Resourceful Designer: Strategies for running a graphic design business

This is a throwback episode, replaying episode 202, S.W.A.T. Analysis For Designers. For any links or to leave comments, please visit https://resourcefuldesigner.com/episode202

Monetizing Your Design Skills: Making money without clients. Do you dread interacting with clients? Have you ever considered monetizing your design skills to make money without working for clients? Since starting Resourceful Designer in 2015, I've received many emails from designers worldwide seeking advice. People have sought my opinion on everything from naming their design business to my thoughts on specific tools. The most popular questions I'm asked are about working with clients. It turns out, which should be no surprise, that many designers are introverted. And in some cases, these introverted designers have anxiety when dealing with clients. I can't tell you how many people say they want to start their own design business, but dealing with clients is holding them back. I've said it before, and I'll repeat it. Working for yourself as a home-based designer, or as some people call it, a freelance designer isn't for everyone. It takes a particular ability, personality and willpower to run your own business. And not everyone has what it takes. There's no shame if you don't fit that mould. You can have a long and prosperous career working for someone else. Besides, working for someone else is usually less stressful than working for yourself. But what happens when a designer reluctant to interact with clients starts their own business? Maybe they do it willingly, knowing their shortcomings. Or perhaps they're forced due to no fault of their own. Such as after a layoff? Either way, these designers need to make money now and working for themself is their only option. These designers have three choices. Temporarily push through their anxiety while searching for a job working for someone else. Face their fears and learn to interact with clients. Monetize their design skills and find a way to make money without working with clients. It's the third way I want to discuss today. Putting your design skills to work for yourself instead of for clients. Let me preface this by saying most of the things I will mention take time. Working on client projects is your best option if you need money soon. But let's say you do have time. Or, you want a way to supplement the income you get working with clients. Perhaps in the hopes of one day being able to forgo client work. What can you do? 11 Ways to monetize your design skills and earn money without working for clients. There are several ways you can monetize your graphic design skills and can make money without working for clients. Here are 11 I came up with that you could try: 1) Design premade layouts, templates and design assets. Suppose you like making logos, icons, and other graphics. Or you enjoy creating layouts for business cards, resumes, and social media posts but don't like dealing with clients. Why not create and sell them on marketplaces such as Creative Market or Etsy? There's a massive market out there for premade layouts and graphics. What's great about this is that once you create them, they can be sold multiple times, providing a passive income stream with little effort. Are you familiar with Cricut machines? They're becoming more and more popular. People use them for everything from creating custom birthday cards to printed t-shirts. Many Cricut owners rely on premade designs for their creations. I know one designer whose entire income is from selling Cricut designs on Etsy. 2) Selling merchandise via print-on-demand. As a designer, you can create graphics for merchandise such as t-shirts, mugs, phone cases, tote bags, etc. You then sell them through online print-on-demand platforms such as Redbubble, Zazzle, Society6 or TeeSpring. I have many designs across several P.O.D. platforms that earn me monthly money. 3) Create a course or write a book. Are you particularly good with specific software programs, or perhaps there's a particular design topic you know a lot about? Why not create and sell a course on platforms such as Udemy or Skillshare and teach others what you know? The same goes for design-related books. It's so easy these days to self-publish a book or ebook and sell it on platforms such as Amazon Kindle. Put your skills and knowledge to use in helping others. Once the product is created and marketed, it can continue to sell for years to come, providing passive income. 4) Sell stock photography, illustrations, graphics, videos and more. Have you considered selling stock Images? There's a massive demand for stock photography, illustrations, graphics, video and more. This is similar to the premade layouts and templates I mentioned earlier. Put your creative skills to use and come up with all sorts of designs and concepts you can sell online. If you're good at working with video, there are plenty of opportunities to earn income by creating YouTube intros and transitions where all someone has to do is add their logo to an existing file. Once your creations are licensed, you can earn money from them without additional effort. Shutterstock, iStock, Envato and many other stock platforms are always looking for new items to add to their catalogue. Why can't they be yours? 5) Create a typeface. The funny thing about typefaces is that no matter how many are out there, there's always room for one more. Tools and resources are available to help you develop typefaces of your own. Then it's just a matter of selling it on the many online font sources. 6) Sponsorships, Affiliates and Advertising. Share your knowledge through a blog, podcast or YouTube channel. Then monetize it through sponsorships, affiliates and advertising. That's what I do with this podcast. I'm an affiliate for many of the products I mention and make a small commission any time someone purchases one using my link. And I recently had a sponsorship deal with StickerMule where they paid me to talk about their product. The more you put yourself out there, the more people trust you and your recommendations. 7) Create an authority website. Are you a web designer with a passion for something other than design? Maybe it's motorcycles, woodworking or field hockey? Why not use your web design skills by creating an authority site on that topic? Combined with affiliate links and advertising, you can earn a good income. Check out sites like nichepursuits.com or authorityhacker.com to learn how. 8) Create and sell mobile apps or games. If you know how to program, you could put your skills to work creating apps. Who knows, maybe you can create the next Angry Birds or Wordle and make a lot of money. 9) Develop a plugin or extension. Put your coding skills to use and develop a website plugin or software extension people will use. Look at Michael Bruny-Groth. He's a designer who got tired of gathering all the logo variations to give to clients. He saw a problem and came up with Logo Package Express as a solution. Arguably one of the best Adobe Illustrator Extensions to come out in years. It's now his primary source of income. 10) Website layouts and themes. There's a lucrative market for website layouts and themes. Whether they're stand-alone or for use with page builders such as Divi or Elementor. Marketplaces such as ThemeForest or TemplateMonster always look for new products to sell. Not everyone that needs a website can hire a designer. Many of them rely on pre-built layouts and themes. If you have the skills, why not give it a try? 11) Offer your services in online design marketplaces: Even though designers don't like talking about them, there's no arguing that people are making money on marketplaces such as Upwork, Fiverr or 99designs. You earn income from the design projects you complete. This one is a bit on the fence since you are doing client work. But the interaction is very minimal, which even the most anxious introvert should be able to handle. What are you waiting for? So there you have it. Eleven ways you can monetize your design skills without working with clients. It's worth noting that while these methods can provide a passive income, they often require a significant amount of time and effort to establish. Still, once you have established a reputation or built an audience, they can generate passive income for years. Do you have another way you're using your design skills while not working for clients? I would love to hear about it. Leave a comment for this episode at https://resourcefuldesigner.com/episode311

