Transcripts
1. Class Introduction: Hey there, I'm better Bell. I'm a surface
pattern designer and online Educator living
in Stockholm, Sweden. In this mini course, I will share the
process I'm using for planning and running
my creative business. This process has developed
from different experiences and resources that I've
encountered over the years. But the foundation
is based on what I learned as a marketing
project manager at Toyota. Because when I
started out in 2015, I had no experience in
running a business. So I used what I didn't
know what a business strategy and a three-year plan looks like for big
corporate company. So I use that for planning my
one person design business. This mini course is for
you who either want to start your own creative
business or already have one and need some tips and guidance
for how to create a strategy with a long-term
and short-term plan. For simplicity's
sake, I will use the words your business
throughout the course. But this also refers to you who don't formally
have a business. Because I absolutely believe
that you should treat your creative ambitions
as a business already. Formally, starting a business is just one of the
milestones for you. The business strategy and
planning you'll learn about is divided
into seven steps. The first step, we
will learn about what a business vision
and mission is. In step two, we'll identify the different main tasks
and organize them into so-called functions
or departments and create an organization
chart for your business. Then we'll reflect
and do a recap or a review of the year that
has passed in step three. In order to have a starting
point for planning ahead. In step four, we'll make
a three-year plan with a big long-term goal
and yearly milestones. In step five, we will
set objectives for your different functions and identify some smaller
tasks and projects. In step six, we're going to define the important
projects that will make the most different for your
business the coming year and make an
overall project plan. In step seven, we'll set a
budget for next year that's aligned with your tasks and
projects and objectives. With this course, you also get a workbook and you can download, print and use it for the
different steps and to create a business strategy
with a vision and mission, an organization chart, a
three-year plan and budget. And this workbook
will also be great to have next year when it's
time to do a new year, leave reflection
and business plan.
2. Step 1: Define Your Vision & Mission: When a big corporate company
creates a business strategy, they start by defining a
vision and mission statement. What is a vision and a mission? And what's the
difference between them? Well, a vision
describes the big goal, where or what you want
to be in the future. The mission describes
what you do or make. In other words, a vision
focuses on tomorrow, what you want to
become, your big goal. It's aspirational and
gives you a direction. It also provides a purpose, why you do what you do. And speaking alive. There is a really
good TED Talk with Simon Sinek called
it starts with y, which I really
recommend to watch. The mission, on the other hand, focuses on today what you're doing to
achieve your vision. It's about the core of what you do or what your business does. It's your contribution
to the world. And here, world doesn't
have to mean the world on a global basis depending on the nature of your
hopes and dreams. The world may as
well mean your town, your local community,
your online community, your family, your life. Here is the vision and
mission for Amazon to be earth's most customer-centric
company where customers can find and discover anything
they may want to buy online. We strive to offer our customers the
lowest possible prices, the best available selection, and the utmost convenience. And here's the vision
and mission for ikea to create a better everyday
life for the many people. Offer a wide range
of well-designed, functional home
furnishing products at prices so low
that as many people as possible we'll
be able to afford them to find what
can be your vision. I have some questions
you can answer at the end of each question
to make it a bit more clear, add as a and then the name
for what you call yourself, not your name, but what you do. E.g. as a pattern designer, as an illustrator, as an artist, as an online
educator, and so on. What are my hopes and
dreams for the future? If you could wish for
anything when it comes to your creative pursuit as a pattern designer
or illustrator, e.g. what would that be? Where would you like to be in, let's say three or four years? And then ask yourself, what problem am I solving in the future for the greater good? This question can
be a bit tricky because it's so easy
to answer it with what you do or who you help instead of
identifying the problem. E.g. you could answer, I make the world more
beautiful with my patterns. But that's not
answering the question about what the problem
is that I solve. A problem is something
that people struggle with. That health, boredom,
complacency, bad quality, mainstream design, uninspiring design
or surroundings. So what problem are you solving? And that greater good
part doesn't have to be on a global or
a society level here, either it can be on a community, family, or personal level two. The next question is, who and what am I
inspiring to change? For this answer? You can think of the problem again and then flip the coin. If the problem is boring,
design your solution, your product or service
will change it into the opposite design that
moves people in some way. The next question to answer is, what does success
