Lessons Learned in 2020
Every year is filled with lessons, but I feel like 2020 served up an extra helping and they were, at times, particularly painful. So in classic beginning of a new year style, I’m revisiting some of those key lessons so I can not only learn from my mistakes, but hopefully you can too.
Though the pandemic definitely played a role, I can’t lay all the blame there, as I believe a lot of it was the timing of where I was in my business. My daughter had just turned one, I was finally feeling more settled in a new city and home, and I had a pretty clear vision for where I was headed in my business. Big dreams and big plans. I had a number of projects lined up within what I had figured out was my “zone of genius” (brand design and strategy, as well as photography, styling and creative direction), and every client I was working with truly fit my “dream client” profile. Or at least it seemed like they did at the beginning. Of course now looking back I can pick out the little red flags I probably should have paid more attention to, but I was a little jaded at the start, with no reason to think they would go south.
And honestly, on the outside, none of that changed immediately once the pandemic hit. My work continued (which I’m obviously very grateful for) and though there were added stresses as we dealt with a lack of childcare, a changing, anxiety-ridden world and the unknown of it all, my business wasn’t as directly affected as some were.
But there were lots of nuances and ripple effects, which I may not have been aware of at first but started to notice the effects of by late summer or so, continuing to build into the fall and ultimately leading into a very stressful end of the year for me.
So let’s dive in, shall we?
No. 1
Always have a contract, outline everything in detail, and stick to it. Protect your boundaries.
Nowadays, it’s rare that I don’t have a contract when signing on a new client or project, but I will admit that one of the projects that took a turn last year was one that I did not put together a contract for. It was a partial trade, and there was a lot of fragmented conversation back and forth about adding more deliverables to the package, changing the scope, etc., which kept me from drawing up the terms and getting it all in writing up front, because it didn’t really feel like we had a clear picture of the project as a whole yet. It was also a client I was really excited about working with, someone I had looked up to for awhile, and it felt like such a good fit, so of course I didn’t venture down the road of “but what if…” Because how could a dream project go wrong?!
Not my smartest move (obviously), and lesson learned, because surprise! Even dream projects can, in fact, go wrong. So — always have a contract! (I outline what I use in this post.)
Without going into detail, the projects I had bad experiences with all had a couple of characteristics in common, with abandoned timelines causing the most problems and a failure to enforce penalties on my part.
Here’s the thing, let’s lay it out straight — if you disappear for over two months in the middle of our project, there are going to be significant implications. And no, this is not hypothetical. I had this happen with not one, but two clients, and because we were in the midst of a global pandemic, I continued to check in with them but didn’t push. I knew they were dealing with their own business and personal stress, having to pivot their businesses, and generally just dealing with a lot, so I let them know I was still here, ready when they were.
What I did not do was charge rescheduling fees or late fees on payments. Even though my contract clearly states that I have the right to do so if I don’t hear from clients within a certain amount of time and projects are delayed.
And I also didn’t clearly explain to them the potential consequences of these delays — namely, how not hearing from them for over two months would affect the overall timeline of the project.
But I should have. I should have communicated the implications and I should have charged those fees. I thought I was being nice and understanding by not upholding the terms, but by not adhering to them, I was failing to protect my boundaries and ultimately leaving space for things to get messy.
It’s important to understand that when a delay happens in these types of projects (in this case, brand strategy and design), I can’t necessarily jump right back in to where we left off once the client is ready to pick things back up again. In fact, it’s highly unlikely I’ll be able to. Other projects are underway, shoots have been scheduled in, etc. — let alone the fact that we’ve been in the midst of a global pandemic for the majority of this year and I’m trying to my best to manage my own stress levels — emotionally, mentally, and financially.
Part of my work involves a constant cycle of waiting to receive content, or feedback, etc. from a client, and then circling back to apply said content or feedback. So anytime anything in that process gets shifted beyond the usual scope, by two days, two weeks or two months, it impacts the entire timeline. Covid has affected a lot of businesses, and this is the primary way it has affected mine. I keep space in my schedule for the original estimated timeline a project will take (which is also outlined and explained to the client up front), and I scale back from taking on more work during that time, in accordance with what I know my capacity is. This is my attempt to protect boundaries and ensure I can provide the best possible service to my clients.
So there are pretty severe scheduling implications for me when projects are delayed, let alone the financial repercussions and the stress of losing control over timelines. Ultimately, I found myself in a position during the late fall where I was feeling completely overwhelmed, undervalued and taken advantage of. I had projects that were supposed to have wrapped months ago still on my plate, and they were causing me a lot of stress, especially once the negative emails came in about how disappointed said delayed clients were because I wasn’t able to immediately dive back in and pick up where we left off.
Simply put — I walked away from the year feeling like every time I tried to be “nice” and understanding, extending grace to others during a time that was trying on us all, I got screwed over on some level. Not fun, and it took a toll on my mental and financial health in a very real way.
So here are my takeaways from this:
Always have a contract and outline everything.
Enforce payment schedules. Mine aren’t based on deliverables, but based on dates in alignment with a project’s timeline, which is designed to help keep everyone on schedule. But if you don’t enforce those dates, it kind of defeats the purpose.
Charge late and rescheduling fees for missed timelines.
