Podcasts
FGDO Podcast 201 - Invest IN Your Design Business For Higher Profitability
by Michael Huggins, RGD
Hello and Welcome to the
FOR GRAPHIC DESIGNERS ONLY.com Live PodCast
My name is Michael Huggins…
… This is the podcast for information, tips and resources for the creative entrepreneur
This week…
were going to talk about investing in your design business… and making it extremely profitable…
The New Year is a time when most investors look back over the year they’ve just had and evaluate how they’ve done.
For any investor to be satisfied with their investments, they have to see progress.
They constantly compare their current status to their past status to determine if they are making sufficient progress.
They do that to determine whether they should make any adjustment to the way they spend their time and energy in the future.
This mindset is no different for you as a creative entrepreneur when it comes to your design business.
So let me ask you again… what types of activities were you investing in this past year regarding your design business? And did they pay off?
Maybe you had a great year. Stellar. 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 this is you, then I want to congratulate you. Because you have probably worked very hard at creating the type of business you want. And 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.
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.
So what will it take improve over last year?
Some solid investments in your business.
You will improve on the performance of your business when you invest
your time, money and efforts by working ON your business. Not just in it.
I first heard of this concept “working ON your business” in the book the Emyth by Michael Gerber. And when I first heard it I realized that at that point, I spent most of my time working IN my business and very little time working ON my business.
Working IN your business is about the daily routine; dealing with clients, handling administration and solving design problems etc.
Working ON your business is about creating the type of business you want. It’s the planning and development side of your business. It concerns, vision processes and new business development.
If you want to see dramatic change and improvement in your business you will have to start spending time working ON your business.
Working ON your business is about focusing on those activities that will be the most beneficial to your business in the long-run. They are pro-active in nature instead of reactive.
So what exactly are some ways you can work on your business?
Here are just a few “ON-Your-Business” priorities you can start investing in this upcoming year – to ensure this year is a successful one for you.
1. Invest in your vision and goals
You 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?
Maybe the marketplace you once sold to is drying up Perhaps technology is lowering the barrier of entry into your area of expertise.
And competition is increasing dramatically. To the point where your services are being commoditized.
If this is the case in your marketplace you may have to reevaluate your vision and goals?
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. I wouldn’t worry about making these ‘perfect’ – just do it.
Once your vision is written you’ll need to create a series of goals that will help you get there.
Now before I move on to Investment ‘number 2’, let me list a few 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.
OK let’s move on from our goals and vision for your business and talk about another key investment this year…
2. Investing in your personal growth
Personal growth is critical to your success (no matter how you define success). 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. In our world today we have no shortage of learning resources. But dispite that fact many design entrepreneurs don’t take the time to learn. You need to. There is no excuse for not learning new and improved ways of doing things. Here are the top 5 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. Many design groups, associations have scheduled events throughout the year. Contact your local associations to find out more and join in.
In fact I’ll be speaking at the RGD professional development day in Ontario Canada this month. I’ll be speaking along side other design entrepreneurs like Kit Hinrichs of Pentagram and Karl Thomson of Compass360 to name just a couple of speakers. If you are in Canada during this time frame you may want to check this out.
If you want more information for that you can check out the link on the front page of the FGDO website. Just look in the sidebar in the top right hand corner and click the link to find out more.
• 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.
3. Invest in your marketing
Your marketing should be designed to get you the type of clients you WANT and NEED in your business.
Marketing is critical to your business success. The bottom line is – if you don’t have any clients you don’t have a business.
In a recent poll on ForGraphicDesignersOnly.com 68% 0f all design entrepreneurs polled spend less than $100/month on their marketing efforts. And 36% of those designers spend less than $25/month!!
You should be investing a reasonable amount of time each week on your marketing efforts if you want to see your business grow and remain healthy through all types of marketplace environments.
The time you spend on your marketing should be focused on not only on identifying new prospects and converting them into clients but it should be directed at your current clients as well.
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.)
Design your marketing machine to help you identify high probability prospects– and then helps you convert your prospects into clients. And create a program that makes loyal (repeat) customers of the ones you have.
If you need some more help developing a system that works for your business you can download the Podcast #103 entitled: “3 Steps to profitability”.
4. Invest in delivering outstanding service
This last point is about defining what your business is UNIQUELY GOOD at and to be in a constant state of developing it.
It’s delivering on your promises, and exceeding your clients expectations.
Every time, without exception.
Being able to find and get clients for your business won’t mean a heck of a lot, if you can’t deliver a great service. Because delivering great service ensures you will have repeat customers. And repeat customers are crucial to your business success.
So be dedicated to delivering on the promises that you make.
This means everything from setting, keeping and conducting meetings. To consistently creating design solution that are profitable to your clients.
It will mean that you need to keep clients informed of project progress.
Quote competitively. Provide valuable information and consulting.
Alert your clients to possible pitfalls and problems.
You’ll need to be responsive to emails and phone calls.
You will need to invoice and collect in a timely fashion.
And you will always need to be polite, courteous and collected – even in the face of problems and upset clients.
All of these duties are a reflection of the level of service you provide your client.
This may be very challenging for you if you are a solo design firm or even if you are the owner of a small design firm of a few people. If this is you, then you need to remember – not only are you the ‘chief cook and bottle washer’ – but you are the VP of customer satisfaction.
Doing everything in your business can be very challenging.
In fact sometimes it may be downright impossible. So, to achieve a high level of service to your clients you may have to delegate some of your responsibilities. So don’t be afraid to enlist some help from time to time.
This might mean that you will have to pay for a freelancer to support your design services. Or it might mean hiring a student to answer phones. You might have to hire an accountant to do your monthly billings. Or you may even have to hire a full-time employee to support you in your business.
Wherever possible you should try to delegate everything but your core strengths. Now this is easier said than done. Especially if you work alone. But the sooner you delegate those things that you aren’t the best at – the quicker you can get to developing your core strengths and providing outstanding service.
In my on design firm, I have spent the last ten years looking for and hiring key people with unique skills and talents to augment what I do. This not only helps support the level of service my company provides to my clients it creates a stronger product offering.
It’s important to realize that at some point you won’t be able to do everything yourself in your business. And to get better you’ll have to delegate some responsibilities. This doesn’t mean you have to hire someone full time – but it may mean that you do hire temporary help.
True. Bringing on new people adds another level of complexity to your business. Now you have to ‘manage people’ on top of managing your clients. And the next thing you know – the person you hired to take the pressure off has instead added a whole new stress of its own. So to minimize that impact create standards and processes for the way you work. Clearly define how you approach problems and solve them. Write them down. And refer to them often.
This applies whether you are a one person shop – or a 10 person firm.
Writing down the way you do something will help set standards in your business and it will ensure a consistent and predictable product every time.
Share this knowledge with your freelancers and staff. So that they CONSISTENTLY deliver the type of service and quality that you want to your client every time.
Delivering outstanding service won’t only be a great point of differentiation from your competitors – it will be what your clients count on when they refer you to other companies.
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 on the most beneficial activities.
So what about these 4 investment tips are they simple and easy? Yes.
But they come with a cost. And nothing goes into the business investmet bacnk until you start to take action on them.
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.
See you again soon.
Dedicated to Graphic Designer SuccessMichael Huggins
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