Resourceful Designer: Strategies for running a graphic design business

Are you missing out by not charging your clients for everything you can? Running your own design business or freelancing as a graphic or web designer seems like such an easy gig. A client asks you to create something for them, and they pay you for what you design. Simple right? For thousands of graphic and web designers around the world, that's exactly how they do it. A Client brings them a project. The designer designs the project. The Client pays for said project. And the cycle repeats. What if I told you many of these designers are leaving money on the table? How they could and should be charging much more to their clients than they currently are. I'm not talking about design rates. I'm not saying these designers are worth more than the rate they are charging. Although they probably are. No. What I'm getting at is there are many aspects of what you do as a designer that you could be charging your clients for. And yet, many designers don't. And as such, those designers are missing out on money they could be earning. Are you one of them? Case study. Imagine a client hires you for a new project. To design a poster for an upcoming local festival. Many designers will figure out how much to quote for a poster design. They may base it on an hourly rate. Maybe offer a flat fee. Or perhaps base their price on the value they're providing, regardless of what pricing strategy they use. The price they quote is based on designing the poster alone. And that's wrong. You'll notice most successful designers refer to what they work on as projects. They're not working on a poster for a local festival. They're working on a project for the local festival that involves designing a poster. You see, a design project consists of multiple tasks. And not all of those tasks involve actual designing. Let me break this down. A client calls you on the phone to see if you're interested in designing a poster for their festival. You say yes and set up a time to meet their organizing committee to go over what is required of you. You meet with them to discuss the festival, who it's for, where it's happening, when it's taking place and how long it's lasting. You go over what the festival's brand and message entail, and of course, what sort of information they want on the poster. Once you're satisfied, you go back home or to your office and prepare a quote. Maybe they have some follow-up questions that go back and forth before they agree on your price and you finally get to work on their project. Your design process may include researching similar festivals from other areas to see what sort of posters they did. It may include browsing stock image sites to find the perfect images to compliment the festival's theme as well as your design. It may include contacting a local printer to ask about different paper stocks or finishing options. It may include coordinating with the festival's web designer, if that's not you, to make sure the poster and website follow a consistent brand. Then, once you've designed the poster, you need to present it to the client. Perhaps you place your poster design on situation mockups to help the client visualize it in place. Then you email them a PDF, or maybe you present it to them in person. Once the client approves your poster design, you prepare the final print files and hand them over to your client to bring to the printer. Unless you are also brokering the printing for them, but for this example, let's say you aren't. Then you prepare the invoice, send it to the client, and take care of the payment and bookkeeping once it's received. Only then is the project over. Out of all of that, for how much of it did you charge the client? Did you charge them for the initial phone call? Did you charge them for the travel time to and from any in-person meetings? Did you charge them for the time those meetings lasted? Did you charge them for the time it took you to prepare the quote and answer any follow-up questions? Did you charge them for the research you did or the time you spent browsing stock image sites? What about the time you spent discussing the festival's brand with their web designer or the time you spent discussing paper stock with the printer? How about the time it took to present the poster to the client? Or the time it took to prepare the mockups and final files for the printer? And what about the time you took to prepare the invoice and handle any payment you received? Did you charge them for any of that? Or did you only charge them for designing the poster? Most inexperienced or struggling designers probably did the latter. Charge for only the poster. But that's wrong. The poster design is only one small part of the overall project you were hired to do. A project that started when the client called you and finished the moment you received the final payment. Everything in between is billable. Your time is valuable. You shouldn't be giving it away for free. Think like a lawyer. Have you ever received an invoice from a lawyer? Make fun of lawyers as you will, but designers can learn a thing or two from how a lawyer runs their business. Lawyers keep track of every phone call. Every sheet of paper they print out. Every email they send. And every minute a client spends with them. And they bill the client for all of it. Why? Because lawyers know every little bit of it has a cost or value associated with it. And since it was all done on behalf of a client, that client should be paying for that cost or value. I'm not telling you to charge for every piece of paper or every paperclip you use. But, you would be in your right if you wanted to. How I charge my clients. Let me explain how I charge my clients. In my case, the initial email or phone call from a client is free. Providing that call doesn't last more than 15-20 minutes. 15-20 minutes should be enough time to propose their project and for me to ask some initial questions. If it goes on longer than 15-20 minutes, I'll make a note of it and incorporate the extra time into my project cost. But normally, if it looks like the conversation will go long, I'll ask them to schedule a time with me to discuss their project in greater detail. I charge my clients for any travel time as well as the time I spend with them. That time could be for presenting a proposal, conducting a discovery meeting, making a presentation, or whatever reason I'm with the client. Once I'm back in my office working, I keep track of the time I spend doing research for their project. That may include learning about the client and their industry or browsing stock image sites. I use a tool called Clockify to keep track of the time I spend on a project. Clockify makes it very easy to turn timers on and off, assign them to a project and keep track of how much time I spend working on it. So before I start any research or anything to do with the project, I turn on the timer. Just a side note here. Most of my projects these days are quoted using either project-based or value-based pricing. So I'm not billing by the hour. But I still like to keep track of how much time I spend on every project for my own benefit. That way, I get to learn how much time it takes me to do certain tasks. If a client calls me while I'm working on a different project, I'll switch the timer to their project for the call duration. Again for my benefit. And I also know from experience how long it takes me to prepare and send out an invoice. All of this is taken into consideration when quoting on a project. Of course, most of this is speculation and guesswork. But it's accounted for. How many trips will I have to make to the client's office, and what is the average duration for these meetings? What's the travel distance to the client's office? Will I need to coordinate this project with another designer, printer or other third parties? How much research do I anticipate having to do? Etc. All of this is worked into the quote. Because my time is valuable, and if it's spent on behalf of the client. Then the client should be paying for it. If I only charged for the actual designs I create, my business would not be as successful. There are plenty of other aspects of what you do you could be charging for. Consulting I receive lots of inquiries from people wanting to "pick my brain" about design or branding. "Mark, I have an idea for a new mail campaign for my business. I want to get your opinion on it." Or "Mark, my wife is opening a new business, and I was wondering if you had any ideas of what she needs branding wise to get started?" You know the types of questions I'm talking about. Sure they may turn into paid work, but most of the time, they're innocently looking for free advice. Once in a while is not a big deal. But when this starts happening regularly, it eats into your valuable time. The time you could be spending working on projects you are being paid for. It got so bad at one point that I implemented a consulting fee. Now, whenever someone calls or emails to ask for my advice. I tell them I would love to help, but I can't right now. And then provide a link to a webpage where they can schedule a time with me. The page I direct them to is titled One-On-One Consultation, and it allows them to book a 1-hour time slot at the cost of $100. And you know what? 9 out of 10 times, they follow through and book a time with me. I used to get asked these questions and ended up spending my valuable time offering advice free of charge. Now I'm being paid for my knowledge. I'm an expert. That's why they're reaching out to me. So why shouldn't I be paid for that expertise? And so should you. I use a service called Book-Like-A-Boss for booking. But there are many other options you could use to set up your own consulting schedule. Charging for add-ons. Another thing you should charge for is add-ons. Add-ons include WordPress plugins or perhaps stock images—basically, anything you need to purchase to complete the client's project. Every web designer that works with WordPress uses themes and plugins to enhance the sites they build. Many of these themes and plugins are free. But oftentimes, a premium plugin is required to get the job done. Premium plugins come at a cost. And in some cases, those costs should be passed on to the client. For example, I love Gravity Forms for creating custom forms on websites. But not every website needs a custom form. In most cases, the default form that comes with Divi, the page builder I use, is good enough. However, I have several clients who need something more than basic, and that's where Gravity Forms comes in. Gravity Forms is a premium plugin. It costs $59/year for one site. So there's nothing wrong with me charging my clients $59/year for the use of that plugin. I'd just be passing on the cost to them. The same cost they would pay if they were designing their site themselves and purchased the plugin. However, I pay for an Elite license, which allows me to install Gravity Forms on unlimited websites. But why should I incur that expense for something that benefits my clients? If it were a single client, I would pass the cost on to them. So why not do the same thing with multiple clients? Every client that uses Gravity Forms pays $59/year for the use of the plugin. For the record, my website maintenance plan includes premium plugins. So if a client signs up for my maintenance plan, the cost of all premium plugins is included, which is another great selling feature for the maintenance plan. Stock Images. I mentioned Stock images above. There's nothing wrong with charging your clients a small fee for any stock image you use on their project. Include them in your quote or itemize them as extra items on your invoice. Think of stock image sites as image wholesalers. Meaning it's OK to mark up the costs of the images you use. Every year I stock up on DepositPhotos credits when they come on sale at AppSumo. The deal works out to $0.50 for each stock image I download. However, if the client bought the images themselves, without the benefit of AppSumo credits or a DepositPhotos subscription, they would pay between $5-$10 per image. So five stock images are used while designing a poster, why not charge the client $25-$50 for them? There's more you can charge for. The whole point I'm trying to get across is to help you realize there are things you do for your clients that you could be charging for. It's nice to think these things are just the cost of doing business. And in most cases, they are. But why should that cost come out of your pocket when your client is the one benefiting from them? It's OK to charge your client for all the extra things you do beyond the actual design you create for them. Don't believe me? Try to think of the last down on his luck starving lawyer you've seen. Designing might be your passion. It is for me. But passion doesn't pay the bills. If you want to run a successful design business, you need to treat it as a business. And that means charging your clients. What sort of things do you charge your clients for? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Resource of the week Logo Package Express 2.0 Logo Package Express automatically generates and exports logo packages from Adobe Illustrator with blazing speed. Packaging logos is boring and complex. First, you have to know what formats to provide your clients, then you have to make them. Manually. One at a time. It takes hours and is a real pain. Logo Package Express turns that dreaded task into a breeze by pumping out 200+ logo files in under 5 minutes. It's truly one of the greatest additions to the design market in a while. Save $20 off the purchase of Logo Package Express 2.0 with this link. Already own Logo Package Express version 1? Click this link, log in and purchase the updated version 2.0 for only $20.

