Know Yourself—The Secret of Running a Successful Creative Business
This post is for writers, designers, and devs planning to run their businesses in marketing, advertising, and communications. (By contrast, it’s not for novelists, fine artists, or computer scientists)
This is an invitation to take an inventory of yourself. Think about who you are, who you aim to be, and how that could affect the success of your business and your overall happiness.
Note: I’m not a psychologist, psychiatrist, or professional health practitioner. This post is based solely on my experiences and observations in my businesses and life. So, take everything with a grain of salt, and your mileage may vary. Let’s start…
Know Your Skillset
Where are you in your professional development? Are you a beginner, intermediate, or senior practitioner?
Let’s say you’re a novice copywriter. You’re at a stage where you need to get experience, write as much as possible, and, if you’re lucky, have a good mentor guiding you.
You’re not going to be earning much (yet), but you should see progress in the types of assignments you get and the jobs you complete.
As you write, one of your goals, aside from writing as much as possible, is to figure out what interests you, what you’re good at, and start pursuing that. Consider your early years to be your apprenticeship.
At a more intermediate or senior level, your goals should include getting known for work in one or a few niches (personal branding) and maximizing your income. Ideally, you’ll be in demand, whether it’s companies wanting to hire you or clients approaching you with freelance work.
Soon, you’ll have to determine how you want to work going forward—solo or part of a larger organization.
The key is to be realistic about your skillset and work accordingly.
Observations of Knowing Your Skillset
Online, I see too many juniors looking for work beyond their qualifications. They haven’t done their apprenticeships. They claim to be “experts”, but one look at their portfolio shows you otherwise.
Rather than trying to run their own businesses, they should be looking for a job where someone else runs the company, and they focus on their writing, designing, or dev projects.
Put in the hours, get the experience, and learn while someone is paying you. That could be at an agency or in-house at a company.
Finding a job may not be easy, but how much have you tried? And if it’s not easy finding a job, how easy is it to win freelance assignments?
Going into the world trying to grow your own business while you have little or no experience is virtually an impossible task. (Yes, it’s been done, but people win lotteries too. Tough odds.) You’re up against too much competition and an easy mark for everyone looking to take advantage of you.
Here’s a checklist if you’re thinking about going full-time freelance.
Conversely, I see senior practitioners who are very comfortable as employees. Maybe too comfortable. We’ve recently seen thousands of layoffs in major companies around the world. Many of those laid off will have earned high salaries. Now what?
My suggestion? At a senior level, you should think of either starting your own company or being a partner/part owner of another company. You should take on the responsibility for the direction and output of the company, and your earnings should reflect those obligations.
I wrote about the risks of staying an employee forever here.
By now, it’s obvious there’s no job security anywhere. Be an owner to determine your future.
Is Your Skillset Enough for Your Business?
Let’s assume you’re excellent at your primary skill, e.g., writing, design, dev. You want to start your own business based on that skill.
But to have a business means you’ll need other skills such as marketing yourself, admin, managing finances, managing other people, etc.
Think ahead. You can probably stretch into covering some of the other skills you’ll need, but plan on getting help from others. Don’t assume you can do everything yourself in your business. Even if you’re capable, they all take away from your time.
Know Your Goals
Some people like making long-term plans, while others make decisions on the fly. In either case, plans can change depending on the circumstances.
I’ve never been a long-term planner, but I knew which direction I wanted to go in. Sometimes I got there by design, other times by accident.
For example, I didn’t plan to have six jobs in ad agencies before going freelance, but I was sure I wouldn’t work in agencies forever. When it was time to be on my own, I had a strong portfolio with recognizable brand names and a network of industry contacts.
I wrote about the benefits of getting an agency job before freelancing here.
From working freelance for a few years, I took the next step and formed my first agency.
My goal was some level of independence. I knew I wouldn’t be a “lifer” working my way up in a corporate structure.
Your goals are individual to your personality and make-up. Consider where you’d ideally like to be in whatever timeframe makes sense to you.
It’s worth thinking about and even writing out your goals. You may find it valuable to talk to someone who’s already achieved what you have as a goal.
For example, if you want to form an agency, speak to an agency owner.
“Stand on the shoulders of giants.” You don’t have to invent everything yourself.
Know Your Limits
Starting a new business will take sacrifices, mostly in time and money.
Think about how you currently use your time. Would you be prepared to give up some evenings and weekends to get your business going and keep it running?
Or do you have other obligations that have priority on your time? Think about your time limits and be prepared to stretch them.
Some businesses don’t take much money to start. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have savings set aside.
If you’re leaving the security of a full-time job where you get paid twice a month, be prepared for the day that stops, and you’re on your own.
Consider how much money you need to have saved up before you start. Three months’ total expenses? Six months? More?
You don’t want to have to give up your business because you can’t make it through a month.
Tip: Assuming you qualify, get a personal line of credit before you need it. It’s cheap insurance
Know How You Want to Work—Solo, in a Team, Leader of a Group
Think carefully about how you want to work. Some freelancers say they’re happy on their own and would never want the responsibility of managing other people.
Yet others, who work on their own, wish for a larger group. They’re lonely. There’s no one to talk to or brainstorm ideas with.
How you structure your business is important, so it’s worth thinking about. But realize that it can evolve as time goes on.
In my case, I started my agency with a partner because that’s how I worked in my agency life. I wanted a design complement to my writing so we could take on bigger jobs, and I’d have someone as a collaborator. That two-person agency grew to 30 before it was acquired five years later.
Want to see what my partner is doing now? Have a look at Simon Burn’s work here.
Know Your Tolerance for Risk
Starting a business is a risk. The failure rate is high. But consider this: being an employee these days might be even riskier. When companies let go of thousands of employees at once, it’s not about an individual’s work or contribution. The company has to cut costs, and they scrap whole departments.
Or, if you’re an employee at a smaller company, it could suffer a downturn, and they have to unload your salary. The risk is even higher if you’re a highly-paid employee. Will they get rid of you with your $200,000 salary or four others at $50,000 each?
So, all this is to say, whether you stay an employee or start your own business, there’s risk involved. Think about how you want to deal with this.
If you want to start your own business, you can take steps to minimize that risk. Make sure your skillset is adequate to attract business. Save up a cushion of money in the bank. Even better if you have a partner with a dependable income. Be realistic about the time you’ll need to devote to get this business going.
Learn more about running your own business from someone who’s done it all. You’ll find lots of practical advice in my book, How to Start a Successful Creative Agency. It’s the essential business guide for graphic designers, copywriters, filmmakers, photographers, and programmers.
Buy the Book Here
Over 300 pages and 23 chapters, available at Amazon (Paper & Kindle), Kobo (ebook), Apple Books (ebook), and Gumroad (PDF).
The book is packed with useful information to help creatives start and grow their business.
Invaluable!
“Hey Andy. I recently finished your book and absolutely loved it. I myself am starting a design business with a colleague and it’s already been invaluable for us. It’s helping us organise the million things we have going on in our heads prior to the jump from full time Hope you’re well. Thanks again for the great read.”
Cheers Will (from email)
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