What does it take to run your own design business?

Over the years I’ve worked for a lot of companies, big and small, in-house and freelance, start-ups and Fortune 500. I watched and learned, and thought I had a pretty good idea of what I needed to do when I started my own business. What I discovered was a huge surprise.

First off, your design talent doesn’t really matter. Sure, it matters as far as whether you’ll do good work, but it’s almost entirely meaningless when it comes to business success. There are plenty of terrible designers out there with clients lined up outside the door. The reality is that most of our clients don’t know anything about design, and wouldn’t know the difference between a genius and a talentless hack if they came pre-labeled and color-coded. Being talented might get you better clients, but it won’t make you a success, and lacking talent won’t hold you back.

The biggest factor is being successful in running your own business is… being good at running a business. That requires parts of your brain that are never touched by Pantone 253. You have to be able to spend 20 hours a week making phone calls, sending and replying to e-mail, filling out paperwork, mailing invoices, and managing your employees (if you have any). It’s not particularly creative or interesting. But it’s absolutely vital if you want to survive, much less prosper.

The second factor is how much you can stomach responsibility. When clients are late paying bills, your credit cards are maxed out, your junior designer can’t pay their rent because you haven’t given them a paycheck this week, and you need to fire your programmer for being incompetent, going back to in-house design can look pretty good. Meeting deadlines and making clients happy can be stressful, but it’s an entirely different kind of stress when you’re responsible for a company.

The final factor is your personality. Most people will make their decision to hire your company based on your personality. If you radiate confidence, competence, and friendliness, you’ll get the job. If you project doubt, fear, disorganization or surliness, you won’t. Like every other business person, your people skills are crucial to your success. You have to truly enjoy talking to clients and potential clients, and they have to enjoy talking to you.

If you are organized, responsible, confident and friendly, you might do well running your own business. If you fall short in any of those areas, you’re in for some frustration. You might be a fantastic designer, but if you can’t sell a job or get an invoice sent on time, you won’t be a fantastic business owner.

Until the next
Cube 2.0,
Josh

Josh Jeffryes | Graphic Designer | Technologist | Organizer, St. Louis Design Meetup
Jeffryes Design | On Design | St. Louis Design Meetup | BoDo Author | Cube 2.0