Resourceful Designer: Strategies for running a graphic design business

Are you competing with discount designers? Let me start by saying that I've never lost a client to discount designers. I've had clients question my higher prices, but in the end, they ended up hiring me. I know that many designers have difficulty justifying their costs to their clients so I thought I would share what I do when a client asks "Why should I hire you when I can get that designed cheaper elsewhere?" This is a follow up to last week's episode - Stop Competing On Prices. In it, I explained why lowering your design prices to compete with discount designers is not a sustainable way to run a design business. If you haven't listened to that episode, I suggest you do before continuing with this one. I don't have a ready-made checklist or prepared response for when a client questions my prices compared to discount designers. Instead, I follow these guidelines. Encourage the client to inquire about discount design sources. I never tell a client with my true feelings about these discount design services. Doing so would seem petty and expected. After all, of course, I want their business, so why wouldn't I badmouth the "competition?" Instead, I encourage my clients to look into whatever service they mentioned. Even if it's another local designer. Here's something I might say: "I think you would be better off with me because I'm going to take the time to get to know you and your business before designing anything for you. By getting to know your business and its pain points, I'll be able to direct my creative energy to find the perfect design solutions for your problems. I understand if you need to consider your budget and decide to look into (insert cheap designer source here), however, if you do decide to hire them instead of me, I want to make sure you get what you truly need." This response shows the client that I have their best interest in mind even if it means losing them as a client. Coach the client on what to look for. If I were to send a client off without any instructions, I would probably lose them on price alone. After all, why pay multiple times the price for what you believe is the same service. However, by coaching the client on what to look for and what to look out for, I help them make a more informed decision. Here's a conversation I might have with them: As you're looking into (discount designers platform) for your design project, here are some things you'll want to know before deciding who to hire. 1) Are they using clip art? According to most licenses, clip art is not allowed to be used in logos. Not all, but many of the discount designers on these platforms use clip art to speed up their process and keep their costs down. You can run into legal problems if the designer you choose uses clip art. Don't take their word that they don't. Once you see the initial proof of your job, it's your responsibility to check it against the various clip art catalogues to ensure you can legally use the design. 2) Is it copyrighted material? Clip art isn't the only thing you need to watch out for. Make sure that whatever they design for you is not stolen from someone else, or that there isn't something almost identical out there that could again, lead to legal troubles. Some of the designers on these platforms have been known to steal other people's designs and pass them off as their own. 3) What files are they providing? Make sure you are getting the proper files and resolutions for everything you need now, and for everything you may need in the future. Some discount designers only supply you a screen resolution JPG file. You'll want to ensure you choose someone who will also provide you with hi-res and/or vector files. 4) Are they willing to talk to you? For a designer to do a good job, they need to know their client. Try to have a conversation with the designer you want to hire so they can fully understand you and your business. You'll know a good designer because they'll want to get to know you a bit before designing anything for you. Anyone who doesn't want to talk with you first, doesn't care about you or your business, all they care about is pumping out a design as fast as possible, because the quicker they can do it, the more money they make and the quicker they can forget about you and move on to the next client. 5) Do they charge for extras?. Be careful of prices and add ons. A lot of discount designers advertise inexpensive designs and then charge you extra for things that professional designers include at no additional charge — items such as vector files or higher resolution files needed for print. In the end, you may end up paying multiple times what you thought it was going to cost. Make sure you find out all the prices upfront and ensure you are getting everything you need. If you keep these things in mind when you're choosing your designer, you shouldn't have a problem. I'm here if you have any questions. Good luck. By providing this list of things to look out for, I'm helping the client make a better decision and ensuring they are not losing out. It shows that I have their best interest in mind. Results As I said at the start, I've had several clients question my prices and bring up Fiverr or 99 Designs. And yet I've never lost a client to those or any other discount design platform. The trick is to be helpful and even encourage them to have a look. If you take a defensive position and start bad mouthing discount designers, the client won't take you seriously. They'll think you're only saying those things because you want their business. Which they are correct in their thinking, regardless of how truthful you are about those discount graphic design services. You do want their business, after all. But by being helpful, and encouraging them, they see that you have their best interest at heart, and that is a HUGE influencer in their decision-making process. A known relationship, even an unstarted potential one, is way stronger than an unknown faceless person at the other end of a text chain to who knows where. In all my years, I've only had one client follow through and try to get something done on 99 designs. A couple of months later, he hired me after his failed experiment. For everyone else, they quickly dismissed the idea and hired me. Maybe I scared them with all the things to look out for, or perhaps they just appreciated the way I handled myself. Regardless, they all became my clients in the end. So that's how I usually handle the question of "why should I hire you when I can get this done cheaper over there?" How do you handle it with clients challenge your prices vs. discount designers? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Resource of the week 4-Week Marketing Boost The Four Week Marketing Boost! is a free guide I created that will help you strengthen your marketing position, boost your brand's awareness & social presence and ultimately ensure you are in tip-top shape to offer a best first impression to potential new clients. This guide is divided into 20 short actions that comfortably fit into your regular day and are designed to take as little time away from your client work as possible. Although you can complete these exercises quickly, it is recommended you tackle only one per day, spending no more than 30 minutes per task. After completing this four-week plan, you will be in a better position to present yourself to, and win over new clients. You can download the Four Week Marketing Boost for free by visiting marketingboost.net. Or, if you are in the U.S.A., you can text the word MARKETINGBOOST to 44222. Improve your business' image and create the best first impression possible to attract more clients.

