Resourceful Designer: Strategies for running a graphic design business

Avoid these 10 things to grow your design business. To run a home-based freelance design business you need to know what to do for it to succeed. You also need to know what to avoid doing so as not to fail. You've done it. You're running your own design business. It's a fantastic feeling, isn't it? The freedom and the power it brings you. The counterweight is the responsibility and pressures you face because everything is now on your shoulders. When done right, running your own business can be the most satisfying occupation there is. Just ask any successful entrepreneur. But if things go wrong, you have nobody to blame but yourself. When it comes to starting a home-based freelance design business, most people research how to go about starting one. They read up on the things they need to get. They make lists upon lists of what they need to do to give themselves the best chance of success. That's how you should do it. However, what often happens along the way is you pick up bad habits that can affect you and your business negatively. Here are 10 things you need to avoid while running your freelance design business. 1) Avoid Slacking Off One of the most significant obstacles to overcome when running your own design business is the illusion of the freedom it brings. Don't get me wrong. Setting your hours and taking time off whenever you want without having to ask for permission is a definite perk when it comes to freelancing. However, I said the illusion of freedom for a reason. Freelancing doesn't mean fewer hours and less stress. It's the opposite in fact. You are running a business on top of designing for your clients. That doubles your responsibilities. This holds especially true for new businesses. You may find your social life suffering as you devote countless hours to get things off the ground. Avoid slacking off. 2) Avoid A Lack Of Direction Maybe running your own home-based design business was always your dream. Perhaps you ended up here unexpectedly through lack of employment. Regardless of why you are doing it, you need to have goals if you want to succeed. What do you want to accomplish with your business? Do you want to conquer a particular niche? Do you want to become known for a specific skill? It's nice to have design work that pays the bills, but if you don't have goals and you don't push yourself towards those goals, you will not improve as a designer. As a design professional, you should have a mindset that design can change the world. Set goals to grow your business and to grow as a designer and don't get left behind. Avoid a lack of direction. 3) Avoid Isolating Yourself From Other Designers As a freelance designer, you spend a lot of time by yourself, sitting in front of your computer designing amazing things for your clients. But how do you expect to improve as a designer if you're not communicating with other designers? There's only so much you can learn from articles, videos and yes, even podcasts. You need people you can bounce ideas off of and get real criticism from. People who are not afraid to tell you when you're going in the wrong direction. Clients don't count. Sure clients give you valuable feedback on what you're doing. But they will never be able to view your work with the critical eye you need to improve your skills as a designer and business person. I'm talking about your peers. Other designers. People who not only understand what it is you do but how you do it. People in the same trenches as you. One of the biggest mistakes Freelancers make is not keeping in touch with other designers. Find people to discuss design ideas with, to get critiques from, to solicit business advice. The more designers you are in contact with the more you'll grow. Avoid isolating yourself from other designers. 4) Avoid Being Exploited One of the problems of running a home-based design business is that many people don't see it as a real business. They imagine you as an unemployed designer who sits at home binge-watching Netflix and occasionally designing something whenever someone calls upon you. To them, it's like designing has become your hobby and you're lucky enough that some people pay you for it. Because of this perception, friends, family and acquaintances may ask you to design for them as a favour. If they do offer to pay you, it's rarely what you merit. After all, you're not doing anything, and it shouldn't take you long. Plus, they'll help you out by spreading the word of what a great designer you are. Maybe they're hoping this exposure will lead to employment for you. Don't fall for it. Sure it's OK to design your sister's baby announcement cards as a gift. But if your brother, your uncle joe or your old college roommate asks you to design a logo for a new business, they need to pay you. Give them a discount if you want, but let them know you're not at their beckon call. You are running a business, and they will treat them as clients. Not sure where to draw the line? Look at it this way. If they are asking you to design something that could directly or indirectly bring in money for them, and this includes charities raising funds, then they should pay you for your services. Avoid being exploited. 5) Avoid Being Under Paid Another issue when starting your own design business is not knowing how much to charge. In most cases, designers undersell themselves and it ends up hurting them and the industry as a whole. Even if you are a new designer fresh out of school, your skills and knowledge are still valuable. Seek the compensation you deserve. Find out what other designers and design studios in your area are charging and try to fit in line with them. Remember, it takes a lot less effort to land one $60 per hour client than it does to land four $15 per hour clients. Avoid being underpaid. 6) Avoid Taking On Every Project It's human nature to want to please others. When a new client comes along or an existing client has a new project for you. You welcome them with open arms. This gimme, gimme, gimme attitude is great when you are just starting out and can use all the work you can get. But as you grow and take on more clients and more work you will realise that not every client or design project is a good fit for you. You need to be comfortable turning down work. It may sound like a foreign concept to you, but you need to determine if the project offered is right for you or not. If it isn't then it's OK for you to turn the job down. Avoid taking on every project. 7) Avoid Rushing As a home-based designer working by yourself things can get stressful when jobs start to pile up. Instincts will tell you to pump out as much as you can to lighten the load. But in doing so, you are compromising your creativity. Design concepts take time to germinate. The more time you take thinking about them, the more variations will come and go from your mind helping you narrow down your focus and creating the perfect solution to the problem. To allow yourself the time needed to do the job properly you could always pad the timeframe you tell a client. If you think a project will take you three days, tell them it will take five. It will allow you extra time if you need it. And If you complete it within three days, your clients will appreciate you even more. Yes, there will be projects you will need to do in a short time. But remember episode 71 of the podcast titled Good Design, Quick Design, Cheap Design, Pick Two? If you rush a project, you are either producing sub-par work, or you need to make sure you are being compensated financially for the extra burden of turning a job around quickly. Your best bet, avoid rushing. 8) Avoid Being Over Accessible Unlike traditional 9-5 jobs, home-based designers are almost always home. That knowledge will often lead to clients expecting you to be available whenever they need you regardless of the time or day. It's OK if you want to work evenings and weekends but do you want clients reaching out and expecting replies during those times? You need to set boundaries from the start. Let clients know when they can contact you and how they can contact you. If you have a business phone, it's not OK for clients to contact you on your home phone. Same goes for email. Clients should not be contacting you on your personal email. Remember, this is your business. Your clients are just that, clients. You work on your terms, and you get to decide when it's appropriate for clients to communicate with you and how clients should contact you. Avoid being over accessible. 9) Avoid Overworking At the top of this article, I talked about how you should avoid slacking off. The opposite is true as well. Without the regiment of a 9-5 job, many freelancers or home-based designers tend to overwork themselves, working more extended hours than an agency or in-house designer. Working long hours adds extra stress and could compromise your creativity and lead to burnout. You need to step away from work on a regular basis. A healthy social life is vital if you want to be a happy and healthy designer. Enjoy your evenings and weekends. Spend time with family and friends. Separating your work and private life will help both your business life and personal life success. Boost your motivation and avoid overworking. 