Home Businesses on a Tight Budget - Part 4

The next home based business option I would like to share is for the creative techies out there. You might not be great with mixing raisins and flour in a bowl or stringing beads but you might just be really good with putting images and letters together to create a great finished product! Yep, you guessed it....the next option for home businesses to start on a budget is.....



Graphic/Creative Design

This is a huge prospect for small business success because every facet of life needs some form of graphic representation. For flyers, business cards, portfolio, pamphlets and advertisements. As a graphic designer, you can work at pre arranged hours and you are in complete control of your work pace. It’s an excellent option for 9 to 5 workers who want to ease into full time business venture because you can literally work at anytime, from anywhere. You can even decide to use your lunch hour to get some logos designed and hop back into the office without skipping a beat.

Of course you would have to be really good with organising your time and bring out very good results under pressure. Every good graphic artist knows that discussing something at the planning stage and getting it out in reality are two very different things. It is best to give a really accommodating timeline for delivery whenever you can. In addition, the fact that you can work remotely cuts out all the attendant costs that other businesses have to contend with. All that is really needed is a laptop equipped with all the software you need to get the job done. Extra cash can come from printing and publishing but those can be outsourced and really don’t need to be part of your primary business in the beginning.

Image courtesy: Maks Franc Design

Apart from being talented and creative in the design field, there are a few more attributes that a good graphic designer has. I gathered some useful tips from the few graphic designers I have worked with and had the opportunity to speak to :

• The best advice they say any designer can get is to sharpen their listening skills and be receptive to constructive criticism. ‘You need to understand completely what your client wants. The worst thing to do is leave some open ended questions unanswered and assume you know what the client means. Let the client be as forthright as possible and if they need extra help deciding what they want, a portfolio of your past jobs or samples of jobs you do would be helpful. If your client is dissatisfied with your work, take it in your stride and work on getting it right.’

• Always be up to date. Follow up on the very good graphic designers you know through their blogs and websites. If you want to step it up, enroll for a course to keep you in the mix. The danger with not keeping up is that you are willingly getting yourself out of business. Your clients may be using your services not because they aren't aware of the technology but because they decided to delegate that portion of their business. Don’t ever assume that your client in uninformed in your area of expertise. You would be very surprised.

• Anticipate. It is natural that when you keep up to date in your design skills and new tools available to you, you can almost on reflex anticipate what your client might ask for. Your client would always want to step up their product or service offering because they are in business to make money. If they get wind of a way to get ahead and stand out, they will be sure to ask for it. So be prepared!

All the techies out there!! Let get a move on!! Please let us share any other ideas you may have on what you also consider important for every graphic designer to know or have to stay relevant.

Many thanks to Maks Franc Design for the image used and some useful tips for us all. Contact them on details of services at maks.franc.design@hotmail.com, +2348063986183.