February 20, 2022
We’re always talking about systems. Systems are essential to freedom in your business. All kinds of freedom… financial freedom, creative freedom, time freedom—the only way to give yourself freedom is to have really good systems in place.
A major part of The Academy is us teaching you in detail how to set up the essential systems that a design business needs.
We really hope you’ll join us this round and let us help you get your business on track to becoming one that gives you lots of freedom! But in the meantime, we thought we might make this little series to give you an introduction to the essential systems that you need to have in place to create a really successful, thriving graphic design business.
It sounds intimidating, we know. But a financial forecasting system is essential to making sure you have enough cashflow to balance your books. You need to know how much you will need to start your business and how much you will need to keep running. What it will cost to pay for your URL, your website hosting, your accountant, whatever your regular expenses will be. A financial forecasting system is critical for you to understand what it takes for you to operate a functioning graphic design business.
Spreadsheets and mathematical formulas don’t sound like much fun right? Well they can be – in that they incentivise you! When you know exactly how much you need coming in, you’re much more motivated to making things happen. And it’s so exciting when you see yourself making it happen! Because your forecasting system does more than forecast what you need – it forecasts where you will go. When you see that you’re on track for the goal you’ve set yourself in 6 months, or a year, every step on the way there becomes so much more rewarding.
Meanwhile, without a financial forecasting system, you’re just flying blind. You can’t sit here in February and make plans for October, because you have no idea where you will be. You’ll be all over the place, not really knowing what’s happening. But what can be measured, can be managed. And the point of this system is to measure every cent in your business. What’s coming in and what’s going out.
We can’t emphasise it enough, if you’re going to be an entrepreneur, if you’re going to be a successful business owner, you have to be across your numbers.
IT REALLY DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A DRAG!
When you get your systems really carefully honed, when they’re beautiful and they’re functional, it becomes a pleasure to do this type of work in your business. You will look forward to it.
One of the loveliest testimonials that we get from our Academy students and our one-to-one clients when we teach them how to set up their business model and give them our spreadsheets, is that they never imagined that spreadsheets could be so beautiful and so easy to use. And you can do this yourself. Just make sure that whatever system you’re using is simple. Make sure it brings you pleasure. Because you will need to be in that space regularly, whether weekly or monthly, if you’re going to ensure that you’ve got a business model that is working.
Because again, what can be measured can be managed.
There’s no point in marketing and doing a whole lot of beautiful reach-outs to clients if you don’t know what is landing and what isn’t. Sometimes it’s hard to know which metrics to track, so just keep it really simple at first. But track your growth, track the amount of people who come in the door or respond to your emails, track where your business is coming from. We have systems for this in The Academy that we share with our students, but however you do it, it’s very important to know that your marketing efforts are actually working effectively. Otherwise, you’re just throwing spaghetti at a wall and hoping something will stick.
Ask the questions and track the answers. Are you actually getting qualified leads? If you’re spending hours and hours on Instagram, or throwing money at Google ads, and you’re not actually measuring and tracking the conversion rates, you may be putting all your efforts into the wrong area completely. Also, consider what is most important to track, because you don’t want to track too much and become overwhelmed. In the Academy, we have a system which is specifically designed for graphic designers that shows you what need to track and how to ensure your marketing is bringing a consistent flow of income into your business. But if you’re doing it by yourself, just make sure that you’re not making any assumptions. Know definitively what’s happening with your marketing efforts, and what’s bringing your business the best bang for your marketing buck.
This flows on from system two, and a lot of your systems should do that and integrate seamlessly, because the goal is to create a business ecosystem that sustains itself.
System three is a lead generation system—a system that attracts leads. And not just any leads—you want a system that encourages quality leads that are aligned with your offerings and your business model. So ask yourself, are you getting leads in the door that are actually aligned to you? Are you getting enough leads? How many are you actually getting? Which marketing approaches are generating these leads?
It’s not enough to just set up a beautiful Instagram feed and a beautiful website and work on the idea that if you build it, they will come. You have to understand the actionable steps that your lead generation system is taking in order to attract those beautifully aligned clients and keep attracting them week after week. You have to construct a lead generation system that is honed to consistently reach out to the right audience and is demonstrably effective in getting results. It can take a bit of tweaking, and we’d love to show you in detail how to do this in The Academy (yes we know we keep mentioning it, but it’s about to open and we’re excited!). But otherwise, start with system two and build from there. Check who you’re targeting with your marketing. Find out what’s bringing the right clients your way—and don’t be afraid to ask your clients! And as you identify what’s working, make sure you build more of that into your lead generation system
It’s not enough to simply track what’s bringing leads to your door, you need to track exactly how many of your leads are converting into actual signed projects. If you’re spending a lot of time meeting with people and sending out quotes, but they’re not converting into dollars in your business, then you’re really just wasting your time. So track the percentage of your leads that are converting. Once you know that, you can look at the different lead generating systems that you’ve been using, and you’ll be able to see which ones have a high percentage conversion rate. This tells you where to focus your efforts.