This is a throwback episode, replaying episode 61, 12 Random Graphic Design Tips. For any links or to leave comments, please visit https://resourcefuldesigner.com/episode61

I had a conversation with a business coach recently. And he told me that no matter how innovative business people become, he keeps seeing the same issue crop up over and over that holds them back from their full potential. They're looking for solutions without problems. It's one of the biggest hurdles he faces with his coaching clients. I'll share his insights in a minute. But before that, I want to talk to you about technology. We live in an amazing time. As I write this, people use tools such as artificial intelligence to create previously undreamed things. Respected media outlets publish articles generated using automated technologies. And they acknowledged the fact with a disclaimer that the article was written by AI and edited by a human. Earlier this week, I needed an illustration for a design project. Instead of turning to stock imagery or hiring an illustrator, I used an AI Art generator to create the individual elements I required. Then I combined them in Photoshop to create the illustrated scene I needed. It makes me wonder what the future holds and how I can embrace it for my business. And I don't just mean artificial intelligence. Visit a site like AppSumo, and you will see dozens of innovative tools to help you achieve amazing things. Advancements in technology, both AI and otherwise, allow people to reach heights they would have never dreamed of. It seems that no matter what problems you face. There are tools on the market to help you overcome them. For the right price, of course. It's a fantastic time to be an entrepreneur. However, this abundance of available tools can also be a roadblock. Back to that business coach. He told me about his experience dealing with his clients and discussing it with other business coaches. He's noticed a recurring issue holding a lot of business people back. He said that many people have a terrible habit of finding solutions to problems they're not facing. And it takes up so much of their time that they should be spending more effectively on their business. Call it FOMO or Shiny Object Syndrome, but many people become enthralled with the abundance of tools available. The marketing of these tools makes them so desirable that you have to have them even if you don't currently need them. I know I'm guilty of this. I look at my AppSumo purchase history and see many "great deals" I bought and never used. I purchased them with the best intentions, but, as the business coach said, I purchased a solution to a problem I wasn't facing. Don't get me wrong. I'm not dissing AppSumo. I love the platform. I've bought many tools from them that I use regularly. And just because there are some I don't use doesn't mean they aren't great tools. People spend a lot of time and effort developing these tools because there is a need for them. Just not a need that I have. All of these tools were created to solve one problem or another. However, the possibility of one day facing said problems is not reason enough to waste time and money on a tool. No matter how enticing it is. This reminds me of a couple of episodes I did several years ago about Just In Time Learning. Episode 8 and Episode 94 if you're interested. The premise of Just In Time Learning is only to learn something when you require knowing it. There's no reason to watch a Photoshop tutorial on adding woodgrain to type if you don't have a project that calls for a font with woodgrain. You may be saying, but knowing how to add woodgrain to a font might be helpful. And I can't disagree with you. However, it's just as beneficial knowing there is a tutorial, should you ever need it. So bookmark it, or save it to watch later. Suppose you watch the tutorial video now when you don't need it. You'll probably end up watching it again when you do. So why not wait until you need it to watch it and use your time now for something better? That's the premise of Just In Time Learning. And it's the same thing with these tools I'm talking about. Why buy a tool on the off chance you may need it someday? Or why buy something that sounds amazing if you're not currently facing the problem it solves? For example. There's no sense in researching the best client management software if you only have a handful of clients to manage. Wait until your clients become too numerous and tedious to manage using your current method, and then research available solutions. Because that sparkly new system that looks so enticing today may be replaced by something better when you need it, even a lifetime deal is a waste of money if it doesn't help you now. So think hard before you purchase your next tool. Just because it's a great deal is not reason enough to buy it. Anyway, this business coach told me that he's seeing more and more people searching for "that right tool" instead of concentrating on what they should be doing—running their business. He told me there are only three tools businesses need to succeed. And they're the same three tools enterprises have used for ages. A to-do list A calendar A way to take notes That's it. Think about it. With these three tools, you can run a successful design business. Of course, I'm leaving things out like the Adobe programs or WordPress. Yes, you may require these tools, but they're used to perform your work as a designer, not to run your business. To run your business, all you need are... A to-do list To keep track of the projects and tasks you're working on and the things you need to do. I use Plutio to manage my design projects and AnyList to manage all my other to-do lists. A calendar To keep track of appointments, schedules, deadlines, and other important dates and times. Every computer system available has a built-in calendar you can use. I use iCan myself. But you can use whatever calendar you wish. A way to take notes To keep track of things, so you don't forget anything. My life is organized in Evernote. With these three tools, you can run a successful business. The proof is in every business dating back hundreds of years. Long before Artificial Intelligence, the internet, or even the phone. Savvy business people relied on these three things to run and grow their businesses. I'm trying to say that you work hard for the money you earn. There's no reason to spend it needlessly on tools that solve a problem you're not currently facing. And who knows, if you face that problem in the future, a newer or less expensive tool may be available. And you'll have a good reason to buy it then. I enjoyed my conversation with this business coach. It made me think of the tools I use and, more importantly, those I don't use. And the money I wasted on them. And made me cognisant of how I'll act in the future. So the next time you see a great deal on something, or you're mesmerized by the flashing marketing on some new innovative tool. Take a step back and ask yourself... Am I burdened with the problem this tool solves? If you have to think about your answer, or if your answer is not an immediate yes, I'm facing that problem now. Then save your money and get back to work. You'll thank me later. My Voice-Over Guy. The amazing Wayne Henderson of MediaVoiceOvers.com performs the Resourceful Designer podcast intros. Wayne is available to help you with any voice-over work you require.

