Resourceful Designer: Strategies for running a graphic design business

How do you motivate yourself to avoid burnout? Running a home-based design business is stressful work. It takes motivation and dedication to avoid burnout. But what do you do when that motivation and dedication is waning? As a solopreneur, you are probably a very busy person. You're either spending a good amount of your time trying to get new clients or spending it trying to please the clients you have. Probably a bit of both. But doing it all by yourself can take a lot out of you. Having a team to pick up some of the slack can help, but not for everything. Face it. You embrace the freelance lifestyle because you want to be your own boss, to make your own rules and do things your way. That's one of the best things about being a home-based designer. You're in charge, and you get to decide how things work. But being in charge and doing everything yourself can become overbearing at times. Especially when your business is busy, and you are feeling overwhelmed and stressed. I want to share 8 Tips with you to help you avoid burnout and motivate yourself to keep going, even when things get tough. Please listen to this podcast episode. In it, I dive deeper into each of the following tips more than I do in this article. 1) Find Inspiration. Without inspiration, your creativity will stagnate and fizzle out. Look for things around you that will rejuvenate your creative juices. Make time to do things that get you excited. Visit a museum. Try a new recipe. Take a course and learn something new. Talk to a coach or mentor if you have one. Watch or listen to YouTube videos, Podcasts or TED Talks that motivate you. Whatever source of motivation you choose, make the time for yourself and do something that energises and excites you and helps you move forward reinvigorated. 2) Relax and Recharge. If you are a "go, go, go" kind of person, you need to learn to slow down and take some time to relax every once and a while. Take a few hours, or better yet a day or more and forget about your business, your clients and ongoing design projects. They'll still be there when you get back, ready for you to pick up where you left off. Turn off your computer and your phone. Disconnect from your email and social media and all the other anchors tying you to your business and do something calming. Read a book, take a walk, spend time with friends and family, anything to take your mind off work, even if it's just for a little while. If you don't take regular breaks to relax and recharge, you'll end up hitting a wall and feeling crushed by the weight of everything on your shoulders. You need some "Me Time" to avoid burnout. Separate yourself from the stress of your business and take the time to enjoy the life you are working so hard to have. 3) Appreciate your accomplishments. Sometimes, when you are working for yourself trying to get by day by day, it's easy to forget everything you've done to get to where you are. Take some time to appreciate everything you've accomplished in reaching where you are and feel gratitude for those who have helped you get here. Appreciating applies to both the big and the small. Think about everything you've done since you began your journey as a designer. What and who motivated and helped get to where you are today. But also think about the little things that have happened recently to help you get to here and now. Such as the small tasks and to-dos that you've checked off in the last few days. All of it plays a part in how you ended up where you are right now and deserves to be acknowledged and appreciated. 4) Look at the big picture. Take a few minutes to review the goals you set out for yourself and your business. Examine and reassess what is still important and what isn't. Are your goals still relevant? If you want to change your trajectory, now's the time to adjust your goals accordingly. Revisiting your goals will help you focus on what is essential for yourself and your business and allow you to realign yourself for better future success. 5) Stop doing everything. One of the problems with being a solopreneur is the overwhelming feeling that you need to please everyone and need to do everything. Learn how to say no. Especially if what you are being asked to do doesn't align with the goals you set out for your business. You can't do a good job when you are trying to do everything, so stop spreading yourself too thin and learn to become selective of which projects and clients you take on. 6) Audit your client ROI. Before you get to the point of feeling unmotivated and are on the cusp of burning out you should run an ROI (Return On Investment) audit on your business and get rid of anything that doesn't fit with your goals. Examine which clients and which projects are the ones you enjoy the most and are bringing in the most money. Spend your energy focusing on them. For the clients and projects you don't enjoy or are giving you the least ROI on your time, try raising your prices to bring them in line and make them worth your time, or let them go altogether. Losing motivation and feeling burnout happens most often when you are forced to work on projects you don't enjoy and those that bring in very little return for your time. 7) Identify and eliminate bad habits. Bad habits can often lead to feeling overwhelmed and burnout. Are you checking your email or phone too often? Do you get distracted by every notification you receive? Are you repeatedly hitting the snooze button in the morning to avoid starting work? Are you eating unhealthy foods that make you feel tired and sluggish? These bad habits and more can lead to a lack of motivation. Identifying them and working to eliminate them can help you avoid burnout. Doing so will help keep you motivated and productive. 8) Get out of your comfort zone. Try doing something different for a change. If you have a laptop, try working from a different location for a change. Either within your home or go someplace else entirely. If you usually work 9-5 try changing your schedule and work 11-7 or 1-9 for a few days and see what happens. Different people have different times of the day when they feel the most productive. Some thrive on mornings, other's peak in the afternoon and some people are most alert at night. Figure out when your most productive time of the day is and schedule your most important work during that time. A change of scenery or a change to your schedule can make a world of difference and completely change your outlook on things. Getting out of your comfort zone stimulates your mind and causes your brain to reassess your surroundings. Those extra mental juices will help channel inspiration and make you think more creatively. You can avoid burnout. Running a home-based design business is stressful work. It takes motivation and dedication to avoid burnout. Knowing what to look out for is the first step in your success. These 8 tips will help you stay focused, keep your creative juices flowing and allow you to be a more productive designer and entrepreneur. What do you to stay motivated and avoid burnout? 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 Amy I listened to your Spring Cleaning podcastwhich was helpful, as usual. I have this question for you. After eliminating all the unneeded data from my hard drive, do I need to run some sort of program to defragment (as in the old days) or something else? Or is it simply good-to-go after emptying the trash? And if I do, how do I do that? To find out what I told Amy you'll have to listen to the podcast. 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 MARKETINGBOOSTto 44222. Improve your business' image and create the best first impression possible to attract more clients. Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on Google PodcastsListen on Spotify Listen on StitcherListen on AndroidListen on Google Play MusicListen 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

