Review, refresh, rethink

We’ve embraced our value of generosity this year and made a lot of our business of design content free.

A new leaf, a new start, clean sheet of paper … whatever the metaphor, the start of a new year is the perfect time to review what you do; question why you do it, then ponder the value of the exercise (both to you and your clients).

Practising what we preach, we’ve spent summer pondering what it is we truly love doing, and what parts of our role(s) we like least.

The result is some changes at HQ.

Here’s what we know: our core business is helping creatives manage their business better.

Here’s what we love:

• researching better ways to manage the ‘business’ of design: how to work more efficiently and more effectively, leaving more time to create.
• being navigators, identifying possible hazards: leaving creative business owners to work proactively and confidently, rather than reactively and timidly.
• learning, and proud to say we are still curious and still learning. Finding new ways to do ‘old’ things or old ways to embrace ‘new’ trends.
• And we love sharing: translating those learnings into parcels of information easier to share and digest. We don’t sweat the small stuff – we know the packaging can always be better infact we’re lifelong members of don’t let perfect being the enemy of good. We like to package and send insights out for review and discussion.

Goes without saying the joy of learning is connecting —  meeting with agency owners and managers to talk about their business and their challenges. It’s interesting because every creative business differs to another. We’ve a toolbox of tips, tools and tactics, but there is no quick fix, no formulaic response.

And what we don’t love?

Standing still.
Being patient.
Doing things the same way because that’s the way they’ve always been done.

So we’re mixing it up this year.
We’re releasing more ‘free’ material

Lunchtime Learnings

Lunchtime Learnings are one of our success stories. They’re one-hour presentations sharing our research, experience and knowledge on a single subject. Originally delivered over zoom, we did plan to package and selling the recordings. Instead, we’re uploading them to YouTube and making them freely available.

We’ve eight Lunchtime Learnings to be uploaded: deep dives into specific subjects we know will help manage a business better.

• Spilling our guts on pricing
• Productivity
• How designers can use LinkedIn
• Design Value
• Positioning a design firm
• Translating design into business language
• Specialisation
• Finding clients who value design

We’ll release them as they’re ready, but over the next few months they’ll all be available for your use, on demand, for free via a YouTube channel.

The first few are available here… interested to hear what you think.

Ask Me Anything

Our focus has always been around building community and we know not everyone can afford mentoring. We also know booking an hour for one question isn’t always feasible. That’s the idea behind Ask Me Anything.

We’ll be on zoom for an hour on Wednesday February 14 at 12:30 AEST.

You can email questions earlier or ask them on the day. To be part of the discussion, register your interest here. We’ll answer questions in the order they come in.

Ask me Anything is free and it’s a chance to ask any niggling questions you’ve got about the business of design.

The moral

The moral of this story is to grasp the opportunity to rethink what you do and why you do it. If you’ve spent the past year filling trenches rather than building peaks, and that’s not what you want, now is the perfect time for change.

Want to discuss any of the above? Email Carol.

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Want more?

Links to our free material:

1. 1. 1. Here’s where you can find Lunchtime Learning
      2. Here’s the link to the February 2024 Ask Me Anything
      3. At the bottom of this page you’ll see a list of free factsheets