This is a cautionary tale on how not to treat your clients. Several months ago, I quoted on a branding and web design project for a client. This was an existing client who was starting something new and wanted my help. I gave her a price, she agreed. I sent her a contract, which she promptly signed and returned along with her deposit. Because of the nature of the project, which I'm not going to get into, we had to wait a few months before starting. But a couple of months ago, the client contacted me to cancel the project. The nature of her business involves large gatherings of people, and with the pandemic affecting things, she informed me that she was putting the project on indefinite hold. According to my contract, deposits are non-refundable. However, I did tell her that should she revive the project within six months. I would honour the original quote and the deposit she had given me. And that was that. Or so I had thought. Earlier this week, the clients contacted me. As it turns out, the project wasn't put on indefinite hold. What happened was another designer who happens to specialize in this client's niche contacted her and offered to do the project for almost half of what I had quoted. I've talked about niching before on the podcast. How niching gives you an advantage because you are perceived as an expert in that niche. Which is true. It works. And it worked in this instance. The client couldn't pass up this opportunity to work with a designer specializing in her industry and at a lower price than I quoted. So she cancelled with me and hired this other person. I don't blame her. It sounded like a great deal. Now back to the phone call I received this week. The client contacted me and told me why she cancelled our agreement. Then she proceeded to tell me how much of a nightmare this other designer was to work with. The project was completed, but not to her liking, and she wanted to know if I would be willing to take over the project from now on. Here's what happened. The client told me the designer seemed like a perfect fit for her project. So was impressed when they talked and she liked his price. She paid him half up front, with the second half coming due upon completion of the project. She gave the designer her credit card number, which you should never do, but she did. And the designer started the project. A few weeks later, the client received her credit card statement and noticed that the designer's payment was converted from US funds. Both the client and the designer live in Canada, so naturally, the client thought the quote was in Canadian dollars. Nowhere on the invoice says US funds, and she doesn't remember the designer ever saying anything about charging in US Dollars. When she questioned the designer, he told her that all web designers charge in US Dollars (which is not true), and that's just the way it is. She should have done her homework before hiring him. The US/CAN exchange rate means the client pays roughly 30-35% more than she expected for the project. But at this point, the designer had already designed a logo, which the client liked and had started on the website. So taking the loss, things with the project proceeded, and everything continued to go well with the project. It wasn't until the client started asking for changes that the designer's true demeanour came out. The client asked the designer to move a few things around on the website, but the designer refused to make any of the changes she requested. He told her that she's not a designer and therefore doesn't know what she's talking about. She should leave designing to the expert. When the client expressed a dislike for the colour palette, the designer chose for the website. He told her he wasn't going to change it. He had a vision for the brand, and he was going to stick with it. He told the client the colours would grow on her and not worry about it. They never did. When the client saw a proof of the website, including copy the designer had written himself, she decided to log into WordPress and edit some of the wording. The designer had a fit, accusing the client of trying to sabotage his vision. The designer sent her a message saying, "Will you please stop making changes to the website. If you start messing around, you're liable to muck things up, which is just more grief for me. You're not a web designer, so why don't you stick to things you know and let me handle the website." He then revoked the client's access to the site until he was finished with it, saying any changes she wanted had to be done by him. But as stated earlier, the designer refused to make any changes that went against his vision. And to make it worse, when the client complained that he wasn't listening to her, he replied, "I received your input, but I'm the designer. I've been doing this for a long time and know a lot more about designing websites than you do. Please keep your opinions to yourself unless I ask for them." This brings us to now. The client is not happy with the completed website and doesn't want anything to do with the designer anymore. That's why she's reaching out to me, someone she's worked with before and someone who has always treated her well. The saving grace is the designer didn't use a contract. So she's not on the hook to stay with him once she pays her final fee. Things still need to be finalized, but it looks like I'll be taking over this project very soon. I wanted to share this experience with you to illustrate how not to treat a client. Yes, as designers, we are experts. Especially if you focus on a niche. However, being an expert doesn't mean you're better or above your client or that a client's opinion isn't valid. A designer/client relationship is a partnership. One where you work together to complete the project. A designer may know more about designing than the client, but they will never know more about the client's business than they do. Abusing this is a great way to lose clients. Maybe this designer doesn't care. Maybe he's laughing and thinking how smart he is. He got paid for the project, and now he never has to hear from the client again. But you know what? This client is an influencer in her space. The same space this designer specializes in. What do you think will happen when she starts telling other people in her industry about her experiences? Was it really worth it for that designer to get his way? In the long run, I don't think so. I wish him luck because if that's how he treats his clients, he's going to need it. No matter how good you are, your business will not succeed if you drive your clients away. I've said it before. Clients prefer to work with a good designer they like than an amazing designer they don't like. That's how NOT to treat your clients. I know you know better than acting like this. But it's always good to hear these kinds of stories to make you appreciate the relationships you have with your clients. Treat them well, and they'll treat you well. What more can you ask for? Resource of the week ScreenFlow This week's resource is something I've shared before, ScreenFlow screen recording software. It has helped me streamline my graphic design business so much that I have to share it again. Using ScreenFlow has saved me so much time and headaches. Instead of teaching clients how to use their new websites and then helping them again a month or so later when they've forgotten, now I just record a short instructions video showing them what to do. If they need a refresher or need to train someone new, they have access to the video and they don't have to interrupt me for help. For that reason alone I highly recommend ScreenFlow.

