Resourceful Designer: Strategies for running a graphic design business

Is the coronavirus (COVID-19) fording you to work from home? This past week, sports organizations around the world have stopped play to minimize the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Broadway closed down all performances. Disney World, Disney Land, Disney Paris and Universal Studios shut their doors for the rest of the month. Even Mount Everest shut down to climbers for the rest of the year. When one of the most remote places on earth shuts down, you know the situation is serious. In light of this global pandemic, many businesses are asking their employees to self-isolate and work from home. If you are not a self-employed designer and instead work for an employer, one who is asking you to work from home here is some advice to help you through this temporary job relocation. 1) Create a work from home schedule. Working from home is very different than working in an office environment. Without a formal structure, it can be easy to lose track of time and become less productive. A schedule helps you stay on track and get your work done. And the good thing is your home schedule doesn't have to follow your regular work schedule. You can adjust your home schedule for the times you're most productive. If you're not a morning person, then shift your schedule an hour or more. If your morning commute typically starts around 8 am to be at work for your 9-5 shift, why not start working at 8 am and finish at 4 pm. Eliminating the commute gives you two extra hours per day. Of course, you need to work the hours that your boss needs you to work. And be conscious of what times you may need to communicate with clients, contractors or co-workers. 2) Make a to-do list. Since working from home is out of your element, and since there's nobody there keeping an eye on you, the best thing you can do is make yourself a to-do list and adhere to it. Identify what you need to accomplish each day and check off each task as you complete it. You'll feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day, and it will hold you accountable and make sure you are using your time productively. 3) Find a dedicated work area. Find a dedicated space in your home and designate it as your "work area." Your bed or sofa doesn't count. Lounging on the couch with your laptop on your lap may sound pleasant and relaxing, but it doesn't lead to productivity. In this case, your kitchen or dining room table is acceptable as a workspace if you don't already have a desk. The more you make the area feel like a work environment, the more you'll feel like working. Inquire if your company has any allowance or budget to help you with expenses. Sitting at a kitchen chair all day is not comfortable. Your employer may be willing to purchase or rent you a chair to use while you work from home. Or they may ship one to you from the office. The same goes for computer equipment or whatever else you need to do your job. Your employer is paying you to be productive, even when you're working from home. They might be willing to invest a bit to ensure you can do the work properly. 4) Handling meetings while working from home. When working from home, any regular office or client meetings will most likely take place over video. Here are some tips. When in a conference call with several people, make sure you acknowledge your presence. Let people know you are there. Sure they can see your avatar or your video, but letting them know you are there tells them you are focused on the meeting. You should also acknowledge the others who are on the call. If you would typically say hi to everyone before a live meeting, do the same on a virtual one. If you are not familiar with video conferencing platforms, two that I use are Skype and Zoom. All Resourceful Designer Community chats take place over Zoom. You can also try Loom, which allows you to send video emails to people. It's great for presenting things to your boss or clients that you would generally do in person. 5) Dealing with isolation. For someone not used to working from home, it can get lonely, especially if the situation lasts for several weeks. Here are some tips to help you deal with isolation. Go outside. Even if there's nobody around, just getting out of the house can help ease that feeling of isolation. Move your workspace. Work for a couple of days in the kitchen, then move to the living room. Changing up your environment, even if it's within your own home, can help you feel less isolated. Keep in touch with your co-workers and colleagues. Find out what they're working on and update them on your progress. Have the same conversations you would be having if you were back in the office. There's no reason to stop just because you're working from home. Engage on social media, or, better yet, become part of an online community like the Resourceful Designer Community. Members of the Resourceful Designer Community talk to each other daily. It's one of the ways we cope with the loneliness of working all by yourself day after day. And finally, and I know this may sound crazy, but try talking to yourself. Sometimes hearing a voice, even if it's your own, can help ease the stress of being alone. 6) Dealing with kids while you work from home. There's a good chance your children's school will close during this pandemic. Which means you have to deal with kids at home while trying to work. Explain to your kids that even though you are home, you are working, and they must allow you to work. This may not be the best parenting advice, but let your kids watch tv, play video games, if possible, get them to read a book. Try different things to distract them and let you get your work done. Make sure to check in on them regularly. Less so with older kids, but you may have to check on younger kids every 20-60 minutes if they are not within eyesight. Make time in the schedule I talked about earlier. Set "breaks" throughout the day and spend some quality time with them before getting back to work. Show interest in what they're doing. Be sure you let them know how much you appreciate them allowing you time to work. If keeping your children entertained and happy means extending your workday by an hour or so, it may be worth it. 7) Avoid distraction Working from home is fantastic. I wouldn't change my lifestyle for anything. But one of the fallbacks to home-based working are the many distractions that come with working in the same place you live. You may want to do a load of laundry, empty the dishwasher, or take the time to prepare a big lunch. These are things you wouldn't be doing if you were at the office, so try avoiding them while working from home. Treat your work time and home time differently, even if they both happen at the same place. 8) Turn working from home into a learning experience. Take advantage of this opportunity. If you want to dress casually while working at home, or even stay in your PJs, then go ahead. Don't feel like shaving, doing your hair or putting on makeup; it's not a big deal unless you have a video call. Want to catch up on one of your Netflix show during your lunch hour. Why not. Use this opportunity to learn what it feels like to work from home and figure out if it's something you can picture yourself doing permanently in the future. Who knows, this pandemic may turn out to be a blessing in disguise and propel you to a future life of entrepreneurship. You never know. Are you being forced to work from home? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Tip of the week Create a coronavirus (COVID-19) poster for your clients. In the middle of this global pandemic, many businesses are making an effort to inform their employees, clients and customers of how they are handling things. This is the perfect opportunity for you to design a poster for them to use. Create a single poster with all the information about the outbreak, and offer it to each of your clients with their own branding on the top. Be sure to include your own branding and contact information on it as well. Offer this for free during this trying time and your clients will appreciate you all the more for it.

