Business Skills Every Creative Needs to Know, Now!

Last week’s HOW’s Newsletter was packed with business related articles for all designers! These articles contain basic information about the design business in general. True, some of them apply only in the US, but they’re worth a read nevertheless.

Among the different titles you can find:

• Designers' Hourly Rates See what other designers in the country are charging for their work and how they determine those rates.
• Make The Most of Downtime At Work When work gets slow, here are 6 ways to use that extra time to your advantage.
• Are You Ready To Freelance Full-Time? Look at our checklist to find out!
• Be Your Client's Best Friend 8 ways to keep clients happy.
• How to Motivate Every Type of Creative Get specific ideas for encouraging—and getting the best from—any designer.

There are about 90 articles to choose from, so browse around!

Design resources: Springwise.com and Trendwatching.com

This week I’m going to present young designers with two more resources they can use to expand their creativity and be on top of the latest news.


Springwise.com

“Springwise and its network of 8,000 spotters scan the globe for smart new business ideas, delivering instant inspiration to entrepreneurial minds from San Francisco to Singapore. Time to start the Next Big Thing!

Springwise scans the globe for the most promising business ventures, ideas and concepts ready for regional or international adaptation, expansion, partnering, investments or cooperation. Ferociously tracking more than 400 global offline and online business resources, as well as taking to the streets of world cities, digital cameras at hand.”

Need I say more? In Springwise you’ll find the latest, most wackiest and smartest business ideas from around the globe. It will:

· Be a source if design inspiration.
· Be a source of news and design trends.
· Be a source of practical ideas even you can implement.

Check it out and subscribe to the free newsletter! The latest issue covered:

Product placement agency targets YouTube
Marketing & advertising

Crowdfunding software projects
Media & publishing

Zero cents per minute Update
Telecom & mobile / Marketing & advertising

A social marketplace for clothes hounds
Fashion & beauty

Solar-powered vending machines
Eco & sustainability / Food & beverage

Helping seniors relocate
Life hacks

Free love at the food court
Marketing & advertising

Freeze-dried eco burials
Lifestyle


You can search their webpage by date or by industry, or you can even submit an idea!
Why not give it a try?



Trendwatching.com

“Trendwatching.com is an independent and opinionated trend firm, scanning the globe for the most promising consumer trends, insights and related hands-on business ideas. For the latest and greatest, we rely on our network of 8,000+ spotters in more than 70 countries worldwide.

Most of our findings are aggregated in a free, monthly Trend Briefing, which is sent to 130,000+ business professionals in more than 120 countries. (…) Our trend findings help marketers, CEOs, researchers, and anyone else interested in the future of business and consumerism, to dream up new goods, services and experiences for (or even better, with) their customers.”

In other words, they spot market trends, given them a name and then they follow up on them and show different examples. Some of the trends are:

5*STAR*LIVING
(AFTER) SPOILING DATE
BEING SPACES
BRAND SPACES
BRANDED BRANDS
COUNTER-GOOGLING
COUNTERVALS
CRIBTIMONIALS
CROWD CLOUT
CURATED CONSUMPTION
CUSTOMER-MADE

Visit their trend page, to see more!

This is where the world is headed, so designers, beware!

All the best!

Beginners guide to making money on the internet

Hello, Everybody! Today I bring you a guest post from John Mitchell. Very interesting read. Enjoy.

This is part 1 of my step by step beginners guide for making money on the Internet.All the Programs listed below are proven to generate income.

Step 1: Join Quidco.
Quidco is fantastic. It's a site that gives you cash back when you visit online merchants through them.When you buy or join anything through Quidco the merchant pays Quidco a reward, Quidco then passes 100% of that reward back to you.They charge you £5 a year admin fee, which they take out of your earnings.
Some of the Web's top merchants are there, e.g. Play.com, HMV, Tesco, Ebuyer. In all there are 1400 merchants currently listed on Quidco.Before you buy anything check to see if it's available on Quidco by clicking here

Step 2: Join Ciao.
Ciao send you surveys over email. For each survey you complete Ciao will pay you for your time.The amount varies for each survey but is generally between 50p and £2.50 and you can normally complete the surveys in a number of mins.
Ciao send me a number of surveys every week, and the money really adds up.It's useful to make sure that your profile is up to date to make sure that you get as many surveys as possible.
Click here to join Ciao.

Step 3: Join YouGovYougov is similar to Ciao. They send you surveys to your email address and they pay you to take part. They don't send as many surveys as Ciao but the surveys tend to be slightly more straight forward to complete.
Click here to join YouGov

Step 4: Join Clixsense
Clixsense is a site that pays you to look at adverts. Every time you log in click on the link to view adverts and a list of available adverts is displayed. Each advert is worth a different value and when you look at the advert for 30 seconds your account is accredited with that value. Generally the ad's are worth between 1 and 5 cents to view.
I know this doesn't sound like a lot of money but there are several adverts everyday and it soon adds up.Click here to join Clixsense

Step 5: Join Media Dollarz
Finally in this part a real freebie to start you on your money making way.
Media Dollarz is a company similar to Quidco. They pay you to join trials and shop with merchants.Media Dollarz will pay you $2.50 just for joining and validating your account. You are then free to withdraw the money into a paypal account as soon as you like. Free Money in mins.
Click here to join Media Dollarz



John Mitchell is an author of 3 Blogs, he is running a project to investigate how the Internet can be used by everyone to generate an income.His blogs can be found at:
http://webdosh.blogspot.com/
http://ourpieceoftheriver.blogspot.com/
http://chocolate-recipes-for-you.blogspot.com/

Designers beware: 5 steps to productivity, the 5S.