look like to me? Is it to see your work
on real products, to see your work on a
specific type of products, to be published, to have
worked with a big brand, to be able to live
off of your designs, to retire your husband. Perhaps the last question to
answer for your vision is, what will that success mean
to me and my business? What will the success
enabled for you to help more people to be able
to choose your clients. To only focus on the
things you love doing, to have companies come to you instead of pitching to them, to have a team, to have an out-of-home
office, perhaps. To have more time for
family and friends to help your spouse pursue
his dream, perhaps. Then look at all your
answers and try to find the bigger picture and
form a vision from them. And to get started, you can use the words
to be or to have. An example of what a
vision can look like is to be an internationally established and
sought after name and the surface design industry
for defining your mission, which is about what you
do and how you do it. You can answer these
questions to guide you. What do I do? That's the value that you're
creating in your business. Patterns. Artwork,
book illustrations, graphic design,
products, courses, ebooks, and so on. For me, the answer to this
question is something like, I design patterns for
products and marketing. And I teach pattern design. Really simply put, another answer for
this question can be, I design artwork and patterns for licensing and
book illustrations? And the next question
to answer is, who do I serve or help? If the previous
question helps you define the value
that you create. This question is about who
will be helped with what you create and also who is willing to pay money
for what you create. The next question for
your mission is to ask, how do I serve or
help these people? And you can start your
answer with by creating, by helping, by
providing, and so on. From your mission answers, pick out the key
words and phrases and write your
mission statement. Here's an example of
what a mission can look like for the vision
example I gave before, which was to be an
internationally established and sought after our name in the surface
design industry. The mission that will support
that vision could then be, I had to sign historically
inspired patterns for a high-end companies and the interior decor
and fashion industry. Then check your
vision and mission statements by asking yourself, is it aspiring? Is it inspiring? Is it contributing to the world in some way, big or small? And remember, creating
your vision isn't about coming up with something
completely new and unique. As pattern designers,
there are only so many ways we can contribute to the
world anyway, right? If your thing is to create
patterns too, well, your vision will be about making the world more
beautiful in some way or inspiring or different
or personal for people. A tip is to try out
two to three versions of your vision and mission with some alternatives
like that, you can pick the right vision
for you and your business, then define the mission
that will support it. If you get stuck, just pick one vision that
you've come up with. It doesn't matter if it's not 100% at this point because
you can redefine it, refine it during
the whole process. Actually, chances are that when you're going deeper
into the planning, you'll come up with a lot
of new and better ideas. And that's okay. It's a process. Next up is to organize your
business into functions.
3. Step 2: Define Your Business Functions: In a big company, all tasks and functions are
run by different people. But in a one-person business, all these functions are done
by one and the same person. And in this lesson, we're going to
identify the tasks that you do and organize
them into functions. Just like a big
corporate business. Let's take a look
at the functions that are common
in a big company. And at the same time, you can think about
what functions you have or will need
in your business. We're going to start with
the product department. The obvious responsibility
of the product department is creating some kind of value that can be exchanged for money. And that value can be products and services
of different sorts. But there is a lot more than creating value going on
in a product department. And for our design business, it could be something like this. You can have a design studio. This is the person that
creates all the patterns, illustrations, and
other artwork. Then we have the digital
products function that creates a
digital products and resources like e-books and downloads and
mock-ups and images. And this could also be producing online courses and memberships. Then we have the physical
products function. So this could be
ordering products from suitable print services
that is to be sold in your webshop or by retailers. It can be creating
products on your own by sewing and printing at home
or doing other crafts. And then we have a research
and planning function where you will find information for deciding on what products and
services to market. And it's about making
budgets and costs and calculations for
campaigns and pricing. Then we have the
purchase function. This is the person that
will have to negotiate with suppliers and buying products and materials that you need. So here's what I want you to do. Write down a list of the value that you are
currently producing in your business or planning to produce if your are
starting up and then sort these values into
the sub-functions of your business using the examples as reference and inspiration. Next, we have the
sales department. And the obvious thing that
