Resourceful Designer: Strategies for running a graphic design business

What's in a title? Since the inception of the design industry we designers have struggled with what title to give ourselves. I started my career calling myself a Graphic Artist. Later I changed to Graphic Designer and stuck with it until just recently when I took on the title of Design Consultant. Even though the bulk of my work these days is web design I've never called myself a Web Designer unless I paired it with Graphic Designer. As in, I'm a Graphic/Web Designer. In my experience, the title Graphic Designer encompasses a broad array of work, possibly including web design. However, the title Web Designer limits you skill wise to only web design. Graphic Designer and Web Designer are but two of the many titles designers call themselves. Some others include; Creative Designer Visual Designer Visual Artist Artistic Designer Communication Designer Multimedia Designer Commercial Artist Commercial Designer As well as some more focused titles such as; Logo Designer Brand Identity Designer Motion Designer Video Designer Package Designer UX or UI Designer Shouldn't your work be more important than your title? I always thought the title you used wasn't as important as your portfolio of design work. After all, isn't that why clients hire you? Then something happened recently, and I realised how people perceive you based on the title you use. For the longest time, whenever I would meet someone new and our conversation would inevitably turn to what we did for a living. I would answer the question saying I'm a Graphic Designer. The most often reply to this is, "what sort of things do you design?" To which I would go into my long-practised routine of telling them that I design everything from logos, business cards, posters, magazine ads to websites and online advertising etc. Most of the time the response I would get would be something along the lines of "That sounds interesting" before whoever I was talking to quickly changed the subject. Sure, on some occasions the person was interested and ask me to elaborate. Sometimes those conversations would lead to a proposal and maybe even a design project. But most of the time the discussion about what I did for a living just stopped there. The effects of calling myself a Design Consultant. A few months ago, I was at a local gathering, and I met someone who asked me that oft-asked question, what do you do for a living? Instead of my standard response of "I'm a Graphic Designer", for some reason, on a whim, I told them I was a Design Consultant. The reaction I received was noticeably different than previous encounters. Instead of asking what type of things I designed, the person asked what a Design Consultant does. I quickly made up an elevator pitch on the spot. I told him I help businesses fine-tune their brand strategy through the proper use of graphic and web design which helps them attract more clients. To find out more about elevator pitches and how mine has evolved since that meeting, listen to episode 116 of Resourceful Designer After blurting out the random title of Design Consultant and giving an impromptu elevator pitch, the person took me by surprise by asking how much I charge for a design consultation. I wasn't prepared for that question so I blurted out the first thing that popped into my head. $200 for a 1-hour session. The guy handed me a business card and asked when I was available to meet to go over his company's brand strategy. To make a long story short. I set up a meeting to go over his company's brand identity and current marketing material. He's now hired me to not only refresh his website and print material but to act as a design advisor to ensure he keeps on track with his brand strategy going forward. I genuinely believe I landed this client because of the title I gave him when he asked me what I did for a living. My new title as Design Consultant is not a fluke. Since that day, I've been using the title of Design Consultant, and I've discovered that what transpired with that gentleman is repeatable. Every new client I've met with since then has agreed to my fee to meet with them and go over what could work for their business. The best part is, clients are now interested in discussing their entire brand strategies, not just logos, business cards and websites. We examine everything including uniforms, vehicle colours, office decorations and more. Things that are not graphics or web related, but do play a part of their overall brand strategy. For me, this translates into clients with bigger initial budgets. In fact, since implementing my new title, I've landed clients with bigger starting budgets than most clients I've worked with in the past. Weeding out undesirable clients. Another benefit of calling myself a design consultant and charging a consultation fee for our initial meeting is it weeds out clients that would otherwise take up my precious time. I've had a few people say they can't afford my consultation fee. If they can't afford my consultation fee then they certainly can't afford my design rates. An added benefit for me. Something I had not foreseen is people that want to hire me just for the consultation. I've had a few people hire me just to get my advice on what they can do themselves to help their brand. These are people who don't have a budget to hire a professional designer but still want to know the best way to build their brand. It's a win-win for me. Since changing my title, every person I've met with has paid me. Not all of them have become clients, but I was paid for the consultation regardless. Will calling yourself a Design Consultant grow your design business? I would love to say outright that yes, changing your title will grow your design business but that would be naive on my part. I know I have almost 30 years of experience behind me and I have a lot of confidence when talking to people. Both of which help me sell people on hiring me as a design consultant. If you have the experience, knowledge and confidence to be a design consultant then maybe it will work for you as well. If you're not at the point in your career where you can pull this off, you should keep it in mind for the future. Maybe, down the road, you'll be ready to take your design business to the next level by offering your services as a design consultant. What title do you use? 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 Laurie Hello! I love your podcast By the way, you came to me at the perfect time as I just became an LLC running my own graphic design business. I had a question about the non disclosure agreement episode. I have a graphic design agreement done but is an NDA recommended? To find out what I told Laurie you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Resourceful Designer Facebook Group I would love to see you in the Resourceful Designer Facebook Group. Join many designers just like you as we share our experiences of running a design business. It doesn't matter at what level of your career you're at I would love to have you as a member. Be sure to answer the three question that pops up after clicking the join button. See you on Facebook! 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 have an elevator pitch? Imagine running into an old high school classmate at the airport. Someone you haven't talked to in years. After exchanging some pleasantries, you realise they would be a perfect design client for you. They ask you what you do for a living, and as you start thinking of the best way to pitch your services to them, their flight is called, and you've lost your chance. That's where having an elevator pitch could have helped you. What is an elevator pitch? An elevator pitch sometimes referred to as an elevator speech, or elevator statement is a short persuasive speech you give to people that explains who you are in such a way that it sparks an interest in the listener. It typically explains what it is you do, who your services are for, why the people may need those services and how you go about completing those services. Your elevator pitch needs to be interesting, succinct, memorable and it needs to describe how you are unique amongst all the other designers out there. It also needs to be short. An elevator pitch of around 20-30 seconds works best. When to use an Elevator Pitch. You should use your elevator pitch any time you are talking about yourself and your business. Use it whenever you meet a new potential client. Use it whenever you are introduced to someone, and they ask what you do for a living. Use it as an introductory paragraph on your website. You should use your elevator pitch every chance you get. How to construct an Elevator Pitch. Your Elevator Pitch will evolve and may change depending on who you are talking with. You may even have more than one Elevator Pitch depending on the situation. Regardless, it should follow these basic rules. 1) Explain who you are. Start off by introducing yourself and your business. If you're already acquainted with the person you are talking to you may skip this part for obvious reasons. 2) Explain what it is you do. For an elevator pitch to succeed, it needs to explain what it is you and your business does. Remember, an elevator pitch should be interesting and memorable. Don't say that you design websites or logos or flyers. Those things are boring to everyone but you. Instead, explain what sort of problems you solve for your clients. Give the listener something to remember about you. For example. Instead of saying "I design responsive websites". You could say something like "I design websites that let my clients communicate to their target market in the most efficient way possible regardless of what device they are using." Isn't that more interesting than just saying "I design responsive websites"? If what you are saying doesn't excite you, then it certainly won't excite the person listening to you. Your pitch should make you smile. The person listening may not remember everything you say, but they will remember the enthusiasm in your voice when you said it. 3) Explain your Unique Selling Proposition. A Unique Selling Proposition often referred to as a USP, is what makes you different from all the other designers competing for the same clients. It needs to be something that will make the listener take notice and want to work with you. For example, you could say something like this. "When it comes to websites, I take the time to research and get to know my client and their target market before ever sitting down to design their site. This allows me to create something that not only looks great, but something that appeals to the site visitors and truly represents the core of who my client is." 4) Finish by asking the listener a question. The whole point of an elevator pitch is to start a meaningful conversation. To do that you need to make sure you finish your pitch with a question that gets the person thinking and forces them into a discussion with you. Make sure you ask a question that cannot be answered by a simple "Yes" or "No" answer. You might ask something like "What kind of return are you getting from your website?" 