Lowering your prices can hurt your design business. I was talking to a fellow designer recently who is concerned about competing on prices. He asked me what I do if a client says they can pay less for a logo at Fiverr, Upwork, 99 Designs, or any other discount design platforms. This isn't the first time I've heard this concern from a designer. You may have experienced this exact thing with your clients questioning your prices compared to discount design sources. The fact of the matter is, competing on prices is a no-win scenario. There's no way that you can compete with the prices these places offer. Ok, maybe that's not true. Sure you could lower your price to their level, but what would it accomplish? You would be selling your services for a pittance, and cementing yourself in a rut that would be difficult to escape. Competing on prices is not a sustainable way to run, let alone grow, your design business. I'm going to make this a two-part series. Next week I'm going to explain how I respond to clients who say, "I can get it cheaper elsewhere." For now, I want to explain why competing on prices is a harmful and unsustainable way to run your business. It all comes down to this. If you offer rock bottom prices, you will never be taken seriously as a designer, let alone a business owner. If you try to match the pricing found on places like Fiverr or Upwork or 99 Designs, You'll end up developing an unfavourable reputation that will be extremely difficult to overcome. You'll have a tough time trying to raise your prices in the future, which you will need to do if you plan on making a decent living at this design life. Are you familiar with the concept of a "dollar store"? There's probably at least one, if not many around where you live. The premise of a dollar store is that just about everything they sell costs between one to three dollars. They're known as cheap discount stores. Dollar stores have a reputation for selling cheap merchandise. Not just in price, but in quality as well. After all, just how good can a $2 butcher's knife or a $1 mini speaker be? And These stores are ok with that reputation. They make no claims that they are anything but what they are. Dollar stores don't make their money by selling quality products; they make it by selling quantities of products. They make their money one dollar at a time. Could you imagine if all of a sudden a dollar store decided to sell a crystal wine decanter for $50? Their customers would question the validity of that product. There must be something wrong with the decanter, or it must be sub-par in some way. Nobody would take them seriously, let alone believe the decanter is worth $50. It's a dollar store, after all. And their reputation for selling cheap merchandise for low prices would hurt them. That's what happens to your design business when you try to compete by lowering your prices. Nobody will take you seriously as a designer, especially if you later decide to raise your rates. So how do you deal with discount designers taking clients away from you? The answer is easy; stop competing with them. In fact, and this may sound weird to you, but if you feel discount designers are your direct competition, the best solution is to raise your prices. Wait; what? How can raising prices help in this situation? I'm glad you asked. I talked about this in an early episode of Resourceful Designer. In it, I explained how Raising your prices can lead to getting better graphic design work and more committed clients. Recently I was listening to Tom Ross's Honest Entrepreneur podcast, episode 87, to be specific. Tom is the founder of Design Cuts. He was on episode 155 of Resourceful Designer where we talked about supplementing your income by selling design products. Tom mentioned an excellent point in episode 87 of his show. The biggest issue with pricing low is that the lower your price, the more designers you're competing with. Tom permitted me to use this image, depicting his idea. Looking at this hypothetical chart, would you want to be competing against 10 million designers for a client that will pay you $10? Or would you prefer to compete against 50,000 designers for a client that will pay you $1,000? Because there are so many designers charging lower prices, a client has more leverage over you. If they're not happy with what you're offering, they can very easily find a different designer for the job at the same or even lower price. And since the cost is so little, the client doesn't care where they get it from, as long as they get it. However, clients with a $1k or $10k budget have much fewer designers from whom to choose. So when they find one they like, they tend to stick with them. As you can see, offering low prices not only diminishes your income, but it drastically increases the number of designers you're competing with. Why would you want to be in that situation? By ignoring all the discount designers and raising your prices, you diminish your competition, increase your income, and you earn the respect of those clients who hire you. Paraphrasing what Tom said on his podcast, "Increasing your prices goes way beyond just earning more money; it makes everything else about running and growing your design business easier." Now you know why you shouldn't be competing on prices, and why, if you find yourself doing so, the answer is to raise your design prices. Unfortunately, your clients don't always understand these same reasons. Next week, I'm going to share how I handle it when clients bring up the option of discount designers. And I'll give you a little tease. You may be surprised by what I tell them. Have you ever raised your prices and discovered you had less competition and better clients. Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Resource of the week Resourceful Designer Community The Resourceful Designer Community is an active community of designers with a common goal, a goal of improving and growing their design business. The Community is for designers of any levels. Current members include designers just starting their business, members with agency experience, members with knowledge of web design and print design, all willing to share what they know. The Community interacts via a private and very active Slack group, with new conversations happening every day. There are also regular video meetings. These video chats are where the magic happens. By seeing each other's faces and interacting directly with each other, members become closer and more invested in what each of their fellow members is doing with their business. If a member can't make the live video chats, they can view the recording which is archived for members to watch at their convenience. If have your own design business or are thinking of starting one, regardless of your skills as a designer, and you are looking for a tight-knit group of designers to help you by being mentors, confidants and friends, then you need to be part of the Resourceful Designer Community.

Turning down design work. The idea may seem foreign to you. Especially if you're relatively new to running your design business. If you're at a stage in your freelance career where you're trying to establish yourself, you're trying to get your name out there; you're trying to make ends meat and pay your bills, then you might not be ready for this concept. Turning down design work may not be in your best interest right now. However, if you plan on growing your design business to be more than a commodity, more than selling your time for money, then there will come a time when you will need to stop and think, "Is this a design project I want to take on?" You see, the goal for most home-based designers is to become successful enough to be in high demand. The type of demand where you are booking new clients and new design projects weeks, possibly months in the future. The kind of demand where a client is willing to wait several weeks for you instead of finding a designer that can start on their project sooner. When I was hand-coding websites, there were times when I was booking two to three months ahead. I don't see that as much these days since WordPress makes it much quicker to design a website, but demand is still there. And when there's demand, it means there's an abundance of work coming in. And when there's an abundance of work coming in, you can afford to be choosy in the type of projects you take on, and which projects you turn down. But how do you choose? I'm going to give you three criteria. Each criteria is made up of a few simple yes or no questions. Asking yourself these questions can help you decide "is this a design project I want to take on?" Criteria # 1 Yes or no? Does this project sound fun or interesting? Will it be challenging? Will it push me? Will it make me learn new skills? Is the project to design an event poster for a new upcoming festival, or is it to format a company's 80-page code of conduct manual? One of these two projects sounds fun and challenging and can push you to learn new skills. The other, not so much. You need to decide if the project is a YES or a NO. Criteria # 2 Yes or no? Will this project get me a foot in the door? Will it lead to other work? Will it lead to more interesting work? Will it connect me with people I want to connect with? What will the future hold for you by taking on this project? If it's an entry to bigger and better things, then it's a definite YES. Otherwise, it's a NO. Criteria # 3 Yes or no? Is this project profitable? Will I make money on it? Will it bring me recognition or reward? Is it worth my time? Note: Being profitable and making money are not always the same thing. Profitable can mean the project is advantageous, or helpful to you in some way besides monetary income. If you're trying to break into a particular niche, maybe adding a niche related project to your portfolio is worth more to you right now than the money you'll make on the project. Adding up the answers. Ask yourself these criteria questions before every new design project. If you answered YES to all three criteria, then the design project sounds like a dream job and you should accept it. If you answered YES to two of the three criteria, then you should highly consider taking on the project. It sounds like an ideal job for you. If you answered YES to only one of the three criteria, you should be leary of the project. Chances are, it's not a project worth taking on. And of course, if you answered NO to all three criteria, take a hard pass on the project, it's not for you. Go with your gut. These three criteria to accept or decline design work are just guidelines. Always follow your gut when it comes to working with clients and on new projects. If you're hesitating about a job, even one that passes two or even three of the criteria, then the best course of action is to turn it down politely. Never take on a project you don't feel right about. Are you in a position where you can afford to decline design work? 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 Julie. Should I use different branding for my photography business or I should include it as part of my design business? To find out what I told Julie, you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week WordCamp.tv If you can attend a WordCamp in your area, I highly suggest you do so. However, if attending WordCamp is not feasible for you, fear not, the sessions and presentations from all WordCamps are available for viewing, free of charge at wordcamp.tv. If you are a WordPress designer or developer, attending WordCamp should be a regular part of your schedule. WordCamp is a place for WordPress enthusiasts and novices to gather and share their knowledge. Sessions and presentations accommodate all levels of WordPress skills, so everyone benefits from attending.

