Happy New Year! Here we are at the beginning of 2012 and if you are like me you are thinking about what you want to accomplish in this New Year.
It is a time for fresh beginnings and new ideas. For my personal life, intend to get 3 yoga classes in each week, no matter what. On a business level I have my plan for my businesses pretty well mapped out for the year. Having written goals and a plan of action is the most important thing that you can do to ensure that your business goes where you want and creates how much you want for next year.
Sometimes designers skip over this important step because they don’t know how to go about creating a plan or they think it will be very difficult and take a long time. None of this is really true.
If you don’t have your plan “put together” or you are unsure about how to do it here are some simple steps to get you started.
Tip #1 Set a Big Money Goal. How much do you want to earn this year? Writing it down it down on paper starts to make it real and turn it into a commitment. This amount should be enough to make you stretch but not so big as to make it the amount unreal or not possible. Once you have your Big Money Goal number, sit down and figure out how many design jobs you will have to do to reach your goal.
Be sure to include some smaller jobs along with the big ones to keep your cash flow balanced.
Tip #2 Who is your Target Client? Do your research, know your target client is and how and where you can get yourself in front of them. Aiming your sights on a specific type of client with a particular sort of job will get you the business that you want. Feeling desperate and wanting to work for anyone who will hire you is a short-term strategy that doesn’t turn into a good business model.
Tip #3 Create a marketing plan. Make a list of all the things that you could do to bring yourself to the attention of your target market. Remember that your best clients come from referrals so plan out how you are going to get next to these clients or the people who they trust.
Extra Tip: Remember that in order to get a referral you need to ask for it, don’t just assume that a favorite client knows that you want them to refer their friends. Tell them!
If you want to know more about planning your design business year and are interested in getting more in depth detail about these steps then sign up for my
3 Strategies for Planning Your Best Year Ever FREE CALL on Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 4:00 pm PST, 5:00pm MST, 6:00pm CST, 7:00 pm EST.
I will be teaching in depth information and detail about building your design business plan for 2012.