14. Be available to everyone via phone or e-mail during the prime time hours of the business day, bar none. If you are unavailable, develop a habit of returning calls either that morning, or afternoon, no longer than one business day later.
15. Take a “quiet hour” in the evening to reflect on lessons learned that day. Avoid the phone and e-mail, and recharge your batteries for just a little time to help separate yourself from others.
Once you start your firm, you will see how easy it is to work sixteen to twenty hours per day! You don’t physically have to be at the office or with a client to be working. Your mind will start working when you awake in the morning, while you take your shower, on the commute to the office, through lunch, on the commute to a meeting, on the way home, during and after dinner, and even as you lie in bed awaiting sleep.
If you allow yourself to become a time clock, you will be successful, but successful in only one aspect of life: time management. There is more to life than work, career, and profession! Truly successful entrepreneurial designers are able to develop a critical balance among business, family, friends, and profession. Developing and maintaining that balance will provide a richer, healthier, and more fulfilling life.
goals—milestones in the journey to success—are visionary and need to be the sum of many inchpebbles.
Daily routines are important because they develop momentum and a work ethic to get your tasks completed. Having a daily routine will become predictable and respected by others, especially the important ones: your clients. I have a few clients who know that if they really need to speak with me, I am commuting to my office from 6:30 A.M. to 7:00 A.M. every day.They will call me on my cell phone on a regular basis. It is my decision to take the call by reviewing caller ID, but it is my choice, and my clients feel value in knowing that it is a quiet time and I am available solely for their needs. It is a win-win situation, because I can be of value and service before the 8:00 A.M. prime time “starting bell” rings.
Having a daily routine really helps get your tasks completed in a timely fashion. Many of my colleagues love to arrive at their office between 6:30 A.M. and 7:00 A.M., because the phone call traffic is quiet, and they can catch up on their e-mails and other important planning issues, maybe design work or producing “red-line markups” for the production staff to incorporate in their production work that day. Do whatever it takes to stay ahead of the demands of your schedule, your family, clients’ expectations, your hobbies, etc. If you get up when the morning alarm goes off, whatever time you choose, and you get out of bed and on with your routine, you improve the chances of having a great day.
A word of caution for those of you who dislike routines because of their implied structure or predictability:As a businessperson, you will be in for many challenges in your business career. Many designers prefer sleeping in late, arriving to the studio well after the 8:00 A.M. start time, and remaining very late in the evening—sometimes well after midnight, well into the next day.They will say that they are putting in the same effort and time necessary to work on their projects, and on “their terms and time.” They may be cor- rect on that point; however, in our business world, there are important people called contractors and clients. Most contractors start their days very early in the morning, some as early as 6:00 A.M. By the time the designers arrive at 10:00A.M., the contractor has performed half a day of work! The designer has not been available for questions or assistance during any of that time. Those designer types may say that it does not concern them, that in those cases, it is the contractor’s issue that they begin their workday on their own terms.
This is a very selfish position to take. As designers, we are in a career to assist others; it is not about us. We should be considerate of others and perform what it takes to address their needs in a timely fashion, whatever time that may mean.
Establishing a routine is like setting a deadline everyday for yourself. It is a commitment for excellence and being of value to yourself and others.As for deadlines, set a deadline for every task that you assign yourself! When you receive a commission for a project, establish a schedule and determine the var- ious deadlines needed to accomplish work that meets your client’s expecta- tions. You will be amazed at how impressed clients will be with your sense of care and organization if you state, after accepting a commission, that you would like to discuss the target dates for all the project’s phases or tasks and tentatively commit your time and theirs to those specific dates. Few in today’s world give the impression of organization. Having the willingness and ability to plan ahead, and provide a measured way to address and resolve your client’s needs, has unprecedented value in the business marketplace.
Many clients will say, “Can you really commit to meeting with me on every fourth Wednesday at 7:00 P.M.? I am not sure that I can make that com- mitment.”This is a great position to be in as their designer. You have the abil- ity and leadership style that will be respected.You may reply “In order for me to be an effective steward of your project and design fee, I have to commit to a structure of project management, and establish deadlines to be effective, before we begin our journey. Those deadline dates may be subject to change;
however, we will begin our work with an understanding.”
The ability to make time commitments and to keep them will be one of the major assets that differentiates you from your competition. I have utilized this mindset for twenty-five years, and my personal and firm’s successes have far exceeded any that I imagined the day that I decided to start my firm.
Remember, to others, perception is reality. If you appear confident and expe- rienced due to your commitment and organizational structural skills, all the better.You will be respected and, most importantly, be of value and be referred to others for more design work, because of your being different—in other words, better—than the rest. Isn’t that what it is all about?
Being deadline-oriented makes you appear and become disciplined.
You will be more productive and better organized; you will appear to be more logical. Most important, you will radiate accountability, responsibility, and
success! Clients appreciate these qualities in designers and consultants, because it assures them that they have made a right decision, and it makes them look good.