5) Combine everything together When you put all these previous steps together, you should have a solid 20-30 second elevator pitch to impress potential clients. Time yourself. If it's too long, you risk losing the person's interest. Find ways to shorten it. Here's how the examples I gave earlier come together. "I design websites that let my clients communicate to their target market in the most efficient way possible regardless of what device they are using." "When it comes to websites, I take the time to research and get to know my client and their target market before ever sitting down to design their site. This allows me to create something that not only looks great, but something that appeals to the site visitors and truly represents the core of who my client is." "What kind of return are you getting from your website?" See how it all works together? 6) Practice, practice, practice. Your elevator pitch needs to sound natural, not rehearsed. How you say it is as important as what you say. You may have to edit it a bit since we often write differently than we talk. Say your pitch out loud repeatedly and on a regular basis. As you practice, you may end up changing parts of your pitch so that it sounds more natural to you. The more you do it, the better it and you will become. Here's my elevator pitch. This is the elevator pitch I currently use in my business. It has evolved many times over the years, and I'm sure this will not be its last incarnation. "I help businesses and organisations fine-tune their brand strategy and give them a better chance of success. Unlike a lot of designers, I invest my time in building a relationship with my clients in order to help them reach their goals. I accomplish this through the proper use of graphic design, web design and other marketing means. In other words, I help businesses reach their target market. How are you attracting your clients?" What's your elevator pitch? Do you already have an elevator pitch or have I convinced you to create one? I would love to hear it. Leave it as a comment for this episode, and I'll let you know what I think of it. 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 Diego Hi Mark! My name is Diego I'm from Uruguay and I'm an art librarian. That's right, I'm not a designer, but I did take some courses in my teens. Now I'm 26 years old and I'm trying my fit back in at the University again. I see all the other kids at school with their amazing drawings and I just don't feel up to their level. I'm feeling discouraged, like I'm trying to catch up. I would really like some advice. Is it important to have the artistic skills to be a designer? Are there any course you recommend I should look into? Not on how to use Photoshop or how to create a logo in illustrator. But basic design things. Thanks, I Love your podcast. Diego. To find out what I told Diego you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Canva Colors Canva Colors is a great source for discovering colours for your next design project. Their Design Wiki on Colors teaches you everything you need to know about specific colors, their meanings, their history and the color combinations that will hopefully give inspiration to your next design! 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

Design should not be a commodity. I recently saw a conversation in a Facebook group discussing price lists on design websites. The consensus was that including fixed or package prices on your site diminishes the value of your services as a designer. This got me thinking. Are designers who include price lists positioning themselves as a commodity? What is a commodity? Let me share three definitions of a commodity that I found online. A commodity is a physical substance, which is interchangeable with another product of the same type. A commodity is a good or service whose wide availability typically leads to smaller profit margins and diminishes the importance of factors other than price. A commodity is a good for which there is demand, but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market. Do any of those pertain to design? Are the designs you create easily interchangeable with designs from other designers? Are the services you offer so widely available from other designers that it diminishes the importance of your skills on every level other than price? Are the services you provide without qualitative differentiation from those of other designers? If you answered yes to any of those questions then maybe you've positioned yourself as a commodity. If you have, I'm telling you right now that you need to change the way you think about your skills and your services. Especially if you offer your services as "package deals" or fixed prices based on the services you provide because all that does is diminish the value you bring to your clients. What is Design? Without getting too philosophical, design is simply a solution to a problem. Clients come to you because they have a problem to solve. They need an identity for their business. They have a product they need to market. They need to generate leads, they need to increase awareness for their brand, they need to convert sales. These are all problems your clients face. Your job as a designer is finding the most appropriate solution to those problems. You know the saying "think outside the box"? That's where you are, and it's why clients hire you. Because you are "outside their box". You have a different perspective then they do about their business, and they are looking to you for solutions to their problems. There's a catch. When it comes to design, there is no one solution. Every designer out there will come up with their unique solution to any giving problem. That means that the solutions vary in quality and price depending on what designer a client chooses. It's a case of "you get what you pay for". Back in episode 71 of the podcast, I talked about Good Design, Quick Design or Cheap design and how you can only offer two at a time to a client. How are you supposed to provide solutions to your client's unique problems if you limit yourself to the cost of a predefined design package? When you do, you've already chosen one of the three options, cheap design. Design should be a consultancy process. As a designer, your job is not to do what the client asks you to do. Your job is to get to know your client, understand their business, find out what their goals are, study their products, learn their process. Once you know everything you need to know about your client, your job then shifts to providing designs to your client that specifically addresses their problem. Making a visually pleasing website that's also user-friendly, or making a brochure that stands out amongst the rest is icing on the cake. It's a byproduct of everything you do for your clients. Your primary job should always be to help your clients succeed in their goals, whether that's generating leads, or generating conversions. You do that by using your skills as a designer to help your clients. Clients are not hiring you for a logo, a brochure or a website. They may think that's why they are hiring you. But in fact, they are hiring you for your knowledge, your experience and your ability to help them with their problem through the use of proper design. Your design skills are merely the tool you use to complement those goals. When you start thinking about yourself and your business in this way. You'll realise that Fixed pricing or package deals are not a way to grow a successful design business You are worth more than you give yourself credit. Design is like a fine dining experience. Think of going to a nice restaurant. The cost of your meal is more than merely the food you eat. You are also paying for everything from the time it took to prepare, to the skills of the chef or cook, to the presentation of the plate, to the atmosphere of the restaurant, to the service and experience they provide you from before you walk in their door to long after you leave. The same applies to your designs. Your client isn't just paying for a logo. They're paying for everything that goes into the designing of that logo and everything they will get out of that logo design. Continuing with the analogy, fixed pricing, package deals, cheap design, or crowdsourced designs are akin to fast food restaurants. The meals are fast and cheap, and yes they fill an immediate hole by satisfying one's hunger. But what's missing when you get fast and cheap? You're missing the GOOD. There is no long-term benefit to fast food. In fact, there are many proven negative impacts to eating fast food. The same goes for any time design decisions are based on price and price alone. The designs may fill an immediate hole, but they will fail to satisfy long-term growth for a business. Clients who make their design purchases based on price have no idea about the process that goes into good design, or it's potential contribution to their business strategy. They see design as a commodity. What is Creativity? Here are two definitions of creativity that I found online. Creativity is the ability to generate innovative ideas and manifest them from thought into reality. The process involves original thinking and then producing. Creativity is the ability to produce something new through imaginative skill, whether a new solution to a problem, a new method or device, or a new artistic object or form. Do you hear those words? Innovative, Original, New, Imaginative, Artistic. These are not words that associate with a commodity. Creativity and Design allow every designer to create qualitative differences between their works. It's inevitable. That's the exact opposite of the definition of a commodity. The challenge facing you is how to teach that to your clients. Unfortunately, clients often don't know what good design is. Therefore, how can they understand the value in it? Here's the issue, bad designs stands out like a sore thumb to the point where even non-designers take notice and recognise what bad design is. However, when something is designed well, it becomes so seamless that it often goes unnoticed. In other words, the better your designs are, the more natural they will feel, and the more natural they feel, the more they will go unappreciated. Take a well-designed website for example. People who visit the site don't often notice the aesthetics or user experience. That's because a lot of thought and design went into those sites to make them feel natural to the user. What visitors will remember is how easy the site was to navigate and how they felt while visiting it. But they don't attribute that to design. Visit a poorly designed site on the other hand, and visitors will notice every little thing that bothers them. Only when design gets in their way will people take notice of it. That's why it's so hard to explain to clients the value of good design. They're not used to seeing the value in good design because when it's done correctly, it goes unnoticed. When a client fails to see the value of your services, when they can't see the difference in what you can offer them compared to the next designer, then to them, design becomes about price. It becomes a commodity. As a designer, you need to find a way to point out this flawed logic to your clients. You need to make them understand the value you're offering them. We live in a world where it is so easy to get a decent design. Not necessarily good design but at least decent design. Sites that offer design contests, crowdsourced design or easy DIY designs are popping up everywhere. Almost every part of the design process can now be outsourced or done cheaper. Like it or not, there will always be someone, somewhere that charges less than what you charge for design. To most clients, who don't understand the value of good design, paying