Have you ever considered designing in a particular niche? Have you heard the term "The Riches Are In The Niches"? It shouldn't come as a surprise that the more focused you are on a particular sector, the more familiar with it you become. And the more familiar with it you become, the more you are perceived as the expert in that particular sector. Graphic and web design is no different. Designers who focus on a particular sector become knows as experts and command more respect and earn more money from clients in that sector. I've talked about niches before on the podcast. In episode 54; Should You Find A Graphic Design Niche, I explained what a niche is and the benefits of choosing one, as well as not having to limit yourself when you choose a niche. In episode 93; Targetting A Design Niche, I teach you how to go about finding and marketing to your particular niche. In today's episode of the Resourceful Designer podcast, I'm talking to Craig Burton, owner of School Branding Matters, a New Zealand based branding agency that specialises in helping schools craft compelling visual brands. Craig found his niche and has spent the past ten years building his company and inspiring journeys in school branding. In this episode you'll hear us discuss: How Craig stumbled upon his niche. Hint, he didn't look for his niche, his niche found him. The early days of developing his niche What worked and what didn't in the process Working within his niche before defining it as his niche. What came first, his niche or his business focusing on the niche. How Craig learns about and creates unique brands for similar and yet very different institutions in his niche. Conflicting branding ideas for different schools. How Craig attracts clients ten years into his business. Repeat clients, branding is more than a logo; it's a journey. The Pros and Cons of working in a specific niche. How working in a niche requires a passion for that sector. Competing with non-niching designers Working with non-niche clients. How Craig has changed as a designer over the past ten years. What's your experience with working in a design niche? Do you work in a design niche? Let me know what your experiences are by leaving a comment for this episode. Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Listen on Android Listen on Stitcher Listen on iHeartRadio Contact me I would love to hear from you. You can send me questions and feedback using my feedback form. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram I want to help you. Running a graphic design or web design business all by yourself isn't easy. If there are any struggles you face running your design business, please reach out to me. I'll do my best to help you by addressing your issues in a future blog post or podcast episode here at Resourceful Designer. You can reach me at feedback@resourcefuldesigner.com

Have you thought of your contingency plans? [sc name="smartpress" ]So you're running a graphic design business. You're plugging away day after day, week after week, engaging with clients and designing amazing things for them. Life is great, and you're living the dream. But what if the unexpected happened? Are you prepared? What would you do in the event of a national disaster that destroys your home? What would you do if all of a sudden, without any warning, you lose all your office equipment? What would you do if something happened to a loved one and you had to drop everything for who knows how long to be by their side? What if you were hit by a car on the way home from the grocery store and end up in the hospital for several weeks. What would you do? Any of these events could happen and prevent your business from functioning. That's where a contingency plan comes into play. What is a Contingency Plan? The easiest way to define a contingency plan is to refer to it as a "plan B" for your business in the event of a setback. A contingency plan creates a clear path, a course of action to get your business through a hardship. All of the scenarios I described above are pretty harsh, but a contingency plan doesn't have to be. It just needs a bit of time and foresight to prepare. Here are some steps to help you with yours. Identify triggers that could affect your design business. Imagine different scenarios that could affect your business. I've shared a few with you already, but there could be many more. Each situation will require it's own contingency plan. What will you do if you lose your office or all your equipment? What will you do if a loved one requires you and you can't work? What will you do if you are incapacitated and cannot work? What will you do if a trusted contractor suddenly disappears? What will you do if your electricity goes out or the internet goes down? What will you do if, for one reason or another, your business has a setback? You need to identify these triggers before you can figure out a plan to cope with them. Discuss this with family and friends; they may think of something you haven't. Create a contingency plan for each trigger. Once you identify the various triggers that could impact your design business, the next step is to figure out what actions you will need to take to get over the hurdles. No one's contingency plans are identical, but there are a few things you should consider including in yours. Your plan to notify clients of your situation. Your plan to deal with approaching deadlines you can no longer meet. Your plan to reach out to fellow designers if you need someone to take over a project for you. Your plan to acquire new equipment for your office if it needs replacing. Set a timeline to help you carry out your plans. What steps will you need to take in the hours, days and possibly weeks after your contingency plan is triggered? Who to involve. If you have business partners, they should be involved in the creation of your contingency plan since your absence affects them. Make sure they have all the information they need to handle your side of the business until you are back. In the event of an emergency, you should have someone you can trust to contact your clients on your behalf and inform them of the situation. The last thing you want to be doing during an emergency is talking to clients. Protecting yourself before anything happens. There's already enough to worry about with whatever scenario you're dealing with, and the last thing you need is more hardship that could affect your business. Protect yourself as best you can by setting the following in place beforehand. Protect yourself in your contract. You should have a clause in your contract that states any natural disasters, acts of god or family emergency that affects your ability to fulfil your end of the agreement automatically negates the contract. You can also offer a full refund to the client should you need to enforce this clause. Insurance to cover your office equipment. You probably have home/tenant insurance to protect your dwelling but does it adequately protect your business assets if you are running a home-based design business? Most home insurance companies will reimburse you for the value of your loss, not the amount it will cost to replace that loss. The money you will receive from the loss of a five-year-old computer will not be enough for you to purchase new equipment. Talk to your insurance company and see if you can include a rider on your policy that will reimburse you the current replacement costs of your losses. Emergency Line of credit. A line of credit can help you purchase new equipment or replace lost income due to an unforeseen business shutdown. A line of credit will allow you to pay your bills and make any needed purchases while you are waiting for insurance money to arrive. Off-Site Backup. In the event of a natural disaster or theft, and off-site backup is crucial for maintaining your client and personal files. Services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and Backblaze are essential for all home-based design businesses. Safety deposit box. A Safety deposit box is useful for storing backup drives and essential documents about your business. And you can claim it as a tax write-off. Create your contingency plans Creating contingency plans for something you hope never happens is not fun, but if you take the time to plan for the worst, it could mean the difference between your business failing or your business surviving in the aftermaths of whatever unforeseeable event you face. Think about the various events that could affect your design business and come up with your contingency plans to get through them. Do you have contingency plans for your design business? 