Designer Boss
Designer Boss
The biggest mistakes we've made in our design biz!
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0:04
Welcome to the designer boss podcast, listen, learn, love and level up with the ultimate success guide for web and graphic designers.
0:17
My name is Anna Dower. I'm a cake lover and success-slaying graphic design mentor.
0:23
And I'm Emma Kate, your personal sensei for mastering the wonderful world of the Web.
0:30
Together, we'll show you how to harness our tried and tested experiences and hard-earned lessons while you soak up everything we know about building a successful design business.
0:47
Hi, everyone, welcome to the Designer Boss Podcast. I'm Emma Kate. And I'm here with Anna Dower. And today we're gonna chat about the three biggest mistakes or three mistakes we've made in our design businesses. I think all of mine have been very painful. How about yours, Anna?
1:07
Yes. And the thing is, I probably didn't even realized they were mistakes at the time. But Hindsight is a very, you know, helpful thing. But hopefully by us talking about our mistakes, it will stop you guys from making the same mistakes, or it might make you realize, I think that's where I'm at right now. It's probably time to stop doing that. Yeah,
1:34
definitely. And I think that the best thing, though, about all of these mistakes, and I'm sure you're probably the same manner is that you make that mistake, and then you're like, Okay, I'm gonna fix this. So I don't do that again. Yeah. And so yeah, hopefully by saying these are telling you our mistakes and these embarrassing moments I've had over our careers that you don't have to make the same mistakes, as we did. So did you want to share your first mistake Anna.
2:03
Sure, the first one is, early on in my design business, probably not even that early. Like, I would just take any client, basically, there was no kind of prerequisites. I would just take on any design job from any industry. And it makes me think of a couple of clients that turned into nightmares. The first one was, she had like an organization business. And somehow she thought that she needed to mentor me, like it was a massive opportunity to work with her. And you know, and now that I think back to that, I'm like, oh, alarm bells, like that's not right. And she would be like, Oh, it shouldn't take you that long. I will give you some mentoring in return. And she was just totally, totally not my ideal client. She was really controlling, I basically had no creative freedom over anything. She didn't trust the process. She didn't trust me as a designer. She basically saw me as someone she could mold. Yeah, and I did that for way too long. Another one was someone that had a spiritual business. And if you have followed me for a while, I don’t do hippies. And now I realized that after working with people in that industry, but yeah, I took on a client who was in a spiritual industry. And they all ended up the same for me, for the process, like we are not aligned, we do not speak the same language. And yeah, that ended pretty badly where I tried to fire her, but she wouldn't let me fire. And at that point, I didn't have a clause in my terms and conditions saying I can end the working relationship at any time, you know, for whatever reason. So that was a big lesson as well. So that was my first mistake is like ignoring the alarm bells and working with people that were not my ideal client.
4:26
I'm just laughing over here because that's exactly what happened. I think learning like mine is not trusting my intuition. Yes. Feeling my gut going, Oh, I didn't know about this one. Like the first warning sign for my this particular client was that she emailed me and her name was morning clouds.
5:03
You know, at the end of the day, she was lovely. But yes, she was quite hippy. And it was just from the get go. We weren't a good fit. And I should have known that. And I actually didn't know that I quoted high for that job. Yet she accepted. And it was just like, Oh, dang. Now I have to work with her. And it just turned into such a nightmare. And it was early on in my career. So I didn't have those clauses either. I didn't have sort of like a strict communication policy. And like, all these kinds of things that would have made that job run a lot smoother, would have made her realize I wasn't a good fit earlier on. And she wouldn't have wanted to work with me. But it didn't get to that point where I ended up telling her like, Okay, I've given you everything. Now, I am blocking your email. Yeah, you can't email me anymore. Like, and I literally blocked it. And I told her I was going to because it was just like, you know, it's just dragged on for so long. And then it was email after email, and then me sending stuff like 14, I sent this to this date, like, three weeks ago, like it was just constant. And yeah, it was just terrible. So wow, yes, definitely trust you. Trust your gutts, trust yourself. Like, if you think they're not a good fit, and you don't need the money, then don't take them on.
6:30
Yes. Make changes in your business. So it never happens. Again, have a section on your services page that says we work well with these types of people. And then a section that we are not aligned with these types of people. And listen, don't be afraid to like piss off people who aren't your ideal client.