less for a decent design sounds like a great way to save money. Once again, They are viewing design as a commodity. Don't people often judge things by the packages they come in? Doesn't the perception of something being better often lead to the belief that it is better? Have you ever chosen something a bit more expensive from the grocery store shelf just because the packaging made it look like it was better quality than the other similar items? That's proof that design does matter, which means that it's outside the realm of commodity status. As more and more design sources become available to clients, many of them will make their decisions based on cost. This will lead many designers to compromise their skills, their experience, their knowledge, and compete based on price alone. Believe it or not, that's a good thing for you. Let those designers fight over who can do it cheaper. Let them diminish what they do and compete as a commodity. As they do, you position yourself as a designer that does more than produce pretty pictures for a small fee. Position yourself as the expert designer that you are. As the solution to your client's problems. Show clients how good well thought out designs outperform bad designs every time. Show them the value it delivers, and they will become loyal clients for life. Charge appropriately for that value you provide them. Even if you charge more than the other designers around you. When you show your clients that design is an investment in their business and not just an expense like the paper in the copier, the lamps on their desks or the coffee maker in the break room. When they view it as an investment, that's when you will find them investing in you, regardless of the cost. Have you ever thought of design as a commodity? 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 Meg I'm thinking about taking a fast track graphic design course this summer. The course teaches Adobe Photoshop, InDesign and illustrator as well as printing and publishing. Once completed you're given a certificate of achievement. The course sounds really good to me because I enjoyed using Adobe during school. But I worry once I complete the course, I won't be able to find a job in graphic design. Or if I do find a job, I worry that I'll be stressed or anxious under pressure! Do you think it's possible for a graphic designer to be successful if they can't come up with a design without inspiration first? To find out what I told Meg you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Brandmark Tools This week's resource is a suite of tools by Brandmark. Their free AI-powered design tools help you with colour and font ideas and a few other things. Logo Rank The Logo Rank Tool allows you to analyse any logo and gives you a rating based on uniqueness, legibility, colour/contrast as well as an overall score.It's also useful for telling you how close it matches to any stock icon or image. Font Generator The Font Generator Tool shows you font pairings for Google Fonts. Find a font to match the one you already have or find pairs that work well together. Logo Crunch The Logo Crunch Tool lets you shrink a logo for use as a favicon or App icon while doing some impressive "fixes" to it. AI Color Wheel The AI Color Wheel tool automatically colour your graphics for you, allowing you to test out various colour pallets. 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

What I learned by talking to new entrepreneurs I had the honour of presenting a "Branding Your Business" seminar to a group of new entrepreneurs this week. It was one of six in a recurring seminar series put on by my municipality's Business Enterprise Centre. They decided this time around that adding a "graphics" related seminar would be valuable to new business owners and they asked if I would be interested in presenting. The seminar I presented was advertised with the title "Graphic Design Basics" but, with permission from the person in charge of the seminar series I changed it to "Branding Your Business". I knew I could provide more value to new entrepreneurs by teaching them the importance of proper branding over simply giving them graphic design tips, although I did interweave some into my talk. My decision to change the direction of the seminar proved the right one as the engagement and feedback I received both during and after presenting was all positive. In fact the Business Enterprise Centre asked me after the seminar if I would like to become a permanent speaker for all their future seminar series. I'm not writing this to pat myself on the back. Even though I was the one teaching these new entrepreneurs the value of proper branding I learnt a few things myself that designers can use when dealing with new clients. I go into much more detail on the podcast so be sure to listen for the full story. New entrepreneurs are often new to the business world One thing I noticed during my presentation is that of the couple dozen people in attendance, almost all of them had zero business experience before becoming new entrepreneurs. Talking to them, I realised just how naive they were when it comes to marketing their business. This got me thinking about all the times I hear of designers struggling to attract new clients. If you are trying to build your design clientele all you have to do is put in a bit of effort and you will be rewarded. There are hundreds, if not thousands of businesses all around you that are in need of your services if you just educated them on why they need you. What talking to new entrepreneurs taught me Here are a few of the things I picked up while presenting to this group that I believe could help you in landing new clients. Choosing a business name The majority of the people I talked to told me that they had trouble choosing a name for their business. Some of them even delayed starting their business because they were not happy with the name they had chosen. This is a real issue with some people. If you as a designer offered a service that helps people with choosing a business name you can attract clients at the foundation of their business and them help them build upon that foundation with proper branding going forward. New entrepreneurs don't think beyond the logo At the start of my seminar, I asked how happy the audience was with their brand identity. Most of them said they were satisfied with what they had chosen. After my presentation on Branding Your Business, I asked the same question again with different results. Almost everyone who was satisfied at the start admitted that they were going to revisit their brand strategy and find ways to improve it. There is a huge opportunity for you as a designer to work with new entrepreneurs if you showed them the effect proper branding can have on their business success. Colour pallets were not even a thought Almost all of the attendees I talked to had not considered a colour pallet for their business. They may have selected specific colours for their logo, but they hadn't thought of incorporating those colours into the rest of their marketing materials. You know that the key to a good brand is consistency. Lucky for you most new entrepreneurs don't. This creates the perfect opportunity for you to educate them and become vital to their overall brand strategy. Trademarks, copyrights and other legalities When it comes to the dos and don'ts of the design world, new entrepreneurs don't have the knowledge or experience you have. By talking to them about what they can and cannot do in regards to photos, slogans or, borrowing design elements from others, you can save them from the legal troubles ahead. Once they realise there is a line they shouldn't cross they may find it easier to let you handle all the design decisions for them. Design is a burdensome expense Many new entrepreneurs think of design as a burdensome expense. They think they are outsmarting the system and saving money by creating their own marketing material. As a designer, this is the perfect opportunity for you to educate them on how design should be viewed as an investment in their business, not simply an expense. Once they realise this, they will be much more open to working with you. Why invest in a website when Facebook is free? I missed this in my presentation. It was afterwards when some of the people came to talk to me that I realised there is a consensual mentality amongst new entrepreneurs that they don't need a website. They believe they can run their business with just a free Facebook page. If you teach these people the flaw in that logic, you are setting yourself up for having a great client for the future. New entrepreneurs need you From my presentation, I learned that new entrepreneurs are ripe for the picking. Most of them have no prior business experience and are perfect canvases for you to groom. Back in episode 69 of the podcast, I talked about presenting yourself as an expert in the design field. By doing so, you create an opportunity for yourself to attract these new clients once they realise the value of hiring a designer. Share your thoughts on this topic. Let me know what you think of this topic by leaving a comment for this episode. Questions of the Week There is no question of the week this week, but I would love to answer yours in a future episode. Submit your question by visiting the feedback page. Resource of the week Resourceful Designer Alexa Skill Resourceful Designer now has it's very own Amazon Alexa Skill! It's available in the USA (Canada and other countries coming soon). If you are in the USA and have an Alexa device all you have to do is say "Alexa, enable Resourceful Designer" then whenever you want to listen to the podcast you can simply tell Alexa to "play Resourceful Designer." Here are some things you can do. "Alexa, tell Resourceful Designer to play the newest episode." "Alexa, tell Resourceful Designer to play episode X." "Alexa, tell Resourceful Designer to fast forward X minutes." "Alexa, tell Resourceful Designer to rewind X seconds." "Alexa, skip" plays the next episode "Alexa, tell Resourceful Designer to skip ahead X episodes." "Alexa, tell Resourceful Designer to go back X episodes." If you are in the USA and you to enable the podcast on your Alexa device, please let me know what you think. 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