Please fill out my survey and help me determine the future of Resourceful Designer. https://resourcefuldesigner.com/2023

A look back at 2022 and a look ahead to 2023. Thank you for your continued interest in Resourceful Designer. You have no idea how much I appreciate you. Many great resources are available for learning and growing as a designer, and I'm humbled that you chose to spend a bit of your valuable time with me. I am continuing my annual tradition. This last podcast episode of 2022 is my Look Back, Look Ahead edition. It's where I reflect and share my year as a design business owner. Then I'll look ahead at what I want to accomplish in 2023. A Look Back at my 2022 goals. At the end of 2021, I set these goals for myself. FAIL: Talk at more conferences. Even though we were on the downslope of the pandemic, I chose not to travel in 2022. Therefore I wasn't able to talk at any conferences. I also made the decision not to speak at any virtual conferences. I've presented at virtual conferences and found the return wasn't worth the time commitment to prepare and give my talk. EVEN: Grow the Resourceful Designer podcast audience. Since the pandemic hit in 2020, my podcast listenership has dropped, but the total number of downloads has increased. I attribute this to older listeners giving up on the podcast while new listeners discover it and download multiple episodes. ACCOMPLISHED: Grow the Resourceful Designer Community. The Community is my pride and joy. One day, when I'm no longer doing the podcast, I'll look back at everything I did with Resourceful Designer, and I'm sure the Community will be my proudest accomplishment. The friendships formed and all the freely given help is more than I could have ever hoped. If you're looking for camaraderie with fellow designers and are not a Community member, I highly suggest you check it out. ACCOMPLISHED: Do more consulting work. Several clients paid for my consulting service, both in and outside the podcast space. I added podcast brand audit as a service under Podcast Branding which brought in several consulting clients. ACCOMPLISHED: Grow Podcast Branding. What started as an offshoot of my main design business has become my main business focus. Podcast Branding is earning me more money than my main business ever has, with much less effort. Some of my numbers from 2022 Resourceful Designer I released 30 podcast episodes. The lowest in a calendar year since I launched the podcast. As my Podcast Branding business increases, it's become harder to make the time to produce the podcast. It reached over 710k total episode downloads in 2022. That's an 80k increase over last year. Resourceful Designer released on Gaana, Boommplay, Deezer, JioSaavn and Resso. Resourceful Designer has listeners in 120 countries around the world. My design business NOTE: I didn't actively promote my design business in 2022. Instead, I concentrated on growing my other business, Podcast Branding. I continued working with existing clients but made no effort to attract new ones. Worked on 43 design projects for 22 different clients (one fewer client than in 2021) Gained one new client in 2022. I lost one client due to closure. I sent out 27 invoices in 2022 (down from 41 in 2021) Revenue increased over 2021. Podcast Branding My Podcast Branding business was my moneymaker this year. Worked on 66 different projects for 47 different clients (more projects but fewer clients than in 2021) Revenue increased by 27% compared to 2021. Primarily due to websites. Launched 12 new websites for clients. (up from 9 in 2021) I appeared as a guest on three podcasts to discuss podcast artwork and websites, increasing my exposure. Podcasters hired me for projects outside the podcast space. A Look Ahead at my 2023 goals. My previous goals will continue to carry over in the new year. Continue to grow the Resourceful Designer Community. Concentrate more on Podcast Branding and so forth. New Goal for 2023. Create new partnerships to grow what I offer at Podcast Branding. Expand the Resourceful Designer Community to include even more offerings than now. Do more consulting work. Explore video as a content platform for Resourceful Designer and Podcast Branding. Increase the number of website clients on my web maintenance plan. What about you? Did you accomplish your goals for 2022, and What are your goals for the new year? Are you a student getting ready to graduate? What are your goals once school is over? Are you still relatively new to the design world? What are your goals for honing your skills? Are you a veteran designer like I am? What are your goals for continued growth? Are you a designer working for someone else? Maybe you enjoy your job; perhaps you don't. Either way, what are your future goals? Or perhaps you're already a home-based designer, a freelancer if that's the term you use; what goals do you have to grow your business? Wherever you are in the world, your skill level, and your situation, please take some time to look back at 2022 and think about your accomplishments and shortcomings. Did you stop after your accomplishments? Or did you plow through them, happy with yourself but reaching even further? What about your shortcomings? Did they discourage you or create a sense of want even higher than before? Think about what prevented you from reaching those goals. So long, 2022. As 2022 comes to an end. I encourage you to reflect. Think about everything you've learned. Your struggles, the things you fell short on (be it your fault or just the state of the world) and your accomplishments. And come up with a plan to make 2023 your year of success. I once heard a saying: "It's easier to know where you're going if you know where you've been." This aptly applies to growing a design business. Knowing and reflecting on where you came from will help you get to where you want to be. To help with your planning, perhaps you should listen to episode 55 of the podcast, Setting Goals For Your Design Business. These past few years have been tough on all of us. I hope that we never have to endure something like this ever again. But you know that old saying, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. Remember the lessons from these past few years, and use everything you've learned to make 2023 and future years even better. I'll be back in 2023 with more advice for starting and growing your design business. Until then, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday season. And, of course, no matter what goals you set for yourself in the new year, always remember to Stay Creative. What are your goals for 2023? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode.