the sales department does is selling their products
and services we make, which means enabling
the transaction between the customer and you throw
different sales channels. And these sales channels can
be of two different kinds. It can be channels where
the customers come to you, which would be physical stores, pop-up stores,
design markets, e.g. but it can also be
your online store. And then you have
the channels where you come to the customers. Now, maybe this is
not relevant for you, but here are some examples. It will be knocking on doors
the old-fashioned way. It could be a sales
party, Tupperware style, and it could also be
what would be called a call center in a big business, but in our small businesses, this is picking up
the phone and calling company or art director or
emailing an art director. So how can the
sales department be organized in a small
design business? We can have research and
planning where we research and evaluate new sales
opportunities and channels. We can have a
specific function for the physical sales
channels which can be attending design markets. Do a pop-up store somewhere, and also exhibit at
industry trade shows. Then we have a function that can handle licensing
and collaborations, which would mean
contact companies that need prints for their
products and branding. Then we can have a retailer
key account manager. If we have physical products, which would be
contacting and selling your own pattern or printed products into
shops and boutiques. And then we have an online
shop key account manager. And that could be
our own webshop, or Etsy or Spoonflower
or societies, sex shops. Here is another task for you. Write down all the
sales channels and opportunities that
can be relevant for selling your products
or services. Next, we have the
marketing department. Their responsibility is to
make you and your products and services visible
to the people you made them for and make
them want to buy, of course, but as with
product and sales, marketing is a lot of things. So to have somewhere
to start with, here are some main functions within the marketing department. We have branding. And branding is about defining and showing what your
business is about, your why or how your
what and make that clear in error message and place where
people encounter you. It's also about shaping
that message in a way that it is appealing to
your ideal clients. And then we have
communication platforms, all the places where you
can talk to your audience. So of course we have a website, we can have a blog
or a mailing list, or all types of social
media and Pinterest. But I will also include
search engines here. Then we have advertising and all the places and
activities that you can do and pay money to
reach and talk to your audience and
potential new clients. This can be promoting search
words at search engines, so-called SEM, search
engine marketing. It can be advertising and
social media like Facebook and Instagram and promoted
pins on Pinterest. It can be having abs at
different websites and blogs. And then we have PR, which stands for
public relations. And this is activities
you do to draw attention to your brand and
products and services, e.g. sending out a press release about a new product
or a collaboration. It can also be activities
like creating a challenge, giveaway, a competition
on social media. Then we have
affiliate marketing, which means collaborating with other people and
businesses where they talk about and promote
your products and services to their own audiences. And then they get a kickback for each sale that they
make to their audience. Then we have a very important
aspect of marketing, which is called CRM, which stands for Customer
Relationship Management. This is about building
and maintaining your relations to your
existing customers to make them stay with you, buy more from you, but also to win lost
customers back. For a small design business, CRM activities
could be to keep in contact and follow up with
clients on a regular basis. It can be having a newsletter, specific posts on social media, give discounts for loyal
customers and so on. So here is a marketing
task for you, considering the
marketing functions that I just mentioned
in your company. Which ones are one up and
running like clockwork to need some TLC or three
needs to be started. So write down the marketing
functions that are relevant for your business and the
rate them according to 12.3. Next we have the ICTY and
appliances department. The IT department is the function that makes
sure that you have all the technical
equipment and systems you need to do your work
properly and effectively. But it's also down to every single light bulb and stapler that you need
in your business. So I rather call it the IT
and appliances department. And so here are some examples of the tasks and responsibilities
of IT and appliances. We have hardware. It's about having
the right tools and equipment for your
business, e.g. your computer, iPad or tablet, awaken tablet or your phone, your printer, your scanner
as sewing machine. If you need a
microphone perhaps for recording or a camera
for recording. And then it's about software that computer
programs that you need, e.g. Adobe Creative Cloud. And it's about apps on your phone and your
tablet that you need. It's also about systems
in your business, backup, storage and file
transfers like Dropbox, AirDrop, iCloud, and also
external hard drives. Its handling email accounts on your computer or your
iPad and mobile. It's about website
hosts setting up your website and
your domain names. It's setting up your
blog and webshop. Then we have tasks related to your office facilities