Would you like to get more design clients? For your graphic or web design business to succeed, you need to find clients willing to work with you. Without clients, it's a given that your business will fail. But with so many designers to choose from. How do you get clients to pick you over the competition? If you're a long time listener of the podcast, you've heard me say before, "Clients prefer work with a good designer they like than an amazing designer they don't like." That's what it comes down to. If a client likes you, they'll be more inclined to hire you.> But how do you get someone to like you? Especially if you only have a few short minutes to make an impression? My father was an amazing salesperson. He worked for several companies in the electrical supply industry before retiring, and he made a great impression on every one of them. In fact, he won numerous salesman of the year awards and then several managers of the year awards when he was promoted to sales manager. Every company my father worked for credited him for their increased sales and growth. He had a natural gift for landing new clients. Even the competition had high praise for my father. They may not have liked him because he kept landing clients they wanted, but they respected him and, as far as I know, never talked ill of him. And that's because everyone liked and trusted my dad. I didn't understand that while growing up. Or more like I didn't pay much attention to it. My dad had an uncanny ability to run into people he knew. It seemed that everywhere we went, someone would recognize him, and he obviously made enough of an impression for them to go out of their way to come say hi. And it didn't matter if we were in a restaurant or mall downtown or halfway across the country. There was bound to be someone there my dad knew. I remember taking a summer road trip with my parents when I was young. We were driving through the State of Maine in the USA when my dad pulled into a gas station. While filling up, another car pulled in. And when the driver got out, he turned to my father with a big smile and greeted him by name. It turned out to be someone my dad had met at an electrical convention several years prior. They had only talked for a few minutes, but my dad had made enough of an impression on the man that he never forgot him. The first time my family and I visited Vancouver, British Columbia, which for those who don't know, is on the other side of Canada, some 4700 KM away from where I live. My dad ran into not one, not two, but three different people he knew while we were there. My mom and I would just shake our head dumbfounded. Not only at how many people my dad knew, but how happy they always seemed to see him. This seemingly magical skill my father possessed always amazed me. It wasn't until I was older and starting my career at the print shop that my dad let me in on his "little secret." One day, shortly after graduation from college, I was sitting down with my father, and he told me the following. He said "Mark if you want to do well in business, you have to work hard. Never complain unless it's absolutely necessary. And most importantly, you need people to like you. You see, the more people who like you, the easier it will be for you to succeed in whatever venture you set out to do." And then he told me his trick. And although my father didn't break them down into steps, for the benefit of the podcast, I will. Step 1) Always smile when you greet someone. A smile is a natural diffuser. When you smile as you greet someone, it shows that you accept them and are genuinely interested in talking with them. It makes them feel welcome. A smile creates positive energy and sets people at ease. Making it easier for them to open up to you. It's a lot easier to trust someone who smiles than someone who doesn't Step 2) Always say hello with a firm handshake as you look them in the eye. A handshake tells a lot about a person. A week handshake gives the impression of doubt and lack of confidence. A strong, bone-crushing handshake gives the impression of overconfident and trying to assert authority or dominance. You want to be in the middle, offering a firm handshake that instills a sense of confidence, as well as respect for the person you're shaking hands with. On a side note. I know with the World Wide pandemic still going on. A handshake is frowned upon right now. I'm confident that once all of this is behind us, the handshake will make its return. And you should be ready to start offering them again. A handshake is something my father was never stingy in offering. In fact, I remember my friends in high school telling me how much they liked my dad. Every time they came over, he would get up, smile and shake their hands and ask them how they were doing. Unlike the other kid's fathers, who never paid much attention to us, mine always made my friends feel welcome. I also remember my father getting down on one knee to shake young children's hands whenever someone he knew introduced their kids. It made a big impression on the kids as well as their parents. My dad never missed the opportunity to shake someone's hand. And I'm proud to say it's a trait I picked up from him. And I look forward to the day when I can start doing it again. Step 3) Try to use the person's name in conversation as much as possible. From birth, we're conditioned to the sound of our own name. We react to it in a way we don't react to anything else. Our name is one of the most precious sounds in the world to us. I know personally, I pay special attention whenever a character in a book, tv show or movie is named Mark. I remember feeling extra special as a kid when I found out the actor that played Luke Skywalker had the same first name as me. Whenever you use someone's name in conversation, you're telling them you care about them. That you find them important and that you respect them enough to use their name. Now, this can be tricky. Especially if you're not good with names. I know I'm not nearly as good as my dad. But I try my best. And something to remember, you should never be ashamed to tell someone you forgot their name. In fact, by saying you don't remember and asking them to repeat it, you're telling the person you care enough about them to want to know their name. Just don't make a habit of forgetting their name, or it will backfire on you. I know that any time I answer the phone, the first thing I do is write down the name of the person calling. That way, I can refer back to it while talking to them. And if they don't offer their name, it's one of the first questions I ask before continuing the conversation. And then I make sure to use it. After all, what do you think sounds more personable. "I'd love to work with you on this project. I'll send you a quote by the end of the day." or "I'd love to work with you on this, Sarah. I'll send you a quote by the end of the day." Most good salespeople use this tactic because it works. And so can you when talking to clients. Step 4) Show interest in the person you're talking to. Ask any dating expert, and they'll tell you that one of the most attractive features in a date is someone who shows more interest in you than in sharing about themselves. Now chances are you're not seeking any romantic relations with your clients. But the principles are the same. The more you talk about and express interest in the client, the more inclined they'll be to like, trust and want to work with you. The easiest way to accomplish this is by asking questions. Most conversations involve two or more people, each sharing their own views. This is why questions are great attention-grabbers. Questions disrupt the normal flow of a conversation by focusing what you say on the other party. According to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the best type of question to ask is a follow-up question. Not only does a follow-up question refocus the conversation on the client. But it shows them that you were paying attention and that you were interested enough to want to know more about what they were saying. And questions don't have to be specific about the topic of the conversation. In fact, the best questions are unexpected ones. If the client says, they got an idea while out camping. Ask them about the camping trip. It's basic human nature. We like to feel important, to feel special. And by asking questions, especially follow-up questions, you make the client feel special. And when you make someone feel special, they'll be much more inclined to like, trust and want to work with you. Now, of course, I expanded on what my father originally told me. But these four steps are the cornerstones of sales success. Always smile when you greet someone. Always say hello with a firm handshake as you look them in the eye. Try to use the person's name in conversation as much as possible. Show interest in the person you're talking to. When put together, they create a powerful impression on the person or people you're dealing with. Imagine you walk into a car dealership, and the salesperson sees you and calls out from across the showroom floor. "Hi, Can I help you with anything?" "Yes, I'd like to see the newest model SUVs you have." "Sounds good. Follow me over here, and I'll show them to you." Compared that to a salesperson who responds this way. You walk into the car dealership, and the salesperson gets up from behind their desk and approaches you with their hand held out. "Hi, I'm Chris." And he shakes your hand as he waits for you to reply. "Hi Chris, I'm Mark." "Nice to meet you, Mark. What can I help you with today?" "I'd like to see the newest model SUVs you have." "Sound good. Tell me, Mark, have you ever owned an SUV before?" he asks as he leads me to where the SUVs are. I don't know about you. But even though It's such a small difference, that second guy leaves a much better first impression. And if I had to go on just that initial greeting. I'd chose him to deal with over the first guy. The same things apply to clients. Remember, they would prefer to work with a good designer they like than with an amazing designer they don't like. But their ideal choice is working with an amazing designer they also happen to like. And that's where you come in. The more you can get people to like, trust and want to work with you. The faster your design business will grow and succeed. So smile, shake hands (once we can again, of course), look people in the eye. Use their name and ask questions, especially follow-up questions. If you do this, you'll be on the road to landing more clients. Do you follow these four steps? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Resource of the week Art Text Create artistic text effects with Art Text 4. A Mac-based application for creating stunning headlines, logos and more. Art Text lets you turn any text into a work of art. Create realistic looking metallic, wooden, gel, paint, even chocolate looking text. All of it is fully editable with unrestricted preset. The only limit is your creativity. You can adjust the textures, surface maps, light spots and shadows, and other settings to come up with your own unique materials. And that's not to mention the 3D modelling engine that helps convert any text, symbol or pictogram into 3D. There's just too much to talk about in this little program. I've been using Art Text since version 1. I thought it was great back then. Well, version 4 is so much better. It's my secret weapon when it comes to creating amazing stylized text. Imagine doing a poster for a coffee shop and writing the headline in coffee beans. Or a bakery with a headline that looks like a frosted donut. Or an autobody shop with text that looks like rusted metal. You get the idea. At only $29.99 US Art Text pays for itself the first time you use it.