10) Avoid The Status Quo Designers by nature are critical people, and I presume you are no different. You never settle for what is good enough when you know you can do better. It's what makes you great at what you do and It's the the reason clients keep coming back to you. You are a problem solver. But the key thing to remember is that problems are not always correctly defined. Meaning the problem a client comes to you with may not be the actual problem they are trying to address. A client may tell you they want more visitors to their website when in fact the problem is they need better visitors to their site. There are two options for every design problem presented to you. Give the client what they want, or give the client what they need. Giving the client what they want is the easy route, but it doesn't help you stand out from all the other designers out there. By digging deeper and giving the client what they need you will be making a name for yourself which will help the success of your business. Question every design problem you face and see if there's something more you can provide. Don't limit yourself by just following orders and following the briefing word for word. Running your own home-based design business opens up a whole world of possibilities for you. Take advantage of your position and avoid the status quo. Are there other things you should avoid while running your design business? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Questions of the Week My mailbag is empty, so there is no question of the week this week. Submit your question to be featured in a future episode of the podcast by visiting the feedback page. Resource of the week Daily Logo Challenge Like the title says, each day Daily Logo Challenge send you an email with a fun new logo design challenge for you to try. These are not real projects. These challenges are to inspire you and expand your abilities as a designer. You can share your design for community feedback to help you grow as a designer. Signing up at https://www.dailylogochallenge.com will get you 50 days of design briefs. 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 Life Interferes With Your Design Business Running a home-based design business is the best thing any designer could do. At least that's my opinion, but I could be biased since I've been doing it for over 13 years now and I love what I do. But running a home-based design business does have its drawbacks. Such as when life interferes with your plans. Running a home-based design business is great. You can set your hours and work as much or as little as you want. You decide how much you want to charge and if you wish to charge by the hour or by the job. You also get to choose what clients you want to work with or not. Meaning you have the option of turning down any jobs that don't interest you. Plus, you have nobody to answer to since you work from home all by yourself. OK, you have to answer to your clients. But at least you don't have a boss breathing down your neck to get the job out, or else. Yup, being a home-based designer is great. However, there is one major drawback to running a home-based design business. And that's when life interferes. Life has a way of messing with you in unexpected ways. Some days are good, some are bad, and some can send you into a panic. I'm talking about the latter one. When life throws something in your path that grinds your design business to a halt. I'm talking about sickness, accidents, family emergencies, even death. There are also grand scale emergencies like natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes or earthquakes. And don't forget uncontrolled events such as power outages or having your equipment stolen. All of these can have a negative impact on your design business. Don't get me wrong, not everything that affects your business is a bad thing. Marriages, births, vacations, etc. also affect your business. Life interferes, and the status quo of your business changes. So what can you do when life interferes with your design business? Prepare for expected breaks In some cases, such as vacations, marriages, births (to some extent) and even things like surgeries can all be scheduled. Advanced knowledge of these events gives you an opportunity to prepare for the time your business is affected. In some cases, your business may be shut down for a few days, but it could also be affected for several weeks or months. When you know a break is coming, you should warn your clients well in advance of these shutdowns. To help ease the pressure, you can try to get things done before your time off. Or you can tell your clients you cannot work on their project until after a specific date. I never start any new projects during the two weeks leading up to a break. This buffer could cause problems for some clients, but you'll have to live with your choice. Yes, you may lose some work because of it. But that's life. Prepare for unexpected breaks What do you do when life interferes with your business in unexpected ways? First things first, when life interferes in an unexpected way, notify your clients. They will understand. No client will respond with "sorry about the death in your family, but I have this job I need you to finish by Thursday, can you handle it?". Your clients knew you were a home-based designer when they hired you. They knew the benefits of working with you also came with some risks. One of those risks is the possibility of you needing unexpected time off. There may be deadlines, and yes, you may feel bad about missing them, but you might be surprised how many deadlines you can miss without any ill effects. Unless there's a firm date in place, such as for scheduled events most deadlines have flexibility built into them. Once you've notified your clients, try to figure out if there's anything you can do. Maybe it's providing a list of compatible designers your clients can use in your absence. In cases of natural disasters or equipment failure, you could try and find ways to get back up and running while trying to minimise your time away. Even if it's merely so you can get the most pressing things done? Get Help from other designers If you are running a studio as I talked about in episode 125, you may have people on your team that can handle the work for you. If you don't have contractors in place, you may need to turn to a friend or colleague and see if they can take on some of your work while you are incapable. There's always a risk any time you direct a client to a new designer. The client may like the other designer and decide to stick with them. You'll have to take that risk and rely on the relationship you've built up with your client to bring them back. If you are worried, you could try to minimise the risk with a contract between you and the other designer saying they will not poach your clients. But if you're in a pinch due to some emergency situation, worrying about a contract is the last thing you want to be doing. Besides, chances are if your client realises they like working with a different designer better than you, there's not much you can do about it. Long-term hiatuses In the worst scenarios, you may have to scale back or shut down your design business for an indefinite amount of time. Sometimes, when life interferes, the only option is to accept it. There's nothing wrong with shutting down your business and wishing all your clients well. If your situation eventually changes you can always start up again. You built up your design business once. There's nothing stopping you from doing it again. Life is unpredictable. I don't want to sound negative, but part of life is dealing with things outside our control. How you deal with those situations, and how you come out the other side will determine your success in life. Don't worry if you have to shut down your design business for a few days, weeks, months or even longer when life interferes. You're a designer; I'm sure you'll find creative ways to make it through. Have you ever had to close your business unexpectedly? 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 Ken I love listening to your podcast on my way to work, a lot of the topics have been really intriguing. I have always had an interest in the arts and I recently started my own design business in December designing Print Templates. I love the idea of design consulting and helping people not just make pretty designs but help their entire business using design but I'm not even sure how to really get started with finding clients. Also, in yours and other podcasts I always hear that you have to educate your clients on the importance of design, but just getting started in this kind of business I'm not sure everything to say. Can you give me some kind of idea what some of these conversations look like? Thank you for your time! To find out what I told Ken you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Google Data Studio (beta) Google Data Studio (beta) turns your analytics data into informative dashboards and reports that are easy to read, easy to share, and fully customizable. Dashboarding allows you to tell great data stories to support better business decisions. Create unlimited Data Studio custom reports with full editing and sharing. 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

