Four Tools to Help Streamline Your Design Business
Though this year definitely brought it’s fair share of challenges (more on that later), it was also a year in which I found a lot of clarity in my business, started to refine my internal processes and systems, and had the opportunity to work with a lot of my dream clients. And this was coming directly after my first year as a new mom and struggling a lot with trying to find balance and purpose in what it looked like for me to be a mom and a creative business owner.
In retrospect of course, I think not taking an actual maternity leave had a big impact on that first year and just feeling at a loss for how to cope, questioning what I was doing and ultimately who I was, or who I wanted to be, within that all.
But in early 2020, I started to find my stride again and felt that creative spark and passion begin to ignite again. Which is ironic, because then shortly after we entered into a global pandemic and the world changed. And though I could go on and write a whole series around that experience, that’s not why we’re here today.
Instead, I want to share some of the changes I made this year and a few of the tools I invested in to help create more ease within my business, uplevel my offerings and ultimately, continue to design (and grow) my dream business.
Flodesk
After using another platform for a number of years, I came across Flodesk, a relatively new email marketing platform, and was instantly intrigued because of its balance of form and function — in other words, it did what I needed it to do really well, and it looked damn good doing it. Win-win!
It’s much more design-focused than what I was using before, and though that’s not always the top priority, it is important, especially in my line of work, where every touchpoint is an opportunity to make an impression and infuse your brand into the overall experience. I was also instantly impressed with the overall user experience, and already, in my relatively short time with them, they’ve continued to offer more features and it just gets better and better.
I made the switch awhile ago and technically everything has been migrated over, but full disclosure — I haven’t actually sent out any newsletters with it yet. That’s next on my list, this year just continues to throw surprises and complications at me. But I have played around a lot in the back end, have built out various templates for clients of mine, and been on the receiving end of many beautifully designed emails created with Flodesk.
Oh, and I did set up the waiting list for the Visual Strategy Masterclass with Flodesk, so if you’re interested in that and/or would just like to get on my newsletter list for when it launches in the new year, you can find that here — and you’ll get my cheatsheet for content ideas as well!
Curious? I have a 50% off code for you.
Haute Stock
If you’ve been around for awhile, you’re likely already aware that I’ve been styling and shooting stock photo collections with Haute Stock for the past year or so. Haute Stock is a premium stock photography subscription that offers an elevated experience to women entrepreneurs through carefully curated, beautifully produced, editorial quality images and design assets that will help build their brands and take their businesses to the next level. I’m one of a whole team of photographers, and there is a new collection of 25 curated stock photos released every single week for members. Yes, you read that right — every week. Which means that the library has thousands of photos available.
I ended up signing up for a membership of my own after experiencing the quality of the photos and design assets firsthand and seeing how valuable they’d be to my own creative process, especially with the range of content and styles they have, and how they could uplevel my design presentations and collateral. When I present a brand design, I include a number of mockups and examples of the brand in use, and I often use Haute Stock photos to bring it to life, as I’m able to find photos that align with the aesthetic and type of brand no matter what that might be.
I often find that my clients end up becoming members as well, especially if they need additional lifestyle content for social media, as it’s a great way to round out your content strategy. Case in point — we use Haute Stock imagery for my client the Summer House’s social media to round out the custom content we product and align with the brand standards we set out at the beginning.
Find out more about memberships here.
The Contract Shop
Maybe not the most glamorous investment to make, but definitely essential! I bought my first contract template from The Contract Shop years ago, was super impressed, and have purchased a few since, recently investing in a couple more to make my new website GDPR compliant, so now my collection is nicely rounded out and I feel fully covered.
Here’s what I have and use, and then of course they have a range of contracts designed for specific industries and offerings beyond design services:
I feel super confident in my coverage with these, they’re easy to tweak and customize as necessary (and I definitely have made my own changes as needed), and they’ve helped to streamline my process and cover all the details that I wouldn’t have necessarily thought of. A big theme for me this year has been boundaries, and though I still have a long way to go, The Contract Shop templates have played a key role in starting to set those in place.
Shop for your own contract templates.
HoneyBook
So this is another tool that I’m still in the process of implementing, because again, it’s always my own stuff that falls to the wayside, but I did a lot of research and testing to find a tool that felt like a good fit for us, and HoneyBook came out as a clear winner. I’ve been building out all my workflows and have someone setting up the backend, and I’m really excited to finally have this up and running in the new year. I know — my inner nerd is showing, and I’m totally ok with that. I know this is going to be an invaluable tool for myself and my clients, and make the whole process simpler, quicker and just all around better.
I’ll circle back around and share more about how we’re using HoneyBook as a creative agency once we’re a little deeper into it, but if you’re already convinced, I have a 50% off discount for you.
Though this is just a handful of the tools I use regularly in my business, these are the most recent additions that we’ve started using (and loving), and that are helping to streamline my backend and elevate it to where I ultimately want to be. I’m working on an all-in-one resource list that walks through everything and that I will continue to add to, but in the meantime, if you have any questions or are looking for anything specific, let us know below or reach out on Instagram.
Oh and yes, some of these are affiliate links! But as always. I’ll only share what we know and love and have gladly invested our own money in. Read more about affiliate terms here.