It would be nice to start a business and have everything run smoothly from the day you get your very first customer or client.  I wish I could tell you that I’ve never lost out on clients or time, or money, but I would be lying to you.  Finding a system that works for you is a learning process. A good amount of what I’ve learned is trial and error.  And I’ve made a lot of errors.  Fortunately those past mistakes have helped me solidify how I handle business and make better decision to make sure I save time, money and keep my clients. Here are 7 Amateur Mistakes I’ve Made In Business:

1. How I handle payments

   Getting my first wave of clients was really exciting.  All I could think was “people want to work with me and give me their money!”  I didn’t have any real bills when I first began designing professionally so I wasn’t doing it as a source of primary income.  For the first couple months of designing professionally, I would do projects and accept payments after the project was completed.  That was okay until I would run into people who were dishonest and didn’t pay me what I was owed.  Since then I’ve required a down payment to begin all projects.  Further into business I was comfortable asking for payments in full for projects under a specific dollar value.  Here’s a sample of the payment terms I include in my proposals and invoices.

“Payments. Payment is accepted via PayPal to _______. Projects under $___ must be paid in full. Any projects exceeding $___ require a non-refundable deposit. The remaining balance will be invoiced to client upon approval of the design. Client will receive the final design after receipt of final payment. If additional charges have been incurred, client will be notified by phone or email in advance of final invoice.” 

2. How I present projects to clients

   A couple weeks ago I just bought a car.  It was pre-owned, but it feels like new.  Everything perfectly wiped down, floors nicely vacuumed, gas tank full, fresh exterior wash on the outside.  I was more than willing to give them every dollar I could afford to make sure I left that lot with my car.  Now if I would’ve walked in there and the car had a flat tire, scratches on the exterior and mud stains from the previous owner, there’s no way I would’ve been willing, let alone excited, to pay for that.  When I present designs to my customers, I want them to be excited about paying me.  No one ever starts out excited about paying for something, but when they see the result of something beautiful, they feel like their money was more of an investment than an expense.  Here’s an example of how I used to present a design to a client.

“Hi ______,

Here’s your design. I hope you like it.”

Attached:

It’s not a bad design, but now my clients love (and are willing to pay more) when I present projects like this:

“Hi ______,

Hope your Wednesday is off to a good start.  I’ve attached a PDF of the logo design for The Crystal Group.  The teal/green and tan/beige color are used as the primary colors and the lavender is the secondary color.  The teal and tan colors will appeal to your audience (description of audience). The lavender adds slight femininity and represents elegance as we discussed during our consultation. Please view the attachment from a computer (not a mobile device) to see the colors properly.  I look forward to your feedback!

—- Email Signature —-“

Attached:

  P.S. – You can get design mockups like this from www.graphicbuger.com or just google “design mockups”. Such a great way to present things to clients!

3. How I handle legalities

   This point kind of ties in with the first one.  In order to let people know I was serious about receiving my payment, I had to create a set of terms and conditions.  This is something that builds as you deal with a lot of dishonest and foolish people.  I have had my fair share of foolish clients. My goodness – I could really go on for days. Even after you present your terms and conditions, people will still try you.  I understand I’m not the only one who “accepts terms and conditions” without reading them, so I don’t expect anything more from every single client.  But, when they try to get extra design revisions for free, I can point out exactly where it says in my terms that it will be an additional fee.  Having terms and conditions can build an honest and open communication between you and your client.  It eliminates any non-sense and it saves you both time in the long run.  I don’t need to explain to you that I’m not accountable for your hosting company taking your website down when my terms and conditions clearly states that that’s not my responsibility. Thanks for playing.

 A great app for creating legal documents, contracts and NDAs is “Shake” on iOS and Android.

4. How I get people to hire me

   Getting people to buy a $30 flyer (my pricing when I began) to finding clients willing to invest thousands into their business is a different ball game.  One of the most important things I’ve learned this year was that NO ONE wants to willingly go out and buy an expensive product or service. People don’t buy websites from me, they buy results.  I don’t try to sell people on how many pages their website can have and how a cute photo album can be included.  Here’s how much your website can make you this year.  Here’s how much it will cost. You have to get prospects to understand that their purchase is an investment, not an expense.  I do this buy putting together proposals. I’m subscribed to Bidsketch.com, and they share AMAZING advice on how to put together proposals to seal the deal with your potential client.

The best investment I made this year (strategically before launching BRNDWCH) was taking the full DoubleYourFreelancingRate.com course.  I listened to a free webinar that the founder Brennan Dunn had, and it changed EVERYTHING.  I’ll have to go more into this in another blog post, but I 100000% suggest signing up for this course and buying the book (included in the course) in you’re a freelancer or new business owner looking to earn more money in your business.

5. How I present myself on social media.
   

   I used to be wildly inappropriate on a lot of my social media accounts.  It really didn’t occur to me how many people were watching.  Every once in a while – when I wasn’t acting like a complete fool – someone would say to me “you’ve inspired me” or “my daughter really looks up to you.” It was a reminder that people are watching when you least expect it.  This made me feel really great, but I was also embarrassed because I know I wasn’t portraying myself they way I should have been at all times. Don’t talk about stupid stuff on your social media accounts if you want to be taken seriously. Period.

6. How I handle my time.

   Literally, the most annoying thing ever is when people want to set up POINTLESS meetings. Oh my gosh. Why do you want to meet over a project that’s under $100? You’re annoying. To eliminate being less annoyed, I charge people for my time. You want to meet? GREAT! That’ll be $50/hour. Where should I send the invoice? It’s interesting how people learn to articulate their ideas so well through email when they learn you charge to meet with them.  Any time you have to have to take time out of your workday, you should be getting compensated. 5 Tips to Spend Your Time More Wisely.

7. How I work throughout the day.
   

   The days of working from my bed are long gone.  Mainly because I got rid of my laptop and bought an iMac. I’m way more productive now that I get up every morning and go to a desk.  This could partly be contributed to having an iMac, but I know being under the covers for 6 hours a day wasn’t good for me. I used to literally open my eyes and roll over and grab my laptop begin work.  I didn’t realize how bad the lack of structure made my personal and professional life.  Working hard all day wasn’t as beneficial as I thought.  5 Tips to Working Smart.

There’s no perfect way to run a business, but there are definitely steps to take to make sure it’s going as smoothly as humanly possible (it’s impossible to avoid any problems).  I’m absolutely positive that I’ve made more than 7 mistakes as a new business owner, and I know I’ll make more.  What experiences have you gone through that’s caused you to change in your business model?  I’d love to hear from you!