FOR DESIGNERS

Recently a reader asked what I considered a professional designer. It isn't how much you make or how flawless you think your code is – it's your actions and behavior that make you a pro. What makes a pro in my eyes? You respect your clients, your peers AND your competition You work with a […]

I'm pretty lucky that my dad is a smart guy – (and a technical wizard to boot) The first thing he does in any new house is setup his extensive tool bench. He's got electronic & mechanical parts that are older than I am — but that means he's able to fix pretty much anything. […]

When I first started my business, I lived in a studio apartment in DC. I naively thought running my own business meant I could do anything anytime I wanted. Distractions abounded. I could see everything that needed to be done around the house. I had always worked for someone else – and someone else's timetable […]

I’ve been designing software and websites since the late ’90s. And while trends and technologies have changed over the years, one thing holds true. The value you provide your client. This week I did a video site review for a consulting client – besides the glaring technical issues with the site, there was no clarity […]

I know it can get really frustrating when you look at portfolios and you see other designers charging higher rates than you for similar work. But here’s the key point – what ends up on the screen isn’t the only way to judge the value of their services. A pro designer carefully considers the solutions […]

I’m constantly looking at sites for inspiration – and if I like a site, I’ll often check out the designer who created the site. Recently I liked a cool coding trick and was looking at the designer’s site. Curious, I started reading their blog and recognized immediately a common mistake I see newer designers (and […]

How do you convert people who say they love your work into paying clients? My #1 tool for converting prospects into sales? TALKING to them on the phone! So often we hide behind our computer and email back and forth. Humans crave connection – they want to know you’re a real person. Sometimes it takes […]

I don’t know when as a culture we became so averse to talking on the phone. I get it – we work odd hours, prefer to communicate via email and use our inbox as a to-do list (we all do it, it’s ok 😉 The easiest (and quickest) way to resolve an issue is to […]

I’ve talked before about creating long-lasting relationships with your clients – but this week I want to focus on the importance of creating relationships with fellow designers, developers and other creatives. For the longest time, I didn’t reach out to the design community – I initially perceived them as competition rather than a source of […]

As designers, we’re usually the last ones on our priority list. We’re typically so busy that we neglect our own sites. I know it takes time and you have a million ideas, but at the end of the day, your site is your calling card. Until recently, my own site was a shoddy representation of […]

Several years into my business, I started getting quite a few RFPs (Requests for Proposals) from companies and organizations. I was impressed I was even getting asked (at the time, I was a one-person operation in a mid-sized town.) I labored for days over my first RFP. I must have spent 25 hours writing the […]

My #1 time saver – canned responses Do you find yourself answering the same questions over and over again? Perhaps you don’t want to answer pricing or sensitive questions on an FAQ page – the answer for you is canned responses! I use gmail, so I added a lab called "canned responses" for my most […]

I’ve gotten a lot of requests for more info on how to run and manage retainers. While I used to do hourly updates, I’ve transitioned to a model I’ll discuss below. There’s never one way to do anything, so I also reached out to my network to see how other successful designers manage retainers. The […]

With so many people claiming to be designers these days, how do you stand out? When I started as an interactive designer in the early 2000s, you had to know how to code AND design unless you worked at a large agency or corporation. Now, the ease of systems like WordPress and ready-made templates allows […]

This week I’m going to talk about building your business how YOU want it. There are many different models you can use to generate income for your business (and I’ve tried quite a few over the years!) You can even run a couple of these at the same time – a hybrid business that generates […]

This week I’m touching base with my friend Justin – the Redcord instructor whose site we created in the series: The RebalancedSF Project. Justin and I recently had a consulting session where we discussed how he could connect with new clients. Justin is fighting a bit of an uphill battle – unlike more common modalities […]

New designers often reach out to me to find out how I’ve been able to create my ideal business. They’re often hustling, searching for their clients and doing churn and burn projects. I know what they’re going through, because I used to do it too. That all changed a few years ago when I modified […]