Freelancer or Design Studio, which is best for your home-based business? I talk a lot on the Resourceful Designer podcast about running a home-based design business. In fact, it's why I started the podcast in the first place. Like my catchphrase says, I'm doing this to help designers like you streamline your business so you can get back to what you do best, designing. I've covered many topics in the previous 124 episodes over the past few years. Things like pricing strategies, attracting new clients, coping with the isolation when working from home and many more. However, I've never talked about what options you have in the type of design business you run. Deciding what type of home-based business you run is important because the direction you take could determine the kind of clients you attract and the growth of your design business. Including how much money you can potentially make. The options I'm talking about are whether you define yourself as a Freelancer or Design Studio. There is a third option available, a Design Agency. The reason I'm omitting Design Agency is that by definition, a Design Agency is made up of several people, all with different talents working on all aspects of client projects and usually all working under one roof. Perhaps you fit that category, but as I stated earlier, Resourceful Designer was created to help home-based designers, and I don't think many home-based designers run agencies. That leaves two options, Freelancer or Design Studio Calling yourself a Freelancer According to dictionary.com, a Freelancer is a person who sells work or services by the hour, day, job, etc., rather than working on a regular salary basis for one employer. Cambridge Dictionary defines Freelancer as someone who works on different projects with different companies instead of being a company employee. And finally, Merriam-Webster says a Freelancer is a person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any one employer I've never called myself a Freelancer. I've always found the term derogatory and noncommital. I always viewed the term as a kind of fly-by-night thing where the client will never be sure if the Freelancer will be there for them. Remember the Merriam-Webster definition was someone who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment. Not to mention my business is registered, so in a roundabout way, I can say that I'm an employee of my own company, therefore, as an employee, I cannot be a Freelancer. But that's neither here nor there. For this article, a Freelancer is merely a one-man band when it comes to design services. As a Freelancer, you are everything from an art director, to a designer, to a coder, to handling accounts receivable and payable, etc. You do it all, and there's nothing wrong with that. When I first started my own home-based design business, I did precisely that. I handled everything. I was a one-man band. And if I didn't think I could do something in a project, I didn't take on the job. Defining yourself as a Freelancer, meaning it's just you, limits the type of clients you can take on by the skills and services you offer. If you're not a web designer, you don't take on web clients and vice versa. Freelancers tend to attract smaller clients such as Start-Ups or the "quick" clients. Those who call you up and need something done this week, or worse yet, they need it tomorrow. The average freelance designer takes on clients and jobs in the $500-$5000 range. Calling yourself a Design Studio Remember above when I said a Design Agency is made up of multiple people working together under one roof? A Design Studio is similar to an agency in that is offers a wide variety of skills and services, but some of those skills and services come from third-party contractors. As a Design Studio, you still run your home-based design business like a Freelancer does, however, rather than offering a full range of services under one roof like an agency, you subcontract the parts of a project that you can't or don't want to handle yourself. Things like photography, coding, copywriting, illustration, etc. Being a Desing Studio allows you to take on larger clients with more significant projects and spread out the work to get jobs done more efficiently. With a Design Studio, everything is processed through your business and clients deal directly with you instead of dealing with multiple businesses. You take on the role of art director and manage the subcontractors working on the projects with you. Design Studios tend to attract small to mid-sized companies as clients. Companies that may have a marketing department but don't have an in-house creative team. The Design Studio acts as their creative team. Clients seeking Design Studios often have budgets ranging from $5,000-$20,000 or more. Freelancer or Design Studio, what's right for you? Choosing between a Freelancer or Design Studio is a matter of choice. The difference between the two is your willingness to work with subcontractors to complete design projects. Neither Freelancer or Design Studio is a more favourable choice. I ran my business as a Freelancer (even though I don't use that term) for several years before switching models and redefining as a Design Studio. I still do most design work myself. But I now have a list of illustrators, copywriters, coders, etc. that I can call upon should I need their skills and talents for a project. I don't suggest one option as being better for you over the other. It's entirely up to you how you run your business. If you're fresh out of school or still new to the industry, maybe you want to work as a Freelancer for a while until you get the hang of things. Perhaps you don't want the extra responsibilities of overseeing subcontractors. That's OK. Many designers spend their entire career working as Freelancers. If you are comfortable handling larger projects and directing various people to complete specific tasks then maybe a Design Studio is right for you. This article is simply to give you an idea of what's possible depending on how you define what you do. So are you a Freelancer or a Design Studio? Do you consider yourself a Freelancer or Design Studio? 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 Allison Hello, I love your podcast and have enjoyed getting some great advice on my freelance business from it. I was wondering if you had any recommendations for font subscriptions. Fonts are so expensive, I don't know how designers can afford to purchase so many unique fonts and was wondering if a font subscription would be the way to go. To find out what I told Allison you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Sharpen.design This week's resource was shared with me by Resourceful Designer listener Naomi. It's the website https://sharpen.design. Sharpen.design produces random design prompts to challenge you to think outside the box. With over a million possibilities you are sure to find an interesting project you can tackle to grow your skills and portfolio. This website is an excellent resource for students or anyone new to the design industry who needs ideas of what they can design. Give it 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

Referral Partners 10 People to get Design Referrals From It's confusing for wannabe entrepreneurs to start a business. Their confusion creates an excellent opportunity for you, as a designer to team up with referral partners and not only help these entrepreneurs get started, but it also helps grow your and your referral partners' businesses. Starting a business is a daunting task. You don't just get out of bed one morning and think to yourself "What should I do today? I know, I'll start a business." That's not how it works. There are so many steps involved in starting a business that it's difficult to know where to start. That's why most people wanting to start a new business seek guidance, help and advice in their endeavour. Since there's no Start Here button to push whenever someone wants to start a business, that guidance, help and advice they seek out can come from anywhere and anyone, including you, their designer. If you want to help these new entrepreneurs to the best of your ability you should have referral partners that can lend a hand. What is a referral partner? A Referral Partner is as simple as it sounds. It's partners that refer to each other. If someone comes to you for advice on starting a business, you refer them to the partner that would best help them, and vice versa, whenever someone goes to one of your partners, and they require design services, your partner refers them to you. That's all there is to it. Choosing your referral partners. A referral partner should be someone integral in the development of new businesses that complement what you do as a designer. Here is a list of 10 people you should approach to become referral partners. Industry suppliers Industry suppliers include printers, sign makers, vehicle wrappers, and anyone else within your industry but who don't compete with you for design. When a new startup hires you to design their new logo, you can refer them to these people to get the rest of their branding and marketing material produced. When a client contacts one of these partners asking about their services, the partner can send the client your way for design and web work. Lawyers A lawyer may be the first person contacted when someone is thinking of starting a business. Partner with them and they can refer these new business people your way. When a new client comes to you at the start of their business journey you could recommend them to the lawyer. Accountants Just like a lawyer, some people will talk to their accountants before deciding on a course of action for their business. Team up with one and send clients both ways. Financial Institutions Financial institutions include banks, credit unions, financial advisors, money lenders, venture capitalists or anyone involved with financing business. Financial institutions make great partners. Local business offices Most places require businesses to register their name, obtain a license, submit a business plan etc. Partner with these places to get more clients. Chamber of Commerce Most communities have a Chamber of Commerce. They make great referral partners. You may have to become a member to partner with them, but it's well worth the cost to gain more clients. Local business groups Municipalities often have private business groups made up of local business people that handle specific areas of a community. For example, a Downtown Business Group, or Waterfront Business Group. Contact these groups and ask them to refer any new businesses in their area to you. Commercial real estate agents Partner up with commercial real estate agents and send growing clients their way when they need to expand and ask them to refer similar businesses back to you. Business schools Contact local schools to see if they offer business classes or workshops for new entrepreneurs. Ask to speak to the class about the importance of good branding. You can also ask them to refer students your way. Unions Approach Union offices and ask them to refer any union members who are thinking of starting a business. How to reach out to referral partners Becoming a referral partner with someone is easy. Send them an email or better yet drop in and talk to them. Explain the mutual benefit. How from time to time your clients ask for advice that they would be better-suited providing and you could refer your clients to them. In exchange, when they have a client that is in need of design services you would appreciate them giving out your name. It's that easy. You can have more than one referral partner in an industry It's ok to be referral partners with multiple people in the same industry. Give your clients various options when referring them to someone. Be sure to tell your client to mention you, so your referral partner knows the client came from you. You should also send an email to your referral partner letting them know that you gave their name to someone. That way your partner will know you are helping them out even if the client never contacts them. Have you ever partnered with someone for referrals? 