Top Tips for Designer Businesses

 

 

Having spent too many years in the business here's my pearls of wisdom that have kept me near enough on the straight and narrow. Some of these are very anecdotal and there are clichés here too but hey that's what we remember and if just some of these points stick then it's all worth it!

1) Keep your spirit level level. This is business and we all have to look in the mirror each day and be able to live with ourselves. Money comes and goes; I have had periods when money has been in abundance and times when money is as scarce gold. My dad used to say "Jen you can only eat three meals a day" and that's about right in my book.

2) Turnover is vanity and profit is sanity. I still struggle with this today – its great to have a full order book and it's hard to say no but business is business. If you don't make money with the work you do then you are better off stacking shelves at Sainsbury. Never buy business thinking you can put up the prices next time because there never is a next time that's right for putting up prices. You can always come down in prices but you can never push up the prices when you have agreed a costs price.

3) If you reach for the sun you may grab the moon but if you aim for the moon….there's nothing wrong with high ambitions but they have to be realistic and achievable. Set yourselves mini goals along the way and keep referring back to decisions too. We are on an amazing learning journey both with business and life.

4) Be a risk taker. But the trick is to be a calculated risk taker. All business is "risky" but research, feedback and learn.

5) Lead from the top. Your management style can not be perfect for all people but your ethos, your decision making, your communication is key to the success of the business. A business is only as good as the people that run the company. Communicate Communicate Communicate and treat others as you would like to be treated yourself.

6) The quick buck. Be careful is that one order where you make a few extra pounds really worth the grief – see the longer picture and remember honesty really is the best policy.

7) Cash flow is king – this really relates to the turnover syndrome but again you can have a full order book but if you don't chase in the orders what's the point. The bank has heard all the excuses, the cheques in the post, waiting on an invoice to be paid and all the other merry excuses but at the end of the day it's your business, your order book and your cash flow. Cash keeps the wheels turning.

8) Many people don't plan to fail but many fail to plan. Actually this is really getting old hat now but it's true. I am not one of these mentors that subscribe to writing a full ethos of an extensive business plan but when I do hold mentoring sessions I do expect designers to know exactly who their customer profile is; who are the target markets, the 7 Ps of marketing and more besides. Plan plan and plan but remember it's a plan it's not the gospel and you need flexibility to move with the dynamics of the market and you too.

9) A sense of reality. Many of our designers work on their own not through choice but necessity. It can be a very lonely eixstance and many designers who join our sites complain of the isolation that they feel. FashionCapital is great for this because you can use the forums free of charge and make sure you do talk to others. Sometimes the minute detail becomes the all important and that can be a danger. You miss the bigger picture and get too wrapped up with irrelevant detail. Take advice from others…keep your mind open to newness and inspiration.

10) Take time out for you – we all get stale we all work too hard and we run the risk of forgetting what's important. YOU are the most important variable because without you there is no business so take time out to let your mind relax; someone once told me to make sure that each day I did something for 10 minutes that I liked…I am a horrendous chocoholic so I am amazed I am not wobbly all over!. To me walking the dog twice a day gives me that down time that I need. I have three boys (God love them but they are hard work!) and that keeps me on the straight and narrow….

 

We have one life and one life only. Personally I don't want a life of regrets and I don't let money dominate me – I certainly wouldn't not be doing this job if money was all important.

 

So enjoy this Christmas period and really do remember others; relax and get ready for 2009. Whenever there is a down turn in the economy there are always opportunities too.

 

Be happy and healthy.