How to evolve and thrive as a designer of the future

Why do we need to evolve? 

• Business needs and expectations are changing. Businesses are expecting more from designers - design, development, marketing, etc.
• New technologies are arriving every day - making our jobs easier, harder and sometimes even replacing our jobs
• The marketplace is as competitive as ever - there are more designers out there than ever before
• Opportunity: older business owners retiring (boomers), younger people buy these businesses, see a need for more of an online presence for these businesses, this is an opportunity for us as designers

What does it mean to evolve?

To change to meet new demands of the marketplace, to adjust your approach and previous beliefs to be open and willing to bring better results to your clients.

• Direction - understand where your business is headed long term,1 year, 2 years,, 5 years
• Support - surround yourself with the right people that motivate you to keep going
• Opportunities - be open to opportunities, partnerships, strategies
• Flexibility - be willing to change and adjust to learn new things
• Timing - goes hand-in-hand with luck
• Luck - “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”
• Skills - the better you are at what you do, the more likely you are to succeed. This could be sales, marketing and design.
• Humility - the designers that are most successful are the ones that show up, ask for help, take notes, being open and vulnerable about issues they’re facing. Be this person! Don’t be shy, join in on the conversation with the community in Pait Pro. This will help you level up.

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Goal of this evolution: to give yourself an edge over everyone and everything that tries to do what you do.

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1: Go full stack

• “Full-stack” refers to someone who builds and maintains both the front-end and back-end of a website.
• “Double-stack” is a more accurate way to label this, means managing front and back end of website, but also being able to help business owners go beyond the point where their website goes live.
• Why? Businesses spend a lot of money on marketing! Established companies spend 6-12% of revenue, startups spend 12-20% of revenue
• Becoming a full-stack provider allows you to bring more value to your client while also keeping a greater portion of that marketing budget. Determine which opportunities of marketing budget you’re willing to do or outsource and bring team members in on to help with
• Be the HUB. Offering everything the client needs takes time and stress off of the client’s plate. You should be able to connect your clients with all of the right people so that you can provide more value to them, resulting in you earning more money - kickbacks, commissions, or even a referral bonus
• So start learning the skills, tools, and processes to fill more gaps in your client’s marketing strategy.

2: Move With AI (Not Against It)

AI is already changing the landscape of design and marketing.

How can designers effectively use AI?

• Learn new AI features of the design tools you already use
• Learn new AI design and development toolssome text
  • Relume
  • Wized
  • Jasper
  • Figma
• Use GPT to ask complex questions - paint a picture for chat GPT. Get very specific about how you want the question answered, from what perspective and level of expertise. This will yield much better results for you.

3: Increase Prices (and LTV)

Inside Pait Pro we have a ton of resources and trainings available just on pricing, because pricing your work is one of the most difficult parts of being a designer.

Can find all of this data in the Pricing Blueprint resource that is available and kept up to date in your dashboard.

When thinking about pricing you have to consider:

• Pages
• Content Responsibility
• Client Budget
• Client Involvement
• Expected Results
• Market Rates
• Complexity
• Timeline

Why do we undercharge? 🤔

• We don’t know - we lack the experience and guess on our prices
• We lack confidence - we feel a bit of imposter syndrome when thinking of charging more
• We have no support - no one to reaffirm and validate our prices and skills. The hope of this group is that we can back each other up!
• We are desperate - we put ourselves in this position so we underbid so we land the project

4: Niche! Niche! Niche!

Your business should be niched in some way. Pure generalists are getting washed out.

Niche does NOT mean industry. It means carving out a unique position and targeting a specific prospect that you serve.

Benefits of niching:

• Easier to get attention
• Rankability (for organic search)
• Messaging - easier to speak directly to ideal prospect
• Easier to systematise if you’re working with the same client over and over, can reuse the same layouts and styles
• Predictable results - working with the same type of client you can get a feel for their industry and be able to deliver engaging websites for this industry
• Lower competition - if you’re niched down, you’re only competing with a handful of other designers within that niche

Niche by:

• Location
• Platform
• Industry
• Type of website
• Skillset
• Guaranteed results

Now is a great time to revisit your portfolio and ask yourself whether you have any type of niche or unique positioning. If not, it’s a great opportunity to define your niche.

5: Build an Audience Ecosystem

• What is a digital ecosystem? 
• More than an audience!
• It’s a network of people who have seen you and interacted with you in various places.
• Don’t forget other freelancers and business owners!
• Your Ecosystem is the greatest asset you can have.
• I know a lot of people who don’t have YouTube channels or personal brands, but have built a very strong ecosystem that brings them business

6: Visibility

You can no longer hide behind your screen. Especially with the advent of AI, real and genuine human interaction, stories and experiences are going to be more valuable than ever. People need to hear your stories to get to know you.

Start posting stories, creating YouTube videos, doing podcasts (as a guest or your own). There is a direct correlation between your visibility and your financial success.

• Plan - time block a specific time each week to create content and commit to it. Doesn’t have to be studio level quality, just good audio is important. 
• Film - talk about trends, share your work, movements in the audience you’re targeting. No real limits! Long term goal should be to become a sort of authority in your space.
• Repurpose.

Simple Content Setup

• Tella - allows me to film my face and my screen at the same time
• iPhone - magnetic phone clip that you can put on top of your monitor
• iMovie - for any additional editing requirements

Wrapping it all up

Be engaged in Pait Pro. It’s up to you to reach out and engage with others in this group to start building your ecosystem right here inside of Pait Pro. Use the resources in your dashboard, watch a few trainings that are relevant to you right now, take notes and actually implement what you’ve learned. Then share your experience inside the group! This is the best way we can all learn together!

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Lastly, join us on our two monthly huddles. Don’t be shy, turn your camera on, open up and be a part of the group.

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Thanks for being a part of Pait Pro. We look forward to getting to know you!