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 Kristy Before I went off on my own, I used to work as an in-house designer at a local print shop. I got along very well with everyone except one person who would continually go out of his way to cause huge problems for both myself and others. After I left, there was apparently a huge fight between him and the boss and he ended up walking out. Now, he is asking if I still do design work and if can design business cards for him. I need a polite way to tell him that I absolutely do not want to work with him in any capacity that will hopefully end the conversation without further discussion. Thanks in advance! To find out what I told Kristy you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Amazon Prime Day If you are searching for equipment for your design business, Amazon Prive Day offers the perfect opportunity to acquire what you need at a discounted rate. Here's a list of just a few of the items you may be interested in. [easyazon_link keywords="computer monitors" locale="US" tag="resourcefuldesigner-20"]Computer Monitors[/easyazon_link] [easyazon_link keywords="USB 3 Hubs" locale="US" tag="resourcefuldesigner-20"]USB 3 Hubs[/easyazon_link] [easyazon_link keywords="phone charging cables" locale="US" tag="resourcefuldesigner-20"]phone charging cables[/easyazon_link] [easyazon_link keywords="Printer ink" locale="US" tag="resourcefuldesigner-20"]Printer ink[/easyazon_link] Note: Resourceful Designer is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon products. Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Listen on Android Listen on Stitcher Listen on iHeartRadio Contact me I would love to hear from you. You can send me questions and feedback using my feedback form. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram I want to help you. Running a graphic design or web design business all by yourself isn't easy. If there are any struggles you face running your design business, please reach out to me. I'll do my best to help you by addressing your issues in a future blog post or podcast episode here at Resourceful Designer. You can reach me at feedback@resourcefuldesigner.com

Do you ever feel like a fraud? In a previous episode of the Resourceful Designer podcast, I talked about Superhero Syndrome. It's when someone takes on more responsibilities than they need or should take on. Sometimes doing things they are not qualified to do instead of doing the logical thing and finding someone qualified for the task. Today I'm talking about the opposite of Superhero Syndrome. And that's Impostor Syndrome. What is Impostor Syndrome? Impostor Syndrome is a collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist even in the face of information that indicates that the opposite is true. It is experienced internally as chronic self-doubt and feelings of intellectual fraudulence. In layman's terms, Impostor Syndrome is the belief that you're an impostor and not qualified to do the things that are asked of you, even though you are qualified. Several years ago, I talked about impostor syndrome on an episode Stuff I Learned Yesterday, another podcast that I shared hosting duties. That was the first time I had heard about Impostor Syndrome, and I had to do a lot of research before recording that episode. Since then, the term, and unfortunately the suffering, has become more popular. Before choosing this topic for today's episode, I decided to do a bit more research into the subject. After reading several articles and blogs on the topic of Impostor Syndrome, I've come to one conclusion. Impostor Syndrome is B.S. Not the syndrome, that's real, and I believe that many people, especially designers, suffer from it, including myself. I release a new podcast episode every week. I do this to help you with your design business. But there are plenty of times when I think to myself. "who am I to be advising the people who listen? Why should anyone care what I have to say? I'm no superstar designer. I don't have hundreds of thousands of followers like Chris Do does." That's Impostor Syndrome. And even though I know what it is, the feeling is still there. We all suffer from it at some point. As designers, we're expected to create things from nothing using only our imagination and creativity. Businesses stake their growth on the ideas we dream up for them. That's a daunting task. What if we're not up to it? That's what I'm calling B.S. on, that view that people suffering from Impostor Syndrome have about themselves. Am I the most qualified person to talk about the 170 plus topics I've shared with you on the Resourceful Designer podcast? No, of course not. There are plenty of designers more qualified than me. But that doesn't mean I'm not qualified in my own way. I have over 30 years of design experience, 14 of which I've spent running my own design business. Everything I've learned over that time and everything I'm still learning, that's what I'm sharing with you, and there's nobody better suited to share my experiences than me. I'm the designer, and the person I am today because of the time I invested in myself. When I start feeling Impostor Syndrome, I remind myself that you're there listening to me. You've decided to press play on my podcast. You've determined listening to me is worth your time. And that gets me through it. But what about you? Do you ever feel like you're a fraud? An impostor? If you do, then I'm telling you to stop. If you are at the point in your design career where you are working with or thinking of working with clients, trust me, you earned that right. Chances are, if you weren't ready yet to work with clients, you wouldn't be trying to. It's a common belief amongst impostor syndrome sufferers that they only got to where they are by pure luck, or by somehow deceiving others into thinking they're more skilled and competent than they believe themselves to be. No matter the evidence of their competence, those with Impostor Syndrome remain convinced that they are frauds and don't deserve the success they have. Again, it's all B.S. I don't want to sound mean or come off as impassive. What I'm trying to say is, unless you're trying to pass yourself off as a designer but never designed anything before, then you're not an impostor. An impostor would be someone offering to create a website, but they've never done one before, or someone charging to design a logo without any knowledge of what a logo is. Chances are you got to where you are in your design career because you deserve to be there, wherever "there" is. I believe a lot of designers should have more confidence in their abilities than they do. It's that the self-doubt that gets to them. You've earned that degree that says you're a designer. When you were in school, you did the same projects and took the same tests as those around you. Sure some of your classmates may have done better than you, but that doesn't mean you didn't earn your passing grade. If you didn't go to school for design, then chances are you've spent time honing your skills and learning the necessary programs and techniques to be a designer. Don't think for one second that just because you didn't attend design school that you are not a designer. The same goes for your career if you're working somewhere as a designer. You were hired for your design position because you were the best candidate. Nobody hires a designer out of pity. They hire a designer because they see the desired traits, skills and qualifications they need. Keep pushing yourself. As long as you continue to learn and push yourself, you can never call yourself a fraud. Are there people better qualified than you? I can almost guarantee there are, but that doesn't mean you are not qualified yourself. Not every player on a team can be the star player, but everyone one of them made the team on their own merits. So stop looking at other people's successes and keep working on developing your best self. Impostor Syndrome is not a mental disorder, nor is it a personality trait. It's only a reaction to certain stimuli and events, and you can overcome it. Henry Ford once said, "Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right." You know the term "fake it until you make it"?. That term applies to every designer who ever lived. Even the best designers in the world keep learning and improving themselves because they know they can be better. They keep learning because, in their mind, they're not as good as they want to be. I know that's why I keep learning. Because I'm not the designer I want to be. I don't think I ever will be, and that's OK. It keeps me going. You need to get out there, do your best, keep learning, and you'll be ok. What can you do if you suffer from Impostor Syndrome? If you think you suffer from Impostor Syndrome here's something you can try. A conventional therapy I found in several articles says that keeping a journal of your accomplishments can help you associate them with reality. By keeping track of those accomplishments, you'll alleviate your sense of inadequacy. Keep all those "Great Job!" and "This design is amazing!" emails and comments you receive. They make great testimonials for your website and promotional material, but they also act as a reminder that you're good at what you do. They let you know that people appreciate what you do and that you're not a fraud. Another thing you could try when you're feeling insecure is to find people with whom you can talk. Best of all, other designers who know what you're going through. The Resourceful Designer Community is a great place to share your thoughts and build confidence in yourself. You're not alone. In my research, for today's episode, I came across a lot of famous people that suffer from Impostor Syndrome. Actress and Comedienne Tina Fey often feels people will realise she's not that funny. Michelle Pfeifer is constantly afraid that people will find out she's not very talented. Kate Winslett wakes up some mornings thinking "I can't do this. I'm a fraud." Even Tom Hanks suffers from Impostor Syndrome, in an interview he said 'I still feel sometimes that I'd like to be as good as so-and-so actor,' he continued. 