Resourceful Designer - Resources To Help Streamline Your Graphic Design And Web Design Business.

Lowering your prices can hurt your design business. I was talking to a fellow designer recently who is concerned about competing on prices. He asked me what I do if a client says they can pay less for a logo at Fiverr, Upwork, 99 Designs, or any other discount design platforms. This isn't the first time I've heard this concern from a designer. You may have experienced this exact thing with your clients questioning your prices compared to discount design sources. The fact of the matter is, competing on prices is a no-win scenario. There’s no way that you can compete with the prices these places offer. Ok, maybe that’s not true. Sure you could lower your price to their level, but what would it accomplish? You would be selling your services for a pittance, and cementing yourself in a rut that would be difficult to escape. Competing on prices is not a sustainable way to run, let alone grow, your design business. I’m going to make this a two-part series. Next week I’m going to explain how I respond to clients who

Turning down design work. The idea may seem foreign to you. Especially if you’re relatively new to running your design business. If you’re at a stage in your freelance career where you’re trying to establish yourself, you’re trying to get your name out there; you’re trying to make ends meat and pay your bills, then you might not be ready for this concept. Turning down design work may not be in your best interest right now. However, if you plan on growing your design business to be more than a commodity, more than selling your time for money, then there will come a time when you will need to stop and think, “Is this a design project I want to take on?” You see, the goal for most home-based designers is to become successful enough to be in high demand. The type of demand where you are booking new clients and new design projects weeks, possibly months in the future. The kind of demand where a client is willing to wait several weeks for you instead of finding a designer that can start on their project sooner. Whe

Have you ever considered designing in a particular niche? Have you heard the term "The Riches Are In The Niches"? It shouldn't come as a surprise that the more focused you are on a particular sector, the more familiar with it you become. And the more familiar with it you become, the more you are perceived as the expert in that particular sector. Graphic and web design is no different. Designers who focus on a particular sector become knows as experts and command more respect and earn more money from clients in that sector. I've talked about niches before on the podcast. In episode 54; Should You Find A Graphic Design Niche, I explained what a niche is and the benefits of choosing one, as well as not having to limit yourself when you choose a niche. In episode 93; Targetting A Design Niche, I teach you how to go about finding and marketing to your particular niche. In today's episode of the Resourceful Designer podcast, I'm talking to Craig Burton, owner of School Branding Matters, a New Zealand based branding

Have you thought of your contingency plans? [sc name="smartpress" ]So you're running a graphic design business. You're plugging away day after day, week after week, engaging with clients and designing amazing things for them. Life is great, and you’re living the dream. But what if the unexpected happened? Are you prepared? What would you do in the event of a national disaster that destroys your home? What would you do if all of a sudden, without any warning, you lose all your office equipment? What would you do if something happened to a loved one and you had to drop everything for who knows how long to be by their side? What if you were hit by a car on the way home from the grocery store and end up in the hospital for several weeks. What would you do? Any of these events could happen and prevent your business from functioning. That’s where a contingency plan comes into play. What is a Contingency Plan? The easiest way to define a contingency plan is to refer to it as a “plan B” for your business in the event

Do you ever feel like a fraud? In a previous episode of the Resourceful Designer podcast, I talked about Superhero Syndrome. It's when someone takes on more responsibilities than they need or should take on. Sometimes doing things they are not qualified to do instead of doing the logical thing and finding someone qualified for the task. Today I’m talking about the opposite of Superhero Syndrome. And that’s Impostor Syndrome. What is Impostor Syndrome? Impostor Syndrome is a collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist even in the face of information that indicates that the opposite is true. It is experienced internally as chronic self-doubt and feelings of intellectual fraudulence. In layman's terms, Impostor Syndrome is the belief that you're an impostor and not qualified to do the things that are asked of you, even though you are qualified. Several years ago, I talked about impostor syndrome on an episode Stuff I Learned Yesterday, another podcast that I shared hosting duties. That was the first time I

What's holding you back? [sc name="pod_ad"]September 30 will mark four years that I've been releasing episodes of the Resourceful Designer podcast. During the time I’ve received hundreds of emails from people thanking me for what I do. They tell me how much I’ve helped them, inspired them and motivated them. There's no way for me to express how this makes me feel, knowing that me, a designer, working out of my home office in small-town Ontario, Canada is having such an impact on designers from around the globe. It’s truly humbling, and I cherish every message I receive. But over time, I’ve noticed a common theme with many of the messages. Web and graphic designers write to me saying that after listening to Resourceful Designer for so long, they've finally started their own design business. I'm happy for them, but I can’t help wonder what was holding these people back from starting sooner? Why did it take them so long of listening to the podcast, in some cases years, before starting their business journey? Doe

