Traits For Running A Business
Whether you wish to become a freelancer designer, start your own firm or media empire or simply run your own lemonade stand, there are certain traits you should possess if you want to become successful. Obviously these are not all the traits required to become successful and you might get away with missing one or two, but these are just some of the things I have experienced over my short lifespan that I thought were needed.
Self-Confidence
There will be times where doubting yourself becomes a very strong option. Once you begin to doubt yourself however, your decision-making skills exponentially decrease. If someone were to tell you that you have all the design sense in the world, but no business sense how would you handle it?
You should take their comment and play it back and reassess your skills. If you find you have weak areas make sure they are complimented by other strengths and make sure to have the confidence to later turn your weaknesses into strengths as well.
Every road is not paved with gold and there are guaranteed to be stumbling blocks along the way, but if you have enough self-confidence in your skills and abilities (and are able to step away and take an objective look at yourself) then you should be fine.
Take note though that self-confidence does not equal cockiness. There are more than enough designers out there who are too cocky to realize that their work is not the greatest ever. Cockiness prohibits growth and in the long run can cause a lot of damage to your career.
Risk-Taking
Let’s face it, running any kind of business on your own is a big risk. Will the money always be there? Can you guarantee that you will have enough time to invest in the cause (step away now if you can’t)? Too many people think that becoming a freelancer means that you have more time on your hands when in fact your time decreases until you get a tight grasp on how you work. What I mean by this is you can’t just declare yourself a freelancer and begin working only 2-3 hours a day.
In any case if you have a job and the idea of going it alone is tempting to you, take a risk by doing some projects on the side and running a side business, but do not become suicidal and quit your job to pursue your own interests. That is unless of course you have a significant amount of money saved up to where you can survive a couple of months without seeing a paycheck.
Another risk that I see freelancers walk away from is the risk of taking on large projects. Working on a small five page website is nothing compared to handling a $20,000 contract. Are you willing to take the risks and go for the bigger treasure? Bigger projects can lead to more stress and bigger headaches, but also bigger rewards.
Managing Employees/Contractors
Sooner or later you may take on more people to work with you or you just need a person to do the coding while you do the design. In any case, these people need to be managed. It would be nice if you could just leave them simple instructions such as “code me a shopping cart”, but in most cases you have to go into a little more detail and manage the variables such as timeframe and deliverables.
The best people in the industry are not easily managed so don’t think that just because you are friends or get along with the person that it means they will follow your every word. Managing others is a skill that takes time to develop and if you don’t think you can handle it then you might be relegated to small time contracts for the rest of your life (which may be fine to some of you).
James Archer has written a wonderful piece on a different kind of leader which I recommend everyone go check out.
Managing Clients
I believe the perfect scenario is when the client tells you what they want in pretty good detail and you provide it to them on the first try. This has never happened to me so admittedly I have never been fond on the managing client aspect of freelancing/company work.
Another issue that can occur and one that several people have mentioned to me is they may be doing a redesign of a site, but the client wishes to keep the logo. The problem is that your design intelligence does not tell you that the logo is a keeper. You badly want to redesign it, but you can’t seem to convince the client otherwise.
Managing a client is all about effective communication. Once this breaks down, every project becomes a disaster. As professionals it is easy for us to see what should be done or understand why that link color shouldn’t be blue, but we need to learn to communicate our reasoning effectively to our clients. Not always the easiest thing to do.
Salesmanship
You’ve seen it before. The person who couldn’t design a website without the help of a FrontPage tutorial seems to also be the one with the most clients. There are too many dreamers that have this ideal that their work will do all the selling for them, however rarely is this the case when you are starting up. Sometimes you might come across a client who is looking to receive a bid from you because he is comparing a couple of designers and trying to decide which one to go with.
More times than not the best salesman wins in this case. Please note that salesmanship to me doesn’t equate to false promises or lowballing the competition. Salesmanship (my definition) involves providing an effective presentation that convinces the client that your skills are worth the price of admission.
Professional Development
Do you find that you haven’t really progressed as a designer or person over the past year? Maybe you have hit a “creative block” for some time and can’t get yourself out of it. Professionals are in the constant pursuit of growth and if a time comes where they are stuck they understand what needs to be done to get out of that rut.
Professional development is one of the reasons people tell me they like to try something on their own or are looking for another job. We all like to be challenged and running your own business and trying to make it successful is as challenging as it gets.
Just because building a website is easy to you and you think you make pretty things doesn’t mean that people will flock to you. Just because you can decide what you are going to wear today and what time to use the bathroom doesn’t mean you can run your own business. Take the time to evaluate your skills and your passion. If anything passion is the most important trait to have.
