Is your design business fit for purpose?

Your design is winning awards. You’ve brought new clients onboard and looking to expand. You’re making a profit each year and growing steadily. So why should I ask if your business is ‘fit for purpose’?

A fit for purpose business is in the right market at the right time. It has the right pricing structure, the right people in place and systems to make sure your business delivers today and in the future.

The ‘fit for purpose’ design business

One of the biggest mistakes when developing new businesses is in writing a business plan, creating lengthy financial projections, and then immediately diving head first into executing the plans. This only maximises the risk of failure since in many cases they’re launching a service that clients don’t want and their business model can’t support.

Building something nobody wants is the number one reason for new business failure and it’s no different for design businesses. But even if you do build something that clients want, you can still fail to build an appropriate business model around it. So before you begin executing on that “next big thing” you need to test your ideas to be sure you’ve achieved the proper fit with the market and for your company.

Three kinds of fit

Every design studio should aim to achieve three kinds of fit before they begin to market themselves:

Problem-Solution fit,

Product-Market fit, and

Business Model fit.

If you achieve all three you can’t help but have a studio that not only adapts to change but leads the pack and sets some of the changes in motion.

Problem-Solution fit

This occurs when you’ve analysed the industry sectors where you have deep expertise. You then conducted face-to-face research that shows clients care about specific?jobs to be done?(your service); pains, and gains (your solution).

Product-Market fit

This happens when you have proof that your design value proposition is creating value for your client by doing the jobs they wanted done while lowering their pains and improving the gains they wanted.

Business Model fit

The business model fit occurs when you have proof that your design process is embedded in a profitable and scalable design business model. You’ve done the research, trialing, pivoting and retrialing of your design value proposition to prove it creates value for your clients.

Getting fit

Putting these three types of fit into your studio requires you to unpack and repack your business.

We do that through the Business of Design short course. A customised three month course that helps you unpack and repack your business.

Want more information. Contact?Greg?to discuss how we can help you develop a fit for purpose design business.

We help designers build a more profitable design business

We do that by

? supporting creatives to learn management skills

? helping identify and target better clients

? increasing your studio’s productivity, and

? focusing on a sustainable work/life balance.

We share our knowledge in a library of free resources, workshops, group and one-on-one mentoring.

Greg Branson

Greg’s passion is the research and development of methods that improve design management and the role of design in business.

Greg has developed?The Design Business School?to help owners manage their business better along with showing designers how to get more involved in the studio and develop their career path.?Contact?Greg.