The future of corporate brands being accessible to the common person is already here. All major brands including Nike and BMW are enabling their customers to actually build customized products and then buy them.

I was looking at www.nikeid.com and was amazed at the ease with which you can actually build your own nike branded shoes (complete with choice of shape, color of the sole, shoelaces color, color of the nike swoosh, the air bags etc).

In fact you can brand your own name at the back of each shoe! Now that is what Michale Fortin is talking about in his report the “Death of a Salesletter”. Enabling customers to buy what they want and how they want rather than be sold to.

If small design businesses can give the same level of flexibility to their customers and allow them to actually build what they want to buy it would really improve their bottom line. For instance. this has inspired to re-structure our package system in such a way that visitors to our website can actually build a package on their own and then buy.

I mean, why should we force our customers to buy a “package”? In my opinion most of the “packages” promoted by most online logo design companies are based on what other similar companies are offering. So we are now in a situation where every package seems similar. Perhaps the customers believe that is the defactro standard.

Logo Design Works has been online for a long time and we have tried different package systems. We always tried to find out from customers what they would like from our packages. But I must admit we are not guilty of coming up with packages that made “market” sense.

More on this topic later on.

On the internet, it is not uncommon to find such advertisements as “all types of logos available for just $50″. In reality good company logos take considerable time and cost hundreds of dollars to create.

Thus today’s logo designing scenario is rife with contradictions. To the uninitiated, this remarkable gap in pricing may be confusing. It becomes pertinent for the new client to ask, “why should I pay so much when so many are offered in lot lesser prices?”

A Logo is a combination of text and graphics meant for creating a visual identity of a company, institution or organization. In the corporate world, the logo becomes the company’s crucial identity mark that portrays the character of the business, its mission and its philosophy. Thus the logo is aimed at creating and reinforcing a brand identity. The logo may consist of a symbol or just a text or it may contain both the symbol and the text.

Whatever may be the type of a logo, good logos are always the result of immense creative endeavors. Effective logos that always linger in our mind’s eyes are not created by fluke; they are the result of well defined procedures.

The logo designing process has three major aspects: creativity, technical knowledge and experience with marketing. Logo designers have to be creative to be able to translate ideas into effective designs. It is not possible for a person with limited creativity to give expression to the thoughts and goals of others. You have to be a great visualizer in order to become a successful logo designer.

Modern logo designing is not about scribbling on paper; you have to be savvy about latest graphic designing technologies to create the right thing. Today’s advertising materials are not meant for the print media only. They are circulated everywhere from web to company vehicles and even buildings. For that, you have to create something that is technically viable and easily reproducible.

Now coming to the last but most important aspect: the marketing knowledge. Creating the right kind of corporate identity requires research. The logo designer must be able to understand the target customers so that the logo is able to strike the right chord with them.

When a firm is designing a custom logo from the scratch for your company, all these criteria come into play and thus the custom logo designing becomes a complicated and time consuming affair.

But the end result of the entire procedure is a logo that ensures originality, guarantees recognition with huge visual impact, rightly conveys your business message, builds up the brand value and promises the enhanced business.

Now going back to the original argument: why you should be ready to pay a good buck for a custom designed logo? It is clear from the above discussion that an effective logo designing is much more than lifting from free clipart directories and producing of a piece of graphic to which you have no ownership. Custom logo designing involves effective visualization and only an experienced team can rightly visualize the end result.

As you know, quality has its price, so has the custom logo designing which is the culmination of great creativity, marketing sense and knowledge about socio-psychology in one.

Most small design businesses on the internet are really not small businesses.

A business is considered to be a small business if it has at least 8 or more people. So if you are a one or two man army then yours is a micro-business.

These kind of creative online companies/businesses are started (most often) by creative individuals who want to be “their own boss”.

Here are a few reasons why people want to be their own boss and why I think these are simply myths.

I am not trying to scare or disappoint budding creative entrepreneurs. I am merely analyzing the myths.

You have the freedom to decide your own work hours

Many creative people, when going into business for themselves (even as freelancers to start with) think that they can decide the number of hours they will work and when they will work. To me this is the biggest myth. Most freelancers in the graphic design/logo design field work more than a 100 hours a week. When you are working from home, then you are always working.

