Resourceful Designer: Strategies for running a graphic design business

Don't you hate that feeling when you can't find what you're looking for? It could be anything. You can't find your wallet or your car keys. Have you misplaced your phone? Maybe it's that scrap of paper you scribbled that critical information on that you can't find. Regardless of whatever it is you can't locate, you're left with an empty feeling inside—a feeling of unfulfillment. A similar feeling occurs when you land on a website only to see those three words – No Results Found. It's so frustrating. Maybe you clicked a link in an article you were reading, anticipating a solution to a problem you're facing, only to be disappointed by where it brought you. Perhaps you used the search field on a website hoping to find something only to come up short. Or it could happen while navigating a website, and you have no idea how you got there. Regardless of the circumstances, you've landed on the dreaded 404 page. A page that mocks you with those three words – No Results Found. It might as well say - ha, ha, you lose, we don't have what you're looking for. It's so frustrating. Then what do you do? Do you go back and click the link again, hoping that you get better results this time around? Do you randomly start clicking around, hoping to stumble upon what you were looking for? Or, do you shrug your shoulders in defeat and close the page, or go looking elsewhere for your answer? It doesn't matter when or why. Landing on a No Results Found page is never fun unless the person who designed the website makes it fun for you. You can customize the 404 page. The 404 page is something that every website in the world has, whether the site owner knows it or not. And it's a page that's landed on more often than you would think. And yet, very few websites take advantage of this "popular" page. And you should take advantage of it. Whether it's your website or sites you create for your clients. You may or may not know this, but you can customize the 404 page on a website. If you're a Divi user, it's as easy as creating a new page layout in the Divi theme builder and assigning it to the 404 page. That's how I do it for the sites I build. Other WordPress themes and builders, as well as platforms such as Squarespace Wix, Weebly, etc., should allow you to do so as well. If not, you can install plugins that will enable you to edit the 404 page. Why should you customize the 404 page? But what's the point, you may ask? The fact is, the default 404 page is a stepping-off point for some visitors. When someone arrives at the No Results Found page, it's a signal for them to leave the site. And no website owner ever wants visitors to leave their site unsatisfied. But if you customize the 404 page, you can improve visitor retention by giving them something to do other than leaving the page. And this goes for your website too. Do you want visitors to your site who happen to stumble upon your 404 page to leave? Of course, you don't. So give them an incentive to stay. Look at the Resourceful Designer 404 page, for example. I've designed the 404 page to capture visitors' interest in the site. Upon landing on the 404 page, the first thing they see is a whimsical "Oops" image. Followed by the heading: "Looks like someone forgot to proofread." The paragraph below says, "The page you are looking for is nowhere to be found. Not to worry, there are plenty of other great pages for you to see. Here are some popular posts that may interest you." A list follows, showing three popular podcast episodes and three blog posts that may interest visitors to the site. I also ask them if they want a copy of my Four Week Marketing Boost and provide a way to acquire it. So even though someone arrived on this page because the content they were looking for isn't available, they still have something to engage with. And you know what? It works. I track where people sign up for my Four Week Marketing Boost, and many of them came from my 404 page. I made it a bit simpler on my Podcast Branding website. The page shows an image of a man, seen from behind, scratching his head in confusion. The heading reads, "Uh oh!" followed by "I don't think this is what you were looking for, was it? No worries, if you're starting a podcast or you're looking for help with your show's visual branding, you're in the right place, just not the right page. Why don't you click this button to see how Podcast Branding can help you?" Then, a button labelled "LEARN MORE" takes them to the home page. It's simple, and it works. Do you get my point? You can make the 404-page look however you want. The point is to give visitors something to do instead of simply leaving the site. I like to have fun with these pages by making them whimsical. I put a photo of an older woman holding her hand up to her ear on a hearing aid website as if she couldn't hear. The heading reads, "Say that again, I didn't quite catch it." Followed by a search field. On a tech and electronics site, I wrote, "It looks like we have a broken circuit." and provided a few links visitors could click. Give visitors something to do other than leave the site. Visitors are already frustrated when they land on a 404 page since they're not finding what they wanted, so why not inject a bit of fun and give them something to do. If you don't customize the 404 page on your or your client's websites, you're doing the site visitors a disservice. Create something that will engage them, and make them want to stay on the site. After all, isn't that why you built the site in the first place? Did you customize your 404 page? Show it to us by leaving a link in the comments for this episode.

Wants and needs. What an interesting juxtaposition. I want a new sword for my collection. But I don't need another sword. I want a cheeseburger and poutine for supper. But I don't need all that fat or those calories. I want enough money to do whatever I want in life. However, I only need to make enough money to cover my expenses. Wants and needs. They govern a lot of our decisions, don't they? Your clients' wants and needs. What about you and your design business? How do wants and needs factor into what you do for your clients? As a design business owner, your goal is to make money. After all, a business that doesn't make money doesn't remain a business for very long. Sure, it's great to do some pro-bono work from time to time, but I don't know of any designer who cherishes working for free. No, you want to make money so that you can pay your bills, support your family, take vacations, and perhaps indulge yourself from time to time. To make money, you need to charge your clients for the services you offer. And the more clients you have and the more design work you do, the more money you earn. As a design business owner, it can be tempting to simply give clients what they want in order to make a sale. Like when a client comes to you with an idea in mind and asks if you can design it for them. You know you can, and it would be easy money. And so many designers across the globe work this way. They do exactly what the client wants. But the problem is, clients don't always know what they want, or what they think they want isn't the best option because they don't know any alternatives. Adopting this strategy of doing what your client wants is not conducive to growing a successful design business. You may get work. Maybe even lucrative work. But your business will eventually reach a cap if all you ever do is what your clients ask you to do. To be successful, you need to figure out how to deliver what your clients need, not just what they want. How do wants differ from needs? Now don't get me wrong. You'll have clients whose wants and needs are in line with each other—those who are business savvy and understand what is required for their businesses to grow. You'll enjoy working with those clients because you'll be able to communicate with them on an even level. However, many clients don't understand that their wants and needs may differ. I find this especially true with newer entrepreneurs–people who have left corporate life to start their own businesses. They'll often get their ideas from what others are doing and falsely think they'll experience the same success if they do the same thing. They see someone else grow their business by sending out postcards, so they believe they should send out postcards as well. That's not the proper way to think about or grow a business. Giving clients what they want might make them happy in the short term, but they'll eventually realize that it doesn't solve whatever problem they're trying to fix. And clients always come to you, a designer, to fix a problem, whether they know it or not. That's what we do as designers. We're problem solvers. Just doing what a client wants can lead to unfulfilled expectations and frustration on the client's part. "I spent good money on these postcards; why aren't they working?" It's because postcards weren't what the client needed. Your job as a designer is not to fulfill your client's every desire or cater to their every whim; it's about understanding their needs and addressing them in a way that meets those needs and exceeds their expectations. When you give your clients what they need, you are helping them achieve their goals and solve their problems. When you manage that, your clients will view you in a whole new light, and they'll want to work with you more. Do you ignore what a client wants? Does this mean you ignore what the client wants? Of course not. The key is to balance what the client wants and what will work best for their business. For example, a client may want you to redesign their website because they're not getting enough traffic and low sales. They think that getting more traffic to their site will increase sales and solve their problem. When more traffic isn't the solution, better-qualified traffic is. Having 1,000 random people visit a website probably won't increase sales as much as attracting 100 targeted visitors. The client wants more visitors, but what they need is better-targeted visitors. And it's your job to explain this to them. My own experience. One of my clients is a hearing aid