Are your indulgences impeding your productivity? People often ask me how I can manage so many things at once, so many spinning plates, if you will, while only working 9 AM to 5 PM? Ask most designers, and they'll tell you of the many late nights or weekends they work to get the jobs done. I, on the other hand, rarely work late and hardly ever on weekends. So how do I do it? How do I manage this podcast, my other television show podcast, two design businesses, the Resourceful Designer Community, and a few personal "work-related" projects I have on the go? All within a 40-hour workweek? I don't always. In fact, I'm recording this podcast episode on Saturday because I ran out of time during the week. But this is a rarity for me. Normally, I get all my work done between 9 AM and 5 PM, Monday to Friday. So how do I do it? I learned many years ago that my time is valuable. I only have so much of it, and I have to figure out the best use of that time for me. I constantly ask myself how can I get the best ROI for my time. And the biggest help was learning to cull my indulgences. What do I mean by this? First, let me tell you a story. As you may or may not know. My wife and I have two kids, both of which are now in their 20s and no longer live with us. Since the kids moved out, Kim and I have had to adjust to the lives of being empty nesters. One of those adjustments is finding television shows we can watch together. Kim loves comedies, dramas and romantic shows. In comparison, I prefer science fiction, fantasy and action-adventure programs. It wasn't a problem when our daughter was still here. She and Kim enjoyed the same things, so they would put on one of their shows, and I would slip down to the basement to watch one of mine. But with the kids gone, Kim and I try to find shows to watch together. A couple of months ago, we started watching a show on Netflix called The Order. It's a young adult-oriented semi-romantic drama that includes witches, warlocks and werewolves. So it checked off both our interests. Over the course of two weeks, we would watch an episode here and an episode there until we finished season 1. It wasn't the best show we'd seen, but it was entertaining and enjoyable. A few weeks later, season 2 came out, and we decided to start it. That first episode was kind of meh, so it was a few days before we decided to watch another one which didn't turn out to be much better. When watching episodes 3 and 4, we were questioning if there was something else we wanted to watch instead. After the fourth episode, we both decided the season wasn't worth finishing. Our time was too valuable to waste on a program we were no longer enjoying. Now, this may not be the best example, since the time we saved by not watching The Order, we still ended up spending on the couch watching something else. But the point I'm trying to convey is, your time has value. And it shouldn't be wasted on things that don't contribute to that value. Let's get back to how I manage my days and get everything done. As I said earlier, I learned a while back that to be the most productive person I could be; I needed to cull my indulgences. What does that mean? It means that whenever something catches my eye, whenever I come across something that might be a distraction, I ask myself this. "Would I be any worse off if I don't indulge in this?" Would I be any worse off if I don't listen to this podcast episode? Would I be any worse off if I don't watch this YouTube video? Would I be any worse off if I don't read this article? Would I be any worse off if I don't learn this tutorial? Don't ask yourself if you would be better off if you indulge because the answer will often be a misleading yes. Misleading because knowledge, in general, makes you better, regardless of what that knowledge is. Listening to a podcast, watching a YouTube video, and reading an article will benefit you somehow, even if it's minute. But asking if you would be worse off by not indulging gives you a completely different perspective to judge by. For example, if I come across an article reviewing new features in Adobe Illustrator. I ask myself, "would I be any worse off if I don't indulge in reading this?" The answer is yes. I use Illustrator regularly. If there are new features that can speed up my workflow and make what I do easier, and I don't lean them. I'll be worse off. However, if I come across an article titled "The top 10 design trends to avoid in 2021." The answer would be no. I might gain some knowledge and benefit from reading the article. But I'm not going to be any worse off if I don't read it. I tend to do my own thing and not follow trends anyway. So why waste my valuable time reading that article. No matter how curious I am. Now in some cases, putting off instead of dismissing is an option. And article titled "The 10 most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe." Oh, this one hits me at my geeky core. As a huge Marvel fan, I want to know if this list coincides with the one I have in my head. But would I be any worse off if I read it and found out? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. I would be. Not because of the knowledge I would gain. But because reading the article would take up valuable time when I should be working. So the smart thing to do is not indulge. However, the geek in me really wants to know. I mean, who do they have at number 1. Is it the Hulk? Thor? Captain Marvel? Someone, I'm not thinking of? I think it's Captain Marvel. It has to be Captain Marvel, right? In this case, instead of dismissing the article altogether. I put it aside to look at when I'm not working. You see, Outside of the hours of 9 to 5, the value I associate with my time diminishes drastically. When I'm not in my office, I allow myself to indulge in these things. I mean, you have to enjoy life, right? But during working hours. I try to use my time most productively. In some cases, I encounter an indulgence that I would be worse off if I didn't read or watch it. However, I wouldn't be worse off right now. For example. I like the Divi Blog Extra module by Divi Extended. But I only need it for a couple of websites. In most cases, the default Blog module that comes with Divi is good for the sites I build. So if an update for Divi Blog Extra is released with new features, not only would I benefit from knowing about them, but I might also be worse off by not knowing about them. However, as I said, I only use Divi Blog Extra on a couple of websites, and they're working fine as is. Whatever new features the module has is of no consequence to me in regards to those sites. And If I'm not currently working on any new sites that require the module, there's no reason for me to learn about the new features now. This goes back to one of the first episodes of the podcast titled Just In Time Learning. Just In Time Learning is a mindset that makes you more productive. The theory behind Just In Time Learning is there's no point learning something now if you are not going to use it now. Because chances are, by the time you do need to use it, you'll have forgotten most of it and have to refresh yourself anyway, doubling the time you spent learning it. Instead, you put it aside, make a note, and go back to it when you need to learn it. Just In Time Learning became a huge time saver for me. I have tons of tutorials and articles put aside. I use Evernote to keep track of all of them. They're all there, easily searchable for the day I might need to review them. They're all cases of things that I may need to know. But I'm not worse off by not knowing them now. So in Divi Blog Extra's case, until I need to use it on another website, there's no use learning about the new features. My time can be used for better things right now. Earlier I mentioned coming across an article listing new features in Adobe Illustrator and how, because of my use of Illustrator, I would be worse off if I didn't read it. However, I can apply this same principle within an article. As I skim the article, I ask myself, "Would I be any worse off if I don't know about this particular feature?" If it has to do with things such as the Pathfinder tools or the Appearance panel, then yes, because those are things I use all the time. But I can pass on the part about embedding cloud documents from Photoshop because I have no use for that feature. So I wouldn't be any worse off if I don't read that part. Am I getting my point across? You'd be amazed at how much time you spend throughout your day or week, indulging in things that are not pertinent to your business, or at least not now when your time could be spent on things pertinent to your business. So ask yourself, "Would I be any worse off if I don't indulge in this?" and see how much time you get back. And use it on everything: articles, tutorials, YouTube Videos, even podcasts. I may be shooting myself in the foot by saying this. But if I put out a podcast episode and you would be no worse off by not listening to it, then don't. If it doesn't apply or is of no use to you. Don't bother. I'm subscribed to over 60 different podcasts. Do you think I listen to every episode? Of course not. I judge each episode and decide if it's something I need to listen to. If it isn't, I delete it. Now I'm hoping you don't do that with Resourceful Designer. But I'm also hoping I'm not causing you to waste time you could be spending growing your design business. Now I'm not saying this idea is foolproof. I still get sucked down the rabbit hole now and again. That's just life. Sometimes, curiosity or that shiny object gets the better of us. But the more disciplined you are, and the more time you can free up from these indulgences, the more time you'll have to invest in running and growing your design business. That's how I can do two podcasts, run two design businesses, partake in the Resourceful Designer Community, and manage all my personal "work-related" projects and more. All while sticking to a 9-5 schedule. And you can too. Just ask yourself, "Would I be any worse off if I don't indulge in this?" Resource of the week Dynalist.io Dynalist.io is a great organizational tool for mind mapping that you can access from any platform. Think of it as an organization or a bullet list on steroids and so much more. For example. If you're laying out the structure for a new website project. You can create a list with all your main menus, then their sub-pages, then categories, then perhaps tags. And so forth. It sounds pretty basic. It's one of those things you have to try in order to truly appreciate what it can do. Working on a social media campaign? Dynalist will help make sure nothing gets overlooked. I love its easy move feature. No cumbersome copy, find the right place and paste. Moving an item is as simple as selecting the item and then telling it where to move to. As I said, you have to see it to appreciate it. Dynalist does have a $7.99 monthly plan. But I don't think you'll need that. I use their free plan and it does everything I need it to do. So if you're looking for a great free resource to help keep you organized. Check out Dynalist.io.

Are you ready to grow your design business by letting go of what's holding you back? Let me start with a story. A young boy is visiting his grandparents' house with his mom and dad. As young boys will do when in an environment not meant for young boys, they explore and sometimes get into trouble. Well, this young boy just so happened to be walking around with an antique vase, a precious family heirloom. When his mother spotted him, she immediately told him to put the vase down before breaking it. But the boy replied that he couldn't, his hand was stuck inside. A little frustrated, the mother takes the vase and tells the boy, "If you were able to get your hand in the vase, you could surely get it out." But as she pulls on it, there's no give. Hearing the commotion, the father comes in to help. He, too, tugs on the vase, but the boy's hand is firmly stuck. He tugs and tugs until the boy says it's hurting him. The grandmother, in her wise old ways, suggests using butter to help the hand slide out. But alas, it has no effect. Completely perplexed, with the mother still tugging on the vase, the father throws his hands up in the air, stating, "I'd give 50 dollars just to get your hand out of that vase right now." The young boy's eyes opened wide with excitement. "Really?" he exclaims. Suddenly, they hear a clinking sound, and the boy's hand slides out of the vase. In disbelief, the mother looks into the vase then upturns it, and a quarter falls into her hand. The young boy explains that it's the quarter grandpa gave him when they arrived. He had put it in the vase, but when he reached in to grab it, his hand got stuck. But when his dad said he'd give him $50 if he got his hand out of the vase, he let go of the quarter. Now I'm sure you've heard this or a variation of this story before. So you probably knew the outcome before I ever reached it. But I wanted to tell it anyway as a kind of analogy to your design business. Many designers who run their own business tend to hold on to that metaphorical quarter when they should be letting go of it for bigger and better things. This is the first episode of 2021. And I don't have to tell you what kind of year 2020 was. You were there. But with all of that fiasco behind us and light of better things to come finally peeking through at the end of the tunnel. Now is the perfect time to take stock of your business and figure out what you need to do to help it grow and succeed. What are you going to do more of? And what, if anything, can you let go? No business, design or otherwise can grow without making changes. Restaurants change their menus. Telecommunication companies change their phone plans. Governments elect new officials. Changes are a natural precursor to growth. And every successful business does it. By grow, I don't necessarily mean taking on more design work or more clients, although that may be the case, and it still counts as growth. What I mean by grow, is making progress, expanding while focusing on your goals. You do have goals, don't you? Without them, how will