Even though you have no direct boss to tell you to get up and work, your clients are your bosses and you will have to work long hours to complete the projects. Of course the more you work, the more you earn.

Solution Tip:

There is no sense in burning yourself out. I know it might be difficult initially to make enough money to be able to work less. But wearing yourself out will not help in the long run. Try to stay away from over crowded places such as bid boards where 1000s of other designers are fighting for the limited projects. Such places will force you to come up with free mockups with out guarantee of being picked and hence paid for the work you put in.

Free mockups mean more hours of work and less likelihood of pay.

You can pick and choose the projects you will work

Unlike you have been in business for a long time it really is impossible to pick and choose the projects you will work on and those that you will turn down. In the graphic design/logo design/website design industry, the market is saturated with more suppliers than demand.

In such a highly competitive arena, you can hardly pick and choose projects. You will grab with both hands and feet what ever project comes your way.

This is not necessarily bad but if the quality of design projects you work on is poor then in the long term you will get frustrated and lose your motivation.

Solution Tip:

Even though you can not turn down projects, it would help to build a process where you can make your clients aware of the standards you have. For instance, if you get a client who shows you logo that belongs to some one else and asks you to make a similar looking logo, then perhaps you should put your foot down. You could work around it by telling the client about the potential risk for HIM in terms of copyright infringement etc.

Perhaps this example does not truly describe the “quality” of a project or client but in my opinion a client who asks you to do that falls under the “bad quality project” section.

You do not need a business plan

This is one of my favorites. Designers and other creative people who start an online business feel that business plans are only for the big corporations. To a certain extent that is true. However you do need to have a business plan, albeit a small one.

The scope of your business depends on the nature of the nature and size of your business. If you are looking to land a few investments into your company or are approaching the banks then you would need a very thorough business plan that outlines the financial figures, marketing plan, scope and potential. Such business plans are best written by professionals.

Solution Tip:

But if you are a freelancer that is looking to turn it into a business then you would need a business plan that is smaller in scope. You would need to think about where you are now, how the market is, where you want to be one year, two years down the line and how you plan to get there.

Thinking about these things and writing them down can have a huge impact on your business. It will give you clarity and a sense of purpose.

Resources:

MDA Free Business Plan Writer

A list of popular business plan writers on Business.com

You just create, you don’t need to sell!

Another myth that most designers who start an online business believe in is that they simply have to be the best at what they do and success will follow. This is far from the truth. On top of creating, you would need to market and sell what you create.

Bidding for a project on a bidding forum might not be considered as marketing or selling by most people. But that is exactly what it is. Designers simply use a “copy-paste” method when bidding for projects. They do not market themselves at all.

Solution Tip:

The websites that a lot of small design firms do not have any sales copy at all. They display their work in a nice portfolio but that is pretty much it. You have start thinking about your identity and your image and how to enhance both at every opportunity. Do you have a nice logo design? Does it reflect who you are? Is your website professional? Is the sales copy adequate? Are you trying to answer most common questions that your website visitors have?

Ok I have to stop before this post turns into some thing related to website usability.

Resources:

Learn about copywriting and apply it to your website

I can manage my money!

The biggest problem for the creative entrepreneur is managing money. Because we are their own boss now, most often than not, they we that we have full control over our finances. Wrong! At least that is what I have seen in my experience.

Managing money is a talent that has to be learned and practiced. If you do not apply yourself to that skill you will soon find that you are working really hard but you have little to show for it. For instance, if you are a logo designer, then you might realize at the end of the year that you had created 100s of logos and yet, when you look at your balance sheet, it does not look so great.

Ok this problem might not be relevant to the single man army kind of freelancer turned full time individual. I am talking about those entrepreneurs who have started a small business, engaged a few employees and have a office outside their bedroom.

Solution Tip:

The best investment you will make in terms of managing your finances is to engage a professional and proper accountant. Not the cheapest, but one who is qualified and experienced in dealing with small business accounts (preferably in the design industry).

Ok. The first in the series of tips and advice for the creative entrepreneur. As a logo designer myself, I believe that procrastination comes naturally to creative people. So here are 10 tips that I have used in the past that helped me avoid procrastination.