clinic. When they first opened and were trying to build up their client list, they wanted to get as much exposure as possible. One of the marketing strategies they wanted to explore was placing ads in local magazines. The salesperson they contacted at a nearby distributor represented several magazines. He convinced them that they would get the most exposure by placing an ad in a local outdoor life magazine that covered hiking, bicycling, canoe and kayaking, snowshoeing etc. It was a newer magazine with a circulation of over 500,000 copies delivered every month. He told my client that it was a new magazine, and they were offering special discounted prices on ads. He assured them it was a fantastic once-in-a-lifetime deal to put their name in front of half a million local people. The clinic asked me to design a full-page ad, excited about all the exposure it would give them. When I received the ad specifications from the distributor, I saw on the sheet that the exact specs were used by other magazines the distributor represented. One of them was a senior living magazine. For the fun of it, I contacted the distributor, not telling them who I was, and asked for details on placing a full-page ad in the senior living mag. I found out that the distribution for this magazine was 100,000 copies, and the price they quoted me was almost the same price that the hearing aid clinic was paying for their ad in the outdoor life mag. I then called my client and explained that according to the documentation I received, the outdoor life magazine targeted people ages 18-40 who enjoyed an active outdoor life. The senior living magazine was geared towards people 55 years and older who still want to get the most out of life. I explained to my client that yes, the senior living mag had a distribution of one-fifth the size of the outdoor magazine, so they wouldn't be seen by as many people. However, those 100,000 people who received the senior living magazine were probably in or at least approaching the target market of people who require hearing aids. In contrast, most of the outdoor life magazine's target market won't be interested in hearing aids for many years to come. The client wanted me to design an ad for an outdoor life mag, but I convinced them that they needed an ad in the senior living magazine. And they agreed. And you know what? Within weeks of their ad appearing in that senior living magazine, their phone rang off the hook with new clients saying they saw their ad. Listen to your client to figure out what they need. It's essential to listen to the client and understand what they think they want. This will help you to figure out what they need. Then it's up to you to explain to them that there's something else they need that they don't see. I had another client who started a subscription box that offered science experiments for kids ages 3-8 years old. It was two moms, and they wanted me to design their marketing material. The sketches and layouts they presented of what they wanted me to create were juvenile. When I asked about them, they said they wanted something that appealed to young children. They had even asked their own kids' opinions on their sketches. I asked them how many 3-8 years old could afford to spend their allowance on a monthly subscription box? They looked at me like I was crazy. Then one of the ladies explained that the kids weren't paying for the subscription box. Their parents are. To which I replied, "Exactly. So why are you marketing to the kids when you should be marketing to the parents?" Instead of explaining to young children how much fun they'll have doing these monthly science experiments, they should explain to mothers how their subscription box offers something constructive for kids to do. It's an educational pastime that doesn't involve kids looking at a screen. It's a bonding experience between them and their child. And it will improve the child's knowledge of science which will help them in school. You know what? They had never considered marketing to parents and thought it was a brilliant idea. Now imagine if I had simply designed what they originally wanted when they first approached me? What clients want and what they need are often two different things. What clients want and what they need are often two different things, especially when it comes to graphic design and website development. Clients often come to you with an idea of what they want their finished product to look like. They might have images or a style in mind, but that's usually where their ideas stop. It's often hard for clients to see the bigger picture. They may want a flashy website that is all about them, or they see something on another website and want it on theirs, but they may not need all of the bells and whistles. As designers, we need to interpret what our clients want while still giving them what they need. And often, what clients need is someone like you who can take their vague desires and turn them into a functioning reality. Sure they want an attractive website, and you can do that, but what they need is a website that functions for their business. This means striking a balance between the two and creating something that meets their wants and needs. It can be a challenge, but it is essential to create a successful final product. It's not always easy. With some clients, this will be easy. With others, it might be more difficult. Sometimes it's as simple as suggesting different fonts or colours than they originally had in mind. I recently designed podcast work for a client and submitted two different ideas. He liked the layout of option one but preferred the font I used in option 2. He asked if I could use the font from option 2 in the first one. I told him no. The font from option two wouldn't fit the layout of option 1. What he wanted wouldn't work. Or you might need to steer a client away from using too many images, making their website too busy or convincing them to eliminate things that don't help them. Other times you may need to suggest alternative or innovative ways to accomplish something the client might not have thought about. A recent website client wanted me to create a page on their site to list all the books they recommend. They wanted a page they could edit whenever they wanted to add a new book. They would add the latest info and format it to look like the rest. Instead of doing what they wanted, I added custom fields to the website and created a section to enter book information quickly. Now, whenever they want to add a new book, all they have to do is click a "Create Book" button I made for them, fill out a simple form, and the information will automatically show up on the page already formatted. The client can't believe how much easier this method is than what they were doing before and has thanked me several times for designing it that way. It wasn't what they wanted. But I figured it was what they needed. And I was right. The point is that you need to adapt your designs to fit the client's needs, not the other way around. That doesn't mean you never have to do what the client wants, though. It is a compromise. And on some occasions, if you're lucky, what a client wants and needs turns out to be the same thing. Conclusion When you give a client what they need, especially when it's not something they considered initially, they are more likely to be satisfied with the work you do for them. They'll appreciate your out-of-the-box thinking. They'll feel like you took their needs into account and over-delivered. Remember, good graphic designers and website designers take the time to learn about their clients and what they're looking for before starting any project. Use your skills and experience to figure out what your client needs and deliver on it. This helps ensure that the client is happy with the final project. This may be harder for newer designers. Knowing what clients need comes from experience. Often, ideas for new clients come from interaction with past clients. The more you work at this, the easier it will become. At that point, you truly become a problem solver, and not just a "yes person." meaning someone who simply follows orders. And that opens up a whole new opportunity for your design business. Remember, your goal as a design business owner is to make money. And when word gets out that you can take what a client wants and turn it into what a client needs, clients will be lining up to work with you, and the money will start flowing in.

NDAs or Non-Disclosure Agreements is a very popular topic here on Resourceful Designer. The previous episode I did on NDAs is one of the most searched posts on this site. I recently had the privilege of talking NDAs with attorney Gordon Firemark. Gordon practices entertainment law in California, the USA, where he helps artists, writers, producers, and directors achieve their dreams in the fields of theatre, film, television and new media. But what does that have to do with graphic or web design, you might be thinking? Well, every theatre production, film and movie, television show and other forms of new media such as YouTube and podcasting, at some point require the expertise of a designer. And many times, those designers are brought into the mix long before the entertainment product is ready to go public. And of course, the person hiring said designer wants to protect their intellectual property. That's where Non Disclosure Agreements come into play. They help protect their IP by setting the boundaries of what the designer can say or not say about the projects they're working on for their clients. To learn more, be sure to listen to the episode. Here are some topics we covered. What is an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement)? Is an NDA a separate contract? In what situation would you be asked to sign an NDA? Are your contractors covered by an NDA you sign? What should you look for in an NDA? What should you look out for in an NDA? What is covered under an NDA? When should an NDA end? Are NDAs negotiable? When is it ok to break an NDA? What are your obligations to materials provided to you under an NDA? When should you ask a client to sign an NDA for you? Is a Non-Complete Agreement the same as an NDA?