6:52
One of the things that I implemented stronger, I think after following you, I think, before we even worked together, and like a lot of your tips is like saying you don't want to talk on the phone, you don't have to talk on the phone mentioned that you're an online business. And so I put that little disclaimer on my contact page, go and give out my phone number. And then even in like the first step that a lot of my clients take or leads take will fill out my project inquiry form. And in that form, it tells me my communication policy, is this okay with you? Yes or no? And so it's like, right then and there. You're either saying yes, it's fine. And you'll continue to potentially work with me or No, it's not. And you can stop filling out the form because it's yes, work out. And it's been fantastic. Because right from the get-go. It's super clear. And that's just for me, because I don't know, I don't want to talk on the phone all the time. But there are certain designers that do like that. And that's why they like to communicate
7:49
the time that you make an exception, it's going to bite you in the ass. Like, if you like, oh, but it's my sister's best friend. And she's opening a crystal shop. No, don't do it. Well, let's see if our second mistake is the same.
8:07
Might only be three mistakes in this episode.
8:10
Sorry. Well, my second mistake was representing myself as something that wasn't actually me. And that's because I had this idea in my head that you had to follow design trends, you had to look a certain way, you had to speak a certain way or act a certain way, in order to be seen as a successful graphic designer. And in the design industry, I feel like there's like the cool designers. And then there's like the Daggy designers, and we all want to be the cool designers like it's just inbuilt in us. And I look back at some of my brand, you know, my own brand over the years and how it's evolved. But I look back at stuff and I think that is not me at all. That is just me tried to be one of those cool designers. Like at one point, my website was all like beachy photos. I like the beach but like it shouldn't be my brand. The colors were blue, like I don't even I don't like blue. I remember at one stage my branding was black and gold because I thought that's what looks expensive and locks, you know, and it wasn't authentic to me at all. I spent a lot of time, you know, thinking that I couldn't be me, which is like pink and red and flowers and girly and cutesy because I wouldn't be seen as a cool, professional graphic designer. Thankfully, I've gotten over that. And now I just go all the way with who I am And it feels so much better.
10:03
And it just looks it gives you such a recognizable brand too and now at any time there's pink and red and love hearts and flowers, and so you just know its Anna.
10:13
Yeah. And I just embrace my uncoolness. And then when I did that all these other uncool designers were like, oh my god, I so relate to you, you know, and they were like, I've never felt cool. And it's like, it brings out your people. And before I was not attracting my people, because I wasn't being myself.
10:37
I've definitely made that mistake over the years too, but it's not one on my list.
So my second mistake is probably I'm sure it's probably one that you've made in the past too. I know a lot of people have is releasing the final files before you get the final payment. And mine was like launching the website on the client's hosting. I have no control over it before getting the final payment. I probably did that quite a few times before I got stung as well. You know, most people will pay and they are decent people, some people not. And then yeah, yeah, out of pocket. Like I think probably about $2,000. with this one. And it turned and now a friend of a friend. But it turned out they were builders and they went bankrupt.I didn't get my money. And so as much as people can have really good intentions, they can't control certain things. And then I never got paid, I had to go to you know, whatever the liquidation lawyers were but then you know, never got anything. So that's one thing that it doesn't. I don't think it really even matters the size of the job, just make sure that you're getting paid in full before you're releasing everything to the client.
11:55
And to not even start any work without a deposit as well. Yes. Yeah.
12:01
Yeah. that's another big one, like, did not even think about the concepts or anything until that deposit is in your account. Absolutely.
12:08
Yeah, I don't even set up a project board. I don't like I don't even do anything. Pretty much the only thing I'm doing before I get a deposit is doing the proposal and sending them an invoice. And you know, maybe a discovery call or whatever. But like it's just like you don't start. I think that's a great point. Because often clients, again, can have the best intentions and be really keen to start and you think, oh, yeah, we're gonna hit the ground running on Monday, but then they just disappear off the radar.
12:38
Yeah, and then you've done work and not got paid for it. Yeah. So my final mistake is something that I know that you struggle with as well, but I used to be much worse at this. And that was like turning every idea I had into a business. Like I said, I've been doing a lot of things over the last 10 or 15 years. And that's because I, I'm an ideas person, but I had this thing where I'd come up with an idea, and then quickly make a website for it or like quickly make it happen. And I think back to it. I've had a wedding inspiration website, I've had wrapping paper that I designed and printed and sell. And so I've had so many things that were seem like amazing ideas that I quickly turned into businesses. And they just really distracted me from what I was meant to be doing, and what I could be doing to actually get my business to where I wanted it to be. So I know Elizabeth Gilbert talks about this in her book, Big Magic, she talks about not everything needs to be a business, you can have a hobby, and I think it's really important. It's something that I've gotten better at over the years. But I still have tendencies to do it. My word for 2020 was focus. And I feel like I've been pretty focused this year. But not every idea needs to be a business. You can have hobbies that are creative, that don't make you money.
