My loyal followers know that I’m a freelance designer in my spare time. And as such I had my own business for a while. I did this with a lot of fun and the core and only business was doing design. Yet a week ago I decided to quit with that business and go start a new one. This decision wasn’t taken lightly but it was in my best interest to do so to keep challenging myself.
So I want to share with you my experience of having an own design studio, selling it to someone else and start a whole new business from scratch again!
What was my own design studio about?
I loved working on this small studio and had a few freelancers under me who I hired. I kept a steady flow of existing and new clients all the time and had a lot of fun. The studio focused on the User Interface design (website & webshop) and development for small businesses. I did the design and a few freelancers rotated on doing the development.
When I started the studio I learned a lot and through trail and error and I made it happen. I started right away and didn’t got my branding on point. I didn’t had an identity or website right away.
Not a website? And you’re a design studio?! But how?!
Yes, I had my first clients right away and those clients were golden. So I did work for them and didn’t do my own. This was a big mistake because I could have done so much more if I had branding. When I started I had just a logo and got my billing software running. Anyways, I did the work for my clients and they were happy. They recommended me in their network and the clients kept coming. So still I had no website or branding whatsoever. When I had some time I started working on my website but always had 30% focus on it. Not my full attention which got me a crappy website that was inconsistent en didn’t work for me. So after a while I had 3 new clients and hired a new designer to do the work so I could work on the website and branding. This was 1 year later and was 13 months overdue. Teachable moment!
When the business is booming, why sell the studio?
Everything I had invested in the Studio was on point and getting new clients was a daily thing. I was more busy with contacting clients and keeping them up to date than designing. I had to hire freelance designers to do the work. Which was okay because I learned new stuff. Doing sales and marketing, getting to know the clients and more. New skills acquired!
But I didn’t do what I loved anymore. I was making money by delegating work and keeping clients happy instead of designing. It wasn’t what I stood for. I wanted to help business owners, giving that personal touch and see it as a passion (it still is though!). But it became more like work each and every day. So 1 month ago someone approached me and said he wanted to work together. Wanted to be partners in the studio and wanted to buy his way in. I was shocked and stoked at the same time! I had build momentum and someone was interested in my business!! That was a little victory for me haha!
So after a long talk and some self reflecting I decided to quit the studio and sell it to him. He could have everything except my 5 favourite clients. He wasn’t happy about that but I made clear that they are with me because of me and if I leave, they will leave as well. So he understood and accepted the terms. I informed my clients that I can’t do any work for designing at the moment because I will create a new studio from scratch on!
Bye old studio, Hello new one!
So your question might be; why are you starting a new one. Couldn’t you just stop getting new clients and get back to what you love?
Yes I could but I was ready for a fresh start. Something new. I learned a lot from my old studio and wanted to use that knowledge to create a new brand and identity. I talked with one of my all time favourite freelancers and we are gonna work together on creating such a dream. I do the design and sales and he does development. Something we both love.
I started out with creating a name. Something fresh, something that is light, fun and related to the business branch. I will announce the name and logo later on when everything is settled! Afterwards I created a logo which I’m very happy about! The next steps are creating an identity and branding around it. I had to make a checklist for it to go live.
Checklist
- Logo is done!
- Business Card for myself and my freelancer
- A brochure that says what we stand for. Print it out and make it digital as well.
- Create all stationary (letter, envelope and more)
- Create a website design that is amazing and stunning.
- Create a live environment / dashboard for clients so they can see their website and shoot questions if they have any problems or issues.
This is a quick checklist that is needed in phase 1 of going live. When this is absolutely perfect we can continue onto phase 2. This might take a month to make perfect in design and the website can take a bit longer as well!
So what did I learn and take with me?
I learned several things that are quite interesting.
- Don't do stuff half baked. Make it perfect and have eye for the details. Have your website on point that reflects your business before taking on new work. This way you have all the focus you need on each project and aren’t thinking about your own stuff. -
When you have that website and people like it, then the website will give your more clients over time. When this happens you can choose to take on each project. - Sales and project management is fun but you can hire someone else to do it if needed to keep doing what you love!
- I stay with 5 regular clients that I meet on a monthly basis and I will not take any more. This way I can really give that personal touch which gives myself a better feeling but also the clients!
- When I have more regular clients I get a dedicated support person that deals with the clients and meets them. The personal feeling is my core business. I don’t sell design, I don’t sell development or branding. No I sell a personal touch. Understanding the customer and their target audience and then everything will work out. Because I can design, I can do branding and my freelancer is top notch in development. So no need to worry about that.
- When things get out of hand, I will delegate tasks quicker and keep on point to what I love to do myself. Hiring freelancers in my network can be cheap and I know they are great. So they earn a bit and I earn a bit.
- Last but not least; I have to find my passion again that makes it a hobby and not work. I still have that mindset of work to do sales and such. This time-out period is also to find myself again. To do what I love.