Design Business Freedom

Latest Episodes:

012: Five Steps to Planning Your Best Design Year Ever! Dec 12, 2022

Show notes

As the fiscal year comes to a close, it can be tempting to plow straight ahead and into next year's work without pause. You might find yourself in over-drive, trying to tie-up those loose ends from this year while preparing for next year's project load. Or, maybe you had a great year and you're looking forward to what next year will bring and just can't wait to dive in.

Whatever it may be that's pushing you full speed ahead into the upcoming year, I want you to do yourself a favor and take a moment to pause. It is so important to take some time for yourself at the end of each year to reflect on your past practices and set goals for your upcoming year. Your success needs to be intentional, strategic, purposeful, and guaranteed. And the only way that you can make that happen is by taking a break away from your business, ideally in a relaxing space away from the grind, and reflecting. Assess what worked well and what didn't, where you can find improvements, and set some goals for yourself.

I want you stepping out of the day-to-day and stepping into a space of vision, planning, and reaching. In today's episode, I am going go be diving into how to assess the year that you've just wrapped up and use your reflections to predict and guarantee your best year ever in business.

In this episode, you will hear:

Five tips for planning your best design year ever
Why setting stretch goals are so important for your future achievement
How frequently you should be setting goals and evaluating your progress
The importance of social media in business and why you need to stay in touch with your clients

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Have you subscribed to our podcast? We'd love to welcome you to our creative community, if you haven't yet subscribed. We'd truly appreciate it if you drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select "Ratings and Reviews" and "Write a Review" then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and spreads the word about the podcast.

Supporting Resources:

For more information about The Affluent Creative, check out my website www.melissagalt.com
Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok @MelissaGalt

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com. Let them know we sent you.

011: How To Prepare For Uncertain Economic Times Dec 05, 2022

Show notes

The past few years were a great time for design firms, with an extraordinarily high demand for our creative services. However, the times are beginning to change and we are seeing more and more economic uncertainty, which can be unsettling for many designers. Recessions are a normal part of economic cycles and we can't avoid them. But, we can be prepared to not only survive them, but to even thrive during them.

One of the keys to surviving an economic downturn is to avoid panic and worry and instead, apply strategic safeguards and seek creative growth opportunities. To make sure that your business is prepared, it is time to evaluate and streamline. I want you entering these uncertain times debt free, or as close to it as possible to reduce your risk.

It may take some careful consideration to get there, but it starts with pushing your creative boundaries and embracing new solutions that your creative mind is already so prepared to find. In today's episode, I will share with you my ten tips to prepare for the economic uncertainty that we are starting to experience. These tips will help you to be strategic and focused and will give you a sense of confidence and ease that will help you breathe easier and feel prepared for anything that may come your way.

In this episode, you will hear:

Ten tips for surviving and thriving during economic uncertainty
The importance of building and maintaining an emergency fund
How your creativity can be used in your favor when looking for new ways to streamline your business practices

Subscribe and Review

Have you subscribed to our podcast? We'd love to welcome you to our creative community, if you haven't yet subscribed.

We'd truly appreciate it if you drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select "Ratings and Reviews" and "Write a Review" then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and spreads the word about the podcast.

Supporting Resources:

For more information about The Affluent Creative, check out my website www.melissagalt.com
Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok @MelissaGalt

Episode Credits

010: Never Worry About Money Again When You Learn to Fuel the Soul of Your Business Nov 28, 2022

Show notes

Think about your current client load and project pipeline. Are you satisfied and fulfilled by every decision that you've lined up at this moment? Or are you, like many creatives, worried about how you are going to manage all of the tasks and requests that you've agreed to while also jumping through hoops for a client's every whim to get them on board with your vision?

Many of the designers that I work with have found themselves in the latter camp at some point in their creative endeavors. And you may feel this way too. As creatives, we often get ourselves involved in projects or agreements that do not necessarily align with our standard of business because we are solely chasing monetary profits or word-of-mouth advertisement, or because we just can't say, "No."