Communication: According to the dictionary, communication is the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs. But that definition doesn't do it justice. Communication is so much more than that. Without communication, conflicts could escalate. Governments would collapse. Businesses fail. And loved ones may never get together. Communication is one of the most crucial reasons for our species survival. I know. I'm getting a bit heavy here. But I want to emphasize the importance of communication. Your design business will grow or fail based on communication. How you interact with your design clients can drastically impact your success. But is there a right or wrong way of communicating with your clients? The short answer is no. I don't believe so. But there may be some ways that are better than others. Better for both you and your client. Let's list some ways of communicating with your clients to get started. Email Telephone Text Social Media DM Chat Apps (WhatsApp, Messenger) Video Chats Video Messages CRMs Mail In-Person I'm sure I'm missing some, but you get the idea. There are many ways of communicating with your design clients. This past week, I posted several polls in the Resourceful Designer Facebook Group asking various questions about communicating with design clients. I know this isn't a very scientific study, but I figure you may be interested in the results nonetheless. Phone Calls Let's start with phone calls. I bet that most designers have a phone of some sort at their disposal. But there are different types of phones and various phone services you can use. According to my poll 50% of those who responded use a cellular phone for personal and business use. 33% Use cellular phones but have a separate business phone number through a third-party service or app, such as Google Voice or eVoice. 12% have a dedicated landline for their business 5% responded that they don't use a phone at all. Personally, my cell phone is for friends and family only. The only clients who have my cell number were people I was acquainted with before they became clients. I still have a landline for personal family use, but I also have a dedicated business number that rings through my landline. It's a service called Ident-A-Call offered through Bell Canada. When someone calls the home number, my phone rings like usual, ring, ring, ring, but if they reach the business number, it rings differently, ring-ring, ring-ring. These distinctive rings let my family know who the call is intended for and whether they should answer it or not. The service comes with two voice mailboxes. When someone calls, they have the option of pressing 1 to leave a message for the Des Cotes family or pressing 2 to leave a message for my design business. This system has worked well for me for over 15 years. I like having a separate phone number for my business that I can ignore if I want. Although if I were setting things up today, I would probably take advantage of my iPhone's dual SIM option and have two different cell numbers, one for family and one for business. On the Facebook poll, Dustin said he uses Hubspot to forward his landline to his cell phone, which I think is pretty cool. And Col said not only does he use a landline for his business, but it goes to his virtual assistant. Then his VA decides if he needs to take the call. Text Messages With the invention of smartphones, text messages, or texting as it's commonly called, surpassed phone calls as a way of communicating. Heck, sometimes I think my kids forget they can make calls on their phones. But what about clients? Do you text them? I do not text with my clients. It makes sense. If I don't share my cell number with them, there's little chance of them texting me. But according to the Facebook poll, I'm in the minority. 58% of respondents said they communicate via text message with their clients. 24% said they don't 12% said they communicate using Watsapp. 4% said they do use text messages but with some exceptions. 2% said they don't use text messages except for a few exceptions What are those exceptions, you ask? Suzanna says she tries not to but does have a few clients who use text. However, she never accepts work over text. Tammi, on the other hand, uses both text and WhatsApp. She likes the quicker responses as compared to waiting for an email. Greg said absolutely not. It's too easy for vital communication to get lost or forgotten. Plus, he likes to unplug from work, and if clients can text him, he's never truly away. Minja said not for changes, pricing, or other project-related things. But texts are ok for other communications, such as scheduling meetings or sending verification codes. I feel you, Minja. Verifications codes are the bane of all web designers. How do you accept changes or approvals? Next, I asked how people accept changes or approvals for design projects from their clients. This time around, I allowed them to select multiple answers. 54% accept changes or approvals via Email 21% use marked-up printouts 6% use Video Chat 5% over the phone Text Message, Face to Face and CRMs such as Basecamp, Asana and Trello tied at 4% each. Finally, 2% use Social Media DM. I'm with the majority for this one. I only accept changes or approvals via email. My clients are welcome to tell me over the phone, video chat or in person, but I always ask them to write down their thoughts and email them. And like Nick, Rafael and others in the comments pointed out. They like email because it's easy to find and refer back to in the future. How do you prefer presenting to your clients? I also asked about presenting concepts or proofs to clients. This would be for print work such as logos, posters, business cards etc., not websites. Once again, I allowed people to select three options from the list I provided. Coming in first with 35% was emailing a PDF or JPG of the design to the client. Second, 30% is presenting over a live video chat. Third, 17% prefer presenting in person. Next at 13% is emailing a PDF presentation explaining your designs. And finally, with 4% of the votes, sending a pre-recorded video to the client. My favourite way to present to a client is in person. I like to be in the room with them when they first see the design. This lets me see their reaction and interject should I see any doubt in them. When do you allow a client to see a web design project My next question was in a similar vein except for websites. I asked when do you allow clients to view a web design project. With 72% of the votes, setting predetermined stages during the design process wins this one. A distant second with 20% showed the client a mockup or wireframe before starting the actual website and then at predetermined intervals during the build. And rounding things out with 4% each were Showing the client a mockup or wireframe and then again at the end of the build. Allowing the client full access throughout the entire build process. Troy posted a comment that mirrors my method. I show my clients their site once I've completed the home page. Once they sign off on it, and If it's not that large a project, I finish the entire thing before showing it to them again. If it is a big site, I may show it again once large sections are complete. The one thing I would never do is allow a client full access throughout the build. That seems like asking for trouble. I know they would keep critiquing stuff I was not done working on, and it would cause more problems than it's worth. Do you use a CRM? The final question I asked is whether or not you use a CRM, a Customer Relationship Manager. A platform that lets you communicate with clients. You may be able to send proposals and invoices, and most of them allow you to share files with clients. 77% of respondents said they do not use a CRM 15% use a CRM but only for internal use. Clients do not have access to it. And only 8% said they use a CRM to communicate and share things with their clients. I use Plutio as my CRM. I use it to keep track of all the projects I have in progress. Plutio allows me to grant access to my clients, but I don't use that feature. I use it as a replacement for the old leather-bound notebook I used to use to keep track of projects I'm working on. Col mentioned that he uses Basecamp. Fraser said he's currently setting up SuiteDash as his CRM. Zack, a member of the Resourceful Designer Community, also uses SuiteDash and likes it. Minja, who's in New Zealand, uses Workflow Max, which according to them, is quite popular among New Zealand businesses. There's no right or wrong answer. As I said initially, there's no right or wrong answer when it comes to how you communicate with your design clients. As you can see, many people do different things. The one thing I want to point out is consistency and limiting options. If you use text messaging, WhatsApp, or a CRM to communicate with your clients. Be consistent. This way, you will always know where to look if you need to refer to a conversation. What you don't want to happen is a client emailing you one day, communicating via your CRM the next, all the while texting you while they're on the go and later messaging you via social media. This could get very confusing, very fast. When you finally sit down to work, you'll be stuck searching through various communication methods to find the one where the client asked you to do a particular thing. And what happens if they text asking you to change something to blue and then later send you a DM on Instagram telling you to make it green? How are you supposed to keep track of which one to implement? My suggestion is to set boundaries right from the start. Let them know you would prefer to receive changes or approvals via email. If you don't want to communicate with a client in a certain way, inform them of your preferred method. Every time she has a new project for me, I have a client who reaches out to me over Facebook Messenger. That's fine, but I ask her to take the conversation to email as soon as she does. This is the whole point. To get you thinking about how you communicate with your design clients. Because the easier it is for both you and your clients to communicate, the easier it will be for you to do your job. And in the end, isn't that what matters? Resource of the week I'm not sure if you know this, but Adobe PostScript Type 1 fonts stopped working in Photoshop 2021, and Adobe announced that they will stop working in other Adobe apps in 2023. This could potentially leave you with dozens, if not hundreds, of fonts you can no longer use in your favourite design apps. Luckily, there is a solution. TransType 4 from FontLab works on both Mac and Windows to easily convert legacy Postscript Type 1 fonts into rock-solid, high-quality modern Open Type fonts that you can use in any app for years to come. TransType 4 makes it so easy. I've been using it to convert fonts for the past few months. Whenever I discover a font that doesn't work in Photoshop, I launch TransType 4, drag the Postscript Type 1 font onto it, and voila, I have a new Open Type font I can now use. TransType 4 does more than just this, but this feature alone is worth the purchase price.

