One of the hardest things about my job as a creative professional is coming up with that great idea, time after time after time. When you’re being paid by the hour, the pressure’s on to come up with something quick AND good…hopefully great.
I was reading this article today by Tim Berry, one of the Entrepreneur gurus, and it sparked that idea in my head…what is it that gets my juices flowing? And how can I ensure that I give myself the optimal advantage to be able to come up with those ground-breaking ideas again and again? Here are my thoughts so far:
- Reading good books
- Talking with people who are doing Great Things
- Attacking each day with the motivation to create something significantly beautiful
- Getting enough sleep
- Spending time away from the computer
- Noticing the beauty around me and using it to spark a bigger idea
- Keeping track of my ideas
That last one has been elusive for me so far. I haven’t yet had the discipline to keep track of my ideas. I’m going to make it a part of my routine to sit down for 15 minutes every day and find one thing that sparks a new idea. Not only will I be disciplining myself to think creatively on a regular basis, but I will be creating a well that I can draw from when the ideas aren’t flowing as easily.
Admit it…if you’ve ever written a business plan, you downloaded one of those great “business plan templates” available everywhere. You were so excited you almost wet yourself getting started. But then when you got to the 21st question that seemed completely irrelevant to your business, you sighed. You turned off your computer, put down your pencil, and gave up. What is the point? Most of those silly questions either a.) don’t apply to you or b.) have answers that are so obvious you don’t feel the need to write them down.
Greg Go has written a great article over at Wise Bread about simplifying your business plan [via LifeHacker]. It makes me want to revisit my admittedly sketchy plan. It’s based on 4 simple questions that apply to everyone.
I’m going to go ahead and write down some quick answers to get me started:
- What is your product or service?
Designing and developing websites and promotional material for small- to medium-sized businesses.
- Who are your customers?
- Who’s giving you money, and who are you marketing to?
Business owners who want to be branded as modern, fresh, and design-conscious.
Creative professionals who want a well-built, search-engine friendly website that will display their talents and wares in an intuitive, yet highly unique way.
Website owners who appreciate clean code and simple functionality.
- How many potential customers are there?
Approximately 350 new business licenses are applied for each month in Virginia Beach alone. Online, there are thousands of sites that could use a major overhaul.
- Who are your competitors?
Freelance web designers and small development studios. There is a LOT of competition, but there is something to say for customer service and “being there.” Many of our clients have been burned by designers who just disappeared from the face of the earth with their hard-earned cash. Because of this, trust is definitely an obstacle to overcome, but it’s an area that distinguishes us from many competitors.
- When will things get done?
Our studio doesn’t keep regular business hours, which allows us to have the flexibility of meeting with clients whenever they need to meet. We do work the typical 40 hour week, but since we live in the studio, we have the option of changing it up on a daily basis. Oh wait…I guess that’s not what this question is asking…
- What does your company look like in one, three, and five years?
In one year, we hope to have launched a social media site (details are hush hush at this point) that will allow us to develop and demonstrate our web application development capabilities. In three years, we hope to hire more talented developers and become a child company of a larger media company that John will be launching. In five years, we will be continuing a process of growth, but will remain our small-town focus on relationships and accountability.
- In the next 3, 6, and 12 months, what are specific milestones you want to accomplish?
In three months, we would like to develop a more consistent client base while keeping our focus on serving only those clients who have a vision and philosophy consistent with our own. In six months, we would like to re-vamp our portfolio with work that reflects our progressive design goals. In one year, we would like to launch our first social media site.
- What are specific next steps you need to accomplish to reach the first milestone? What can you do today?
Figure out a marketing plan that offers a consistently good return on our investment. Today I can brainstorm marketing strategies that I can check off one by one and eventually make a log of specific results that each one achieves.
- When are bills due and when do you get paid?
- How much money will it cost to make your product or provide your service?
Software that we maintain for our business includes: Photoshop CS2 (which we’d love to upgrade to CS3), Maya, Flash MX (which we will upgrade by purchasing Adobe CS3), and ToonBoom. Equipment that we maintain for our business includes a WaCom tablet, an iMac, and a PowerBook Pro. We also purchase stock images on a regular basis. Other than that, we are using resources already provided in our studio, since it’s an extension of our home. Our total yearly expenditures for software, equipment, and images are approximately $10,000.
- How much do you have to charge to earn a profit?