and supplies. So this is about the
furniture that you need, your desk, your chair,
you're lighting. It can be all the
office supplies like pens and staplers
and scissors, printing paper and toners. So here is another test for you. Identify the IT and
appliances functions and tasks that you have in your business and
write them all down. Next, we have the
finance department than they also of course, have a row of responsibilities
and functions, e.g. accounting and bookkeeping. When running a business, you are required by law to meet certain standards when
it comes to registering your business activities
and transactions and in order to report
taxes you should pay. But another very
important responsibility is budget and planning. Are you making a budget for your business every
year, for every month? Doing that is about deciding
how much money you are allowed to spend or invest in in your
different activities. It's also planning
and budgeting for how much revenue you
should generate each year. If you are, are you
keeping track of it? If you're following
what's been decided, then we have invoicing, very important, making
sure that you get paid for a job done
or a product sold. So here is your finance
department task. Document the finance tasks and functions that you
have in your business and rate them according to the one up and running
like clockwork. To need some TLC, three needs to be started. Then we have another
department that I call the legal and compliance
department and their responsibilities
is to make sure that you know about the laws and regulations that are
relevant to your business, that you are following them. And it's about reviewing and
setting up contracts, e.g. for licensing with companies. It's about dealing
with copyrights and unfortunately
infringements that may happen. It's about making sure you
have the right insurances. And it's also drawing up a privacy policy and terms and conditions for
your business. Another task for you, write down the relevant
legal functions for your business and you
can reference my examples. Then we have the
logistics department. And in this
department you handle everything that has
to do with product, stock packaging,
postage, and shipping. As a task for this one, write down all the
logistics task that you may have
in your business. Perhaps you don't have
any logistic needs. If you don't have any
physical products, e.g. your logistic departments
may look a bit different or may not
even have to exist. And last but not least, the HR department, which
stands for human resources. And I used to not treat this as a function in my
business at all. But this is something that as home studio entrepreneurs
really should prioritize. Because taking care of
the number one resource of the company ourselves
is so important. And we often just
bypass this because we just feel that this is
where taking it for granted. But we're really
need to put a lot of thought and effort into how we can make sure we
are happy at our jobs. So now this may probably
not feel like an issue for many of us because we are working with what we love to do. The job itself makes us happy, but it can also be a Catch-22. So these are some
things to consider when identifying your
business HR functions. So one thing is education. You may need to take
courses in order to increase your know-how and
accomplished difficult task. Then we have
something we can call working conditions like
setting proper working hours. I mean, personally, I tend to work in evening sometimes and weekends because I just think
it's so darn fun what I do. But in the long run,
it's not sustainable. We need to set boundaries, no matter how fun it is, how much we enjoy our work, and then we have health. It's so easy to just sit
by our desks all day long, getting wrapped
up in the fun and time just disappears
created work. But it's great for our bodies and our creative
minds to get up, take a walk and
exercise regularly. Finding routines and building good habits is key to
maintaining your health and also to include it
in your business as social function to make
yourself sustainable. And then we have
inspiration and motivation. I think this is a really
important function within the HR
department as well. Being creative, searching for inspiration is automatically
something that we do, but it often follows
the same routine. We need to vary this
and sometimes we sit and wait for inspiration and motivation
to come upon us, but that's not how it works. So we need to seek
it out and we need to create motivation
for ourselves. So planning and
setting goals for this is also very important,
the function. So your last task, write down what activities will you do to take
care of yourself, to set boundaries
for your workday, to grow and develop as a
professional and person, how to stay motivated
and how to stay healthy. Now, you have a
list of tasks and functions that you have or
will have in your business. And now for your last task, I want you to draw up an organization chart like
this for your business. At the top is you, the CEO. Then draw up a box for
each main function or a department that's relevant in your business and give
them a proper name. Then below that, you can
list your sub-functions or main tasks for each of
those departments as well. This is your company. Now that we have an overview of the main and supportive tasks and functions in your business. It's time to start making
a plan for your business. But first, we need to understand
where we are right now. In the next lesson, we're gonna do a
review and summary of what has happened during
the year that has passed.