Are you legally allowed to run a business from home? [sc name="pod_ad"]By this point in the Definitive Guide To Starting A Home-Based Design Business series, you've determined that you want to start a home-based design business, you've written your business plan, and you've figured out your workspace situation at home. If you haven't done any of that, go back and listen to Part One and Part Two of this series. Now that the ball is rolling, and you've figured out precisely what you want to do and how to go about getting it all started, it might be a good time to see if you are allowed to run a business from home. Legal restrictions. Are there any restrictions that may prevent you from starting your home-based design business? Depending on where you live, there may be certain rules and regulations in place dictating what is allowed and what is not allowed when it comes to home-based businesses. Some municipalities and communities require all home-based businesses to have a business license. Some require a home occupation permit, and some may require a regulatory license depending on the business model. Contact your local government to see what licenses and permits your business requires. These licenses and permits cost money and, in some cases, may take time before they are approved. Some of them are one-time fees, while others must be renewed on an annual basis. All permits and licenses are tax-deductible as a business expense. On top of the licenses and permits, you must check if there are any municipal or even neighbourhood by-laws that may prevent you from running a home-based business. For example, the neighbourhood I live in has a by-law preventing me from seeing clients regularly in my home. Something else to look into is whether or not you might require license and permits from nearby municipalities. For example, if you live in one municipality but regularly commute to a nearby municipality to do business, you may require a license in both places. No employees. Many municipalities have by-laws prohibiting home-based businesses from having employees other than family members residing in the home. In most cases, this won't be a problem for a home-based design business. However, if you are starting as a partnership or want to hire a salesperson or anybody else, you may not be allowed to depending on where you live. I suggest you contact your local municipality to find out exactly what you need to run your business in your area legally. You can also contact your local business center and your chamber of commerce for their advice as well. Employment Contract. If you are starting your home-based business on a part-time or casual basis while you work another job for someone else, be sure that your main job doesn't have restrictions against employees owning or working at another business. If you signed a contact at your current employer, review it and make sure nothing in the contract prevents you from moving forward. Insurance Another thing to think about is insurance. Both on your business and your property. Your home insurance premiums may increase if you are operating a business from your home. And some insurance companies may void your coverage altogether, so be sure to check yours. Some municipalities require proof of insurance before issuing you any business permits. When reviewing your insurance policy, consider increasing your liability coverage. This protects you should anyone come to your home for business purposes and are hurt while on your property. You may be thinking you don't' need extra liability coverage because you don't plan on having clients over. But what about delivery people? If you order a new printer or computer and the delivery person slips and falls on your steps, and your insurance company discovers they were delivering goods for your business, they may decide not to cover you. Also, as a sole proprietor, you are personally liable for all debts. If you order a $10,000 print job and your client fails to pay. You are liable to the printing company. You may also want to acquire business interruption insurance in the event of a fire, theft, etc. It can help cover the costs of getting things up and running again. Permits, licences and insurance may not be fun, but they are something you need to think about when starting your home-based design business. Marketing Let's talk briefly about marketing your business. As you know, marketing is key to any business's success. It ensures that your services are put in front of people who need them. Because all businesses market themselves differently, and that includes design business, home-based or not, you must decide how you plan on promoting yours. Your skill levels, knowledge, experience and resources will help determine who your clients will be and how you will promote your services to them. A business that's just starting should ask both existing and potential clients what they should be doing to promote their business. Start conversations, interview clients and potential clients, hand out questionnaires, and use the valuable information you get back to determine the best way to market your services. Networking. Networking is a significant part of marketing. Every established designer in the Resourceful Designer Communityattributes networking to the success of their business. And it's the same everywhere. Design is mostly a word-of-mouth industry, and you cannot rely solely on your clients, spreading the word. You need to get out there and pound the pavement and let people know that you're open for business. Networking should be a big part of your marketing plan, especially at the start. Failure to develop a strong marketing plan is one of the reasons most new businesses fail. Pricing your services Defining your target market, Methods for promoting your services, including a website, brochures, maybe ads and trade shows. All of this is part of your marketing plan. Your website. Build a website first. If you are not a web designer, hire someone else to design one for you. In episode 149 - Starting A Design Business From Scratch, I mentioned how if I was starting over, the very first thing I would do is build a website for my business. I have a website for my side business Podcast Branding that brings me several new design projects every week. Don't underestimate the power of a well-designed website. When done right, it can become your most valuable client acquisition tool. In part 4, the final installment of this series, I'm going to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of the different business structures you can choose and a few other odds and ends as I wrap up this definitive guide to starting a home-based design business. Make sure you're subscribed to the podcast, so you don't miss it. Tip of the week Asking for critiques When asking people for critiques, don't ask what they think about the design, instead ask them how they would improve the design. You'll get much better and more useful responses from them.

Part 2: Business Plan and Workspace In the previous episode, I talked about whether or not running a home-based business is for you as well as things to consider before deciding to start one. This episode I'm making the assumption that you've decided to go ahead with your plans and discuss the next steps in the process. Some startup advice. There is a cost involved with starting any business, even one run from your home. You may not be paying to lease office space, but you will still need to fork out money to get your design business started. Some of the costs may include a separate phone number to keep your business and personal communications separate, preferably a plan with voicemail and call display. You'll need a computer and design software required to do your work. And then there are things such as a desk and chair, bookshelves, maybe a file cabinet. Don't forget your internet. If web design is part of your services, or you'll need to upload and download large print files you may want to increase your internet plan for more bandwidth. Other costs include business cards, We may be living in a digital world, but you really should have business cards. And maybe you'll want a printed flyer or brochure to help spread the word of your new endeavour. An Intro Packet might be a good idea as well. Plus, there's the fee involved with business licenses and permits, the cost of accounting and legal fees, and memberships, clubs and communities to help you get started. It all adds up. Sure, starting a home-based design business is the least costly option to begin your entrepreneurial life, but there's still a start-up cost involved. And that's not taking into account the cash buffer you should have to tide you over as you build up your clientele, start designing and wait to get paid. Suggestions to help with costs. You should set long-term goals to acquire some of the above-mentioned things which allow you to spread out the costs. Buy only what you absolutely need right now. Buy used or refurbished to save money, or purchase lesser models until you can afford top-of-the-line equipment. Make do with what you have and grow along with your business. For the first two years of my business I sat at a desk I picked out of the trash bin at the printer I used to work for. I had to replace one leg with a 2x4, but It got me by until I was able to barter a better desk by exchanging services. Even though you're starting a home-based business, there will be costs involved in the beginning so do what you can to save money. Let's talk about business plans. A business plan is a written document describing the aspects of your proposed business. Although not absolutely necessary to start a business, a business plan can help you when it comes to business decisions and keep you focused on the right path. A business plan is a worthwhile exercise because it helps you think through your ideas, focus on what needs to be done, and identify what information or assistance you still need. A business plan will improve your chances of success by setting out realistic goals and financial projections that you can measure your progress against. Plus, if you plan on securing a start-up loan or applying for any grants, you will need a business plan. There are various ways to write a business plan, and if you're doing this just for yourself then whatever way you choose is fine. However, If you are applying for a loan or grant, I suggest you reach out to the organization and ask them what their preferred format is. It will save you time and trouble in the long run. There are plenty of online resources, some free and some paid, that can help you write a business plan. But here are the general elements that should be included. Background Information: Your business concept: Describe the services you plan on offering in your design business. Perform a SWOT analysis of your business. Operations: Describe your working environment. List the equipment and supplies you already have, as well as those you need to acquire. Be sure to mention the costs involved. List any suppliers and contractors you'll be working with. Marketing: Describe the industry and target market you're going after. Talk about how you plan on selling your services. Mention your marketing strategy to gain clients. Finances: A Business plan should include a financial statement showing the startup costs, projected sales forecasts, financial projections, how much you're investing in the business and how you plan on paying yourself. There's a lot more that goes into a business plan, but I wanted to give you a quick idea of how to lay one out. Your WorkSpace. Let's talk about your actual workspace. If at all possible, your workspace should be a separate part of your home dedicated solely to your business. Having a designated area will help you feel like you are "going to work" and at the end of the day like you are "leaving work". Keeping the two separate makes it much easier to designate between your work and family life. You can do things such as ignore your business phone when it's not "office hours". Your important papers and materials won't get mixed up with family or personal things and possibly get misplaced or lost. Your family will know that when you're in your "office" you're at work and shouldn't be disturbed. It makes it very easy comes tax time if you have a dedicated office space, as you get to claim the square footage as a business expense. More things to consider: Does your office space have a phone jack if you plan on using a landline for your business? Are there enough electrical outlets to accommodate your equipment? Will your furniture fit the locations? Is there proper lighting for you to work? How noisy will the area be? Is there enough room to spread out your work? Is there enough storage space or will you need to get more? Is your workspace ergonomically designed to prevent a sore neck or back, or eye strain? Is the place suitable for client visits if you plan on inviting them to your office? These are just a few things you might want to consider as you're setting things up. In Part 3 of this series, I'm going to talk about the legalities of running a business from home as well as touch briefly on marketing your new endeavour. Questions of the Week Submit your question to be featured in a future episode of the podcast by visiting the feedback page. This week's question comes from Cynthia I have one semester left of design school and am starting to get commissions here and there. I plan to work for someone after I graduate and then I'd like to start my own freelance. I was wondering if you have or could point me in the direction of a generic graphic design contract? I'm not really sure where to start with that. To find out what I told Cynthia you'll have to listen to the podcast. Tip of the week Business Grants Whether you're starting out or you are planning on expanding your business, it's a good idea to inquire if there are any special grants you may qualify for. Contact your local municipality, business centers and Chamber of Commerce and find out what's available. Grants are "free money" to aid you in your business. Every little bit helps.

