Shaping your visual business
DABB 1 - How getting clear on what you need is the first step in building a successful business
Welcome to the first draw a better business (DABB) post in the graphic recorder club.
Draw a better business posts are here to help you start, evolve and sustain your graphic recording or illustration business. I’ve been running Graphic Change for almost 20 years and in that time I’ve been to Business School, written a visual business book and learned a lot of business lessons, so I’ve got some thoughts on what works, most of which you won’t find in traditional business books.
This month I’m going to start at the beginning, exploring what I consider to be the first step in building a successful visual business; being clear on your offer, and counter to lots of advice you might read, I believe that what you offer should firstly be shaped by what you need.
So settle in, grab a cuppa or some doodling paper for the thinking bits, and a pen and paper for the doing exercises.
Three questions:
It can be daunting when you start out wanting to be a graphic recorder or illustrator. At the same time as you feel most keen to get going, your might also feel your least confident about how to do it. Floundering at the start can lead to all sorts of self-doubts. Each self-doubt is a barrier to you moving forward on the happy path of starting and growing your business.
If you’ve already started your business but it’s not delivering what you want in terms of income or satisfaction, you might be wondering what’s gone wrong? or even if you were naive to ever think you could earn a living from drawing?
Most conventional business wisdom says, “find out your customer’s pain point and figure out how you will solve it”.
I understand the thinking here, but I think it misses out a very important element…YOU. To run a successful, sustainable business it has to be a business that is the right fit for YOU. So I want to wind your thinking back to what I think is the first building block of a solid business: being really clear, really really really clear about what you need and want your business to be.
This information will act like a life-belt (I’m definitely mixing up my metaphors today!) that will help you stay afloat and moving forwards.
You want your ideal customers to be in no doubt that you’re the perfect fit for them
By the end of this exercise you will:
be clearer about what you need your business to be
be clearer about what you want your business to be
start to refine your offer so that potential customers can see you’re a good fit
To help with this I’ve got 3 questions for you, and if you can answer these questions you’ll have done a good job at giving yourself some clarity. Each question comes with prompts to help you think about it, and an action for you to complete.
Tempting as it might be, I recommend you don’t rush the thinking bit in order to get to the doing bit. Remember, thinking is an action!