June 20, 2021
One of the most eye-opening things I’ve learned while transitioning from a freelancer to a business owner was that in order to make more money, I had to be willing to spend more money and invest in my business. However, there were so many options for what I could spend my limited biz budget on and looking back, there were probably a couple purchases that I could have done without. Today I’m sharing the most valuable investments I’ve made for my small business — AKA the ones that really enabled me to charge more and scale up!
A Website
I know, building a website is a lot of work and takes a ton of time. But once it’s up and running, I promise you it’ll take so much time off your hands! Before I had my website, I would spend so much time in my DMs answering questions and booking clients. By having a website with a detailed list of my services, FAQs and a contact form, I was able to free up so much time for other important tasks. Think of your website as a virtual storefront for your business, which is working for you even when you’re sleeping. It doesn’t have to be overly complicated or have too many pages, but it should provide your potential clients with additional information about your services and next steps for working with you.
Creative Assets
The first purchases that I made for my design business were creative assets. I wanted my design work to stand out, so I purchased premium fonts as well as mockups that I felt could represent my visual style better. This really elevated the quality of my work and helped my Instagram page grow! A few of my favourite websites to shop for creative assets are:
- Creative Market – I like to stock up on credits to save money since I know I’ll be purchasing from Creative Market all the time. For example, if you buy $500 worth of credits, you get an extra $60 to spend.
- Envato Elements – I have an annual subscription which gives me unlimited access to their fonts, mockups, stock photos, etc.
- My Fonts
- OhNoType
- Moyo Studio
The Designer’s Essential Kit Course
The Designer’s Essential Club by Wayfarer Design Studio
If you feel scared to raise your prices because you’re still not fully confident in your process — learn from someone who’s already done it. Abbey from Wayfarer has been one of my biggest design inspirations since the very beginning, and her course gave me the confidence + tools to charge wayyy more for branding + strategy projects (like triple the price more!). She takes you through her own process from start to finish, and teaches you how to communicate with your clients in a professional and effective way. It’s definitely a bigger purchase, but it gave me the tools I needed to move forward in my biz at a time when I was feeling stuck. For that, I’d say it was worth every penny and more. She’s currently offering 20% off for a limited time (til June 22nd) if you use the code 5YEARS so don’t miss out on the offer!
Outsourcing
Running a business is hard! There are so many roles that you must take on as a business owner, and it’s a quick road to burnout if you are trying to do it all on your own. The good news is that you don’t have to do it yourself!
If you’re a perfectionist like me, you’ll want to be in control of everything when it comes to your business and may find it hard to pass tasks on to other people. However, seeking help is a necessary step to growing your business. By outsourcing tasks that you aren’t too good at or passionate about, you can save so much time and creativity energy! For example, copywriting isn’t one of my strengths so I try to outsource that whenever possible. Another thing I like to outsource is illustration, especially when the project calls for something a bit more quirky or complex. There are so many talented people around — why not leave it to the experts?
Dubsado (CRM Platform)
Having a Client Management Platform makes things a lot easier for myself as well as my clients. Dubsado is great for invoicing, forms, questionnaires and anything project management related. If you want to try Dubsado, use my affiliate code “coldtea“ for 20% off!
Investing in your business is always scary, but it’s necessary if you want to scale up! At every stage, there is something that you could implement to make your process more efficient or your business offering more valuable. Think about the potential return on that investment and determine whether or not it’s worth it. Have any questions? Shoot me an email or DM! Don’t forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter if you want to receive my occasional business + designer resource roundups 🙂