'I see some other actors' work, and I think I'll never get there. I wish I could.'" Even someone as talented as Tom Hanks who is recognised as one of the top actors in Hollywood sometimes thinks he's not good enough. And yet he has the awards to prove otherwise. You may not be as famous as those people, but that doesn't mean you don't deserve to be where you are. If you feel this way about yourself, if you think you may suffer from Impostor Syndrome, let me tell you this. You've played a significant role in your success. It wasn't those around you, so stop comparing yourself to them. Nobody belongs where you are more than you do. You've earned your position. You are not a fraud. You didn't get to where you are by luck. Your accomplishments are yours and yours alone. Once you realise this, there's no telling what you can achieve. So don't hold back. If you do, you're only robbing the world of the value you can bring. Do you suffer from Impostor Syndrome? 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 Tracy How do you separate life and work? To find out what I told Tracy you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week The Logo Package Express The Logo Package Express is an Adobe Illustrator extension that allows you to create, export and sort hundreds of logo files in under 5 minutes. What would typically take an hour or more to do can now be accomplished in minutes. Think of all that time you can put to better use. Do you want to see it in action? Here's a demo video I recorded using The Logo Package Express.

What's holding you back? [sc name="pod_ad"]September 30 will mark four years that I've been releasing episodes of the Resourceful Designer podcast. During the time I've received hundreds of emails from people thanking me for what I do. They tell me how much I've helped them, inspired them and motivated them. There's no way for me to express how this makes me feel, knowing that me, a designer, working out of my home office in small-town Ontario, Canada is having such an impact on designers from around the globe. It's truly humbling, and I cherish every message I receive. But over time, I've noticed a common theme with many of the messages. Web and graphic designers write to me saying that after listening to Resourceful Designer for so long, they've finally started their own design business. I'm happy for them, but I can't help wonder what was holding these people back from starting sooner? Why did it take them so long of listening to the podcast, in some cases years, before starting their business journey? Does this describe your situation? Have you started your design business yet? I understand those people who tell me they've lost their job for one reason or another and have decided with my inspiration to start their own graphic or web design business instead of looking for new employment. But what about those who tell me they've finally built up the courage to begin working with clients as a side gig while still employed somewhere? These people have a steady income at their current job, so the fear of not being able to support themselves isn't a factor. What was holding them back? What hesitation was stopping them from trying it sooner? If you're in a similar situation, where you haven't started your business yet, why haven't you? Don't get me wrong; I'm not encouraging you to quit your current job. I don't need that responsibility. Yes, some people have told me that I've given them the courage to do just that, quit their job and start their own design business. That's a huge leap, and a lot of things need to be in place before someone does that. However, in most cases, quitting your day job is not required if you want to start a side gig. Let me ask again. If you are listening to this podcast because of your dream of running your own design business, but you haven't started one yet, why not? Is it fear? Is it imposter syndrome? What factor is preventing you from moving forward? Whatever is holding you back, maybe I can help give you one more little nudge. The 80/20 rule. Have you heard of the 80/20 rule? It states that 20% of your effort will produce 80% of your desired results. For example, 20% of a sports team's players will contribute 80% of the goals they score. 20% of an investment portfolio will produce 80% of the profit. 20% of a retail store's client base will purchase 80% of its products. 20% of your design clients will result in 80% of your income. Let's get your design business started Let's use the 80/20 rule to make it easier for you to finally start your design business. Write down ten things you need to do to start your business. Of those ten things, I want you to select only two of them. Choose the two that will create the most positive impact toward helping you reach that goal. Following the 80/20 rule, Those two things, the two most important ones from your list of 10, should bring you 80% of the results you need and bring you closer to having your own design business. Even if those two things are not enough, they will put you further along the path than you are now. Small steps, taken regularly, will lead to progress. It's just like finishing a marathon is accomplished by putting one foot in front of the other. It's called progress. Every step you take towards entrepreneurship will get you closer to that goal. Break down everything you need to do into small manageable tasks, and you'll find it easier to get things done. Maybe this might mean finding your first client. That may be all it takes to get you started. Remember, you can be a freelancer before you become an entrepreneur. The pieces will follow. Some people think they need to have everything in place before they can start a design business. I Can't start yet; I don't have a business name. I Can't start yet; I don't have a website. I Can't start yet; I don't have business cards. I Can't start yet; I haven't registered my business. I Can't start yet; I haven't figured out invoicing. I Can't start yet; I don't have a contract. Etc., etc., etc. Sure, these are all things you will eventually need, but they are not things you need to start your business journey. All that's required for you to get started are your skills as a designer and the willingness to find your first client. The rest can follow. I want you to remember; you define your business; your business doesn't define you. Meaning, you can get started now, and let the business grow and evolve around you over time. If the reason you have not started on the journey of working for yourself is that you are waiting for all the puzzle pieces to fall into place, I want you to know that it will never happen. Ask any business owner, and they'll tell you, There will always be learning and improving, and innovating and growing. In other words, there will always be more puzzle pieces to add to the picture. When should you start? So when is the perfect time to start your own web design business or graphic design business? Even if it's not an officially registered business yet? Why not today? You already have the knowledge and skills after all. That knowledge and those skills are all a client cares about when it comes to hiring a designer. Clients don't care about your business name, or if you have a fancy invoice. All a client wants is a designer that can produce a design solution for them. There's no reason you can't do that right now — the rest of it, all the business stuff, that can come later. If your goal is to start your own design business, either it full-time or part-time, what's holding you back? You can't accomplish anything without starting. What makes you hesitate before taking business leaps? 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 John Have you ever been in this situation: There's a perfect client you really want to work with. Someone you see over and over again at social gatherings and such and you keep pitching them your services in the hopes they'll eventually bite? Then one day they contact you with a project and you're super excited and feel like you've landed a million dollar client? You Start working on their project and everything is going really well. Then, a few days into the project you start to lose that fire you had. The fire that made you crave working with this client. You start slacking off, you don't reply to their emails as fast as you should, your mind starts drifting to other projects because you're not excited anymore about the client or their project. You still provide them with great work but the passion isn't in it anymore. Do you ever have episodes like this and what do you do in such a case? To find out what I told John you'll have to listen to the podcast. Tip of the week Upgrade your 32-bit applications (Mac Users) Mac Users: All 32-bit applications on your computer will cease to function when you update to OS Catalina Update. If you've noticed this warning messages when opening an application "Application Name" is not optimized for your Mac and needs to be updated. It's your computer warning you that it won't support that application in future updates. To see which applications on your computer need to be updated, select About This Mac > System Report > Software > Applications. The right-hand column will show if an application is 64 bit or not with a simple Yes or No. If you click on the title at the top, it will sort the list with all the Yes and No together making it easier to view. Look through all the applications marked NO and determine if it's something you still need. If not, you can delete it. It won't work after the next OS update anyway. If it's something you do want to keep, find out if there's an update available and update it. Make sure all the applications you do use are 64 bit before updating to OS Catalina. Otherwise, you won't be able to use them anymore.