4. Step 3: Review Your Business Year: In this lesson, we
will do a review of the year that has
passed and document all the things we've done and
accomplished and reviewing what has happened
during the year will help us understand where we are, where we're heading, and
to see if we need to adjust our direction and
focus for the coming year. Many times, we feel that we are stomping around
on the same spot, that things are not
happening or going too slow. But that's not the reality. You have accomplished
many things during the year, I promise. And remembering and
acknowledging them is good for your confidence to help you see the progress and
the bigger picture. It doesn't matter
if they're small. Actually, when we
review our year, the smallest activities are very important and shouldn't be
overlooked or dismissed. It's the little steps that
together becomes a big leap. Your primary assignment for this lesson is to make a list
of all the things you've done during the year
and all the goals and milestones and objectives
that you've reached. To do this, we have a range
of tools and resources to help us because it can be difficult to recall
everything that we've done. The first resource I
want to mention is if you did a plan and perhaps
even a budget for this year, they are great resources to use. If you didn't make
a plan last year, That's fine too,
because there are many more resources we can use. Then here are some
other examples. Your computer, go through
your folders to find any projects or
tasks that you've been working on your website. If you have a website, you can go through it and see if the content triggers
your memory. Perhaps you did a
website and make over. Perhaps you took
some new pictures, jot down all the things
you've done during the year that your
website can tell you. If you have a blog, this will be a
great resource for tracking your activities and accomplishments during the year. Then we have Instagram
and Facebook. The diaries and photo
albums of our time. Go through your feeds and note every little thing that relates to what you've
done during the year, every pattern or illustration
you made, list everything, personal stuff too, like a trip you took where
a visit to a museum, list the things that
enrich your days and business in some way or helped
you learn something new. If you have a webshop
or several web shops, what products did
you add to them during the year or did
you remove something? Put that on the list? Another helpful tool to use
is your organization chart. The one you did in the previous
lesson where you define your different functions or
departments in your business. By reviewing all
functions one by one, it will be easier to sort and recognize and remember your
activities during the year. Let's do this together
with some examples. In the workbook, you'll find
pages that will help you review your functions and list your activities
and achievements. One thing I do is to review the function I call
the design studio. This is where all the sign
activities take place, from creating patterns and
artwork to the portfolio too. Graphics for my different
digital platforms in close collaboration with
the marketing department. Of course, when I reviewed the activities in the design
studio during the year, I make a list of all the patterns and
collections I created. But it could also
be about things we've learned new skills. Or perhaps if you created your first repeating
pattern during the year. That's a big accomplishment. You can list all the courses you took related to your craft that could also be sorted under the Human Resources
department, if you will. And for every
function you review, tried to be as
specific as possible, log everything in a
measurable way, if you can. The numbers, the results. For instance, for
the design studio, I sum up how many
new designs I've created and how many
collections and so on. Now, let's head over to
the product department. For the product department, I list all types of activities related to creating
value in my business. And here are some examples
that I listed my review, any Skillshare courses
I've published, any digital or physical
products that I've created, like e-books, templates, mockups, workbooks,
or memberships, anything that could be traded
for some kind of value, like e-mail addresses or money. Of course. I also list any kind of tools I've created to make
things easier for me, like templates and price lists. Remember to log the measurables. How many art prints, how many greeting cards, how many eBooks or
courses, and so on. In the sales department, I list every event or tasks. I did that generated revenue or could help generate
revenue, e.g. product sales,
licensed patterns, new clients, pitches
to companies, affiliating activities,
additions or changes to my sales channels
like new webshop, e.g. for the sales function, the metrics are very
important because they will be helpful later
on for other purposes. So include how many units
you sold of each product. How many students,
of course had, how many licensed patterns, how many new clients, how many companies
you've pitched too? How much revenue each
activity generated, if it did in the
marketing department, there are usually
many activities going on and a lot of metrics
to review as well. Here are some examples to
get your thoughts rolling. Branding. Did you do a re-branding
or perhaps even designed your brand for the
first time with a logo, brand colors, brand font. Perhaps even created a
brand guidelines document for your business, your website. Perhaps you created a website
for your business during the year or updated it
or change platform. Here, you can also check the website analytics
or Google Analytics. So you can track and document how many unique
visitors you have. And so on your blog, you can list how many blog
posts you did during the year. Perhaps if you did
something specific, like a series of posts about a certain topic,
your social media. Perhaps you founded a
Facebook group during the year or started a
new Instagram account, those things go on the list. Perhaps you started to use Pinterest to create
traffic to your site. You can check the analytics and statistics for each
social media as well. Exposure, views, followers, your mail
list, and use letter. Perhaps he started
a mailing list and use letter this year. Log how many subscribers
you've gained, the number of
newsletters you've sent, open rates and clicks and so on. Also document all the list
building activities you did. Octants, competitions or
challenges are giveaways. Other marketing activities
to check and list is any launch campaigns you did and media features or
collaborations. Next up is the