For example, you might have had 12 new leads last month and 10 of them came from Instagram, but only 1 (or 10%) of the Instagram leads converted. Meanwhile, you only had 2 leads that came from LinkedIn, but both of those leads (100%) converted. With that information in your hands, you can begin test it. The next month, you can really focus on LinkedIn and see if that conversion rate continues to be higher. If it does, you’ll know that’s where your effort is really paying off. It takes time to collect this data and really see what’s happening in the big picture. But eventually, you’ll start to be able to make educated decisions about where your marketing is likely to be more effective.
This knowledge about your conversion rates will also allow you to plan your year. You’ll know which months your business will take a bit of a dip and which months your conversion rates are likely to be up and you’ll be signing more new clients. This is essential information for planning when to really amp up your marketing to attract those new clients, and for predicting the slower times when you’ll want to schedule regular business from your existing clients to keep the income steadily rolling in. Without a tracking system, you’ll be at the mercy of the world, moving from feast to famine without a plan, and even the feasting won’t be as luxurious as it would otherwise be if your systems were in place to bring as much of it your way as you can.
Every designer, every creative, has a briefing system in some form. And honestly, some are a bit unfocused. To maximise your conversions, you need to create a briefing system that is succinct and clear—that gathers the information you need to quote accurately and effectively, while feeling simple and inspiring confidence in your client.
This is where your business ecosystem comes in. The process begins with your lead generation system, with each system perfectly integrating with the last to create a streamlined process for the client to follow. No jarring shifts, no confusion, just a safe, simple journey for your client to take to signing with you. By the time you quote, your client should have total clarity about about what you will deliver, how it will transform their business, and that your fee aligns with that transformation. If they’re confused about any of those things, they simply won’t invest in you.
In The Academy, we teach ‘The Ultimate Briefing System’ that ensures you are getting the right intel for you to be able to quote effectively, meanwhile allowing your client to have total clarity about the process. It’s multilayered and broken down into sections, which can be customised to each client, but it’s very succinct. Because you don’t want to overwhelm your client, and you don’t want to be investing time and energy that isn’t converting into business.
If your lead generation system is effective, you’ll have already attracted a client that aligns with you. Now, with an effective briefing system, you will efficiently gather the information you need, your client will feel heard and understood, and you will quote clearly and precisely. This is the best way to nail that high conversion rate.
We’re looking forward to sharing the next five with you! And we’ve mentioned The Academy a bit this week, because we’re about to open our doors to the next round and we’d really love to see you in there and teach you in depth exactly how to set up these systems.
But meanwhile, we’ve got lots more advice to share in this series for you to go on with. And if you’re thinking about joining The Academy this round, but aren’t sure if you’ll be a good fit, sign up for our free Masterclass! We’ve got lots to share with you about how to nurture client relationships, and you’ll have the chance to try out our teaching style and see if it works for you. Just click here to sign up!
And begin looking at your systems, because this is YOUR business, and to truly make it yours, you have to take control.
See you next week!
With love,
Kris & Donna xo
[00:00:00] Kris: Hey, everybody, hope you’re doing very well. We’ve got a little treat for you for this podcast. Actually, it’s a podcast series. We’ve done them in the past and we decided to do it again because we got a lot of positive feedback from the other podcast series we did on boundaries and setting boundaries in your business. So this time we’re going to be doing a three-part quickie series on systems. Essential systems that you need for your design business.
[00:00:29] Donna: Yes. We just thought we are always being on about systems You hear Kris and I talk about it all the time It’s what the academy is basically made up of. And we thought, well, I wonder, does everybody know exactly the essential systems that a design business needs? So let’s identify them for you. So this is a quick introduction, to the systems that you will need to have a really beautiful, successful thriving graphic design business.
