Creative work and skills are and always will be in demand. If you’re a creative entrepreneur and are considering starting a design business of your own, there are a few things to take note of and prepare for.
The road to entrepreneurship is not an easy one—we’ll start there. But know that every setback is just a part of the journey. If you aren’t making mistakes, you aren’t approaching the success you set out to have.
You might have a few questions and feel a little unsure where to begin. We jump into all of those questions in the video above, and more below.
Know the Common Mistakes to Avoid Them
Like we mentioned earlier, mistakes are inevitable. But, lucky for you, we can tell you which common mistakes to avoid based on our experience.
One of the easiest mistakes to make—and this happens frequently in early-stage businesses—is to not get paid upfront.
If you’ve been hired to work on a specific project, there’s an expectation you’ll get paid. But if you don’t set any payment parameters or contract, there’s a good chance your payments will come in late, or not at all. And you definitely don’t want that.
We recommend collecting a 50% deposit upfront before any work gets started. That way your client’s buy-in is validated, and there’s a guarantee the other half will come. You can do this by collecting 25% halfway, and the remaining 25% upon final delivery, or setting up a NET30 payment. There are different ways to slice up payments, but point blank: collect 50% upfront.
Discuss budgets with your client. We know money is not always an easy topic to touch on, but it’s important, especially if you’re being hired for work. Figure out how much your client can spend, and price accordingly. Once you know their budget, you can put a proposal together and estimate the total cost of the effort.
Be Optimistic, But Also Realistic
Another common mistake entrepreneurs make is not having an exit scenario in mind. While it’s great to be hopeful that everything will work out, you need to be prepared in case that doesn’t happen.
It doesn’t all have to end negatively, though. There’s a chance your creative business could be acquired, and you’ll need to think of an exit strategy in this case, too.
Think about every time you sit down at the movie theater. You’re excited to see a brand new movie, but you’re also looking for the nearest exit, mapping out the best route to leave in case of an emergency.