How much should you charge for your design services? How many times have you asked yourself that question? It doesn't matter if you are new to the design life or a veteran designer, that nagging question is always around. How much should you charge for your design services? There are many things to take into consideration when you ask yourself that question. Such as what pricing strategy you want to use for your design business. But regardless of which approach you choose, be it charging by the hour, by the project, or based on value, you still need to figure out how much to charge for your services. But where do you start? How do you know if you should charge $20 an hour, $50 an hour or $100 an hour? For project-based pricing, do you charge $500, $5,000 or $50,000 for a website? Figuring out how much to charge can get confusing. I'm going to share one way for you to look at things that may help you calculate what you should be charging as well as help you figure out what type of clients you should be going after. Look for the sweet spot The trick to figuring out how much you should be charging for your design services is to find that sweet spot between how much you charge your clients and how many clients you need to sustain the lifestyle you want to live. The first step is to figure out how much money you want to make annually as a designer. You could pick a number at random and say you want to make $30,000 a year, or $80,000 or even $200,000. Or you can try calculating your business and personal expenses, including savings plus money for leisure things, and come up with an annual salary to cover that number. Regardless of how you come up with the annual amount you want to make, once you know it, it's time to look at your design rate versus your workload. For example, let's say you want to make $48,000 per year. $48,000 per year is $4,000 per month or $1,000 per week (based on four weeks per month. The extra days are your vacation days). At a regular 40 hour per week 9-5 job, your wage would be $25 per hour to achieve this. But as a home-based designer, you are not working a 40 hour per week 9-5 job. Chances are you are not working 40 billable hours per week either. You may be working 40 or more hours per week, but they are probably not all billable. To figure out how much to charge your clients and how many clients you need to take on, we have to do some calculations. There are several ways for you to make $4,000 per month such as. 1 client that pays you $4000/month 2 clients that pay you $2000/month 4 clients that pay you $1000/month 8 clients that pay you $500/month 16 clients that pay you $250/month 20 clients that pay you $200/month 40 clients that pay you $100/month Every one of these bullet points will earn you $4,000 per month. But if you imagine them like a bell curve, you will find a sweet spot somewhere in the middle that will be much easier to attain and maintain. That sweet spot is where you have the right number of clients paying you the right amount of money to earn your desired monthly income. While at the same time having a number of clients that is sustainable. Let's look at those numbers again. One $4,000 client each month. Finding one client every month that will pay you $4000 may prove difficult for some designers. It will take a lot of work to acquire and onboard a new $4000 client every month. Not to mention that $4000 clients will demand a lot of you which could be stressful for you. Failing to sign a new client every month could leave you financially strapped. Forty $100 clients each month. At the other end of the scale, procuring forty $100 clients every month will also be very difficult and stress-inducing. You will need to spend a lot of your unbillable time trying to acquire 40 clients each month. Then, after onboarding all of these clients, you still need to find the time to produce 40 pieces of design work that month. That's 2 completed design pieces per business day. Not to mention, lower paying clients are usually the most demanding clients. Sounds like a nightmare to deal with, doesn't it? Your work will probably suffer because of the high workload, and there is a good chance of burnout on your part. You couldn't sustain this for very long. Finding the sweet spot. Somewhere in the middle of this bell curve is the sweet spot where you get a good amount of money per client. The task of finding new clients isn't as difficult, and managing your client list and completing the design projects is easily doable. Looking again at the bullet points above, It will take a lot less effort to land eight $500 clients or ten $400 clients every month than it does to find one high paying client or forty low paying clients. With eight to twelve clients you should have the time to properly interview them, do your discovery, come up with ideas and complete their design projects without overstressing yourself. You'll also be producing better quality design work because you will have the proper time to devote to each project. Which in turn will help grow your portfolio and attract even more clients. Once you know what price range you want to go after, it's just a matter of finding enough clients in that budget range. How much should you charge? Thinking again of that bell curve and the range of the right number of clients at the right budget, you can then calculate an hourly rate. I'll use ten clients as an example because it's a nice even number to do the math with. If you have ten clients per month, each paying you $400, you will make $4,000 per month. That works out to two and a half clients per week bringing in a total of $1,000. Figure out your billable hours In order to find out how much to charge your clients, you need to know how many billable hours you would you like to work each week. Let's say you put in a 40 hour work week. Roughly 15 of those hours will be spent finding new clients and managing your business. Those 15 hours are not billable, leaving you with 25 billable hours per week. Those are the hours you actually spend designing. 25 billable hours per week, divided by 2.5 clients, gives you 10 hours per client per week. If each client is paying you $400 that works out to an hourly rate of $40. So if charge $40 per hour for your design services, you need 10 clients per month, at 10 hours each in order to earn $48,000 per year. Reality break. Let's be realistic. There's no way you will ever have exactly 10 clients each month, each with a project that takes exactly 10 hours to complete. It would be great if life was that predictable but it isn't. But it does give you a base to start with. If you charge $40 per hour, you need to work 25 billable hours per week to make $48,000 per year. But what if you only want to make $30,000 per year? If that's the case, you can still charge $40 per hour and drop your billable hours to roughly 15.5 per week. Or you can work 25 billable hours but only charge $25 per hour. Do you see where I'm going with this? The whole point of this exercise is to show you that there's a correlation between what you charge your clients, how many clients you have, and how hard it will be to find those clients and sustain your business. In reality, you need to average out these numbers over the course of a year. Some weeks you will work more hours and some weeks less. Some months you will have more clients and some you will have less. But if you use your own numbers and look at the bell curve, you should see that somewhere in there is that sweet spot. The spot where the number of clients you need to get each month is realistic and attainable and the average price you need to get from each one is also realistic and attainable. By doing these calculations, you can set yourself a goal to aim for and have a good idea of what you should be charging your clients to attain that goal. That sweet spot is where you should aim for your business. Have you ever calculated how many clients or hours you need to sustain your business? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Questions of the Week There is no question of the week this time but I would love to answer yours on a future episode of the podcast. Submit your question by visiting the feedback page. Resource of the week Elegant Themes Blog I've mentioned before that I'm a big fan of Elegant Themes' Divi Theme. What I haven't shared before is the excellent blog that Elegant Themes puts out with articles covering not only Divi but all aspects of web design. Not only can you read about new Divi features, but you can find great tips and tricks from experts on how to do amazing things in Divi. You can also learn valuable information about WordPress and website design in general. If you haven't done so already, I highly suggest you check out the Elegant Themes Blog. Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on Spotify Listen on StitcherListen on AndroidListen on Google Play MusicListen 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

Failure Is Always An Option I love that line "Failure is always and options". I first saw it on a T-Shirt worn by Adam Savage of Mythbusters. In his case, it applied to science and engineering, but it applies just as easily to the world of design. Failure is what lets us learn. Failure allows us to improve, to expand, and to grow. If you fail badly enough at something, you probably won't repeat the same mistake. In your case as a designer, when I say failure, I'm talking about your designs being rejected by clients. That excellent logo design you created that wasn't accepted by your client, no matter how hard you worked on it or how much you loved it. Or that cutting edge poster you did that was "too wild" for the event it was promoting. The designs may have been great in your mind, but they were still rejected, making them failures. Who knows why? Maybe the client has different tastes than you do. Perhaps the market isn't ready for your innovative approach. Or, and I'm just putting this out there as a possibility, maybe your idea stank. Whatever the reason, your design failed. In researching this podcast episode, I looked up some famous quotes on failure. Here are some great ones that could apply to designers. Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. – Henry Ford You have to be able to accept failure to get better. – LeBron James One of my favourite ones is from Winston Churchill who said Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. – Winston Churchill As a designer, you can't let rejections get you down. And yet I see it all the time in design communities. Designers mopping because a client didn't like their idea. It happens, don't fret on it. Pick yourself up and get back at it and try again. Think of your draft process when you're designing something. Chances are you don't just come up with one idea and present it to your client. If you do, then I think I found the reason why clients are rejecting your designs. If you're like most designers, you go through dozens if not hundreds of ideas and incarnations of those ideas before settling on a design you think is presentable to your client. If you look at those earlier design drafts, most of them are very poor compared to the presented version. Each one of those earlier drafts was a failure that led to improvements. Those failures allowed you to progress to the next version or next idea which was an improvement over the last one. When a client rejects one of your designs, you shouldn't look at it as a failure. Instead, see it as one more step in the process. Maybe you showed it too soon. Maybe there are more variations to explore or refinements to make. Perhaps you hadn't stretched your creativity enough to come up with the next, even better idea. It's all part of the creative process, and you shouldn't view it as a failure. Doing so is not productive. If a client turning down your design pushes you to create something even better, then nobody will remember your previous unsuccessful tries. Don't get attached to your designs. The trick to getting past failure as a creative is not to become overly attached to your ideas and concepts. I know, it's tough. You work hard to create something that you think is amazing. Something you know will blow the client's socks off. And then you're shocked when it doesn't. You feel defeated because, in your mind, it was the perfect design. That's the problem. When you become so enamoured with your design that it blocks your creativity and prevents you from improving your idea. You'll never progress as a designer if you allow that to happen. Don't get me wrong. Being proud of your work is ok. But those great pieces you create are still just stepping stones to even better ideas yet to come. If you want to be a successful designer you need to learn to brush off rejections. Use the failure as a learning experience to improve your skills and abilities and become a better designer. One more thing. Just because a client rejects, a design doesn't mean it's a bad design. If you like it, put it aside and recycle it in the future if there's ever use for it. Maybe, after time you'll start to see the flaws in it you couldn't see before. Or, if it still holds up, you can adjust it and present it to another client who will appreciate it. Remember that design is subjective. Not everyone has the same idea of what looks good and what doesn't. When you present something to a client, no matter what you think of the design, the client has the final say and failure is always an option. What stories about failure do you have? Share your stories about design fails you've had 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 Mark What is your policy on sharing the source files with your clients? Some years ago I created a series of packaging labels for a small coffee roaster. Years later, a person I did not know e-mailed me, mentioning that he was now doing a project with the client and needed the photoshop files. Although this was an easy task for me to do, it just didn't sit right with me. I contacted the client to verify this person and they told me they were working on an advertising campaign and that person was in marketing. In the end, I sent the marketer (flattened) psd files and interestingly enough, I ended up working with him on a future project. I have had discussions with others about openly sharing source files with clients. Some say they (the clients) paid for them by paying you for your service while others say absolutely not. What do you say Mark? To find out what I told Mark you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Podcasts In honour of International Podcast Day on September 30th (and the third anniversary of the Resourceful Designer podcast) I encourage you to 1) find new podcasts to listen to. 2) Encourage others to try podcasts. Podcasts are a great way to learn, discover, laugh and be entertained, With over a half billion podcasts available there's sure to be one for whatever hobby, interest and curiosities you have. Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on Spotify Listen on StitcherListen on AndroidListen on Google Play MusicListen 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

How to politely turn away clients Are you afraid to be stuck with a client from hell? If so, knowing how to turn away clients politely is a skill you better learn. In the last episode of the Resourceful Designer podcast, I shared 12 red flags for spotting bad design clients. You should be familiar with them before continuing to read. Unfortunately, spotting a bad client is only half the battle. The next hurdle is turning them away. I go into much more detail in the podcast. For the full story be sure to listen. But what if you're wrong about a client? They may have raised one or more red flags, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't have turned out to be a great client after all. Just in case you have the opportunity to work with them again someday, you need to turn away clients in a way that doesn't burn any bridges. Script templates you can use to turn away clients. Feel free to copy, use and reword these script templates whenever you need to turn away clients. Just be sure that your final draft is as polite as possible and that you don't insult the client. After all, you never know what the future holds. Clients you want to avoid. In most cases, this first script will be all you need. From the red flags I shared in the last episode, this one covers clients with a bad reputation, clients with inconsistent communications, clients who complain about previous designers, those who flirt with you and clients who for whatever reason, give you a bad feeling. All of these fall under clients you want to avoid. The best way to avoid going any further with them is to send them a message like this. Dear (client's name) Thank you for considering me (or your business name) for your (insert kind of design project here). It sounds like an exciting project. Regrettably, due to my current workload, I am not taking on any new projects at the moment. Thanks again for considering me (or your business name). I wish you success with your (insert project name). Regards, (insert your name) That's it. That's all you need to say. Politely tell the client you are unable to take on new projects at this time and you wish them the best. No other excuses or explanations are required. If the client asks when you will be available for new projects, tell them your work calendar is full for the foreseeable future. Client rudely challenges your fee. Challenging your fee is expected. It's called negotiation. However, when a client starts to get rude or obnoxious about it, you need to remove yourself from the situation with a message like this one. Dear (client's name) Thank you for considering me (or your business name) for your (insert kind of design project here). I know my (fee/rate/price) is not for everyone. I've spent many years developing my craft as a designer, and I've positioned my fees to reflect the level of service I provide to my clients. I understand you are looking for something in a lower price range. Perhaps you can contact (insert list of designers who may take on the project). I believe (he, she or they) may be able to help you where I cannot. I wish you success with your (insert project name) Regards, (insert your name) If you don't want to provide a name or list of designers, you could switch paragraph three to this. I understand you are looking for something in a lower price range. I believe you would be better served by a designer whose services are not as involved as mine are. This paragraph reaffirms that your prices are higher for a reason. Should the client not be satisfied with another designer they may return and accept your higher rates. A client wants you on call 24/7 or to micromanage you. This client still has potential. If you don't want to work with them, you can use the first script above. However, if you wish to try and save this client but curb their overbearing ways, you may want to try something like this. Dear (client's name) Thank you for considering me (or your business name) for your (insert kind of design project here). It sounds like an interesting project that I would love to work on with you. Before we get started I'd like to share how I operate. My business hours are (insert your working hours). I expect all communications between us to be via email or phone during my business hours. All correspondence regarding your design project is to be by email. Email documents our communications, so we each have a record of what we discussed in case we need to refer to it in the future. I will try to respond to email promptly. I am reachable by phone during my business hours. However, I do not accept any project changes, updates or approvals over the phone. Any changes or approvals must be sent by email. If you would like to move forward with this project let me know and I will forward you my contract. Thanks again for considering me (insert