creative briefing

As with every entrepreneur fostering the growth and development of a blooming company, you inevitably find yourself splitting more and more of your responsibilities to other individuals. Ask Evan Carmichael of YoungEntrepreneur.com and he’ll tell you that delegation is one of the key elements to master for any young go-getter. And it’s not so much the idea of taking the load off your own shoulders, but the concept that you should better focus your strengths in one area rather than wear yourself thin that makes delegation a strategic move.

Since the spawn of my creative agency almost 4 years ago, I’ve naturally fulfilled this process by bringing on great partners along the way to take on different faculties of the business such as finance/accounting, IT, and strategic marketing. Whether it was to pass on the responsibility to more experienced hands or to add extra hands to my personal expertise, this growth strategy has worked well for us.

Naturally, the next step in this progression is to branch out our sales efforts. Like most small companies, we’ve believed all along that sales is one of those areas that can be kept within the available stream of people to manage along with everything else (sadly, marketing is thought of in the same fashion for many organizations). However, during an interesting conversation with two of my best friends tonight, one of which happens to be one of the best salesmen I know, I started thinking about the importance of a dedicated sales guy within the roster of any organization. More specifically, I got to contemplating why my business needs a sales guy and why others in the same position would need one (or two, or three…) too.

Here’s what I came up with:

1. Focus on your strengths
   Going back to my point about delegation, focusing your efforts on one or a few areas will always be more effective than spreading yourself thinly across a lot of them. I’m a marketing specialist (so says my degree) with an eye for creative work. As much as sales is related to marketing, they’re not the same. I’m not a salesman and I will probably never be one completely. Rather than working on perfecting my sales skills while also trying to perfect my marketing instincts and creative senses, why not let someone else take it on? For the same reason that you know those all-in-one machines won’t do each task as well as a machine that is dedicated to that task will, dedicating someone to selling will greatly improve your sales strategy and allow you to better apply your area of expertise.
    
2. Sooner or later, referrals won’t be enough
   Our agency has been fairly fortunate up to now and have survived almost purely on referrals and word-of-mouth marketing. But since starting this gig full-time, I’ve realized that with more time comes a work capacity that is greater than what referrals can fulfill. With most freelancers, this is a familiar territory that calls for the need to perform some active sales tactics. The problem is, the more time spent on selling, is the less time spent on other areas, like execution (and we return to the problem noted in the first point). So, if you’re like us and have depended on referrals to maintain your flow of revenue, then get ready to face a dose of reality: you’ll need to do some selling eventually. Who better to tackle this responsibility than a sales guy?
    
3. Keep the pipeline full
   If you’re a freelancer or are part of a small organization that doesn’t have a dedicated sales person, it can be difficult to balance the projects you’re working on and the projects you’re hoping to win. You’re caught in a difficult position because if you don’t fill up your pipeline with upcoming projects you’ll run out of work. Yet, if you spend too much time closing deals, your current projects may suffer. On the other hand, if you had a sales guy, he or she could focus on bringing in the new clients while you can maintain your focus on keeping them happy through quality work. Ah, an equilibrium is reached.
    
4. Have a bigger piece of pie
   Of course, the number one concern with bringing on an extra head is money. “Why would I take a chunk out of what I’m currently earning in order to pay a sales guy?”, you ask. Look at it this way: while the percentage of earnings that you gain will decrease, the amount of total earnings will increase. In other words, you are sacrificing a larger percentage of the pie for a larger pie in general (which inevitably gives you a bigger piece of pie!). That’s the target anyway. It may not be this way at first, but once ramped up, having a sales guy could essentially increase your revenue stream by bringing in more clients and projects.
    

Naturally, adding a sales guy to the team isn’t for everyone. If you’re comfortable with the current flow of work and your capacity is being fully utilized, then you’re probably still okay to not take this route. Otherwise, consider adding a sales guy as part of the next evolution of your org structure for the reasons stated above. I know I will.

Note: the terms ’sales guy’ and ’salesman’ are used purely as a traditional industry term and is meant to include both males and females in sales roles.

This post is written by guest-blogger Kevin Huynh. Kevin is the Finance Director of a Toronto-based creative marketing firm and knows a thing or two about the formalities of setting up a creative practice.