Don't waste time when you're not busy. Wouldn’t it be nice to have so much design work that you don’t have time during your work day for anything else? Come to think of it; I don’t know if I’d like that. I enjoy a bit of downtime now and then, and I’m sure you do too. Downtime, when your brain isn’t working at one hundred per cent concentrating on some important task or churning away pumping out those creative juices. You need time to give your brain a rest. It’s that old proverb “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. Downtime is good. But downtime doesn’t have to be wasted time. Downtime can be put to good use and become productive time, benefiting your business while still giving your mind a break. The next time you feel that pull from the rabbit hole that is YouTube or Facebook, I want you to think of productive things you could be doing instead. To help you, I’m going to share ten productive things you can do when you’re not busy. Let me first state; If you are not busy because you don’t have any p

How do you charge for design work? [sc name="pod_ad"]Do you offer fixed prices to your clients or is hourly billing your pricing strategy of choice? I'm not interested in how you come up with your rate or your price. What I’m asking is, do you or don't you know how much a design job will cost before beginning the project? Today I want to share my opinion on why you should stop billing by the hour and start offering fixed prices instead. Changing my pricing strategy. When I started my design business in 2005, I prided myself on the fact that I didn’t offer fixed pricing. Everything I designed was billed by the hour for the exact amount of time it took me to complete the project. It was my most prominent marketing feature. I landed plenty of clients because unlike other designers who were charging “outrageous” fixed prices for the work they did, I only charged for the actual time I spent on a project. For years I traded my time for money. And it worked. In no time at all, I grew my business to dozens of recurri

Do you use Cold Emails to attract clients? Equivalent to Cold Calling, Cold Emailing is when you send unsolicited email to someone without prior contact. A Cold email is a very effective way to reach out to potential new clients. So effective in fact that it’s been in use since the first businesses were around. OK, maybe not cold emailing, but cold calling has been. Even before phones were invented business people would knock on strangers doors trying to sell their wares. It was their version of cold calling. It’s a practice that has worked for generations and can work for your design business as well. Sending cold emails is not the same thing as sending spam emails. A cold email is a one-to-one personalized message sent to a specific individual. Its purpose is to start a business conversation with that one person rather than to promote your services to the masses as spam emails do. Email, a force to be reckoned with. Did you know that email, in the form that we know it today has been around since the mid-70s

Do you worry about your eyesight? Do you worry about your eyesight? As a designer, there’s pretty much no escaping being in front of a screen. If you’re like me, between the computer, phone and TV, you probably spend more time each day with your eyes staring at a screen than you do sleeping. Face it, we’re slaves to our tech displays. Did you know that this constant exposure to one screen after another throughout the day can cause strain, and even damage to your eyes? The issue is ultraviolet blue UV light emitted by all these devices. Although researchers are at odds on whether screen use can cause permanent damage or not, they do agree that prolonged exposure to blue UV light does affect your eyes. Dr Ritesh Patel, an optometrist with the Ontario Association of Optometrists here in Canada, describes the problem. Our eyes are sensitive to a narrow band of light frequencies called the "visual light spectrum”. In that spectrum, blue light has the shortest wavelength causing it to emit the most energy. Traditio

The Goodbye Packet Last week I told you about Client Offboarding, the process of finalising a design project and preparing a client for working together again in the future. Offboarding is a way of informing a client that you’ve completed the work they’ve paid you for, and any additional work from this point forward will be considered a new project, incurring further fees. In this last part of the Client Onboarding series, I’m talking about the Goodbye Packet, a way to collect and package up all the offboarding information in a convenient package to hand over to your client. What is a Goodbye Packet? A Goodbye Packet is a document informing a client their project is complete. It lets them know that any additional work you do will incur extra charges. You can also use it as a transition phase between your web design contract and your maintenance package. If a client continues to ask for changes after the completion of a web design project, it’s a good indication that you should sell them an ongoing maintenance

Client Offboarding [sc name="pod_ad"]Client Offboarding is the final step in building that oh so meaningful client relationship that will keep them coming back to you time and again with more design projects. For the past few episodes, I’ve walked you through the various steps of Client Onboarding — everything you need to do to turn a potential client into a paying client. But once the client is onboard and you have their project, is that the end? Of course not. The whole purpose of Client Onboarding is to create relationships with your clients. What kind of relationship would it be if it ended once the project is over? Acquiring new clients is hard work, especially the type of clients you want to work with and that pay well. But what’s even more important is having those clients come back in the future with even more projects. They say it takes roughly five times more time and energy to land a new client than it does to keep an existing client. If you can get even 5% of new clients to come back, you should b

The Design Contract The Design Contract is the final part of the Client Onboarding Process. This vital part confirms that a potential client is now a paying client. In this series, I talked about the Client Onboarding Process as a whole before breaking it down into the individual components, the Intro Packet, the Client Meeting and the Design Proposal. Each of these different elements helps win over potential clients encouraging them to hire you, which brings you to this next step, the Design Contract. In the last episode, I shared a statistic with you; 48% of designers don’t use a contract. I find that number mind-blowing. Not only does a contract establish you as a professional business, but it’s your protection against anything that may go wrong with the project or the client. Have you ever been part of a design forum or online group where someone mentions an issue they are having with a client? What is the #1 response or comment they receive? “Did you have a design contract?” If you are part of that 48 %,