However, when you focus exclusively on your bank account, you starve the soul of your business. You actually wind up earning far less and becoming less satisfied and successful. So, this means that you will have to learn the power of saying "No" sometimes! You do not have to say "Yes" to every business proposition or client request if it does not align with the vision you have for your business. Being selective is key. But, getting there is the hard part!

In today's episode, I will walk you through my best practices for legitimizing your business prospects through the power of selective discernment. In other words, I will key you into all the things you need to learn to say "No" to so that you can start saying "Yes" to higher satisfaction, a greater work-life balance, and more reliable and profitable project pipelines.

In this episode, you will hear:

The nine business basics that you need to have a legitimate and professional business
The most important things that you need to learn say "no" to for a successful business
How to use discernment to your advantage when navigating business decisions

Subscribe and Review

Have you subscribed to our podcast? We'd love to welcome you to our creative community, if you haven't yet subscribed.

Supporting Resources:

For more information about The Affluent Creative, check out my website www.melissagalt.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok @MelissaGalt

Episode Credits

009: Taking Care of WHO Matters Most In Your Business Nov 21, 2022

Show notes

What are you doing for the whole of your body and soul?

Think about it for a moment. If your first reaction is to say, "Oh, I don't have time for that, I'm on a roll in my business and self-care has to wait," then I have some news for you. When you short-change yourself, you short-change your family, your friends, your clients, and, yes, your business. It's just that important.

Putting yourself first isn't selfish. It's healthy and it is self-preservation that helps you to thrive rather than just survive. If you don't care for yourself first, you put yourself on the fast track to burn-out, sick-out, and checking out. Self-care isn't something that should be thought of as your last priority, it should be your first.

In today's episode, I am going to be diving into the care and feeding of your greatest business asset: you. This is an opportunity to become aware of the ways that you are neglecting your best self. I will provide you with some simple strategies for you to put in place to correct the deficiencies, to correct the self-neglect, get off the hamster wheel, and get back your sanity.

In this episode, you will hear:

Why self-care is such a key component for the success of your business
How to distinguish between self-indulgence and self-care
Strategies for creating a self-care routine that works for you
Inspiration from my own self-care routine that may help you to personalize your own

Subscribe and Review

Have you subscribed to our podcast? We'd love to welcome you to our creative community, if you haven't yet subscribed.

Supporting Resources:

For more information about The Affluent Creative, check out my website www.melissagalt.com
Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok @MelissaGalt

Episode Credits

008: How Being Cheap Is Killing Your Profits Nov 14, 2022

Show notes

It may sound truly counterintuitive, but being cheap is killing your profits. We often look for ways to complete important tasks for our business by ourselves to save money. We think that this will maximize our profits because we aren't spending the money to outsource the job. But taking on too many tasks that you don't enjoy or aren't skilled at is really just taking you away from your zone of genius.

When you are in your zone of genius, you're at that intersection of what you absolutely love to do, what you're truly brilliant at, and what you're fast at completing. And if the tasks you are completing for your business don't live in your zone of genius, you should be outsourcing or delegating them so you can spend more time doing the things you love to do. This will keep you from burning out but will also maximize your profits because your time will be free to complete the work for your business that only you can do.

In today's episode, I will walk you through some of the ways that you're actually being cheap. I have solutions for how to work around these tasks that I will share with you. Your business should never feel like a chore–I want you to enjoy your work and be in your highest and best talent. I want you to do what you do best, what you do with ease, and I want you to delegate, outsource, or delete the rest.

In this episode, you will hear:

Why you need to stick to your zone of genius
Ten ways that you are cheapening yourself and your business
How to distinguish between tasks you should complete yourself and tasks you should delegate, outsource, or delete

Subscribe and Review Have you subscribed to our podcast? We'd love to welcome you to our creative community, if you haven't yet subscribed.