If you don’t have the passion and will to succeed then I don’t think you have a chance of survival. But then again, I have been wrong before.
Good article, thanks. Everything you said seems to make sense.
I’m a freelancer at this moment in time, but I believe I’d prefer working with a group of people I enjoy working with.
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” -Helen Keller
By Adam Bouskila on May 17, 2005 2:35 am
Thanks for that - well written article that gives me a lot to think about. Going out on your own is a big risk - but exciting. Your advise on trying to handle projects on the side before quitting your day job is exactly what I’m hoping to do.
By Tom Woolley on May 17, 2005 6:47 am
Managing clients often involves picking the right ones to work with. The guys over at 37Signals have discussed that before.
I think it is vital to understand the clients you are serving. Put yourself in their shoes and think about the questions they may have. Just because you are the expert and know all the acronyms and jargon doesn’t mean they will. Take time to explain what you are doing and why it is important. With that knowledge in hand, they can have more confidence in hiring you.
By Joe on May 17, 2005 10:17 am
Excellent article, and especially timely for me. :-) I think one nugget of wisdom an executive at work passed on, that I think that might fly in the face of your first point — Confidence — is that in reality, people will always have weaknesses. And instead of fearing it, working on them, focusing on them — people just need accept they are weak in that area, and instead should focus almost completely on their strengths. That’s part of confidence, because confidence is also about knowing yourself.
You are not perfect, you never will be, and you will always have weaknesses, so it would save time to just focus on your strengths.
For example, what’s the point in trying to get a recording contract as a singer, when you’re tone deaf? But, say, you’re a great lyricist and producer… so you find someone who’s a great performer, partner with them, and get that recording contract together.
Sub-contract or hire people whose strengths are your weaknesses. That way, people aren’t aware you even have weaknesses. ;-) And you save a lot of stress, time and frustration because you know your strengths and you’re focusing on them.
Of course, this isn’t an open call for giving up on any weak area; not at all. But being a leader also means knowing when you can’t do it all.
By Lea on May 17, 2005 11:17 am
Well written, Scrivs. :)
Also timely for me. I have to agree with Lea on confidence/strengths. I’ve always hated being such a “jack of all trades.” or a generally well-rounded person. While it provides a number of options for me when I get bored, the problem is that I get bored so easily. I recently ran across Terry Storch’s post in his series on 52 Leadership Tips, I changed my perspective completely. It’s time I focus on the strengths I have (or pick one and go from there) and allow my weaknesses to be weaknesses.
Risk is another huge area for me. Being a newlywed and wanting to start a family, I’m scared of what may come. My advice is to find a consulting firm or recruiter that is willing to work on a 1099 basis. Having someone finding the work for you, as long as they understand what you’re looking for, removes a HUGE burden to help you get your start.
Know what your passion is. Live it.
By Lance E. Leonard on May 17, 2005 11:43 am
Well, poo poo. I knew I should have previewed. That “post” is supposed to link directly to this post in Terry’s series.
By Lance E. Leonard on May 17, 2005 11:45 am
Excellent post Scrivs. I’ve started and run a couple of businesses. Some have been quite successful. I second Lea’s point. Knowing your weakenesses can be your greatest strength. My advice to those striking out is to be brutally honest with yourself; identify your weaknesses, and surround yourself with people who will take up the slack.
Confidence is incredibly important, but of equal importance is the courage to identify what you don’t know and the strength of character to ask for help.
I bet as many businesses fail due to over confidence as not. Have supreme confidence in your goal, but be flexible in how you acheive it.
By Peter Flaschner on May 17, 2005 12:09 pm
Great post, Scrivs. From my own experience over the past several months, I have some additional traits that I’ve found are essential:
The ability to keep accurate books. Invoices, payments, purchases, refunds, the whole deal, should all be documented clearly in a single place. Don’t rely on your memory and e-mail.
The ability to keep on top of your taxes when they become quarterly or monthly.
The ability to take a shower (almost) every morning, even if you don’t have a client meeting.
The ability to let work go. If at least 25% of your prospects don’t laugh and walk away when you quote your prices, you’re probably bidding too low.
The capacity to cope with networking functions. Many of us would much rather hide behind the loving glow of our monitors, but you can generate more leads in a week by building real-world, face-to-face relationships than you can get with Google Adwords in a year.
The desire to invest in your identity. Build a brand that will help people remember you and associate positive thoughts with you. Your website, your business card, your proposal templates, etc., should all be premium quality. They shouldn’t be good, or even great — they should be amazing.
The ability to write. If you’re not a great writer yet, start learning. You can pick it up.
By James Archer on May 17, 2005 1:36 pm