Is Your Design Business a Smooth, Well-Oiled Machine?

A smooth, efficient and reliable design business is often the result of implementing smart business systems. Does this sound like your firm?

Implementing reliable business systems is one area where I wish I put a little more emphasis when first starting my business. Besides doing all the design there was often little time left for the business end (billing, marketing, contracts, etc.) and putting reliable systems in place.

Why is this important? For a number of reasons, the first being it can free you up from having to do/create repeatable actions. If there is no process in place you tend to do things a bit differently each time.

Second, you want to shift your paradigm from working in the business” to working “on the business”. This means you want to shift your mentality to having systems in place (like a franchise) so it can operate independent of you.

So start to investigate what “systems” you have in place. Make a list, then try to identify a system (or procedure) that can automate it.

Examples of ways to automate include: using templates, process automation apps, autoresponders, defined roles & responsibilities and automatic payments among many others.

And a system does not have to mean a $4000 CRM software solution, it can mean hiring your sister to do your books on a defined basis or giving regular work to a virtual assistant. An added bonus is that a highly systematized business is much more valuable if you ever consider selling it.