When you start your own creative business, excitement takes hold. After all, you’re your own boss (finally!), you set your own hours and you get to choose who you work with. There are so many perks that you may soon find it hard to believe that you ever worked for anyone else in the first place.
Once you’ve built your client base and are more established, you’ll inevitably hit a wall of how many billable hours you have in a day. Every service-based business struggles with this, Branch included. We want to do more and take on more clients but as a small studio, there are obvious limitations.
As you begin to think more strategically about growth, it becomes clear that for your business to continue to grow, something has to give. How can you charge more per each billable hour?
As Cecil B. DeMille famously said, “Creativity is a drug I cannot live without.” The tricky part is that creativity doesn’t always directly pay the bills. There has to be something more.
The easiest answer is to develop a process which adds immediate value to your offerings. A process gives your work structure. Remember, clients aren’t just hiring you for your creativity — they put their trust in you for your expertise, insights and guidance. While your creative work might initially woo them, your internal structure is what makes them feel comfortable handing over the check.
Having a process is defined as “a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end” and your unique blend is what makes you stand apart from every other creative out there. It’s just as much a part of your brand as your logo is.
If the feeling of streamlining your process makes you excited, it should: creating a smooth, pain-free experience from start to finish for your clients will allow you to sidestep confusion, take on more projects at once and always have a ready response when someone asks you, “What’s next?”
As a small business owner myself, I know how important having a defined process is — so Paul Jarvis and Branch have joined forces to create Project Prescription, a set of digital documents that enable you to bypass the trial and error of developing a process of working with clients.
If you’re interested, we’re running an introductory offer this week only. I hope this product makes your life as a creative easier so you can spend more time doing the things you love. —Shauna
P.S. Want to test drive Project Prescription before buying? Sign up to our list to receive two free, editable documents from the pack!
