Sue's "Law of The Busy"

Or, How to get what you want for free

by Susan Pichotta, November 2007

This sounds so simple, it should be obvious: If you want someone to do something for you, especially if they are doing it for free, make it as easy as you can.

This is the secret behind writing a good press release - you want your press release to be written so well that the editor of, say, PC Magazine will not have to even think about it. A simple copy-paste on the editor's part, and your press release is in the magazine. The easier it is for the editor, the better chance you have that your press release will see ink. It's my Law of The Busy - Busy People will do The Easiest Thing First. Busy editors will use press releases that are easiest for them to use.

This same theory applies to me and icons. If you look at the webpage for our Glasso Icon Set, you'll see that we have promised another 25+ more icons for that set, at no additional charge. I'm working on them now. So a little while ago, I sent an email to everyone who has bought the Glasso set. I asked them what new icons they wanted, and I gave them an easy formula for a reply - with an example, even. Tell me the name of the image you want, and describe that image. Easy-peasy, right?

Wrong. And Right. I received some really good responses. Many thanks to Peter, Richard, Gordon, Colin, Nader, Ron and others, who sent me some great ideas. They told me exactly what images they wanted to see. Some even sent me sample images, which was awesome. Because of their suggestions, I'm going to end up adding a LOT more than 25 new images to the Glasso set. They gave me too many great ideas to ignore, with the details I needed. They did it right.

But then there were those who did it wrong. They want me to make icons for them, but they didn't tell me what they want. This makes it a little difficult for me to make the icons.

How, you ask, could someone request icons without telling me what they want? By being overly general. For instance, I had two emails requesting "accounting icons". No details. No list of images. Just "accounting icons". One of these emails was from a great guy, whom I'd love to help... but I have this problem: I am not an accountant, and I don't write accounting software, so I have *no* idea what images are needed for accounting icons. When I said this, one guy tried to be helpful, and he sent me screenshots of his software. But a button saying "Accounts Receivable", with no image on it, doesn't tell me what image would work for "Accounts Receivable".

While I think it would be great to make accounting icons, or icons for schools, etc., my primary concern right now is to make 25+ new images for the Glasso set. I don't really care what those images are, truth be told. I could have easily come up with 26 new images on my own, but I thought that getting customer input would be a good thing. In fact, getting customer input was a great thing, and I now have a list of over 100 new icon images to pick from - most of them super images that I would never have thought of on my own. I think the Glasso lovers among you will be pleased. And these new icons will be created because the requestors made it easy for me. (Watch for the updated Glasso set to be released in January, 2008.)

So, the moral of my story is this: If you want someone to do something for you, you have a lot better chance of them getting it done if you make it easy for them. The busier they are, the truer this will be. This applies to our customers, as well - they are Busy. They need things Easy. It's your job to make it The Easiest Thing for them to choose and buy your product.

Great icons help sell software and websites, because a good-looking, modern user interface helps make the buyer's decision Easy. So check out our icons - your best value for professional icon sets!