Recently, the Piqulette blog was discovered by someone trying to learn how to break even in graphic design. Now, they didn’t find what they were looking for necessarily. They found an article about Break Even‘s new business cards. Anyway, it got me thinking about how I hope to break even, and how important having a plan of some sort is.
Just saying business plan can scare away many people. But I want to offer a different perspective on it. A business plan does not have to be the most formal thing in the world. If you went to school for anything business or marketing related, you had to write one. It may have not necessarily been fun. It may have been boring. You may have needed a book that required you to write certain things, in certain ways. I don’t function well that way.
Recently, I heard someone say their business plan was formed over a few bottles of champagne and throwing out ridiculous ideas for the future. The stuff the stuck the next day was what they made their goal.
That is all a business plan needs to grow from. What your goal is. Set a goal or a few goals and accomplishments for the next year. Figure out a plan for yourself on how you are going to achieve that. That’s it. You don’t need to write it down. Just constantly remind yourself of your goal and how you will get there.
If your goal is to break even in graphic design, you need to figure out your expenses and your income. The tough thing about breaking even in a creative field is that your customer doesn’t always remember the expenses you incur. There isn’t always a physical product, so it must only be your time. What about the thousands of dollars we spend on computer hardware and software. Thousands. Just on software! Add up your annual expenses for your business, and for your life. Then add in the extra money you want to have for fun. And the extra you want to save to have a decent future. Don’t forget Uncle Sam. Think about what you think your average job should cost a client. Do you think you are that valuable (remember how important confidence is)? How many people would you have to help in a year at that rate? Can you get that many clients? How will you get those clients?
If breaking even is your only goal, it makes things a little simpler, this is the only thing you have to worry about. To everyone out there….Please do not underestimate the power of a budget. Even if it is the simplest form of one. Knowing where your money is coming from and where it needs to go is essential for a successful business.
After budget, do you plan to grow? Maybe breaking even is the most important thing in the beginning. You can add other goals later. What other goals do you have? How will you achieve those? I have a ton of goals for the next year and for Piqulette. This one simple search has inspired a whole series of posts. If you are interested in hearing them of course 
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