We help creatives build sustainable creative businesses
We offer strategic, practical advice about the business of design: we mentor and coach; we research and write weekly and we actively support the Australian design community.
We offer strategic, practical advice to help designers can manage their business better
We mentor and coach creatives
Call it what you will, we work alongside creatives to solve problems, address challenges and achieve objectives. We know the Australian design industry. We’ve run our own business, over the past decade we’ve worked with hundreds of creative business owners and we’re active in the Australian creative community.
Working with Greg Branson has been a defining moment for our business. He has assisted in providing us a clear and implementable plan that has led to substantial growth, a more defined vision and articulating the real value we can provide to our clients. He took us beyond a focus on design outputs and moving firmly into delivering measurable business outcomes that help grow our clients businesses …
… Greg also provides financial benchmarks and cost structure recommendations that have moved us away from charging in hours, to charging in value added to our clients business. If you’re a design studio, company or agency we can not recommend Greg’s services more highly.
Rusty Benson, Raine & Makin
Practical solutions for design business problems
Our services are wide and varied because what works for one creative business may not work for another. There is no packaged formula — we listen, we analyse, and then we build a solution to fit your problem. Much like you do for your clients.
When mentoring and/coaching design studio owners, we might do some or all of the following:
You can end up bruised if you roll with the punches for too long. A better strategy is to take control of your business and your future.
The creativity industry isn’t known for it’s longevity of career, that’s why forward-planning is so valuable. Maybe it’s a succession plan, maybe it’s a side-hustle. The key is to have a plan. That’s where our knowledge of the Australian creative industry and our experience is so valuable.
You won’t compete with others if you identify your superpower and find your niche. We are firm believers there are enough clients and opportunities for skilled designers to build a successful, sustainable creative business. The key is to understand what you do differently to other designers. We work with activities and tools to help find your onlyness.
The key to new business is to understand what you have to offer (your onlyness) and the market where you can deliver the most value. That’s where we can help.
We can help hone your offer to target specific client and market sectors. The aim is to work with who, and where, you want.
Managing creatives may well be the hardest part of owning a creative business. Manage expectations by documentation. We can help with everything from benchmarking wages, to agreements and job descriptions.
Productivity is not about counting hours, it’s understanding how you can get the best from yourself and your team. Understanding the interaction between productivity and pricing, and productivity benchmarks reduces the stress of trying to work harder. It’s all about gaining knowledge because knowledge leads to confidence in business decision-making.
Understanding where you sit in the Australian creative industry landscape is gold. It’s intel about where your design business is under or over-performing compared to competitors. That’s valuable knowledge for new business, for recruitment and for stress levels.