Before I start, let me preface this by saying I am not an expert in AI-Generated Art. These platforms are still in their infancy, and nobody knows what the future holds for them or their effect on the graphic design industry, but I doubt they'll ever replace graphic designers. I've experimented with various platforms, read articles, and watched videos. I've seen both sites of the debate argued. Some people don't see AI-Art as a threat to our industry, while others are all doom and gloom, saying designers should start applying to work at McDonald's as flipping burgers will soon become more lucrative than designing things. I don't see AI-Generated art as a threat to the graphic design industry. And I'll get to why in a bit. However, I'm not so sure about artists and illustrators. If that's your profession, I suggest you pay close attention to how AI-generated art matures, as it will affect those creative people much more than it will designers. As I said, I'm no expert here. And these AI Art Generators are evolving fast. So what I say today may change soon. Who knows? I also haven't tried all the various platforms nor used the ones I have tried to their fullest potential. So some of what I say today may be wrong. If that's the case, if you know something I don't, please reach out to me at feedback@resourcefuldesigner.com. I would love to be educated more on the subject. First, a story. Before I begin my discussion on AI-Generated Artwork, I want to tell you a story that will help put my beliefs into perspective. I entered the three-year Graphic Design program at my local college in 1989. The first two years were spent learning and applying design principles to our projects. We learnt things like design history, colour theory, using grids, layout hierarchy, typography and more. And we were taught the different tools of the trade, most of which are no longer in use and are considered archaic by today's standards. It wasn't until our third year, once we were familiar and comfortable with what being a graphic designer was, that we were granted access to the computer lab. Computers were still new to the industry back then, and very few design agencies used them. When I started working at the print shop after graduation, the first two years of my employment were spent designing everything by hand before I convinced the owner to invest in Macintosh computers. I don't remember what year it was, but during school, a few of my classmates and I made a trip to Toronto for a graphic design trade show. It was the largest show of its kind in Canada and the third largest in North America. All the big names were there, including Adobe, Quark, and Microsoft, to name a few. I remember overhearing a conversation between two design agency owners at a demonstration put on by Adobe. They were talking about the introduction of computers to the design industry. Both were concerned that computers would harm the design industry by minimizing what they considered a particular skill set, that of a graphic designer. To them, computers took the "Art" out of being a "Graphic Artist." With today's mindset, It's kind of crazy to think that back then, design agency owners thought computers would harm our industry. You can easily argue that computers have made the industry better. Having lived through that period, I can tell you that even though computers didn't harm our industry, they did change it. Drastically, in fact. QuarkXpress, Photoshop and Illustrator replaced the standard tools of the trade, such as wax machines, no-repro blu pencils and Letraset rub-on type. And I know a few designers who left the profession because they couldn't grasp the use of computers. So computers were introduced, the industry evolved, and the graphic design industry persevered. Microsoft Publisher Fast forward a few years, and personal computers are becoming more popular, with Windows-based machines outselling Apple. And Microsoft released a program called Microsoft Publisher that introduced an affordable means for anyone with a computer to "design" their material. Quark and Adobe software costs thousands of dollars which weren't feasible for most people. But Microsoft made Publisher affordable. And what do you think happened? The graphic design industry started to panic. With "design" software now available to the masses, designers would lose their jobs. But you know what? Microsoft Publisher was introduced, and some people changed their thinking about design, yet the graphic design industry persevered. WordPress. Around that same time, an innovation emerged called the World Wide Web. Businesses started embracing the idea of having a website—a way for people to find them over the internet. Computer programmers created the first websites. They were functional but lacked design aesthetics. And graphic designers worldwide took notice and realized an opportunity to apply their skills to something other than paper. Some learned to code, while others embraced WYSIWYG software, allowing them to build websites without coding. A whole new side of the design industry was created. And then WordPress arrived. This new platform allowed people to build websites using pre-built templates called Themes. The arrival of WordPress sent web designers into a panic. If people could build websites using a pre-built template, our design skills would no longer be needed. WordPress was going to kill the web design industry. But you know what? WordPress stuck around, designers evolved and changed their view of the platform, and the graphic design industry persevered. I'd say most web designers these days design using WordPress. 99 Designs. Fast forwards another few years, and 99designs is introduced to the world. For a small fee, clients could submit a design brief to the platform, and multiple designers would compete by submitting their designs and hoping the client chose theirs. The selected designer would win the contest and be paid for their work. The others received nothing. 99Designs was all the talk back then. It was an industry killer. Why would anyone pay hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to a single graphic designer when they could pay a much smaller fee and have multiple designers compete for them? Many designers worldwide tried to offset this intruder by lowering their rates, hoping to lure clients back from the dark side. But you know what? Designers quickly learned that to attract clients, they needed to sell the value and the relationship of working with them, not just the design deliverables. Because the designers on 99Designs didn't care about the client, they only cared about the subsequent contest they could enter. In fact, 99Designs helped weed out the most undesirable clients making it easier for the rest of us to grow. The graphic design industry persevered. Fiverr. Not long after that, Fiverr was launched, putting our industry into another tailspin. Whereas a design from 99Designs might cost $100 or more. Fiverr's claim to fame was that all tasks were only $5. It didn't matter if you need a logo, a poster, a web banner, or a booklet. Everything was $5. How was a graphic designer supposed to compete with that? The design industry was doomed. And yet, 12 years after its launch, Fiverr is still around. However, nowadays, people on the platform are charging much higher than $5, and graphic designers worldwide are still thriving despite the "competition" of Fiverr. The graphic design industry persevered. Adobe Creative Cloud In 2013 Adobe launched Creative Cloud, replacing their Creative Suite platforms. Whether you like the subscription