How would you like to be more productive and have a better workplace? Would you believe me if I said that you can achieve that easily with little or no investment at all?

Would you be able to work here? Do you actually work in a place like this?


Would you like to live like this? Do you currently?


A few years ago, when I was part of the continuous improvement team of the company I worked for, I was entrusted with the task of implementing a certain methodology that promised to improve our productivity. So of course, I had to be the first to test it.

It changed me. I’ll never go back to the way I was before, immersed in clutter, with a feeling of not having any control over my stuff, my activities, my life! Being tired before even starting to work, just by glancing at my desk.

5S (Five eses, if you will) is a methodology that was developed by Japanese companies, mainly Toyota, to improve organization, order and cleanliness in work stations. It can be as extensive as you wish it to be, with thorough measurements of improvement in machinery performance in factory conditions, but as I’ll present in the upcoming posts, it can be applied to almost every aspect of life, yes, the design business included.


What can 5S do for you? Keep reading…

The name 5S responds to five Japanese words that describe each of the five steps:

1. Seiri (Select)
Identify and separate the necessary from the unnecessary items.

2. Seiton (Organize)
Everything has its place.

3. Seiso (Clean)
Identify and eliminate sources of dirt and clutter.

4. Seiketsu (Standardize)
Maintain the status of order and cleanliness achieved.

5. Shitsuke (Improve)
Make it a habit and reach new standards of order and cleanliness.


5S can be defined as an ideal state in which:

- Unnecessary materials or utensils have been eliminated.
- Everything has been identified and been assigned a place.
- Clutter has been eliminated.
- There are visual references to control the status of processes.
- All this is maintained and continuously improved.


By implementing 5S you will:

- Reduce errors.
- Reduce supplies inventory.
- Reduce unnecessary movement.
- Gain more space.
- Be proud of your work place.
- Easily recognize the status of things.
- Quickly find the utensils you need.
- Improve the image your customers have of you.
- Improve your team work and cooperation.
- Improve responsibility and commitment.


There are many resources on the web about this subject, covering all kinds of businesses and situations, big and small, where this methodology can be applied. I’ll be covering each of the steps in a design studio environment and how to implement them and measure the results.

Meet me here next time to cover step 1, Seiri, and learn how to get rid of most of your clutter and not feel guilty about it! :-)

All the best!

Designers beware of… customer service.

Something to think about in any business is your relationship with your clients. We designers often think that the world doesn't understand us, that clients don't speak the design language… think again: It is we who need to understand them and speak their language.

Speak their language you ask? It's not as hard as you think, I found that mainly the secret is to listen. Take the time to sit down and find out what your client expects from you and vice versa.

The tracking system I mentioned in my previous blog will be one of your best allies, because you'll always have information for your clients at hand, you'll know exactly where each project is, if it's been invoiced, sent, what the terms where, etc. Accurate information is very valuable to clients and it'll be a differentiating point against your competition.

Also, when the project is in the client's hands, make sure you follow up on them, let them know that you're available to answer any questions and that you care about what they have to say. If you can, attend some negotiation seminars and learn the way to handle tough customers. It is important to learn how to say no as well, and guide your clients towards the best design solution, one that they're happy with and that doesn't compromise your principles.

Remember I told you about speaking the language of the clients? Well, you need also to be aware of the way you speak, this means, grammar, spelling and the way you present ideas. This is particularly important when sending emails and explaining design issues in writing. It is very easy for a customer to get confused when he receives an email and it's not well written.

Revise how much detail you want to go into when discussing matters with your clients. Little detail and you won't be able to convey your message, too much detail and it's likely that your counterpart will get confused. Grammar and spelling do speak about your professionalism, so be aware of the image you're presenting. Check emails for errors or typos before sending them and make sure your staff does the same.

Do call your client on a regular basis to let them know that status of a project. They should never have to call you. Be strict about meeting deadlines and exceed your customer's expectations.

Remember, the clients are the ones bringing in the money, so treat them as you would like to be treated, put yourself in their shoes… you will find that many times your clients become your friends and your best referrals.

All the best!

Designers beware of… finances.

Money is involved in everything (Well, almost). Design is no exception. When it comes to design, you need to be aware of the costs you have when you're "designing" in order to be able to reduce them, to establish prices, to establish goals and to check if you're operation is actually bringing back some cash.

Along with costs, you need to be aware of your sales and how those are related to the costs you have. In order to "be aware" you need to measure, as my former boss used to say: "What you don't measure, you don't know". In order to measure, you need to establish some data collection, a database or some sort of system that will allow you to keep track of your projects, what went in, what came out. In the beginning I used to do this using File Maker, but a basic Excel table will do. You just need to be disciplined and enter the information rigorously.

So, in short:

- Set up a tracking system, not only to keep track of your design traffic, but to keep track of your costs and sales.

- Measure how much you're spending in the operation (Yes, including the coffee you drink).

- Measure how much you're selling.

- Establish some goals, like reducing costs and increasing sales.

- Follow up and review periodically, about once a week or twice a month.

If you're a flying solo designer, this operation is rather simple, though you may want to get some advice from an accountant or some finance professional.

If you're part of an in-house design department, you need to be aware of your operation and its performance related to the whole company. The finance department is usually happy to help.

If you have your own design studio, consider hiring a financial advisor, but don't leave all up to them, get involved.

All the best!