Tip #1: Write things down

If you are overwhelmed with creative tasks and find that you need to also take care of non-creative tasks such as doing accounts, answering email, taking the dog out for a walk etc, then it is essential that you have clarity in your mind in terms of how many tasks you have and what needs to be done.

To start off, I always found it effective to write things down and then prioritize them. Yes, sounds very obvious but you would be surprised at how you can get a grip on what needs to be done just by listing out your tasks.

I use EverNote (the free version) to write my tasks down.

Tip #2: Make deadlines

After you have written down your tasks and prioritized them, you need to set yourself specific deadlines to complete both the creative and the non-creative tasks.

Having deadlines gives you the sense of urgency you need to get the important tasks done. For instance I always find it very boring to prepare project reports. At Logo Design Works we prepare projects reports for all projects that are successfully completed. These reports include time spent on the project, screen shots of the final designs, color codes, font names, a creative brief and the customer details.

These reports are then stored in a database and help us down the line when we are researching or when we are trying to make sure that a particular design was not done before by any other designer in the company.

I use outlook calendar heavily for managing my tasks and my deadlines.

Tip #3: Hardest First

I usually attack the hardest and the worst task first. That way, I will have what it takes to completes tasks that I either hate or do not care for. You can then work on the easier tasks. This will make you feel completely in control since the hardest tasks have already been completed.

For me the hardest task is when I am assigned a project and in the project brief the client has written, “Please call me to discuss”. As most creative people would agree with me, calling a client to discuss the initial project scope is the toughest part.

It is very easy to put away this task. But procrastinating on this task means that the entire project gets delayed. So when I come to work in the morning, and when I am feeling my best I grab the phone and force myself to make these calls.

Tip #4: Treat yourself

Another technique I found to be quite effective is to reward yourself when you have completed each task. The hardest task always got the biggest reward. The way I reward myself is by doing things that I enjoy after I had completed a task that I did not enjoy.

For example after the project scope phone calls to my clients, I would either play a game on our of our XBoxes in the office or call and talk to my wife. This would then relax me and get me into mood for the more important tasks ahead such as team meetings, brainstorming sessions and the actual design work.

Tip #5: Change your environment

I find it quite effective to change my position or environment when I am stuck with a task. For example if I am stuck with an unusually difficult project and am finding it hard to come up with ideas, I find it effective to take my thought process elsewhere.

For instance, last week I was working on logo design project for a client who is in the ornate metal work business. The client did not give me any information in terms of what they wanted to see or which direction I should take. Attempts at trying to pry this information from the client resulted in a dead end.

The examples of logos liked by the client were all related to the food & drink and restaurant industries. This did not make sense to me. I did some research and realized that the competition had some really bad corporate identities. So I could not even get a clue as to how others in the same industry were branding themselves.

After spending an hour at my desk, I got up, walked out of the office and into the adjacent supermarket. I spent the good part of an hour hanging around the supermarket, thinking about this project. The change in scenario gave me some inspiration and I came back armed with a few promising ideas.

Tip #6: Don’t be shy

If you are stuck on a task and cannot find inspiration within yourself then do not hesitate to ask. Of course if you are working from your bedroom and are a one man company then it becomes a little difficult. But that can be handled by visiting related creative forums and asking for ideas. You will be surprised at what you can get back.

Asking your colleagues and researching online can really help you come out of a hole, if you are stuck on a creative task. This will help you avoid putting off the task.

Tip #7: Work around your weaknesses

When tackling a tough creative task that you would like to put off, it helps to work around your weaknesses. For instance, one of my weaknesses when it comes to creativity is integrating the slogan selection. I absolutely hate it. Most clients have tag lines that are way too big and it is a nightmare trying to integrate them into a beautiful concept.

To overcome this weakness I try and work my way around. I talk the clients into trimming the tag line (if it makes sense and has the same meaning the client originally intended). By trimming the tag line or rethinking the words used, often you find that the new tag line is much more impact. Clients are happy and I am happy too.

Tip #8: Strict Timing

Another useful technique I found that helps me avoid procrastination is to set up a particular time for a particular kind of task. For instance, every day at exactly 3PM EST (if I am working in the office) I do task assignments to my team members. I have 6 logo designers in my team and I have to assign milestones, tasks, answer their queries etc. Because I have my own projects to work on, I tend to put off this assigning task which might lead to delayed milestones.