model or not, there's no arguing that Adobe changed the creative landscape when it introduced Creative Cloud. Software that had previously cost thousands of dollars to own was now available at an affordable monthly rate, making programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign, the bread and butter of most people in the design industry, accessible to the masses. Designers were no longer a unique breed with our special tools. Adobe opened the floodgates. Now anyone who wanted to tinker with their programs could do so. This created a whole new breed of graphic designers who lacked formal education. Even kids as early as kindergarten started learning Photoshop. For all our education and skills, being a designer didn't seem as prestigious as it once was. Clients would no longer need our expertise since anyone with a computer could be a "designer." And the industry started to panic. But you know what? Giving people access to tools doesn't make them an expert. Clients appreciate the years of dedication and knowledge we have when it comes to design. It shows in the work we produce. So even though these tools were available to everyone, the graphic design industry persevered. Canva. A couple of years later, Canva emerged. It was touted as yet another graphic design killer. Canva not only makes it easy to create beautifully designed materials, but you can use it for free if you don't want to pay for their premium offerings. And there's a lot you can do on the free plan. Whenever you see a social media or forum post where someone inquires about hiring a graphic designer, you will find at least one comment suggesting they do it themselves on Canva. Did Canva steal potential clients from designers? Yes, it did. But did it kill our industry? Far from it. I'll argue that Canva made clients appreciate us more. I've had numerous people hire me after dabbling in Canva and realizing their creations lack that professional touch. So even Canva, the closest thing to a design industry killer, hasn't made that much of a dent in our industry. We still persevere. BTW, Canva recently announced their own incorporated AI Art generator. There will always be new design industry killers. It seems like something new comes out every few years, making designers panic. Do these things affect some designers? I'm sure they do. Just like everything else, there will be some people affected. But none of these things have made an impact on our industry. Or at least not in the way the nay-sayers believed they would. You can almost argue that these things have made our industry better. Can you imagine what it would be like if computers were never introduced? Or WordPress? And I'm sure many freelancers couldn't afford thousands of dollars for Adobe's software if they hadn't switched to a subscription model. This mentality dates back to Guttenburg's invention of the printing press. I'm sure caligraphers of the time panicked that this new invention would ruin their industry. But graphic design perseveres. The only people it ruins are those unwilling to evolve with the times. Now back to AI-Generated Art. By this point, you probably know my stance on AI-Generated Art. This innovation may seem like an industry killer. But only if you allow it to affect you. I see Artificial Intelligence as another opportunity for our industry to evolve. It's up to us to embrace these tools as just that, tools. I already see designers putting AI-Generators to good use. Katie, a Resourceful Designer community member, recently shared how she needed an abstract pattern for a background of a design she was creating. Instead of searching for a stock image or making one herself, she turned to AI. She told it what she wanted, and it produced something she could use. Katie also used it as inspiration for an annual report project. She asked it to produce a report cover design using blue and yellow triangles. It gave her a few options that she used as inspiration to create something herself. And these are just a couple of examples. As for creating full designs using AI, I think the technology is still a long way off. And no matter how good it gets, it will never be able to replicate the emotions we designers bring to a project or the empathy we feel towards our clients. I like to meet every client I work with. If I can't meet them face to face, I at least want to get on a video call. I do this because I want to get to know them. I want to see their personality and understand how they act and think. Because these things will help influence my design decisions. No artificial intelligence can do that. At least, as far as I know. And that's why AI will never replace a live graphic designer. And don't forget relationships. How often have I stressed the importance of building relationships with your clients over the years? Not only does it help you understand your clients better, which allows you to design better things for them. But relationships build loyalty. It keeps clients coming back to you, regardless of your price. AI-Generated Art has limitations. At this point. I see too many limitations with AI-generated design to affect us as an industry. Since every piece of generated art is uniquely created, it's tough to replicate should you need to. Say you're working on a marketing campaign and need several images. You ask an AI-Generator to create an illustration of a rocket ship flying through space, and it produces something you like. But now you need a different image of the same rocket ship landing on the moon. And maybe another of it returning to Earth. Every time you enter a prompt in an AI Generator, it creates a unique image, so there's no way to ask it to use the same rocket ship in future creations. The rocket ship will look different in each image. Even the style of art might look different. Plus, these prompts, the instructions you type into the generator telling it what to create, are very subjective. These two prompts "An elderly man is sitting on a park bench feeding pigeons." "An old man is feeding pigeons in a part while sitting on a bench." To you and me, they both mean the same thing. But to the AI, they could be vastly different. How does artificial intelligence interpret "elderly man" vs. "old man"? The smallest detail can drastically affect the output. Also, from what I can tell, It's tough, if not impossible, to adjust an image. Say you like the AI-generated photo of a woman sitting on a chair with a cat on her lap. But you decide you want it to be a dog instead. None of the systems I tried would let you make that sort of change. The best I could do was change the word "cat" to "dog" and rerun my prompt, producing a new batch of images with different women and chairs. There was no way I was getting the same woman in the second set of images. Again, maybe this is possible, but I couldn't see it. Conclusion All of this to say. Don't panic. There are people out there leaning on both sides of the fence. Some say our industry is doomed, while others say we have nothing to fear. I'm just one voice. But I don't think we have anything to worry about. And I have the history I just shared with you backing me up. Fiverr, Canva, WordPress, Creative Cloud. These "design industry killers" are now part of my design toolbox. Instead of taking work away from me, they allow me to do better work and do it more efficiently. I see AI-Generated Art as no different. I plan on embracing it and using it in any way I can. And don't forget—no matter what new "things" come out. Clients will always appreciate what a good designer can do for them. You can be that designer.