Supporting Resources:

Contact Tricia for Testimonial Support For more information about The Affluent Creative, check out my website www.melissagalt.com Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok @MelissaGalt

Episode Credits If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.

007: Lead Generation to Fill Your Profit Pipeline Nov 07, 2022

Show notes

Most creatives tend to go job to job, project to project, and client to client without any sense of a waitlist or a queue. This usually ends up feeling like a rollercoaster of cash flow and profits in your business. And while a rollercoaster ride is always exciting at an amusement park, it is much less enjoyable when it comes to your business model. The last thing I want is for you to feel overwhelmed by an incessant flow of projects without time to manage them all or, on the flip side, worried about where your next project will come from.

That's why in today's episode, we are diving into how lead generation can help you fill your profit pipeline without becoming overwhelming or unmanageable for your creative process. Having a project pipeline and building it on a continual and consistent basis eliminates the rollercoaster and puts you squarely in charge of the projects and the clients that you're working with and the timeline that you're working with them on.

I am not asking you to overload yourself and I do not want you on the fast path to burnout. Instead, I want you to feel in control of the projects that you take on, when you take them on, and why you are taking them on. And that does not mean sacrificing your steady workflow (and, importantly, your cash flow) either! So, grab a pen and paper and tune in for my best-researched and proven strategies for generating project leads and designing a practical process for managing them which will benefit both you and your client.

In this episode, you will hear:

What a profit pipeline is and why you need one
How to create a paid VIP waitlist for clients
Various lead generation strategies to seek out clients you will most benefit from working with
The importance of connecting and building relationships with clients
How partnering for profit can help you increase your client market and gain new opportunities

Subscribe and Review

Have you subscribed to our podcast? We'd love to welcome you to our creative community, if you haven't yet subscribed.

Supporting Resources:

For more information about The Affluent Creative, check out my website www.melissagalt.com
Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok @MelissaGalt

Episode Credits

006: How To Define & Identify Your Ideal Hot & Buying Client Oct 31, 2022

Show notes

When I first started my design business, I found myself in a client trap. 80% of my revenue was coming from 20% of my clients, but 80% of my clients were delivering just 20% of my revenue. When it came to choosing clients for the first five years of my business, I was not selective and I was not discerning. I didn't even know about an ideal client. But once I made this discovery and started to focus on the 20% of my ideal clients, my workload dropped significantly. I cut loose all the lovely people that were clients, but were too small or required too much hand-holding.

Since I have made this shift myself, I have shortcuts to share to get you on the path to becoming more selective and discerning with your own clients. Marketing to your ideal client means you're able to rise head and shoulders above the competition, you're able to be seen, heard, and valued beyond the crowd. I want you to assess and evaluate who your best fits are, instead of taking whoever shows up.

To do that, you need to start conversing with your clients and creating key points of connection with them. In today's episode, I will walk you through my shortcuts for identifying and connecting with your ideal client. Creating these connections will lead to lasting client relationships that will make your business thrive without burning you out.

In this episode, you will hear:

Why you need to identify your ideal client
What are the four key types of client intel that you need to know
How to turn points of connection into points of profit

Subscribe and Review

Have you subscribed to our podcast? We'd love to welcome you to our creative community, if you haven't yet subscribed.

Supporting Resources:

Download the Success Guide to visualize key points from this episode
For more information about The Affluent Creative, check out my website www.melissagalt.com
Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok @MelissaGalt

Episode Credits

005: How To Stop Hiding In Your Business and Get Hired Oct 24, 2022

Show notes

In today's episode, we are diving into the many ways that you may be hiding inside your business. We are going to look at all the little ways that you are getting hung up on the mechanics of your business instead of getting yourself out there and participating in the magic of your creative energy.

I define creativity as the space where art and science meet and make magic. And I want you to be a creator of that magic rather than hiding on the sidelines! There are so many ways that you may be avoiding the big picture in your creative business. You may be trying too hard to achieve perfection in everything you accomplish, or feeling like you need to have all of the small components of your business set before you can go out and get yourself those clients.