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 Joshua Hey Mark, I have recently found your podcast, and love listening to it, it awnsers any and all questions that I thought I had and didn't even know I had. However I have yet to start freelancing, for I am still in school, I'm a junior in a graphic design program In the states, and am very weary on how I should start freelancing. In your opinion should I wait to finish school to start freelancing, or should I just go ahead and start? This is something I have thought about for a while, but still am 50/50 on wether or not I should. To find out what I told Joshua you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week 4-Week Marketing Boost I put this guide together in the hopes to encourage you to look at your brand and image. The daily tasks in my guide require only 15-30 minute of your time and focus on the parts of your marketing material that are often overlooked or neglected. 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 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. 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

Using Google AdWords to Attract Design Clients Any time designers get together in person or online on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn or Reddit, you're sure to hear someone ask how to attract more clients. It's one of, if not the most significant problem faced by designers. Without clients, your business fails. It doesn't matter how good a designer you are if you don't have people paying for your services your business will not survive. There are many ways you can attract new clients. Last week I shared 12 inexpensive ways for you to promote your design business. A couple of years ago I wrote a blog post where I shared 10 proven ways to attract design clients. All methods I've used myself to gain clients. Today I want to talk about a great way to attract clients that for some reason, not many graphic designers or web designers are taking advantage of. Google AdWords. How do clients find you? Ask most designers, and they will tell you the number one way they gain new clients is through word of mouth referrals. Referrals are great. But what if you don't have a large catalogue of clients advocating for your business? Let's look at it from a client's perspective. Let's say you need a plumber. Who will you call? Your first choice would be to call a plumber you know, or at least one you've heard of before. Your Second choice would be to ask family, friends, co-workers and associates who they would recommend. That's the referral part. If it doesn't work, you would probably turn to a search engine and look for plumbers in your area. Design clients do the same thing. They contact a designer they know or have heard of before. That's where brand awareness comes in. Second, they ask family, friends, colleagues, associates etc. That's where referrals come in. But when that fails, clients will turn to the internet and search for a designer online. And chances are they will formulate their search to look for someone in their local area. That last part is a huge benefit for you, especially if you are using Google AdWords to get in front of them. If you're already familiar with how AdWords works, you're probably nodding your head right now in agreement with me, but I'm going to continue with the assumption that you are not familiar with Google AdWords. Forgive me if I'm wrong. For the record, Yahoo and Bing also have similar advertising platforms, but since the majority of people use Google, I'm going to concentrate on it. So how does Google AdWords work for attracting design clients? Let me break it down into the simplest terms using only three steps, You figure out what keywords people are searching. You create an ad that Google puts in front of people actively searching for those keywords. You pay Google for the people that click on your ads. That's all there is to it. The best part about Google AdWords is you only pay when your ads are working, and people engage with them. If they don't click, you don't pay. Now of course, "when your ads are working" is a relative term. In this case, it means when people click on your ad. Whether or not they become a client after clicking on your ad is not Google's concern. A deeper dive into AdWords. I won't go into the technical nitty gritty of setting up a successful AdWords campaign. There are plenty of other resources where you can learn the ins and outs of fine-tuning your ad campaign to get the most bang for your buck. I will, however, elaborate on the three steps I mentioned above. Create an AdWords Account The first step is creating a free AdWords account and telling Google how to charge you for your ads. They have to make their money after all. Once your account set up, you can create your first ad campaign by choosing the type of ads you want to run. There are several options, but in my opinion Search Ads are the best ones for attracting new design clients. Next, you select the campaign type. I suggest you choose website traffic and don't include Google Search Partners or the Ad Display Network. Both are good for driving traffic to a product or resource, but your goal is to attract clients. Set up the delivery What makes Google AdWords such a valuable marketing tool is the ability to pick the geographic location where your ads will appear. If you live in Cleaveland Ohio, you can set up your campaign so that only people in Cleaveland will see it. There are several reasons to limit your search to particular geographic regions. Top among them is the amount of competition you face the broader your target area. If you set your campaign to all of the USA you are competing with every other designer across the whole country. It is possible to win in that scenario, but since a kind of bidding/auction system is used to determine ad placement, it could get costly. Of course, there's a lot more to the whole thing that I'm not getting into which is why I suggest you take an AdWords course before starting. But basically, targetting an entire country is just too difficult for someone just starting out. By narrowing down your geographic area, you are narrowing down who you are competing with and the effort required to get your ads in front of potential clients. Set your budget You need to set a budget for your ad campaign. It can be as high or as low as you want. There are several options for choosing how to invest your money in your campaign. What I suggest is using the standard delivery method since it gives you better analytical data on your ads. For the bidding method. I suggest Clicks over Views. With Clicks, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad whereas with Views you get charged every time your ad is displayed regardless of whether or not someone interacts with it. The final part of setting your budget is choosing a start and end dates of your campaign. I suggest starting out with short campaigns until you get the hang of it. Choose your keywords. Choosing keywords is the fun part. You get to decide what keywords you want to target with your ads. These are the words you think people will type into the search engine to find you. Start off with common sense terms like; web design website design web designer logo design logo designer etc. You can narrow down your keywords even further by adding a location such as "web designer Cleveland." Choosing keywords is easy, choosing the right keywords is a bit more tricky. Targetting "website designer" may bring you a lot more traffic than "web designer" or vice versa. There are tools to research what keywords are more popular than others, or how often specific keywords are searched. Google's Keyword Planner is a popular free one. I use software called Long Tail Pro for my keyword research. Create your ads Finally, you need to create your ads. There is an option to create banner style ads, but for finding design clients, all you need is standard search results ads. These show up as the first few listings when you do a Google search. They have a small [Ad] next to them. Then it's just a matter of choosing the right title and wording to attract clients to your site, launching your campaign and waiting for clients to come calling. How to get the most out of Google AdWords. Google AdWords is very easy to learn. However, there is a learning curve if you want to get good at it and not end up wasting money. Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your AdWords campaign. 1) Build landing pages. AdWords campaigns work best when linked to a dedicated landing page and not your home page. Google give each ad a rank that helps determine it's placement (along with other factors) vs the competition. The page your ad is linked to plays a significant factor in your ad rank score. If your ad is for logo design. Make sure it's linked to a landing page that is just about logo design. 