Scan the news these days, and you'd be hard-pressed not to come across a story about price increases. The price of gas has gone up. Rents are increasing, and groceries are at an all-time high. It's depressing, I know. But that's the world we live in. And your business should be no different. At some point, you'll have to raise your rates if you want to remain solvent. The one benefit of inflation is that people are getting used to price increases. So it won't be as much of a shock when you announce you're raising your rates. Be that as it may, you still want to do it the best way possible to soften the blow for your clients. So what's the best way to announce a price increase to your clients? Let me share some methods with you, along with some points that will make the task easier for you and make your clients more receptive to the news. Signs you should increase your prices. Before I get to how to increase prices, here are four signs indicating it's time for you to increase your rates. 1) Your operating costs are increasing. As the cost of subscriptions, software and other expenses go up. You need to raise your rates to offset the economy's effect on your business. 2) You're consistently busy. Suppose you have an abundance of projects that never seems to end. Or you find yourself turning down work because you don't have time for it. Raising your rates can help you offset things and enable you to engage the help of subcontractors to ease the burden. 3) You're prices are too low. Some clients won't take you seriously if your prices are too low. If you want to attract a higher level of clientele, you need to raise your rates. 4) You've increased your value. Over time, you'll gain experience and knowledge. As the value you offer increases, so should your prices. So now that you've deiced to raise your rates. Here's how to inform your clients of the price increase. Keep it short. Announcing a price increase is a serious matter, and you want to ensure your clients take notice. Keep it short and to the point, if you tell your clients via email. There's no reason to include any fluff or to go into the philosophy behind the price increase. If possible, announce the increase alongside more pleasant news, such as new or improved services you're offering. It will help soften the blow. And make sure you give the clients a way to contact you should they want to discuss your new rates. Tell only affected clients. Nobody likes to hear about price increases, even if they don't affect you directly. You may not be in the market for a new car, but hearing about rising automobile prices still leaves a bad taste in your mouth and may even affect your perception of the various auto manufacturers. Don't give your clients a reason to think negatively about you. If you're increasing the price of a business startup package you offer, there's no reason to notify already established businesses because it doesn't affect them. Suppose the price of your website hosting and maintenance is going up. Notify the clients already paying for your plan. There's no reason for you to tell clients whose websites you are not maintaining since it doesn't affect them. If you're raising your hourly rate, only notify those clients you charge by the hour. And there's no reason to notify clients of a price increase if you're not currently working on a project for them. They'll find out the next time you give them a quote. Only notify affected clients of these price increases. And if this means advising different clients about price increases for various services, so be it. Send out one letter to your web maintenance clients. Another note to your retainer clients. Another to your hourly rate clients, and so forth. Ensure your clients are notified only about the price increases affecting them. Don't give your clients a reason to think negatively about you if your price increase doesn't affect them. Give clients enough of a warning. The more time you give a client to accept and adjust to new prices, the better. Clients will resent a sudden price increase far more than a price increase that will occur in the future. The more time they're given to think about it, the easier it will be for them to accept the increase. Don't forget some clients may require time to adjust their budgets. More prominent companies may need approval from higher up the corporate ladder. The idea is to give clients time to come to terms with your higher rates. And if you're worried about losing clients due to a price increase, remember that it's much easier for them to pay your higher rates than finding someone new to deal with. The chances of losing clients are slim. But should it happen, the increased revenue you'll now receive from your other clients should make up for it. Giving enough warning also allows clients to place new orders before your prices go up. Don't make excuses or apologize for a price increase. Notifying your clients of a price increase is not the time to sugarcoat things. Be confident and direct, and inform them plainly that your rates are increasing. Be as straightforward as possible. Say your prices are increasing. Don't say you're adjusting your prices or bringing them in line with your services. This will only confuse your clients. They all know what an increase means. Do be empathetic with them. Tell your clients you appreciate their business. Thank them, and let them know it's because of them you've been able to grow. Show your clients that your appreciation for them goes beyond the money they spend with you. Justify your price increase. Justifying the reason behind your price increase gives the client something to understand and relate to. It shows your clients that your decision to raise prices isn't only to increase your revenue. They'll appreciate your transparency and will be more open to the change. Explain in your own words why you're raising your rates. Don't use jargon or corporate speak. Be specific without going into too much detail. Have you increased or improved the services you offer? Have you undergone any new training or acquired new equipment or software that will improve overall results? Have your existing tools increased costs, causing you to raise yours? Explain the increase in a way that highlights the value to your client and ties the price increase to the benefits they'll receive by continuing to work with you. After all, if they now have to pay you more, it would be nice for them to know why your rates have gone up. Remind clients of your value. Your clients initially chose to work with you for a reason. Now's a good time to remind them of that decision and what they can expect from you. You may want to offer your clients a deal as an added value to accompany your price increase. You could offer them more deliverables along with the increase. Such as adding social media banners to your business startup package or free domain registration with your website maintenance plan. For example, you could offer a free month of your website maintenance plan. Your prices are increasing for everyone on your maintenance plan. But as a long-time valued client, you can offer them the first month for free. Small incentives will soften the blow associated with the increased expense. Ensure your clients feel appreciated. First off, personalize your email. Don't write one email to send to all clients. Personalize your message by referencing the client and the work you do for them. Explain the value the client is getting, not the pain points you and your business are experiencing. Higher prices should either mean better value for them. Or give you the ability to maintain the same high quality they've come to expect from you. You could even offer them a deal to lock in current prices for a fixed period. Prices are going up next month, but you can lock in the current price for the next six months if you pay in advance. Whenever possible, inform your clients of a price increase in person or over the phone. They'll appreciate the personal dedication and feel better about paying the new rate. Keep your clients happy while notifying them of a price increase. You've worked hard to be where you are today. And you deserve to be financially compensated for what you do. You're only doing yourself a disservice if you don't raise your rates. Announcing a price increase is never fun. But following the tips I provided should make it easier to communicate the change to your clients and ease the transition for them. Get what you deserve. You're worth it.