client's name) as your designer. Warmly, (insert your name) Include other vital points such as how often you provide updates or how many revisions you allow. Stating these things up front gives you grounds to part ways with the client should they not oblige. If they agree to these terms, be sure to repeat all of them in your contract. That way, if they do start to become overbearing, you can refer back to the agreed upon document. A client doesn't want to partake in your discovery process. A client who doesn't want to partake in discovery is not only dismissing your abilities as a designer, but they are doing themselves a disservice by not providing you with everything you need to do your job. A message like this one may help. Dear (client's name) Thank you for choosing me (or your business name) for your (insert kind of design project here). Design is more than a pretty image or layout. When done right, design solves a problem. The possible problems I'm facing with your (insert project) are (list possible problems). To pinpoint your exact problem and come up with the perfect design solution, I need to find out everything I can about you, your company, and your clients. Only then can I create a design that will work for your needs. To accomplish this I go through what's called a discovery process in which I ask you questions that I need you to answer honestly. Only then, once I get to know you and your business will I see the direction your project will need to take. Let me know when you will be available to talk. Regards (insert your name) A client wants you to steal or copy another designer's work. In a case when this happens, and it will happen at some point in your career, you should educate the client on why you cannot do what they are asking with a message like this one. If they still insist your only option is to walk away. Dear (client's name) Thank you for considering me (or your business name) for your (insert kind of design project here). Regrettably, I am not able to take on your project as described. What you are asking of me not only breaks copyright law but it infringes on ethical standards. Designers are skilled professionals who deserve to be paid for their expertise. You are asking me to steal the work of another designer and pass it off as my own. This I will not do. What I can do for you is create something unique that will represent you in the best possible way. If you wish to discuss this possibility further, please contact me. Thanks again for considering me for your design project. Sincerely, (insert your name) A client doesn't want to sign a contract. A client not wanting to sign a contract is a terrible sign. You must insist on a signed document before any work is to start. Sending them an email like this may help. Dear (client's name) Thank you for choosing me (or your business name) for your (insert kind of design project here). I'm really excited to start working on it. I'm just waiting for you to sign the contract before any work can begin. Once I receive the signed agreement I can start working on it. Thanks again for choosing me (insert client's name). Regards, (insert your name) A client wants you to work for free, on spec or for exposure. It's too bad that some people don't believe designers are worth paying. The best you can hope for is to educate them enough that they change their ways. Dear (client's name) Thank you for considering me (or your business name) for your (insert kind of design project here). It sounds like an exciting project. Regrettably, without proper monetary compensation, I will not be able to take it on. I've spent years developing my skills as a designer and although I appreciate the offer of (insert their offer of exposure, references, a portfolio piece.). However, such offers are a gamble, and there's no way to guarantee the sustainability of my business by taking it on. I'm sure you can appreciate that just like any other profession, I use my expertise as a designer to make a living. I cannot do that if I am not compensated financially for the work I provide. Thanks again for considering me (insert client's name). I wish you success with your (insert project name) Regards (insert your name) Build your client list Dealing with clients like the ones mentioned above is frustrating. The good news is there are a far greater number of clients who appreciate you and your talents. Over time you will build a list of great clients with whom you'll enjoy working. Appreciate them and build relationships with them. By doing so, you will ensure a happy and successful design career. Do you have a script to turn away clients? Do you have your own scripts you use to turn away clients in any of the above-mentioned situations? Please share them with me 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 Audry My question is regarding logos and what files sizes to give to clients. I understand the file types (PDF, SVG etc.), but just don't know which ones to provide a client that doesn't know ahead of time where their logos will be placed. So how can I be safe and provide them with all the right sizes and file types they'll ever need? I just want to make sure I cover all the necessary formats for where it could possibly be going (pens, letterheads, vehicle wraps, billboards, etc.). To find out what I told Audry you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Porkbun.com Porkbun.comis a great place to purchase speciality domains. You can purchase standard domains such as .com and .net at Porkbun.com but they specialize in domains such as .art, .boutique, .consulting, .gallery, .marketing, .photography or .photos plus many more. Porkbun.com prides themselves on being the #1 ranked registrar for lowest registration and renewal prices. On top of low prices, every Porkbun.com domain also comes with Free WHOIS Privacy and Free SSL Certificates making them an even better deal. I own several .design domains and if you would like to own one I highly suggest you give Porkbun.com a try. Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on Spotify Listen on StitcherListen on AndroidListen on Google Play MusicListen 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

12 Red Flags For Spotting Bad Design Clients Bad Design Clients can ruin a business and destroy your love of design. Luckily there are certain Red Flags to help you spot bad clients before things go too far. In past episodes of the Resourceful Designer podcast, I talked about reasons for passing on design projects from both existing clients as well as from new clients. This time I focus on the clients themselves, specifically bad clients you want to avoid. Maybe you're just starting out, or perhaps you're a struggling designer, and the thought of turning away clients is entirely foreign to you. Not to mention that telling clients you can't or won't help them is not only uncomfortable, but it goes against human nature to want to please people. Plus there's the fear that turning a client away may backfire and you may lose future opportunities. These are all real fears. But to run a successful design business, and also be happy in the work you are doing, there will be times when passing on a client is the right thing to do. Not every client out there is a good fit for you and some you plain don't want as a client. In the years I've been running my business I've had a few clients I wish I had turned away at the start. Not every client out there is right for you and some you just plain don't want to work with. By being selective in your client selection you are not only helping yourself, but you are also helping the client who deserves to work with someone who is better suited to serve them. So how do you spot the red flags letting you know when you should pass on a client? Start by studying the client Before you can decide whether or not to accept a new client, you need to try and get a feel for what it will be like working with them. Only then will you know if you want to invest your time in building a relationship with them. Start by asking the client about themselves and their business before ever asking about their project. Get to know them a bit first. Once you start discussing the project make sure you ask them what it is they expect from you as a designer. Not just the designs deliverables you will be providing, but what experience do they expect from working with you. Through your initial conversation, you should get a small feel for what it would be like working with the client. Over time you'll develop the ability to quickly feel out potential clients to decide whether or not you want to work with them. One thing you could do is hold off agreeing to a project on the initial call or meeting. Always offer to send a proposal to the client outlining your discussion before taking on their project. You will accomplish two things by doing this; It will give you time to think about the client and research them if needed. Should you not spot any red flags and start working with the client only to discover later they are a bad client; you will have the initial proposal in writing to fall back on in case of any disputes. 12 Red Flags to watch for to spot a bad client. 