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Business of Design
1. M AT T C R E S T / A R T L E T I C
BUSINESS OF DESIGN
2. LIKE A BOSS
• Responsible for your own success or failure
• Set your own hours (kind of)
• Choose the type of work you do
• Potential to make more money
4. GET A JOB
• You don't know as much as you think you do
• Must be super productive and fast at the actual design work, and then do
all the business stuff on top
• Learn as a designer and a business person before starting your own thing
5. WALK BEFORE YOUR RUN
• Freelance before you’re fully independent
• Learn valuable lessons with little to no risk
7. CLIENTS ARE SKEPTICAL
• They pay for something without a known outcome
• Previous designers may have left them hanging
8. C O M M U N I C AT I O N
• Be personable, friendly, but professional
• Missing a deadline? Communicate.
• Over budget? Communicate.
9. PROFESSIONALISM
• Set clear expectations for roles
• Go the extra mile for your clients
• Maintain boundaries
• No after hours emails*
10. REFERRALS
• Good client relationships = quality referrals
• Easiest way to get new clients
• Expectations already set
• Clients refer similar clients
12. PRICING
• Several options (hourly, fixed-fee, retainer, iteration)
• GetHarvest.com/field-guides/pricing/
• Too much work but not enough money? Raise your rates.
• Never get feedback you're too expensive? Charging too little.
14. LEGAL
• Set yourself up as an LLC
• Lawyer? Probably not necessary*
• State of Colorado has a helpful guide:
https://www.colorado.gov/apps/jboss/cbe//start-business.xhtml
15. CONTRACTS
• Create a solid contract you understand
• Get it signed before you do any work
• Lawyer?
• Mule Design has an good, opinionated article on contracts:
MuleDesign.com/2011/04/getting-comfortable-with-contracts/
16. TA X E S
• Pay quarterly estimated payments
• Year 1: guestimate based on revenue
• Year 2+: accountant should help you
19. A C C O U N TA N T S
• Get an accountant
• $250-$600 for an accountant to do your tax return
(includes your personal return if taxed as LLC)
• They'll save you that money
• Won't get audited
• Spend time on billable work
21. TEACH YOURSELF
• Learn how to develop websites
• Improve your hand lettering
• Design is constantly changing, you need to as well
22. BOOKS
T H E B U S I N E S S S I D E O F C R E AT I V I T Y
by Cameron S. Foote
You need this book. No questions.
HOW TO BE A GRAPHIC DESIGNER
WITHOUT LOSING YOUR SOUL
by Adrian Shoughnessy
One of my favorite books on design business.
- I run Artletic. A small design shop with three employees.
- We design for the web and mobile with a focus on user experience
- I’ll show a few examples of what we’ve been working on lately and then some info on how I got to where I am today
—
Once you've made the decision to go full-on freelance or independent (there's a difference in my book), there's some things you need to think about.
- If possible, I very highly recommend getting a job right out of school with a design firm. You may think you know a lot right now, but you don't.
- Do you think you're busy and don't have much time right now in school? Ha, nice try. You have to be insanely productive and fast at the actual design work and then do all the business stuff on top of the actual design work. Expect to spend ~20% of your time on non-billable "business stuff".
- You have a lot to learn as a designer and a business person before I'd recommend starting your own thing.
- That doesn't mean don't do any freelance work on the side.
- You’ll learn valuable lessons while not having all your eggs in one basket.
- On the other hand, if you're dead set on going independent right away or don't have the option of a job elsewhere, take these things into consideration.
- Out of everything I'll say, this is the most important.
- Without good working relationships with your clients, your business will fail. With good client relationships, communication, and solid work ethic, you'll be turning away projects.
- Many clients with good budgets are nervous about working with independent designers because they've had experience working with independent designers.
- I can't count how many times I've heard a prospective client talk about how they're previous designer didn't follow through or bailed on them. It's very rarely about the quality of the work. It's about the relationship. And as with any relationship, it's all about the communication.
- If you're going to miss a deadline, the client shouldn't be hearing about it for the first time on that day. Communicate.
- If changes to a project scope require more time and money, the client shouldn't find out about when they get the invoice. Communicate.
- These things don't mean you should bend over backwards to every request or that you shouldn't be professional.
- Setting clear expectations of what your role is as the designer and what they as the client are responsible for can do wonders in setting the stage for the working relationship.
- I very rarely reply to client emails in the evenings or on weekends. I don't want to set the precedent that I'm available at all times. They respect my time because I've set standards. If some kind of emergency comes through and I'm able to, I'll respond or make a quick change on something, but that is the exception, not the rule.
- A client that likes you is more likely to recommend you to other prospective clients. It's simple. And a referral is the best and easiest way to grow your business.
- Several options here. I've found good success in the "Retainer" and "Time & materials / iteration" methods described in this article: http://www.getharvest.com/field-guides/pricing/
- Starting out, if you find yourself swamped with work but not making as much money as you think you should, raise your rates on the next estimate.
- If you never get feedback that you're too expensive, you're charging too little.
- Set yourself up as an LLC. This is relatively painless.
- You shouldn't have to hire a lawyer to do it for you (unless you're forming a partnership).
- The state of Colorado is pretty good at walking you through the process, but it can be a bit tricky. Be patient.
https://www.colorado.gov/apps/jboss/cbe//start-business.xhtml
- You need a good contract that is signed before starting any work. Do research on this. Make it something you update with experience.
- Many people recommend getting a lawyer to write the first one. I think that's overkill. Your mileage may vary.
- Mule Design has a very opinionated blog entry about contracts. Read it: http://muledesign.com/2011/04/getting-comfortable-with-contracts/
- Pay estimated quarterly taxes.
- Starting out, you'll just make guestimates based on what revenue you're pulling in.
- After that your accountant should help you figure out how much you need to send the feds and the state on a quarterly basis. Forgetting to do this makes for an unpleasant check-writing experience come tax time.
- Keep on top of this as much as possible. It's not in most designer's make-up to deal with bookkeeping and accounting stuff very well, but you can't afford to suck at it.
- You can do your own bookkeeping for a while (unless you just fully admit you suck at it and are fine paying someone to do it once or twice a month), but the accounting and tax stuff you should really have an accountant do for you.
- It’ll cost you from $300-600 for an accountant to do your tax returns (which, if you're a sole proprietor LLC, which I'd recommend, will actually be the same as your personal returns, so you'll get it all done at once).
- But it is totally worth every penny. They'll likely save you that money anyway, could very well help you from screwing yourself into getting audited
- and you can spend the time on actual billable work.
- You should constantly be working on learning new things
- Challenge yourself
- You’ll become a more valuable designer
- Charge clients for new capabilities