2) Study what your competitors are doing Figure out what keywords your competitors are targeting and what ads they are displaying and try and outdo them. Keyword tools like the one by Google can help you figure out the best keywords to target, but they also allow you to enter a competitor's URL and see what keywords they are targetting. 3) Split test Google AdWords is not a set it and forget it system. You should study the performance of your ads and adjust things on the go. If you are getting a lot of traction with the keyword "web design" but not much with "website design" then you should adjust your campaign to push more of your budget towards the keyword that is performing better. Split testing ads for a single keyword also works well in figuring out which ad copy is earning more clicks. 4) Link your Google AdWords and Google Analytics Accounts. AdWords has some excellent tracking info, but it only tells you what happened with your ad up until the point it is clicked. By linking your Google Analytics account to your AdWords account, you can follow along and see what happens after your ad is clicked. 5) Start small and grow as you get more comfortable creating ad campaigns. Although AdWords is easy to learn, there are a lot of things that influence the success or failure of an ad campaign. Until you are comfortable, I suggest setting short campaigns and starting with a low budget until you learn the nuances of the platform. "Hacking" Google AdWords I mentioned above that one of the best things about Google AdWords is the ability to target geographic areas because it narrows down the competition. But what if you live in a large metropolitan area with lots of competition? In my example, I used Cleveland Ohio. Let's say there's a lot of competition for web designers in Cleveland and the cost of running your AdWords campaign is getting high. Nothing is stopping you from targeting other areas instead. There are plenty of smaller areas around Cleveland that you could target. Places like Bedford Heights, Euclid, Olmstead Falls, and others. Nothing is stopping you from choosing keywords targetting those smaller communities. Chances are the competition will be much lower so your budget will go much farther and clients there shouldn't be opposed to working with a web designer in Cleveland. And the best part is if it doesn't work out and nobody clicks on your ads, it doesn't cost you a cent. Give Google AdWords at try So many designers are struggling to find design clients, and yet this inexpensive way to target exactly the people you want to work with is at your disposal. It doesn't matter where in the world you are; Google AdWords can help you attract design clients because it's putting your ads directly in front of the people actively looking for your services. If you are not already taking advantage of search engine advertising, I highly suggest you look into it soon. What is your experience with online advertising to attract design 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 Shaun Hi Mark. Only started listening to your podcast recently, I really enjoy listening. You give us some really good advice and it sounds like you really enjoy your job and lifestyle. keep up the good work! I am from South Africa and I am currently working for the government as a Graphic Designer, work is very repetitive and boring. I am stagnating at the moment and would like to make a move...I am thinking about freelancing on the side. I am currently busy learning app development. I heard you mention 99 designs and am currently doing some designs...I feel like I am lacking in creativity and skill. But this wont get me down... What would you suggest for someone that is in a creative rut? any exercises that one can do? to get back on the horse? Just wanted to say Thank you for your advice and what you are doing. Keep it up! To find out what I told Shaun you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week BackupBuddy Deployment With BackupBuddy's Deployment feature, you can push or pull a WordPress site's database, media files, plugins and active theme back and forth between a Staging Site (or Test/Development Site) and a Live Site. BackupBuddy allows you to develop on one site and then push changes to another, so you never have to develop on a live site again. Deployment now supports setting the deployed site's Search Engine Visibility option to either visible, not visible, or no change. A default for this setting can be set in the Deployment settings. 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 need to promote your design business if you want it to grow. Just like any other endeavour, if you don't promote your design business you are drastically impeeding its chance to grow. It's called brand recognition, which you being a designer should know. The idea is that when someone is in need of a service, you offer, there's a good chance they will choose to work with someone they know, or at least someone they've heard of. It's up to you to get your name out there so that the "someone they've heard of" is you. I've put together a list of 12 inexpensive or free ways you can promote your design business. I go into much more detail on each one in the podcast. Be sure to listen for the full story. 12 Inexpensive (or free) ways to promote your design business. Newsletters/Bulletins Many organizations, service clubs, churches, charities and such put out electronic or printed newsletters or bulletins for members and followers. If you belong to any such organization, you should reach out to them about advertising your business in their newsletter or bulletin. Most organizations would be happy to promote a member for a small fee. Recipients of these newsletters and bulletins are often inclined to support fellow members and use your services when needed. Sponsor a Team or Club Local sports teams and clubs are often looking for donations to fund their events. In exchange, your business name becomes associated with the team or club and is mentioned along with them in news articles. By sponsoring a team or club, you are not only helping your community, but you are spreading the word about your business and the goodwill associated with your donation. As an added benefit, some teams or clubs will offer you a tax receipt so you can write off the donation as a business expense. Promotional Events Businesses, non-profits, charities, and organizations will often put on an event attracting a gathering of people. These events often include draws, prizes, giveaways or some other form of incentives for attendees. Offer a discount or coupon towards your services to be included amongst the incentives. For example; offer a free business card layout design with every logo design project or one year of free website hosting with every website project. Silent Auctions Similar to promotional events, silent auctions are a way for an organization to raise funds. Most items in a silent auction are provided by local businesses. Offer a coupon towards a service you offer showing the value of the offer. For example, $300 off design services or a free year of web hosting (a $xxx value). The people who bid on your service are people who are in need of your help. Those who don't bid will at least see your item in the auction and hopefully remember your brand should they ever need it. Business Card Boards Have you ever been to an establishment that has a board or wall filled with peoples business cards? Why not add your own. It doesn't cost you anything, and if someone who requires your services spots your card, there's a good chance they contact you. Wear a T-Shirt Promoting Your Services When I first started my business, I had a T-Shirt made that said "Hi, I'm a web designer. Is your website working for you?". I wore that shirt everywhere potential clients might be. I was amazed how many people approached me with questions about their website or asking about my services. Many become clients. If you want to try this yourself, I created a couple of T-Shirts you can purchase at http://resourcefuldesigner.com/tshirt Claim Your Online Local Listings If you haven't done so already, you should claim your free local business listing on Google Places, Yahoo Local and Bing Places for Business. Sign up and be found in your local areal. Warning, you have to enter an address to claim your listing. If you work from home, you may want to think twice before proceeding unless you have a separate business address you can use. Community Sites and Local Directories Search for online directories in your area to list your business. Some such as your local Chamber of Commerce business directory may require a membership but other directories, such as your local municipality may be free. Car Magnets If you use your vehicle for both business and personal use, you may not want permanent signage affixed to it. Car Magnets are a great way to promote your business while out on business errands and are easily removable during your time out with family and friends. Press Releases Sending out press releases is a great way to get free promotion for your business. Send out a press release any time you or your business does something newsworthy. Have you won an award? Are you offering a new service? Have you been involved in promoting some local event or charity? Send out a press release every time you have news to spread. News outlets may not publish every press release you send out, but those they do will be free promotion for your business. Run a Workshop You are a professional designer. As a professional designer, you have knowledge and skills most people don't. Run a workshop in your area teaching local business owners information they can use to improve their