(We did these calculations in February using a method we’ve previously discussed.) Considering that only 50% of our working hours are currently billable, we need to charge $90 per hour to grow the business and pay ourselves a small salary. This is in the range of the industry standard, which is between $75 and $250 per hour.
This process was incredibly motivating for me. I think I’ll go brainstorm some marketing strategies now.
I just found this amazing device called The Printable CEO by David Seah (available via free downloadable pdf on his site.) It basically helps you narrow your focus to the things that are really important to your business. (Of course, this one is focused mainly on web developers, but you can use the same concept to develop your own.)
It’s so easy to get caught up in minutiae as a small business owner. There are so many “good” things that vie for my time every day. Shortcuts are very. good. things.
I think I’m going to attempt this. I really do. I mean, my little PowerBook has been suffering silently, unused in the corner of my home for the past 6 months. I have been giving my iMac all of the attention, when really, my PowerBook served me flawlessly for five years until I dropped it on its poor mutilated head.
I tried to overlook its deformity. I really did. But when half the screen was completely gone, it was a hard thing to overlook. And now that I find that it can still be used…with my flashy new iMac screen, even…I am practically delirious. But I have to ask myself…how much of a geek am I?
Because once you start performing surgery on your computers, attaching a part here and detaching a part there, I think you enter into a whole new level of geekdom. Am I ready for that yet?
I just read an excellent article by Natalie Jost on working from home. It got me thinking about the struggles I face (yes, there are struggles!) and also the benefits.
Whenever I tell someone that I work from home, inevitably they shriek “Wow! That is awesome! What do you do? Can you get me in?” When I tell them that I co-run a web development studio along with my husband, they look a little wistful for a moment, and then say something along the lines of, “That must be amazing. I would love to do that.” It seems like working from home has become the holy grail of the business world, and they wonder how I got to be so lucky.
Well let me tell you something. The grass over here can be a little scratchy. It requires a whole lot of watering, and most of the time it’s hard to get it to grow. In other words, it’s work, baby. Work by any other name is still…work.
Not that I don’t love my job. I wouldn’t be doing anything else for the world. I love the creative challenges I face on a daily basis. I love the problem-solving aspect of web development. I love that I create my own hours. I love that my kids get to see me making a living doing something I love. But there are specific challenges to working at home that I do not particularly relish. My biggest struggle is feeling like I’m working all the time.
For many moms, their children’s nap times and bed times are her sanctuary. They allow her to catch a bit of self time in an otherwise hectic, hectic day. For me, those times are peak work times. I can concentrate and focus on a task without hearing, “Mommy, I need [yet another] sippy cup!” The downfall of that is that I rarely get a chance to chill out and relax.
My solution: Find balance in the “work while they’re up” and “work while they’re down” times. I’ve come to the conclusion that it is OKAY to catch some work time while my kids playing. You just have to make sure that you’ve spent quality/quantity time with them FIRST and that they remain your top priority when they’re awake. How do I do that?
- We make breakfast time a special connecting time. Sometimes we’ll make pancakes together (they’re faster than you think), and we always talk about what we’re going to be doing that day. Basically, we use the time to enjoy each other and catch up on each other’s lives.
- After breakfast, we have a special together time. We’ll read together or play a special game. We might go outside for a little while and play catch.
- After we spend some time together, I work on things that take less focus while the kids are playing together (email, paperwork, filing, etc.)
- I make sure that t.v. is a last resort so that it is more fun when they do get to watch it. Then we make popcorn and make it a special thing for them.
- I work on things that take more focus while the kids are asleep (phone calls, creative work, concept building, etc.)
- I have a “turn off computer” time every day. It may not be the same time every day, but after I say I’m done for the day, I am DONE. I don’t do anything on the computer, even fun stuff.
Not every day is so well-planned and smooth, of course. I constantly remind myself that my children are my ultimate life’s work, as much as I love my job. But when I stick to these simple guidelines, I feel great about myself, my work, and my relationship with my children. When I don’t, I feel guilty and that they might be better off in child care. Setting boundaries for yourself really makes a huge difference.
I meant…re-vamped, along with our sweet new site design. Now that our head blogger has quit her other (ahem) two blogs, she finds that she has a little more time to write. Which she will do just for you, dear reader.
But now, it is 3:15am, and she finds that she has been up much too late working on this re-design. But now she can sleep happily knowing that it’s finished, and any possible bugs can wait to be squashed until tomorrow.