14:20
Yeah, I've sort of found over the years a lot of the times where I want to be creative or whatever. Like I was getting into watercolor or you know, hand lettering or something like that. And I'm like, Oh, I could like to sell these or I could make them the business. And it takes all the fun out of it as well. It really like it sucks it out of like the leisure fun hobby zone and maybe she kind of think oh, I just feel like it kind of took the idea of the fun out of it
14:47
Then turns it into like another to do list. You know, yeah. And it's like an entrepreneur curse, you know, having all these ideas, being all these different things, but it's too distracting.
15:01
So my final one is actually a mistake from a job that we worked on together when I worked on your website, and it was not sticking to my process. It wasn't working with a nightmare client, I'm not gonna say do not work with Anna Dower. No, it was a win. So launching your beautiful new website that we did this year, and you got me to you designed it and got me to develop it for you. And the wonderful Hayley Brown from FranceShaq was building it, the LearnDash side of things for you and sorting out hosting all that kind of stuff. So I just what I did was I didn't stick to my process. I just got sort of the email and heard what was sort of going on. I was like, Yeah, well, we put these together in DB for you. No problem. Sounds great. You know, and so I just did that. And Haley did the same thing. She just got, yeah, I'll just do the LearnDash thing, and I'll sort that out. No problem. And then it gets to, you know, 24 hours before launch, or something. And I'm just like, okay, so Haley, you're gonna launch the site. And she's like, me, you're gonna launch a site, like, we completely dropped the ball on who was doing what we had no idea, because we just assumed and or had spoken to hate, I assumed you'd spoken Haley. And then she assumed you spoken to me.
16:35
I assumed you two spoken about it. And we just so it was like a mad Madhouse over the weekend, getting this thing launched, before you launch your squad, like a busy time of year. And something that could have just been handled super easy if we had known who was handling what and we didn't. And it was because we're, again, we're all friends, we just kind of assume we just go with the flow, we don't stick to our process. And it really as much as I, you know, tell my students and I've told myself, either you stick to your process, or sometimes you think, oh, like, this is just easy. Like, you don't have to go through the whole process. And so you don't do it. And then something like this happens, which, you know, we got there in the end, and it all worked out fine, but it was a stressful few days.
17:25
Yeah. And like I said, Whenever you make that exception to the rule, that's when they will bite you in the ass, it's like, it'll just be a reminder, like, now, don't color outside the lines, there's a reason that you have the step by step process, you know, and, and it is when you get relaxed, and you think it's all gonna be good. But yeah,
17:52
that really made it sort of sink in for me to, I guess not be scared of, you know, when I am working with a friend, like you should not be like, okay, Anna, these are the things that I need. And this is my process and step by step, because I kind of would have that barrier of like, oh, this is crazy. And then I'm just gonna be like, bombarding her with all this extra stuff she doesn't need and you know, it just confuses it all. But it's not , it actually make it less confusing. Even if it was more of a pain for you, at the beginning, it would have not been as painful as the situation we had just before launch.
18:31
And I've totally forgotten about that. But obviously, it's something that stuck with you. For a reason.
18:37
It was just a really good reminder, because I'd been telling students to stick to their process. And then it's just like, Oh, I'm not practicing what I preach. Yeah, I think that's really important. And even if you are dealing with a friend, you can even say, like, you know, I know this sounds a bit dry, that this is my process. Like, let's just tick all the boxes to make sure everything works out, right, because I want you to get the best possible outcome and your friend is not going to be upset by that.
19:05
And people love that shit. Like, I'd love to know what's happening next, you know, it just makes you feel secure and safe. Like Oh, they've got me you know, they know what they're doing. There's it's going to be fine. So I hope our mistakes help you guys realize that we're not perfect firstly, and that's it hopefully we've helped you dodge making the same mistakes as us.
19:32
granted like you're still gonna make mistakes in your business but I think the biggest thing is to learn from them. And even if you have, you know, you have a job and there's a stake in it go okay, what can I do for the next time and a lot of that is adding a little clause in your contract or your terms and conditions you know, when payments are due or when feedbacks due or communication policies on your website or have it you know, out figuring out, okay, what is my set process? What would make the job run smoother? And how can I communicate this with my client better? All those little things and I find even jobs that run really smoothly. It's always good to do a bit of a sort of like, debrief at the end and figure out okay, why did it run smoothly? And what how can I do that again?
20:20
Yes, exactly. And we have the power to fix all of these mistakes. Like even the difficult clients, we have the power to say, No, I don't work with those types of people anymore. And this is the only type of people that I'm going to work with. We have the power to guide at all. And I think we forget that sometimes. Okay, thanks for listening, guys. We would love to hear some of your mistakes as well. Thanks, guys. Bye.
21:07
You've been listening to the designer boss podcast with Anna Dower and Emma Kate. If you'd like to learn more about us and our upcoming digital summit for graphic and web designers, head to our website designerboss.co