Being a better designer WON’T make you more money 🤬

Earlier on in my career as a designer I Truly believed that the better I became At design the more money that I would Earn and so I put all of my time and Effort and energy into becoming a better Designer and the sad part is is over the Last several years I've learned that how Good you are at design has very little To do with how much money you actually Make in fact most of the best designers That I know are the ones that struggle To make any money and this is really sad But it's true so if you're spending your Time on design boot camps and courses And working on portfolio pieces and Trying to hone your craft as a designer You might be making a huge mistake and In this video I'm going to tell you why That's a mistake and then I'm going to Share with you the things that you need To do in order to make more money as a Designer so like I mentioned if we were To visualize this on a graph let's say That we had design skill at the bottom And then money on the side and I always Assumed that the better you got at the Design the more money you make and it Seemed really obvious but like I Mentioned this is just not true and it's A little bit more complex than that what I found is that there are really three Different types of designers there are Bad or inexperienced designers and then There are a ton of good designers and

Then there's a very small Elite group of The best designers now the truth is is You and I probably are never going to Reach that point where we're the Greatest designer in the world we're Probably always going to fall in this Realm of being a good designer and That's okay that's where you need to be Now what we see in terms of earning is The bad designers they don't make a Whole lot of money the really really Expert good designers oftentimes do make Good money but this massive Group which Is the majority of us which fall in this Good designer category our income ranges Can be massive we can make literally no Money or we can make hundreds and Hundreds of thousands of dollars and the Only thing that determines truly how Much you make as a good designer is how Well you can run a business your Understanding of how to run a successful Business has a 100 percent direct Correlation with how much money you make As a creative meaning the better you are At business the more money you're going To make now I'm not just talking about If you're a freelancer or an agency Owner this is for every single designer Even if you work for someone else you Are your business you are your brand and If you don't learn how to effectively Run your brand in your business you're Going to get pushed around you're going

To get underpaid you're gonna have a Hard time finding gigs or clients and It's going to be really really difficult For you to succeed financially as a Designer now don't get me wrong I'm not Saying that you shouldn't be pushing Yourself to become the best designer Possible but what I am saying is if your Main goal right now is to earn more Money as a designer you should not be Focusing just on getting better at Design instead you should be focusing on All the principles that will turn you You into a successful and competent Business person and that's what we're Going to talk about in this video right Now but first I want to share an example That I think does a really great job of Illustrating this I live in a small town In the state of Idaho and in this town There are several attorneys but there is One in particular that everyone knows Makes more money than everyone else and The funny thing is everyone jokes about How bad of an attorney he really is he Rarely goes to court he rarely gets People the settlements that they're Looking for and most the time he settles For a lower rate so he can pump through As many clients as possible now he's a Crappy attorney and I don't want you to Be that kind of designer but the Interesting thing about this guy is he Makes more money than any other attorney

Probably in the entire State because he Is a master of business he is constantly On radio shows and news channels and Podcasts and everywhere you go you see His face and you hear his name and he's Got a super catchy catchphrase and he's Got everything on the business side of Things figured out and so even though He's a really crappy lawyer everyone Ends up calling him because he's the First person that they think of he's Always at the top of mind and he has Marketed himself and his business and His brand better than anyone else in This area now this example reminds me of One of my favorite quotes from Chris doe Where he said most creatives are the Best kept secret so you have to be Easier to find than your competitors Meaning that even if you're the most Talented designer if nobody can find you If nobody knows about you it doesn't Matter how good you are because somebody Else is going to get hired because just Like the attorney in this example they Know how to Market themselves and they Know how to get in front of the right People alright so now I want to dive Into the things that you need to do and Understand in order to become this Master of business and start earning More as a designer now because these are Fairly complex ideas I'm going to share With you only the most important things

You need to know and then I'm going to Share with you free resources so you can Do some additional research so the first Thing that you need to understand is Positioning choosing a unique position Is going to make it much easier to stand Out from all of the other designers and It's going to make it way easier to find Work so your unique position can be Anything that helps you stand out Whether it's a unique industry whether It's a unique set of skills that you're Offering or just a unique offer Regardless of how you choose to select Your position the most important part is That you understand your audience you Understand what it is that they need and Their pain points and then you're going To be able to strategically position Yourself in a place where you are the Absolute best choice for anybody that's Looking for what you have to offer the Second thing you need to understand is Pricing and even deeper than just Pricing is understanding your value Oftentimes as creatives we get pushed Around and we get underpaid and so you Need to understand how much value it is That you are bringing to an employer or A client and then you need to charge Accordingly make sure that you are Demanding a rate that you feel is fair And then make sure that you're coming Through and showing the value behind

That rate if you're charging a client Fifty thousand dollars for a website you Better darn well show them that it's Worth their fifty thousand dollars and If you can raise your rates and then Justify those rates you're going to be Making more money and pricing is one of The most difficult things to understand And to gain confidence in but once you Start raising your rates you're going to See a massive difference not only in Your bottom line and how much you're Making but also how much people respect You and how they treat you I've got some Great videos about pricing web design Down below so definitely check those out So the third thing you need to Understand is finding and selling Clients this is ultra important because It really comes down to selling yourself Like I mentioned at the beginning of This video you are your business you are Your greatest asset and you need to Learn to confidently sell yourself to Other people you're going to need to Learn how to carry yourself how to Communicate confidently and you're also Going to have to learn the right words To say and the best way to do this is to Practice so practice in the mirror Practice in videos and then practice as You speak to other employers other Clients and you're going to get better At this but learning how to sell