businesses. Contact your local library, College, Chamber of Commerce, Business Service Center or Economic Development Center and ask to put on a workshop covering your expertise. Reach out to business networking groups. They are always looking for people to talk at their meetings. Present at your local College Many colleges and adult learning institutes offer entrepreneurial and business startup courses. Contact them and ask to present to the class the benefits of proper branding or having a well-built website. Most of the students attending these classes could become future clients. Promoting your design business There are thousands, if not millions of ways to promote your design business. The idea I wanted to share with you is that it's important to get your name out there. People may not need your services right now but should they in the future there is a greater chance of them turning to someone they are familiar with. Let that someone be you. How do you promote 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 Silas I noticed your resource section is full of very powerful tools, but just about all of them are way out of my price range as a recent graduate. Is there anyway you can suggest some free tools? For example, I went out to find an alternative to Suitcase Fusion because as much as I loved it, it was not in my budget. I found a program called FontBase for free that works similarly. To find out what I told Silas you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Enlarge an image without losing quality From time to time you may need to enlarge an image in Adobe Photoshop beyond what is considered good practice. There are many third party options to do this but most cost money and enlarging an image may not be something you do on a regular basis. Here is a link to a quick tutorial showing an easy way to get the best out of your image enlargements in Photoshop. 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

Most Design Clients Are Ignorant When I say that most design clients are ignorant I'm not trying to be mean or derogatory. I'm simply stating a fact. The definition of "Ignorant" is someone who is lacking in knowledge or information as to a particular subject. That description is a perfect fit for design clients who often don't understand what it is you do, or how you do it. Design clients don't understand how the creative process works. They don't know how much effort goes into even the simplest of designs. They have no idea of what is involved in maintaining a website. In some cases, they don't understand the language or terms you use. In all of these areas, design clients are ignorant. It's OK if your design clients are ignorant because It's not their job to understand what you do. Their job is to hire someone to handle the things they don't understand and on that part they're brilliant because they hired you. And your job is to make sure that even though your clients are ignorant of what you do, they should not be confused by what you do. You have to put them at ease, so they know that hiring you was the right decision. There's a comedian by the name of Dane Cook that does a routine about dealing with auto mechanics. In his comedy routine, Cook says that when an auto mechanic explains what's wrong with a vehicle, most people smile and nod while hearing a little voice in their head saying "this guy could be feeding me B.S. and I wouldn't know the difference." Don't be the designer that clients listen to and think "this guy could be feeding me B.S. and I wouldn't know the difference." Learn how to talk to design clients One area that could confuse clients is the way you talk. Just like any industry or sector, you have a language as a designer filled with jargon and acronyms that most clients have never heard or don't know what they mean.. Clients are not designers; you shouldn't expect them to think like designers. The best way to avoid this is to minimize or even eliminate the jargon, acronyms, and other industry words that could confuse them. Or, you need to educate them on the meaning of those confusing words and terms. Terms we take for granted like SEO, Keywords, Back-end, Dashboard, SER, CMS, Bleeds, Plug-ins etc. need to be explained so that your client clearly understands what it is you are saying. If you can explain design jargon and acronyms in a way that makes a client feel comfortable and doesn't make them feel ignorant, they'll appreciate you for it. If you can communicate in a way that they understand what it is you are telling them, they will feel comfortable dealing with you and are much more inclined to hire you for the job. Learn how to listen to design clients Sometimes a client comes to you with a clear idea of what they need. However, many times, the client doesn't even know what it is they need or why they need it. A client may contact you saying they need a website but when you ask them why, their answer is because everyone says they need a site. That's not a good reason. In the last episode of the podcast, I talked about the Discovery Process and how the purpose of design is to solve a problem. Many clients don't know what their problem is. Some don't even realize there is a problem. Those that do may know there's a problem, but they're often looking for a solution to the wrong thing. Your job as a designer is to get to the core of the problem and to provide the best solution. Does your client need a website to bring awareness to their brand? Do they need one to automate service calls? Sell their products? Advertise an event? Sometimes a client may think they want one thing when something entirely different might be a better solution. A client comes to you looking for a folded brochure may not realize that their minimal text is better suited to a rack card. A client wanting a payment system on their website to accept multiple currencies may actually need a way to display their pricing in a visitor's native currency while still conducting the transaction in the client's currency. That's why discovery is so important. It allows you to converse with the client to discover the exact purpose of the item or feature it is they are asking of you. Because design clients are ignorant, sometimes what they are asking for isn't what they need. It won't solve their problem. Part of your job as the designer is pinpointing their actual problem and communicating to them what can be done to address it. When in doubt, ask for examples. It can be difficult talking to clients. Especially when both sides think they are discussing the same thing while both are imagining something completely different. A "modern" looking design could have two entirely different looks depending on who is imagining it. The easiest way to understand what a client is telling you is to ask for examples. Don't leave things up to chance. Your homework is the discovery process. Give your client homework as well. Ask them to provide examples of the things they mention to you. What does "modern" or "edgy" or "rustic" look like to them? Getting examples from your client will help you in your design direction and save many miscommunication headaches down the road. Learn the proper way to communicate with ignorant design clients, and you will go a long way to earn their trust and build a relationship with them. Do you ever feel like your design clients are ignorant? Let me know how you handle yourself when your design clients are ignorant to what it is you do. Leave me 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 Alyssa In web design I'm used to crediting myself via the footer and internal comments in the code. How do you give yourself credit for graphic design? Adding a watermark would limit how the client can use the design. When you share your designs for comments from others, how do you prevent theft? To find out what I told Alyssa you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Daisy Disk Regain precious hard drive space with Daisy Disk, While working on your Mac you create and download lots of files, but rarely delete anything. At some point, you find that your startup disk is full. What to do? A larger disk will cost you a few hundred dollars. Yearly fee for cloud storage is about the same. Or simply get DaisyDisk at a fraction of the price and make plenty of space by removing old junk. Daisy Disk is easy. Just scan a disk and see all of your files and folders as an interactive visual map. Find an unusually large file. Preview its content, and delete if you don't need it anymore. It's that simple. Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Listen on Stitcher Listen on Android Listen on Google Play Music 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