finance department. And here you can list any financial related or business-related
activities that you did, such as changing your
accounting system or perhaps if you outsourced accounting and
bookkeeping this year, or if you formed
your business for the first time or changed it to a
different business form. Here, you also document
your revenues, your expenses, and profit. You'll want to do
a final version of that at the end of
your business year. But for this purpose, you can check the year
to date and perhaps also make a rough estimate
of the weeks that are left. If you've been in business
for more than one year, you can compare
your numbers here with the previous year to see the financial growth
in your business. Then you go through any
remaining functions in the same matter, like
human resources, IT and appliances, legal and compliance and
logistics, e.g. track and list all
the things that happened in these
functions during the year. Small and big. Also, don't forget to document important or
enriching events and happenings in your
personal life and family? Did you move to a new house
or did you make a fun trip? I like to incorporate
these things too high even sometimes log how
many books I've read, but not how many Netflix
series I watched. I don't want to know that. Then when you've documented and listed everything that did
happen during the year, also, make a list of any things that you
had planned to do, but that didn't happen. Perhaps you had set
your mind to pitch to ten companies but
only contacted to. Or you had plans to create
a Skillshare course, but ended up not doing that. So what will you now
use this list for? You may wonder, well, the sides reminding herself and acknowledging all
the things you've done. This list will be a stepping stone for the
plan for the next year. And I also use my list to create a year in review
on my website or blog that serves both as a nice documentary and
summary for myself, but can also serve as
inspiration to other people. So you can use it as a piece
of content that you can communicate on your website and the newsletter or
Facebook and Instagram. To round off this lesson, I want to give you
one more assignment. Take a look at your list and ask yourself if there were
some activities and accomplishments that were
more important than others that moved you and your
business forward in some way. Did some projects make more difference for your
business this year? Circle the achievements that
move the needle the most. The next lesson, we're going
to define a long-term goal and yearly milestones
with a three-year plan.
5. Step 4: Make a 3-Year Plan: Now that we know where we are, it's time to start
looking ahead again and make a three-year plan
for your business. So this step can seem
pretty advanced. And if you're just
starting out on this creative journey and a three-year plan
seems overwhelming. At this point. You can absolutely skip
this step for now, but follow along so that you get a grasp of what it's
about and how it works. To make a three-year plan are going to use
our functions again as guidance and as an
illustrative example, let's use this
business vision and mission statement
for the vision to be an internationally
established and sought after name in the
surface design industry. And the mission is, I design historically
inspired patterns for high-end companies and the interior decor and
fashion industries are just as an example. Now we're going to define what this means more specifically in order to eventually break it
down into actionable steps. For each main function, ask yourself what
it means to have realized the vision
using this question. What have I achieved in an insert the function
that has made me, and then insert your vision. And for our example, the question would be, what have I achieved in the design studio
that has made me an internationally
established and sought after name and the
surface design industry. And the answer to that
question could be, I have a clear and
distinguished style. For this example,
this could now be the long-term goal or a
vision for the design studio. And in a three-year plan, this is the goal for year three. Then you do the same for
year two and year one. But where are you now exchange the vision with your
year three visions. So the question for
year two would be, what have I achieved in
the design studio that has resulted in a clear
and distinguished style. And the answer could be, I have explored and design patterns in
different styles and types. Now the question
for year one is, what have I achieved in the
design studio that made it possible for me to design patterns in
different styles and types. And then your answer
for year one could be, I have improved my pattern
designs skills and techniques. So think of these answers, the answers for year 32.1 as a ladder building up
to your big vision. Here's another example, but
for the sales function, what have I achieved in the sales function
that has made me an internationally
established and sought after name and the
surface design industry. So the answer for
year three could be, I have licensed with a
big international brand. And then when we go down
the ladder, year two, I have licensed patterns and collections to companies
in different industries. And perhaps we could add
smaller companies for that. The answer for year one in
for the sales department is, I have landed my first client. You can see the ladder. It's growing, it's becoming bigger and more
advanced as we go. And you will most likely
change and move things around a few times before
it all falls into place. But don't over-complicate. Start out simple and
then you can refine. And if you now lean
back and take a look at all those function
visions for each year. You may see an overall
theme for each year. Year 10 cross-function may be about preparing and learning. And year two, cross-function to practice what you've
learned and be productive. And year three may be
about getting your designs onto real products
or to get licensed. And all your functions
would support these yearly vision,
so to speak. Another example, if
you run your business for a couple of years and
have a few clients already. The vision for a year one may be to expand that to
get more clients. And year two to outsource
some tasks and your business, and year three to start
their own product line. I don't know. It depends on what
your bigger goal, your bigger vision and hopes and dreams for the future is. Write down all the
vision milestones that you come up with
for all these functions. And you can use the page for this that you'll find
in the workbook. In the next lesson, we're going to set
some measurable goals and objectives for
each function. And also brainstorm what
tasks we have for next year.