1. The client has a bad reputation. You might be unfamiliar with the client, but that doesn't mean you can't do some research before agreeing to work with them. A quick Google search of their name or business can turn up all sorts of red flags with information that may help you make a decision. If you know of anyone the client has worked with before, contact them and ask how it was to work with the client. 2. Inconsistent communication. Clients who contact you in a rush to have something designed but then take forever to give you details or to respond to a proof. Or clients who harass you looking for quotes or proposals but don't respond to you when you follow up afterwards. These are red flags that can help you see how communications will go during the project phase. Inconsistent communication while working on a project can be a real pain. Spotting this red flag early could save you a lot of headaches. 3. The client rudely challenges your fee. It's normal for a client to question your price, as long as they do it in a professional manner "that's more than I was expecting to pay, my budget was closer to X." What isn't right if when a client rudely scoffs at your prices and replies with "who do you think you are charging this much?" or "you're working from home without any overhead, you can give me a better price than this" or "this price is ridiculous, I can get the same thing done much cheaper elsewhere". Scenarios similar to these are akin to bullying. Any client that starts off the relationship this way isn't work keeping. 4. A client expects you to be on call 24/7. Some clients expect daily progress updates or to be shown every step of the design process. Some want to be able to communicate with you at any hour of the day. Some clients may expect super fast turnarounds, or for you to be "on call" at the drop of a hat whenever they need you. There are also the clients that will send you an email, then a text telling you they sent you an email and then follow up with a Facebook PM letting you know they emailed and texted you. If that's not how you want to work, then don't work with this client. 5. The client wants to micromanage you. Clients who micromanage don't' respect your skills and experience as a designer. They think they know best and want you to follow their lead. Remember that working with a client is a partnership, not a dictatorship. You are not their employee. You do not work for them; you are working with them. There are few things worse than working with a bossy client. If you feel your authority in the partnership may be minimised, pass on the client. 6. A client doesn't want to partake in your discovery process. Some clients think the discovery process is a waste of their time. "You're the designer, just design something". They don't understand why you need to know all these things about them and their business. Without proper discovery to learn about your client, there's no way for you to design the perfect piece to solve their problem. If a client refused to partake in discovery, there's a good chance you will fail to please them with your work since there's no way for you to know what problem you are trying to solve with your design. 7. A client wants you to steal or copy another designers work. This Red Flag doesn't need an explanation. If a client asks you to copy something and change the name on it to theirs or build a website identical to someone else's but maybe with different colours and text, there are only two things you can do. Educate the client on why you cannot do what they are asking of you (Ethical reasons, copyright laws) and that they are hiring you to design something unique to represent them in the best possible way. If they don't want to listen, walk away. They are a bad client to have. 8. A client complains about previous designers. No good can come from working with a client who complains about previous designers they've hired. 95% of the time there was nothing wrong with the former designers, it was the client that was the problem. You're taking a risk by trying to be the design saviour they want. If you fail to meet up to the standards they are looking for; they will be bashing your name and reputation in the future as well. Get away from this bad client while you can. 9. The client doesn't want to sign a contract. Run away, run away fast. Some clients will try anything not to sign a contract. "Go ahead and get started, I'll mail the contract to you tomorrow" or "There's a tight deadline on this project, why don't you get started and we can iron out about the contract later." This red flag isn't always the end all of a client relationship. If you firmly but politely tell the client you cannot get started without a signed contract there's a good chance they will concede, and you can move forward. However, if they push back at all, you should kindly pass on the client. 10. The client wants you to work for free, on spec or for exposure. In this day and age, I shouldn't have to explain why you should be compensated monetarily for your work. Unfortunately, there are people out there who don't see what you do as a real job and therefore don't feel the need to pay you like a real business. If a client offers to work with you in exchange for: The exposure you will get once people see your work. A project that will make a great portfolio piece. The promise of referring you to others. A design that if they like it, they will pay you for it. It's your duty as a professional designer to inform them that you deserve proper payment for your time and services. If they can't pay you, then you can't work with them. 11. The client flirts with you. Some people are natural flirts and don't even realise they are doing it. Others use it as a manipulating tactic to get what they want. Unfortunately it's not always easy to distinguish between the two, and either way, it could leave you feeling uncomfortable if you are not receptive to the flirting. Be wary of this client. There may be nothing wrong with them, and they may turn out to be a perfect client. But if their flirting makes you feel uncomfortable then pass on them. 12. You have a bad feeling about the client. You can't explain it. The client has an excellent project for you, they accept your terms, they've agreed to your price, and for all intent and purposes, they seem like the perfect client to have. And yet you have a bad feeling about them. I don't want to compare design clients to people in dark vans offering candy to kids, but some people can appear perfectly normal, desirable in fact, all the while hiding who they really are. If you ever encounter a client that for some unknown reason just doesn't fit right with you, listen to your intuition. Human beings have relied on it for millennia to keep them safe. Save yourself the stress and possible future troubles and pass on this client. Weed out these Red Flags and build a great client base. Life is too short to deal with undesirable people. If you keep an eye out for these Red Flags to weed out bad clients and build a great client base of wonderful people you enjoy working with, there's no reason you shouldn't have a successful design career. You should love the work you are doing. Don't let bad clients ruin it for you. What Red Flags do you look for in a potential new client? Let me know what Red Flags you look out for or what bad client stories you've experienced by leaving a comment for this episode. Tip of the week Check your Inode limit. I recently had an issue where all of my client's websites failed when I tried updating or installing a plugin or theme, and I was unable to add any new images to the media gallery. It turns out I had gone over my Inode limit on my shared hosting plan. My hosting provider informed me that even though my plan includes unlimited websites and unlimited disk storage space, there was, in fact, a limit to the number of Inodes I could have. What's an Inode? I asked the same thing. It turns out an Inode is a file (why they don't call it a file I don't know). So even though I have unlimited storage space, there is a limit to the number of files my hosting plan allows, and I had exceeded it. They offered me two options, 1) Purchase a new hosting plan and migrate some of my client sites to it to reduce the number of files (Inodes) on my first plan. Or 2) Delete files on my current hosting plan to drop my total Inode count below my limit. Luckily there were a couple of websites still on my hosting plan that were old and no longer live. Deleting them freed up enough space to allow me to continue working on the site I was building for a client. I will be purchasing a new hosting plan for future client sites. Hosting is inexpensive, so it's not a big deal. However, I did learn something from this experience (not just what an Inode is), read the fine print. Unlimited disk space sounds great, providing there isn't some other cap in place. I don't begrudge my hosting provider. If they didn't put a limit on the number of Inodes, there would be nothing stopping me from hosting hundreds if not thousands of websites for a small monthly hosting fee. All of this to say, check with your hosting provider to see what your Inode limit is so you don't encounter the same problem I did. Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on Spotify Listen on StitcherListen on AndroidListen on Google Play MusicListen 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.

