Creativity

To keep any business running, there is constant pressure to chase the next project and the next invoice. If we’re not careful, this can cause quality and creativity to take a nosedive as making the money becomes the over-riding priority.

I’ve been running my own web design business for a couple of years now. I think the tough reality is that you’ve got to work hard to keep the money flowing. This is how one survives. The times I’ve gotten behind on invoicing are the months I’ve nearly folded. It’s no different for larger agencies. They may or may not have healthier cash-flows, but the pressure to keep solvent and keep chasing the next job is just as great, if not greater.

On the other hand I don’t think that needing to churn over lots of work and get paid promptly means agencies need to throw quality, creativity and promises out of the window. Where that happens, I think they have a dodgy business model. Poor quality work is going to cost somebody sooner or later. It’ll hit their client first, but ultimately it’s going to damage the agency too.

I’ve been finding that many of my clients want very similar core things. So my business model is evolving to be two-fold:

1. Develop some “packaged” products and my own frameworks where the quality is already established. Use these for the bulk of clients who want common systems.
2. Accept entirely bespoke projects, but ensure I get a good price for them and adopt excellent project management processes to ensure all the promises can be met and exceeded.

I’m not yet an expert in this way of working. My frameworks aren’t yet as flexible as they could be, and I don’t always budget high enough for the very bespoke stuff (I tend to pay for this mistake by working longer hours rather than ditching quality, but it’s still not a great situation). But as I get closer to the ideal, it feels like it’s got to be the right approach.