Drowning in design advice? (read this)

In the past two years, the design world has seen a massive shift.

Business education is more accessible than ever. You can learn brand strategy on YouTube, master Instagram marketing from a course, hire a coach to help you land clients.

We have more resources than any generation of designers before us.

Some would say this is the best time ever to build a design business.

But then why does it still feel so hard? Why are so many talented designers stuck?

I think it’s because two things have happened:

#1. Most designers are drowning in information with no filter.

You open YouTube and see: "How to get clients with Instagram in 2024."

You scroll Instagram and see: "Cold email is dead. Do this instead."

You join a community and hear: "Referrals are the only way to build a sustainable business."

All of these people are successful. All of them have proof their method works.

So which one do you follow?

You try a bit of everything. Post on Instagram for two weeks. Send five cold emails. Ask one friend for a referral. Nothing seems to work because you're spreading yourself too thin and not committing to any single path long enough to see results.

You know more than designers did ten years ago, but you're more confused about what to do next.

#2. Productive procrastination has never been easier.

You tell yourself you're working on your business.

You spend three hours curating your mood board inspiration on Pinterest. You reorganize your portfolio for the fifth time this month. You watch another tutorial about pricing strategy even though you already know how to price your work.

None of this is bringing you closer to growing your business.

But it feels productive. Your brain rewards you for "learning" and "improving." You end the day exhausted, feeling like you worked hard, but with nothing tangible to show for it.

The real work is uncomfortable. There’s so many directions you could take, and there’s so much you can scroll. And if you do step into these traps, they suck you in further and further SO FAST.

So how do we combat these modern day problems?

As someone who’s been in the same shoes, I want to tell you the CORE skill that determines success/failure in our distracted world:

Brutally Honest Assessment Of Your Current Situation.

This is the one skill that differentiates Generic Designers and Strategic Brand Designers.

Strategic Brand Designers: By knowing EXACTLY what they need to be working on, they can identify the signal from the noise AND they can say NO to the distractions that keep you stuck.

Generic Designers: They watch one video after other, constantly confused on who to listen to and what action to take. The algorithm owns them, and they stay stuck.

Both are talented, and both are damn good at what they do. But one just knows how to EVALUATE their situation accurately.

Trust me, this skill changes everything!

So how do we do a Brutally Honest Assessment? We need 3 steps.

Step 1: Understand your ideal scene using the 5 elements framework.

Since you’re here, chances are your ideal scene probably looks similar to mine.

You don't want to work 80-hour weeks or chase million dollar deals. You want to build a design business that fuels the life you want to lead. One where you work with clients who respect your expertise, pay you well, and give you the freedom to create work you're proud of.

Your life is at the center. Freedom is the goal. Your design business is the vehicle that gets you there.

That ideal scene becomes real when you master these five elements:

Element 1: Your Strategic Positioning

Do you have a clear offer and positioning that helps you stand out? Can you articulate in one sentence who you serve and what transformation you provide? Or do you just say "I'm a brand designer" and hope people figure out if you're the right fit?

Element 2: Lead Generation System

Do you have a predictable way to find and attract ideal clients? When you need more work, do you know exactly what to do? Or are you constantly hoping and praying that someone will discover you?

Element 3: Effortless Client Delivery

Do you have a structured process that delivers consistent results? Or are you reinventing everything with each project, working nights and weekends, burning yourself out?

Element 4: Freedom-Based Operations

Does running your business energize you or drain you? Do you have systems that give you time and mental space back? Or are you drowning in emails, admin work, and chaos?

Element 5: Unshakeable Designer Mindset

Do you operate with the confidence and identity of someone who runs a successful business? Can you handle rejection, set boundaries, and charge what you're worth? Or does imposter syndrome run the show?

Your ideal scene is not a revenue number or a client count. Those are lagging indicators that show up after you've done the work.

Your ideal scene is mastering these five elements. When you nail these, the results follow naturally.

Step 2: Evaluate where you're weakest to find your bottleneck.

Now that you know the five elements, you need to figure out which one is holding you back most.

Most designers overcomplicate this.

To find your bottleneck, you need to honestly evaluate where you stand on each element. And the way to evaluate anything is simple:

• What does bad look like?

• What does okay look like?

• What does awesome look like?

And problem is that most designers have NO IDEA what these scenarios look like for the 5 elements we discussed.

Without clear answers, you can’t know what you are the WEAKEST at. And what you need to be working on RIGHT now.

So let’s take an example to break this down.

Your Strategic Positioning

Bad: You say "I'm a brand designer" with no clear niche or specific offer. You take whatever projects come your way.

Okay: You have a general niche like "I work with food and beverage brands" but no signature process or clear differentiation from other designers.

Awesome: Crystal clear positioning with a packaged offer. You can explain in one sentence who you serve and the specific transformation you deliver. People immediately understand if you're the right fit for them.

You can do this same exercise for all the elements by being brutally honest with yourself.

Once you know, you can identify your bottleneck and proceed to the next step.

Step 3: Use "more, better, different" to fix your bottleneck.

Once you've identified your bottleneck, you need a system for actually fixing it.

The moment you know you need to “FIX” something, don’t throw out your approach and dive into the next thing you can do.

Use the "more, better, different” approach.

First: Do more.

Most problems can be solved with volume. You just need to put in more reps than you think.

If you're reaching out to potential clients and not getting responses, your first instinct might be "this isn't working." But have you actually done enough volume?

Most designers send 30 emails and think they've maxed out. But you talk to someone who uses this efficiently and you’ll learn that you are painfully underestimating how much more you can and should be doing!

You can do way more than you think you can. Push volume until you truly can't do more.

Then: Make it better.

If you've genuinely done high volume and still aren't seeing results, now you make it better.

Go back and look at what you're doing. If it's outreach emails, are they generic or personalized? Are you leading with what you want or what they need? Can you make the subject line stronger? The call to action clearer?

Keep making it better until you're confident it's as good as you can make it.

Finally: Try something different.

Only after you've pushed volume and gotten better, should you consider a completely different approach.

If email outreach isn't working even after high volume and optimization, maybe you need to try Instagram DMs. Or comment on your prospects' posts to build familiarity first. Or send personalized video messages.

Whatever bottleneck you're working on, whether that's positioning, outreach, delivery, systems, or mindset, the first step to fixing it is always the same: Do more of it.

Volume reveals what's actually broken. And most of the time, volume alone solves the problem.

This is how Strategic Brand Designers operate.

They don't consume endless content hoping to stumble on the answer. They assess their situation honestly, find their bottleneck, and work on it with focus until it's no longer holding them back.

Then they move to the next bottleneck.

That's how you build a design business that creates the freedom and impact you want.

So do the assessment. Find your bottleneck. And start putting in volume today.

Chat soon,

Abi 😊

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