In my last post “Bringing You Up To Speed” I told you about my recent short comings and how I would begin a series on things I have learned from these experiences. The Honest Truth series will discuss my various experiences during my mistake ridden first few months as the new owner of Pulse Creative Partners.

In the first few months of my Presidency, I found myself making, what I thought, were good strategic decisions. We had changed our name early on to combat some looming perceptions of our firm as a sign shop. The goal was to get people familiar with us as skilled designers rather than just craftsmen. This has actually turned out to be one of my more successful decisions. What followed, however, were some of the not so great decisions that resulted from the name change. Because our name changed, we had to get new stationery and business cards to the tune of around $5000. Then, because I felt they deserved it, I gave everyone (including myself) a raise. This basically raised our monthly operating costs by about 20%. While the intentions were good, and of course I thought it would make everyone want to work harder, moving too quick to raise salaries actually turned into a bad thing. (I also had added expenses of asset purchase payments each month because I purchased the company on an installment plan.) Then, because I am an aesthetically driven person, I felt it was necessary to go through a renovation, albeit, minor. The renovation was to the tune of around $15,000 +. One bright spot in the renovation budget was that we actually sold off some equipment that we really didn’t need which helped to fund the renovation, almost entirely.

While all of this was happening, we were operating almost entirely off of one project’s revenue we had billed early on in the year and which we had yet to pay for the printing bill associated with it. This is where I made another mistake called American Express Gold Card. I thought I was pretty smart to pay for the sizable printing bill with my Gold Card to take advantage of the points I would receive as a result. Plus, it would give me another 30 days to pay the bill. I thought I was so smart. Good idea, in essence, if you can guarantee that you will have the funding to pay the bill when it’s due.

So, my worries were put on the back burner for at least one more month. And as business was rolling in, and I was anticipating the completion of a few other projects, I thought there was really no reason to worry. Of course, I wasn’t really doing any less spending to be sure I would have the money to pay for it. The AMEX bill rolled in and, as you can probably guess by now, I didn’t have the money, in fact, some of the projects I was going to be relying on were not complete yet and they were going to end up providing less income than I had originally banked on. Go figure. So, I had to let the AMEX bill lapse and I had to do the most miserable thing I have had to do in a long time, ask a client to pay their bill before completion so we could make the payment. Which put us in a bind with another printing bill, but we had to get this one taken care of first.

Needless to say, I put our company in a very tight and overwhelming spot during probably one of the most stressful times of my life. Had I held off on a renovation, which wasn’t entirely necessary, put the money we made on selling equipment into the bank, paid the printing bills when they were due, and kept salaries where they were until I knew for sure we were in a sound financial position to give more money, I might have avoided this situation. Hindsight, as it is, is always 20/20.

We did change our spending habits, worked out a deal with our printer to repay over a few months and had to drop salaries for a short period of time to get us back into the black, but it was worth it, despite countless mornings where I thought I was going to throw up.

I hope this will help someone out there avoid similar situations. I do believe I learned a lot about myself and areas I needed to address which has ultimately made me a stronger business person and Pulse a stronger company. As a result of my mistakes we have actually come away with a much better understanding of how to spend (or not spend) only when it will actually benefit the company. That’s not to say that taking risks is a bad thing. Risks sometimes end in negative results but can also create some tremendous rewards. In this case I took some risks which turned into tragedy but delivered us into a very rewarding and new mindset.

For now, good luck and better spending!

Stefan Bean | President/Creative Director
Pulse Creative Partners, Inc. | BoDo Author | Bean’s Biz

Well, as you can see, it has been quite a while since my last post and this has a lot to do with many different factors which have inspired the topics that I will be writing about in my upcoming posts.

In April and May, I spent a good portion of my time working on the renovation of our offices as well as running a business and designing for multiple clients. (Pretty soon we’ll have some photos of our space which is now complete up on our site.) Trying to manage all of those things at once was quite a lesson in time management and taught me not to spread myself out too thin. I was probably working 8 or 9 hours on various projects then I would get my hands dirty for another 6 or 7 hours in the evening working on the demolition, reconstruction and beautification of the space. This wore pretty heavily on me physically and mentally after a few weeks in a row of this same kind of schedule. Needless to say, the next time we do any kind of renovation, I will hire someone to handle all of the renovation instead of getting in on the action.

While all of this was going on, I was also trying to manage a little pickle I had gotten us into financially. (Which will be the topic of another post.) Even though it was manageable, it put me and my staff in an uncomfortable position that made me realize that we needed to come out of this stronger than we went into it. Giving up was not the answer. Of course, being a young business owner, I am learning where I need to mature and realize that I am only human and mistakes will come with the territory. But, I also have to learn from the mistakes so I don’t make them again. Fortunately, the way we are managing our books now and dealing with our receivables and payables will help us make it through this relatively unscathed but much smarter and more prepared.

All in all, the last few months have been revealing. They have showed me where my weaknesses are and what I need to improve on. They have also spurred on a new zeal for generating new leads and creating a niche for ourselves. During the down time, we were actually finding ourselves doing a substantial amount of work for churches and found we were becoming pretty good at developing creative materials that can help churches grow. We were also really enjoying the work we were doing for them. Not only were we allowed to be creative, but we were helping organizations spread their message so they could help more people. We began to consider becoming a more “human impact” oriented design firm because there is such a lack of really good church, mission organization and not-for-profit communications, especially in Indiana, that we needed to become that firm that they could turn to in order to revitalize their own marketing efforts.

One particular project that we created early on has become the best marketing piece we have ever had and has generated more work than anything we have done to market ourselves to date. (See the project we did for Vineyard Community Church) Pretty much all we have had to do is either set up a meeting with the decision makers at the local churches or drop off one of these stunning packages at a church we wanted to work with and it will begin to get their wheels spinning. This strategy has actually led us to work with numerous new churches in our area.

All in all, we have been blessed to have found this niche in the midst of a period of events that could have sent me running for the hills, but if you stick with it, like I have, even in the bad times, negatives can lead to positives.

Stefan Bean | President/Creative Director
Pulse Creative Partners, Inc. | BoDo Author | Bean’s Biz

As a young designer, and now owner of Pulse Creative Partners, I am beginning to see all of the challenges that running your own business entitles you to. When you are working for someone else, you never (really) have to worry about what the next job will be or where the money is going to come from to pay the bills. You just expect that it will all come together and you’ll get to keep designing.

As a business owner, however, all of that changes. While owning a business is great, and can certainly have its perks, it can also leave you lying awake at night wondering who you are going to have to call on the next day for new work. It can also mean you become more of a sales person and less of a designer. I have been fortunate with this business because of the already loyal client base, but you can’t always rely on your existing clients to provide the next project. Planning ahead and approaching new businesses becomes a daily part of your routine, sometimes one you don’t always welcome. Lately, my time has been more focused on administration and new business, which is fun at times, but I am beginning to miss designing all day long like I once used to.

We’re starting to turn our marketing focus toward an industry that we seem to be doing a lot more work for and some pretty stunning work at that. The key word here for us is really focus. Until now, we never really had a niche or any one thing we were particularly known for. I am personally tired of trying to contact potential clients in multiple markets when my time can be so much better utilized focusing in on one market. And, to this point, focus has really paid off. Niche markets, however, are not always the solution to growing a business, but if you’re finding yourself doing a lot of work for one industry, go for it. Not only will you have a portfolio full of work that will resonate with prospective clients, you will also understand your client better and be able to do more focused work.

Until the next
Bean’s Biz,
Stefan Bean | President/Creative Director
Pulse Creative Partners, Inc. | BoDo Author | Bean’s Biz