Web designing is a creative profession.
So, sitting 9-5 every weekday on the desk with the same old routine and waiting for your design-skills to boost up can be tiring. No doubt that mundane jobs give you a super-slow way to evolve.
Looking for a change?
Well, if you are, then you have two possible solutions:
1. become a freelancer
2. start a design-business
Before any designer starts their own design business, they most often start with freelancing. It can be quite daunting at first but it is an important pathway into the design business world. This gives you a hands-on practice and knowledge about how and where to find the right clients, how to decide and bargain on the price, marketing the business both online and offline and many more. So, if you have never tried freelancing or had given up on it, the journey of your design business can be predicted to be tough.
P.S: If you want to start your freelancing business, then there are a number of platforms where you can find a number of opportunities. Upwork, Guru, etc. are some of the top sites where you can start your career.
But, if you have had a successful freelancing business before and had quite a client connection, it is the right time for you to think about your second option; starting a design business.
In order to become an entrepreneur, a web designer has two pathways:
1. Design consultancy
The intriguing truth about creativity is that it comes at times unexpected. It is elusive, especially, during the time period when all your clients want you to be creative; when every time you are asked to come up with a disparate, unique idea.
Wish there were any magical wand that could make you creative whenever, eh??
Sad thing, but, there isn’t. You have to finish each project before the deadline and in the best creative way possible. Otherwise, it is hard to please your fastidious clients.
So, if you are tired of the cliché 9-5 jobs or freelancing, then becoming a design consultant could be an option for you.
Being a design consultant, you have the privilege to charge a rate higher than you would as a designer. No more deadline tensions, no more creativity, and no more sacrificing your family-time. Consulting doesn’t need much time as you don’t have to design yourself. If you have a lot of connections, you can also consult higher number of clients. So, becoming a design consultant can bring you a lot of benefits than you could imagine.
2. Design studio
If you love being creative and want to work on bigger projects by cooperating with other designers and developers, then this business is the best solution for you. It gives you an opportunity to be your own boss and provides you an independence.
But, starting and running up a design studio can be daunting. It takes the ambitious kind of mindset to start a design studio business and patience, perseverance and boldness to take it to the success-peak. Otherwise, most design studio businesses fail at the most basic level; shattering the dreams of the designers into pieces. That said, it isn’t impossible to create a successful design business when you develop and acquire the requirements.
Click here to learn a few web design tips that every web designer needs to learn about.
Below, we have listed out the best tips for you to consider for creating a successful design business.
Prepare proper business plans
Running a business without any business plan and model is like a ship wandering on an ocean without a destination. Though you might have painted the picture of your business destination in your mind, without a proper roadmap, it might take a long time for you to reach it. As you’re starting a small business, you might even feel the unnecessity of a business plan. It might consume a chunk of your time as well. But, it is a crucial part of your business.
It will help you think about your business more analytically. You will increase your ability to analyze the role of your business in your design industry. This even makes it simpler for you to research and collect the data about your competitors. All in all, it provides you understand your business better.
Learn to say ‘No’
Not all the projects that come through the door is going to be productive for you. But, as a starter, you might feel tempted to take in each and every project fearing that you might lose that very client. It’s a bad approach.
You need to learn to say NO. Because with all the bills consumed by your business each month, taking in smaller projects can be harmful. When you are busy with minor projects, you will be compelled to say ‘no’ to the larger ones. Collaterally, you will also lose your business’s chance to connect with larger clients, leaving your business vulnerable to bankruptcy.
Study marketing
It’s no surprise that marketing is crucial for your business; in fact, for every business. Being a startup, it is quite rare that you have a large client circle. It is also hard to get referrals even if you have been in freelancing business for a long, long time.
Thus, you need to get yourself into marketing. But, learning every form of marketing can befuddle you. So, minimize the burden. Learn at least one form of marketing at first. For starters, you could dive yourself deep into social media marketing which is the most hyped up type of marketing today.
Want to learn some digital marketing strategies?
Hold a job for safe-side
Making your business a success can be very tough. The bills that you have to pay each month can sum up into a larger number if proper business strategies aren’t applied. There will always be a chance that your business goes down.
So, always keep yourself on the safe side. If you’re doing freelancing or a 9-5 job or even something out of the design industry, don’t quit; not until your business reaches a safer side or you have an adequate amount saved in your account. Besides, holding a job will also set you free to take risks; and sometimes risks act as roller coasters that will take you up in no time.
Minimize the investment
Just like we told you before, your business always has a chance of failure. The wise solution is to reduce the monetary ones. In other words, don’t buy stuffs for your office that you could do without.
Well, we’re sure, you might have omitted the extravagant carpets, wall arts, paintings and all similar stuffs. But, you can do even more. Choose an office location nearer to your location; use the internet service which is enough for you; buy desk rental service, and so on. The main thing is to try to reduce waste wherever you can and make do for the time being.
Learn more about the struggles that a designer faces in their career.