When clients view design as an investment, you win. Whether or not a potential client decides to work with you relies heavily on your pitch to them. If they like the presentation but view the cost of hiring you as an expense, they may choose to look for more affordable options. However, if they consider the cost of hiring you as an investment, there's a good chance they'll decide to work with you. Not promoting the investment opportunity is a critical factor that holds so many designers back from charging what they are truly worth. One of the most significant concerns over raising design rates is that clients can get design work done cheaper elsewhere. Yes, it's true, but only for clients who view design as an expense. Something to shop around for the best deal. For clients who see design as an investment, the price isn't usually an issue. Nurturing an investment mentality in your clients. How can you get clients to view design as an investment? Change how you make your pitch to them, and it will make a difference in your proposal success rate. It all comes down to semantics. When you tell a client their new website will cost them $8000, they hear the price and imagine it as an expense they need to justify. They may feel reluctant to move forward and may want to shop around for a better deal. However, if you explain to a client that by working with you they receive much more than just a website, they receive a strategic partner that focuses on their business success, the same $8000 suddenly becomes an investment in the future of their business. If you can get a client to think about the return they will receive after paying your fee; they will be much more inclined to work with you. The trick is to expand beyond the receivables you are providing the client and explaining what they can accomplish with those receivables. A well-designed logo can bring them better exposure and brand recognition and make them stand out amongst their competition. A well-designed website can generate more traffic, get them a better market share, help them monitor trends and visitors through analytics and increase their conversions. When you explain what the client gets beyond the designs, they are much more inclined to appreciate what you offer them and invest in you. You can even change the wording on your proposals from Total Cost or Total Price to read Total Investment. It's such a subtle shift, but if it clicks with a potential client, then that client becomes loyal to you. An investment is something people want to do, whereas an expense is something people try to avoid but know it's sometimes inevitable. If you can convince clients you are offering the first one, there's a good chance they hire you. I've talked in past episodes of Resourceful Designer about building client relationships and how you want them to see you as their strategic partner and not just a design supplier. Clients are much more willing to invest in a partner because they feel like they will get something out of it. What if the client still questions the price? If you present your proposal as an investment and the client still questions your price, you should try explaining it to them in business terms more familiar to them. If a client has a storefront, look at its location. Is it in a busy downtown area? Is it in a shopping centre? Ask them why did they choose that location instead of opening in a cheaper location on the outskirts of town. If the client runs a service based business and relies on their vehicle for work, ask them why they didn't choose an older model vehicle that would have cost them less money? The reason clients choose premium locations or newer vehicles is that they are thinking of them as investments and not merely an expense. Yes, you could argue that mortgages, leases and loans are expenses according to accounting practices. But they are investments when it comes to the success of the business. Store owners will pay more for a better location because of the exposure it gives them. Service businesses are willing to pay more for their vehicles because of the perception it instils in people who see them. The same should apply to design. Clients can get websites, logos, and marketing material designed cheaper than what you are offering. But if they genuinely want what is best for their business, they should be willing to invest more to get something that will impact their business beyond just the design, and that's where you come in. To paraphrase author and business leader Michael Hyatt. If a design seem cheap, dated or confusing, potential clients will think the business is cheap, dated or confusing. No business can afford to be percieved this way. The best way to avoid being viewed as cheap, dated or confusing is to hire a professional designer who will work closely with the business to ensure their success. That's where you come in. So if you are not already doing it. Change the way you pitch yourself to clients. Stop telling them how much things will cost them and start telling them how much of an investment hiring you will be. Do your clients know they are investing in their business by hiring you? Let me know your thoughts on this topic 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 Ursula How do you approach Project Proposals? I feel like I spend a lot of time and energy on proposals, and I always wonder how much of them I could have prepared ahead of time to make the processes faster for my (potential) clients, and cost effective for me in terms of my time. But I feel like I should be approaching each project with a clean slate so that my proposal is individualized for them. There must be a better way. Can you share your process or other best practices in this area? To find out what I told Ursula you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week BackupBuddy BackupBuddyby iThemes is the easiest way to backup, restore, migrate and relocate a WordPress website. With BackupBuddy you always have peace of mind knowing that your website is safe and if ever the need arises, can be restored with just a few simple clicks. Do you design client websites locally or in a designated sandbox? BackupBuddy makes it easy to move and deploy the site to its permanent domain once it's complete. BackupBuddy is the first plugin I install on every WordPress site I build. Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on Spotify Listen on StitcherListen on AndroidListen on Google Play MusicListen 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 focus on the Features or the Benefits of working with you? I love visiting graphic and web designers' websites. I love looking at their portfolio of projects to see the work they produce. But even more than looking at portfolios, I love studying how these designers promote themselves to potential clients. One of the things I've noticed while visiting these sites is the different focuses presented to visitors. Some focus heavily on the features and services they offer to clients, while other sites focus on the benefit a client receives from working with that particular design studio. After visiting hundreds, if not thousands of designer sites over the years, I've concluded that the ones most likely to convert visitors into clients are the ones who list the benefits. The ones who let potential clients know what's in it for them. Don't get me wrong. You should list your features and services on your website. Many clients are looking for a designer for one project and don't even realize that they offer other servicesas well. However, your features and services shouldn't be the primary focus of your message. They should be secondary to the benefits a client gets from deciding to work with you. Here's an example from a website that focuses mostly on the features they offer: Why work with us? Whether you need a website, an event poster, or to add graphics to your vehicle, we can create the designs that will direct your potential clients back to you. We create designs for you that are aesthetically pleasing, modern and relevant within your industry, with a simple and clear message. With creativity and clarity, we develope your branding through custom graphics that you and your customers will appreciate. We offer services in: The message goes on to list the features and services this design company offers. This is good information for the client to have. But It doesn't show the benefits for the client from choosing this company. Here's an example of a company focusing on benefits: We want to work with you. When you partner with (name redacted) to develop or expand your brand, you not only get a team of experienced designers and marketers who have helped hundreds of businesses just like yours excell. You get a team of devoted people whose focus is on your success. When you look good, we look good. Our aim in working with you is to develop a connection and learn everything we can about your business. This partnership will allow us to develop a personalized branding strategy that fits your budget. If you are ready to expand your business then so are we. Click here to set up a call to discuss your business and the services we can offer you. Do you see the difference? Sentences like "When you partner with..." or "You get a team of devoted people whose focus is on your success." or "Our aim in working with you is to develop a connection...". These all show a benefit to the client. It shows that the design company cares about their clients' success. It shows that choosing this company is choosing a partner in developing your brand and not just a supplier. This website did list their features and services on a secondary page reachable with a "Learn more" link for potential clients who want to know more about this company. Listing your features and services is a good idea. It helps expand who you are, and It does work in attracting clients. Visitors are interested in what it is you can offer them. But it should be secondary to your main message. When you focus on the benefits, you are reaching the client on a personal level, and that makes it much easier for the client to decide to work with you. Developing your message strategy When it comes to creating your marketing material; your website, brochures, advertising etc. you need to keep your target audiences' behaviour in mind. How will they react to the message you put in front of them? Is your message more knowledge-based, meaning it focuses on the features? Or is it emotion based, focusing on the benefits? Remember that clients want to know "what's in it for them?" If you can trigger an emotional response from a potential client, you are already most of the way there to winning them over. This subtle shift in how you word things can make a world of difference in the growth of your design business. Do you explain the benefits to your clients in your marketing material? 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 Stian My main focus is webdesign and development. So I will get loads of logins to FTP servers, web clients, web services, I even make new ones for my clients. And on top of this there is the contact information to each client. Do you have a tip to organize this ? Like a software where I can store passwords and usernames safe, and other client information. I am not looking for some sort of billing system. To find out what I told Stian you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week SetApp.com SetApp.comis a subscription service for Mac apps. Starting at $5.99 per month for students and teachers and $8.99 per month for everyone else, SetApp gives you access to over 120 Apps for Mac OS. These are full version apps with no in-app purchases. Plus you get free updates and upgrades as they are released for every app. You also automatically get access to new apps as they are added to the SetApp package. Some of the apps included are CleanMyMac - free up disk space and speed up your mac iStat Menus - monitor your mac's health Flume - Use Instagram on your Mac Chronicle - Financial organization MacGourmet Deluxe - for discovering and managing recipes. Gemini - Remove duplicate files from your Mac Plus so many more apps ready for you to use as part of your subscription. SetApp categories include Maintenance apps, Lifestyle apps, Productivity apps, Task Management apps, apps for Developers, for Creatives, for Writing & Blogging and apps for Education and Research. Check out SetApp.com to see if it's something you are interested in. Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on Spotify Listen on StitcherListen on AndroidListen on Google Play MusicListen 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 tried downselling to win over design clients? Building client relationships is one of, if not the most important thing you can do as a designer. One of the best ways to build relationships is by downselling to your design clients. In a previous episode of the Resourceful Designer podcast, I talked about Upselling to increase your design revenue. In it, I mentioned how upselling is an excellent way of delivering more value to your clients which in turn will make them think higher of you. Upselling is a great way to build relationships with your clients while also increasing your revenue. However, downselling is another great skill you should practice to not only build client relationships but to win over clients that otherwise would not have hired you in the first place. Downselling is vital in building your company's reputation. What is Downselling? Downselling is when you offer something of lesser value to win over a client. Usually, once the client has indicated, they won't be proceeding with your original proposal. For example, you could offer to build a smaller website for less money by eliminating some of the features a client requested. Downselling can also be used when you believe a client is asking for more than what they need or want something that is wrong for them and you counter with something of lesser value that suits them better. This is more of an ethical decision. Sure you can design what the client is asking for and charge them accordingly. But if you downsell them on a lesser idea because it's the right thing to do, they will realise you have saved them money and possibly misery, and they will become big fans of yours. For example, after looking at their content, you may suggest designing a more economical postcard or rack card instead of an expensive tri-fold brochure. Anything you do that helps the client achieve their objective and save them money will raise their impression of you and strengthen your relationship. When should you downsell? The best time to downsell is once you realise a client isn't going to move forward with what you are offering them. However, be careful of downselling too early. Sometimes a client simply needs more time or more convincing before agreeing to your initial proposal. But if there are indications that the client is not buying what you are offering them, then a downsell can work. How do you downsell? The best way to introduce a downsell is by acknowledging that your initial offer was too much for the client or that what the client is asking for is more than what they need. "James, I understand that my website proposal is more than what you budgeted for. How about we go over the scope of the job once more and see if there are any areas we can rework in order to cut costs." In this example, the client was rejecting a quote for an eCommerce website to sell their new product. The downsell is to offer them a simple site with a purchase button hooked up through PayPal, it accomplishes their objective at a more economical cost. When it's a case of the client wanting more than they need it could be something like: "Jennifer, I would love to design the souveneir program for your upcoming concert tour. You mentioned how expensive it is to put on this tour. May I suggest going with a saddle stiched program instead of having it perfect bound? Your fans will enjoy it just as much and it will save you a lot of money on the production costs." Clients like Jennifer will appreciate your honesty and realise that you have their best interest in mind and your not just viewing them as another source of income. What not to do when Downselling One thing you should never do when downsellng is just lowering your price. Dropping your price is not downselling, it's informing your client that you typically charge more for what you do than what you think you are worth. Trying to win over a client by dropping your prices will have the opposite effect to what you are trying to achieve. The client will always second guess your future dealings. If you can't offer an alternate product or service of lesser value that will still benefit the client, you are better off to let the client walk away. Other ways to downsell Sometimes budget or needs are not the issues. Sometimes it's the resistance of working with someone new for the first time. Downselling can help in these situations. When a client is showing hesitation because they don't know you or are unsure of your work, you can downsell your services by offering to take on a single part of a more massive project for them to get to know you better. "Charles, I understand how hard it can be to trust your entire marketing campaign to someone you just met. Here's a proposal, what if we start with just the post card design. If you like what I design for you then we can discuss the rest of the campaign." This "foot in the door" strategy is a great way to downsell a hesitant client and to build an excellent foundation for the relationship you are starting with them. Downselling pays off In my experience, there is no downside to downselling. Your clients will appreciate your honesty and will be inclined to bring you more projects in the future and to refer you to others. After all, a satisfied client is the best marketing strategy you can have for your design business. Do you practice downselling? Share your experience with downselling 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 Tiana I just started out in this business and I'm finding it difficult to figure out invoicing and how to charge my clients. Do you take a deposit up front or do you charge for the entire job once it's done. To find out what I told Tiana you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Depositphotos DepositPhotosis a great stock photography site that offers a reverse image search. No more struggles to find words to describe the right stock image; now you can show DepositPhotos what you want. Upload your photo to reverse image search, and choose from lots of similar high-res images. You can either upload a picture from your computer or copy/paste the URL of a photo you saw online into the search bar. Reverse image search uses image recognition to analyse all components of the photo and provide similar image options in just a few seconds. If this is something that interests you, please check out DepositPhotos Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on Spotify Listen on StitcherListen on AndroidListen on Google Play MusicListen 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, Facebookand 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

Nine Situations when you should say No to your clients. How does that old joke go? "Business would be so much easier if I didn't have to deal with clients." It's funny but unrealistic. Without clients, you wouldn't have a business. So thank you to all the design clients out there that keep designers like you and me in business. Yes, clients are great. However, some of them can be difficult to work with at times, and others, let's say they can be a real pain in the ASSumption that we'll bend over backwards to work with them. Sometimes one of the best skills you can have is knowing when to say NO to your clients. Having to say no to your clients can be very stressful. But sometimes the situation you find yourself in requires you to put your foot down and do just that. In episode 42 of Resourceful Designer, I discussed how it's OK to say NO to graphic design work. In that episode, I talked about how and why you should turn down design work or design clients. Here are nine situations where you should say no to your existing clients. 1) Scope Creep The dreaded scope creep. You've already agreed with your client on what a project entails, hopefully via a signed contract, but your client keeps trying to push things beyond what you initially discussed. A little bit of scope creep is expected, but you'll know when enough is enough and that's when you need to say no to your clients. Let them know the project is growing beyond what you initially agreed upon, and you either cannot accommodate their new demands, or you need to renegotiate the terms of the project. Clients will try to get whatever they can from you, but they will respect you when you say no. 2) The project is beyond your abilities When a client asks you to do something that is beyond your skillset, you can say no. There's no shame in showing your boundaries. In fact, the client may appreciate your honesty. In some situations, if what a client is asking is beyond your abilities you can still take on the project and have someone else work on it. In that case, you can say yes to them. However, sometimes what is asked of you is beyond your comfort zone, and you don't want anything to do with it. In those cases just say no. Your client won't think any less of you. 3) Difficulties with previous projects Some clients are difficult to work with. If at some point you decide that they are too much trouble you can choose to say no the next time they approach you with a project. Remember, "NO" is a complete sentence. It doesn't require an explanation. Simply saying "I'm sorry but I won't be able to take on that project" is good enough. 4) Negotiations Everyone likes a good bargain, and design clients are no exception. Some of them like to haggle for the best deal. Nip this in the bud right away and say no to your clients. Your fees are what they are because you deserve to be paid that much. Tell those clients you don't negotiate. 5) Micromanaging, or "Too many cooks." Some clients want to decide everything by committee, and that's their prerogative. However, you can demand to have only one point person that you deal with. When anyone else on their committee contacts you directly tell them no, you can't deal with them. If they need you to do something they have to go through the point person. Save yourself time and headaches by never dealing with committees without an assigned point person. 6) Impossible timelines There are times when it's just not possible to do what your client wants in the timeframe they want you to do it in. Maybe you're overloaded with work (good for you). Perhaps you're getting ready to go on vacation. Whatever the case, if you can't do something in the timeframe required, it's your job to say no right away. 7) It's not worth your time For all those jobs that you don't want to do there's nothing wrong with you just saying NO to them. Clients may ask you to design something mundane like an invoice or packing slip. Those things are boring and tedious, and you probably don't want to do them. If that's the case, just say no. Plus at the rates you should be charging for your services why would your client want to pay you for something just about anyone can do. 8) Bad design choices A client may ask you to do something with their project that you think it's a bad design idea. If this happens, tell them you think it's a bad idea, and you won't do it. Maybe it's filling up every bit of white space with copy, or making the logo bigger for no reason. Whatever they want you to do, let them know that it will affect their design in a negative way. If they insist you can say no, you won't do it. You'd be amazed that when you take a stand on design how all of a sudden clients will take you more seriously and listen to what you have to say. 9) Something compromises your Design Principals Similar to bad design choices when a client asks you to do something, but in this case, it's something that could ruin your reputation as a designer. Maybe they want you to use a script font in all caps. Perhaps they are asking you to use too many different fonts on a project. Or it might be an innocent request to add a hit counter to the bottom of their new website. If what they are asking will reflect poorly on you as a designer, or on the design profession in general, then you must say no to your clients. What other situation would you say no to your clients? 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 Amanda When a client's corporate font is one that they've purchased, can they send you the font file? Or, does the designer need to purchase the font in order to use it to design their projects? To find out what I told Amanda you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week A Dedicated Mailbox If you are running a business out of your home, I highly suggest you get a get a dedicated mailbox from someplace like The UPS Store to use as your business mailing address. There are several reasons to use a mailbox for your business other than your home address. Protect your home and family by not sharing your home address. Packages can be delivered to a safe location when you are not home. A convenient location for clients to drop off items for you without showing up at your home. Makes your business look more legitimate and professional. Some residential areas frown upon home-based businesses. Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on Spotify Listen on StitcherListen on AndroidListen on Google Play MusicListen 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.