Can you imagine anything better than doing something you enjoy while in the comfort of one of your favourite places - your home - and making money while doing it? Starting a home-based design business is the dream of many designers. The idea of giving up the daily commute, of no longer sitting through rush hour traffic, and nobody looking over your shoulder while you work sounds desirable. Plus you get to choose your hours, dress however you want and be there for your family whenever they need you. It's very tempting. These and many other perks sound very appealing to designers dredging away at their daily 9-5 job. It's a perfect life. Or is it? Before you take steps towards setting up your own home-based design business, you should first do a self-assessment of yourself and your situation to determine if the solopreneur life is for you. Is Self-Employment for you? When it comes to running a home-based design business, there are three options; casual, part-time and full-time. Casual: A casual business is one where you spend less than 10 hours per month on your venture. Perhaps it's doing small odd projects for only one or two clients. The income you make while working casually gives you a little bit of extra spending money or helps pay a bill or two as it supplements your other full or part-time income. Part-Time: A part-time design business is one where you dedicate between 10 to 40 hours per month. You might have a hand full of clients, and the money you earn adds nicely to your overall household income. You can run a part-time business while working another part-time job or even a full-time job if you're devoted. Many designers start a part-time business while on maternity or paternity leave. It's a great way to stay mentally active and socialize with other adults while caring for your new bundle of joy. Full Time: A full-time design business requires your full attention daily. You should be spending as much time on your full-time business as you would if you worked 9-5 for someone else. As your main source of income, you should be working with several clients, and when you're not designing for clients, you should be devoting your time to acquiring more clients. Those are your three choices for running a home-based design business. But before you jump in, you need to determine if you have the self-discipline to work in an unstructured environment. You also need to determine if you are willing to take on the financial and personal risk of starting a venture that may not work out, especially if your new design business is your only source of income. Things to consider before starting a home-based design business. Is your family behind you? If you're on your own, this might not matter as much. However, if you have a family, you must realize that starting a home-based business is not only a significant adjustment for you but them as well. You need to speak with your family members about your need to dedicate yourself to starting, growing and eventually succeeding in this venture. If you don't discuss this with them beforehand, they may believe that since you are at home, you have the time to do extra little tasks around the house. This "added benefit of working from home" may seem harmless, but these things tend to add up and take time away from your business and impede your success. Do you have the self-discipline to manage your time and working hours? Anyone who works from home will tell you that it's easy to get distracted. The lawn needs mowing; the dishwasher needs emptying, the new season of that great show just dropped on Netflix. Do you have the confidence and self-discipline to devote your time to work in the face of all the distractions you'll face daily? Also, if you're a workaholic, do you have the self-discipline to say "enough's enough" and stop working? Working day and night may seem like a great way to grow a business, but it's no way to live your life. It's great to hustle, but not if it leads to increased stress, health issues and self-neglect. Do you have a dedicated workspace? If you're working casual or part-time, you may be able to get away with working from the kitchen table. But that's no way to run a full-time business. It's impossible to concentrate on your work if family members and other distractions are constantly hindering you. By dedicating a designated work area in your home, you make a statement saying you take your undertaking seriously. A dedicated work area provides the atmosphere needed for you to fully concentrate on your work and have the quiet and privacy necessary for important business calls. If a dedicated work area isn't possible, you must explain and make arrangements with your family to not disturb you while you are working. This may mean keeping the volume low on music and the TV or even moving their activities to other areas of your home while you are working. Does your business fit a home base? Resourceful Designer is aimed at graphic and web design business, but I also know there are plenty of other types of creative endeavours you may want to start. If your creativity revolves around other creative arts, such as pottery, sculpting, stain glass creations, sign making, T-shirt printing or vehicle wraps, you may want to consider operating your business in a venue other than your home. Yes, there will be other things to consider, but not all creative businesses are suited to be home-based businesses. Will you be meeting with clients? Most home-based designers I know, myself included, chose to meet clients at their own offices or some other location such as a coffee shop. However, if for some reason you must meet clients in your home office, you need to consider if your home is set up to receive clients. If your office is in the basement, will the client need to navigate through a cluttered kitchen or areas strewn with children's toys to reach your work area? It doesn't create a professional image and could impede your growth. If meeting in your own home is your only choice, such as for moms or dads on parental leave, try to find a neutral area in your home that you can keep clean and clutter-free to meet with clients. Do you have room to expand? A desk in the corner of your bedroom may be all you need for now. But what about a year or two years from now? Do you have the room to grow should you need to add filing cabinets or scanners and printers to your mix? Will you be happy working from home? Humans are naturally social creatures. Even introverts need some time around other people. Most people satisfy this itch through their work environment, but not so with people who work from home. When you run a home-based business, there's nobody stopping at your desk to chat about their weekend or the new movie that just came out. There's nobody to take your coffee or lunch breaks with, and nobody organizing after hour staff get-togethers. If you are the type of person that craves regular social contact, you may quickly find the isolation of working from home too much. If this sounds like you, consider joining social and professional organizations or take part in other social activities outside your home to keep you in touch with other people. How will you keep up with change? Something often overlooked when contemplating working from home is the outside world. There's no gossip or industry news to hear when you're working by yourself. So how will you stay on top of new tools, resources and developments in the industry? You need to make an effort on your own to seek these things out. Subscribe to newsletters, magazines, blogs and YouTube channels. Make friends with other designers and keep in contact with past co-workers. Just because you're working all by yourself doesn't mean you need to isolate yourself from the world. Conclusion There are so many benefits to starting a home-based design business. Low startup costs Minimal overhead and monthly expenses. No commuting time Freedom and flexibility and plenty of tax deductions, to name a few. And although I continuously push this endeavour. I know that it's not for everyone. You're the only person that can answer the question. "Is running a home-based design business for me?" In Part 2 of this series, I discuss writing a business plan and dive deeper into planning your workspace. Tip of the week Identify yourself when answering the phone. If you want to sound professional, you should always answer your business phone by naming your business and then who you are. For example, you could say: Acme Design Studio, John speaking. This eliminates any potential confusion clients may have as to who they are calling. They may not realize you are a one-person business working from home.