Last week, I talked about how you should view your worth. How you are a one-person team. I gave the example of a website project you might start where you take on the role of salesperson, researcher, UX and UI designer, developer, bookkeeper, etc. and how each one of those "people" should be compensated accordingly. That episode relayed a precious message that many designers don't understand. That message is that you are worth more than you think you are, and you are probably not charging your clients enough for what you do for them. Because, if you needed to hire each one of those people individually, chances are you would pay them more than what you are charging your client for the same services. But what if the situation wasn't figurative? What if you did have to hire each one of those people? Would you know how to go about it? That's what I want to talk about today, building your team. I know that many designers are not comfortable hiring contractors. I know, I used to be one of them. I used to have the mentality that my clients hired me; therefore, I needed to do the work myself. I even turned down projects because I didn't know how to do parts of them. I've shared before how I turned down a $50,000 website project because I didn't know how to code in PHP. I kick myself now for that decision. But that was my mentality back then. If I couldn't do it, it wasn't a project I could take on. A couple of years after that, I stumbled upon a line in some self-help book. I wish I could remember which one, but I don't. But I do remember the line that stuck with me. Client's don't hire you to do a job. They hire you to get a job done. And there's a vast difference between those two statements that many designers don't get. You're job, the reason clients hire you is that they have a problem they can't solve themselves. In many cases, you, with all your skills, can solve it for them. But there are some situations where your skills alone are not enough. Or your skills are not the most proficient option. Or perhaps you don't have the time to do everything yourself. That's where building a team comes in—a team of people who possess the skills required to complete the job for your client. Do you think the head chef at a restaurant cooks and prepares every meal all by themself? Of course not. There's no way one person could do that. A Chef has a sous-chef, station chefs, junior chefs, and other people working with them. They all form a team that prepares the meals they serve their guests. And yet, people still visit fancy restaurants because of the reputation of the head chef. They want to experience what it's like to eat one of their meals even though many other people are involved in preparing those meals. Think of yourself as a head chef. Everyone on your team is there to help you prepare what your clients are served. But, even with this knowledge, many designers still worry about what their clients might think if they "farm out" work. I have news for you. Your clients won't care. Remember, they didn't hire you to do a job. They hired you to get a job done. Think of it this way, would you be upset if you brought your car in for repair and the mechanic told you he traced the issue to your transmission, so he brought in a transmission specialist to work on it? I'm going to hazard a guess and say no, you wouldn't be upset. You wouldn't say, "no, I brought my car to you; therefore, I want you and only you to work on it." You would probably be grateful that your mechanic knows someone who can do the job in the best and most proficient manner. That's how your clients will react when you tell them about your team. They'll think it was an intelligent decision to hire you because you know how to get the job done. Teams are a powerful thing. Teams allow you to take on more work. Teams allow you to take on bigger and better projects Teams will enable you to offer services you couldn't provide alone. Teams can help your design business grow and go further. There's an African proverb that says, "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." That's what having a team can do for you. It can help you go far. How do you build a design team? It's one thing to know you should build a team. It's an entirely other matter to put one together. To be clear. When I say a team, I'm talking about contractors, not employees. Sure, you can hire employees to be on your team, but that's a whole other conversation with additional complexity involved. I'm talking about contractors or freelancers that you hire on an as-needed basis. Some of them you may repeatedly use, while others may be for a single one-off job. Simply put, your team is a network of people you can call upon should the need arise. First, let me break down the type of people you may want on your team before I get into how to find them. Since there's no way I could list or even know all the types of team members you may need, I'll use the ones I've hired myself as examples. Illustrators: I've used several illustrators over the years. Some I've hired only once, while a couple I work with on a fairly regular basis. Illustrators widely vary in styles, so it's a good idea to have several you can call upon when needed. Copywriters: Copywriting is one of those services that can set you apart from other designers. While many designers only use the text provided to them by the client, designers that offer copywriting and design are viewed as a premium service and garner more respect, which means you can charge more. Like illustrators, copywriters range in styles and niches, so it's best to know a few. In some situations, you may need a copywriter who writes in a particular field, such as medical or technology. Translators: Depending on where you live or what clients you work with, you may need to design in multiple languages. On many occasions, your client might only have the text in one. Where I live, it's prevalent to display things in both English and French. I have a translator that can provide me with a French copy should I need it. Graphic Designers: I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes you may want to hand off a project or part of a project to another designer. Either free up your time or because it's something you don't want to do. Having a designer you can trust for this is an invaluable teammate. Web Developer: I've said it before. Other than HTML and CSS, I don't know how to code. And even with HTML and CSS, I find myself Googling how to do things more often than I used to. So any time I need coding done that I can't manage with a plugin, I hire a developer. SEO Specialist: If you're not comfortable doing SEO or want to give a website an extra boost, you may want to consider hiring an SEO specialist. I did this at the request of one client, and we saw great results. Virtual Assistant: The fact is, just about every specialty I just talked about could be considered a virtual assistant. A virtual assistant is just that, someone who assists you virtually. But a VA can help you with so much more than the skills I mentioned above. I've hired several VAs over the years. My main VA does repetitive tasks, so I don't have to worry about them. Every Monday, she logs into my iThemes Sync account and makes sure all the themes and plugins of every site I manage are up to date. This updating is a service I offer my website clients as part of my maintenance agreement. But I have better things to do than click on "update plugin" several dozen times. So I pay someone to do it for me. I've also hired virtual assistants to do research or data gathering for me. I hired one recently to go back over every episode of the Resourceful Designer podcast and create a spreadsheet listing the episode number, the episode title and the resource or tip I shared if there was one. Before the pandemic, I was trying to get more speaking gigs, so I hired a VA to create a list of every graphic or web design program offered by a college or university in the province of Ontario. I asked him to find out who was in charge of each program and include their email address. I then asked him to email them on my behalf, asking if they would like me to come to talk to their graduating class about the realities of working in the real world. This is just a small list of the type of people you may want on your team. How do you find people for your design team? A couple of weeks ago, I talked about networking. Well, that's a great start. Several of my team members are people I happened to meet through casual networking conversations. One of my copywriters I found through a friend who mentioned he knew a journalism graduate looking for work. I reached out to her and asked if she could do some copywriting for me. After overhearing him talking with someone about a project he was translating, I discovered my translator at a restaurant. I introduced myself asked for his business card, and we've worked on several projects together since. I've hired illustrators I discovered at local comic cons. There are always vendors at comic conventions selling their illustrations. I pick up their business card and reach out if their style of artwork is what I need for a particular design project. Each of these people was added to my list of potential team members to draw upon should the need ever arise. I have many that I've never used. But I know who they are, just in case. Last week I hired Brian, a member of the Resourceful Designer Community, to help me with a website. Brian had done a presentation for us a couple of months ago, and one of the things he showed us was something I could use on a site I was starting on for a client. I intended to take the info from Brian's presentation and learn how to do it myself. You know, improving my web skills, making myself more valuable. But, when I got around to working on that part of the website, I didn't have the time to fiddle around with something new. So I asked Brian to do it for me. I explained what I needed, and he completed the work by the next day. As easy as that. I'm sure if I had tried doing it myself, it would have taken me over a week to complete. Hiring Brian saved me time, which translates to money. But what if you need someone for a job and you don't have a person in mind? If you need someone with a particular skill, and you don't already know anyone who can fill the role, the first thing I suggest is asking the people in your network. Like how people find graphic and web designers through referrals, you should do the same when finding your team members. If you need an illustrator with a particular style, ask people in your network if they know anyone. Need a web developer to help you with a web project? Ask around and see if anyone has a suggestion. A referral from a trusted source can go a long way in finding the right person. But what if asking around comes up dry? When all else fails, turn to the internet. There is no shortage of people for hire online. Places like Fiverr and Upwork are great resources. I've hired multiple people from both platforms. TopTal is another excellent source to find freelancers. I've never used them myself, but I know of several people who have and were very pleased with the talent they hired. Virtual Assistant marketplaces contain hundreds of talented people looking for work. Just search "Virtual Assistant" on Google, and you'll find plenty. Things to consider when hiring a teammate. What are some of the things you should consider when hiring someone? The top three, in my opinion, are location, language, and price. Location A talent marketplace such as Fiverr and Upwork allows you to work with people from around the globe. One of the illustrators I use lives in Indonesia. But sometimes, you may want to hire someone closer to home. Time differences can potentially cause problems if you need to ask a teammate something and it's the middle of the night where they are. These delays can add up, which doesn't bode well if you're on a deadline. Language Language can also be an issue. The language someone uses to communicate with you may not be their first language. This may cause miscommunication issues should they not fully understand the instructions you provide. In some cultures, people are raised not to question instructions from those who employ them. So if they interpret something a certain way, that's how they'll do it. Even if it doesn't make sense to them or there's a better way. You want to make sure the person you hire can work beyond just the instructions you provide. So making sure there isn't going to be a language barrier should be a consideration. Price Location and Language may dissuade you from hiring someone abroad. However, the price may make you change your mind. There are places in the world where you can hire highly talented people for a fraction of the price you would pay closer to home. A few years ago, I had a client using an eCommerce platform called PrestaShop. When the client accidentally broke their website, I had no idea how to fix it. So I turned to Upwork and hired a PrestaShop expert. They lived in a country with a much lower cost of living than here in Canada and quoted me $10 per hour for their services. I knew he would be working while I was asleep. And his English wasn't that good. I had to message him several times before he understood what I needed of him. But the time difference and language constraints were worth it because of the low price. It took him 16 hours to fix the problem. I paid his $160 invoice, and in turn, I charged my client 16 hours at my then hourly rate of $80/hr. I made an $1120 profit, and I never touched the site. Weigh your options It's entirely up to you who you hire. In some cases, finding an inexpensive option is your best choice. Other times, spending a bit more is the right move. Building relationships with your team. The trick with this whole team-building thing is to find people you can trust to do the job right. There may come times when someone you hire doesn't work out. Either they don't perform to your liking, or you find some other reason things are not working. The downside of building a team is that you may find yourself in a situation where you have to let someone go. Luckily these are not employees. So sometimes, letting go is as simple as never hiring them again. But other times, you may have to fire them if they're not performing to your satisfaction and find someone else. It can be tricky, and you may have to eat that cost yourself. That's a chance we take when we hire people. That's one of the reasons I always try to hire from within my network before turning to online sources. That website I told you about last week that Brian helped me on. I could have easily hired someone on Fiverr or Upwork to do the same thing for me and probably save some money. But I hired Brian because I already have a relationship with him, and I trust what he can do. It wasn't about the cost. It was about making sure the job got done. Working with a team is a wonderful feeling. It makes you feel special. It makes you feel necessary. It makes you feel more professional. When you get to this point in your career where you have a team of people working with you, you'll truly understand what it means to be an entrepreneur. And you'll see that the opportunities when you have a team you endless. If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, to together. After all, your clients didn't hire you to do a job. They hired you to get the job done.