Should you offer design discounts to your clients? Let me start off by saying I'm not a fan of offering discounts for design services. And by the looks of it, I'm not alone. In preparing for episode 113 of the Resourceful Designer podcast, I read a lot of articles about the pros and cons of offering design discounts, and almost all of them said it was a bad idea. The main reason is that offering a discount lessens the perceived value of you, your services and the overall brand you are building for yourself. By offering a discount people will start to view you as a discount designer. Once you've been given that label, it's hard to escape from it. However, that's not to say you should never offer discounts to your clients. Here are six situations that may merit design discounts. When to offer design discounts. There are occasions when offering a discount can strengthen your perceived value and your brand. 1) Passing on a discount. Passing a discount you receive from a supplier onto a client is a great way to build loyalty towards your business. This works great for things like registering domain names or website hosting. As well as physical things such as T-Shirts or print runs. If your supplier is having a sale or is offering you a discount, think about passing the savings onto your clients. They'll appreciate you more for it. 2) Recurring revenue. Anything that helps you earn recurring revenue is a good thing, including offering a discount. Offering a discount on items like monthly web maintenance packages or design retainers can be the deciding factor in signing up clients. A monthly recurring maintenance package may be easier to sell if you offer either a free month or a monetary discount if the client pays for a full year in advance. Discounts for early renewals are another great way to ensure your clients stick with you. 3) Larger Print orders. This isn't a discount but it will save your clients money, and they'll appreciate you for it. Whenever ordering printed material, you get better prices by ordering greater quantities. When a client requests a print job through you, ask them if they have anything else to be printed. Let them know that you can save them money if they increase their quantities. For example; ordering 1000 business cards for a new employee may cost them $100. But if three other employees are running low on cards, and you combine their orders with the new one, the print job will cost $80 per 1000 cards. Your client will appreciate the money you are saving them. 4) Your client is a reseller. Whenever you are working for a reseller/wholesaler, you should be offering a discount for your service. This will allow them to charge their client a similar price that you would have charged them directly. Designing for a reseller/wholesaler usually means more and consistent work. Therefore the design discounts you offer are offset by the volume of work they are bringing in. 5) When the client merits it. I know I said that I'm not a fan of offering design discounts. But sometimes the client does merit it. For example, I recently met with a new client to discuss an overall brand refresh for her business. The project will encompass many areas of her business including a new logo design. During my meeting with the client, I got a feel for who she is, what she stands for and the image she wants to portray to her clients. By the end of the meeting, I already had a very good idea of what her new logo should look like. Before leaving, she handed me a rough sketch she had drawn of the type of logo she thought would suit her business. To my surprise, it was very close to the vision I had in my head. I told her as much, and then I offered her a discount on the logo portion of the project. After all, I didn't feel right charging her my full rate for a logo design considering it would be very close to her idea. 6) When you feel like giving a discount. This is the one time I agree that a design discount is in order. Discounts are fine as a special gift, not as an umbrella deal. Meaning, it's fine to offer a single client a discount for a special reason. For example, a loyal client that brings you regular work asks you to design invitations for his daughter's wedding. You might consider offering him a discount as a form of thank you for the past and future work he sends your way. When not to offer a discount. There are certain times that may merit a design discount, but there are also occasions when you should not be offering a discount at all. 1) When a client asks for it. Some clients will try to pressure you into giving them a discount. Don't be lured into this trap. Remember what I said about being perceived as a discount designer? That's precisely what will happen if you give into a client's demands. Any client that threatens to seek design services elsewhere if you don't lower your price is not worth having as a client. 2) Additional design services. This relates to designing something at your regular rate and then offering a discount to design additional items. Such as designing a logo and then offering a discount to design business cards. There is no reason for you to offer any of your services at a discounted price. Once again it diminishes your perceived value and positions your business as a discount design service. This scenario includes "design packages" where a client saves money by ordering packages of multiple items. Such as a stationery package that includes designing business cards, letterheads and envelopes. 3) Different rates for different services. Not quite a design discount but some designers offer different rates depending on the service they are performing. For example; charging a higher rate for design services and a lower rate for page layout services. Your time is valuable regardless of the services you are performing. Remember, a client is hiring you, not the service. Alternatives to design discounts. Offering a design discount may sound like an easy way to build client loyalty, but in fact, it may be doing more harm than good. Alternatives you could try include offering rewards or incentives for being a loyal client. Send a gift card to someone who referred a new client to you. Buy dinner or send flowers to a client after completing a large project with them. Rewards and incentives will be remembered much more than a discount ever will. Clients will appreciate them more and will think highly of you for thinking of them. Another option is to go above and beyond in your services. Clients will remember the little things you do for them, especially if they were unexpected. Such as hand-delivering a print order to make sure everything is ok with it. Merely showing your appreciation towards a client is sometimes all they need. Monetary discounts are quickly forgotten but doing something special will be remembered and appreciated. Do you offer design discounts or do you have an alternative solution? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Questions of the Week There is no question of the week for this episode, but I would love to hear yours. Submit your question to be featured in a future episode of the podcast by visiting the feedback page. Resource of the week resource name Google Alerts, found at google.com/alerts, is the way I use to keep me up to speed on all sorts of topics. It's extremely easy to set up alerts. Simply enter the search terms on the page and Google will email you the results daily, weekly or as they come out. It's just like doing a search engine search, but the results are delivered to your email inbox. You can filter the search by language, region, sources. Google Alerts is an easy and free way to stay on top of things. 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

Taking your design business international. There are many ways to attract international design clients. You can travel the world and talk to people about your business. You can invest in an international marketing campaign. You can become an SEO wizard and draw clients from around the world to you. Or, you can do what I did and give something away for free. My first international client, without even trying. If you listen to the Resourceful Designer podcast, you may have heard me mention bits and pieces this story, but I don't think I've ever shared it all in one place. I started podcasting in 2013 doing TV Fan Podcasts for some of the television shows I enjoy. I have podcasts covering the TV shows Under The Dome, Orphan Black, Killjoys, and The Expanse. You can find all of them on my podcast network at solotalkmedia.com Unbeknownst to me, the journey that led me to have international design clients started with my podcast for the television show Under The Dome. While making that podcast, I met Wayne Henderson from California and Troy Heinritz from Illinois, two friends who were podcasting together about the same Under The Dome TV show. You might think that two podcasts talking about the same TV show would become rivals but the podcasting world is different. Podcasters are mostly outgoing people, and we like to help each other out, even when our shows are on the same topic. It didn't take long for Wayne, Troy and I became friends. In fact, Wayne is the man with the sultry voice you hear at the beginning of every episode of the Resourceful Designer podcast. How does this relate to designing for international clients? I'm the type of designer that doesn't like creating things without purpose. Any time I test out new software, buy a new Photoshop or Illustrator plugin, acquire a new font, or obtain anything else, I like to test them out on real projects. Often those projects are current client projects but if I don't have a client project suitable for me to "experiment" on I will find something else that may need a redesign and experiment on that. Even if it's not something I was hired to do. Like many podcasters, Wayne had multiple podcasts. One of those podcasts was on the subject of Voice-Over Artists. I don't want to sound mean towards a friend, but the artwork for Wayne's podcast was horrible. So when I purchased a Design Cuts bundle and acquired a fancy new font with multiple variations for each character, I decided to experiment with it by designing a new logo for Wayne's podcast. My goal wasn't to design a new logo; it was just to experiment with the font. But if I ended up creating something I liked, it might as well be something useful, and that's what happened. After experimenting for a while I liked what I had created, so I decided to spend a bit more time fine-tuning the design. The artwork was useless to me so I offered it to Wayne free of charge and told him he could use it if he wanted to, no obligations. Wayne loved the artwork and immediately replaced his old artwork with my new design. Not just that, he was so grateful for the unexpected gift that he started telling everyone in the podcasting space about the great artwork I created for him. A month or so later, I subscribed to the stock photo site GraphicStock (now StoryBlocks). While searching through the stock images, I saw one of a football on turf that caught my eye. A design idea popped into my head, and I downloaded the image. By coincidence. Wayne and Troy have another podcast together for their favourite NFL football team, the Green Bay Packers. Once again, the artwork wasn't the greatest. So using the stock image as inspiration, I designed new artwork for that podcast and gave it to them. Again, with no obligation for them to use it. Both Wayne and Troy were so pleased that once again they started sharing what I did on social media and the two became ambassadors for my design business. After that, every time they saw a post in a Facebook group where someone asked a question about a design they would share my name. I would get a notification that my name was mentioned, and I would join the conversation. Most of the time I would just help the person out with advice or give my opinion on a design they already had. I didn't try to sell my services. After a while, people started to notice that every time there was a design related question, I would provide a useful comment. It didn't take long for one of those people to reach out to me to have something designed. The first was a woman from California. I created podcast cover art and a website for her. She was so pleased that she started sharing my name on both her podcast and on social media. I was then contacted and hired to create podcast cover art by a couple of her listeners who heard her talk about me with high praise. One of them was from Hong Kong and another from London, my first overseas international clients. The client in Hong Kong