Design Selling 101 Newcomers to the freelance life often believe that the success of a graphic or web design business lives or dies with their design skills. This is partially true. After all, if you are not a good designer, you're going to have a hard time being successful on your own. But the truth of the matter is, your skills as a designer are second to how good a salesperson you are. Because if you cannot sell, you might as well give up your freelance dreams. Get hired somewhere and earn an hourly salary to design all day, while someone else handled the selling part. There's nothing wrong with that scenario. Many designers spend their entire career working for someone else, and they're delighted doing so. Running a home-based design business is not for everyone. However, if you do give it a go, you better feel comfortable selling because your business will depend on your skills as a salesperson. Have you ever heard the saying, "Good marketing can sell a bad product, but bad marketing cannot sell a good product?" The same applies to home-based or freelance design businesses. Someone good at selling, but a mediocre designer can still make a living as a freelancer. However, a fantastic designer that has no sales skills will have a difficult time staying afloat. Become a good seller. So how do you become a good seller? Like with everything else, it comes with practice and experience. Although being a people person does help. Let's break it down. First, you need to get the notion out of your head that selling is about making a sale. It's not. The sooner you realize this, the better you'll be at sales. Selling is not about the exchange of money for services, it's about giving a client relief and lowering their anxiety when it comes to spending their money. Clients come to you because they need something. It's that "problem" that your job as a designer is to provide a "solution." However, even though the client realizes they need something from you, they feel a reluctance to part with their hard-earned money to get it. If you can put them at ease with that notion and make them realize what their money is buying, they'll be more willing to spend what is necessary. Putting the client at ease. How do you put a client at ease? The core principle of successful selling is making the client feel cared for and appreciated. When someone feels cared for and appreciated, they let their guard down and open up, and become much more receptive to ideas. If you offer a client a solution to their problem, and you make them feel cared for and appreciated in the process, it becomes much easier to lead them through the sales process. The sales process. Let's break the sales process into basic components. Imagine the sales process as a video game. In a video game, you can't just turn on the game, jump to the final level and expect to win. Video games are designed, so every level along the way equips and better prepares you for that final level and victory. The same principle applies to the selling process. You can't win over a client by jumping to the final level of the sales process (which is price by the way). Before you discuss price, you need to lead the client through the various levels of the sales process. Think of these levels as objection points. Obstacles to overcome before moving on to the next level of the "video game sales process". Level one is: Trust. If you cannot get a client to trust you, there's no point moving forward because you'll never make the sale. Think about it. What was the last thing you purchased from someone you didn't trust? I can't think of anything. However, I can think of several things I did not buy because I didn't fully trust the person doing the selling. It's the stereotypical used car salesman. No matter how much they smile and say the right things, you always wonder what they are not telling you. So the first level of the sales process is getting the client to trust you. How do you do that? There are many, many ways to get someone to trust you. Here are the two most important ones, especially when pressed for time, such as on a phone call. 1. Listen more, talk less. Trust is about focusing on what is important to the client and less on what's important to you. If you can prove to the client that you care about their concerns and genuinely want to help them, they'll trust you more. 2. Address their pain points When a client comes to you with a design project, they imagine it will fix the overarching problem they're facing. However, there may be many pain points to that overarching problem you need to address. A client may say they need a website to promote and sell their services. But there's sure to be some underlying issues they may not be talking about. Things like. a lack of brand awareness for their services increased competition negative publicity low conversion rates dwindling sales As you're listening to the client, try to pinpoint their various pain points and be sure to acknowledge and comment on them. Clients will appreciate the added attention and quickly realize you care about them, and not just the sale. Level two is: See if you're a good fit. Once you've established trust, it's time to move to the second level and see if partnering with this client is a good fit. Just because you've helped other clients with similar problems doesn't mean you are the right person for this particular client, or that this client is the right fit for you. Establishing your compatibility continues the trust-building process. Tell the client that before you proceed any further, you need to determine if you are the right people to work together to solve their problem. Ask them questions in a mini discovery process sort of way, learn more about them and their business. Find out what results they are expecting from you and from the services you are to provide. How will they deem the project successful? A great question to ask is, what might prevent them from seeing the results they expect if you provide them exactly what they're asking for? This sort of question forces them to look internally. What happens if you design the perfect logo, website, poster, etc. and yet they still don't see the expected results? Asking this question shows them you care, and are more interested in their success than you are about making the sale. Questions like these help both of you determine if you're a good fit to work together. If you can show you're a good fit, they will be more open to whatever you propose going forward. Level three: Objections. Level three and beyond is where things get a bit more challenging to explain. Once trust is established by showing the client you care for and appreciate them, and you've proven that you are a good fit to work together, It's time to dive into the project itself. Up until this point, your conversation was mostly about the client and their business and a tiny bit about the services you can offer them. If you followed the sales process correctly, you should find it much easier to discuss the design project because you've established a level of trust and a connection with the client through levels one and two. Your job is to now lead the client through whatever "objections" they may have regarding their project and your services and putting them at ease for each one. Because every client and every design project is different, I can't guide you through level three. Sticking to the video game analogy, there are no "cheat codes" for this part. But by openly listening to your client, determining their pain points, and their concerns, you should be able to address any objections they may have as you discuss how you can help them achieve their desired goals. The Final Level: Price. That brings us to the final level, price. This is where the video game analogy falls apart because, unlike a video game, this last level is the easiest. By this point, the client should be fully engaged and ready to work with you. They've developed trust in you. They know you understand their situation. They believe you have the solution to their problem. They know you care for them and have their best interest at heart. They view you as an asset and a wise investment. Price is now just a formality. Provide the client with a reasonable quote for their project and chances are they won't hesitate to accept because you've shown them the value of your partnership. That's the power of the sales process. Conclusion What have we learned? People have been conditioned not to trust salespeople. So the trick to good selling, it to not sound like you're selling. If you can establish yourself as an asset to the client, an investment and not just an expense, you'll have a much higher chance of closing the sale. I read this quote on an article written by Scott Hoover, he credits it to someone named Steve: "Sales is leading people to a solution favourable to you, via a solution that is favourable to them." And that translates to a successful sale is a win for both parties involved. You complete the sale by building trust and showing the client you appreciate and care for them and their success. And they return the favour by accepting the price you present them. As a bonus, when done correctly, these selling tips can help transition you to a value-based pricing strategy because the client will see the value in hiring you and will be willing to pay for the investment. What does your sales process look like? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Tip of the week Matching addresses If you pair a website with a Google My Busines listing, make sure the address is written exactly the same way on both platforms. If the address is 123 North Main Streeton Google my Business, don't write it 123 N. Main St.on the website. The two need to be identical in order to take advantage of Google's ranking algorithm and place higher in the search results.

If you ever created a business plan, you're probably familiar with the term SWOT Analysis, but here's how designers can use it for their projects. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Threats. It's a process first developed at Harvard Business School in the early 1950s. To run a SWOT Analysis requires four "areas," such as four pads of paper or perhaps a board divided into four quadrants, each labelled Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Threats. Regardless of the medium you use, the process goes like this. By asking questions, you place the answers under one of the four categories. The first two categories, Strengths and Weaknesses, are internal matters you can control. The second two, Opportunities and Threats are external matters that are out of your control. SWOT Analysis for a freelance web design business. Here are some example questions and answers you might use when doing a SWOT Analysis for a home-based web design business. 1) Strengths: Questions you could ask: What are the strengths of the business? What advantages does the business have? What does the business do well? What resources does the business have? What do other people think of the business? Possible answers: The designer running the business is fast and proficient at creating web sites. The designer can use many different design applications. The designer is very experienced with WordPress. The designer knows some coding languages. The designer is great at time management. The business has many connections with writers, photographers, coders, etc. 2) Weaknesses: Questions you could ask: What disadvantages does the business have? What improvements can the business make? What skills is the designer lacking or knows but isn't very good at? Are there any parts of web design the business should avoid? What objections might clients have towards the business? Possible answers: The designer lacks development skills. English is the designer's second language, which may complicate communication with clients. The designer has weak administrative skills. The designer is Introverted. 