Referrals, Partnerships & Foosball

Last night I attended Design Unplugged, a panel discussion, hosted by the Charlotte chapter of AIGA, at the photography studio of Mike Carroll.

The 6 people on the panel were owners of the following design studios here in Charlotte: Chris Bradle of Eye Design Studio, Steven Oster of Bright Yellow Jacket, James Sack of carbonhouse, John Petrafiesa of MODE, Banks Wilson of Studio Banks & Amanda Altman of A3 Design.

The panel was asked a variety of questions such as "How to manage business vs creative?" The book "The Business Side of Creativity" was recommended but it was also noted that there is no silver bullet, no easy way to make a business work. You need drive, ambition and balance. It was also suggested that while you can launch out on your own with no experience, it is best to learn from someone. 

Whether you go through the ranks and pay your dues at a company or find a mentor in areas that you are weak, you need someone who will guide you and be willing to teach you.

The 3 major points I took away from this discussion was the importance of referrals, partnerships and foosball. When you are building a new business or starting out a freelancer you really need to do a good job for your clients. If you do this, referrals will build the business.

The point that surprised me the most was the need for partnerships. It seems that larger agencies form the goal of crushing their competition whereas these smaller design studios are more interested in collaborating with their competition. If you stay small you are able to keep your hand in the creative side of the business and collaborating opens doors to bigger clients and projects. Chris Bradle said that you should "Always say yes to a project, then figure it out." You shouldn't let the fact that you are a small company keep you from big projects.

How do you keep your employees motivated? How do you keep the creativity flowing? Banks Wilson said, "Foosball." You need to have fun and love your work. If you love your work it won't feel like work. Another panelist commented that "If you NEED to motivate someone, you should fire them." In a creative environment you need passionate and self-motivated people.