Just Starting Out? 6 Things You DO NOT Need to Run Your Design Business
So before I push publish on this post – I should add a tiny bit of a disclaimer. I am a pretty frugal person. I generally trend toward that naturally in my personality. Not extreme by any means, but in high school and college I was the friend people would call when they needed someone to talk them out of buying something. So… that sort of sums it up.
Even though it is my natural inclination to be cost-conscious, the reason I am passionate about this list is that there is SO. MUCH. PRESSURE. to keep up with the Jones’ when it comes to running your studio. I am here to tell you that the number one business-related thing you should prioritize when you are first starting out is keeping your expenses under control.
Having low overhead makes you extremely nimble as a designer. It gives you so much power. So let’s dive in!
An Office/Studio Lease
We’ve all seen them on Instagram – the beautiful, light-filled design studio. On Main Street, in a beautiful building, with exquisite decor. I’ve seen relatively new designers doing commercial studio buildouts! Which is amazing, if you have the funds – but DEFINITELY not necessary. You can work from a corner of your kitchen table, your van, a coffee shop, the library, or your basement. Anywhere!
The trouble with an office lease is that it takes away a tiny bit of your power in those early days. When you are just starting out, you already don’t have the luxury of being especially choosy with your work – you need money, and you probably don’t have a ton of clients if you are new to running your own studio. So, getting yourself in a situation where you have monthly rent due on top of your other expenses just puts you in a position where you start to feel a bit panicky when leads aren’t coming through your inbox. You won’t see a slow season as a fun opportunity to work on your business. You will feel desperate. And that just isn’t a great way to feel.
If you need to have an external office for any number of reasons, try to find a multi-use office building and see what type of flexible lease you can negotiate so you don’t find yourself in a situation where you are paying $900/month for 24 months. My little studio in my 80s office building was $300–375/month during the time I was there. It was not sexy or flashy, but it got the job done.
Employees/Contractors
So this is probably a bit of an unpopular opinion, but when you are first starting out – I would recommend not outsourcing anything. Do the type of work that YOU are able to do, and just kinda stay in your lane for a few years! Even if you have been a professional designer for a while – try to give yourself at least one year of flying solo before you bring other people into the fold. Here’s why:
You need to figure out what type of work you want to do. Designing when you’re working for someone else is totally different than designing when you work for yourself. When you work for someone else – how long it takes you to create something is relevant, but not remotely as relevant as it is when you work for yourself. You need to figure out what you do best, what you can do quickly, and what type of work you enjoy the most. All valuable questions you just cannot find an answer to unless you are doing the work on your own for a good chunk of time.
If you need to hire contractors – try to NOT offer guaranteed hours at the upper threshold of your budget. Guaranteed hours would be telling a contractor that they will have 10 hours of work every week. Which means they will expect 10 hours of pay from you every week, whether or not you have client work to cover that. Instead, I would frame the work as being on-demand, for example, anywhere from 2-10 hours per week. That way you know you can afford those 10 hour weeks, but if you have a slow season, they will only be expecting a handful of hours per month. It’s a big responsibility to have someone else’s livelihood on your shoulders. And being apprehensive about bringing that type of responsibility into your business is totally normal!
Pantone Books or Chips
Until you have a client who needs PMS colors, do not buy books or chips. When it is time to buy them, consider buying them used on Facebook Marketplace, asking designers you know if they are selling their old sets, or calling around to local print shops to see if they have anything older that they aren’t using anymore. You see a lot of people fanning open their books in photoshoots, but that’s a pretty expensive prop! I bought my books probably four years before I really needed them. And in hindsight – I would have only purchased chips. Now that I have chips I rarely use my books!
Tons of Clients
In my first year of running my design studio, I needed to make as much money as I did in my full-time job. We had a mortgage, loans, and other bills that were non-negotiable payments that I needed to contribute to on a monthly basis. This was obviously a scary place to be. So, what did I do? I sold three retainer packages. I booked two year-long retainers and one 6 month retainer. I did some other one-off jobs here and there, but I essentially had three total clients. And it was…. amazing. It took so much pressure off of lead generation – in fact, I spent zero time marketing my business. My retainer clients became referral machines, and I got to be particular about the type of other work I took on and had the luxury of really making sure it was a good fit.
I wanted to share this because I think oftentimes we get caught up in this idea of work with exciting, fast-paced new clients every month but the hamster wheel of lead generation is INTENSE. As is the pace of constantly starting/stopping, onboarding/offboarding clients.
Your business doesn’t have to be super stressful. You could run one retainer and then work with a few clients in other capacities each month. I have design friends who literally just have two retainer clients and make six figures. And I still run retainers for this very reason! But also, it’s low-stress. And in those early days… there is a lot to be stressed about! You’re getting your sea legs, figuring out your processes, and determining what kind of design studio you want to be. So truly, you don’t need a TON of clients. You just new a few – or even just a couple – great ones.
More Than a “Bare Minimum” Printer
While it does seem quite nice to have a fancy printer (I still don’t have one!) – when you are first starting out all you really need is a printer for proofing. I would recommend not spending more than $250–300 MAX on a printer.
All you are really doing is using your printer to check size, scale, readability… there is no chance that you would purchase a printer that would be giving you super color-accurate representations, so to be honest, you basically need the bare minimum. You could even check your local Buy Nothing group and see if someone is getting rid of a printer (it seems like one pops up daily in our group!) Will this save you thousands and thousands of dollars? It won’t. But every $300–500 helps a LOT in the beginning!
Fancy Business Cards
Have you ever ordered expensive business cards? I have. Right when I first started my own studio. And let me tell you what happened… I never wanted to give them away! Every time the opportunity presented itself I felt myself thinking “is this person who is casually asking for my card, possibly just to be polite, worth the 2.75 that it cost for my gold foil business card?”
I still think business cards have legs. I wouldn’t close the door on them just yet. But if I could go back in time, I’d skip that expensive first business card order and go straight to what I did next – ordering 250 from primoprint.com for $36. Then I gave those babies out like hotcakes. They were still cute – but they were not reminding me of how I had spent an absurd amount of money on them every single time I reached out to hand one over.
I hope this was helpful! I have learned a lot in the past 13 years of being a professional designer and I am here for you – let me know if there are any other questions I can answer for you in the comments!