One of the perks of running your own design business is the freedom it provides. You have nobody to answer to but yourself. Ok, sure, there are the clients. You do have to answer to them, to a degree. But it's your business, so you can dictate how you respond to them. If you don't want to work Friday afternoons, you can take them off. Nobody is stopping you if you want to try a new design technique or different software. And you get to decide how much you charge for your services and can change your rate any time you like. The freedom of working for yourself is one of, if not the main reason people choose the life of, and I'm going to say it, even though I disagree with the term, the life of a freelancer. It felt dirty just writing that. Want to know why? Listen to episode 17 of the podcast titled "Being a Freelance Graphic Designer Could Hurt Your Business." It will make you rethink calling yourself a freelancer. But where was I? Ah, yes, the freedom of running your own design business. For many of us, it's the ultimate dream. I will never work for an employer again. And I know many who feel the same. But, just because you're working for yourself, running your own business, doesn't mean you've made it. I hate to burst your bubble, but the purpose of every business is to grow. A business that doesn't grow will eventually fail. Many business studies have proven this. And your business will never grow to its full potential because of one thing holding it back. And that one thing is you. Yes, without you, there wouldn't be a business. However, you are also one of your business's most significant liabilities. How can that be? It's because of your limitations. Your limitations may include skills you lack. It may be a lack of time, the time to do things or learn things. Your knowledge may be limiting you. You can't expect to know everything. Or it could be any number of things. Don't feel bad. I'm not singling you out. Everyone has limitations. What will help your business grow is knowing your limitations and finding a way to overcome them. And one of the best ways for business owners to overcome their limitations is by working with people who offset those limitations. In other words. Your business will grow when you learn to outsource and hire subcontractors to do what you can't or shouldn't do. I know this may seem like a foreign concept. The whole point of going at it alone is just that, to be alone. But being alone will only get you so far. You need a team if you want to grow beyond your limited capabilities. I speak from experience. I ran my design business for several years, all by myself. In my mind, it was my business. Therefore I had to do everything myself. My clients were hiring me, after all. I didn't take on the project if a client asked for something I couldn't do. I was limiting my growth. I once turned down a $50,000 website project because I wasn't confident in my skills with PHP and MySQL. I kick myself to this day for that one. But I couldn't do it, so I said no. And I kept at it, Trudging away, taking on only the projects I could do and passing on the ones I couldn't. At the time, I was making decent money and thought I was doing well. But my business wasn't growing. Year after year, my income was pretty much the same. It wasn't going up as needed for growth. I had reached what I like to call now, my solo limit. I could only take my business so far on my own. I didn't know it then, but I was holding my business back. It wasn't until I started reading more business books and listening to business-related podcasts that I realized that most successful entrepreneurs don't work alone. They have a team that works with them to accomplish their business goals and help them grow. If I wanted my business to grow, I would have to build a team. Now I didn't jump in with both feet and hire a bunch of people. I took it slow. The first job I outsourced was when I ran into an issue with a client's e-commerce website. I wasn't sure how to handle the problem. Given enough time, I could probably fix it, but I had no idea where to start or how long it would take. Instead of spending hours researching and troubleshooting it myself. I hired a sub-contractor online who was an expert in that e-commerce platform and paid them to fix it for me. It cost me $100 for what I'm sure would have taken me an entire day's work to accomplish, if not more. Plus, I could charge my client a premium fee for the fix and profit from it. That's the case with most contractors. Sure, you have to pay them, but you mark up that expense and make a profit when you charge your client. So there's no downside to paying a contractor. That was my first experience in hiring a sub-contractor. And it was such a good experience that I started looking for other ways outsourcing to subcontractors could help me. Fast forward several years, and now I have an expanded team of contractors I can turn to for all sorts of situations. And through them, I've almost tripled my income compared to my pre-outsourcing days. I removed myself as a liability to my business by hiring people to help me. Building your outsourcing team. To clarify, I'm not referring to employees when I say hire. I've never had an employee, so I can't help you with that. I'm talking about hiring subcontractors. These are people you outsource work to on an as-needed basis. When a situation arises where you require help, you hire someone for the task. You'll work with some contractors regularly, and some you'll only work with once or twice. You should constantly look for people to add to your team. When you meet or hear of someone with a particular skill, file away that information for when you need it. This team you're forming is just for you. You don't even have to tell the people on your team that they're part of it. They'll find out when you hire them. All you're doing is building a personal database of people whose skills may be helpful someday. That's your outsourcing team. What subcontractors can you hire? So what kind of subcontractors can you hire for your business? The possibilities are endless, but here's a short list of the more common people designers outsource to. Photographers Hiring a photographer, instead of relying on the client to provide photos, allows you to control and get the exact images you need for your design. To learn more about dealing with photographers, listen to episode 3 of the podcast, where I talk with Brett Gillmore, an award-winning commercial photographer in Calgary, Alberta, here in Canada. Illustrators For those of us lacking in this particular talent, hiring someone is the only way to include custom illustration work in your designs. Even if you're an accomplished illustrator, you may need someone with an illustration style or technique outside your comfort zone. I have several illustrators on my outsourcing team for this very reason. One specializes in caricatures, another in technical drawings, another is good at watercolours, and another is good with markers. I have people with different illustration styles, such as Japanese manga, vintage looks, and modern cubism. I even have one who makes people look like the Simpsons