#9 Ben Burns @TheFutur - Teaching designers how to run a creative business
Ben Burns is an award-winning designer, a digital director at Blind, brand strategy design consultancy, and COO at The Futur (business education for designers). Ben has a fascinating story that took him from charging 50$ a logo to 100$ an hour and that ultimately changed his career.
In this episode, we talked about topics related to running a creative business such as :
- why you should not look for more clients but better clients,
- what to say to your clients when you try to raise your rates,
- and how to sell brand work at the premium rates (5 or 6 figures).
LISTEN TO THE EPISODE
- You can listen and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Overcast, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play (only in the US) and CastBox.
- You can download the mp3 file by right-clicking here.
Show notes:
- 2:20 How Did Ben get into design?
- 11:30 What skills does Ben look for when hiring designers?
- 11:00 Ben's years in law enforcement
- 13:10 How Ben got back to design after his time in a police department
- 20:00 Is "charge more" really a good advice for someone who is just starting out?
- 23:35 How Ben increased his rates from 50$ a logo to 100$ per hour over night
- 28:45 What to say to a client when you try to raise prices (Ben's script)
- 31:50 Who is a good client?
- 33:10 How and when do you ask a client for a budget?
- 36:10 How do you sell branding work at premium rates?
- 40:00 Why you should niche down (and how to do it)?
- 43:45 What is wrong with traditional design schools?
- 46:45 What skills do young designers who apply at Blind and Futur lack?
- 48:30 Curriculum of The Futur's courses
- 50:10 The worst advice being given to young designers
- 51:40 What advice would Ben give to young designers
- 52:30 What is the one thing about design Ben changed his mind about?