you know if you're making progress? If we take 2020 out of the equation and compare this upcoming year, 2021, to your previous years, you should be striving to not only make more money but also to be more satisfied with yourself and your business than you've been in previous years. At the very least, you should aim to stay on par as in previous years. What you don't want is to step backward. If you make less money or aren't as happy, you're doing something wrong. And chances are, it's because you're holding on to that metaphorical quarter and not letting go. Growing your business and making more money doesn't necessarily mean doing more work, which, in turn, could increase your stress level. In fact, you can grow your design business and make more money by doing less but smarter work. The easiest way to do this is to raise your rates. But to raise your rates, you have to let go of the notion that you're not worth higher rates. Or that your clients won't pay higher rates. Thousands of designers have already debunked that theory when they started charging more money for their services, and their business didn't fail. Myself included. I make more money today, putting in 10 hours of work than I did five years ago doing 30 or 40 hours of work. How? It's because I let go of the notion that an hour of my time is worth X amount of dollars. When I started charging clients based on what I thought their project was worth and not how much time it would take me to complete it, I started making a lot more money. And you know what? The only clients that objected to my price increase were the clients I didn't really want to work with, to begin with. Those clients who didn't object were the clients who truly valued what I do for them. And you know what? When I raised my rates, they started bringing me bigger and better projects. They stopped sending me simple things to design and started sending me entire campaigns to work on. It's that perceived value I talked about a few weeks ago in episode 240 of the podcast. The same service I provided was perceived as much more valuable to these clients because I was charging more for it, and they are willing to pay me much more for those services and trust me with bigger jobs. Want another way to look at it? Consider a Rolex watch and a Timex watch. Both timepieces fit nicely on your wrist. Both tell time. And both can make you look pretty darn good fashion-wise. And yet, the Rolex is worth so much more than the Timex. Why is that? Is what they're made of? There may be a price difference in the actual materials each watch is made of, but I doubt it's enough of a difference to justify the huge difference in each timepiece's cost. Is it craftsmanship? Both are precision instruments. They both need to be finely crafted to function. Is it the mechanics? I don't think so. As far as I know, watch mechanics haven't changed much since they were first invented. So what is it? What's the real difference between a Rolex and a Timex? The true difference is not the watches themselves. It's the companies behind the watches. They're the ones who create the value. Rolex markets itself to the elite, the A-listers, and therefore has an elite price tag to match. Whereas Timex markets itself to the general populace, the everyday person, therefore, has a price to match. Their value is exactly where they've set it for themselves. Both companies are very successful. However, and I'm just speculating here, but I bet Timex has to sell a whole lot more watches than Rolex does to stay in business. You have a say in how your design business is perceived. Which, in turn, dictates how much clients are willing to pay for your services. Do you want to take on dozens and dozens of small paying projects? Or would you prefer to work on a few high paying projects? Are you a Timex, or are you a Rolex? In my Podcast Branding business, for example. Time and time again, clients tell me they chose my business, one of the more expensive options in the podcast space, because I looked the most professional, and I instilled a sense of confidence in them that I know what I'm doing and they would get quality work from me. Because of that, they are willing to pay more for my services than for any of the less expensive options. So let go of the notion that you're not good enough or not worth enough because it's not true. Even the most inexperienced designer, a student fresh out of school, is worth more than they know. I've been talking a lot about prices, but there are other ways you can let go to grow your design business. Look at the services you offer. Are there any that you're just not that keen on doing? If so, why do you offer them? Even a general, all-purpose graphic designer can set limits on what they do. When I started my Podcast Branding business, I offered social media graphics but quickly realized I didn't like doing them. So I eliminated the service. I still offer to create the branding for my client's social media platforms, but I no longer create graphics for their individual social media posts. Just because every designer around you seems to be offering website design doesn't mean you have to as well. If you don't like designing websites, even if you know how, you don't have to. Let it go and concentrate on the things you do, like designing. Not every designer enjoys designing logos. And not every designer is good at it either. If you don't like it, stop offering logo design as a service. It's OK to let these things go and concentrate on the things you are good at and enjoy doing. In a way, it's kind of like niching down. I've talked about the benefits of niching before on several episodes of the podcast. Culling your design services is a form of niching. In fact, it could set you apart from other designers and make you more desirable to clients. Look at Ian Paget from Logo Geek. His entire business is focused on designing logos. The first thing you see when you visit his website is the phrase "I Design Logos." If you know Ian, you'll know that his background is in designing websites and yet nowhere on his current site does he mention that. Why? Because it's not what he wants to do. Ian is passionate about logos, so that's what he offers. He let go of everything else he knows how to design to focus on one thing. And now he's killing it in the logo design space. I'm not saying you have to go to that extreme, but it's a great example of how letting go can help propel you forward. One thing to note. Removing a service doesn't have to mean never doing it. Ian, for example, still offers other design services to his clients besides logo design. He doesn't advertise it because it's not his passion. In my case, If one of my clients asked me to create a social media post for them, I can say yes if I feel like it and do it for them. Nothing is stopping me from doing it. I don't advertise it as a service anymore. It's OK to let things go in the name of progress. In fact, it's somewhat necessary if you truly want to succeed. Ask any successful designer running their own business if they're doing the same thing today as they were five years ago, and the majority, if not all of them, would answer no. You have to evolve if you want to survive in this industry. If you don't, then you'll lose when those around you do. Don't get your hand stuck in the vase grasping a quarter when there are much bigger things you could be going after. That's my 2 cents. What are you going to let go of this year? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Resource of the week Chrome Browser Groups In episode 239 of the podcast, I shared how to turn Chrome browser tabs into desktop apps. I got so many responses thanking me for that tip that I thought I'd share another Chrome tip. If you have a bunch of related browser tabs open, for example, you may have several tabs open for different stock image sites. Or, if you're a web designer, you may have tabs open for each of your client's websites. An easy way to organize this tab chaos is with Tab Groups. In Chrome, right-click on any tab and select "Add to New Group." If you already have a tab group, the menu changes to "Add to Group" with a pop-out for you to choose an existing group or create a new one. When creating a new group, you can name it whatever you want, such as Stock Images or Client Websites. You can also assign it a colour, which makes it very easy to navigate. Once a Tab Group is created, simply right-click on any tab to add it to the group. A Tab Group appears in your Tab bar like any other tab. The difference is you can open and collapse a tab group. So if you have 10 client sites in a Tab Group, clicking it will expand to show you all 10 tabs, and each one will be underlined with the colour you assigned the group, making it very easy to see which tabs are part of the group. When you're done looking at the client sites, simply click on the Group Tab, and all 10 client website tabs collapse into the one Group Tab, freeing up your browser window and making it much easier to navigate. This is a great solution for anyone who likes to keep dozens, if not more, tabs open at once. One thing to note if you're testing this out, you cannot collapse a tab group until you have a tab that is not part of the group.

A look back at 2020 and a look ahead to 2021. [sc name="pod_ad"]Thank you for your continued interest in Resourceful Designer. You have no idea how much I appreciate you. There are so many great resources available for learning and growing as a designer, and I'm humbled that you choose to spend a bit of your valuable time with me. I'm continuing the tradition of making the final podcast episode of the year a form of a retrospective where I look back a the year that's coming to an end and look forward to the year ahead. I bring you A Look back, A Look Ahead 2020 Edition. A Look Back at my 2020 goals. At the end of 2018, I set these goals for myself. ACCOMPLISHED: Talk at more conferences in 2020. Surprisingly, although not as many as I expected, the two conferences I talked at in 2020 were more than I did in 2019, so mission accomplished. FAIL: Grow the Resourceful Designer audience. The 2020 pandemic took a big toll on podcast listenership, and Resourceful Designer was not immune. With fewer people commuting to work, I saw my download numbers dip during COVID lockdowns. The end of the year saw a rise in downloads but not enough to view it as a growth from the previous year. ACCOMPLISHED: Grow the Resourceful Designer Community. The Community has quickly become a place where friendships form and help is freely given. It's even more wonderful than I anticipated. ACCOMPLISHED: Grow Podcast Branding. My niche design business focusing on the podcast industry saw huge growth in 2020. With so many people stuck at home, many decided to start a podcast and needed visuals to go with it. Some of my numbers from 2020 Resourceful Designer Released 47 podcast episodes Reached over 550k total episode downloads in 2020 (Over 125k of which were in 2020) Resourceful Designer released on Gaana and Amazon Music. My design business My design business took a huge hit from COVID-19, with many of my clients being affected by lockdowns. Worked on design projects for 9 different clients (down from 29 in 2019) Two of those clients were first-time clients. I sent out only 14 invoices in 2020 (down from 57 in 2019) Lost 7 long-standing clients due to various reasons. Podcast Branding My Podcast Branding business saved me from a horrible year. Worked with 51 different clients (up from 18 in 2019) Launched 16 new websites for clients Mentioned in an article on how to create stunning podcast cover art. A Look Ahead at my 2020 goals. My 2019 goals carry forward. I want the listenership of Resourceful Designer to continue growing. I want to speak at conferences (I'm already booked to speak at one in March). I want to build the Resourceful Designer Community. It's such a fantastic place right now, but I know it can be even better. New Goal for 2020. Keep going the podcast listenership. Keep growing Podcast Branding to become THE place for podcast websites and branding. Keep growing the Resourceful Designer Community What about you? Did you accomplish your goals for 2019, and What are your goals for the new year? Are you a student getting ready to graduate? What are your goals once you're done school? Are you still relatively new to the design world? What are your goals to hone your skills? Are you a veteran designer like I am? What are your goals for continued growth? Are you a designer working for someone else? Maybe you enjoy your job; maybe you don't. Either way, what are your future goals? Or perhaps you're already a home-based designer, a freelancer if that's the term you use; what are your goals to grow your business? Wherever you are in the world, whatever your level of skill, whatever your situation is, I want you to take some time to look back at 2019 and think about your accomplishments AND your shortcomings. Did you stop after your accomplishments? Or did you plow right through them, happy with yourself but reaching even further? What about your shortcomings? Did they discourage you, or did they create a sense of want even higher than before? Did you reach the goals you set out for yourself and your design business in 2019? If yes, were you happy with the outcome? If no, think about what prevented you from reaching those goals. So long 2020 As 2020 comes to an end (good riddance). I encourage you to reflect on this past year. Think about everything you've accomplished and those things you fell short on. And come up with a plan to make 2021 your year of success. To help with your planning, perhaps you should listen to episode 55 of the podcast, Setting Goals For Your Design Business. I'll be back in 2021 with lots more advice for starting and growing your design business. I'm Mark Des Cotes wishing you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday season. And of course, that no matter what goals you set for yourself in the new year, the one thing you have to remember is to Stay Creative. What are your goals for 2021? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode.