characters. The idea is to know as many illustrators as possible should I need their skills. Copywriters Unless you have a degree in journalism or another writing discipline, you should consider working with copywriters whenever possible. Copywriters do with words what we designers do with pixels. They turn simple sentences into compelling messages. When designers and copywriters work together, it creates magic. And that magic allows you to charge much more for your services. Including a copywriter on a website design project can increase its value from $5,000 to $10,000. Clients who understand the importance of a good copywriter are more than willing to pay a premium price for them. Web Developers/Coders Websites are versatile, and the ecosystem is ever-expanding, so it's understandable that one web designer can't do everything. Outsourcing parts or even entire projects to web developers allows you to offer much more to your clients. In most cases, you hire a developer to do things you don't know how to do. But there are also times when you may want to hire a developer to help speed things up if you believe they can complete a task more efficiently than you can. In most cases, it's more beneficial to pay a sub-contractor for three hours of work than it is for you to spend six hours doing the same task. And while the sub-contractor tackles whatever task you give him, your time is freed up to work on other things. So even though you're paying for the subcontractor's services, you're making more money than if I didn't hire them since you can charge the client for their time while you're making money doing something else during that same time. It's almost like double charging. Outsourcing possibilities are endless. I can go on and on with people you can hire. Some people specialize in SEO, Social Media, Online Advertising, Sales Funnels, Building Email Lists, Translators, etc. Sometimes you outsource to someone for something you don't want to do. Such as removing the background on over 300 product photos for a catalogue. I'd rather pay someone to do this than sludge through it myself. Every one of these people can help grow your design business. What to look for in a subcontractor. When looking for someone to outsource work to, you want to find someone with the skills you seek that are reliable, trustworthy and easy to deal with. In my limited experience, you are better off finding multiple subcontractors who each excel in a particular skill than finding one person with a general knowledge of various skills. Someone with a specialized skillset may charge more, but their expertise is worth it. You are better off paying a bit more for someone specializing in a specific area. Where to find subcontractors. There are many places where you can find subcontractors to outsource your projects. However, the best place, in my opinion, is through your existing network. It's much easier to work with someone you already have a relationship with or with a subcontractor vouched for by someone you know. The subcontractor that helps me with website projects is someone I met through the Resourceful Designer Community. One of the illustrators I've used over the years is someone I went to school with. Another developer I've used was recommended by a designer I know. When my first copywriter took a job that prevented her from doing side work, she recommended a fellow copywriter I could hire. These types of hires are always the most lucrative in my experience. But if your network doesn't have the people you need, there are plenty of places online you can turn to for outsourcing help. My favourite places to find subcontractors are Upwork.com, toptal.com, freelancer.com and fiverr.com. These platforms often offer you two options when hiring subcontractors. You can either post a job posting that lists the position or skill you're looking for, along with how much you're willing to pay and let those interested apply. Or you can search these platforms for people with the talent you're looking for and reach out to them individually to see if they're interested in taking on your project. I've had success with both methods. However, I prefer to approach them myself. Considerations when outsourcing to a subcontractor. Some things to consider when hiring a subcontractor are where they're located, their familiarity with the language you speak and, of course, price. Time Zones. These online outsourcing portals connect people from around the world. It's not unheard of if the perfect person for your project lives on the other side of the globe. You must consider if time zones are an issue. Are you ok working with someone who is going to bed as you start your day? In most cases, it probably won't be a problem. However, if deadlines are pressing, knowing your contractor won't see your instructions for 10-12 hours may be a problem. If that's the case, you may want to refine your search to people geographically closer to where you are located. Most platforms allow you to do this. Language Barriers. Be wary of language barriers when hiring someone to outsource to. Understanding a language and being fluent in it are two different things. You don't want issues because of a misunderstanding in communication. Some online platforms will indicate what languages a subcontractor is fluent in. Keep that in mind when hiring. Rates and Price. Rates and prices on these platforms vary significantly. Due to the various living costs worldwide, contractors charge different fees for their services. Typically, you'll pay higher for a subcontractor in North America than someone in an Asian country. Is it worth paying more to work with someone in a closer time zone who speaks your native language? Only you can decide. You must consider all these things when hiring someone. Where they are located, their comfort level with your language, and the rate they charge for their services. Weigh each of these and choose the perfect subcontractor for you. Build your outsourcing team. There is so much more when it comes to hiring a subcontractor. Entire books are dedicated to the subject. But I hope my little scratch of the surface gives you an idea of how and what to look for when outsourcing and expanding your team. I know it's in our nature to do everything ourselves. It's tough to relinquish control. But I want you to remember something. Clients don't hire you to do a job. They hire you to get a job done. And sometimes, the most efficient, practical and cost-saving way to get a job done is to outsource it to someone who can help you. Your clients will appreciate your ingenuity. So the next time you are unsure how to handle a task or find yourself with too much to do and too little time to do it. Or maybe you don't feel like doing a particular job yourself. Remember that you are not alone. There's a world of people ready to join your team and help you grow your design business. Don't be the liability that holds you back from growth. Learn how to outsource.

This is a throwback episode, replaying episode 11, Pricing Strategies For Your Graphic Design Business. For any links or to leave comments, please visit https://resourcefuldesigner.com/episode11