Don't waste time when you're not busy. Wouldn't it be nice to have so much design work that you don't have time during your work day for anything else? Come to think of it; I don't know if I'd like that. I enjoy a bit of downtime now and then, and I'm sure you do too. Downtime, when your brain isn't working at one hundred per cent concentrating on some important task or churning away pumping out those creative juices. You need time to give your brain a rest. It's that old proverb "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". Downtime is good. But downtime doesn't have to be wasted time. Downtime can be put to good use and become productive time, benefiting your business while still giving your mind a break. The next time you feel that pull from the rabbit hole that is YouTube or Facebook, I want you to think of productive things you could be doing instead. To help you, I'm going to share ten productive things you can do when you're not busy. Let me first state; If you are not busy because you don't have any projects to work on, then you should ignore this list and concentrate your time on client acquisition. Your first concern as a business owner is to find work that pays the bills. If you can't pay the bills, then you won't have a business for long. What I'm talking about here are those non-busy times between projects. Those times when you complete something 30 minutes before lunch and don't want to start a new project on an empty stomach. Or Friday afternoons when you know you should be working, but it's the end of the week, and the design spirit isn't in you. Instead of wasting those moments doing something mundane and useless, try doing something productive with that time such as: 1) Organise your bookmarks. If you're like me, you bookmark a lot of websites that at the moment, seem important, but over time, become redundant. And again, like me, you probably rarely take the time to clean our or organise those bookmarks. Downtime is the perfect time to look over your bookmarks and clean them up. 2) Clean out your email. Those times when you are not busy are the perfect times to look through your email inbox and delete unnecessary messages. You know the ones, the emails you put aside to look at later that you know you'll never read. Or funny jokes from friends that you'll never pass on. If your email client allows them, use smart mailboxes to sift through your email and delete anything that is no longer needed. This downtime is also the perfect opportunity to review your email subscriptions and determine which ones are worth keeping and which ones you should unsubscribe. 3) Watch a tutorial. I'm sure there are things you would like to know but never find the time to learn. If you're going to immerse yourself in YouTube, why not make it a learning experience? Find tutorials and training videos that will benefit your business. If you're a proponent of Just In Time Learning look for interesting video tutorials and put them aside for viewing in the future. 4) Read business articles and books. Running your own design business means you are not only a designer but a business owner. And being a business owner is not something they teach in school. Use your spare time to brush up on your business skills. Thirty minutes is plenty of time to read an article or a chapter in a book. You'll be expanding your knowledge and benefiting your business. 5) Organise your office. I don't know any business owner that doesn't have something in their office that needs organising. Most likely it's that "catch-all" place. In my case, it's the second drawer on my desk. It's the place I put things when I don't know where to put them. It's my catch-all drawer. If you have a drawer or a place like that in your office, why not use your 15-30 minutes of downtime to sift through it and start organising its contents. 6) Research potential new clients. If you don't feel like doing something physical such as organising a drawer, why not spend some time researching potential new clients? I'm not talking about client outreach, although if you have the time, then why not do some. I'm talking about research into who could be the right person to reach out to when you have more time. Try a local search for new businesses and start a list of people you may want to contact when you do start your outreach. 7) Organise your computer files. Is your computer is a mess? My desktop alone is covered with over a hundred files and folders, and my Downloads folder currently contains 1931 files. Both are in desperate need of some cleanup. If you are in a similar situation, why not take the time while you are not busy and organise your fonts, client projects, downloads, applications, stock images, etc. Downtime is the perfect time to do some computer file management. 8) Update your portfolio and website. If you're trying to attract new clients, you need to make sure your touch points are in order. A crucial touch point is your website, particularly your portfolio. Take some time to review it and see if it needs updating. While you're at it, look over the rest of your website to see if any other pages need updating. Check out this past podcast episode on creating the perfect About Page. 9) Update your software. Isn't it annoying when you're in the middle of a project, and all of a sudden your software starts updating? Why not take the time between projects to check if any of your software has updates available. 10) Update your social media profiles. Most people set up their social media profiles when they first open their account and then never look at them again. Does that sound like you? Take a few minutes to look at your profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, or whatever social networks you frequent. Make sure all your information, including your profile photo, is current and creates the best impression of you. Bonus Tip: Reboot your computer. Computers are finicky instruments, and as such, can develop glitches and problems over time. What's the tried and true #1 remedy for any problem with an electronic device? You got it, Turn it off and on again. Reboot your computer, your external hard drives, your internet router, even your tablet and phone. You have the time after all, so why not refresh your devices and give them a clean slate for the next time you use them. Use your downtime productively If you use your downtime, the time you're not busy to do productive tasks instead of wasting your time watching movie trailers or cat videos on YouTube, you'll be benefiting yourself and your business. Plus you'll get a little boost of endorphins that will make you feel good about how you are spending your time, even if your not spending that time making money doing design work. What productive things do you do when you're not busy? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Resource of the week Resourceful Designer Community The Resourceful Designer Community is an active community of designers with a common goal, a goal of improving and growing their design business. The community is for designers of any levels. Current members include designers just starting their business, members with agency experience, members with knowledge of web design and print design, all willing to share what they know. The Community interacts via a private and very active Slack group, with new conversations happening every day. There are also regular video meetings. These video chats are where the magic happens. By seeing each other's faces and interacting directly with each other, members become closer and more invested in what each of their fellow members is doing with their business. If a member can't make the live video chats, they can view the recording which is archived for members to watch at their convenience. If have your own design business or are thinking of starting one, regardless of your skills as a designer, and you are looking for a tight-knit group of designers to help you by being mentors, confidants and friends, then you need to be part of the Resourceful Designer Community.