So with out fail at 3PM sharp I drop what ever I am doing and open up our project management software and tend to all pending assignments etc.

Tip #9: Don’t be a perfectionist

Well, perhaps you can be on some occasions. But if you are working on some thing that you do not fancy then the best solution to avoid delaying that task is to get it done as quickly as you can. You can then fine tune it at a later time. But you need to complete the task first.

To some this may sound like bad advice. But if you are running a creative business then you need to think in terms of productivity. There is no sense in trying to get some thing to be perfect (which might forever) while risking deadlines or on rare occasions dropping the task entirely.

For instance, some times clients send in some color samples and request that we match them exactly in the design. This could be easier said than done. With so many different variables such as different monitors, different printers etc, it really is some times very difficult to match a color exactly. If the client gives you PANTONE Color Code, then it is fine. But if they simply email you an image for reference then you are in trouble.

Now instead of spending hours trying to get the color to match exactly, try to get the closest match and show it to you client. This will enable you to get that task done and give your client an opportunity to evalue the color and tell you if wants a closer match.

Tip #10: Just do it!

And finally if all else fails, just roll up your sleeves and just do it! Some times you might just have to fight back the bitter taste in your mouth for that particular task, hold back your tears and start doing the task.

Running a successful online creative/design business means that you will have to work on both interesting and the no-so interesting projects. You have to take on the tasks and do them with a positive attitude.

Are you a Creative Entrepreneur? Then this blog is the right place for you to get tips and advice on how to start, manage and make a small creative business work.

Over the coming days, weeks and months I will be posting a series of tips that you might find useful as you go about trying to make your creative business a success.

How am I qualified to do that? Well, I have  started, along with my business partner, and have successfully built an online corporate identity and graphic/web design business. Starting with 2 people back in 1999, today we are over 40 people and growing with 4 offices around the world.

So today I will be talking about a little bit of history. Just to give you some background on our company and how our advice might help you on your own journey into the tricky world of online creative business.

In the Begining…

The year was 1999. I was working for a creative and advertizing firm in Sarasota, Florida called MediaX Inc. I had joined the company in 1996 right after I graduated from uni. The company was big (had around 200 staff) and business was good. I was in the branding section and was dealing with logo designs, corporate indentity and other brand related stuff.

The work was good and I loved creating logos and corporate identities. However the company was strictly offline and did things in a very traditional and slow maner.

One of my collegues, MB, working in the software section of the company and I decided to start a corporate identity and logo design company that would offer branding to small companies that could not afford expensive design firms and in fact did not need the hu-ha offered by such companies.

The problem…

In MediaX, typically when a client came for some corporate identity work, our business analysts would spend at least week in meetings and phone calls for the fact-finding part of the process. They would ask the client many questions (many of them irrelevant, really) and build up notes.

They would then have more meetings in-house with the designers to describe what they believe the company does, stands for, who the target audience is etc. The designers then go away and do independent research on the industry etc and try and come up with sketches of logo design concepts.

More days pass as our project manager then interfaces with the client and shows them the concepts and gathers feedback from them. They then come back to the designers either for re-draws or revisions.

The client would be charged $2,500 to $4,000 for this process and it would take any where from a month to 4 months before a logo is finalized.

The Solution…

I and MB felt that this process could be simplified and made more accessible to small business if the service was offered on the web. There were already a very small number of companies doing this online.

We decided to give up our jobs and started SpellBrand (Logo Design Works). Over the past few years we have created 1000s of corporate identities and logos for companies accross the world. We have grown from a 2 man company in 1999 to more than 40 people. We have also opened offices in the UK, France, Singapore and India.

We pride ourselves in offering high quality corporate identity solutions at very affordable rates. And best of all we try and provide resources to help the creative entrepreneur setting up and running a design business online.

Self Promotion Tips for the Creative Entrepreneur

On this blog I will be posting a series of tips for the creative person including tips of self promotion both offline and online, setup and run an online business, getting and retaining customers, dealing with the easy and difficult customers and more. I will use case studies of our own projects where possible and try and offer advice based on our experience in the online design business.

I would welcome any comments you might about the tips and advice that I post and suggest you subscribe to this blog via RSS or via email updates.

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