Keep communication open, consistent and clear, especially when it comes to timelines, deliverables and scope.
Include details about availability, or “studio hours", as well as how you prefer to communicate with clients (ie. no texts please!)
No. 2
Trading services and discounting your rates for trades almost always get messy. In other words — you should be paid what you’re worth, even when there’s no money exchanged.
Service trades are tricky, and though I do believe there are probably ways to make it work, I think what I’ve learned is that for me, they tend to get messy and someone walks away at least somewhat unsatisfied. I think part of the reason for this is that these trades are usually based on a personal relationship and therefore tend to cut corners and fail to go through the usual processes you’d follow, many of which provide the clarity and boundaries necessary for both parties to walk away happy.
At least this is my experience, and a lot of it comes down to value. Where I’ve landed now is that if we both value what the other is offering, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t just flat out pay each other for said services. And if you all of a sudden feel as though you don’t want to dish out that money? Chances are it wouldn’t have been a fair trade then because you didn’t value it enough, and you were likely going to walk away unhappy. Or the other way around, of course.
I think there are a few ways to combat this, and based on my personal experiences, I have some suggestions that could still help smooth the way if you do still feel like a trade of some sort makes sense.
Have a contract! (Are we seeing a pattern yet?!)
Lay out the terms and place a dollar value on the trade. If you put it in writing and each sign off on it, there shouldn’t be anyone left feeling like they got the poor end of the deal.
Treat it like any other project.
That means laying out the deliverables and scope, the timelines and any other relevant details up front. Stick to your processes, they’re in place for a reason! I think what often ends up happening (and maybe this is partially because of that aforementioned personal relationship factor), is that the edges of a trade project are a little loose and the boundaries are blurred, resulting in scope creep, a lack of attention to timelines, adherence to communication guidelines (ie. let’s keep our conversations to email, and not a mix of text, DMs, emails and who knows what else)... or just generally feeling overwhelmed and undervalued in some way.
Understand the difference between a service trade and a partnership or collaboration.
One is not necessarily better than the other, but they are different, and there’s a time and place for both.
A trade is essentially the same (or at last should be treated the same) as a client project on both ends — think of it as if you are both hiring the other to perform outlined services for a specific, agreed upon amount, except that amount essentially gets applied as a credit against whatever they’re doing for you. Again, this is why establishing the value on both sides is essential, so that the balance is equal. “I’m doing XX for you for $XX, and you’re doing YY for me for $YY”
A partnership, or collaboration, is a little different, as there’s likely no money exchanged, or even the abstract concept of money through the trade of services. Instead, you’re working together on something, for mutual benefit and a shared result. I still strongly believe that the terms should be laid out, but essentially you’re both contributing to a project instead of helping each other with your own projects. Make sense?
No. 3
A streamlined process, clear timelines and helpful resources at every touchpoint go a long way — for clients and for you.
Ok, so there’s definitely a theme to all of these, but I think if anything, that just strengthens the importance of each of these three points and how much my business was in need of them.
Establishing really strong systems and processes was something that was already very much on my mind for 2020, but my experiences throughout the year continued to drive home just how essential they were, and helped to define what they should look like.
One of the big pieces here is setting up Honeybook as a client management system to house all of this and streamline everything. I talked a little bit about it before, and we are so close to having this set up. It’s definitely a process and commitment just to get it all working, but I know the payoff will be huge.
A big piece of that is creating client-facing documents at every step of the way that outline how things will work throughout the process and being really clear with everything. Here are a few of the templates that are now a core part of my client process and that I’ve been refining over the past few months that will help with this:
Project Proposal
Contract
Client Welcome Guide (this outlines details like the design process, the one concept method, what happens if a project is delayed or a payment is late, communication methods, how to give proper feedback, the general project timeline, the specific deliverables, the tools we use, etc.).
Brand Strategy and Creative Direction
Brand Presentation
Brand Guidelines
Having templates for these makes it a lot easier for me to customize them as needed for each project, while sticking with what we’ve outlined and how we ensure a project will run smoothly and everyone is clear on how it’ll work. Basically, think of any questions that commonly come up in your projects or boundaries you want to ensure are crystal clear, and then make sure they are covered in your on boarding process. One really great resource to use as a starting point for creating these processes and templates is the Designed to Thrive Collective, which I’ve found to be an invaluable community and toolkit over the past year.
Another point to mention here is building a strategic team who can help support this. I hired a part-time operations/project manager to help more with the client-facing side of things that will enable me to focus more on design and the business itself, while also ensuring that clients have the best possible experience and very clear communication at every touchpoint. It creates an added layer of professionalism while simultaneously protecting me and eliminating that sometimes-too-personal emotional tie to the client.
We’re still early into this and figuring out all the details and what this looks like, but again — I feel like this is a really huge step, and I’m really excited to see where it leads.
Last year was, simultaneously, a year of significant growth and high stress for Studio Bicyclette (and me). It brought some of my greatest challenges yet, but also taught me so much.
One constant of running your own creative business is that it’s a continual learning process, especially during periods of growth. The most important piece is whether you’re able to take the growing pains and the stress that accompanies them and learn from it. So hopefully, through some of the lessons that I learned last year, you’re able to find some valuable takeaways as well!