Yourself is probably the greatest skill That you will ever learn in your entire Life because it's going to go outside of Just work it's going to help in dating And all of your relationships and Everything else that you do in your life So learn how to sell yourself and then You're going to learn how to sell Clients and employers the next things You need to understand is how to build a Brand this is more important than ever In today's age where every business Whether it's a solo business a local Business it doesn't matter everybody is Working to build their brand online and So if you're looking for a good way to Start your brand you should a start Sharing your work and B start getting Competent with video content meaning you Have to get in front of a camera like I Am right now and start speaking and Allowing people to hear your voice and See your face it's going to be awkward At first but video content is the Absolute best way for you to get more Exposure and get yourself out there you Can no longer avoid it if you want to Build a brand if you want to build a Business and be successful you've got to Start creating video content and the Other thing that I'll say is start Developing your story what is it about You that makes you memorable and unique And if you can craft this story that

People can resonate with it's going to Be much easier for people to connect With you and want to reach out to you to Hire you or to collaborate with you and So make sure that you can tell a Riveting story about yourself that People are going to enjoy the next thing That you need to learn is automating and Outsourcing you can't do everything on Your own and luckily for us we live in The day and age of no code tools and There are an endless amount of no code Tools that you can use to automate your Business I've got a really great video That I'm going to share are right here And also down in the description but Also you can look for ways to Outsource Where no code tools can't fill the Gap So looking on places like Fiverr and Upwork or even Facebook groups to hire People bring them in and have them help You grow your business and the next Thing which goes right along with that Is building your processes and Streamlining your business the more Projects that you can get done more Efficiently you're going to be able to Make more of an impact day-to-day and These processes are going to be Repeatable if you can systematize Everything that you're doing it's going To be much easier to get things done and Get them done right and efficiently and Also if you do things the same every

Single time it's going to be much easier To predict results so make sure that Once you do something you can package That into a checklist a system and then Reuse that and improve it over and over And over again until you have your Process perfected the next thing which Might possibly be the most difficult is Investing back into your business when You make money it's really really easy To take that money put it in your bank Account and protect it and guard it with Your life because you worked really hard For that money but being able to take That money and freely reinvest back into Yourself and into your business is the Best way to grow and scale so you can Invest this money into education which Is probably the best way to improve Yourself but also into advertising and Tools and hiring other people these are All great ways to take the money you've Earned put it back into your business And even though right now it might feel Like oh crap I don't have as much money Now six months from now 12 months from Now you're going to be grateful that you Invested because you're going to have Way more going for you and you're going To have skilled way more quickly than You ever could have without investing The next thing that you need to Understand is thinking at a higher level This is really difficult for designers

Because we are used to being Practitioners meaning that we're the Ones down on the front lines doing the Work designing building and that's okay That is our skill set but we don't want To get so caught up with the day-to-day Work and tasks that we don't have a Chance to step back and think long term And think about our strategy for our Business and so what I like to do is Schedule at least one if not more days Per week where I don't do any design Work I am strictly planning and Strategizing and thinking of different Ways to grow my brand and grow my Business and if you can force yourself To take the time to do this and get out Of your creative brain and kind of put On your leadership hat your CEO hat your Entrepreneur hat it's going to be much Easier to long-term accomplish goals That you never would have thought were Possible and finally you need to become A master of setting goals and habits you Need to be willing to do the things that No one else is willing to do and this All comes down to setting your daily Goals and daily habits and then pushing Yourself to accomplish those you can't Just go through the motions every day Doing a little bit of design work and Just doing the bare minimum you need to Push yourself to get to that next level If you want to make more money now this

Doesn't just mean spending more time Every day on your laptop or on your Computer but what it does mean is the Time that you do spend working that You're spending it Ultra efficiently and That you're making sure that you're Getting the ball rolling on growing your Business rather than just doing Day-to-day tasks and then calling it a Day now there are a ton of other things That go into growing a business but the Nine things that we talked about are Going to make the most massive change in Your life and I promise you that if you Implement these things six months from Now 12 months from now you're going to Look back and you're not even going to Recognize yourself because you're going To be an absolute business machine and You're going to be making more money Than you ever could have imagined now to Wrap this up if you're looking for the Best way to invest back into your Business to learn and understand more of These business principles I would Definitely recommend going and checking Out paypro.com this is my private Membership and inside this membership we Are teaching you the business of web Design so rather than just diving in and Showing you how to improve your craft And get better at design we are teaching You all the most important parts about Growing scaling finding clients

Communicating all of the different Aspects of running a successful business So you can go from where you are right Now to making several hundreds of Thousands of dollars per year as a Designer so if you're interested in this Go to paypro.com I can guarantee this Will be not only the cheapest way to Invest in your business but the most High value way to get something out of That investment so go check out Paypro.com thanks so much for watching The video and we will catch you in the Next one