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Resourceful Designer: Strategies for running a graphic design business

Offering resources to help streamline your home based graphic design and web design business so you can get back to what you do best… Designing!
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Resourceful Designer: Strategies for running a graphic design business
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Now displaying: November, 2015
Nov 25, 2015

6 Ways To Boost Your Creativity.

Are you looking for ways to boost your creativity? If you're anything like me you sometimes suffer from a lack of creativity. Sometimes it's just a slump and sometimes it's a full on block. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a way to boost your creativity during these times? Unfortunately there is no magical on/off switch or throttle we can use to increase our creative output. There are however, ways you can help boost your creativity. In today's podcast I share six ways that I use to help me when I'm in a slump.

Here is my list of ways to boost your creativity

  1. Put it down on paper or screen
  2. Step back and have a look
  3. Occupy your mind with something menial
  4. Change your perspective, literally
  5. Change your diet
  6. Ask for help

Four Week Marketing Boost - FREE GUIDE

Download my FREE guide, the Four Week Marketing Boost to help improve your business' image and create the best first impression possible to attract more clients.

Subscribe to the podcast

Subscribe on iTunes
Subscribe on Stitcher
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Contact me

Send me feedback

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Design Resource

This week's resource may not sound at first like something you would use in your graphic design business. But it has helped me streamline my graphic design business so much that I have to share it. It's ScreenFlow by Telestream. Using ScreenFlow I've saves so much time. Instead of teaching clients how to use their new websites and then helping them again a month or so later when they've forgotten, now I just record a short instructions video showing them what to do. If they need a refresher or need to train someone new, they have access to the video and they don't have to interrupt me for help. For that reason along I highly recommend ScreenFlow.

And if you decide to purchase it before November 30, 2015 you can save 30% during their Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale.

I want to help you.

Running a graphic design or web design business all by yourself isn't easy. If there are any struggles you face running your design business please reach out to me. I'll do my best to help you by addressing your issues in a future blog post or podcast episode here at Resourceful Designer. You can reach me at feedback@resourcefuldesigner.com

Nov 19, 2015

Pricing Strategies For Your Graphic Design Business.

One of the hardest things to figure out when starting your graphic design business is what pricing strategies to use. There are so many options to consider; your location, your skill level, your reputation, your competition and many more. Hopefully after todays episode of Resourceful Designer you'll have a better understanding of the various pricing strategies you can use to run your business.

Here are the 5 Pricing Strategies Discussed

1) Hourly Rate Pricing

Hourly Rate Pricing is the easiest pricing strategy to implement. You simply determine your rate and then charge it to your client for each hour or part thereof spent on their job.

 

2) Cost Plus Pricing

Cost Plus Pricing isn't as popular in the graphic design industry as it is in others but it does prove useful if you're also acting as a broker for printing or other services. In Cost Plus Pricing you determine the full cost of a job and then mark up that cost by a certain dollar amount or percentage in order to make a profit.

3) Competitor Bases Pricing

Competitor Based Pricing is great for new and inexperienced graphic designers when they first start their business. You determine your competitions' pricing strategies and then base your price on theirs. Either matching or beating their price. Once your business is established you should abandon Competitor Based Pricing for one of the other methods.

4) Project Based Pricing

Next to Hourly Rate Pricing, Project Based Pricing is the most common in the Graphic Design profession. With Project Based Pricing you determine through experience and guessing what a job will cost. It is suggested you pad your estimates in case you encounter unforeseen hurdles along the way. If you complete the project faster than you had estimated you make a bigger profit.

5) Value Based Pricing

Value Based Pricing is the Holy Grail of the pricing strategies. With Value Based Pricing you ignore the actual cost of the job and instead determine a price based on the perceived value your client will get from he project. Some clients will are willing to pay premium prices for that perceived value. Value Based Pricing is the most advanced of the pricing strategies and should be approached with care. However, when done right, Value Based Pricing will produce your highest profit.

When you succeed with your chosen pricing strategies you'll...

Attract better design clients
Have a better return on your time
Be able to devote more time per project
Have less trouble dealing with your clients

If I missed any pricing strategies please leave a comment at resourcefuldesigner.com/episode11

Four Week Marketing Boost - FREE GUIDE

Download my FREE guide, the Four Week Marketing Boost to help improve your business' image and create the best first impression possible to attract more clients.