How in depth is your Discovery Process? The Discovery Process is kind of like dating, or at least what I can remember from my dating days. It's done at a point in your client relationship when you want to get to know them better. What are their goals, what makes them feel good, what frustrates them, what do they like, dislike? Why do they want to work with you? This conversation reveals the thoughts and feelings your client has towards their business, product or service. Larger agencies have people who are responsible for the discovery process. They meet with the clients, define the strategy and goals of those clients, and create a creative brief, or a project plan for a design department will follow. All the designer has to do is read the detailed brief and start designing. As a freelancer or home-based designer, you don't have that luxury. Sure some clients may give you a design brief, but can you trust it to be what you need to create the best designs for them? No, when you're on your own, the discovery process, as well as the design process, is all your responsibility. What is the Discovery Process? The Discovery Process is a fact-finding mission. A way to learn more about your client and to learn what they expect from hiring you for their design project. Discovery should be the cornerstone of every new relationship with a client and of every new design project you do for those clients. Discovery not only helps you learn what you need to know before starting a design project, but it's also an essential step in building relationships with your clients. During a discovery process, you will learn your client's needs, you'll learn their challenges, and you'll also learn the results they're expecting from you. Discovery should be a two-way streak. Not only will you learn what you need to know about your clients and their projects. But your clients will learn about you as well. How you work, your thought process, how you tackle a problem, and so on. More importantly, they will learn things about themselves they may not have thought of before. All of this is vastly important because to design without the proper focus is a waste of time. When it comes to any design project, designing is one of the last steps of the process. As you know Design solves a problem, and if you don't know for sure what problem it is you're facing, how are you suppose to create a design that addresses it? Before you can define the problem that your designs will solve you need to go through a discovery process. A process that takes into account analytics, brand standards if they exist, goals for the project, and many other things to figure out what direction your creativity will take. Plus, keep in mind that while you make the required steps during your discovery process to find solutions to a given problem, you may trigger additional insights or even more questions about the problem that might lead you in whole new directions. That's why the discovery process is so important. Steps in the discovery process. 1- Define your client's goals. The first step in the discovery process is to determine what your client's goals are. This is a two-way conversation between you and the client. The trick is narrowing down those goals to SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant/Realistic, Trackable/Time-Related). Ask your clients lots of questions and listen carefully to what they tell you. Because sometimes what they say isn't really what they mean and they don't realise it. Your client may think their problem is they need to generate more leads but in reality what they need is better leads that convert into sales. Designing something to get more leads is entirely different to designing something to get better leads. Determining not only what your client says, but what your client needs, could take the design you create in a whole different direction. Your job in defining your client's goals is to ask the right questions to get to the heart of the problem they hired you to solve. Speaking of questions, I've put together a list of questions you could use in your discovery process while talking with your clients. The list is too long for me to go over during this podcast, but if you are interested you can get it by visiting resourcefuldesigner.com/discovery 2 - Study your client's competition. To find the solution to your client's problem, you will need to know more about their industry. What they do, who they serve, how they go about doing it. The best way to learn this is to study the competition. Things to look for when studying the competition might be. What makes your client different from their competition? What would make people choose your client over them? What hurdles do customers face when dealing with the competition that your client could address? How does your client's pricing compare to the competition? What marketing strategy is the competition using and is it working? What are people saying, both negative and positive about the competition? Studying the industry and the competition is a vital part of the discovery process. 3 - Auditing your client's marketing assets. For existing clients look at what they are currently doing to promote themselves or have done in the past. What has worked for them? What hasn't? Look at everything from their logo, business cards, flyers, website, social media presence, advertising, etc. If analytics are available for their website, be sure to study them to see how people interact with their site. Find out what parts of the site gets the most traffic and what parts get barely any. Depending on how much you are charging for your discovery process. And yes, you should be charging for your discovery process, Remember, Your clients are paying you for the entire package, not just the finished designs you will provide them. Depending on how much you are charging for your discovery process, you may even want to do an SEO analysis on both your client and their competitors. Look to see what keywords each is ranking. Is the competition ranking for any keywords your client isn't targetting? Keyword research will go a long way in improving your client's visibility in the search ranks. By studying your client's marketing assets, you should be able to spot their weaknesses and strengths which will help you set a path for your project. If your client is a startup, then talk to them about what they were thinking of doing. Ask them what they like that other businesses are doing. Provide ideas and guidance for them. You may have thoughts they hadn't considered. I love helping startups because you're starting with a blank canvas and you know that you will do everything the right way. 4 - Examine your client from a customer's perspective. If you want to understand your client and their brand you need to experience it from the perspective of their customer. If you already are their customer then great. You know first hand what dealing with them is like, and you can put that knowledge to work for you. But if you are not already their customer you can go out an buy their product or service as if you are a member of their target market. Ask your family and friends for their opinion just like you would with other purchase you might make. Read online reviews about them. Learn whatever you can, just like if you were a real customer. Talk to the salespeople online or in store. Ask questions about their product or services and ask what other customers have said about them. If you can't afford or don't need their product or service, you can still go through the process without making the purchase. By becoming a customer, you can fully see what it is your client wants you to achieve. Your experience will be precious for your designs as well as useful information for your client. Put it all together. Those are four steps to a sound discovery process. Now, of course, every client and every design project will require particular steps in their discovery. Some general questions won't be required every single time, and some unique questions may be useful in some instances. Only you will know how in depth you will need to go. On some projects, discovery can take an hour or two, while on other projects it could take weeks to learn everything you need before starting the actual design stage of the project. The discovery process as a stand-alone project. If the first project you will be working on for a new client is an expensive one they may be a bit hesitant without knowing more about you. Offering a discovery project as a way to "break the ice" is a great option. If they're still not sure after all the questions and research you've done then maybe the two of you are not a good fit. You can part ways, and all they will owe you is for the discovery process. They can take the information you gathered and use it themselves or even pass it on to another designer if that's what they want to do. But chances are, if you've done your job right, they will see the value in sticking with you and decide to proceed with the project. Remember, Discovery is like dating. Your job is to give a good enough impression that you get asked out on a second date. How does this all add up? When the time finally comes for you to start the design process, you should not be asking "Will this design work?" What you should be asking yourself is "Do I have enough knowledge to know if this design will work or not?" If you did your discovery process well, the answer to that question should be yes, and you will be on your way to creating a winning design for your client. What is your Discovery Process? 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 Brianna Is there an online course you'd recommend for best practices in developing/redesigning an existing Wordpress site? All courses seem to assume you are building a whole new site from scratch. I can do that in my sleep, but more often than not a designer is tasked with redesigning something that already exists. Navigating somebody's else's code structure is a pain at best and I break out into a cold sweat whenever I am tapped for something like this. I almost always outsource the development because I just don't know what those best practices are -- even though I have a very similar skillset to those I outsource to. I'd love to get a handle on this type of project, as I have a huge Wordpress site redesign coming up over the summer and would much rather keep all the work "in-house" so to speak. To find out what I told Brianna you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Resourceful Designer App Resourceful Designer now has its very own App to make the listening experience even better. Look for it on the IOS, Android and Amazon App Stores. Benefits of using the new Resourceful Designer App? Easily find old episodes Listen by downloading or streaming Rotate your phone for convenient Car Play mode Highlight your favourite episodes to make it easier to find in the future Convenient for people who don't know how to listen to podcasts. Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Listen on Stitcher Listen on Android Listen on Google Play Music 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