liked working with me enough that he hired me for another project of his that was not podcast related. This project was in partnership with someone he knew in Japan. A couple of months later the man from Japan asked me to design something for a side project he was starting. And so on and so on. Most designers agree that the bulk of their clients come to them via word of mouth referrals. That's precisely what happened to me but on an international scale. I've now worked with clients on every continent except for Antarctica. Most of them stem from those first two artworks I did for free for a couple of podcasting friends. This all started in March of 2015. At that time almost all of my clients were local except for a couple in the USA. Now, over 80% of my clients are international. Half of them are linked somehow to the podcast space. What exactly did I do? Instead of wasting time experimenting with design, I chose to experiment by designing something useful. Even though I was experimenting, I made sure to produce good work. Designs I could be proud of. I gave the design away for free to people who would appreciate it. Please keep in mind that doing free work is not the same as working for free. I can guarantee you that if Wayne or Troy had come to me asking for the artwork, I would have charged them for it. I provided good work that people appreciated, and it made them want to spread the word about me. Now, three years later. My name is recognised in the podcast space as that podcasting graphic designer who understands the podcast industry. And who do people turn to when they need a designer? Someone they know, someone they've heard about, someone who understands them. Times change. We're lucky that we live at a time where it's so easy for someone in California to have a conversation and share knowledge with someone in Scotland, Brazil or Australia. We're also lucky that boundaries have been broken. It wasn't that long ago that people were fearful of hiring someone from outside their borders. Now, most people do it without a second thought. How does this apply to your design business? How does this apply to you? Easy, if It worked for me, I don't see why it wouldn't work for you. In episode 54 and episode 93 of Resourceful Designer, I talked about Niches and how they can help grow your design business. That's what I did without even realising it. I went after the podcast niche. It took me three years to get to the point I'm at now, and no, not all my clients are in the podcasting space, but by ingraining myself in that niche I've built an international design business, and it keeps gaining traction every day. Now I've partnered with a podcast production company who contracts me every time they have a new client that requires either podcast cover art, social media branding, website or any other design work. This method can work for you. If you have a passion or a hobby, I encourage you to get involved with others that have the same passion or hobby. Attend events related to your hobby, follow them on social media, join facebook groups or sub-Reddit groups, even forums if they still exist. Get to know the people in your space, help them out if you can, let them know what you do but don't sell yourself. By offering valuable information and showing that you know what you're talking about, I'm sure that eventually, you will get work from it just like I did. Gary Vaynerchuk has a book called [easyazon_link identifier="006227306X" locale="US" tag="resourcefuldesigner-20"]Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook.[/easyazon_link] In his book, Gary explains that you will be more successful at selling yourself if you've continuously offered help before. Be helpful, and when the time comes people will repay you for that help. As I said at the start, there are many ways to attract international design clients. This is the way that worked for me. It took three years but it was well worth it, and I can't wait to see what my client list will look like three years from now. Be helpful, Do good work, Treat your clients right and be patient. It will work out for you as well. How do you attract international 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 entire episode was based on a question I received from Nayda. This is what she asked. Recently I listened one of your podcast in which you said that most of your clients are not locals in Canada. That's why you set as one of your 2018 goals to gain more local clients. I was wondering, how do you find overseas clients? Recently I stumble upon the "Upwork" platform. In Puerto Rico, where I am from, they developed something similar after Hurricane María hits us. It's called "Shop & Hire". Did you use a platform similar to these to get your overseas clients? Also, what are your thoughts about the use of platforms such as the one I mentioned? Have a great day! Nayda This article is part of what I discussed on the podcast. Listen to the episode for the full story. Resource of the week Backblaze Never Lose a File Again with the World's Easiest Cloud Backup. Backblaze gives you peace of mind knowing your files are backed up securely in the cloud. Just set it up and forget about it. Backblaze works in the background and automatically backs up new and modified files. Hard drive crashes are only one thing you need to worry about. Your files are also vulnerable to hardware theft and natural disasters such as floods, fires, earthquakes etc. With Backblaze, you can rest at ease knowing your business files are safe no matter what happens. Backblaze works on Mac or PC and is just $50/year. Subscribe to the podcast Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Stitcher Subscribe on Android Subscribe on Google Play Music Contact me Send me feedback Follow me on Twitter and Facebook 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

What makes up good impressions? The impressions you leave on your clients determine their willingness to work with you in the future. When good impressions outweigh bad impressions, clients will want to do business with you again. So how do you ensure you are making good impressions while dealing with your clients? Let me tell you a story About a year ago something happened to our washing machine. Every time we tried to do a load of clothes the washer would start up and then stop. Lights on the front panel would start flashing but nothing else. I tried the first trick in the book and banged it a few times, but it didn't help. It was time to make a service call. I called an appliance repair guy I had used in the past only to discover he had retired. He was kind enough to give me the names of several people I could contact, and I dialled the first one on the list. A woman answered the phone and seemed confused when I started talking. She interrupted me, asked me to "hold on" and put the phone down for what seemed like minutes before a man finally picked up. I told him what my problem was and made an appointment for the next day at 10 am. The following morning at 11:20 am a rusty pickup truck with a magnetic sign on the door advertising the repair business pulls into my driveway. A couple of minutes later a middle-aged gentleman walked up to my door wearing sweatpants and an old Van Halen T-shirt. His branded sweat-stained baseball cap confirmed what the tuck said. This was the repair guy. The first thing out of his mouth was an apology for being late. Apparently, there was a long lineup at the drive-through coffee shop that put him behind schedule and then he got lost trying to find my place. I invited him in and showed him the washing machine. The first thing he did is start a wash cycle that ended with the same results I had been getting. He then proceeded to press a certain combination of buttons that put the washing machine into a diagnosis mode which allowed him to see what error codes the machine was generating by what lights flashed on the console. He then pulled out a sheet of paper and compared the flashing lights on the washer to their error code on the sheet. At that point, I asked him what his thoughts were, but he told me he still had to run more tests before deciding. I let him get back to work without any more interruptions. After watching him for several minutes, I started to understand what he was doing even though I didn't understand what the flashing lights meant. Finally, after several minutes he told me that it was the same error code that kept coming up. This confused me since I was seeing different lights flashing every time he did something. But I'm not an appliance repair guy, so I took his word for it. He then told me the error code indicated a faulty motherboard and on a machine as old as mine he didn't think it was worth repairing. I thanked him very much. He wrote me an invoice. I gave him a check and sent him on his way. For some reason, I wasn't feeling confident with his assessment. So I called my wife, explained the situation and told her that before we run out and purchase a brand new washing machine, I would like to have someone else come in and look at it. It may cost us a bit more, but I would feel better after a second opinion. I went back to the list of names my retired appliance repair guy gave me and called the second one on the list. This time a man answered and introduced himself as Dave from, and he mentioned his company name. I explained my washer problem, and he asked a few questions. He then told me he was booked up for the week but his last appointment for that day wasn't that far from where I live, and he could stop by afterwards if that were OK. At 5:05 pm Dave called me to confirm I was still home and told me he would be there in 15 minutes. At exactly 5:20 pm a white van with professionally applied graphics of Dave's logo and contact information on the side, pulled into my driveway. When I opened my door, Dave was there wearing blue work pants, work boots and a blue button shirt with his logo embroidered on the pocket. Before stepping into the house, he took out a pair of disposable booties and put them over his work boots so not to damage my floors. I showed Dave the washing machine, and he started doing the same thing the first guy had done. Except, Dave didn't have a paper to refer to, and he explained everything he was doing to me. He described how diagnosis mode worked and what each flashing light we were seeing represented. He then explained how he had to press a specific button combination to reset the machine after each test. Otherwise, it would give him random errors codes, and he wouldn't be able to diagnose the problem. To my knowledge, the first repair guy never did that. After only a couple of minutes looking at the machine, Dave told me he thought a drum sensor that was causing the problem. He explained to me that there's a sensor under the drum that measures RPM and from what he could tell it was sending out false information. Dave went out to his truck and returned with a new sensor. He replaced it and tested the machine, and it started working again. He then told me that he was 99% sure the new sensor fixed the problem but we wouldn't know until the machine had gone through an entire wash cycle and he wasn't going to wait around for it to do so. So Dave took the old sensor and put it in the box the new sensor had come in. He then told me to run the machine for a few days. If everything turned out fine, I could dispose of the old sensor, and he would send me an invoice. However, if it turned out that