There are so many things you can do to improve your design business. Here are 5 tips to help you along the way. Tip # 1) How do you get people to pay attention to you? How do you get people to pay attention and be interested in what you have to say? Be it at a networking event, during presentations, in the emails you send, on a landing page or other marketing material? Start by identifying the problem you solve. As a designer, you are a problem solver. That's your superpower. But nobody cares about a solution if the problem hasn't been identified. Our brains are wired to go from problem to solution, problem to solution. If you only offer the solution, nobody will care what you have to say. For example; When someone asks what you do for a living, don't just say, "I design websites for startup companies." Try it, and you'll see just how fast someone's eyes can glaze over. Instead, start with a problem like this. "Do you know how hard it is for a new startup company to compete online these days? With people's patience and attention spans getting shorter and shorter, it can seem like an impossible task to get noticed. What I do is create great looking and high-converting websites that help new startups quickly gain traction, catch up to and eventually surpass their competition." A problem, followed by a solution. Now you have their attention. Tip # 2) Be confident in your calls-to-action. Every good website, including your own website for your design business, needs a call-to-action (CTA). Without one, what's the point of the site? Sure, you want people to know more about you. Sure, you want people to know what services you offer. Sure, you want people to see your work portfolio. But ultimately, what you want is for people to hire you. The best way to do that is with an assertive CTA. A passive CTA such as "Learn More" or "Get Started" just don't cut it. What they actually do is instill doubt in the client. It's as if you're not sure about your business and are afraid to ask the client to commit. So instead of asking them to hire you, you're asking them to learn more about you in the hopes you can convince them. Or to get started, and if they don't like what they see, we can stop. No. What you want to do is be bold and show confidence that you can help the client and show it in your CTA. Be direct and use CTAs like "Hire me," "Schedule a Call," or "Order Now." The more direct you are with assertive CTAs, the better the chance someone will hire you. 3) Get paid faster by sharing the value you provided on your invoices. Wouldn't it be nice if clients paid your invoices as soon as they receive them, and you didn't have to sit there wondering when or if the money would ever come in? What if you could make one small change that would actually encourage your clients to pay your invoices faster? You can. By sharing the value, you provided directly on the invoice. If your invoice looks something like this... Item 1) Designed website = $xxx Item 2) Designed Logo = $xxx Item 3) Designed brochure = $xxx Total = $xxx Then you're missing out. Use a description field or add a footnote reminding your clients of their purchase value, not just the cost... the value. Item 1) Designed website with clear and concise messaging, which will produce a good conversion rate, translating to increased sales. Item 2) Designed Logo that shows the brand's quality and longevity and stands out amongst the competition. Item 3) Designed brochure to showcase the client's premium services and instill an air of confidence in people hiring you. Show the client that you provided more than just a website, logo or brochure. You provided something that will help their business grow and succeed. When they see and are reminded of that, they will be much more willing to pay your invoice quicker. Tip # 4) Go from being a good salesperson to a great salesperson. We don't' like thinking about it, but a major part of running a design business is being a salesperson. Otherwise, we wouldn't ever get new clients. The number of clients who hire you is directly related to how good a salesperson you are. If you want to go from being a good salesperson to being a great salesperson, you need to remember two things: empathy and authority. Empathy Empathy is showing that you understand the problem the client is coming to you with. "I understand how you feel." "I get where you're coming from." "I know exactly what you're talking about." When a client feels you have an empathetic connection with them, they are much more likely to hire you. Authority Authority is showing you're not only confident you can help them, but that you have the experience to back up that confidence. "I've helped other clients with similar problems." "That's a common issue that I know we can solve." "Here's what we can do to solve that." Think of the power when you combine Empathy and Authority. "I understand how you feel. Rest assured, I've helped other clients with similar problems before." "I get where you're coming from. That's actually a common issue that I know we can solve." "I know exactly what you're talking about. Here's what we can do to solve that." Tip # 5) Avoid being cute or trying to be clever in your marketing. When done right, cute and clever can be a huge success. Unfortunately, the majority of the time they are not done right. And there's no way for the person who's developing the campaign to know if it's done right or not because they're too close to it. The problem with trying to be cute or clever is a lot of people won't get it. They're not in your head. They're not part of the discussion that comes up with the campaign idea. And therefore, they won't understand the message. That idea that you think is so cute or clever is completely lost to them. And if a potential client feels confused about your message. You've lost them as a client. For any marketing campaign to be successful, the message needs to be clear. Clear what the message is and clear what you want them to do. "Do you need a professional graphic designer to develop your new company's brand? Book a call to discuss your project." Concise and Clear will win out over cute and clever every time. Resource of the week Evernote Evernote is, in my opinion, one of the best organization and note-taking applications there is. I use it on a daily basis to keep track of everything from podcast and blog topics, to business contacts, websites I need to revisit, and so much more. Evernote's ability to sync across all my devices means I can access it no matter where I am. It's become one of the most invaluable tools in my arsenal. If you are interested in giving it a try visit evernote.com

Do you understand what perceived value is? Many graphic and web designers have difficulty understanding perceived value when it comes to how their clients view them. You can offer the same service to multiple people, and each one will perceive the value of what you're offering them differently. I thought I would do something different by telling you a story to get the point across. Here goes. A lesson in understanding perceived value. Once upon a time (I know, it's a cliché way to start a story, but I'm going with it.) Once upon a time, there was a young graphic designer by the name of Tom. Several months ago, the large corporation Tom worked at was acquired. As part of the merger process, the new company dissolved the design department where Tom worked, and he lost his job. Tom was upset, of course, but he decided to see this as an opportunity. With the help of his severance money, he decided to do something he had been dreaming of doing for quite a while, open his own home-based design business. One day, on his way back from a client meeting, Tom decided to stop in and see his father. "Hey, Dad! Where are you?" "I'm in the attic." Tom made his way up to the attic, a place he seldom saw, even when he lived in this house with his parents. "What are you doing up here?" he asked. His father was sitting amid several open boxes, "I was taking out the holiday decorations when nostalgia got the best of me, and I decided to go through some of these old storage bins. Some of these haven't been opened in decades. What are you doing here?" "I had a meeting this morning with a new client not far from here, and I thought I'd drop by before heading home." "How'd the meeting go?" Asked his father. Tom sighed, "I got the job." "You don't sound that happy about it," replied the older man. "Dad, sometimes I think I made a mistake starting my own design business. It's not as easy as I thought it would be. Take this new client, for example. He's a handyman who does odd jobs for people. He's looking for a logo he can put on the side of his truck and business cards." "What's wrong with that?" Asked his father. "Price," replied Tom. "He only has a budget of $150. That's not a lot of money for a logo." "You know," continued Tom, "I read articles, I watch videos, I listen to podcasts, and they all say how graphic and web designers should be charging more money for their services. But I don't see how. I mean, I'm lucky this guy is willing to pay me $150. Do you know there are services online where you can get a logo designed for under $10? How are designers these days supposed to compete with that?" The father looked at his son, thoughtfully. Then he nodded inwardly to himself and said, "Thomas, that's a tough situation you're in, but I'm sure you'll work it out." Changing the subject, the father asked, "Hey, look in that bin over there. Do you see that wooden box? Take it out." Tom looked in the bin and pulled out a small ornately carved wooden box. With a nod from his father, he opened it. The box was lined with old black felt. Resting on the felt was a very old watch. The gold on it was tarnished. The glass was cracked and fogged a bit, and the well-worn leather band looked dry and cracked. "What's this?" asked Tom. "That my son is a family heirloom. Your, let's see now, a family gave your great-great-grandfather that watch when he helped them during the Civil War. He called it his good luck charm. He passed it on to his son when he enlisted in World War I. Who then passed it on to your grandfather, who wore it during World War II. When grandpa passed away, the watch was passed to me. And one day, it will be yours. It doesn't work anymore, but it's part of our history." "That's pretty cool," replied Tom. "Why have I never seen this before?" "To be honest," said the father, "I had all but forgotten it until today when I found the box. Hey, do me a favour, on your way home, can you stop by the pawnshop downtown? I don't want to sell it. But I'd be curious to know what they'd pay for it." "Sure, Dad, why not." Replied the son. A little while later, Tom called his father. "Dad, I just came out of the pawnshop. They offered $20 for the watch. They said it looked old so that somebody may be interested in it, but since it's not functioning, that's the best they could do." "That's disappointing," replied the father. "Humm. There's an antique store two blocks from where you are. Do you have time to ask them what they think?" "Yes, I could do that," replied Tom. Later, Tom called his father again. "Guess what? The lady at the shop was intrigued by the watch. She said a watch that old is a rare find and offered $300 for it." "That's a lot better." Said the father. "Do you have time for one more stop? Take it down to the museum on the edge of town and show it to the curator." Tom hesitated a bit but then agreed. Later that afternoon, Tom burst into his father's home. "Dad, Dad, you won't believe