I want to start with a story. A business coach client hired me for a design project about a dozen years ago. He had just finished writing his second book and wanted me to design and format it for him for publication. The project also included an accompanying bookmark and a small website related to the book. I had given him a quote for the project, which he readily accepted, and we got underway. Once the project was completed and paid for, this business coach told me how impressed he was working with me. He said everything went so smoothly that he would have paid three times the amount for the great work I provided him. Now I brushed this statement off as hyperbole from a grateful client. I mean, how many times have you received excellent service somewhere and thought, "I got more than I paid for?" But then he said he wasn't exaggerating and proceeded to explain why he thought that way. And what he said next changed the way I looked at pricing my projects from that day forward. How do you determine your pricing? I'll get to what that business coach told me in a moment. One of the most challenging tasks freelance designers or design business owners have is determining what to charge for their services. I mean, how much does a website or a logo cost? It's as arbitrary as asking how long is a piece of string? It never fails. Whatever number you come up with for a design project, you will always wonder if it's too little or too much. Let me put your mind at ease on one of those fronts. "Too much." is never the correct answer to that question. And I'll explain why in a bit. Coming up with applicable fees is difficult because many factors are to consider. Your level of experience will influence what you charge. The quality of the work you do is also a factor. The type of clients you work with can significantly affect your pricing. Where you live, city, state or province, country all play a part in your pricing structure. Even culture may play into it. With everything to consider, no wonder pricing is such a debated topic among designers. One designer may think $2000 is a lot for a website, while another won't consider a web project for less than $10,000. I'm saying that there are no right or wrong answers regarding how much you should charge for your design services. You charge what you think you're worth. But that's what I want to talk about, what you're worth. Because there's a good chance, you're undervaluing that number. Let me ask you a question. How much do you think it would cost if you had to pay someone else to do your job? If you think it would cost more than what you charge, then there's your answer. You're not charging enough. However, you might think that it would cost a very similar or maybe even a lower amount to what you charge your clients. And that may be true. It's hard to tell. But let me rephrase my question. How much do you think it would cost if you had to pay individual people to do everything you do for your clients? Now it gets more complicated. Let's take a website project, for example. We tend to group all our services into one easy-to-explain package called a "website design" and slap a price on it. But what exactly goes into a website design? Let's break it down. Of course, everyone will have their way of working on a website, so this is just a simplified example. For a website project, You'll probably start things off with some form of discovery meeting to determine what the client needs and the problem the website will solve. With what's entailed determined, you and the client need to settle on a proposal and sign a contract. Once that's out of the way, you'll do some research. You'll look into what others in the industry are doing, especially your client's competition. You may research adjacent sectors as well. You may search for new and innovative ways to meet your client's needs. Next, you may start wire-framing or thought mapping out the website with all this info in hand, figuring out the best structure and hierarchy to use. Then you'll start with the design: Colour palette, font choices, styles, image aesthetics and all the other visual elements that go into a website. Maybe you'll need animations or videos. After all, the client wants the website to POP, don't they? Next, there's development. The nitty-gritty of connecting all the pieces together, so you have a functioning website. This may involve more research as you look into plugins and third-party solutions to help with your build. Sales funnels, eCommerce platforms, email lists, calendar scheduling tools are just a few things you may have to incorporate into the build. Then, the client wants the website to be found, so you'll do your best at implementing SEO strategies to help with find-ability. Finally, you'll send your last invoice and get paid for the project once the website is complete. Whoa, good job. You worked your butt off, and everything worked out great. The client got the site they wanted and paid the fee you quoted for this website project. But back to my question. How much do you think it would cost if you had to pay individual people to do everything you just did? Let's see; you would have had to hire a salesperson for the initial contact, proposal and contract signing. Next, you'd need a researcher for the discovery and other investigating you did. Then there are the UX and UI Designers you would have to hire. One to design the feel of the website, how it flows and how easy it is to navigate. The other to develop the aesthetics of the site. How natural and attractive it is. After that, you'll need a developer to put everything together. Someone who knows how to take what came out of the UX and UI Designers' minds and put it into action. Along the way, you'll need an SEO person to make sure all the "T" s are crossed and "I" s dotted to give the website the best chance to be discovered by those searching the web. And then, you would need a bookkeeper or accounts person to handle the invoicing and payment processing. And on top of all of these people, you would also need a project manager to oversee them all and keep things on track. Wow, that's a good group of people. Eight if my math is correct. So how much do you think it would cost if you had to hire eight individual people to work on this job instead of you doing it yourself? Chances are it would cost way more than what you charged your client for their website project. And hold on, I haven't even considered the profit for your design business. After all, you took on this project to make money, didn't you? So after paying all these people, there needs to be some leftover for you to make a profit. Do you see where I'm going with this? When your client hired you to design a website, they, in effect, hired all these people. You acted as a project manager, a researcher, a UX and a UI designer, a developer, and an SEO person. Plus, you took on the roles of sales and account person. So why should your client get such a good deal just because all of these people encompass one body, yours? The answer is they shouldn't. And that's the big mistake so many freelancers and design business owners make. When determining their prices, they fail to consider every specialty they are bringing to the table. Think of yourself as a team of individuals, each with their unique skills, and you can see why you should be charging much more for your services. And that's what that business coach client told me all those years ago. For his first book, he had hired a page layout person to format the pages of his book. He also hired a graphic designer to design the cover for the book and the bookmark. And he hired a web designer to create the website. Each of these people did their part and got paid separately. And the total for the three of them came up to almost three times what I charged him to do everything myself. So when he saw my quote, he knew he was getting a steal of a deal. He told me that by lumping everything I do under one umbrella of "it's all part of designing." I was doing myself a disservice. I was undervaluing all the individual skills I brought to the table. Only when I started thinking about what, or perhaps who is required for each part of a design project, will I start realizing how much value I bring and start charging accordingly. Because every small part of a project you do, there's an individual out there that specializes in doing that one thing. And they're billing for it. From that day forward, I started charging more for what I do. Before I go, I'd like to ask you to do something for me. Think of the last design project you did for a client and how much you charged them. Now take out a pad and pencil and break down that price into the individual roles you performed to complete their project. How much did each "person" get paid? And don't forget to leave enough for your profit. I have a feeling that if you do this small exercise, you'll realize that you are not charging enough for what you bring to the table. And I'm hoping this is incentive enough for you to stop undervaluing yourself and start charging what you're worth.