the problem was more than just the sensor, he would replace the new one with the old one again, and he wouldn't charge me for it. We shook hands and Dave left. A few days later he called to see how things had worked out and I told him the washing machine was working fine. A few days after that I received an invoice in the mail for $75. $40 for the new sensor and $35 for the 30 minutes Dave spent at my house. Our washing machine is still working today. Good impressions vs bad impressions. Think about the story I just told you. According to my old retired repair guy, everyone on the list he gave me was an experienced and competent appliance repairman. From what I was able to discover while Googling contact information for both repair guys, each had been running their appliance repair business for over 15 years. Both had good ratings on Google, and the reviews for both were favourable showing past satisfied clients. I don't dispute that each one knows his craft. Sure the first guy misdiagnosed the issue, but nobody's perfect. I'm confident that in his mind the problem was a faulty motherboard. It's not their skill I'm questioning. It's the impressions they left on me. The first guy left a bad impression. Staring at his vehicle to his attire to his demeanour. The second guy, on the other hand, left a good impression on me. From the moment he pulled into my driveway to the moment he left. How good impressions affect decisions. Fast forward to this past weekend. My wife and I woke up Sunday morning to a fridge that wasn't working. Luckily the cold weather at this time of year in Canada was in our favour. We were able to save all our food by putting it on our back deck in coolers and plastic bins, but I knew we couldn't last like that. I needed to have a repair guy look at our fridge as soon as possible. Who do you think I called? Even though it was Sunday and I knew Dave worked Monday to Friday 9 am to 5 pm I decided to call and leave a message for him to get Monday morning. I dialled his number, and when his answering machine picked up, I proceeded to leave the following message. "Hi Dave, It's Mark Des Cotes here. I don't know if you remember me, but you repaired my washing machine last year. I'm calling because there's something wrong with our fridge…" At that point in my message, I hear the phone pick up, and Dave say "Hi Mark, Dave here, what's the problem with your fridge?" I was stunned. I wasn't expecting anyone to pick up and I told Dave as much. He said to me that he can listen when people leave messages and that his ears perked up when I mentioned that I was a past client. And then when he heard me say I was having a problem with my fridge, he decided to pick up. Dave told me he wasn't busy that afternoon and offered to come by and have a look. I was about to give him my address when he told me he remembered where I lived and he would see me at 1:00 pm. More good impressions. Dave tested a bunch of things, explaining to me the whole time what he was doing. Unfortunately, unlike the washing machine, we both agreed that the investment required to repair the fridge wasn't worth it. We had to get a new one. With all the good impressions Dave had left on me through our two encounters, I didn't question his assessment. Good impressions and your design business. So what does my story have to do with your design business? Simple, Good impressions make a difference. You can be the best designer around, but if you don't make good impressions on your clients, you could be losing them to lesser quality designers that do make good impressions. How do you make good impressions? Be courteous Don't just listen to your clients speak, hear what they have to say. Involve the client in your conversations, shake their hand every time you see them. Look them in the eye when talking with them. Be punctual Show up when you say you will. Deliver when you say you will. If for some reason you can't be punctual, let your client know in advance. Apologizingafterwards is too late. The bad impression damage is already done. Be Presentable Unless your clients are part of the corporate world wearing a suit or fancy dress may not be necessary, but you should still look clean and presentable. Wear professional looking clothes. Be conscious of your grooming. If you wear fragrances, make sure they are not overpowering. Don't show up to a meeting with a backpack, carry your things in a good looking case or portfolio. Act professional Have answers to your client's questions. If you don't have the answers, offer to find them and get back to your client. Answer your phone in a professional manner. Reply to your emails in a professional manner by always addressing the person you are talking to and signing the message, so there's no question as to whom it came from. All of these things will make good impressions. If you do it right, you've already won half the battle when it comes to landing and keeping clients. If you have design skills to match, you have nothing else to worry about. What are your experiences with bad or good impressions? 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 I have been on my own for the last year and I am struggling to decide where to spend advertising dollars. What is the most efficient way to gain new clients? Working with the local chamber of commerce, FB or IG ads, or some other avenue. My clients have been good at referring to me but since I am new I do not have a giant book of business to pull from. Any ideas would be great! To find out what I told Joshua you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Four Week Marketing Boost The Four Week Marketing Boost! is a 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 easily 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 20 days you should be in a comfortable position to present your most favourable image to potential clients. And yes, this guide is free! Get it by visiting marketingboost.net Subscribe to the podcast Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Stitcher Subscribe on Android Subscribe on Google Play Music Contact me Send me feedback Follow me on Twitter and Facebook 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

What Is Value-Based Pricing? Value-based pricing is a way to not only get paid for your time and expenses but a way to get paid for the value of the services and products you provide to your clients. Value-Based Pricing = Time + Expenses + Value. With hourly pricing and project-based pricing, you are compensated only for your time and expenses. This way is ok for newer designers just starting out. But once you've established yourself and start to build a reputation as a skilled designer, you become more valuable to your clients than merely the time you spend on a project. At that point, you may want to consider switching your pricing method to value-based pricing. After all, If that new website or logo your designing will help your client's business grow and perhaps earn them a half million dollars over its lifetime, that's a great value to them, and your prices should reflect it. Establish a baseline price. Before you start using value-based pricing, you need to establish a baseline price. Your baseline price will be different depending on the scope of each project, but they all start off the same way. When submitting a quote using value-based pricing, it's important to remember the formula: Value-Based Pricing = Time + Expenses + Value. To start, you need to estimate how long you think a project will take and multiply it by your hourly rate. Make sure your hourly rate reflects your skills as a designer. Once you have your time figured out, estimate your expenses for the project. Not just project specific expenses but business expenses as well. Business expenses are something many designers overlook when quoting. How much electricity will you be consuming while working on the project? If you are renting space, you should know how much per hour it costs you and include it as an expense. How much does your Adobe Creative Cloud subscription cost per hour of use? All of these are considered expenses and you should bill for them. Just because it's a business expense doesn't mean you can't charge your clients for it. Remember that besides your time, you should be charging enough to keep the light on and keep your business running as well. Taking all of this into consideration, you will have a different baseline price for every project. A website will take more time to develop than designing a business card will. Don't forget to add a buffer to your baseline price. We all know about scope creep so compensate for it in advance by adding anywhere from 5-20% or more to your baseline price. Once you've determined your baseline price for a project, you can then adjust your quote based on the projected value of the project to your client, that's value-based pricing. Determining the value of a project Determining the value part of value-based pricing is tricky. Through back and forth conversations with your clients, you need to figure out what sort of return they expect to achieve with what you provide them. Only then can you figure out a percentage of that amount as the value part of your price equation. When first starting out with value-based pricing it's normal to offer lower prices as you get used to the concept of how much value design can provide. Over time as you practice and gain experience, you will get better at determining the true value of a project. The trick is to try and let your clients estimate the value for you by asking lots of questions about their business. Be more than a designer When you first start your business, chances are you'll run it more like a technician. A client tells you what they want, you design it for them, and they pay you. Many designers continue using that model their entire career. And there's nothing wrong with that. But If you want to use value-based pricing you need to do more. You need to establish yourself not only as a designer but as a design consultant. As a designer, most of the communication goes in one direction. From the client to you. As a design consultant, communication evens out or even tips in the other direction with you directing the project more than the client does. To establish yourself as a design consultant, you need to be inquisitive about a client's business. Ask them questions like "What sort of growth do you anticipate for this upcoming year?" or "How do you think this proposed design project will affect your bottom line?" or "How much money are you willing to invest to ensure the success of your business?" By asking these types of questions from the start, questions that have nothing to do with the actual designing of the project, your clients will realise that you bring much more to the table than merely your design skills. You deliver insight and value that will continue long after you've completed their project. If you establish yourself as a problem solver, which is what a consultant should be, and you approach clients with confidence, you will build trust with them, and they will be much more willing to open up to you about their business. Once you have that trust and your clients see the knowledge and value you bring to them, they will be ready to invest more with you. Several of my clients use me as a sounding board to ask my opinion on business matters. Matters that have nothing to do with design. That's because of the trust and value I've provided them over the years. Those clients value me more than just for my design skills, And that means I can charge them more for my services based on that trust and value. The tricky part is putting a price tag on that value. Maybe that value is $5,000, or perhaps it's $50,000. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula to figure it out. You will need to judge for yourself what you think the value of each project is to your client and then present your value-based price with confidence. It is trial and error. But with practice, you will get the hang of it, and start to know when you can charge more for a project based on value and when you can't. Before long, you will feel comfortable and confident in asking for what you are worth. I remember years ago when I used to design websites for $400-$700. The first time I quoted $1000 for a website I was very nervous, but I believed the value I was providing was more than what I had been charging. My clients must have agreed because they accepted my quotes, and soon $1000 became my new base price for a basic website. Later, recognising even more value I was bringing, I raised my price to $2000 wondering if clients would laugh in my face. They didn't. They agreed, and $2000 became my new base price. Every time I raised my prices and asked for more money, based on the value I was providing, I kept thinking I was asking too much and I would never hear from those clients again. But you know what? It never happened. Let me tell you what did happen. When I was asking $400-$700 for a website, I had a lot of clients say it was too expensive or they couldn't afford it. I was winning one out of every four or five quotes I submitted. But now that my starting price for a basic website is several thousand dollars, I rarely have a client turn me down. Most clients are referred to me by someone they trust, and they've heard of the value I provide beyond a simple website. With that knowledge, they are willing to invest in my services even though I charge much more than the next guy. You are a professional designer, that's why clients are coming to you in the first place. If a client doesn't like your price for their project, if they don't see the value in hiring you, then you don't want them as a client. There are no bad clients, only bad design choices. Before that statement makes you stop reading let me explain. When I say bad design choices I don't mean a designer's skills, I mean their people perception filters. If you end up with clients that are rude or disrespectful, clients that micromanage you or are stingy with their money, it's not the clients' fault; it's yours for agreeing to work with them. Unless you are just starting out, you should have enough experience in recognising demanding clients to be able to turn them away before ever having to deal with them. The money may be tempting, but the headaches are not worth it. By using value-based pricing, by establishing yourself as a design consultant, a professional in your field, you will project a higher sense of worth which will allow you to charge the prices you deserve for the value you provide. Clients will respect you more and will understand that what you do is much more than just an expense for them. It's an investment. Don't worry about the designers on Fiverr or similar platforms or the ones in your community that are charging less than you. Your prices are not intended to be competitive; they're meant to reflect where you are in your career and the value you provide to your clients. Your goal is to distinguish yourself by showing the uniqueness you can bring by showcasing a positive track record of successful projects. Use your portfolio and case studies and let them speak for themselves. They will prove that the value you provide is worth every penny. Niche Down Niches are a perfect avenue for value-based pricing. Whenever you serve a niche, you are automatically established as an expert and can charge much higher prices for your work. When your business is new, you need to diversify your services to have many sources of design income and to build your portfolio. You may design logos, websites, business cards, posters, you name it. The object is to build up a portfolio that will gain trust from your audience and eventually allow you to work with the clients you want. By taking on all these projects and doing them well, you will allow your reputation, your professionalism to grow organically over time. Eventually, you may want concentrate on a niche. Niching down can be scary because doing it correctly means turning down potentially good clients outside of your niche. But if you look at the bigger picture, I'm sure you'll agree, that one $15,000 project in your chosen niche more than makes up for several $1000 projects you turn down from clients outside your niche. What usually holds designers back is the fear that those $15,000+ projects are far out of reach. How can a solo designer, working from home charge those kinds of fees? You can once you've built up a reputation of someone who provides value beyond the design. If you concentrate on building your business the right way and don't compromise on design projects, you can reach that level. High paying clients are looking for you You are not a factory worker on a production line, so don't run your design business like you are. I read a great line in an old article by Dina Rodreguez that I'm going to steal. What would happen if you hired a doctor and then told them how to operate on you? As a designer, you're no different. You are a professional in your field, and you should be treated like one. Clients should not be telling you what to do, you should be telling them what they need. Be the problem solver. Be confident in your skills and your work. Price yourself accordingly based on the value of the work you provide. If you do this, you will notice over time that less and less of those thrifty "shopping around" clients will be contacting you, and more and more big-budget clients will be knocking at your door. Remember, Don't base your prices on what those around you or online are charging. Recognize your true potential and realize the value you bring to your clients. Then pursue your passion without hesitation. Price yourself as a professional, not a commodity. What are your thoughts on Value-Based Pricing? Let me know your goals 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 Rich I'm curious about if you use something like WHMCS (Web Host Manager Complete Solution) management software for invoicing and do your clients have sandboxed account logins or do you manage all your client's within your hosting account? I was thinking about starting out managing client sites from within my unlimited site shared hosting account and moving to the full "reseller" account as demand increases. It sounds like a WHMCS managed reseller account might be vital for automating invoicing, service tickets and other account related actions. Thanks again, your content has been so helpful. To find out what I told Rich you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week iThemes Security This week's resource is the WordPress plugin iThemes Security, specifically the plugin's feature that allows you to change the URL of a site's WordPress login page from /wp-login.php or /wp-admin to anything you want. This makes it harder for bots and hackers to gain access to the site since they don't know what the login URL is. Simply click on the iThemes Security advanced settings, chose Hide Backend and change the URL slug to anything you want. Subscribe to the podcast Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Stitcher Subscribe on Android Subscribe on Google Play Music Contact me Send me feedback Follow me on Twitter and Facebook 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 thought do you give client loyalty? When it comes to your business, everything you do and everything you don't do tells your clients how they should feel about you and your business. Being a great designer isn't enough to garner client loyalty. There are plenty of great designers out there. So why should someone choose you over any of them? It's even more difficult in today's market with all the inexpensive crowdsourced or contest oriented design options available to clients these days. Not only do you need to prove you're a good designer, but you also need to show you are worth the money you're charging for your services. You need to do everything you can to prove to your clients that their money is better spent with you. When you achieve that, you'll be rewarded with a client that is loyal to you and your design business. So how do you accomplish this? Here are seven tips to help you build client loyalty. 1) Do What You Say You'll Do The ability to follow through on your commitments is extremely valuable when it comes to client loyalty. When you tell a client you're going to do something, follow through and do it. Clients hear your comments as promises. So if you don't do what you said you would do, it's like you broke a promise with them and they will lose trust in you. It doesn't matter how long you've been working with a client, or how much trust you've built up. Failing to follow through on something you said you would, will ruin all the goodwill and client loyalty you've been building up. It's very hard to recover once someone loses trust in you. If for some reason you are not able to follow through on something you told your client you would do, give your clients ample notice. Most clients will understand if you let them know in advance that you can't hold to your word. Apologizing after the fact is too late. Remember, actions speak louder than words. Follow through on what you say you'll do. 2) Share your discoveries. In your line of work, you get to talk to a lot of different people in various fields. Some of the conversations you have or the news you hear may not be of interest to you, but it may be of interest to your clients. Whenever you hear something you think one of your clients might be interested in, pass it along. Merely passing on information is a great way to stay in touch with your clients and it shows them that you care about them. This will go a long way towards building client loyalty. 3) Get to know your clients Building client loyalty is all about building relationships, the cornerstone of any great partnership. Designer and client included. It's so important that I've talked about client relationships on over 25 episodes of the podcast. To build a client relationship you need to learn things about your client. Find out when their birthday is. Learn who their family members are and what they do. Discover what hobbies and interests your client has. Later, when talking to your client, bring up some of this information in the conversation. Ask about their daughter's recital. Inquire how a family member is doing since they had surgery. Find out how their son's team is doing. Just by discussing things that are related to your client's personal life, you too, become part of their personal life. This shows your client that you care about them more than just on a working basis and it will make them think twice before every hiring a different designer. 