it," he said excitedly, "The museum curator was so impressed when I showed him the watch. He said a piece like that would be a wonderful addition to their collection. He offered to buy it for $50,000." Tom's father looked at his son for a moment, then asked, "So what does that tell you about the watch?" "It tells me that the guy at the pawnshop and the lady at the antique store had no idea of the true value of the watch." "That's where you're wrong, my son." replied the father. "All three places you visited were correct in their valuing of the watch. For the guy at the pawnshop, it's just another watch. Sure it may be old, but that doesn't matter to him. He sees watches come and go all the time. If you had accepted his $20 offer, he'd add it to the other watches for sale without a second thought and forget about it until someone showed interest in it. And since you didn't accept his offer, it's not a big deal to him. There will always be someone else with another old watch to sell him. So there was no real value in it for him. The woman at the antique store saw a bit more value in the watch because she's used to dealing with old things. She could appreciate it as rare antiquity and valued it as such. But to her, it's still just an old watch to display amongst all the other old things in her shop. So even though she valued it more than the pawnshop owner did, it was still only worth $300 to her" "Now, the museum curator, on the other hand, that guy saw more than just a watch. Sure, it would be just another museum piece for people to admire as part of their collection. But it goes beyond that. What he saw was not the value of the watch itself, but the value the watch could bring by improving the museum's display. Adding that watch to their collection would enhance the experience of the people who visited the museum. It would give them another story to tell. It would give them something new to expand upon. To the museum curator, that enhanced experience visitors would receive because of the watch is a lot more valuable than the watch itself. That's why he was willing to offer so much more for it. Not for the watch, but for the experience the watch brings. All three people you showed it to saw the exact same watch. But each one had a different perceived value based on their circumstances. And none of them were wrong. Tom, son, the same principle applies to your design business. That handyman you told me about this morning, he doesn't really care what his logo looks like. He knows he needs one. As long as people can read it and recognize it, he'll be happy. That's why he only wanted to spend what he did. He has a low perceived value of what you can do for him. Let me ask you, does your knowledge as a graphic designer or are the skills you use to design logos any different weather a client pays you $150 or $1500?" "No," replied Tom. "Do you think that the designers who charge thousands of dollars for logos are that much better at what they do than you?" asked his father. Tom replied again. "No" "No," Agreed his father. "The difference between you and designers charging a lot more is they're positioning themselves to go after clients who see the value in what they do. Clients that understand a logo as more than just a pretty graphic picture. They understand the value a well-designed logo can bring to their company. Just like with the watch. There are clients out there who want the cheapest design option available to them. Some clients understand that good design matters and therefore costs money. However, to them, it's still an expense they can afford only to a certain extent. And then some clients know that design goes beyond the designed piece itself. When implemented right, good design can drastically affect their bottom line positively. To them, the design is an investment with a projected ROI. And that's why they assign so much more value to it. So, Tom, you've told me that what you do is no different than what those other high-end designers do. Is that correct? "I did," Tom replied. "Then, son, be confident in what you do because you are an amazing designer. You need to decide what type of clients you want to spend your time working with—the ones who don't appreciate your value or the ones who do. And Tom?" "Yes, Dad?" His father smiled at him. "Don't get any fancy ideas about that watch. I'm holding on to it. You can do with it what you will once I'm gone." The End. So there you have it—understanding perceived value. I know telling a story like this was a very different approach. Still, I hope it showed you how different people could assign a different value to the same thing. Just like the watch in my story, what you offer as a designer will be perceived by different people as worth different amounts. It's up to you to figure out who the right people are and find a way to offer your services to them. I read a quote recently that is the perfect way to end this post. There are people out there who are less qualified than you doing EXACTLY what you have always wished to do. The only difference is that they chose to believe in themselves. Words every graphic and web designer should live by. What do you think of my story? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Tip of the week Google Alerts If you are running a design business, you should set up Google Alerts to notify you any time your business name is found by Google. Google Alerts is a great way to be alerted whenever someone online mentions your business. It allows you to thank them for their positive comments or get on top of things should their comments be less positive. To set up your own Google Alerts visit https://google.com/alerts

Do you have what it takes to run a design business from home? If there's one positive takeaway from the 2020 Pandemic, it's that a lot of people got to experience what it's like to work from home. Some realized right away that it's not for them. They need people around them and an office environment to be productive. In contrast, others got a taste of what being a home-based business owner is like. And they like it. But to run a design business from home, full-time, permanently, you need to know what you're getting into. Some designers think that working from home is an easy life and that once you set up your design business, new clients and projects will just flow in. But it doesn't work that way. This is not Field Of Dreams. Just building it does not guarantee they will come. Running a successful design business takes more than design skills. For your design business to succeed, you need solid skills in business development, lead generation, marketing, communication, leadership to work with your team, and of course, sales. Being a designer and owning a design business are two completely different things. So how do you make the most of it? How do you set yourself up for success? How do you ensure that you can sustain this lifestyle long term? The answer–you need to plan. How does that saying go? "By failing to prepare, you're preparing to fail." So prepare yourself. Because chances are, it's going to be a rocky start. Step 1: Create an environment you're comfortable in. The first step in feeling like you're running a home-based business is to treat your working space as your business office. Having a place in your dwelling where you can transition from home life to business life is key. If you have a separate room that you can designate as your office, all the better. But if that's not the case, pick a corner and set it up to be your working environment. Get yourself a good office chair and set up your computer so that it's ergonomically comfortable to work at. Then fill the space with everything you need to work productively. The more your environment feels like your "working space," the more productive you'll be. Step 2: Keep your overhead to a minimum. Everyone dreams of making big bucks and living the dream. But that's not the way you should be thinking. Remember, it's not how much money you make that's important, but how much of the money you keep and what you do with that money, especially at the start. Even though a good office chair is important, don't spend $1000 on one if you don't have the money to invest yet. Keeping your overhead low is important. You want to keep your expenses to a minimum to benefit more from the money you make designing. A wise man once said you could save 100% of your money by choosing not to buy something. So even though I'm a proponent for things such as lifetime deals. It's only a deal if you can afford it and if you're going to get enough use from it to cover the cost of the deal. Especially when you're just starting, be careful what you spend. Step 3: Work on your business, not in your business. One of the biggest mistakes freelance designers make is focusing all their time and energy on the projects they do for their clients. Yes, you want to give 100% to your clients. But that 100% doesn't have to mean all of your time. There's a big difference between working in your business and working on your business. You must make time to work on aspects of your business as well. Like finances, to make sure you're keeping your overhead low and doing the most with the money you're earning. Then there are marketing plans to figure out how you're going to reach out to new clients. There are also processes and systems you need to develop for your business to succeed, like how you will communicate with your clients and your team? How are you going to organize all the assets you acquire? Don't forget your goals. Goals are your destination. Where you want to be a year, two years, 5 years from now. Without goals, you have no way to measure your success. Just because you're an office of one, making money from the few clients you have, don't think you can avoid treating what you do as a business. And for any business to succeed, it needs to evolve with the times. So make time to work on your business, and not just in your business. Step 4: Be proud of your home-based business. Never shy away from the fact that you are working from home. There was a time when working from home was looked down upon. But not anymore. It's the end of 2020, and if there's anything this year has taught us, is that working from home is a viable option. It no longer has the negative stigma it once had. In fact, many people will be envious when you say you're working from home. Take the attitude that you are working from home, not working at home. There's a difference. You are running a business, just like every brick and mortar business out there. It just so happens that your business is situated in the same location you call home. Step 5: Look the part. Just because you're working from home is not an excuse to be unprofessional. How you present yourself and your business is vitally important to your success. I'm a T-Shirt and jeans kind of guy, but any time I meet with a client, either in person or virtually, I make sure to dress up, shave and look presentable. If you present yourself as a starving artist, your clients won't take you seriously. If you need an actual business environment to meet with clients, look into daily office or conference room rentals at local co-working spaces. Looking professional also applies to your visual brand. Your logo, your website, your social media, etc. You're a designer; I shouldn't have to tell you the importance a good brand can have on a business. The same applies to you. Step 6: Be honest with yourself. All of this may be well and good, but you have to be honest with yourself before you get too far down this path. Not everyone is suited to working from home. Nobody knows you better than yourself. Do you have the work habits required to do this all alone? Do you have the discipline to work unsupervised and not be distracted by the things around you? Can you remain happy and motivated after doing this for a long time? Are you capable of dealing with the isolation of being alone every day? This last one is important. Isolation can lead to depression, which can lead to poor working habits and bad business decisions. Which, if left unchecked, can result in a failed business. Find something to help with isolation. Join groups and communities to help combat isolation. The Resourceful Designer Community is a great place for this. Or find local groups where you can interact in person. Not only will these activities aid your social mindset, but they can also enhance your business and quality of life significantly. Think about it before you try it. So there you have it, six steps to running a business from home. If you've already taken the plunge and are currently running a home-based design business, make sure you have everything in place to ensure your success. Remember, A goal without a plan is just a wish. And the last time I checked, wishes don't put food on the table. How much thought have you given to working from home? