Learning to build relationships
Before you start your design business part 3
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Last year I did what a lot of designers often dream of doing: I started my own design business.
A year and over six figures in revenue later, I’ve been reflecting on areas of knowledge that I’ve developed along my decade+ career that helped make running my own business survivable.
This is part 3 of a multi-part post series about things you should probably know before starting out on your own.
These are things that I would encourage any designer to have a strong foundation in before taking the plunge, or be ready to learn them the hard way through trial and error.
Other posts in the series:
Part 1: Learn your craft (as it applies to the real world)
Part 3: Learn to build relationships (this issue)
Part 4: Learn to manage (next week)
Part 3: Learning to build relationships
Until last June, I was a Partner at Bould Design, a preeminent industrial design studios in the San Francisco Bay Area, known for designs for brands like Nest, GoPro, and Roku that have shaped the landscape of technology hardware products.
I had been at Bould Design for over a decade, and had grown with the company from a crack team of 3 designers to a fully fledged design studio of 20 staff.
When I became a Partner in 2016, I was given the opportunity to learn how the design business worked up close. I got to see exactly how business opportunities came to us, how the sales cycle progressed, and how projects were executed and delivered.
Over the years of selling and delivering design work, I saw that there was one thing that was the single best predictor of whether a client would work with us - whether we had a pre-existing relationship.
This could be someone on the client’s team having worked with us at a previous company, or perhaps having a personal relationship like a friend or colleague in common. But having some kind of prior connection made signing the client significantly more likely.
When I left Bould Design and eventually started my own design business, I started to see the same thing. Almost all the clients I signed in my first year had someone on their team who had worked with me before.
And conversely, almost all the clients that I didn’t end up working with told me they went with someone they had prior experience with.
In talking to other design business owners, I’ve found that this story is common. It’s how service-based businesses, that depend highly on the quality of the human interactions between the service provider and the customer, tend to work.
Relationships are the lifeblood of any design business.
So before you start your own design business, it would help to understand how to build the kinds of relationships that might help you survive on your own, as it will likely be the thing that makes or breaks your business.
When I first started working as a designer, I had no idea what to think of this “networking” stuff and had no idea how strong professional relationships evolved. But it turns out, it’s pretty simple.
When it comes down to it, I think there are really only three basic things which lead to quality relationships that will help you in your business endeavors: exposure, providing value, and being genuine.
Exposure
For a relationship to start, people need to know that you exist and encounter you. There are many ways to increase your exposure to your professional community and potential customers.
One great way to get exposure is to work at a job in your area of interest. In my 10+ years of working at a consulting firm doing technology design (the kind of design I’m interested in), I was exposed to lots of professionals in the field through a constantly rotating roster of clients. And by working closely with them over months, a relationship naturally formed. I didn’t go out of my way to “network” with these people. Simply by doing my job I was able to sow the seeds of a relationship that would be helpful to me later in my career.
Another great way to get exposure is social media, something that I was actually pretty late to the game on. What’s great about social media is that it’s a one-to-many tool, and you can draw people who resonate with your ideas to you. Over the last year, by posting consistently on LinkedIn about design-related things that interest me, I’ve been able to encounter lots of interesting people, some of whom I’ve developed 1:1 relationships with and some that led to new business for me.
You can also encounter relevant professionals at in-person events. While many people think in-person events are good networking opportunities, I actually think they are a fairly low-yield activity for business development as who you meet is extremely random and it’s hard to develop more than a shallow connection.
Provide value (without an expectation of return)
Once people are aware of you, doing your best to be helpful to them will help to deepen the relationship. But don’t do it with an expectation that you can call in a favor later. If you go in with that mindset, it will be evident in your interactions and people do not enjoy interactions that feel so clearly transactional.
Of course, if you are working a job or if it’s a client, there is an expectation of return in the form of compensation. But beyond what your transactional agreement is, is there anything you could do to go slightly above and beyond that you aren’t explicitly being paid to do?
Throughout my career, simply by erring on the side of over-delivering and being concerned about how I could help my clients be successful, I’ve been able to develop strong relationships that have helped me sometimes years down the line.