How do you charge for design work? [sc name="pod_ad"]Do you offer fixed prices to your clients or is hourly billing your pricing strategy of choice? I'm not interested in how you come up with your rate or your price. What I'm asking is, do you or don't you know how much a design job will cost before beginning the project? Today I want to share my opinion on why you should stop billing by the hour and start offering fixed prices instead. Changing my pricing strategy. When I started my design business in 2005, I prided myself on the fact that I didn't offer fixed pricing. Everything I designed was billed by the hour for the exact amount of time it took me to complete the project. It was my most prominent marketing feature. I landed plenty of clients because unlike other designers who were charging "outrageous" fixed prices for the work they did, I only charged for the actual time I spent on a project. For years I traded my time for money. And it worked. In no time at all, I grew my business to dozens of recurring clients. I thought I had made it big. Now, however, when I look back, I realise I was doing a disservice to both myself and the design industry because I was treating myself like a commodity. But you can understand my thinking, can't you? Most service industries bill by the hour after all. And lots of business people, the people who hire freelancers think in those terms as well. It's familiar to them. They pay their employees by the hour so why shouldn't it be the same with you? It took me a few years before I realised that creative people like you and I, we aren't selling our time. No, we're selling our talent, our skills, our experience and of course, we're selling the final creative product that we're providing to our clients. We're not selling the processes involved in creating those designs. For a business person used to paying people by the hour, it may seem logical that the faster you can produce your designs, the less it should cost them. However, it's false to think that designers should be paid based on how long a project takes to complete. Instead, you should be paid for how much the final design you deliver is worth. It has nothing to do with how much time you spend on it. I've spent days working on a logo concept before getting it right, and other times, I've designed the perfect logo in less than an hour. Why should I be paid less just because inspiration hit at the start? I shouldn't, and neither should you. Hourly billing causes opposing interests. Charging by the hour for your design services creates a designer/client relationship with opposing interests. If you are billing by the hour, it's in your best interest to take your time. Sure, you need to take the necessary time to complete the project to the best of your abilities, but you still know that the longer you take, the more money you'll make. The client, on the other hand, has conflicting interests. The client wants the best work you can deliver, but at the same time, they want you to complete it as fast as possible, so it doesn't cost them as much. Why fixed prices are better. Charging a fixed price for your services alleviates this burden of opposing interests because the final price is set at the start and agreed upon by both parties. The client is no longer worried about how much extra it will cost them with every revision. By agreeing on a price beforehand, it puts both of your interest in perfect alignment. You know how much you are money you are making, and the client knows how much it costs them. Time, the conflicting notion with hourly billing, is no longer part of the equation, and you and your client can work unencumbered by conflicting interests. With fixed prices, the faster you come up with and execute your idea, the better. You end up getting paid more for your time, and the client receives their design more quickly, at the agreed upon price. You're both happy. Should you end up taking longer than expected, you get paid less for your time, but you still know how much you are making. And the client is ok with the extra time since it doesn't cost them any more. The trick with fixed pricing is determining a price that is acceptable to the client and yet still covers you should a project take longer than expected. Removing conflicting interests strengthens relationships. When I stopped charging my clients by the hour and switched to charging fixed prices, I felt the relationships I had with my clients deepen because there was no more give and take from both sides wondering what the final cost of a design project would be. Justifying your fixed prices When offering fixed prices, you are sure to be asked questions such as "why are you charging $800 for a logo when services are offering $20 logos?" Here's what you can tell your clients to justify your prices. When you design something, you are creating from a marketing perspective. In other words, you are developing a marketing tool for your client, a tool that will represent them for years to come and help them grow and generate income. Those offering inexpensive design services are only providing pretty images with no thought or research behind them. That's it. Those people don't care about the client beyond wanting to make something cute for them, collect their money and move on to the next client and project. Marketing tools created by professional designers, especially those around branding, involve a well-developed strategy and therefore cost more. To create the right piece for a client, you need to take the time to get to know that client, what they represent, how they operate, and how they think. This discovery process is the real value behind the design process and is not something offered by cheap design suppliers. Cheap design suppliers don't take that time because they don't care about the client; they only care about pumping out designs as fast as they can. If your client questions your prices, ask them what they think their business is worth? Their company's representation starts with its branding and continues with every marketing piece and design they put forward. If they feel that representation is only worth $20, so be it, you are not the designer for them. However, a professional, well thought out design that is a good representation of the company and everything it encompasses should be worth more than that. Do you charge by the hour or do you offer fixed prices? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Resource of the week Adobe Color Adobe Color is an excellent resource for choosing colour pallets for your design project. You can create your perfect palette by selecting a base colour and apply their various colour rules. Once you have your pallet, you can convert it to Pantone swatches and then download it for use in your desktop applications. To check it out visit https://color.adobe.com