Continuing the client onboarding process with the design proposal. Part 4 of the Client Onboarding Process is the Design Proposal. A tool you use to convince clients that you are the designer for their project. Last week I told you all about the Client Meeting. The part in the process where you learn about the client and about the project they are presenting to you. After a successful client meeting, you should know whether or not you want to take them on as a client and tackle their design project. You should also have a good feel for whether or not the client is inclined to hire you. The client onboarding process is all about finding the right clients that fit your business and goals. If after the client meeting you’ve decided you're not a good fit, then there’s no need for a proposal. Simply thank the client for considering you and inform them that you are not the right person for their project. However, if you think you are a good fit, and you would like to work on their design project, the next step is t

Are you ready for your next client meeting? In part 2 of the Client Onboarding process, I told you all about the intro packet and how it’s the foundation for setting expectations going forward with your client relationship. If the intro packet is the foundation, then the client meeting is the framing, or structure if you will. Think of the client meeting like a job interview, which in a way it is. You are interviewing the client, and the client is interviewing you. This meeting is less about the design project and more about discovering if this client is someone with whom you want to have a working relationship. Both parties need to feel comfortable working with each other before anything else can proceed. Don’t mistake this first client meeting for a discovery meeting. Don’t get me wrong, you'll get a lot of answers to your discovery questions during this first client meeting, but that’s not the purpose of this meeting. The real discovery process comes after you've received the signed contracts and deposits.

Do you have an intro packet for your design business? An intro packet is a tool you use to land new clients and facilitate the client onboarding process. It can either be a dedicated page on your website, a detailed PDF or better yet, a well designed and nicely printed piece to hand out to potential clients. An intro packet is a great way to create a good first impression of who you are and what you do. It answers basic questions, sets expectations and gives clients a first look at what it will be like working with you. It’s also a good tool to filter out clients that are not a good fit for your business. In the last episode of the podcast, I told you all about the client onboarding processand how having a good onboarding process is crucial to landing new design clients. A good intro packet is the foundation of that important onboarding process. What’s in an intro packet? Think of your intro packet as well designed piece containing all the introductory information you normally give to potential clients. Not d

What is Client Onboarding? Client onboarding is the process of turning potential clients into paying clients. It’s the process of introducing them to your business, addressing their questions and concerns, and ensuring they understand the services you offer and your processes while providing those services. Onboarding is all the steps from the initial contact with the client until you start working on their design project. It’s your chance to explain to a client; What they should expect from you. What their part is in the relationship. How communication between you should happen. When and how you are to be paid. And more Over the next few episodes of the podcast, I’m going to dive into specific parts of the client onboarding process, but for today, I’m going to talk about the process as a whole. Why is Client Onboarding important? Let’s look at the process from two angles. From the client's point of view: The Onboarding process plays a vital part in building and nurturing the relationship between you and yo

Understanding Priorities will help grow your design business. Whether your design business is still new or you’ve been doing this for many years, I'm betting you started it feeling greedy. Meaning you took on any design work that came your way. That's OK. Not many designers just starting their freelance career are picky about the type of work they take on. I’m not talking pricing. Just because you have a new business isn’t a reason to accept $25 logo jobs. You still have to have your principals after all. What I’m talking about is the type of work you take on; logos, brochures, postcards, websites, banner ads, powerpoint presentation, etc. If you started a web design business and a client asked you for a logo, and the money was good, chances are you took on the project and designed a logo for them, even if it didn’t align with your business model of running a web design business. You have to pay the bills after all, and money is money. Understanding priorities become essential once the ball is rolling, money

What does a designer do on April Fools Day? This week's release happens to fall on April Fools Day. The one day of the year where tomfoolery, shenanigans and levity abound. A day when you put all seriousness aside and let out your inner practical joker. I thought of trying to pull one over you by starting off saying something like “I’ve decided to end the podcast, and this will be my last episode” But then I thought, what if someone is reading this or listening to the podcast for the very first time. That person might not realise it’s an April Fools joke and leave. Or what if a regular listener took me seriously and unsubscribed from the podcast? Not to mention, since my episodes are mostly evergreen, someone may be listening to this episode later in the month, the year or perhaps even years from now. Instead, I decided to use this episode to share some of the “design” related practical jokes I’ve been part of over the years. I put "design" in quotation marks because I'm not talking about creating fake design

How much thought do you devote to protecting your WordPress website? [sc name="pod_ad"]I want to share something that happened to me this week. I came home from a nice lunch with friends to both an email and urgent voicemail message from a client saying someone had hacked their website and their URL redirected to a porn site. This is a relatively large client of mine that gets a decent number of visitors to their website each day, so there was a good reason for the panic. When I heard the message and the panic in my client’s voice, my only thought was to get this problem fixed ASAP. But I wasn’t worried because I know I have measures in place for exactly this sort of thing. But more on that later. WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world. That popularity also makes it the most popular choice for hackers. Fortunately, WordPress is on the ball and releases regular updates to patch any new and existing security holes. But, security as a whole is a reactive process. Patches are only issued once a security v