[00:00:57] Kris: Yeah, cause we really say systems are essential to freedom in your business. And freedom in many different ways, whether it’s financial freedom, life freedom, time freedom, creative freedom – systems are your route to that. And so, yes, like Don said, we’re always talking about systems. We’re very excited about systems, but you’re probably thinking, what are these systems? What are you talking about? So let’s just unpack them, we’re going to keep it nice and short and quick. And we’ll do an overview. We’re going to do five per podcast episode in this series for you
[00:01:32] Donna: Yeah. All right. System number one. So it is a financial forecasting system So that minute that you decide I want to run a graphic design business. Let’s work out how much is this business going to cost you? Okay. So it ensures that you have enough cashflow in the bank It incentivizes you to do something about it if you don’t. It helps you to have a starting point and then an end game So I’m going to start my business with this much of a cash injection, it could be as little as $50 could be a lot more than that. And then this is how much I need. The facts. No sugarcoating it. I need this much money to pay for my URL, my website hosting, my accountant, my X, my Y, my Z. This financial forecasting system is critical for you to understand what it takes for you to operate a functioning graphic design business.
[00:02:33] Kris: Yep. And we know that spreadsheets and mathematical formulas and all that money stuff can be really intimidating, but you must, must, must get across it. If you’re going to be successful in business, if you’re going to be an entrepreneur, if you’re going to be a successful business owner, you need to be across your numbers. We love to make it simple. We love to make it fun and beautiful as well. But financial forecasting can be really, really fun. It actually can be fun because like Don said, it really incentivizes you. You’re like, okay, I’m looking ahead right now it’s February. I’ve got X amount in the bank. And I’m thinking this is going to come in. It is a little bit of guesswork. This is coming in, this is coming in, and I want to pay myself that I have to pay this expense and this expense and this expense. And then you look ahead and go, what’s going to happen at the beginning of March? What’s gonna happen at the beginning of April? Where is my financial position going to be even in October? So you can see at a glance, what’s going to happen and then you can do something about it. That’s the thing, that’s the key. We want to be able to do something about it cause If you don’t know, how are you going to do something about it? If it’s just like, you’re just flying blind.
[00:03:44] Donna: Exactly what you don’t know, you don’t know. And one of our favorite things to say is what can be measured, can be managed. And the financial forecasting system is a point of measuring every cent that you will need in your business. What’s coming in, what’s going out. And when you know what all of those things are, you can manage it and can do something about it. Like Kris said, there’s nothing worse than being in a business where you are flying by the seat of your pants and you have no clue. What type of income you can expect in October when we’re sitting in February? Well we do because we’ve done our financial forecasting
[00:04:23] Kris: Mm,
[00:04:24] Donna: we’ve done it with a system that is sexy. And I just want to say that one of the most beautiful testimonials that we get from our Academy students and our one-to-one clients, is that prior to working with us, spreadsheets and, and working on your money was kind of like dirty words. Nobody wanted to do it. And then when they get their hands on these spreadsheets, they’re like never, ever, ever could I have imagined that spreadsheets could be so beautiful, so highly functional, so easy to use. So we promise you that doing these type of systems, they don’t have to be a drag. They don’t have to be like, uh, uh, do I have to hang out in this space for the next three hours? I don’t want to, I don’t want to do this. When you get your systems really carefully honed and done and they’re beautiful and they’re functional, it just becomes a pleasure to do this type of work in your business.
[00:05:20] Kris: Yeah. And you can do that yourself as well. Make sure whatever system you’re using right now, make it beautiful, make it aesthetically pleasing to you and that will help. That will help you want to get into that space regularly, because this is not a set and forget thing. You really do need to make sure that you are addressing this regularly. It could be weekly, it could be monthly. You need to be on top of it and this helps you ensure that you’ve got a business model that is going to work, and that’s what we make sure our designers who do The Academy are going to have, they’re going to have a working business model, it sets the pricing for you because you know that you can’t survive unless you charge a certain amount. So it’s all an ecosystem, but, it’s very important that you are forecasting. If you’re doing anything with the numbers, make sure you’re forecasting ahead, to plan ahead. Yes.
[00:06:15] Donna: Bringing us to system two, audience growth tracking system and a marketing system. Again, coming back to that quote, what can be measured can be managed. There’s no point in marketing and doing all these beautiful reach-outs to clients. If we don’t know what is landing and what is working.
[00:06:33] Kris: Yes. And sometimes it’s hard to know what to track and what metrics to track. Just keep it really simple at first, if you’re not sure. You know, tracking your growth, tracking the amount of people who were coming in the door. Once again, we do have systems for this in The Academy that we share with our students, but it’s very important to know that your marketing efforts are actually leading to something otherwise, you know you’re just throwing spaghetti at a wall, hoping something will stick. And it’s you know, are you actually getting qualified leads? Are you spending hours and hours and hours on this thing might be Instagram, for example. Or you might be doing Google ads, you’re throwing money at the problem, and you’re not actually measuring and tracking what’s coming through and the conversion rates. Yeah. But without tracking, you may be putting all your efforts into the wrong area completely. So we show you exactly how to do all that so knowing what to track is important too. Sometimes we can track too much and be overwhelmed. So we have a system for that which is specifically designed for graphic designers. What do you need to track? How do you ensure consistent flow of income coming into the door? So this is very, very important to have an audience growth and tracking system, making sure that you’re tracking your marketing efforts. So important.