3) Opportunities: Questions you could ask: What options are there for the business to grow? Are there new technologies emerging you can take advantage of? Is there a shift happening in the economy? Are social patterns changing? Possible answers: Few talented web designers in the local area. Knowledge of a particular field or industry can allow the business to niche. Clients are seeking sustainable products with low environmental impact. 4) Threats: Questions you could ask: What risks or potential hurdles does the business face? What obstacles does the designer face? What is the competition doing? Will new technologies threaten your business? Possible answers: Inexpensive DIY website builders can potentially lure clients away. More people learning web design could become competitors. Services offered by competitors may lure clients away from the business. Of course, this is a very simplified SWOT Analysis of a freelance web design business. If you were doing this for your own business, I would expect many more items listed under each section, but you get the idea. Once you've filled out the four categories, you can then use the information to form a strategy for your business to grow and succeed. And who knows, your SWOT Analysis may inspire a change in direction you might not have considered before. That's the power of performing a SWOT Analysis. But a SWOT analysis isn't just used for business plans. You can apply it to products, services, design strategies, and so much more. Using a SWOT Analysis as part of your design strategy. As a designer, you can use SWOT Analysis for many things, such as. Determining if a client is a right fit for you. Figuring out how to tackle a design project. Vetting potential candidates to hire as contractors. During design strategy sessions with clients And many more. Let's look further into how a SWOT Analysis can help with design strategy sessions. Let's say a new startup company hires you to develop their branding. Your first step is to hold a discovery meeting and ask questionsto get to know the client and their new company. Compose your questions in a way that allows you to place the answers in one of the four SWOT categories. For example: Strengths: What are the advantages of the new company's product or services to their customers? What are the advantages this new company has over its competition? What makes this new company unique? Weaknesses: What areas of the new business can be improved? What issues need to be avoided? What limits does the new business face in providing their product or service? Opportunities: What opportunities are there for the product or service? Are there peaks or trends the new business can take advantage of? Can the business's strengths be turned into opportunities? Are there any changes in the industry that could lead to opportunities? Threats: Who are the existing or potential competitors? Are there any factors that could put the company at risk? Are there any potential threats to the product or service? Is there any possible shift in consumer behaviour that could affect the product or service? Once you have this information divided into the four categories, it becomes easier to figure out a strategy or direction to take when it comes to designing. You want to build upon the strengths, address the weaknesses, seek out and explore the opportunities, and monitor and defend against the treats. As a designer, a SWOT Analysis of a design project allows you to dig deeper and uncover opportunities for your clients. With the information you gather, you'll be able to highlight your client's needs and create an effective design campaign that takes their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats into mind. This is an added value your clients will appreciate and pay more for. But I'm just a designer. Maybe your thinking to yourself, this all sound good, but all my client wants is a website. I don't need to know any of this stuff. You'd be wrong in thinking that way. Clients often know what they want, but it's your job as a designer to supply them with what they need. Performing a SWOT Analysis can help you find areas to focus on to produce better design results. By getting to know your client better as you go through this procedure, you build a relationship with them, which allows you to make recommendations they'll listen to. Clients will see this as a useful tool they can use internally beyond the creative designs you provide. That's valuable to them. A SWOT Analysis gives you a foundation to stand on should your client not follow your advice. It's a kind of "I told you so" that shows your expertise to the client. No matter how big or small, or what the design project is, you should perform a SWOT Analysis to help you with your decisions. Get your client and their team involved — the more people who participate in a SWOT Analysis, the better the results. But even if you do it on your own, you'll appreciate the insight it offers you. Analyze your competition A great experiment is to run a SWOT Analysis of your competition. You've should have already done one for your own design business to help you position yourself. But doing one of your competition can help you even further as you learn new ways to improve your business. Run a SWOT Analysis and then ask yourself. Can you match your competition's Strengths? Can you offer a service that makes up for their Weaknesses? Can you snatch away their Opportunities? Can you do a better job at fending off whatever Threatens them? Conclusion I hope you see why a SWOT Analysis can be relevant to everything you do. Including your own business and every design project, you take on. It helps you develop new strategies for your designs to tackle. It increases your value, allowing you to charge more for your services. And It saves you time on future projects for the same client. A proper SWOT Analysis should take anywhere between 1 to several hours and should be performed with multiple people when possible, especially those higher up in a company. Plus, it looks great on a proposal when presenting your idea to a client. They'll be impressed by your effort, which will increase their opinion of you, and allow you to charge higher rates. Have you ever performed a SWOT analysis before? Let me know by leaving a comment at https://resourcefuldesigner.com/episode202. Have you ever performed a SWOT Analysis before? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Questions of the Week Submit your question to be featured in a future episode of the podcast by visiting the feedback page. This week's question comes from Kat After listening to the episode about raising your prices, I wondered how you get local price comparisons? I was just doing a local competition survey and only one person listed anything pricing related on their website To find out what I told Kat you'll have to listen to the podcast. Tip of the week Join Groups You've heard it time and again, as designers, we're problem solvers. And that doesn't just apply to design. It also applies to the processes we use while creating those designs. If we can't figure something out, we tend to want to tinker with it and try to find a solution. While this is a great way to learn. Sometimes, it's a waste of time. When faced with a problem, it's always more beneficial for you to seek help in order to find the solution quicker.

Are you charging enough for your design services? Many home-based designers don't charge high enough for their services. They undervalue their work and struggle to find meaningful relationships with great clients. And although it might sound counterintuitive, when you find yourself in this situation, the solution is to raise your prices. It's been proven time and again that the more you charge, the better and more appreciative your clients will be. But when should you raise your design prices? Below are ten indicators to let you know it's time to increase yours. But before we get to them, here's a quick way to determine your hourly rate. For the record, I don't believe you should be charging by the hour. The following just gives you an idea of where you stand. Calculating your hourly design rate. Say you want to make $60,000 per year, a realistic number for a freelance designer that allows for comfortable living. As an employee working 9-5 for someone else, you would need an hourly rate of $28.85 to make $60K annually. But you're not an employee getting paid for an 8 hour day, five days per week. You're a home-based designer, a freelancer if you want to use that term, and there's nothing steady about a freelancer's income. To make $60,000 as a home-based designer, how much do you need to charge as an hourly rate? Let's do the math. There are 260 weekdays per year. Let's eliminate 25 days for vacation and other miscellaneous days. (3 weeks vacation plus sick days, medical appointments, children's activities, etc.) That leaves us with 235 working days per year. During an 8 hour workday, freelancers average 4.5 billable hours. This adds up to 1057.5 billable hours per year. So $60,000 per year, divided by 1057.5 billable hours, equals $56.74/hour (let's round it up to $57.) $60,000 ÷ 1057.5 hours = $57/hour (rounded up) Although you shouldn't be charging hourly for your design services, knowing your hourly rate helps you figure out if you are charging enough per design project. 10 Signs You Should Raise Your Design Prices 1. You're super busy and starting to feel overwhelmed. All the big business sites (Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc., Business Weekly) all say the same thing, having a back-log of projects or a waiting list of clients or just being super busy all the time is a sign that you are not charging enough for your services. The strategy here is that raising your rates, and being more selective in who you work with, will lessen the fell of overwhelm, but the higher prices you're charging will make up for any loss incurred from having fewer clients. 2. You're attracting undesirable clients. Are you attracting the type of client that doesn't put much value in what you do? Clients that want it all but are not willing to pay much for it? Clients, that micro-manage you complain and criticize your work, or tell you how to do your job? Clients that would leave you in a heartbeat for a competitor to save a buck? If this sounds like the type of client you're currently working with, raising your rates should fix the problem. Those clients will stop bothering you and go looking for a less expensive solution. Your new rates will attract new clients who are willing to pay higher prices. Plus, they'll trust and value your services and are likely to stay loyal, even if a lower cost option presents itself. 3 You're not landing your ideal clients. If clients are reaching out to you but not hiring you, it might be because your prices are too low. When someone is expecting to pay a certain amount for a project, and you quote a price lower than they expected, red flags go up, and they start wondering if perhaps you're qualified or experienced enough for what they need. They'll imagine all sorts of deficiencies to justify your low prices. So if you're losing more clients than you're landing, consider raising your prices. 4. You start offering a new service. Have you learnt a new skill such as video editing or 3D animation and have added it to your services? New skills and services make you more valuable to clients, and your rates should reflect it. The convenience of getting more services from you instead of needing to hire additional people is worth the extra expense to clients. 5. You're price-matching your competition. A strategy used by many freelancers is to price-match their competition or even undercut them. This only works if the service you offer is equal to, or inferior to what your competition offers. If you believe you are a better designer than your local competition, then indicate it with higher prices. From a client's perspective, a designer charging $3,000 for a website must be a better web designer than one charging $2,000. Many clients want to work with the best and won't hesitate about the price. 