No, not with my ass. Not with my sass.Â
But with some innocent insights into how I run my six-figure graphic design biz.
You see, I thought it would be fun and educational to share what a typical work day in the life of moi, Anna Dower, would look like.Â
So I uploaded a few Instagram stories (@annacreativementor) that shed lightÂ
on how I spend my days.Â
Which looked like âŠ
⊠Hanging out at the pool for baby swimming lessons.Â
⊠Lunch out with my husband (I had the burrito bowl, totes recommend)
⊠Gardening and cloud-watching.Â
⊠Drawing on my iPad Pro.Â
And about two to three hours of sporadic work.Â
“Surely, thatâs a one-off kind of day⊠right?â My followers mused.
âThatâs not what your work life actually looks like.â
âErm, itâs an everyday day.â I responded.Â
âI only work 15 to 20 hours a week max.â
âYour income has dropped then?â
âNope,â I replied. âI earn six figures.â
The Internet BROKEÂ ?
âYou suck! I want this to be my life. #goals!!!â
âWhat. The. Actual. F*$k.â
âYou are so lucky. How do you do it!?â
And, yeah, I do feel super grateful that my work days are easy and fun.Â
But, lady, I assure you:Â Luck had nothing to do with it.Â
I made a conscious decision to have an easy, yet profitable, business that allows me to be flexible with my hours and spend time with my family while I enjoy the good stuff in life.
âCos I dunno about you, but Iâve heard none of us get out of this âlifeâ thing aliveÂ
⊠so while Iâm here Iâm gonna enjoy myself.Â
And I know Iâm not alone.Â
When I ask most designers why they started their own business their answer is:
FREEDOM & FLEXIBILITY.Â
However fast forward a couple of years and theyâve somehow found themselves slaving away 60 hours a week for peanuts, wondering where it all went wrong.
Well, I can tell you exactly where it went wrong, lady:
You put all of your free-range eggs in the one basket.Â
Yahhh⊠harsh, hey.
Youâre a graphic designer ⊠so you should, er, design. Graphics. Right?
Well, not entirely.
I know it sounds like a mythical unicorn, but you can get what you wantÂ
(freedom & flexibility) and still earn all the bucks.
The key? Being MORE than just a graphic designer.Â
This is how I make up my income:
It wasnât always this way.Â
Initially design was my main six-figure bread-winner, with a little bit of mentoring here and there on the side. Â
But as time went on, I found that mentoring sparked more joy, while allowing me to make money in a more natural and easy way.Â
So I tilted my business, building a mentoring service, and then eCourses, that complemented my zone of genius: teaching and educating.Â
Which brings me to where I am today.Â
Now, I only do a small amount of design work for long-standing clients (so no new clients). Most of my time is spent on mentoring calls (with designers from all over the globe) and working on my business between Design Biz Bootcamp course launches.Â
Want to makeover your biz so youâre working less but earning moreâŠÂ
and enjoying the eff outta your life?
Your solution is simple, boss: Diversify your income.Â
Cultivate multiple income streams that support your lifestyle and allow you to work within your zone of genius.Â
For me, that means teaching and educating.Â
Before we dive into what your zone of genius might look like, I wanted to mention that I believe:Â You need to have had success in your design biz FIRST, before you add in another income stream.Â
Otherwise it is like going straight to level 24 of Donkey Kong when you donât even know what the âjumpâ button is yet.Â
You need to understand your worth and value, have confidence and have balls to go to the next level before you jump.Â
It also doesnât hurt to have built up a positive reputation, a solid e-mail list and a bunch of peeps who love everything youâre about.Â
If youâre nodding, thinking, âYep, donât worry, Iâve got that in spadesâ, then keep reading.Â
(If youâre frowning, thinking, âAh crusty balls â Iâm not there yet!â, itâs okay.Â
Design Biz Bootcamp has been created to help accelerate your business)
Still here?
Awesome.Â
Okay, our first step to figuring out how youâre going to diversify your income is to get clear on the essentials.Â
Grab a piece of paper and a pen (or, you know, the notes app in your phone) and answer the following questions:Â
What do you want from your business?Â
(i.e. What hours do you want to work? What income do you want to earn?)Â
What is your zone of genius?Â
(i.e. What are you good at that simultaneously lights you up?)
Who is your ideal client & what are their problems?Â
(i.e. Who do you want to work with and what are they struggling with?)
Once you have those questions answered, you can start brain-storming solutions you can offer to your dream clients that are aligned with who you are and what they need.
One of the solutions I came up with in my business was a a full-day online brand workshop called CONQUER YOUR BRAND IN ONE DAY.Â
It was created to solve the confusion my clients faced when it came to their brand.
 Â
During these online workshops, I would basically walk five to eight women through an in-depth brand clarity briefing, but over a full day via ZOOM.Â
I would walk them through –Â
- Business Why
- Authentic Voice
- Ideal Client
- Creating a tag-lineÂ
- The feelings they want their brand to evoke
- And then aligning all of that with brand visuals
I charged $299 per person.Â
Now the workshop itself wasnât a huge earner, however the conversion rate from workshop to then booking in a full design package was 98%.
Not bad, hey?
And the clients from these workshops were the absolute best design clients ever because they were super clear about their brand vision (because we worked on it together).Â
Not to mention they respected and trusted my expertise because I showed them how clever I was during the workshop.Â
WIN WINÂ ?
So, what could you create to complement your design business?