings aren’t pitches. They’re fact-finding missions.

Each conversation gives you a clearer picture of what's actually happening in your industry, what problems people are wrestling with, and where opportunities might be hiding. 

Three meetings in, you start to notice patterns. 

By the fifth meeting, you’re talking about your situation in a completely different way.

And somewhere around… let’s say Meeting #6 or #7… something comes up. 

I don’t know what happens after because I’ve never gotten past #7.

The Secret Goal

The secret goal is to just not have an obvious goal.

Don’t look at it like going in to get hired or make a sale. You're going in to learn something.

People want to help but most people in the world don’t have paid creative projects to dole out. 

You should have two or three questions that you think you can get answered.

Try these: 

• “I’m refining my pitch and this is what I’m thinking of saying I can do - what do you think?”

• “I worked on this and loved it - what companies would you reach out to if you were me?”

• “I’d like to make more money now - who do you know?”

That last one is a joke. Sort of. Depends on who you’re meeting with. 

Who You Should Meet With

This is the part that gets me every time:

“But I don’t know 10 people I can meet with!” - me (even though I do). 

It always feels like you can’t find fresh new people to meet but here’s another magical aspect of this strategy: they don’t have to be new people. 

If you were stuck under a couch, you probably have someone you would call. Start there. 

Seriously, you may be thinking “but the people I can call for meetings don’t know about my industry...”

That doesn’t matter. 

Think of a detective show. The first meetings are usually trying to find the name of the next person to meet and so on. 

Here’s who I meet with:

• Other freelancers

• Former clients

• Ryan

• Old schoolmates

• Friends at agencies

• Recruiters (a couple of recruiter friends are a goldmine for intel)

• Dan from last week’s newsletter

• Anyone that knows other people

And it’s almost always the same people over and over (at first). Honestly, you could graph my career by spikes in coffee receipts with Ryan.

But meeting with the same people is ok. You need your people. Start there. 

Don’t have the list figured out when you start. Set up the first three and see what happens. 

The One-Question Interview

Working Creative: What do most creative agencies get wrong about client relationships that seems obvious to you?

Ryan Anderson: I think a lot of agencies forget that we’re in the business of providing expertise. Honestly, a lot of clients forget this too. Relying on selling “creative” in a time where the product of our work gets more and more commoditized is a fast track to being disposable.

We have to create relationships in which we’re trusted to solve problems, improve sales, or create an emotional connection to a can of bubbly water. If instead our relationship becomes a transaction, a desperate bid to pay the bills or worse, one where we let the client take the wheel and we assume the role of order-taking toadies, then we provide no real value beyond being able to work the software that’s getting more and more automated every day.

Bonus Question:

Working Creative: What do you imagine/picture/visualize when you hear the words “Working Creative”?

Ryan Anderson: Harnessing your childlike sense of play to satisfy the insatiable gaping maw of capitalism.

Further Reading

Want to know what to talk about at all your meetings? How about not talking so much? Learn more about making your interactions count with questions in the Creating Genuine Connections chapter of our handbook: The Five Most Effective Ways I Learned To Get Work I Love.

Parting Thought

Some of the hands-down best, wildest, most creative and most fun projects have come as a result of a meeting where nothing like that was on the agenda.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to someone and set something up just to get out from in front of your computer. I deeply rely on remote video calling for my freelance business but it still can’t compare with the energy and spontaneity of a simple in-person coffee.

You never know what could happen.