4) Provide added Value Go above and beyond if you can. Tip #1 I was about keeping promises. What if you promise to deliver something by Friday and you give it to your client two days early on Wednesday? To your clients, this is an added value they will appreciate, and it didn't cost you anything. Another thing you can do is provide little extras that other designers don't. Create short instruction videos using software like Screenflow to show your clients how to use their newly launched website. Teach them how to log in, how to create or edit posts, how to upload media files, etc. Not only does this go above and beyond to provide added value to your clients. It also lessens your workload because your client won't be contacting you asking "how do I do that again?" If you design a logo for a client, include a PDF explaining all the different file formats you are providing them. List each one and explain when and why each format should be used. This could be the same PDF you share with all your clients. To them, it's an added value. Anything you do to create added value goes a long way to strengthen client loyalty. 5) Engage your clients and give them a reason to come back Once a project is over, it doesn't mean your communications with your client should be over as well. Keep in touch with them. Let them know of new or improved services you offer. Are you getting into the Facebook advertising game? Let your clients know about it. Have you discovered a new supplier that provides some new and innovative marketing dohickey? Mention to your clients how they might benefit from using it in their promotional campaign. Did a client ask you to design something you've never done before? Show it off to your other clients and offer to do the same for them. By letting your clients know about the new and exciting happenings with your company you build momentum with them, and it makes them somehow feel involved and builds loyalty towards you. 6) Get Feedback from your clients A great way to build client loyalty is to ask them for their opinion on your business and services. Were they happy with their most recent dealings with you? Did the service you provide meet their expectations? Ask them if there is anything you could have done to make the experience better. Asking your clients for their opinion is a great way to show you care about what they think and that you are listening to their concerns. 7) Show your appreciation. As a child, your parents taught you to say Thank You whenever someone gives you something. Your clients are giving you work they could have taken elsewhere. Once a project is over show your client you're grateful for it by saying thank you for the business. This simple gesture is something rarely seen in the service industry, and your clients will take note and remember you for it, increasing their loyalty towards you. If you follow these seven tips to increase client loyalty towards you and your business, not only will you be ensuring a long-lasting relationship with your clients, but you will be growing your business as well. Because loyal clients are more apt to talk about you and spread the word about the great work and excellent service you provide. What do you do to build client loyalty? 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 Miranda Hi Mark, I was wondering if you ever worked in a small design agency, and if you had any tips for a Graphic Designer with about a year of professional experience. I've worked in a big agency and small design businesses. I'd love your feedback on how to get a small design agency better quality work. My boss is kind of old school so some of the work is not branding our clients it's more production work. We have branded clients and have some great clients we've branded. But I wanted your take on how to get better clients and how to navigate them to understanding how important their brand is. Thanks so much! Would love to hear from you! To find out what I told Miranda you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Running SEO This week's resource is Running SEO, a website that offers free instant website reviews and SEO audits. With their in-depth website analysis, you can learn how to improve your website rankings & online visibility through SEO, social media, usability and much more. Running SEO doesn't just tell you what's wrong with your site, it says you how to fix it. Their competitive analysis function gives you a side-by-side comparison between your site and your competitor. Find out what they are doing better on their site and implement it on your site. Running SEO is also great for landing new clients. Run an analysis before meeting a new client to show them what needs improving on their website. Subscribe to the podcast Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Stitcher Subscribe on Android Subscribe on Google Play Music Contact me Send me feedback Follow me on Twitter and 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

Are you looking to become a freelance designer? At one point or another, every designer wonders what it would be like to become a freelance designer. Maybe you're a student dreaming of tackling the world after graduation. Perhaps you're an in-house designer tired of working 9-5 designing similar things for the same company year after year. Maybe you work for a design agency as part of a larger team of experienced designers, and you feel like you are not being used to your full potential. Regardless of where you are in your design career, the thought of becoming a freelance designer, to run your own business from home, to be your own boss, might be something going through your head. I'm a big advocate of freelancers. I've focused Resourceful Designer specifically on helping home-based designers. But I'm also the first person to say that not every designer is suited to freelancer life. That's why I put together this list of 5 things you should consider before deciding to become a freelance designer. Why do you want to become a freelance designer? The first thing you need to ask yourself before handing in your resignation letter is why do you want to become a freelance designer? Is it for the flexible schedule? Is it for the ability to choose your clients and projects? Is it for the tax write-offs? Is it for the ability to work in your pyjamas at any hour of the day? Is it simply to be your own boss? Whatever your reasons, make sure they are good ones before you make the leap and start your design business. Here are five things to consider before deciding to become a freelance designer. 1) How will you deal with the isolation of working from home? Working from home can get lonely. In fact, it's one of the main reasons designers give up the freelance life and go back to a 9-5 job. It's a big enough issue that there's an entire episode of Resourceful Designer where I talk about coping with isolation when working from home. Ask any home-based designer, and they will tell you that isolation is a real issue. If you are someone who enjoys talking face to face with colleagues throughout the day, it's something to keep in mind. Before you decide to become a freelance designer make sure you can handle the loneliness that comes with being by yourself most of the time. 2) How good are you at time management? When you are an employee, chances are someone is telling you, or at least directing you in what you need to do on a daily basis. Once you become a freelance designer, you won't have someone telling you what to do anymore. Some people see this as a benefit, but you need to make sure you are disciplined enough to not only create a work schedule for yourself but to stick to it. It's not as easy as it sounds. Not having a boss looking over your shoulder and keeping you in check can lead you astray. Without someone making sure you're working on what you are supposed to be working on when you're supposed to be working on it makes it very easy to get caught up on tangents. Before you know it, you're spending way too much time on YouTube or Facebook, or succumbing to the temptation of that brand new season of your favourite show that just dropped on Netflix. Make sure you know how to manage your time and make sure you know how to stick to a schedule, even one you made for yourself. 3) Can you plan for the future? Running your own design business is not about the here and now. It's about the future. When you are an employee, chances are there's someone else worrying about the future of the business where you work. But when that business is your own, it's your responsibility to ensure for your future. No matter how good your clients are, or how big the projects your working on become, there is no guarantee they will still be around in a few months. You need to be able to look ahead and prepare for slow times by continuingly looking for new projects and new clients to sustain your business. A home-based designer's life is full of ups and downs when it comes to projects. The trick is to minimize those downward curves by preparing ahead for them. 4) Can you be your own boss? When you become a freelance designer, you don't give up a boss. You become the boss. But are you boss material? Are you able to keep yourself accountable to not only get the design work done but to handle the other day to day activities that running a business requires? Designers thinking about freelancing don't often think about everything involved. Running your own design business is much more than just designing. If you want to know what else is involved in running a home-based design business, listen to episode 38 of Resourceful Designer: The Many Hats Of A Home Based Graphic Designer. 5) How good are you at finances? One of the many hats you will need to wear after you become a freelance designer is that of an accountant. Freelancing is not a financially stable profession. You don't get a steady paycheck every week. Some months lots of money may come in and other months barely a cent. Especially when you first start off. You need to be able to handle your income in a way that is sustainable for you. That means making sure that not only are you covering your bills but that you have enough saved up for those times when work is slow. Is the freelance life for you? Many designers think that life would be so much easier if they started their own design business. The truth of the matter is that freelancing is very difficult and requires a particular type of person to succeed at it. You might be that type of person. But ask yourself these five questions before you quit your job to become a freelance designer. Do you have what it takes to become a freelance designer? 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 Shenai I know some universities have classes that cover some of the legal issues with designing but mine did not offer this. If you have advise on when you should trademark designs, or other ideas of design protection - I would love to hear that episode! In a time where everyone is marketing themselves on social media, I have a huge fear of being ripped off and really don't know at what lengths to go to cover my bases. To find out what I told Shenai you'll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Coolors.co This week's resource is the website Coolors.co. Coolors.co is a super fast and super easy way to create, save and share colour pallets for all your projects. Choose from a gallery of readily made pallets or create your own from scratch or based on some pre-selected colours. Subscribe to the podcast Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Stitcher Subscribe on Android Subscribe on Google Play Music Contact me Send me feedback Follow me on Twitter and Facebook 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.