Running a design business: what it's really like
I’m always talking about I make money from my online courses while I’m out doing other things - e.g. sleeping, picking up my boys from school or exercising.
I’m living my dream life now but my business hasn’t got to this point by accident. Before I reached this point I put in YEARS of exceptionally hard work to now be able to work just a few hours a day if I want to and still make money.
Starting a business is hugely rewarding but it takes hard work.
And in my experience most people aren’t willing to do the work that’s required.
Many people start a business because they want more time or to have an ‘easier life’ by working for themselves.
But you are not going to build a successful business by working 9-5. In my experience having a business means working much longer hours than you would in a paid job, especially in the beginning.
In this post I want to set your expectations about what it’s really like to run your own business.
YOU WEAR ALL THE HATS = YOU NEED TO LEARN A LOT
In the beginning you won’t have staff or others you can rely on and you will be responsible for wearing many hats. You will be in charge of marketing, sales, HR, client management, finance and more.
And if you’re like me and don’t really want to have any staff, even when your business becomes successful, then you’ll pretty much be wearing these hats forever!
To manage all of these ‘hats’ you will need to learn a lot about all sorts of things and then create systems and processes for how you manage your time and how you break up all these different types of jobs so they are manageable and actually get done.
If you want to be a business owner you can’t go in to this thinking that you ‘aren’t good at marketing’ or ‘don’t understand finances’ or ‘you don’t like social media’.
As the owner of your business it is your responsibility to understand all of the various parts of your business, at least at a rudimentary level.
I have never outsourced an aspect of my business before I have made an effort to understand it and learn how to do it myself - at least at a basic level. The reason being that if I am going to outsource something I want to know if I am getting good value and I want to be able to have intelligent discussions with the people who help me with those tasks. That means I have had to teach myself a lot about many tasks I didn’t originally know very much about.
It can be tempting to skip over areas you don’t think you are interested in or good at (e.g. marketing or sales). But learn as much as you can about running your business as a whole so that in time, as your business grows, you can outsource things you don’t enjoy but do it with the confidence that you are getting good value for money.
STOP LOOKING FOR SHORTCUTS
At least every week I get asked whether things like “follow groups” or “buying followers” is worth it.
The answer (of course!) is NOOOOO!!!! But people still ask me this anyway.
Why?
Because most people aren’t willing to do the hard work it takes to grow a community and grow a business.
This can take years and it definitely isn’t something that’s scalable - it takes consistent action every single day, day after day, for years at a time. Most people just aren’t disciplined enough to put in this level of work.
Most of the things you’ll do to grow, especially in the beginning, are not scalable and there are no short cuts.
I’ve been building my business for nearly 10 years now. I have posted to Instagram almost every day for that entire time (give or take some periods where I didn’t do this). I’ve never had viral growth on any of the platforms I post to. I’ve just chipped away and done the work that’s required and bit by bit my community has grown.
I’ve also focused on giving away as much free value as I possibly can. If I think “I could sell this” then I know I’m producing the right sort of stuff.
And that is what works - not follow groups where you end up with a whole bunch of followers who aren’t your ideal client, who will unfollow quickly anyway and who will potentially ruin your page in the eyes of the algorithm.
So stop looking for shortcuts and put in the work!
SET REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS
It is going to take time to build up a client/customer base and steady stream of revenue.
It is going to be a learning process to work out how to find paying customers and how to create the best possible experience for them as they interact with your business. Your business is unique to you and your circumstances and you are going to have to play around with the ideas until you find the right combination that works for you.
This is going to take time so be realistic.
Posting a few times to TikTok and then wondering why nobody is hiring you isn’t the way to approach this.
GET COMFORTABLE WITH MAKING MISTAKES
Your business may have some evolutions before you hit the right thing.
That's totally fine and that is what running a business is all about. I personally love the ‘game’ of business - trying things and seeing what works (and what doesn’t).
Don’t be afraid to try stuff and see what happens. Don’t always just do things the way everyone else does it. Be interesting and unique to you. If your idea fails (many of the will!) just move on to another idea.
Focus more on the process of building your business than on the outcome of making money. People can smell a mile off if you’re only in it for the money - so focus on value first and the money will follow after that.
THE MARKET IS ALWAYS RIGHT (= YOU MAY JUST NOT BE THAT GOOD)
What do I mean by this? I mean that if you create your offers, set up your marketing and put yourself out there but still find that you are having trouble getting clients then you need to look inwards.
Are you offering a product or service that the market actually wants and needs?
Are you solving a real problem (or just one that you think is a problem)?
Is your product/service actually any good?
Do you really have the right level of expertise to be offering this?
The market is always right and has a natural way of filtering out products or services that it doesn’t need or want.
That’s not a reflection on you as a business owner. It just means that somewhere along the way you have misaligned the service or product you are offering with the customer base you are trying to serve.
If you struggle to get customers you need to ultimately look at a few things:
your product-market fit
the transformation you are trying to sell
benefits of working with you over features of your products/services
the quality of what you have produced and are trying to sell
Ask yourself honestly:
Do the people in your market actually want what you are offering?
Is there an actual need for this?
Can those clients actually pay?
Would I pay for this?
Is this actually a high quality product/service?
If any of these things are out of alignment then you’ll struggle to get clients or build a profitable business.
SO WHAT’S THE POINT OF THIS POST?
The main point of this post is to remind you that running an online business is not easy.
If you’re finding it difficult then that’s completely normal!!
You are going to have to work hard, be committed, be flexible and adaptable and perhaps even do things you don’t necessarily want to do.
But if you persist and move forward bit by bit you will start to build up something that has value and that you can keep steering in different directions until you find exactly what you want and love to be doing.
So keep moving trying new things, drop what isn’t working and have don’t forget to have fun along the way!
Thanks for reading and catch you in my next post :)
Clare x
Dr Clare Le Roy
Courses and Templates for Designers and Architects
DO YOU WANT TO….
Improve your professionalism?
Find more clients?
Bring in more revenue?
Create better systems and processes?
Then check out my business courses and templates for designers and architects.
These courses and templates leave you with work done - not just a long list of things you need to do next. We have a really strong focus on taking action and getting things created that improve your business.
