Whether you’re an industry veteran or just booking your first clients, creative business coach Sean Low has valuable insight that can help your firm thrive. Low’s biweekly column offers practical wisdom for embracing your full potential and increasing your bottom line.
From the 25 columns published over the last 12 months, we chose 10 standout pieces of advice to reflect on as the year comes to a close. From why to adopt a flat fee model to what to do when another designer takes credit for your work (in a national magazine, no less), Low’s words of wisdom are a must-read.
Want to catch up on Sean Low’s columns? Start here. Got a question of your own? Drop us a line.
Money Talk
On radical transparency about your fee: “Perhaps more important than clearly communicating what your vision will cost to execute is the ability and willingness to go one step further and provide your clients with a clear picture of their place in your business. Clients deserve to know how important they are to you: Are they one of five—or even one in 10, or 30 clients per year? Knowing that goes hand in hand with knowing a number almost no designer shares: projected revenue. Every business I can think of is almost required to share projected revenue to begin any analysis for just about any purpose. If you intend to make $10 and there are only five clients, it is very easy for a client to understand why they are paying your firm $2. That is clarity.”
On why not to lower project minimums in lean times: “Better clients pay more, not less. You can argue the point and do lower-budget projects, but do not complain when the better clients find those designers who are not willing to compromise their standards no matter what is happening in the larger economy. Integrity matters most when you are challenged to walk the talk. Honor all that you have built by going further, even when it’s difficult. The best apples are always the ones still on the tree, no matter how nice the ones on the ground appear to be.”
On eschewing the hourly-plus-commission model: “The hourly plus commission model means that you’re motivated to play it safe and specify pricier goods to ensure that your client will purchase what is necessary for you to earn what you need to make. That stretch might just cost you the entire sale, as well as an enormous amount of revenue—not to mention that it is not the way to preserve your creative integrity, which hinges on selecting the best item for the space, not the most expensive one.”
Leading the Charge
On confidently handing off client communications: “Do not hire anyone, especially an employee that will interface with your clients, until you have done the work of defining your culture. Once you’ve done that, you can let the right team members be bastions of your culture and help carry you and your firm forward. A path uncharted, to be sure, but unexpected opportunity most certainly awaits if you choose to walk it.”
On motivating employees to step up: “Catching small mistakes might be an indication of your own perfectionism, but far more likely is that you have robbed your employees of their voice and their need and desire to own their work. Fun fact: Your design firm is not a factory. It solely exists to transform lives. If your employees are not required to stand on their work, to provide their opinions, and to have the freedom to act within the confines of their defined lanes, then you will forever be dissatisfied.”
Peer-to-Peer
On responding to a designer taking credit for your work: “Sometimes we should just turn the other cheek and move on. This is not one of those times. If you believe in the power of what you do and the responsibility to honor that power, allow a lawyer to help you protect your reputation, your work and your unwillingness to be silenced. If all that is accomplished is putting the industry on notice that stealing designs will never be OK, it will be money more than well spent.”
On outgrowing collaborators: “The beauty of sunk cost is not that the past is meaningless—it is just that the past is complete in providing its value. Bought and paid for. Be grateful, be humble, be inspired—just do not be indebted. Seeing the world from the sky requires support from those who have already experienced the view. Let that be enough as you learn the power of creation, the essence of transformative change and the gravitas that comes with obsession. You have earned the right to yet again chart an uncertain future with those who see as you now do. Let that be enough to allow you to say a gracious goodbye to yesterday, while embracing all of the tomorrows that await.”
On successfully sharing a budget with builders: “You are frustrated because your voice is quietest at the beginning of a project and loudest at the end. In fact, you are competition in the beginning, because your budget is available to those who will certainly make money on the increased spend (i.e., the architect and contractor). The only way to change the dynamic is to stress the importance of the beautiful result you will provide and the fact that you are the only professional who sees the whole picture from beginning to end of the project. For far too long, designers’ business models (yours very much included) have been too heavily weighted on the end of the project, so when the architect’s and contractor’s voices are loudest, designers get run over.”
New Business
On parting ways with a steamrolling client: “We have all been to a terrible movie. An hour in, your popcorn is gone, the movie is not getting any better, and you really want to leave. But you stick it out, madder than ever that you are still there. The same is true here, in this situation with your pushy client. If you want to reset your relationship, provide clarity, brevity and intention as to how the relationship will continue from here to the finish line. What if I told you that you were being inconsiderate, condescending and untrustworthy if you did not? Suffering in silence will only erode the very foundation of your relationship. Your promise is only to be better tomorrow. No better time to work on that promise than today.”
On boldly marketing your business: “Targeting a particular market niche means that you make an outrageous promise and pair it with an outrageous demand. Blue Bottle Coffee says it makes the most outrageously good cup of coffee for coffee lovers and snobs. However, to get that cup of coffee, you have to wait twice as long to get it and pay twice as much. Your job is to create scarcity and to live in your niche with an outrageous promise and outrageous demand. It means you will get paid the most to do what you do, so that you get permission to do only your best. That is the definition of an outrageous promise and an outrageous demand. You do both so that you can provide your best and are given the stage to do so.”