Networking is all about getting your name out there. It's not about selling or pitching. It's about gaining recognition, building a reputation, if you will. Networking is the building block to every successful design business. Networking can take place anywhere and everywhere. You don't need to be at a conference, trade show or special networking event. Nor does it have to be with a particular sort of person or even a potential client. Every person you talk to, including family, friends and strangers alike, is a form of networking. And the more you do it, the better at it you'll become and the more successful you'll be. It's no secret that the number one way a graphic design business grows is through word-of-mouth referrals. And for word-of-mouth referrals to happen, people have to know four things about you. 1. Who you are. 2. What you do. 3. Your reliability. 4. Your likeability. When someone knows these four things about you, there's an excellent chance they will share your name with others. Now you'll notice how I didn't mention how good a designer you are. Believe it or not, your skills as a designer have little impact on the referrals you get. Some fantastic designers rarely get referred. Like some questionable designers are referred all the time. Why? It all boils down to those four elements. So let's break them down. 1. Do they know who you are? This one is self-explanatory. If someone doesn't know you, There's zero chance they'll share your name with others. Now luckily, you have two avenues to remedy this: yourself and your business. As long as one of these two is known, there's a possibility someone shares it. A person may not know who you are, but they may know your business. Or vice versa, they don't know your business, but they know you. In either of these situations, they have the opportunity to spread the word based on what they know. If they don't know you or your business, the chances of referring you are zero. 2 Do they know what you do? Someone may know who you are, but they won't recommend you to others if they don't know what you do. And don't confuse "what you do" with "the career you have" someone may know you're a graphic designer, but graphic design is an extensive term, so it doesn't tell them what you do. It's like saying someone is a mechanical engineer. That tells you their career, but it doesn't explain what they do. Two mechanical engineers can have two completely different skillsets and work in different industries. They are mechanical engineers with the same degree, but neither does the same work as the other one does. Graphic design is the same thing. For example, some graphic designers work with video. Other graphic designers don't know anything about video. Some are illustrators; others aren't. Some designers design for the web, and some design only for print. Titles such as UX Designer, Multimedia Designer, Production Designer, etc., are great for people in the industry. But for the general client, titles like this don't explain what a designer does. The idea here is to know what you do; people need to know more than what career you have. 3. Are you reliable? To pass your name on to someone else, people need to know if you are reliable. Or maybe more accurately, that they know that you are not unreliable. If someone asks you for a recommendation and you know of someone suitable for the task, you'll probably share their name even if you know very little about them. However, if the person you're thinking of is unreliable, you probably won't share their name because it will reflect poorly on you. A few episodes ago, I shared a story about my roof needing new shingles and my problems with the person I hired. Well, to give you an update. That was November, and he promised he would do my roof before winter. It's now the end of January, there are several feet of snow outside, and my roof still isn't done. Now, if someone asks me if I know anyone who does roof repair, you know I won't be sharing this guy's name because he's shown himself to be unreliable. So even though I know who he is, and I know what he does. The fact that I think he's unreliable stops me from referring him. The same applies to you. If you do something that makes people think you are unreliable, they will not refer you. 4 Are you likeable? I've said it many times on this podcast before. Clients would prefer to work with a good designer they like than with an amazing designer they don't like. Think about it. When was the last time you wanted to work with someone you didn't like, regardless of how good they were at what they do? The more someone likes you, the more they'll want to work with you and the more they like you, the more they'll be willing to share your name with others. So these four things: 1. Knowing who you are. 2. Knowing what you do. 3. Knowing that you're reliable. 4. Knowing that you're likeable. These are the four key ingredients to getting referrals. How do they work? Now that we have a clear idea of the four ingredients, how do you ensure people know these four things about you? Well... by communicating with them. And that's where networking comes in. As I said at the start, networking occurs any time you communicate with someone. Every conversation you have, be it in person, over the phone or video, or in writing, brings that person closer to knowing these four key ingredients about you. Whenever possible, talk to everyone you meet. I know this can be hard for a lot of people. Designers tend to be introverted, and to an introvert, the thought of striking up a conversation with a total stranger is like asking them to stick their hand in a bee's nest. But it doesn't have to be that hard. You're not trying to relay each one of the four key ingredients with every conversation you have. This isn't a pitch for work. You're making progress if you show someone just one of the four points. Let it build up over time. Letting people know who you are is the first and easiest of the four key ingredients. All you need to do is introduce yourself. After all, they can't refer you if they don't know you. So make sure you tell them your name. And if the conversation merits it, tell them your business name. They only need to remember one of the two to refer you. Next, Tell them what you do. An elevator pitch is great for this. I talked about crafting your elevator pitch back in episode 116 of Resourceful Designer. But in a nutshell, your elevator pitch should briefly and concisely explain who you are, what you do, who you do it for and what results you produce. In other words. Hi, I'm (your name). I'm a (your title) who does (insert what you do). I help (type of people) to achieve (the outcome you provide). For example: Hi, I'm John Smith. I'm a web designer, and I build fast and functional websites that turn visitors into paying customers. I help small businesses grow their revenue by increasing their online sales. Do you see? Short and precise. It tells people who you are and what you do. If this interests them, they'll ask you to explain more. And if it doesn't engage them, that's ok. They've learned enough information to pass your name along should they have the chance. In my case, my elevator pitch might go something like this. Hi, I'm Mark Des Cotes. I'm a Brand Consultant who develops visual branding for podcasts. I help podcasters look more legitimate and gain more traction by offering them professionally designed band assets, including cover artwork, social media graphics, websites and more. All of which leads to better exposure and more downloads for their show. A simple elevator pitch can go a long way to explain what you do to someone. As I said earlier, just saying you're a graphic designer doesn't explain what you do. It would be best if you lay it out for them. And don't take it for granted that someone you know is familiar with all the services you offer. Never presume a client, a friend, a family member, or anyone else knows what you do. I talked about this way back in episode 2 of the podcast, where I shared a story about my brother-in-law. Who knew me before I even became a graphic designer and someone who I've designed many things for over the years. He asked if I knew anyone who could create a rack card for him one day. I thought he was joking, but he wasn't. It had never come up, so he didn't know that I could also design rack cards on top of everything else I do. So whenever possible, share specifics of what you do with others. FYI, a newsletter is a great way to do this. Once per month or once per quarter, send something out to your clients and all your contacts, letting them know what sort of work you've been doing. I guarantee you that someone will reach out saying they had no idea that you did that sort of thing. And then there are the final two ingredients. Reliability is something that takes time. Showing up on time for a scheduled meeting or promptly returning an email or phone call shows that you are reliable. Completing a job or project on time and to a client's satisfaction shows that you are reliable. Offering helpful advice or suggestions shows that you are reliable. Everything you do that creates a positive impression helps build that notion that you are a reliable person. And that brings us to likability. Once again, time is your friend here. Is it possible to instantly like someone? Sure. But if you're looking for referrals, and that's what we're talking about today, you need that impression of you to grow over time. Getting people to like you shouldn't be that difficult. I mean, you're a great person, aren't you? What's not to like? But seriously, simple things such as greeting everyone you meet, regardless of who they are, help solidify your likability. For example. Whenever I have a meeting at a corporate office, not only do I try to get there 10 to 15 minutes early (which shows my reliability). I make a point to talk to as many people there as possible. The doorman, the receptionist, the assistant, everyone. Not just about why I'm there. But simply to talk. I'll ask the receptionist how his or her day is going. I'll ask if they're looking forward to the weekend. If I know anything about their family life, possibly from a previous conversation, I'll ask about their spouse or children. These short 1-minute conversations add up over time and help someone form a good impression of you. When our local shopping mall was one of my clients, every time I went there to meet with the marketing manager, I made a point to stick my head in the Managing director's office to say hi. Sometimes it was a quick wave. But other times, we would have a short conversation. Not about design or why I was there, but about life. We were both fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team, which gave us common ground to talk about. When he decided to run for political office, he hired me to design his campaign material. That might not have happened if I had not made a point of connecting with him. I would also talk to the receptionist during each visit. A shopping mall receptionist is used to dealing with upset mall shoppers over everything from the lack of baby strollers to lost and found items to taking complaints about one store or another. They welcome a conversation with someone who doesn't have an agenda with them. Over many small conversations with that receptionist, including some, where I shared what I was working on for the mall. She knew who I was. Through our discussions, she learned what I did. My punctuality showed her I was reliable. And my taking the time to talk with her led her to like me. 1, 2, 3, 4. All four key ingredients checked off. And you know what? When that receptionist left her job at the mall to work at a financial firm and heard her new employer was looking for a designer, she recommended me. I had never worked with her directly, but she had learned the four key ingredients about me during her time working at the mall, and that was enough for her to mention my name. And for me to get a new client. You see how it works. Referrals can come from anywhere and anyone. Some even come from the least likely people. But they all have one thing in common. The person who refers you knows who you are; they know what you do, think you are reliable, and to some extent, like you. Or, at the very least, have no reason not to like you. The title of this episode says it all. When it comes to networking, it's not who you know; it's who knows you. And networking happens with every interaction you have. From interactions at a business conference to talking with the cashier at the grocery store. From attending trade shows to having a conversation with the person who cuts or styles your hair. From talking with your doctor to email correspondence with your clients. Every interaction plays a part. The more someone knows about you, the better the chances of referring you. And when they know who you are and what you do. And they know you're reliable and like you. That's when the magic happens. And that magic turns into new opportunities for you and your design business to grow. Networking: It's not who you know. It's who knows you.