How effective are you when you work? I don't know if it's because it's springtime or if there's some national or international initiative going on, but a lot of podcasts and blogs have been talking about productivity lately. Covering things such as ways to get things done more proficiently. Ways to make your job easier. Ways to not only do more but do more in less time. These articles and podcasts also talk about the wide variety of apps, journals and other tools to help increase your productivity. These resources are a great help because after all, being productive means getting a great deal of work done in a relatively short period, and by using as little resources as you can. Many of those podcasts and blog articles had such great advice on being more productive that I wrote quite a few down so that I could talk about them in future episodes of the podcast. But one of the things I noticed while reading or listening to what they had to say is that a lot of energy and effort is going into teaching you how to be more productive. But unless that information is pointing you in the right direction, it can be downright ineffective. You see, being productive is only a good thing if you are also effective during the process. How to be effective while being productive. Have you ever worked hard on a project, maybe a logo design or a website, only to discover that you've wasted your time because your client doesn't like what you did? Have you ever told a client that you would provide 3, or 5 or maybe even ten different design ideas from which they can choose? How effective do you think that is? You may feel like you poured your heart and soul into your creativity and felt like you delivered great design ideas to your client, only to be bewildered as to why your client is indecisive or outright rejects your designs. Chances are, you were very productive during the design process, but you were not effective. Being effective doesn't mean getting a great deal of work done in a short period. It means getting the right work done in the time you spend doing it. To be effective, you need to do a thorough job beforehand researching and ascertaining the actual goals and objectives of each project. Because without laying down that initial groundwork, without starting your creative process on a solid foundation. It doesn't matter how productive you are because that productivity probably won't be effective. Your job as a designer is not to create great designs for your clients. It's to create the right designs for your clients. Thinking back upon all the productivity tips I've been hearing and reading lately; I've concluded that merely being productive without the proper alignment of goals, without a purpose behind what you're doing, without a focused vision of what your client wants, is an easy way to be ineffective. You need to do your absolute best to tune yourself into the vision behind the goals set out for you by your clients. Not just once, but on every project, you take on. Only that way can you indeed be effective in your use of all the productivity tools, strategies and advice that are at our disposal to make our lives easier. The next time you are whipping along in a design frenzy, feeling very productive, I want you to take a quick break to stop and ask yourself. I'm very productive, but just how effective am I right now? How do you balance being effective vs being productive? 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 Phill What are some strong points of advice for an early 20s individual who wants to move from an industrial manufacturing work place to the world of web design/development? To find out what I told Phill you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Wordpress 5.0 Gutenburg Wordpress 5.0 Gutenburg will be released in a few weeks and from what I've seen the newly revised editor will make our jobs as web designers easier. But don't take my word on it, have a look at what web242.com has to say. Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Listen on Stitcher Listen on Android Listen on Google Play Music 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 suffer from back or neck pain? The other day at dinner during some idle chit-chat with my wife she mentioned a presentation she attended about ergonomics and how to minimise back and neck pain from sitting at a computer all day. The following morning at breakfast I found presentation handouts she had left on our kitchen table, and I started skimming over them. Before I knew it, I had read them all. They were so informative that after breakfast I came into my office and made some adjustments to my workspace. Then I thought to myself if this information is useful enough for me to make changes. Then I'm sure you could benefit from this as well. After all, as designers, we spend most of our time sitting in front of a computer or staring at a smartphone or tablet. I go into much more detail in the podcast so be sure to listen to this episode to learn more. Setting up your workstation to minimise back and neck pain. Adjusting your chair Your chair and how it's adjusted is a significant factor in minimising back and neck pain. When you are sitting in your chair, the ideal position should follow the 90/90/90 principle throughout your body. Meaning your back should be at a 90-degree angle to your hips. Your thighs should be at a 90-degree angle to your legs and spine, with your feet flat on the floor. Your elbows should be at your side, and your upper and lower arms should make a 90-degree angle with your wrists parallel to your forearms. Adjust the height of your chair or keyboard tray so that your arms remain at this neutral position while typing. If your chair has armrests, adjust them to this level as well. If you have short legs, you may want to get a footrest. The 90/90/90 principle is the ideal position to minimise strain on your joints and muscles. The critical thing here is to have a good chair. I know it's sometimes hard to justify spending money on an expensive chair. But try to remember, you will be sitting in it every day week after week, year after year. It's worth investing in something that is not only comfortable but something that will support you adequately. Setting up your computer. It doesn't matter what setup you use as your workstation there are ways of optimising it to minimise back and neck pain. Here are a few different scenarios. Laptop Users Laptops are very convenient for people on the go. However, if you use one as your regular workstation here are some things you should consider. To prevent neck strain, you should position your laptop so that the top of your laptop screen is at your eye level. You may need to use a laptop pedestal or something to raise it up to the right level. Even a few reams of paper or books can act as a pedestal. Naturally raising your laptop will make it difficult to type so you may want to get a separate keyboard and mouse that you can connect directly to the laptop or a docking station. Desktop users Desktop users should follow a similar plan to laptop users. The top of your monitor should be at eye level. There are stylish stands available to raise your computer or monitor to the proper level. Ideally, your screen should be at arm's length away. Meaning you should be able to fully extend your arm and touch it. If need be, adjust the resolution or magnification so that everything is easily readable. Tablet Users If you use a tablet on a regular basis, such as an iPad a Surface or any other Drawing Tablet, you may want to look into a stand or easel that will hold it at the proper position to minimise neck strain. Looking down at a tablet can create the equivalent of 27kb (60lbs) of stress on your neck and spine. Standing Desks If you are someone who uses a standing desk, it's a good idea to get a footstool and alternate elevating one foot at a time to relieve stress on your back. Remember to Use A Neutral Position When Working A lot of this sounds like common sense, but the fact is we don't always follow what common sense tells us. After reading these papers, my wife left behind I made some adjustments to my chair and workstation. In the days since I've already noticed some differences. Don't forget to stretch Setting up a proper workstation is only half the solution. Our bodies are made to move. Don't let it seize up by sitting in your chair for hours at a time. Set yourself a reminder to get up out of your chair at least once an hour. Even if it's just to stretch your body and sit back down. Yes, it's common sense but how many people do it? What do you do to minimise back and neck pain? 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 Chris I'm a young kid (16) and I would like to do some volunteer work for graphic design. I have a small portfolio of "personal projects" and i've practiced graphic design for the last 4 years and am ready to delve into client work. How would you recommend finding volunteer graphic design work for a young student? To find out what I told Chris you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Wordmark.it Wordmark.it used to sample all the fonts you have installed on your computer and makes it extremely easy to choose the perfect font for the project you are working on. Simply visit the site, type in a word or phrase of your choosing and click "load fonts". In no time flat, you will see your word/phrase displayed in every font you have installed. You can use various filters to adjust the size, case, and readability of the fonts. Simply click the fonts you are interested in and then view only the ones you selected. Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Listen on Stitcher Listen on Android Listen on Google Play Music 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