Resourceful Designer - A Graphic Design Podcast

So you're running a graphic design business. You're plugging away day after day, week after week, engaging with clients and designing amazing things for them. Life is great, you’re living the dream. But what if the unexpected happened? Are you prepared?

Impostor Syndrome is a collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist even in the face of information that indicates that the opposite is true. It is experienced internally as chronic self-doubt and feelings of intellectual fraudulence.

Let me ask you. If you are listening to this podcast because of your dream of running your own design business, but you haven’t started one yet, why not? Is it fear? Is it imposter syndrome? What factor is preventing you from moving forward? What's holding you back?

Downtime can be put to good use and become productive time, benefiting your business while still giving your mind a break. The next time you feel that pull from the rabbit hole that is YouTube or Facebook, I want you to think of productive things you could be doing instead. To help you, I’m going to share ten productive things you can do when you’re not busy.

Do you offer fixed prices to your clients or is hourly billing your pricing strategy of choice? I'm not interested in how you come up with your rate or your price. What I’m asking is, do you or don't you know how much a design job will cost before beginning the project?

A Cold email is a very effective way to reach out to potential new clients. So effective in fact that it’s been in use since the first businesses were around. OK, maybe not cold emailing, but cold calling has been.

Do you worry about your eyesight? As a designer, there’s pretty much no escaping being in front of a screen. If you’re like me, between the computer, phone and TV, you probably spend more time each day with your eyes staring at a screen than you do sleeping. Face it, we’re slaves to our tech displays.

A Goodbye Packet is a document that informs the client of the end of their project. It lets them know that should they require any more work from you they’ll have to pay for it.

Client Offboarding is the final step in building that oh so meaningful client relationship that will keep them coming back to you time and again with more design projects.

The Design Contract is the crucial final part of the Client Onboarding Process. This vital part confirms that a potential client is now a paying client. Without a contract in place, you are opening yourself up to problems in the future.