A look back at 2021 and a look ahead to 2022. Thank you for your continued interest in Resourceful Designer. You have no idea how much I appreciate you. There are so many great resources 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 2021 is my Look Back, Look Ahead edition. It's where I reflect, and of course, share, what my year was like as a design business owner. Then I'll look ahead at what I want to accomplish in 2022. A Look Back at my 2021 goals. At the end of 2020, I set these goals for myself. FAIL: Talk at more conferences. For obvious reasons (hint, there was a pandemic), I failed at this one. I talked at two virtual conferences at the beginning of the year, but I didn't enjoy the experience and opted not to apply anymore. FAIL: Grow the Resourceful Designer podcast audience. When the pandemic hit in 2020, my podcast listenership took a big hit like many other podcasts. A lot of people listen to podcasts on their commute. And with the elimination commutes, people didn't have time to listen as much. I was hoping that the numbers would tick back up this year. But I'm still way below what I used to get before the pandemic hit. 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 not a member of the Community and you're looking for camaraderie with fellow designers, I highly suggest you check it out. Registration will open up again in February 2022. ACCOMPLISHED: Grow Podcast Branding. I think I made the pivot this year from Podcast Branding being a side business to my main business. I know financially, it's much more lucrative than my long-standing design business. Some of my numbers from 2021 Resourceful Designer I released 41 podcast episodes. The lowest in a calendar year since I launched the podcast. The number is down because I took several weeks off this summer after my father passed away. Reached over 630k total episode downloads in 2021 (Over 63k of which were in 2021) Resourceful Designer released on Samsung devices. My design business COVID-19 continued to affect my business in 2021. I lost several clients due to closure. And many who remained were affected financially and didn't ask me for anything. Worked on design projects for 23 different clients (up from 9 in 2020) No new clients in 2021. I sent out 41 invoices in 2020 (up from 14 in 2020) Lost five long-standing clients due to various reasons but mostly COVID-19 related. Started consulting work with our local Business Enterprise Centre. NOTE: I didn't actively promote my design business in 2021. Instead, I concentrated on growing my other business, Podcast Branding. Podcast Branding My Podcast Branding business was my moneymaker this year. Worked with 64 different clients (up from 51 in 2020) Launched nine new websites for clients. (down from 16 in 2020. However, revenue from those nine websites was more significant than the 16 last year.) It was featured as a guest on two podcasts that brought in new business. A Look Ahead at my 2020 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 2020. 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. What about you? Did you accomplish your goals for 2021, 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 to hone 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, whatever your level of skill, whatever your situation is, I want you to take some time to look back at 2021 and think about your accomplishments AND your shortcomings. Did you stop after your accomplishments? Or did you plow right 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 2021. As 2021 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 2022 your year of success. To help with your planning, perhaps you should listen to episode 55 of the podcast, Setting Goals For Your Design Business. These past two 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 two years, and use everything you've learned to make 2022 and future years even better. I'll be back in 2022 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 2022? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode.

Make the most out of print brokering. In episode 49 of the Resourceful Designer podcast, I talked about offering print brokering as a means to supplement your design business. If you do print design and do not offer print brokering, you're losing out on a lot of potential income. I made over $1,000 from three different print jobs this past week alone. And that's not counting how much I charged for creating the designs themselves. One of those three jobs was reprinting an existing flyer for a client. It took me less than 3 minutes to find the print file, send it to the printer along with specifications for the order, including instructions to deliver the finished job to my client. Then I sent an invoice to my client. That 3 minutes of work earned me over $300 in print brokering commission. What is print brokering? If you are unfamiliar with print brokering, it's when you act as the middleman between your client and the printer. In some cases, you mark up the printing price to invoice your client, and in other cases, you get a discount from the printer and charge your client the non-discounted cost, keeping the difference for yourself. Clients like it when you offer this service because they don't have to deal with the printer directly. Printers like this setup because they get to deal with someone who understands how things work. Listen to episode 49 of the podcast to learn more about print brokering. Today I'm sharing ways to augment the money you make by print brokering. And not simply by increasing your markup. However, that is a way to do it. No, I'm talking about ways to improve your revenue, and at the same time, your client feels like they're getting a better deal. Upselling and Cross-Selling. Let's start with upselling and cross-selling. What are they, and what's the difference between the two? Upselling is when you offer more of the same thing. Think of McDonald's when they offer to upgrade your medium drink to a large for only $0.25 more. That's an upsell. You get a larger drink, and they get more money. Cross-selling is when you offer an additional thing. When you order a burger and drink, McDonald's will always ask you if you want to make a combo? That's a cross-sell. In this case, you get something else, fires, and they collect more money. Upselling and Cross-Selling Print Brokering. How do you use these two concepts in print brokering? Upselling. You can upsell a print job in many different ways. But the easiest is through the paper stock and printing options. Printing on a specialty paper stock will improve the look and appeal of a printed job, which may interest your client. It will also increase the cost, which in turn increases your profit. Printing using spot colours is a great way to improve the look of some printed pieces. I have a client who is a lawyer. She insists on using spot colours for her business card. We could accomplish a similar result using CMYK, but she likes the flat look of the spot colours and is willing to accept the higher printing costs to get the look she wants. And in turn, I make more money on every print run. Novelty stocks are a great upsell. Do you have a client who's a window washer? Suggest clear business cards. How about a client in the construction or industrial industry? Suggest laser engraved metal cards. A client in the outdoor space may be willing to spend more on wooden business cards. Embossing foil stamping die-cutting rounding corners Gilded edges specialty folds laminations or special coatings. These are all printing options you can upsell to your clients. Another way to upsell is to suggest larger quantities. Most of the operating costs in a print run occur in the setup stage–pre-press, printing plates, press set up, ink, etc. After that, all that's left is paper and time. That's why in most cases, the more you order, the less per unit the printing costs. Five hundred business cards may cost $50. Doubling the order to 1000 cards may only be $65. That's an easy thing to sell a client on. They get more for their money spent. And you get more as your commission. Cross-selling. Like the McDonald's combo, cross-selling a print order involves additional items. When a client comes to you for business cards, you may want to suggest additional items such as thank you cards. If you're asked to design invitations for an event, you could offer table cards or place cards. If it's for a wedding, you could also suggest thank you cards and perhaps gift tags the couple can attach to whatever gifts they're handing out to their guests. Many designers offer stationery packs or bundles that include business cards, letterheads and envelopes. The bundle is less expensive than ordering each individually, which is great for your client. But it's also usually more than what they initially thought to order. I can't tell you how many times I've convinced a client to order envelopes to go with letterhead or maybe an invoice or other form. And it all means more revenue for me. Another way to cross-sell is to suggest multiple print runs for various languages. I did this just recently. A client hired me to design coasters for a local campaign. When they gave the information for the coasters, I noticed it was all in English. Our local area is bilingual in English and French, so I asked if they would like me to design a French coaster simultaneously, which they agreed to. This doubled the print run and doubled my profit. Create opportunities for more print runs (more profit). So far, I've been talking about increasing your revenue by printing more at a time–either larger quantities or more items. But another way to earn more money from print brokering is by designing something that has an "expiry date" which will require them to be printed more often. I have a client that attends trade shows throughout the year. He includes his prices on his flyers. Every year as he increases his pricing, he asks me to update his flyer and have more printed. Some products change appearance over time. If you include a photo of the product on the printed piece your client may be more inclined to update the photos as newer models come out, requiring new printed pieces. I talked earlier about how larger print runs can save a client money in the long run. But sometimes they just don't have the budget for a larger run. Smaller print runs will allow them to get by until they can afford to have more printed. And you make money each time. Include dates on recurring events. A yearly festival could get away with using the same flyer and poster year after year. But if you include the date or any information specific to this particular year, they are forced to print new ones each time. Another great way to increase your print brokering income is by keeping track of your client's anniversaries. Designing an anniversary logo for a client is always a fun project. Suggesting they include the anniversary logo on all their print material is even better. One of my clients is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2022. We're in the process of adding the anniversary logo to the many print pieces they have. That means a huge printing order. All to showcase their special occasion. The following year they can continue using their current stock of printed material that doesn't include the anniversary logo. If you know when an anniversary is coming up, you can make the suggestion ahead of time and get the ball rolling. Your client will appreciate your thoughtfulness, and your business will appreciate the added income. Two final tricks. I want to share two more "tricks" with you that have helped me earn more money with print brokering. I always tell every client who orders business cards through me, to never hand out just one card. Business cards are a networking tool. When you hand them out you should always give two or three at a time. You tell the recipient to keep one and hand the others out to anyone they know who could use your service. Clients love this idea. But it also means they run out of cards faster and need to reorder. And finally, whenever possible, convince your client to include their photo on their business card. Again, it makes a great networking tool. A card with a photo makes it much easier to remember the person. It also creates a subconscious connection. When you see a photo of someone, seeds of trust start to germinate immediately. Knowing what a person looks like makes it easier to connect with them. Why do you think so many real estate agents put their photos on their For Sale signs? Because if you know who the person is, you'll trust them more, regardless if you've met them or not. But how does a photo on a business card help you as a print broker? People change. Maybe it's their hairstyle. Maybe they shaved their facial hair or grew some. Maybe they never liked their old photo. Whatever the reason, they may want to update their photo. And they won't care if they have half a box of cards left. They'll gladly discard them for new ones. A couple of weeks ago one of my clients contacted me for business cards for a new employee. I replied back asking if any of their current employees wanted to update their cards with a new photo. That one order turned into four orders, which in turn, means more money for me. If you're smart about it. There are always ways to increase your print brokering sales. And not in a slimy salesperson way. One last thing. Make sure you follow up with your client after the fact. Following up lets you know if your client liked their print purchase. Hearing their comments is a great opportunity to learn what worked and what didn't. And you can use those lessons when dealing with other clients. How do you increase your profits from a print brokering job? Leave a comment below.