I'm here to tell you that all you need to start a successful business is a client, a project, and a project. Logos, business cards, mission statements—they can come later. What you need to be doing now is getting yourself out there, presenting your unique talents to the world, and solving the problems for your clients that only you can solve. So, tune in today for that extra push to get out of hiding and into your creative practice.

In this episode, you will hear:

Why you need to be out there being found instead of hiding in your business
10 ways that you may be hiding in your business practices instead of developing your creative process and client interactions
How perfectionism is your biggest trap
The importance of being consistent and persistent in your social media presence

Subscribe and Review

Have you subscribed to our podcast? We'd love to welcome you to our creative community, if you haven't yet subscribed.

Supporting Resources:

For more information about The Affluent Creative, check out my website www.melissagalt.com
Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok @MelissaGalt

Episode Credits

004: How To Reclaim Hours Each Week Oct 17, 2022

Show notes

Time is our greatest non-renewable resource. There never seems to be enough of it, but worrying about not having enough time only limits you further. When we worry about feeling overwhelmed or lacking the hours in a day to get everything accomplished, we give into the kind of time-shrinking thoughts that interfere with our productivity. Today, I want you to identify your limiting beliefs around time to take better control of your time once and for all.

In today's episode, I am diving into the best ways to increase your productivity and manage your behaviors around time. This does not mean making you busier! Instead, we'll look at the difference between being busy and being productive and how shifting our mindset from time-shrinking thoughts to time-enhancing thoughts will unlock a healthier approach to time management. I want to pull you out of the busy trap and shift your gears and get you into being more productive and more profitable.

I will also share my best strategies for identifying those revenue rabbit holes, or areas where you are losing precious time that you may not even be aware of. We may not be able to manage time itself, but we can always manage our behaviors around time. Learning this distinction will put you on the first step to revolutionizing your scheduling and reclaiming your time.

In this episode, you will hear:

How to be productive beyond being busy
Ways to replace your time-shrinking thoughts with time-expanding ones
The benefits of time tracking and time blocking
Why honoring your boundaries is one of the most important components to healthy time management skills

Subscribe and Review

Have you subscribed to our podcast? We'd love to welcome you to our creative community, if you haven't yet subscribed.

Supporting Resources:

Download the Success Guide to visualize key points from this episode
For more information about The Affluent Creative, check out my website www.melissagalt.com
Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok @MelissaGalt

Episode Credits

003: How to Charge Your Value: A Money & Value Episode Oct 03, 2022

Show notes

When was the last time that you evaluated how you are compensated for your creative services? The last time that you raised your rates to reflect your experience and value? You know what I'm about to tell you: it's time, in fact, you're overdue! Today we're diving into how to accurately charge for your services based on your value rather than your worth. You'll learn how the solutions that you provide to the three universal problems every client has–health, wealth, and relationships–are your greatest advantage in accurately pricing your services. You'll understand why it's so important to adjust your fees based on the return on investment that your services give to clients, rather than on the amount of time it took for you to complete. Remember, you only get paid for your work once, even though it will be enjoyed by your clients for years to come. It's crucial to learn how to harness and embed your value into your pricing, so that your business can stay lucrative and you don't burn yourself out. Fortunately, I have key strategies for you to get the most out of your service pricing without discounting your own worth. Tune into today's episode to hear my proven tips on how to ask for everything you deserve: because you don't get what you don't ask for.

In this episode, you will hear:

How to solve the three universal problems that all clients have.
How to move your client from need (logic and their head) to want (emotion and their heart) to increase their investment in your services
The importance of pricing your services based on outcome value rather than on time
How to get yourself out of the hourly trap

Subscribe and Review

Have you subscribed to our podcast? We'd love to welcome you to our creative community, if you haven't yet subscribed.

Supporting Resources:

For more information about The Affluent Creative, check out my website www.melissagalt.com
Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok @MelissaGalt

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