6. Step 5: Set Next Year's Objectives & Tasks: Now that you know
what your vision or your big goal for next year is, we can set some
measurable objectives for each function in your business and also define the tasks that we need
to do during the year. For this, you can refer back
to your review that you did before and the results and achievements that you
have from last year. And he used those as
a starting point and inspiration for your new
objectives and tasks. And if there were any tasks that you didn't
accomplish last year, you can start by transferring
them to the next year plan. And here are some suggestions
and inspiration for what type of objectives
and tasks that you can have for each
function this year. Just use the ones that are
relevant to you and add others that you need
for the design studio. So measurable objectives
and tasks can be the number of artwork and illustrations that
you will make, the number of patterns and collections that you
will set out to create, the number of designs
for existing clients, the number of digital
and creative resources that you can make,
like textures, brushes, fonts and Clip Art and mock-ups that you can actually
sell to other creatives. And for the product function, if you have products that are not connected to
design, that is, some measurable
objectives and tasks can be number of ebooks,
number of courses, membership, number of physical products for your webshop or
Creative Markets, opt ins for building
your mailing list. So if you can be specific
here and define what type of course or what type of
eBook you are going to make. For the sales function, some measurable objectives
and tasks can be the number of licensed artwork and
patterns to existing clients. So what you have
licensed or sold or the number of new clients
you will require. That's also a sales objective. And the number of
companies that you will contact and submit your work to any new sales
channels or platforms for print-on-demand services
that you may want to add, new sales channels and platforms for courses like Skillshare and the number of
affiliate recruits or referrals that you
are planning to make. And then you can add other additional
sales opportunities, like helping someone as
a virtual assistant. Here you can also
add the number of students to your courses
that you are aiming for. For the marketing function, measurable objectives
and tasks can be to start a Facebook group. It can be about blog
and social media posts, like how often or
how many you will, you will post number of subscribers on your mailing
list that you're aiming for. Followers in social media, visitors to your website, views and read pins
on Pinterest perhaps, to revamp your website
to do a photo shoot, to be featured in media. You can connect a number to
something or you can just, the objective will be that
it's done or not done. Then you list this type of measurable objectives and
smaller projects or tasks for the other supporting
functions to like IT and appliances,
legal, logistics. If those are relevant to
you and your business, you can set goals and tasks
for your finance function to, but don't set anything
for profits and costs and income yet because we will do that in
the budget lesson. In the next lesson, we're going to define the big development projects
that will make the most difference for your
business the coming year.
7. Step 6: Set Next Year's Development Projects: Now that we know
the objectives and tasks that we have for
next year in our business, It's time to identify and
decide on the big projects. I call these development
projects because they will develop your
business and make the most difference
and help you move forward toward and reach
those goals and your fishing. Now, use the year
review your functions, the three-year plan and
the function objectives and tasks you just
defined as guidance to make a list of the big projects
you need to do to achieve the yearly goal or vision
for each function this year, let's start with a design
studio example from before where we defined that the design
studio achievement or vision for year one
in the next year is going to be to improve design
skills and techniques. So what can you do to improve your skills
the coming year? It could mean to learn or trying new things like materials, techniques and tools, e.g. getting an iPad and learning
Procreate or Illustrator, or to join 100 day challenge, or to create 100 patterns. And these are examples of development projects
for the design studio. Other design studio
products could be to devote a
month for designing a pattern collection or create a collection of art prints
to sell for product. Development project can be to add new products
to your webshop. It can also be to create a price list for your
patterns or artwork, other products, or create
a course for sales. A development project can be to make a list of dream companies and to do a focused effort to submit your portfolio
to a list of companies. For marketing. Development project
can be to design your brand and create a
brand guidelines document, or to create a website, or to build a mailing list
and start and use letter. Or to do a launch campaign for a collection of art
prints or a course, e.g. for this step, you can also include your supporting
functions like IT, HR, legal, logistics, and
what's relevant to you, of course, but there is a big risk that you
are now creating a long list of important projects that you want to do during the next year. And we need to boil
things down a bit. So if you look at your list, you will see that some or many
of them can be connected. E.g. creating a website
and designing your brand. They can go together as one
single project or creating a course and launching it that involves both product
and marketing. But you can merge them into
one in the same project. So see if you can find some
common ground for some of the projects on
your list and merge them into a bigger project. We can take on too many projects in one
year and we always need more breathing
room than we think and make room for things that
we don't know about yet. So my advice is to take on about two to four of these development
projects in one year. It depends, of course, on how big each project is and how much time
they will require. Choose the three or four
most important projects that you think will make the biggest difference
for you and your business and move you
towards your yearly goals. Also makes sure that each
of these projects are aligned with your vision
and mission statement. Then bring out a planner
or use the project plan in the workbook and mark out when
you will do each project, when it will start and
when it will be finished.