You can't grow your design business if you rationalize the value of what you do. Most designers don't get paid what they're worth. The reason they don't is that they rationalize the value of the service they provide. What I mean by this is they try to justify why they are charging the price they do for their designs by itemizing what's involved in their creation process. A logo will cost this amount of dollars because it will take me X hours of research, and another Y hours of development and finalization. Since my hourly rate is Z, the cost of the logo is (X+Y) x Z Cost of design = hours invested X hourly rate. This formula works for many designers and they're happy with running their business this way. But the problem with this scenario is you're trading time for money. Yes, it's a tried and true method used across many industries. But it shouldn't be used for design. Or at least it shouldn't be the sole method of calculating what you charge your clients. How much you earn running your graphic design business should not be related to how many hours you put in. It should be connected to the value you provide. Face it; we live in a world where we assign a dollar amount to most services. A haircut costs this much. A cab ride downtown costs this much. Having your car serviced costs this much. But even simple things such as these have variations based on value. My daughter changed her hair colour recently. It's not the first time she's changed the colour, but this time she decided to go to a different salon. One that charges almost double what her usual salon does. Why? Because the man running the new salon has a reputation for excellence and the perceived value of the service he provides is worth that much more to those who go there. In the end, my daughter paid a much higher price for her new hair colour than she used to. She loves her new look and is getting compliments left and right so in her mind it was well worth it. It's a perceived value. The same scenario applies to cars. When you have a problem with your vehicle you can take it to a privately owned garage, maybe a national chain such as a Walmart garage or you can have it serviced at the dealership. From my experience, the dealership is always more expensive. But think of it from a value perspective. If you drive a Honda, who is more equipped and more knowledgeable about your car than the Honda dealership? That perceived value is why some people are willing to pay more to have their car serviced by the dealer. What does this have to do with your design business? The services you provide as a web designer or graphic designer are not commodities like haircuts or oil changes. There is no one price fits all. Or at least there shouldn't be. A logo for a local bricklayer should not cost the same as one for a regional airline because they bring different values to each client. The representation the logo brings to each client affects them each differently. You may design a great logo for the bricklayer but what's he going to do with it? Stick it on the side of his truck and his business cards. That may be it. Most of his work will come via word of mouth referrals and through contractors. What his logo looks like may not have that much impact on his business. The airline, on the other hand, is going to showcase their logo on everything to bring awareness to their business. It will be on their planes, their building, their uniforms, their tickets, even on the cups and napkins they serve on their planes. And that's not counting the vast marketing campaign they will use it on. Their logo will be displayed everywhere, and over time the logo you designed will come to represent an excellent, reliable airline, that offers quality flights with courteous, friendly staff. For that reason alone the airline's logo should cost way more than the bricklayer's logo. It doesn't matter that both logos took you the same amount of time to design. Their value is different. And yet many designers would still charge for both logos solely on the time they spent designing them. When you start trying to rationalize what it is you do by focusing on things like time and effort, you lower the value of the service you provide. This rationalization devalues what design is all about. Designing is all about vision. It's about emotional impact. Giving a visual voice to what the design represents. It's about problem-solving. Both the bricklayer and airline needed a logo, but the problem that logo is solving for each company is vastly different. Instead of rationalizing your pricing to your clients by explaining every little thing you are charging for, or how much time a project will take, you need to explain to your clients how they will benefit from your designs. How design is an investment and not just an expense. When done right and with proper focus, a well-implemented design can skyrocket a company's growth. When explained this way, a client will begin to see the value you bring. Will there be a backlash if you do this? Of course, there will be. Some clients will counter with "You're crazy. I could have someone on Fiverr design my logo for a fraction of your price." Yes, they absolutely could. And what would they get back in return? Maybe a hastily-designed image. Something that uses stock imagery and may or may not be similar to many other logos out there. There is one thing to be sure; it will fulfil their rationalized expectations of getting a logo for as cheap as possible. What they won't get from places like Fiverr is the conviction a well thought out design generates. A design that represents their company's voice, the tone they want to present to the world. Something that will truly represent them and everything their company does. they will be missing that value. Don't rationalize the value of your designs. As a professional designer, and that's what you are, it's your job to explain to your clients how that extra value goes beyond how much time it takes to design something. It's that overall value that you should be charging to your clients. The logo itself is only part of the overall picture it represents. Show your clients the value you provide them. Show them how you are focusing on the desired outcome they want to achieve with the design and not just on the design itself. When you can successfully convey that message to your clients, they will stop questioning your prices. They'll know that whatever they pay you is an investment they are making in their business and not simply a purchase. If you want to grow your design business, you need to stop exchanging your time for money. Stop rationalizing value. Do you agree or disagree? 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 Adam I've recently quoted for a Web Design & Development job. After the project is finished, I've quoted a monthly fee that covers ongoing content updates and design consultation, plus domain, web hosting, and 7 custom email addresses. The client is stating my price is a bit too high and is wondering how I "calculated" my price. I don't necessarily "calculate" my price numerically, but rather set it based on value to the client and what I believe my services are worth. The client's mentioned that July-Dec is typically quite slow for content updates, and so, would like to see a reduced price for the 2nd half of the year. What do you think? Any suggestions are appreciated. To find out what I told Adam you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week resource name Resource Description Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on Spotify Listen on StitcherListen on AndroidListen on Google Play MusicListen 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