6. Your competition charges much more than you. On the flip side of #5, if your prices are much lower than your competitions' prices, then you'll develop a reputation as the cheapest designer around, which is not a good thing. If you're viewed as the cheapest design, clients will never take you seriously. 7. The cost of doing business has increased. Face it; inflation is as sure a thing as death and taxes. To remain profitable, you must match the inflation rate with the money you bring in. Keep track of your business expenses year over year, and if you notice your expense costs going up, make sure to compensate for them with a price increase. 8. You haven't raised your price in over a year. The best strategy you can employ is to raise your price a little bit every year. If you wait too long before increasing your rates, your clients will feel the impact. It's much easier for a client to accept a small 5% yearly increase in your price than to accept a 25% price increase after five years of paying the same rate. 9. You've niched down. By choosing a niche, you're establishing yourself as an expert in that area. And as an expert, you deserve to be paid more for your expertise. It's the reason doctors with a specialty make more money than general practitioners. It's their expertise and perceived value. Clients are willing to spend more to hire someone who understands them. 10. You tried charging a higher rate and got the job. A perfect way to see if a rate increase is to test it out. If you usually charge $600 for a logo design, try charging $800 the next time someone asks. If the client agrees, it's a good indication that a price increase is in order. Conclusion What it comes down to is this. If you are not charging what you are truly worth, you are doing your clients a disservice. Being the lowest or second-lowest designer in your market has no advantages to you. It's great for the cheap clients looking to hire from the bottom of the barrel, but that does you no good. In fact, it could dig you into a hole that will be very difficult to get out of. You should be pricing yourself above average if not closer to the top when it comes to your local competition. If you're not there now, do something about it. Don't worry about increasing your prices; everybody does it. In fact, if you don't increase your prices, you'll be falling behind as the price of things like fuel for your car, utility bills, groceries, clothing and all your day to day necessities go up. Benefits of raising your prices. 1. Higher rates attract higher-quality clients. It's a case of "you get what you pay for," and some clients are willing to invest in the best. 2. Your clients will better value your work. Lower priced designers are simply a body for hire, easily replaceable. When you charge premium prices, clients will treat you with respect and trust your authority. 3. Your clients will get better results. Designers who charge more tend to work with fewer clients, allowing them to devote more time and energy to each project, producing better results for their clients. 4. You build better relationships with your clients. With fewer clients who better value your work, and who see better results from dealing with you, it's inevitable that you'll build better relationships. And better relationships mean more recurring work and more referrals. 5. Charging higher prices boost your confidence and self-worth. Once you start charging premium prices and start landing new clients, you'll feel great about yourself. That confidence and self-worth will be evident when it comes to networking, promoting and marketing your services. People will take note and want to work with you. What are you waiting for? Raise your rates today. What's your experience with raising your design prices? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Tip of the week: Aliases (Mac), Shortcuts (Windows) Aliases are an often overlooked feature of the MacOS. Aliases act as a link or portal to its original counterpart on your computer. Opening an Alias of a file will open the original file, Opening an Alias of a folder will take you to the original folder. To create an Alias, Right-Click on a file or folder and select "Make Alias" (Create Shortcut on Windows). You can place your Alias files anywhere on your computer for easier access to the original file/folder. Listen to the podcast episode to hear how I use Aliases to help with file management and to improve my productivity.

Words of wisdom for designers. Welcome to the 200th episode of the Resourceful Designer podcast. In celebration of this milestone, I'm going to try something a bit different. For this episode, I'm going to be succinct and to the point as I share 100 wise words with you, in the hopes that some of them will help you grow as a designer and help your business succeed. Before I get to my 100 words of wisdom I want to take this opportunity to thank you for being a part of my journey in reaching episode 200. Maybe you've been with me from the start, or have gone back and listened to each and every episode I've put out. Perhaps you discovered this podcast somewhere over the past 4+ years, and picked up from there and keep listening. It could be that you're a casual listener and only listen to certain episodes depending on the topic. Or, this might be your very first episode of Resourceful Designer. Regardless of how much or how little you've listened, I just want you to know how much I appreciate you. YOU are the reason I keep doing this. I love helping designers like you. If just a small portion of the things I talk about on this podcast each week, helps you to become a better designer and a better business person. Then I'm a happy guy, I've accomplished what I set out to do when I published episode 1 of this podcast four and a half years ago. And I'll keep doing what I'm doing, as long as there are people like you who are willing to take the time to listen and to grow. So once again, thank you for being part of my journey in reaching 200 episodes. And now, 100 Wise Words To Designers Everywhere. 100 Wise Words To Designers Everywhere. 1. Save your work, often 2. invest in a comfortable chair 3. learn how to give a good handshake 4. splurge when buying your computer. it will last you longer 5. raise your prices. you're worth more than you think 6. look people in the eyes when talking to them 7. learn keyboard shortcuts 8. make the time to stretch 9. look at application preferences. You may find settings to turn on or off that will make your job easier 10. If you're not sure how to improve a design, try simplifying it by taking something away from it 11. Clean your keyboard 12. Get out of your comfort zone 13. Password protect your computer and other devices 14. Never show a client a design you're not proud of. 15. name your layers. you'll be grateful whenever you revisit your file in the future. 16. create another user accounts on your computer. never let anyone use your own 17. don't forget to take breaks 18. turn off distractions 19. avoid open drinks or messy food near your computer. it's called an accident for a good reason 20. smile. it releases endorphins, and that's a good thing. plus, people can hear it in your voice 21. charge for it. you do enough non-billable things. make sure you charge for everything you can 22. step back from your work. literally. stand back several steps. you may notice small details you might otherwise miss 23. eat well. a healthy body creates a healthy mind 24. creative blocks will happen. you will get over them 25. don't forget to drink. it's harder to concentrate when you're dehydrated 26. don't rely on bevels or drop shadows, they rarely make a design better 27 know a good lawyer 28. hire a good accountant 29. find a dedicated place in your home to work 30. claim everything you're allowed to on your taxes 31. be daring. trends are started because someone dared to try something no one had done before 32. understand the license for whatever you use. know what it allows you to do and what it doesn't 33. empty your trash 34. befriend other designers 35. trust your gut. it often knows better than you do 36. always use a contract. even for free work 37. buy lifetime deals. they're more expensive up front, but they'll save you money in the long run 38. proofread. don't rely solely on spell-check. this goes double for headlines, they're were most errors are missed 39. make time for exercise 40. doodle whenever you can 41. always under-promise and over-deliver 42. network every chance you get 43. get to know your suppliers and contractors 44. meet clients face to face whenever possible 45. keep a list of people with unique skills you may someday have use of 46. don't fret about your business name. you can always rebrand yourself 47. study the designs of others. it's a great way to learn 48. don't steal. but feel free to borrow ideas 49. it's ok to ask for help 50. never stop learning 51. decide if you want to market yourself as I or We. And then own it 52. diversify. don't stake your business on a couple of good clients 53. repurpose old ideas and unused designs 54. find a hobby that is not design related 55. get to know your clients 56. give criticism constructively 57. don't neglect family and friends for the sake of the job 58. remember to thank your clients, suppliers, contractors 59. ask for criticism from your peers. it's the best way to grow as a designer 60. time your work. you'll be surprised just how off your guesses are 61. it's ok to admit you don't know something. just don't let it stop you from finding out 62. use we when discussing a project. where we refers to both you and your client. they're part of it after all 63. upgrade whenever you can 64. get enough sleep 65. have your eyes checked on a regular basis 66. consider everything a client tells you as confidential 67. you only get one chance to make a first impression. make it count 68. apologize beforehand whenever possible. it's much easier than after the fact 69. hold yourself to your highest standards 70. never discuss a design project over text message 71. admit when you're wrong 72. find a niche 73. don't wear fragrances to client meetings. you want them to remember you, not how you smell 74. your biggest competition today is the future designer you will become. crush that competition 75. don't answer emails after business hours 76. update your portfolio as often as you can 77. don't follow design trends. use them as inspiration to design something unique 78. rules are meant to be broken. know when to and when not to follow design rules 79. be wary of anything free 80. work with good lighting 81. once you've made your pitch, stop talking 82. silence your phone when meeting with clients 83. the client is always right, except when it comes to design. that's why they hired you 84. If you don't understand something the client is saying to you, ask before it's too late 85. make both short and long-term goals for yourself 86. as a designer you can never have too many fonts 87. advertise while you're busy so that you have less times that you're not 88. when you find yourself in a creative slump walk away and refocus 89. buy insurance. it's better to be safe than sorry 90. it's ok to ask a client for their budget 91. identify yourself when answering your phone. even if you work alone 92. software is but a tool. it's you, the designer that creates the magic 93. using stock imagery as part of your design is acceptable. using stock imagery as your design is not 94. it's good practice to have someone else look at your work before showing it to your client 95. some clients will like your work, others won't. that's the nature of the design business 96. farm out mundane work and concentrate on the fun projects 97. it's ok to show off the work you're proud of 98. sometimes you have to let the client go 99. be a good listener 100. never stop creating There you have it, 100 Wise Words To Designers Everywhere. I know this episode was very different, but I hope you enjoyed my departure from what I normally put out. Let me know by leaving a comment below.

