The Design Cubicle

Running a “one-man (or woman) design show” can become quite daunting, especially if you are the only one responsible for responding to emails, marketing, designing, phone conversations, invoicing, proposals, tracking expenses, collaborating with others involved with the project, tracking time… rinse, repeat.

I am in no way masterful at handling the above, but over time I’ve found myself becoming more proficient and effective in how I manage my independent business.

Below I’ll walk you through what I find to be successful in managing a work flow and daily/weekly tasks step-by-step, which leads to a smoother, more organized independent business.
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• Freelancing

Often I get emails saying something on the lines of “Why do you just give your information and insights away?” or “How does a design blog attract clients?”

Easy answer: Educated clients equal happy clients, and when clients are happy your business is even happier. There are two reasons that I started The Design Cubicle: first to help and inspire other designers and, second, to spread design education and awareness to those looking to hire design professionals.

The question now is: How can we educate clients to help them better understand what we do as graphic designers. Someone is not going to fork over thousands of dollars to something they don’t see just because — you have to educate them from start to finish. Here’s how:
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• Freelancing

I often find myself getting asked the question, “Does your blog bring you business, and how so if it’s mostly targeted at inspiring and helping other designers?”

While a majority of TDC’s articles are aimed at inspiring, helping and engaging with other designers, it also showcases my work, experiences, personality and techniques, among other things that are attractive to clients. Below are various ways and reasoning on how writing a blog attracts new clients.
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• Freelancing

Recently in a live interview with Neenah Paper I was asked, “What advice would you give to those trying to promote their business and gain more work?” My response – “Build trust and relationships and the rest will follow.”
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• Freelancing
• Typography