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Tip of the week Chrome Application Shortcuts A convenient way to turn a website into a desktop application is by using Chrome Applications Shortcuts. This is especially useful for browser-based tools such as invoicing/bookkeeping and Customer and Project Management Software. Instead of searching through dozens of open browser tabs for the right one, create an application shortcut and treat the webpage as a desktop application. To create a Chrome Application Shortcut, open the website, you would like to turn into an application in a browser tab. On the far right of the address bar, click the three vertical dots. Select "More Tools" > "Create Shortcut" Name the application in the pop-up window and be sure to check "Open as Window." then press Create. A new Application icon will appear in the Chrome Apps folder within your Applications folder. You can now use it just like you would any other application. You can add it to your Dock. You can create Aliases from it. And you can easily switch between it and your other applications via the Control Centre. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Do you know when to use Cloud Backup vs Cloud Sync? You know how important it is to backup your computer. Should the unforeseen happen, your backup is all that stands between you getting back to work after a short delay or having to explain to your clients how you've lost everything you've designed for them and have to start over. In the old days of computing, a backup consisted of storing files on floppy disks. Then we graduated to things like Zip drives or Jaz drives. Then CDs and DVDs became the preferred method for backing up files. Depending on your organization's size, and of course, your budget, you could also back up to digital tape. These were the easily transportable backup methods—the ones you could take with you or store safely off-site. You also needed to back up to external hard drives. Expensive, bulky things that were great for backing up your entire computer, but you needed a couple of them for a true backup solution. Constantly swapping them with one backing up in-house while the other was safely stored off-site. Things have come a long way since those days. The price of hard drives has come way down, making backup much more affordable. And you can now store hundreds of thousands of files on a drive smaller in size than a stick of gum. So there's no excuse for not having a backup solution in place. Out of these methods, the one flaw in most backup strategies has always been the off-site backup. Most people start with the best intentions. Moving a fresh backup off-site every day. Then, as time went by and nothing catastrophic happened, those daily off-site backups became weekly backups, and then monthly backups, until you had to check a calendar to figure out when the last backup was made. Whether your backup was daily, weekly, monthly or more didn't make much difference... until your main system failed you. Boy, oh, boy, did it make a difference then. It's bad enough if you lost a day's worth of work, but to lose a whole week or more? That's catastrophic. For anyone around computers in the 90s and early 2000s, you've heard the horror stories of crashed computers without backups. Hopefully, those stories were not about you. Introducing The Cloud And then The Cloud was born. The mysterious digital cloud. A place... somewhere, where you can store your files safely, offsite, without having to take a hard drive or disks anywhere. Ok, that's enough of a history lesson. It's 2020 as I'm typing this, and I'm hoping you've heard of the cloud and how to use it to back up your files. But just in case, the cloud is simply a group of computers somewhere in the world, managed by some company. These groups of computers are also known as data centres. When you sign up for a cloud syncing or cloud backup service, you are in effect renting storage space in one of these data centres. Sorry if I ruined your idea of The Cloud being a magical storage space floating around in the sky. Even though cloud sync and cloud backup use similar data centers, they are different in how they function. There's a common misconception that they're the same thing, but they're not. In fact, if you want to go by today's standard backup practices, you should be using both sync and backup. If you're not, you may be compromising your backup strategy. The difference between Cloud Sync and Cloud Backup. Cloud Sync. In essence, Cloud Sync are services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and many others who work by designating specific areas of your hard drives such as a single folder or a group of folders and "synchronizing" the contents of those folders to their data center. This syncing service allows you to access your files from different locations and using different devices. Let's say you save a design file to your sync folder on your iMac. That file becomes available to you on your laptop's sync folder, making it easy to show clients while visiting their office. While with the client, you can make changes to the file, knowing those changes will sync and be available on your iMac once you return. If you need to get a 3rd party contractor involved, such as a copywriter, share the synced file with them, and any changes they make will be reflected on your file as well. As long as the file is in the sync folder, it can be opened, worked on and saved from anywhere. What's important to note is that only files stored in the synced folder are accessible from everywhere. If it's an Adobe InDesign file, InDesign needs to be installed on your iMac, your laptop and on any third party's computer who needs to access the file. However, things like fonts and any digital assets used by the file stored in the synced folder are not available from everywhere. If you forget to put it in your sync folder, it won't get synced. Most syncing services charge you based on the amount of data you store with them. If you need more room, they always offer a bigger and more expensive tier you could purchase. One of the downsides of cloud sync services is that should something happen to the file on one device, it happens everywhere. For example, say the copywriter accidentally deletes the file. It's deleted on your computer as well. Depending on what level you are paying for, some syncing services offer a version history feature, so you can go back and recover a file that was accidentally deleted up to a certain point. One more thing to note. Should your computer be compromised with a virus or get hacked and the synced folder on your computer be affected, having your files synced to the cloud won't help because they will also be affected. Cloud Backup. A Cloud Backup service, such as Backblaze or Carbonite, works in the background. In most cases, once you set it up, you don't even realize it's there. It monitors everything on your computer and backs up any new or changed data it finds to the cloud. Usually, you pay one fee for unlimited cloud backup storage space. There's no tiered pricing. Most cloud backup solutions offer version history, so if a file on your computer gets corrupted, or if after working on it for a while, you decide you liked the previous version instead, you can access an earlier version from the backup. It's very similar to Apple's Time Machine or other similar services, but it's in the cloud. Because Cloud Backup is automated, there's no need to put your files into a dedicated syncing folder. Your entire computer is backed up, so you know that everything is protected, your files, applications, fonts, everything. Unlike Cloud Sync, you are not working directly on the files in the cloud. Any changes you make to a local file are not automatically reflected on your other devices unless you are also storing them in a Cloud Sync folder. You can still share cloud backup files with someone else, but once downloaded, any changes they make to the file will not show up on your end. Cloud backup is there to protect you should something happen to your computer, and not just should something happen to certain dedicated files and folders. Best-case scenario The best-case scenario is you use both a Cloud Sync and a Cloud Backup solution. That's what I do. I use both Dropbox to house files I need to access from multiple devices or share with others. And I use Backblaze to make sure everything on my computer is safely backed up to the cloud. Recovering your data from Cloud Sync or Cloud Backup. Should you need to recover your cloud data, there are some differences to note between the two services. Retrieving all your files from Cloud Sync can be cumbersome and take a long time, especially if you pay and use one of the higher tiers. It could take several days to download everything, and you better have unlimited internet, or else you'll be paying an arm and a leg for overage fees. A Cloud Backup service such as Backblaze also allows you to download your files over the internet, but Backblaze has a service where for a fee, they'll overnight ship you a physical USB hard drive of all your backed up files. This allows you to quickly copy all your files to your computer without worrying about download issues. You can then return the HD to Backblaze for a refund. Which Cloud service is right for you? Now that you know what each service does Let me tell you that you should be using both Cloud Sync and Cloud Backup. And that's on top of a physical in-house backup to an external hard drive. It's a 1-2-3 approach that gives you at least three copies of your data. The more places your data lives, the less chance you have of losing it. Don't think of Cloud Sync and Cloud Backup as using one or the other. Allow both services to work in conjunction with you. It's the only way you'll know your data is truly safe. What cloud-based solution do you use? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Resource of the week Divi Marketplace Divi is amazing on its own, but it's also backed by a growing community of developers and designers! The Divi Marketplace is the place to find tons of free and premium extensions, layouts and other products that complement Divi and will help you build unique websites.