Providing value doesn’t always have to be something big. It can be very low-effort. For example, sometimes a simple introduction can totally change the course of someone’s business or career and will probably only take 5 minutes of your time.
People will remember when you are helpful to them. And that will often mean they will want to reciprocate in future. And even if they don’t, helping people tends to make you feel good about yourself, so even if you never get anything in return it is its own reward.
Be genuine
This one is simple. Sometimes in business, people start to forget that other people are people, too. Throughout all my relationships both personal and professional, this is one thing I’ve tried extremely hard to maintain.
Don’t say things you don’t mean. Don’t commit to things you don’t intend to do. Be nice. Be honest. Be fair in how you deal with people. Treat the person on the other end of the email as a real human with a life and emotions. And the rest will kind of take care of itself.
If you can get exposure to the right kind of professionals, are able to deepen relationships through providing value without an obvious expectation of return, and maintain a genuine connection, over time you will be able to develop a strong network of relationships that one day you might be able to help you achieve that dream of running your own successful design business.
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Textron Aviation - Industrial Design 2024 Internship
Wichita KS
Aerospace
0 years experience minimum
Shure - Industrial Design Intern
Niles IL
Audio
0 years experience minimum
CNH Industrial - Industrial Design Intern
Oak Brook IL
Equipment
0 years experience minimum
Randa Corp - 2024 Summer Design Internship Program
New York NY
Accessories
$20 an hour
0 years experience minimum
Kreg Tool Company - Industrial Design Intern
Ankeny IA
Tools
0 years experience minimum
Whipsaw - Industrial Design Intern
San Francisco CA
Consulting
0 years experience minimum
Stanley Black & Decker - Design Intern - Summer 2024
Towson MD
Tools
0 years experience minimum
Ammunition - Industrial Design Intern
San Francisco CA
Consulting
0 years experience minimum
Bould Design - Industrial Designer
San Mateo CA
Consulting
1-3 years experience
Hammerton - 3D Artist/Industrial Design
Salt Lake City UT
Lighting
0-1 years experience
Midea - Industrial Designer
Louisville KY
Appliances
5 years experience minimum
Lowe's - Sr Industrial Designer
Mooresville NC
Tools
5 years experience minimum
Klim - KLIM- Technical Footwear Designer
Rigby ID
Footwear
5-7 years experience minimum
Engenious Design - Senior Industrial Designer
Prairie Village KS
Consulting
Combat Corner Professional - Sport and Athletic Product Designer
Milwaukee WI
Sports equipment
3 years experience minimum
Bobcat - Junior Industrial Designer
Bismarck ND
Equipment
2-5 years experience
Mechdyne Corporation - Industrial Designer
Greensboro NC
Automotive
4-6 years experience
Festival Trading Inc - Patio Furniture Designer
Remote
Furniture
0 years experience minimum
Central Garden & Pet - Industrial Designer
Neptune City NJ
Home goods
0 years experience minimum
Mattel - Packaging Designer
El Segundo CA
Packaging
$70,000 - $88,000 a year
3 years experience minimum
Packaging Corporation of America - Design Assistant
Vernon Hills IL
Packaging
0 years experience minimum
UFP Industries, Inc. - Packaging Designer (Structural)
Delano PA
Packaging
1-5 years experience
Deckers Brands - Designer II
Portland OR
Footwear
5 years experience minimum
Access Corporate Group - Director, Packaging & Design
Access KY
Packaging
5 years experience minimum
Bass Pro Shops - Hard Goods Product Designer
Springfield MO
Outdoor products
3-5 years experience
Subrtex Houseware Inc. - Product Designer
Pico Rivera CA
Home goods
$70,000 - $95,000 a year
0 years experience minimum
EarthCam, Inc. - Industrial Designer
Upper Saddle River NJ
Technology
From $60,000 a year
3 years experience minimum
SupplyOne - Structural Packaging Designer
Oklahoma City OK
Packaging
$55,000 - $65,000 a year
1 years experience minimum
Charlottes Web - Production Packaging Designer
Louisville CO
Packaging
$50 - $60 an hour
5-7 years experience