Subscribe to the podcast

Subscribe on iTunes
Subscribe on Stitcher
Subscribe on Android

Contact me

Send me feedback

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook

Design Resource

This week's resource is the font management software Suitcase Fusion from Extensis. I've been using Suitcase Fusion to manage my fonts for over 15 years and I have never thought about switching to another option. Suitcase Fusion allows you to organize your fonts and activate/deactivate them as you need them. You can tag your fonts with provided styles or create your own allowing you to easily search through and find the font you need amongst the thousands on your computer.

I want to help you.

Running a graphic design or web design business all by yourself isn't easy. If there are any struggles you face running your design business please reach out to me. I'll do my best to help you by addressing your issues in a future blog post or podcast episode here at Resourceful Designer. You can reach me at feedback@resourcefuldesigner.com

Nov 11, 2015

How To Deal With Design Clients Who Have Tunnel Vision

It's happened to all graphic designers. A client asks you to create some wonderful design but when you're given the information you realize that your client is designing this piece for their own needs and not the needs of their clients. I call this tunnel vision. When the client isn't looking beyond themselves.

Tunnel Vision can also occur when a client has a design idea in their head, and wants you to create it exactly how they picture it. They are not open to other, often better ways to communicate their idea.

Regardless of what type of tunnel vision they have, our job as graphic designers is to educate our clients on what is good design. We need to be able to give them what they need and not necessarily what they want. If you nurture this sort of association with your clients you can look forward to a long and prosperous relationship. 

Four Week Marketing Boost - FREE GUIDE

Download my FREE guide, the Four Week Marketing Boost to help improve your business' image and create the best first impression possible to attract more clients.

Subscribe to the podcast

Subscribe on iTunes
Subscribe on Stitcher
Subscribe on Android

Contact me

Send me feedback

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook

Design Resource

One of the scariest things you can think of as a designer is what would happen if disaster strikes and you loose all your computer files. What would it mean for your business? Backblaze offers a simple unlimited online backup solution for your design business for only $5/month. And it's so easy. You just set it up and forget about it. Backblaze works in the background automatically backing up your files. And if you ever loose your data for whatever reason, you wont have to worry because you'll know everything can be restored from Backblaze.

If you're interested in finding out more about Backblaze's online backup solution and trying a 15 day free trial, visit resourcefuldesigner.com/backup

I want to help you.

Running a graphic design or web design business all by yourself isn't easy. If there are any struggles you face running your design business please reach out to me. I'll do my best to help you by addressing your issues in a future blog post or podcast episode here at Resourceful Designer. You can reach me at feedback@resourcefuldesigner.com

Nov 4, 2015

12 Ways To Earn Extra Income As A Graphic Designer.

No matter how good a graphic designer you are there will be times when work is slow and you find yourself with some extra time on your hands. These times are perfect opportunities to put your design skills to work and earn extra income.

Methods to earn extra income discussed in this episode

  1. Become a print broker
  2. Become a media host
  3. Create designs to sell on merchandise
  4. Create and sell website themes.
  5. Sell your design leftovers.
  6. Create and sell designs to stock image sites.
  7. Design a font/typeface.
  8. Create and sell a Photoshop action or Illustrator Style.
  9. Manage a client's social media accounts
  10. Teach a workshop/course locally or online
  11. Build and monetize a niche website
  12. Write a book/ebook

There are many more ways for a graphic designer to use their skills to earn extra income. Those I talk about in this episode are the ones I have experience with and am comfortable talking about.

Links mentioned in this episode.

List of sites you can use to earn extra income as a graphic designer.

 

Four Week Marketing Boost - FREE GUIDE

Download my FREE guide, the Four Week Marketing Boost to help improve your business' image and create the best first impression possible to attract more clients.

Subscribe to the podcast

Subscribe on iTunes
Subscribe on Stitcher
Subscribe on Android

Contact me

Send me feedback

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook

Design Resource

If you are looking for a web host for yourself or your clients I suggest you visit resourcefuldesigner.com/hosting and check out Hostgator. I've been using them for several years now and have been very pleased with their service. If you decide to sign up you can use the discount code "RESOURCEFUL25" to get a 25% discount on your purchase of a hosting package.

I want to help you.

Running a graphic design or web design business all by yourself isn't easy. If there are any struggles you face running your design business please reach out to me. I'll do my best to help you by addressing your issues in a future blog post or podcast episode here at Resourceful Designer. You can reach me at feedback@resourcefuldesigner.com

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