Do you use Cold Emails to attract clients? Equivalent to Cold Calling, Cold Emailing is when you send unsolicited email to someone without prior contact. A Cold email is a very effective way to reach out to potential new clients. So effective in fact that it's been in use since the first businesses were around. OK, maybe not cold emailing, but cold calling has been. Even before phones were invented business people would knock on strangers doors trying to sell their wares. It was their version of cold calling. It's a practice that has worked for generations and can work for your design business as well. Sending cold emails is not the same thing as sending spam emails. A cold email is a one-to-one personalized message sent to a specific individual. Its purpose is to start a business conversation with that one person rather than to promote your services to the masses as spam emails do. Email, a force to be reckoned with. Did you know that email, in the form that we know it today has been around since the mid-70s? In terms of technology, that's archaic. And yet, even in today's world of social media platforms, direct messaging, video chats and the likes, email still reigns. Facebook, the world's largest social media platform boasts over 2.2 billion users worldwide. But there are over 3.8 billion email users, that's almost double the number of Facebook users. Over 500 million tweets are sent every day, but that's just a drop in the bucket compared to the 281 billion emails sent each day. Face it, business is built on email. If you want to get ahead in your design business, knowing how to write effective and compelling emails is something you shouldn't ignore. Especially when sending out cold emails. If you cannot capture someone's attention with your first email contact, what chances do you have of starting a working relationship with them? 10 tips that will help your cold emails convert. 1) Self-Awareness The problem with the written word is everybody interprets it differently. Your meaning could be misconstrued and not come across the way you intended. Think of this simple sentence "I can't wait". Does it mean you're looking forward to something or does it mean time's up and you can't wait any longer? In order for your words to come off the way you want them to, you need to be self-aware of what you are writing. Meaning you need to imagine yourself in the recipient's shoes and try to understand how they will receive your message. Make sure what you write is straight forward and only has one meaning or interpretation. 2) Length Be efficient. The less you write, the more chances of your message being read. I'm subscribed to several email lists. I read almost every short message I receive but rarely do I read any of the ones that are several pages long. And that's from people I've asked to send me stuff. Imagine how people will react to a message from a complete stranger? A 2018 study done by Hubspot said that only one in three messages longer than 2500 words receive a reply. Their study concludes that between 50 and 125 words, the length of a small paragraph is the ideal length when sending unsolicited emails. People are busy, some receive dozens if not hundreds of emails every day. Increase your chances of being read by keeping your message brief. 3) Be Clear Short messages are not good enough if the message isn't clear. Skip the niceties and get directly to your point. Messages that come across as boasting or too academic in writing makes it difficult to understand and can hurt your odds of getting a reply. The company behind the Gmail add-on Boomerang found that emails written at a third-grade reading level are 36% more likely to receive a reply than those written at a college reading level. Don't try to sound smarter than you normally do. Excessive formality, complex sentences and long-windedness won't impress anyone. 4) Be specific Be very specific in why you are emailing this person and what you are expecting from them. Don't list every design service you offer. Instead, mention the one service you think this client is in most need of. Let them know how you can help them with that service and let them know how to get in touch with you should they want your help with that service. Once you get the conversation started you can mention your other services, but in this cold outreach, you should stick to one specific topic. 5) As a question. According to the Hubspot research I mentioned earlier, emails that ask one to three questions are 50% more likely to receive a reply than emails without questions. A question is your call-to-action. It informs the recipient that you are expecting a response from them and will increase your chances of receiving one. 6) User soft language. Cold emails are sent to people that don't already know you. You don't want their first impression of you to be harsh. Don't overstep your bounds or come off as too forward. Avoid this by using friendly, more suggestive language. Instead of saying something like "Call me to discuss this more", say something softer like "If you'd like to discuss this more, call me." It's friendlier and more inviting to a reply. 7) Use short sentences. This is a secret that copywriters use. The longer the piece of text is that they are writing, the shorter the paragraphs they use. Shorter paragraphs create more white space, making them easier to read. As a designer, you know the importance of white space. Use short sentences in your cold emails 8) Read your email before sending it. We're all busy, and sometimes it's easy to simply write an email and send it off without a second thought. But that's a mistake. You should never do this when composing a cold email or any email for that matter. Take the extra time to read over your email. Better yet, read it out loud. Doing this will help you catch typos, weird language, excessive verbiage and anything else that may hurt your credibility if you sent an unpolished message. 9) Add the email address last. One of the worst feelings is accidentally pressing send on an unfinished email. It makes you look like an amateur and very unprofessional. Especially if this is the first time you are reaching out to someone. Avoid this feeling by doing everything in steps 1 through 8 BEFORE adding the recipient's email address to the message. 10) Follow up, and follow up again. If you don't hear back from someone you sent a cold email to, don't give up, follow up. These people live busy lives and can't answer every email they receive from strangers. However, if you follow up they may take notice and take action. Statistics show that 80%of inquiries require multiple follow-ups before an action is taken. And yet, 44% of people give up after the first follow-up. This is where you can succeed where other designers have failed. Follow the 2:1:1 rule for your cold emails. Wait two days after your initial email to follow up. If you don't hear back, follow up again after one week. If you still don't receive a reply follow up again after one month. This strategy will allow you to get through to people who might have been having a bad day and ignored your initial email, or those who may have been away at a conference or on vacation. If you are offering something the recipient needs they will be happy you followed up. Rules when it comes to unsolicited cold emails Depending on where you live and where the recipient of your cold emails live you may fall under certain legislation and laws restricting how you proceed. Regulations such as: GDPR General Data Protection Regulation) CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) CAN-SPAM Act Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) Australian Spam Act New Zealand - Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act For the most part, as long as you are targeting one individual, you are not collecting, storing or selling any of their data, and you abide by their request to not contact them anymore, you should be safe. Cold emails are a communication tool that can greatly increase your client base and revenue and they're much easier to implement than cold calling over the phone or in person. If you apply these strategies you should see your return on cold emails drastically increase. Do you use cold emails as part of your marketing campaign? 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 Will Have you ever looked into becoming Adobe Certified? Other than personal education, I am wondering whether clients ever consider this when choosing a designer. To find out what I told Will you'll have to listen to the podcast. Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Listen on Android Listen on Stitcher Listen on iHeartRadio Contact me I would love to hear from you. You can send me questions and feedback using my feedback form. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram I want to help you. Running a graphic design or web design business all by yourself isn't easy. If there are any struggles you face running your design business, please reach out to me. I'll do my best to help you by addressing your issues in a future blog post or podcast episode here at Resourceful Designer. You can reach me at feedback@resourcefuldesigner.com