Don't confuse clients with rates that don't match your brand. I'd like you to imagine this scenario. There's a neighbourhood in your city that you love. It has beautiful homes with big yards and lots of green space around. It's close to amenities like schools and shopping. And the internet infrastructure is state of the art, which we know is a must for what we do as designers. It's the type of neighbourhood that you occasionally drive through and think to yourself; I would love to live here. The problem is, home prices in this neighbourhood are way out of your budget. You figure you can afford maybe $350k. Perhaps you can push it to $400k. But unfortunately, homes in this neighbourhood typically sell for over $700k. But you can dream, can't you? Then one day, while driving through the neighbourhood, you see a FOR SALE sign in front of what could be your dream home. You've admired the homes in this neighbourhood for a long time, but always from the outside. But here's your chance to get a peek on the inside because there are sure to be photos on the realtor's website. When you get home, you fire up your browser to take a peek. As you're navigating to the page, you play the guessing game in your head. You guess its listing price at $795K. But when the page loads, that beautiful house, the one you've been admiring for years, is listed at $295k. What do you think your first thought would be in this situation? Or maybe second thought after you realize you can afford it. You would probably start wondering, what's wrong with it? Why is it listed so low? What mess would you be getting yourself into if you were to make an offer? I'm sure you've experienced this feeling before. Maybe not with a house. But perhaps with a car, or something else. Especially when the item in question is something previously owned, what's wrong with it that's making the seller offer it for such a low price? It's not just houses. Something similar happened to a designer friend of mine just a couple of weeks ago. He was at a business conference, and on one of the days, they divided people up into small groups—kind of a Mastermind format where each person in the group had time to present their business. Being prepared as only designers can be, my designer friend had a presentation ready and walked everyone through his business. He showed them what he does, how he does it, his processes, and his annual billing and 3-year financial snapshot. It was a business conference, and he was very transparent in everything he shared. After his presentation, One of the attendees, a woman he had met earlier at the conference, approached him to talk. She told him that after the 5-minute conversation they had when they first met, she thought, "this guy knows what he's doing, but there's no way I can afford him." But after seeing his numbers on paper, she told him she could easily afford him. And that's not good a good thing because his prices conflict with the brand image he's putting out. Do you do this? You're a designer, you're proud of what you can do, and I'm sure you like to showcase the best of it in how you present yourself. After all, you know that if you only put in a half-baked effort, you're doing yourself a disservice. But what happens if the brand image you present to the world conflicts with the prices you charge for your services? Just like the house in my opening story, people may wonder, what's wrong with you. They may be hesitant to hire you because the prices you charge seem too good to be true compared to the skills you showcase. And you know that when something looks too good to be true, it usually is. Could this be happening to you? Could it be that you're not getting enough work because you're not charging enough for the talents you possess? My own story. About a year or two after I started working from home, I was working for a department of the Canadian government located in town. They were pleased with my work, so they passed my name up the chain. It wasn't long before I had the chance to bid on a big federal government project. I received the RFP (Request For Proposal) and read it over several times to ensure I understood what was involved. I then calculated every aspect of the job. I figured out how long it should take me, what assets I may need to purchase, and what contractors I may need to hire. I then added in time for revisions, and, like all good designers, I added in some padding for anything unexpected that may come up. The price I came up with was $8,000. It was going to be my biggest project to date. Satisfied with my quote, I submitted the proposal, already designing the project in my head. But a week later, I found out I didn't win the project. Reaching out to my contact at the local government office, I asked if she knew how much I was outbid by. But to my surprise, she found out that I hadn't been outbid. I was, in fact, the lowest quote. The issue was my price was too low. The government agency had received four bids in total for the project. The other three ranged in price between $12,000 and $14,000. When they saw my $8,000 proposal, they thought it was way too low, which meant I must have misunderstood what was involved with the project. Not willing to take a chance, they discarded my proposal and chose the lowest of the remaining three. Was my bid too low? Had I misunderstood the RFP? No, my price was accurate. Accurate for me, that is. You see, the other three bids came from design agencies in Toronto. And Toronto is a much more expensive city than where I live. Where my hourly rate at the time was $50, theirs were closer to $200/hr. They also carried way more overhead than me, a solo designer who works from home, and they needed to compensate for it in their bids. But none of this was transparent to the person or people who reviewed the four submitted bids. All they had to go by was the price. And my much lower price did not give them confidence in my ability to complete the project. It's how we've been raised. Since a young age, the world has conditioned us to associate excellent quality with a higher price. It's the "you get what you pay for" way of thinking. The more you spend, the better the quality. The less you spend, and you're taking chances. I know someone who has several eBooks for sale on Amazon. She originally listed her books for $1.99 each. And every month, she sold roughly half a dozen books. Then she read a report saying that $9.99 eBooks consistently outsell $1.99 ebooks on Amazon. The study determined that pricing it at $1.99 diminished the book's perceived value no matter how good the content was. People didn't believe that a $1.99 eBook could help them or was worth their time. So she decided to raise the price of her books to $9.99. And you know what? Sales immediately went up. Instead of selling only a handful of books per month, he started selling several copies of each book per week. Are you hungry? Let's look at it another way. You have many options if you are hungry for a hamburger. You can get one at McDonald's for $2, or you can choose to go to a fancy restaurant and order an $18 hamburger. I guarantee the $18 hamburger will taste better and be more satisfying. Because if that $18 burger tastes like a Mcdonald's hamburger, you're going to be mighty upset with your purchase. That's what clients think about you if you're presenting yourself as the "Fancy Restaurant" of the design world. When they hear you talk or visit your website or see your other marketing material, they will imagine a price range based on the quality of what you present them. That "$18 Hamberger," if you will. But if you then present your prices and they're more in the "$2 hamburger" range, something will not feel right to them, and clients will second guess their decision to work with you. You're lower prices may be impeding your business. More proof. If you've been following Resourceful Designer for a while, you know that I started a side business designing for the podcast niche a couple of years ago. There are many options available for people looking for podcast cover artwork. My site podcastbranding.co is one of the more expensive ones. And yet, I receive new orders every week. And when I ask why they chose me over any other option, they tell me it's because of the professional look I put forward and how they thought it was worth the higher price. Does that mean that everybody wants to work with me? Of course not. I know that many people see my prices and immediately leave my site. But it's not because my prices are too high. A business coach once told me there's no such thing as being too expensive. Just that you may be unaffordable to some people. And that's OK. But to those who can afford you, your prices will be just right. Don't fall into that rut where the brand image you're putting out there says one thing about your business, but your prices say another. All you'll be doing is confusing your potential clients. And when you confuse, you lose. Take this time, and review your rates. Are they in line with your brand image? If not, then you should consider raising them. And you know what? I'm releasing this at the end of November, which means that the new year is just around the corner. And the new year gives you the perfect opportunity to introduce your new pricing. Make sure your rates don't conflict with your brand.