[00:07:55] Donna: It’s so important, because otherwise like Kris was saying you could be just throwing spaghetti at the wall and you really, really need to understand that we don’t want to be making assumptions. We want to know definitively what’s happening with our marketing budget. What’s happening with our marketing efforts. We want to know definitively it’s all about understanding our numbers. Again. What can be measured can be managed.
[00:08:18] Kris: Hm. Now, number three, system number three, which does lead in from system two, and it’s in that marketing space. And a lot of systems will integrate because it is an ecosystem that you’ve got to get humming along here. But system three is a lead generation system. So by that we mean are you getting leads into the door that are actually aligned to you? Are you not getting enough leads? How many are you actually getting? So we want a system that’s going to encourage quality leads, on repeat and that are aligned with your offerings and your business model.
[00:08:57] Donna: Exactly. And this system is attracting leads. So this is the system that, that is in place for you to actually create the generation. That’s that’s what we’re saying. Lead generation system. That’s what this system’s all about. How are you getting people in your door? And we don’t just set up a beautiful Instagram feed and a beautiful website and build it and they will come. We have to understand what are the actionable steps that we are taking as a lead generation system in order for those beautifully aligned clients to come to us. This system is so essential for that. To have that on repeat to be able to make sure that you’re constantly reaching out to the right audience.
[00:09:41] Kris: What is the plan?
[00:09:43] Donna: Then what’s the plan, leading us to system four
[00:09:47] Kris: So system four is all about lead conversion tracking. So it’s a system just to track which leads are converting. So system three that we’re talking about is what are you doing to get leads into the door and they want to be aligned leads and then system four is tracking how they’re converting. So are you getting heaps of interested people but then your conversion rate is just really crappy? You know, it’s like, oh gosh, I’ve spent so much time meeting with people and sending out quotes and this and that. Like what is happening there? So it’s really important to track exactly how many of your leads are converting into actual signed projects and dollars into the door.
[00:10:33] Donna: Exactly. And it’s a percentage. What percentage of your leads are converting? Then when you can look at that and you can look at the different strategies, the different lead generating systems that you’ve been using, you can say, well, that lead generating system is not working as effectively as that one. So you can start to manage it – again. What we measure we can manage. So we can say okay that’s an effective lead generating system because it’s a really high percentage conversion rate. We wouldn’t know that unless we were tracking this system. So it’s essential, these are all LinkedIn like Kris said before that all integrated, but it’s essential that A have this lead generating system then B you have a secondary system that tracks it. That makes sure that, that is actually working for you.
[00:11:19] Kris: Mm and lead generation is really just a fancy pants term for getting clients or getting potential clients into the door. And we talked about that in our last podcast episode we shared how we got our very first clients and they were lead generation systems, what we were doing there. And it was done on repeat. So the system four just to track is how many of those leads are actually converting into projects?
[00:11:43] Donna: We love. this little tracking system because you can see at a glance, what is effective. And that’s what business is all about right? We’re not going to waste time energy and money into systems that are not effective for us. So I love this system at highlights where the juice is, is where we should be putting our time and efforts. This is it. And when you do that, that elevates. So, yeah, it’s a great little system.
[00:12:08] Kris: Yeah And it’ll highlight stuff for you. Like, okay. We had 10 new leads last month and eight of them came from Instagram and 10% of the Instagram ones converted. And then two came from, say, LinkedIn and both of those converted, and you can start to make assumptions about that and test it. Test it next month and go, okay, well, I’m going to really ramp up my LinkedIn next month and see if that makes a difference. So you really do need data over a period of time to really see what’s going up? What’s going down? What’s happening in the big picture? So you can start to make educated assumptions about what is going to happen in the future, because it can become like a science and an art. You can actually predict what’s going to happen over a given month into the future.
