Before your start your design firm, answer these questions:
What's Your "Why?"
I was fortunate enough to snag a last minute ticket to a local AIA event "So You Want To Start Your Own Firm?" a few days ago. The workshop covered many topics that plague designers who are either in the process of or have recently started their own firms, but there was one theme in particular that underlined the entire event: being clear on your "why."
Before you embark on the journey of starting a design business, you need to understand your “why.”
Starting a design business is no easy feat! You will feel all the emotions: frustration and elation, terror and bravery, overwhelm and freedom. It's a real rollercoaster and you may feel like your hanging on for dear life.
That's why it's so important to grasp even tighter to your motivations behind starting your firm, and never let it go.
Being clear on why you've decided to embark on this journey from the beginning is going to be your anchor throughout your career. It’s the thread that ties everything together. The line that connects all the dots.
Whether you're thinking of starting a firm, actively in the process, or recently took the leap and did the darn thing, here's a short questionnaire that is going to help you better understand your own motivations and hone in on your "why." You can think of this exercise as defining the scope of your firm (and we all know architects and designers love to define a scope).
Take about 20-30 minutes and answer these questions for yourself. You may be thinking, "20-30 minutes, Hailey?! I have to email 2 design proposals, finish a construction drawing package, send 8 clients emails, go to a doctor's appointment, and call my mom, all before EOD!" I get it, I know how hectic the life of a designer is! My promise to you is that I'm not going to waste your time, because this exercise is so important. It will force you to dig deep, answer hard questions, and uncover truths that define your brand. It will bring to light insights on you, your clients, and business, and at the end, you'll have a clearer direction on how to best represent yourself and your new business. Ok, ready? GO!
1. Who are you?
Not just your name and where you're from, but as a designer and human in this moment: What motivates you? What do you love? What makes you upset? What gets you up in the morning?
Know thyself.
2. Who do you want to be?
In one, five, or ten years down the road, what kind of person and designer do you want to be? Think of your aspirations, hopes, and dreams.
3. Why now?
Timing is everything, and also a huge motivator behind diving into a project like starting one's own business. What made you want to start now, as opposed to one year from now? What's motivating you to take action?
4. Who are your clients?
It's time to be very clear about the types of people and organizations you want to work with. What are their values? What motivates them?
5. What do you deliver?
This one is probably self-explanatory, but what services are you offering to your clients? Design? Project management? Construction services? Whatever it is that you're going to offer, answer this questions VERY specifically, not just "I'm going to design custom homes" but defining each step of your process in terms of what deliverables the client will receive.
6. What's your brand promise? (what every clients gets when they work with you)
This goes a bit beyond the physical deliverables and speaks more to how you will deliver. Are you going to ensure collaboration at every step? Will you promise sustainable spaces? Maybe you want to be the budget-friendly option for people hiring a designer for the first time, what will you promise then?
7. How will you deliver?
Try to define how you will work, both independently and with clients. What is the method behind the madness? What characteristics are you going to embody when working? Will you be collaborative, a hand holder, a big ideas/visionary type?
8. What's your edge?
What makes you different from everyone else? The answer to this is probably one of your deepest motivations for starting your firm in the first place, tap into that.
9. Why should anyone care?
You know your edge, but why should clients care about your unique abilities? How does this benefit them? This answer is going to define a big part of your brand, because it's going to be the connecting piece between your "why" and your client's.
Phew! Enough introspection for today!
Now that you've completed the first step in defining your brand, it's time to put these insights to work for you through strategic branding and crafting a mission statement. But that's a newsletter for another day ;)
So, now I have to ask… What’s your “why?
Until next time,
Hailey
A note from Hailey
You’ve built a successful design-build business, or maybe you’re just starting out. Now, you need a strong online presence that showcases your craft and skills to the world. You need a digital foundation that makes marketing simple and sets you up for growth.
You need a creative partner who gets it.
… me
