Creative Truth: Start & Build a Profitable Design Business | Atlanta

About this class

This is a hands-on workshop for starting, building, and enjoying a profitable design business. Whether you’re a solo freelancer working from home or a small group of creative entrepreneurs ready to get to the next level, this is your roadmap to success. You’re the CEO, CFO, CTO, Secretary, Janitor, Office Manager, and sometimes you get to design or program. Finding a balance between running the business and doing great creative work is a constant struggle. From learning how to price your work and manage your time, to setting up your business and defining your market, Brad Weaver covers everything designers need to know to run a studio without losing heart.

This workshop is filled with real numbers, real tools, and real-world best practices. The content is presented in a toolkit that you can start using immediately in your business, whether it’s brand-new or decades-old. Along with the workshop, you’ll get access to a companion website that offers up-to-date resources, articles, tools, and discussions, allowing you to continue learning as you grow.

We’ll work together to remove the guesswork from difficult subjects surrounding money and operations. By the end of this workshop, you’ll have a notebook full of practical tips for getting clients, being more profitable, building your network, managing your operations, getting things done, hiring help, managing contractors, and finding joy along the way.

Takeaways

• Resources and tools that will save you time and money
• Detailed steps on how to start, or re-start, your business the right way
• A process on transitioning from freelance to full-time
• How to quit your job
• Who you need along the way to keep you sane and how to work with them
• A detailed list of what you actually need to start or run a creative business including actual forms and tools you can use
• How to get clients, keep clients, and get more work out of existing clients
• Marketing strategies that aren’t gross
• Real-world examples of effective websites and social media programs that work -How to build horizontal and vertical markets and stick to them
• How to price your work accurately for profit
• Your real billing rates
• Worksheets and templates that you can use right away to price your work
• A deep understanding of value-based pricing that actually makes sense
• Comparative breakdowns of 7 major pricing models and how to use them
• Additional ways to increase profit
• How to get paid for proposals
• How to close more prospects
• Finishing contracts faster and avoiding the RFP trap
• Real take-home examples of proposals, contracts, and questionnaires that you can use
• Dealing with invoicing & clients who won’t pay
• Managing freelancers & sub-contractors -How to hire, when to hire, and what to do when things go wrong
• A renewed outlook
• The lessons you'll learn in this workshop will help increase your profit on your very next project