[00:12:58] Donna: Absolutely, Especially for months that when you’ve been tracking for a long time, you’ll be able to see, oh we have a bit of a dip in December because it’s Christmas time everybody’s on holidays or you know whatever. Or we have an increase in December because the universal deadline is Christmas and all designers are really busy, but you will be able to not make an assumption about that. You’ll be able to see, okay, this is what’s happening there. This is where I can actually get new clients at this time. New clients are around at the beginning of the year, or I’m finding that there are a lot of new clients around March. That’s what I’m getting a lot of conversions. So it really is essential for you to be able to see that at a glance because that’s when you know I can amp it up I can amp it up right then. And you know that your efforts will be rewarded
[00:13:43] Kris: Um
[00:13:43] Donna: that’s the
[00:13:44] Kris: yeah, see how all these are integrating into each other? So if you’re going to be looking at how your leads are converting, so potential clients are converting into an actual client then you’re going to look back And go, what was their pathway? Ah it was this particular audience growth strategy. So that was system two, audience growth strategy. It was that particular one it wasn’t the one I thought it was, or it might be. So it’s very important to have the knowledge around it.
[00:14:12] Donna: And the last one for this episode is our briefing system. Every designer, every creative has a briefing system of some way shape and form. And this again integrates from the lead generation system where it’s an important part of that journey for the client, because if they don’t feel safe and feel great about the whole process, you won’t convert them. This is linked in with the conversion process. It’s at this point where they will convert to a beautiful client, or not. So it’s really important that you see it as a part of that process as well, and it’s a big one. We have a multifaceted six part briefing system that we share with everybody in The Academy. And it’s really considered. It’s got lots of moving parts to make sure that you are covered as the designer, that you are getting the right intel for you to be able to quote effectively because that’s a part of the lead generation as well, to be able to quote effectively.
[00:15:13] Kris: Yes, It’s such a fine balance with briefing because it’s something that designers can get really frustrated about when you put so much time and effort into briefing and then the client doesn’t proceed. So it’s a very fine balance of making sure the client feels really seen, really heard, but you’re just gathering the Intel that you need in the most efficient way possible to get the quote out, because we don’t want to be wasting your time. We don’t want to be wasting their time. So it’s a delicate balance, but if that’s one tip that we can give you is to shorten that initial process before you quote, because we don’t want you to be spending hours and hours briefing clients then quoting.
[00:15:54] Donna: Yeah, it’s essential. It’s so important. You’ve nailed it, Kris. Has to be short. It has to be succinct. Has to be clear, lots of clarity around that initial briefing process in order for you to quote effectively and efficiently. And if you nail the brief and nail the quote we have found that the conversion rate is much higher. Because they can see exactly what you’re going to do, the transformation you were going to deliver and the fees align with that transformation. And there’s no big miss, you know, like I didn’t want that. I asked for this but you’re offering me this whole package, but I didn’t ask for all of that. I just want this bit or you’ve only given me this bit and I want this whole thing. So how much will that be? And so see how trust is at play here. If you can create a quote from a brief that is really really clear and on the money, clients will trust you. They’ll trust that they’ve been heard which is essential.
[00:16:52] Kris: it’s a huge part of the trust process. It could be called the trust process, the whole briefing system. And as we said, there’s multi facets to a brief, and that’s essential as well that it’s a system, a brief is a system it’s not just like a, again, a one and done thing. It needs to be phased. It needs to be broken down into sections. So that’s what we cover. We have such a big system we call it the ultimate briefing system because it’s got so many facets to it that you can draw from, that you can customize and use as your own. It’s a really thorough briefing system that we have in The Academy.
[00:17:32] Donna: Yeah, it’s beautiful. And I really love Kris that you said it could be called the trust process. I love that so much because that’s what it’s all about that right there, this whole process, once they have actually reached out to engage with you, this is the opportunity that you have to make sure that they’re seen and heard and, and create that trust. It’s So, beautiful.
[00:17:54] Kris: Yeah, and it follows right through to the end of the design process, that trust that you, you gather in the brief, because they’re trusting you, you’re holding that information so carefully nurturing it along to get this beautiful result. So the briefing system is a trust process, a trust system.
[00:18:11] Donna: Yes. I love it. Love it. Okay. Well, that’s the end of our little five.
[00:18:17] Kris: The first five.
[00:18:19] Donna: The first five. We can’t wait to give you the next five. We love these whole series idea with the feedback that we got from the first series is just so exciting for us. So that’s why we were excited to do it again.
[00:18:31] Kris: All right. Let us know if you have any feedback, any thoughts, any ideas we love to hear from you? Send us a DM in Instagram. We love to hear from you in Instagram, check us out. You can search for design and prosper and find us there.
[00:18:44] Donna: Yeah. All right See you next
[00:18:54] Kris: Bye!
© Copyright 2024 Design & Prosper Pty Ltd