If you’re like most business owners, you’ve been bootstrapping your business’s graphic design since Day 1. You know a few basics—enough to get by—but if you’re like many small business owners, you may be wondering if your business would benefit from hiring a designer to bring a professional edge to your work. Is hiring a designer for your small business an investment in bringing in higher quality leads? Or are there better ways to use your resources? Should you go the cheap route (hiring someone from Upwork or buying a logo on Fiverr)? And, the question people don’t ask me, but have going through their heads: How much does all this COST?

We’ll tackle that question—and a few others to help you decide if you’re ready to hire a designer as part of your team. (Spoiler alert: the answer might not be yes—yet.)

5 Signs You’re Ready to Have a Designer Join Your Team

• You know your brand values and have a visual brand (fonts, colours, logo) that you love.
• You know your audience, and how to connect with them using language they understand.
• You know your offers, and you’re able to sell them (with or without a fancy marketing strategy) – maybe not as much as you WANT, or as predictably as you’d like, but you’re bringing clients in the door.
• You wish somebody would just wave a magic wand and make it all (your website, your images, your launch) happen. 
• You’re tired of DIYing it and are ready to invest in your brand and start showing up as the expert you already are.

5 Signs You Need a Brand Strategy Before Hiring a Designer

• You need help getting clarity on your values, purpose, mission, and vision before you commit to a visual style to represent your brand.
• You don’t have your brand guidelines written down anywhere, or if you do, you rarely follow them because they just aren’t YOU anymore.
• You feel embarrassed to hand out your business cards or you shy away from accepting invitations to collaborate and network with other entrepreneurs because you know you’ll have to share a link to your website and nobody wants to see THAT disaster.
• You’re all over the map with fonts and colours or are using old visuals that don’t connect with your ideal audience. 
• You love the “look” of some of your favorite businesses and wish you had a look of your own.

5 Signs You Need OTHER Support Before You Hire a Designer

• You need more clarity and strategy for your business. 
• Your offers aren’t selling or you aren’t even exactly sure what you offer.
• You need help with basic functions of your business, like figuring out your client onboarding and admin tasks, or organizing your time effectively. 
• You’re held back because you don’t have time to write your sales page or social or …
• You feel vaguely uneasy whenever somebody mentions contracts or website privacy policies or anything slightly legal.

Not sure which is the RIGHT next step for your business?

Sign up for a $97 Brand Strategy Blueprint. We’ll use our experience and expertise in design, marketing strategy, and customer experience to develop custom Profit-Focused Recommendations, tailored just for your brand.

Get the Design Support You Need

When you know what you need and you’re ready to invest in your business, you’ll find a way to pay for it, whatever that next support is. 

If design or brand strategy is what you need, the ROI on design isn’t always clear cut, but here are some of the reasons good design is worth it:

• You get more visible.
  No more dodging the spotlight or avoiding sending people to your website because you don’t like the way it looks. 
• You connect with the right people.
  Good design works hand in hand with copy that converts to attract people to your brand. Great design helps the right people identify with you and your brand and helps tell the story of what you do and why YOU are the right solution for your ideal clients.
• You get to spend more time in your zone of genius. 

I used to work with a lot of people on DIYing their branding and graphics. I taught people about design elements like fonts and spacing and shapes. I geek out on stuff like that, but unless you’re a designer or artist too, that’s probably not why you are in business, and it’s probably not something you want to do for yourself long term. I want you to do what YOU do like a boss … and let me (your fairy godmother) make the rest happen like magic. 

Good design is worth it, and if it is the next right step for your business, you’ll make it happen.

Whether you want to DIY your branding or get support throughout the branding process…

I can help! 

Sign up for a $97 Brand Strategy Blueprint, where we use our experience and expertise in design, marketing strategy, and customer experience to develop custom Profit-Focused Recommendations, tailored just for your brand. Let us help you maximize conversions and give you the biggest bang for your buck. Click here to find out more and sign up!