So far, we’ve discussed the basics of incorporation, and the reasons why my agency decided to incorporate. You might have even made up your mind on whether incorporation is the right step for you. But now what? The last post in this series is focused on the next steps and what to do once you’ve made that important decision. What to do, where to look, and most importantly (for some), how much it’s going to cost you.

Read the rest of this entry >

This post is written by guest-blogger Kevin Huynh. Kevin is the Finance Director of a Toronto-based creative marketing firm and knows a thing or two about the formalities of setting up a creative practice.

Incorporating may not be the best decision for your company right now. But maybe it is. There are a number of points to consider in relation to your company’s long term plan and overall strategy before making this decision. In this post, I’ll take you through the reasoning that my agency went through in deciding whether or not to incorporate. Hopefully these considerations will prove useful as you decide whether formalizing your practice is the right step for you. 

Read the rest of this entry >

This post is written by guest-blogger Kevin Huynh. Kevin is the Finance Director of a Toronto-based creative marketing firm and knows a thing or two about the formalities of setting up a creative practice.

An entrepreneur has many roles; one of the hardest ones is refining the skills in developing into a good business person – an aspect often overlooked. You’re a great designer, developer, and clients love your work, so my hope is to help increase your business acumen to help you manage your emerging company better, and eventually you’ll be a well-rounded, business-savvy creative entrepreneur.

An important topic to examine in doing this is incorporation. The term is tossed around a lot, but very few freelancers actually have a solid understanding of its background, process, and significance. At one point or another, freelancers new to the field will surely cross paths with the question “should I incorporate?” so it is the purpose of this 3-part series to shed some light on the topic, and hopefully answer this simple but important question.

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(Finally, a much needed update on Project: Home Office)

Now that I’ve spent a bit of time cleaning up my room, I’m a little less embarassed to show some pictures of it in its current state. I thought I would give everyone a quick 360 and hopefully establish a ‘before’ image. This is what I’ll be [sadly] working with!

Starting on the left side of my room, you’ll find (L to R):

• A vertical mirror for the self-absorbed individual
• My embarassingly small (and packed) closet
• A sideview of my ‘test computer’

Desk 1 (L to R):

• My ‘test computer’ (it runs IE6 for all those late night CSS browser compatibility wars)
• 3 shoeboxes of sentimentals (okay the top one isn’t a shoebox, it was a gift box from my girlfriend - in case you’re trying to figure out what kind of shoes can possibly come in a green and purple pokadot box)
• A 17″x14″ DKT gaming mouse pad that I received as a gift during my first web design gig with the E-Sports Entertainment Association (yes, I said e-sports)

Desk 2 (L to R):

• My current ‘office’ desk
• My Dell XPS M1210 that will accompany me through this entrepreneurial journey
• Glysomed (the green bottle peaking out beside my laptop): because nobody likes dry hands
• A Brother HL-2040 B/W laser printer that I bought for $60 at Staples and only used until the original toner ran out (soon to be replaced by a HP Deskjet F4140 All-in-One)
• A stack of academic certificates and awards that aren’t glorious enough to make the wall
• Desani water bottle: because people without a job should still be baller when it comes to drinking bottled water
• 2 guitars that represent my creative musical escape: a 9-year-old Samick (caseless) and a barely 1-year-old Art Lutherie
• Bulletin board: Yes, that’s a Spider-Man costume without the Spider-Man inside it (somewhere out there there’s a naked Peter Parker)

The shelf (L to R):

• My precious hat collection (there are 20 of them) - the ones I actually wear are on the right side, you can tell by the amount of dust there is on the other ones
• My first stereo system (Pioneer) with 3-disc CD changer and 2 tape decks
• Spawn action figures taking in the ’surround sound’ experience (top)

The bed (L to R):

• Original artwork and sketch by Mike Wieringo
• The bed
• The yellow ass of a plush toy that may or may not belong to Pikachu

And finally, the door (L to R):

• Tennis racquet and pool cue (at the end of the bed): for the days when I had time to be active
• Spawn poster: one of the last remaining aspects from my childhood left in this room (along with the Spawn action figures mentioned above)
• Collection of lanyards and random hangy-dangly things (including plastic hanger from GAP)

So there you have it. Not quite MTV Cribs, but now you have a feel for what I’m working with. I feel like a used car salesman when I tell you that everything must go. I have a few pieces of new furniture picked out from the Ikea catalog already, but that’ll have to wait for the next post.