Do you do retention marketing? You already know that for any business to grow, people have to know about it. After all, if someone doesn't know a business exists, there's very little chance they'll interact with it, let alone purchase from it. And the process for letting people know about a business is called Marketing. When it comes to marketing, there are hundreds and hundreds of strategies you can choose for promoting a business. But, when narrowed down to its two fundamental principals, There are only two forms of marketing. Growth marketing, which is all about attracting new customers. Retention Marketing, which is all about retaining existing customers. Today we're looking at that second one, retention marketing. As a designer, people must know about your design business before there's any chance they'll hire you. Don't you agree? That's why companies put so much effort into growth marketing. They want to attract new clients. However, while most businesses are marketing to attracting new clients, only 16% of them make any effort at marketing to their existing clients. They ignore the people who are already familiar with their services. A study published in the Harvard Business Reviewstates that acquiring a new client requires a minimum of five times more effort than retaining an existing one. And research done by Bain & Company says that if you can increase the number of returning clients by 5%, your profits will go up by at least 25%. Therefore, marketing to your existing clients is a valuable strategy when it comes to growing your design business. Your current client base is a priceless treasure trove of future opportunities. That's why you need to focus effort on retention marketing, meaning marketing to your existing clients for them to bring new projects to you. You may be thinking "my clients already know what I do. They were happy with the last project I did for them. The next time they need my design services, they'll know how to get a hold of me." Don't be so sure of that. Clients who "spread the wealth." I've designed dozens of things for a local jewellery store over the past fifteen years. They keep telling me how much they love my work. And yet, in all that time, only once did they contacted me to initiate the project. Almost every project I've designed for this client was initiated by me when I contacted the client to see how things were going. During those conversations, the owner would sometimes ask me if I was interested in working on a design project for him. I guarantee you, if I had not initiated those conversations, I wouldn't have gotten those projects. I know this because every time I go into his store, I see things that I didn't design for him. And everything I inquire about was created by a different local designer. You see, this particular client likes to spread the wealth amongst local designers. He wants to make everyone happy, so he gives his next design project to the next designer he sees. That's why part of my retention marketing strategy when it comes to this client is making sure I reach out to him regularly. You snooze, you lose. Taking "the client will contact me when they need my help" approach could hurt you. I lost a long-standing website client last year. This client was in bad need of a website refresh, and he knew it, but he didn't have the money in his budget. I understood and asked him to contact me when he was ready to proceed. The client knew my services; he knew I was familiar with his business and eager to work with him on their new site. Plus, I manage his domain name for him. So I had nothing to worry about. The client would contact me when he was ready. Or so I thought. Then one day, out of the blue, I received an email from someone asking me to change the nameservers for the client's domain. Confused, I called my client, asking what was going on, and he told me he had hired a different local firm to design his new website. When I asked if there were any issues with the service I provided him, he said no. It was just that this newer company had mailed him info packages, had reached out by email and had visited the store to talk with him. My client said he was impressed by their dedication and decided to reward this new design firm with his new website project. Because I was too confident that my client was loyal and didn't bother doing anything to retain him, I lost him. I learned a valuable lesson that day. Don't take your existing clients for granted. No matter how good you believe your relationship is, you still need to make an effort to keep that relationship going strong. It's just like healthy friendships. The friends you keep in contact with are the ones that will ask if you want to get together. The friends you don't stay in touch with are less likely to do so. The same happens with clients you don't keep in contact with. Maybe If I had put in the effort to keep in contact with my client, he would have turned down the new company. But he didn't, because they were there, and I wasn't. How to do retention marketing. The best advice I can give you is to stay in touch with your clients. As stated earlier, it requires at least five times less effort to market to an existing client than it does acquire a new client. After all, current clients already know you and the services you offer, so that part of marketing is already taken care of. Building a relationship The best kind of marketing you can do with a client is to provide them with a fantastic experience when working with you. My free 7 part Client Onboarding Serieswalks you through the process of getting to know a client, introducing them to your services, navigating them through a design project, and parting ways in a manner that encourages them to come back for more. Part 7 of that series covers The Goodbye Packet. The Goodbye packet is a way to build client loyalty after the completion of a project. It's an excellent foundation for retention marketing, but there are other ways to stay in touch as well. Keep in contact. It's a good idea to reach out to clients periodically to see how they're doing. Don't use this as an opportunity to pitch your services. It's merely a way of staying in touch. That's how I keep getting work from that jewellery store client. Call or email an old client, tell them you were thinking about them for some reason and thought you'd reach out to see how things were going? If the conversation turns towards work, that's great, but it's not the reason for the call. Relationship building is essential here. So pretend you're a couple of friends who got busy with things in life and now you're catching up. Start a newsletter. Resourceful Designer Communitymember Andrew has a newsletter he sends to his clients. It's a wonderful tool for keeping in touch and letting his clients know what he's been up to. Even if it's not a personal letter, just having it show up in his clients' inbox keeps Andrew top of mind, which hopefully means his name will be the first person they think of the next time they need a designer. Another designer I know told me that he often receives replies to his newsletter with new projects. Receiving his newsletter jogged something in the client's brain that made them take action, hit reply and send a new project his way. So a newsletter is a great form of retention marketing to remain in your client's lives while between projects. Connect on social media. It's a good practice to follow your clients on social media. When possible, do so from a business account and not your personal profile. There's a good chance your clients will follow you back, and you don't want them seeing photos of your family vacation or random pics of your dog. The retention marketing strategy with social media is similar to a newsletter. You want your client to know your still around. Reply or comment on your client's posts. If there's something special going on with one of your clients, consider sharing or reposting it and mention they're a client of yours. Make sure you tag your client in any post that's relevant to them. That simple gesture ensures that they remember you and what you do. Send them something. Sending a client something tangible is the easiest way to get them to think about you. I recently received a handwritten card in the mail from the instructor of an online course I took. It immediately made me think of her again and even encouraged me to place a new order from her. That's retention marketing at it's best. She probably wouldn't have made that sale if she had not sent me that personalized card in the mail. A card or postcard is one of the easiest physical things you can send. Not sure what to write? Listen to episode 59of the podcast, where I talk about using holidays to build your graphic design business. Just imagine the reaction you would get if you sent a client a "Happy national donut day," or "Happy wear two different colour socks day" card. I think they would remember you after that. Of course, cards are not the only tangible things you can send. Gift baskets and flowers are great for special occasions, such as marriages or new babies, just to let them know you're thinking of them. The ideas you can come up with are endless. Retention Marketing One of the best ways to grow your design business is by getting more work from your existing clients. And to do that, you need to practice retention marketing. I only talked about a few of the methods for doing so. I didn't touch on any actual marketing you can do, such as informing existing clients of new services you now offer or reminding them of services they may or may not know of or remember. What it all comes down to is making sure your clients don't forget about you and making sure they don't feel like you're ignoring or forgetting about them. That's what happened with my web design client. I gave them space, and they decided to hire the company that was currently paying attention to them. As I said, retention marketing takes a lot less effort than growth or acquisition marketing. So there's no reason for you not to do it. Look through your client list today. Identify clients you haven't been in contact with for a while and reach out to them. Rekindle your relationship. How is retention marketing working for you? Please, let me know what you did and how it goes. Send me an email at feedback [at] resourcefuldesigner [dot] com or better yet, leave a comment for this episodeso everyone can see. Resource of the week SiteGround SiteGroundin my opinion, is one of the best website hosting companies out there. I have several of my own as well as clients' websites at SiteGround. They offer easy 1-clickWordPress installation and allow multiple domains and website on one hosting package. And if you are already hosting your site elsewhere you can take advantage of their free migration tool to have your site moved from your old host to SiteGround.