8. Step 7: Set Next Year's Budget: In this lesson,
we're going to make a budget for our next year. If you don't have an income
from your creative work yet, this step may feel
unnecessary or difficult, but think of it as preparations and a
visualization exercise. As with a goal-setting lesson, putting a number
on something makes it more clear and real. When I create my budget, I use a simple spreadsheet
like this and list the income streams and summarize the total
revenue at the top. Then I put in the expenses and summarize the total costs below. Then I can calculate the
profit from that below. At the bottom, you can also calculate and enter the taxes. You're going to pay that
profit after taxes. If you will give
yourself salary and any savings capital that you
will transfer to next year. You can make a monthly
budget like this, but you can of course, also make a quarterly
budget like this. I usually set a monthly budget because I like how
that aligns with my project plan and
also makes it easier to have control and keep
track of everything. And let's start with
income and revenue. At the top. Here you list everything
that generates money for your business or it can make money for you
in the future. Of course, we have
to be reasonable and realistic when
we set these sums, but I definitely
don't want you to be pessimistic or too careful. Aim High, be optimistic, and believe in
your capabilities. And do this even if you
don't feel ready yet. Before I started my business and for my first
year in business, this part of the budget
was completely blank. And if this is you
right now, that's okay. But you can start
thinking about it. You can start planning and
get into the right mindset. Perhaps next year, you can put down some real numbers here. And here are some
suggestions for income sources that you can
consider for your budget. Art and pattern
licensing or sales. Pattern back royalties. Royalties from Spoonflower
and other print on demand services. Creative markets
royalties, product sales from your webshop and
physical products that you can produce, product sales from
your webshop, e.g. physical products or
digital products, affiliate and
referral commissions, advertising on your
blog or website. Courses on external
platforms like Skillshare, courses on your own
platform or website. And membership fees. If you can put down
a sum for each month where you expect or plan
for income for each post. If you have no idea, just put down a guess
or an average or cool. I find it quite
difficult though to set an income budget for art and pattern licensing outside of the existing client
collaborations that I have. But if I plan to pitch to
companies during the year, I still force myself to put
a number on what I wanted to be here as a symbolic
gesture, at least. And when you're done,
summarize the numbers. You can summarize
per month column and or per income source row, and then the total for all. Then it's time to do
the same thing for your expenses and
investments are costs. Here I like to categorize
my costs by functions. Again. Start by listing all the costs you
know, about like e.g. any cost that you have for
your website and domain names or Creative Cloud and other apps and
software that you use. It could be member
fees or courses that you plan to take or
tools you plan to buy. If you have a budget or bookkeeping from
the previous year, a tip is to use that as reference to make sure that
you include everything. Then make a list with all those big
development projects that you're planning
for next year. All the costs and expenses that you see will be
connected to them. You can also take a look at
your function's task lists and see if there are any
costs connected to those. And when you're done, summarize the columns
and rows and the total. We'll finish it off
with finding out your budget result by
deducting the cost total from the revenue total budget can be an important tool for tracking your plan every month
throughout the year.
9. End Note: So if you have
followed along with the steps and did the
assignments in the workbook, you now have a strategy
for your business with a vision and mission statement,
an organization chart, long-term and yearly goals
in a three-year plan, and a plan for next year with tasks, projects, and objectives. And you have a budget. I hope this course
can be a resource for you to come back
to again and again. Perhaps once a year when
it's time to revisit your business strategy and make a new plan for
the coming year. Thank you so much for
taking this course and I'll see you next
year, if not sooner.
Bärbel Dressler, Surface pattern designer & educator
