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Now's the time to invest in some very profitable changes for your design business
by Michael Huggins, RGDWhat are you investing in this year? Will it pay off?
For any investor to be happy with their investments, they have to see progress. That means when they compare where they currently are NOW to where they started, they can see growth. Progress.
That’s the approach you should be taking when it comes to your design business. And the New Year is as good a time as any to do that.
The New Year is the time when most people look back at the year they’ve had and evaluate how they’ve done.
What about you?
Maybe you’ve had a great year. Maybe it was extremely profitable. Your marketing machine was up and running at top speed. You got some great clients. You worked on exactly the types of projects you wanted.
If so, then that’s fantastic!
Or… maybe last year was a little more challenging for you.
Maybe your business didn’t progress like you had hoped it would. It could have been a little more stressful and uncertain. Perhaps you had to deal with difficult clients because you felt you had no choice. Maybe your competition was extremely tough, and you didn’t win as much work as you had hoped. Or maybe your profits didn’t meet your expectations.
No matter what your 2007 looked like – good, bad or indifferent, you want your 2008 year to be even better. That’s the whole idea behind INVESTING in your business.
So what will it take improve over last year?
You will improve on your investment when you invest your time, money and efforts on the most beneficial priorities for your business. What exactly are they? Here are just a few key things you can start investing in to make sure your upcoming year is a successful one.
Invest in your vision and goals
You’ve gotta have a clear vision for where you are going.
And you’ve got to have practical goals that will help you get there.
Your vision is the big picture of what your business will look like when you ‘get there’ (wherever there is to you).
Your goals are practical milestones that will help you make that vision a reality.
What was your vision for your business when you first started? What is it now? Has it changed? Should it change? Do your goals need to be revised to help you achieve your vision?
There is no better time to reevaluate your direction then right now.
Write down on a piece of paper where you would like to be in 5 years. Or think of this in another way: “What do you want to be ‘known for’ in 5 years?”
Then jot down a couple of practical goals that will help you move in that direction. Don’t sweat it – just do it.
Here are a couple of quick tips for setting goals to help you achieve your vision:
• Make them
Having defined goals is a good motivator. They will encourage you as you progress towards your vision.
• Set the bar high
Make sure your goals stretch you enough to cause learning, growth and progress.
• Write them down and refer back to them often
It’s easy to get off track. Having a few goals written down is a good way to get back on track. But remember, even writing them down won’t help if you don’t look at them from time to time.
• Be specific
The more details you can include in your goals the easier it will be to evaluate your progress.
• Focus on progress not perfection
Moving towards your vision is more important than achieving each goal perfectly.
Invest in your personal growth
Personal growth is critical to your success (no matter how you define it). If you aren’t in a continual mode of learning, then your life is going to get pretty monotonous – real fast. And make no mistake, monotonous work is brutal work. Learning will break the monotony.
You should always be pushing yourself to learn. There are many ways you could be learning. Here are a few I use:
• Read
This can be a tough one if you don’t like to read much, or if you can never find the time (which is what I was like for many years). But reading is an important learning tool that helps you challenge and reshape your thinking. Pick up some good business books (email me if you want a list of books that are on my list of ‘best reads’) and start reading.
• Take a class
You should have some time throughout your year where you schedule in some hard ‘class time’. This can be a night class or a part-time class but it certainly doesn’t have to be limited to that. You can even go to scheduled professional development days (like the RGD Ontario is having this month). Many design groups, associations have scheduled events throughout the year. Contact your local associations to find out more and join in.
• Listen to learning modules
One of my favorite ways of learning is to “take it on the go”. I love to listen to learning modules or CD’s that I can listen to during my ‘unproductive times’. I use my mp3 player and car CD player to learn when I travel to clients or I am working out.
Learning modules are available on all types of topics and are available on the web for download. Or you can purchase great CD’s from your local book store. They are well worth the small investment.
• Have a mentor
This can happen by spending some direct time with a professional you respect in the business. This can be a professional mentor you pay for, or it can be more informal by just taking a mentor out to lunch.
It can even come by studying someone you admire and respect from a distance. The bottom line is, you will learn a lot from spending time with another respected pro.
• Join an association or a business group
Connecting with others is a great way to learn and grow. By sharing (and allowing others to share with you) you benefit directly from their past experiences.
Invest in your marketing
Marketing is critical to your business success. The bottom line is – if you don’t have any clients you don’t have a business.
Your marketing should be designed to get you the type of clients you WANT and NEED in your business.
Design your marketing machine to help you identify high probability prospects. Make sure you create a marketing program that helps you convert your prospects into clients. And create a program that makes loyal (repeat) customers of the ones you have.
Focus on creating a marketing system that can work without you. Your time is precious. You want to create a system for finding and getting clients that works on it’s own. Automatically. (You can find many tips and tricks to do this in the article archive as well as the learning modules and teleclasses I have on the FGDO web site.)
Invest in delivering outstanding service
This last point is about delivering on your promises to your clients.
Having all the other elements working together in your business won’t mean a heck of a lot, if you can’t deliver a great service. So create a business that is dedicated to delivering on the promises you make.
Create standards and processes for the way you work. Clearly define how you approach problems and solve them. Share this knowledge with your staff and clients.
Define what you (and your business) is UNIQUELY GOOD at and develop it. It won’t only be a great point of differentiation from your competitors – it will be what your clients remember you by.
And it will be how they refer you to other businesses they know.
Ok… I know, I know. These are lofty investments to make. Especially in one year.
But remember to focus on progress and take it one day at a time. First figure out what you SHOULD be doing in your business. Then INVEST your time, money and activities on the most beneficial activities.
Simple? Yes.
Easy? No way.
So, invest well in this upcoming Year, and do the things in your business to benefit to all areas of your life (not just while you’re behind your computer). And have fun progressing each day towards designing the BUSINESS you want.
Have a great start to 2008.
Dedicated to Graphic Designer SuccessMichael Huggins
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