5 Business Mistakes Designers Make (and How to Avoid Them)

Graphic design is your passion. But your creative skills and intuition are only part of the equation. It takes a lot of attention and effort to run a successful small business, and there are many common mistakes that can be made along the way. Here are five mistakes to avoid as you grow your graphic design business.  

Mistake 1: Neglecting Contracts and Agreements

This is a common pitfall for many freelancers and contractors. Under ideal circumstances, your client contracts would be flawless and ironclad. But your forte is graphic design — not drafting legal documents. Unfortunately, the devil is in the details, and making sure you have everything in writing is crucial for you and your clients. 

So what’s the first step? Determine your personal timeline and rate. This will depend on your work cadence and availability and will also need to take your clients’ deadlines into consideration. It’s also important to know when to walk away from a client (1). If the back-and-forth never seems to end, or they refuse to agree to your terms, it’s likely best to cut your losses and save yourself that time and frustration. 

Mistake 2: Undervaluing Your Work

As a freelancer, remember that you’re selling yourself when you’re looking for new clients. So don’t cut yourself short. 

Lowering your rate may help you stand apart from your competition — everyone’s looking for a bargain or discount. Unfortunately, it can be a slippery slope. Working for lower compensation may mean you need to take on more work than you can handle at one time, leading to burnout and frustration. It also could cause clients to undervalue what you do as well. 

Whichever way you slice it, pricing your services correctly isn’t always straightforward. Our guide to calculating your hourly wage as a freelancer can help you get started.

Mistake 3: Not Having Business Insurance

Mistakes happen. Having business liability insurance can help. Professional liability insurance, specifically, can help protect graphic designers in the event of claims involving:

• Negligence or alleged negligence
• Omissions or alleged omissions
• Legal action following eligible professional errors

Consider this scenario. You inadvertently deliver a design to your client that contains an error. You didn’t catch the mistake, and neither did the client. They ran with the design, and it caused the client reputational harm. Professional liability insurance can help you cover costs if the client takes legal action against you. 
For graphic designers, general liability insurance coverage can also provide useful protection for your business. It typically covers third-party personal injuries and property damage, as well as personal and advertising injury claims.

Mistake 4: Ignoring Business Finances

Being self-employed often means wearing a lot of hats. You need to be your own marketer, administrator, customer service representative, and perhaps most importantly — bookkeeper. While we always recommend working with a professional to help manage your finances, keeping detailed records and tracking your invoices is something you can do to keep your accounts organized. 

1. Make certain your income is coming in. Clients aren’t always the most prompt in paying for services, and if you lose track of any of your invoices, you could lose out on that income forever. Start by creating a clear and detailed invoice. Our freelancer invoicing template makes it easy. Just customize with your business’s details and reuse the template for any invoices you send to clients. And if you need some extra help chasing down unpaid invoices, check out our guide to writing a late payment letter.
2. Take charge of your business budget. Tracking your fixed and variable expenses, revenue, and net income can help you manage your money better and track your business goals. If you’re not sure how to build your own budget, our small business budgeting guide walks you through each part and offers a customizable template you can use as a jumping-off point.  

Mistake 5: Overlooking Marketing and Self-Promotion

Many small business owners stumble when it comes to marketing their services. Fortunately, as a graphic designer, you have an advantage. Design is a major factor in creating successful marketing materials — that’s where you can shine. However, finding the time and resources to create and maintain a marketing campaign isn’t always a top priority.

That’s why it’s important to find ways to advertise your services that are easily accessible, and ideally, low cost. Start by building your online presence. Digital marketing is a great way to get your work seen by a wide audience. This might include something as simple as curating a professional social media account or something higher-lift, such as building a professional website. Our guide to digital marketing goes in-depth on various ways to advertise your services online and links to resources to help you learn more. 

References:

1. Learn more at HBR.org