Is working from home for you? Designers fall into one of three categories, those who work from home, those who long for the ability to work from home, and those who don't want to work from home because they don't realize how great working from home can be. Ok, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. Even though working from home is great, I admit, it's not for everyone. In past episodes of the Resourceful Designer podcast, I've shared numerous excellent reasons for working from home. Still, I always cautioned you to examine your lifestyle before taking the entrepreneurial plunge, to make sure this life is for you. If you are an introvert or someone who likes to do things at your own pace, then the idea of working alone, without anyone looking over your shoulder sounds terrific. Plus, of course, there are all the benefits. No commute time You get to set your hours Tax benefits More freedom and flexibility when choosing design projects. The list goes on and on. That's why, as we start this new decade, more and more people, designers included, are opting to work for themselves by starting a home-based business. But what many of these people fail to realize is, as I stated earlier, working from home is not for everyone, and you may fall into that category. You see, even though working from home has plenty of perks, there's a downside to it as well that I don't touch on very often on this podcast. For one thing, you may be the type of person who will get bored being by yourself all day, every day. There have been entire weeks where I haven't seen another human being other than my family. That may seem fine to you at first, but will you be ok as time goes by and your life becomes more and more monotonous? Work-Life balance goes out the window Anyone who works from home will tell you that inevitably, your work-life balance will be affected. Unless you have strict structures in place, the freedom that working from home gives you could cause you to falter and become lazy. If you don't set guidelines for yourself, you'll start putting things off, and procrastination will become a problem. And before you know it, all your good intentions go out the window, and you become more interested in binging the newest Netflix series than working on that crucial website for your client. Why not? There's nobody there to stop you. Being all alone, without anyone to hold you accountable, can lead to your downfall. When you're alone, it becomes easy to lose track of time, to forget to stop for meals, it can cause you to neglect your health. I know, I've been there myself. There have been days when my wife walks in at the end of the day, asking about supper, and I realize I never even stopped for lunch. I remember seeing the school bus pull up at 3 pm to drop off my kids and sprinting to the bedroom to get dressed because I was still in my bathrobe. And I can't tell you how many times over the years my wife has asked If I was planning on shaving soon because I hadn't bothered for a few days. Why should I? I wasn't leaving the house. When you work from home, things that people with 9-5 jobs would never think of suddenly become the norm for you. To some people, this might sound great. But to others, it's self-neglect, and self-neglect once started, can grow and grow. Coping with isolation When you work in an office environment, you get to interact with your coworkers. You talk about your families, your vacations, the latest sports scores, television shows you've watched and of course office gossip. When you work from home, there's none of that. Talking to your family members is not the same as interacting with others. And even the most introverted individuals need some interaction with others. I did an entire episode on dealing with isolation If you're interested in learning more. Unlike the rest of the world, people who work from home need to schedule social time consciously — time to interact with other human beings. When your family members get home at the end of a long day, they may want nothing more than to curl up on the couch and watch tv. That's great for them, but you've been alone all day, so you don't need to unwind as they do. In fact, contrary to what they desire, you may want to get out of the house. That's one of the reasons I do the groceries for our household. At the end of a busy day, my wife has no desire to go shopping. Me, on the other hand, I want to get out. I love going to the grocery store, even if the only person I talk to is the cashier I'm still out and among people. A study done by the University of Iowa found that the average office worker has face-to-face interactions, a conversation of more than a few words with 20-28 people per day who are not members of their family. For a remote worker, such as a home-based designer, that number drops to 0.8 interactions per day. Translates to 71 days per year that a remote worker doesn't interact with another human being. Depression is a possibility. For some people, that lack of social interaction from being isolated all the time can affect their mental health and lead to loneliness and possibly depression. Which, if not caught early, can spiral out of control. People suffering from depression rarely want to interact with others. And therein lies the problem. A lack of interaction can lead to depression, and depression can make people isolate themselves from others resulting in a lack of interaction. Sure some of this can be alleviated by interacting with people on social media or in online groups such as the Resourceful Designer Facebook Group, or even better, the Resourceful Designer Community. But interacting online is never the same as interacting with someone face-to-face. I know that this is a very dark thought compared to most of my podcast episodes, but I don't want to hide the fact that there is a less glamorous side to working from home of which people don't often talk. What can you do? What can you do if you start to feel any of what I talked about above? The first thing to do is consider whether or not working from home is for you. Some people thrive better in a social environment, and there's nothing wrong with that. Maybe you gave it a go and decided working from home is not for you. That's OK. Use the experience you've gained to help you in your next position. But if you are determined to give working from home a go, here are some steps you can take that may help. Work where there are other people. Consider working from a co-working space, the library or a coffee shop. Even if you don't talk to the people around you, simply being around others will improve your mental state. Set a schedule and stick to it. Most people work a 9-5 job, so why don't you? A fixed schedule can help maintain your work-life balance. Plan your day. Writing down your daily tasks is a great way to stay productive, and it wards off procrastination by starting your day, knowing what you need to accomplish. Schedule networking events. Find out what events are happening in your community and make a point of attending as many as you can. Even if it doesn't lead to more work, it will contribute to your mental health by being around others. Join a community. If you start feeling Isolated and lonely, reach out to people. Join a community, as I mentioned earlier. A live in-person one would be best, but even an online community can help alleviate that sense of isolation. And if you start feeling depressed, please seek help. Depression is no small matter, and if left unacknowledged can lead to some dark places. Is working from home for you? What I've talked about is part of the reality of working from home. And unfortunately, it's not for everyone. However, if you are ready to face the challenges and can overcome and persevere through this less glamorous side of freelance life, the rewards are numerous. As many home-based designers will tell you, myself included, I have never regretted my decision to work from home, and I will never go back to a regular office job. What "less glamorous" side of working from home have you experienced? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Resource of the week Vectoraster Vectoraster is a macOS and IOS graphics utility by LostMinds for creating vector-based raster patterns and halftones based on images or gradients. Create halftones with different point shapes including circles, polygons, and even font characters. You can even import your own custom vector shapes to use. You can also create circle and straight or curved line based halftones. You have full control over the size of the points, the spacing between the points, the distribution pattern of the points and more. And once you're happy with the look of your pattern or halftone you can export it as a vector to EPS or PDF, or you can save it as a raster JPG, PNG or TIFF file. Have you ever seen one of those photos that's made up of paragraphs of text with different thicknesses of letters? When you look at the paragraph as a whole you can see the photo of a person or something? You can create that effect in seconds with Vecoraster. If you ever wanted to create a halftone gradient or use an image effect making a photo look like it was printed using large halftone dots, then Vectorraster is for you. I've had this program in my toolbox for years. And although it's not one I use very often, when I do, it comes in very handy.