Read the full blog that accompanies this slideshow at the one and only Graphic Design Blender Blog! Check it out here ---> http://www.graphicdesignblender.com/97-habits-of-insanely-profitable-designers If you want to be insanely profitable doing what you love (that’s design by the way) then you need to find a happy balance between art and commerce. Basically, you need a head for business and a mind for design. On the surface, profitable designers aren’t that different to unprofitable ones; the one real difference is that insanely profitable designers have developed specific habits that allow them to succeed. If you want to create a business and life you love, these 97 habits will be the key to your liberation… and your profits.

1. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS

2. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MINDSET /
DAILY
RITUALS
Spend 20 minutes visualising each
morning before you get out of bed to
get the answers you need for the day.

3. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MINDSET /
DAILY
RITUALS
Be grateful. Keep a gratitude journal.
Be excited you’re able to design for a living.

4. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MINDSET /
DAILY
RITUALS
Keep a diary of all your wins,
big and small so you can reflect
on how far you’ve come

5. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MINDSET /
DAILY
RITUALS
Create a list of your favourite design blogs and visit
them daily. Make time each morning to read through
them whilst you have brekkie and your morning coffee.

6. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MINDSET /
DAILY
RITUALS
Be sure to take decent breaks to stay inspired.
Go overseas once a year if you can, it’ll open your
eyes up to looking at your business with an
eagle-eye view you’ve never experienced before.

7. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MINDSET /
DAILY
RITUALS
Possess flexibility and stubbornness
in equal measures.

8. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MINDSET /
DAILY
RITUALS
Bite off more than you can chew
and then chew like CRAZY!

9. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MINDSET /
DAILY
RITUALS
Don’t sweat the small stuff like those ‘special’ clients that show
up every now and again. If you hit a road bump, ask yourself
“Am I going to care about this in 5 years time?” and if the
answer is ‘no’ then just get on with it and don’t let it upset you.

10. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MINDSET /
DAILY
RITUALS
Learn to ride the emotional rollercoaster of business.
It’s tough but just go with it. Ride the tiger…
tame the tiger! Tomorrow’s a new day.

11. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MINDSET /
DAILY
RITUALS
Embrace failure. Every failure takes you one step
closer to achieving your goals. Besides, it’s only
a true failure if you don’t learn from it.

12. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MINDSET /
DAILY
RITUALS
Perseverance (and getting stuff done)
really is the key to success. Never give up!

13. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MINDSET /
DAILY
RITUALS
Develop a fearless entrepreneurial
spirit. It’ll help you jump on opportunities
in good and bad times.

14. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MINDSET /
DAILY
RITUALS
Always temper your positivity with
a touch of realism... but not too much
or you’ll never try anything new!

15. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MINDSET /
DAILY
RITUALS
Be a giver. That’s it. Just give more. We give free
websites to charities, not for any kudos and not as
a marketing tactic, just because it makes us feel good.
Cleanse your soul on a regular basis.

16. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MINDSET /
DAILY
RITUALS
Find your happy place... and go live there!

17. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
FINANCE
Understand that ‘profit’ is not a rude word. If you’re
the type to do favours for friends or clients all the time,
feel guilty for increasing your rates, or do spec work,
stop it right now and start putting profit first.

18. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
FINANCE
Understand that time is money. Period.

19. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
FINANCE
Find an amazing accountant and hire the most
organised, kick-ass bookkeeper you can find;
they will transform your business and life
(not to mention stress levels!)

20. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
FINANCE
Know your true costs to the cent. I mean
every bum on every seat and for every
hour they sit in that seat, including yours!

21. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
FINANCE
Know your desired profit margins.
Is it 30% or 50% or something in between?

22. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
FINANCE
Measure overall project profitability
at the end of every job.

23. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
FINANCE
You don’t play (design) unless they
(the client) pay. That means NO spec work!

24. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
FINANCE
Keep an eagle eye on the dollars
being invoiced, daily!

25. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
FINANCE
Work hard on controlling your cash
flow. It will make or break you.

26. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Form strategic alliances with business coaches,
marketing consultants, event managers, business
advisory centres, copywriters, SEO companies
and the like for a steady flow of inbound leads.

27. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Don’t spread yourself too thin when it
comes to your social media accounts,
just do what you can and do it well.

28. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Start your own blog… like yesterday! I’ve got
5000 current & future web clients subscribed
to Web123’s blog right now, and my brand new
blog specifically for designers is already at 400!

29. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Make building your email list a top priority. I know that doesn’t
sound very designery, but here’s where it can become so: design
(and write) an eBook, a video course or a kit but just create
something that you can offer in exchange for an email address.

30. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Once you have a marketing list, send
out weekly educational newsletters
with quick tips and links to your blog.

31. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Be confident. Don’t be afraid to just be you, warts and
all. And don’t compare your Chapter 1 to someone else’s
Chapter 20. Everyone’s unique. There’s only one of you
and trust me, people want to hear what you have to say.

32. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Get proactive on Twitter, it’s like
networking on steroids.

33. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Learn how to market yourself properly on
Facebook. Facebook is lead city for me!

34. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Don’t just focus on new marketing mediums,
go old school and get in front of people.
It’ll make you stand out from the clutter.

35. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Find out who’s already talking to the people you want
to target and work out how to work together to leverage
off their list. (Make sure it’s mutually beneficial of course.)

36. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Guest blog on other blogs in your niche. I apply the 3:1
rule for maximum results. I aim to write 3 guest posts
for every 1 of my own blogs each week.

37. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Look after the people that send you business.
Show them you appreciate it otherwise they might stop.
Consider a referral program, it works great for us.

38. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Surprise your existing clients when they
least expect it (with good things of course!)

39. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Zig when they zag. Analyse what your
design competitors are doing and do
the complete opposite.

40. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Invest in an amazing (and SEO savvy)
copywriter for all your own website
and marketing copy. They’re so worth it!

41. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
If you can’t afford to hire inhouse specialists yet, get
your talented possie of expert copywriters, marketers,
illustrators, branding, SEO & PPC specialists together
and work hard at creating strong relationships.

42. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Create valuable content that helps your
clients solve a problem and makes you look
like a guru who seriously knows their stuff.

43. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
When you get an inbound enquiry from your site, drop
everything, and call them straight away, hopefully whilst
they’re still on the site. If you can’t, delegate to someone
who can. Your chance of conversion, with all things being
equal of course, will increase immensely.

44. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Set a goal to make 20/50/100 personal connections
per day, whatever you can manage and stick to it.
Whether it’s tweets, blog or forum comments, emails,
Facebook comments, you get the picture. Just set
a number and stick to it.

45. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Focus. Try and pick your niche market then team that
with what you love doing most and just focus on that.
I was so busy trying everything and getting pulled in
so many different directions that when I shifted my focus
to just one big major project, it was a major turning point.

46. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Make customer service your number one priority.
Sounds corny but we aim for 100% client satisfaction,
every time. No less. And work hard to enforce
it across your team.

47. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Always go the extra mile, always. When you walk in our
front door, you’ll see this quote printed really big on our
wall: “There are no traffic jams along the extra mile”
- Roger Staubach

48. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Help, don’t sell. Your clients don’t really just want
gorgeous designs, they want results. They want more
leads, more sales, more phone calls and ultimately,
more money. So help them get it. Which leads to...

49. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Make ‘getting results for clients’ the mantra for
every project you do. That’s what you’re getting
paid for. To quote Henrik Fiskar: “If design isn’t
profitable, then it’s art.”

50. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Never forget that it’s your clients that put food on your
table so never disrespect them. If you don’t like them,
sack ‘em and spend more time with those you do.

51. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
If you can’t sack ‘em, add a loading tax.
That’s all I’ll say on that. ;)

52. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Be a counsellor to your clients. They want your expert
opinion, so give it to them honestly, even if it’s difficult
at the time. They’ll respect you more in the long run.

53. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Create products and services that are a perfect fit
for your target market. Don’t try fit a square peg
in a round hole... ask prospects and clients what
they really want and figure out a way to give
it to them, at a price they can afford.

54. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Don’t wait until a product is perfect before you launch
it (and that’s coming from a recovering-perfectionist!).
“If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your
product, you’ve launched too late.” - Reid Hoffman

55. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Work out the products/services you currently offer
that make you the most profit... and if they’re also
the services your clients want, you’ve got it made!

56. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
If your most popular services are your least profitable
(and if you’re unsure, refer to all my notes under Finance!)...
then find a way to turn that around. Is it time for a price
hike or do you cut unprofitable services altogether?

57. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MARKETING
Offer mind-blowing, knee-trembling,
town-talking incredible value. Then shout
it from the rooftops that that’s your USP.

58. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
STAYING
CREATIVE
Spend 1-hour per day learning something new, whether
it’s reading blogs, doing courses, watching webinars,
reading books, talking to peers etc. It’s just 4% of your day
so make it a habit and your bottom line will thank you for it.

59. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
STAYING
CREATIVE
Make sure your creative life doesn’t finish when you close
the door at 5pm (or 11pm!). Get creative with the food you
cook, your clothes, your pantry cupboard, your walk-in
robe, your kids etc. Make creativity your passion, your
hobby, and your life. It’s not a job, it’s a calling.

60. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
STAYING
CREATIVE
Get outside your comfort zone,
that’s where the magic happens.

61. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
STAYING
CREATIVE
Don’t rest on your laurels. Just because your clients are
still accepting your work, doesn’t mean it hasn’t gotten
a bit stale. You may not realise you’ve gone stale,
but your peers will! Seriously, pushing those design
boundaries will mean BIG things to your business.

62. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
STAYING
CREATIVE
Showcase, discuss and get feedback on your work
online on places like Dribble, Behance Network,
TheLoop, Deviant Art, How Design, Creattica, Forrst,
ColourLovers etc and this is just a handful.

63. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
STAYING
CREATIVE
Push yourself. Make every design job
your best. You need to impress yourself
just as much as your client!

64. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
STAYING
CREATIVE
Switch off (sometimes) and get physical!

65. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
STAYING
CREATIVE
Make your space a beautiful, calm
and relaxing place to work that you
love and that feeds your creativity.

66. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
STAYING
CREATIVE
Feed your brain with art and pop culture.
The best creatives draw inspiration from the works
of other creative people... no, it’s not stealing! ;-)

67. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
STAYING
CREATIVE
Network with fellow designers. Don’t get stuck in your
bubble, especially if you work from home like I now do.
Join the conversation in different design communities.
If you’re regional like I am there’s always Facebook
groups, LinkedIn Groups, forums, blogs….

68. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
STAYING
CREATIVE
Watch less TV... Get off the computer too!

69. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
STAYING
CREATIVE
Do more stuff with your hands.
It’ll get your creative juices flowing.

70. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
SYSTEMS /
TOOLS /
TIME
Understand that your time is limited
and precious.

71. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
SYSTEMS /
TOOLS /
TIME
Don’t have meetings with every inbound lead just
because they ask for one. Uncover their needs
on the phone, send them a proposal then if you
get the green light, get a deposit in the bank
and THEN meet face-to-face.

72. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
SYSTEMS /
TOOLS /
TIME
Don’t reinvent the wheel. Create
standardised processes wherever you can.

73. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
SYSTEMS /
TOOLS /
TIME
Create amazing quote proposal templates that are
the perfect sales combination between copy and
visuals and streamline this process so you can create
proposals fast. The quicker you deliver the quote,
the higher the conversion rate.

74. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
SYSTEMS /
TOOLS /
TIME
Template as much of the admin as you can! I have
oodles of pre-written emails for things like ‘Here’s
your home page concept’ with a form that asks them
precise questions for their feedback.

75. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
SYSTEMS /
TOOLS /
TIME
Log every minute on every project.
How will you know you quoted
enough if you don’t track your time?

76. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
SYSTEMS /
TOOLS /
TIME
Have an action plan/implementation plan for all your
recurring ‘complex’ jobs (like an eCommerce website
project, etc). It should outline all the tasks required
and how fast they need to be turned around in order
to remain profitable.

77. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
SYSTEMS /
TOOLS /
TIME
Always track the progress of your projects against
your action plan. This is your benchmark, and the only
way to know if you’re winning or losing!

78. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
SYSTEMS /
TOOLS /
TIME
Create checklists or procedures for repetitive tasks
to maintain quality, especially as you take on staff.
It’s taken me years to develop a web building process
that’s efficient and profitable, I need it followed to a tee.

79. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
SYSTEMS /
TOOLS /
TIME
Always put a limit on what your costs include so
if it’s a website for example, cap the number of pages
or products you’ll upload, or hours you’ll spend
on doing the upload but always cover your butt.

80. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
SYSTEMS /
TOOLS /
TIME
As you grow, increase your personal hourly rate.
I’m now $220 p/hr, my senior designer is $165 and
my juniors are $100-$120. It’s okay to have varying
rates based on experience and qualifications.

81. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MANAGEMENT
/ LEADERSHIP
/ GROWTH
If you want to grow big, make sure you’re okay with
designing less. Most of my time these days with 20+ staff
is spent managing people. Just be prepared for that.

82. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MANAGEMENT
/ LEADERSHIP
/ GROWTH
Get a business mentor. The best thing I ever did was
invest in a mentor. Yes it was expensive but it’s paid
me back in spades. I worked with my mentor for about
2 years and my accountant reckons it fast-tracked my
business profits forward by about a decade!

83. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MANAGEMENT
/ LEADERSHIP
/ GROWTH
Don’t be afraid to hire your first staff member.
There’s nothing to say can’t put them on contract
and commit to just 5-10 hours per week instead
of a full time week and wage.

84. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MANAGEMENT
/ LEADERSHIP
/ GROWTH
Hire your first employee when you’re at 120% workload.
Then, hire your next employees when your current ones
are at 120% workload. Yeah I know, evil right? ;-)

85. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MANAGEMENT
/ LEADERSHIP
/ GROWTH
Hire slow, fire fast.

86. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MANAGEMENT
/ LEADERSHIP
/ GROWTH
Only hire A-team players. Period.

87. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MANAGEMENT
/ LEADERSHIP
/ GROWTH
Hire people smarter than you and
designers who design better than you.

88. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MANAGEMENT
/ LEADERSHIP
/ GROWTH
Reward those that work hard for you
but remember, ‘first comes effort,
then comes reward.’

89. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MANAGEMENT
/ LEADERSHIP
/ GROWTH
Lead by example. Don’t wander in
at 11am every day if you want your team
to be there on time. Walk the walk.

90. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MANAGEMENT
/ LEADERSHIP
/ GROWTH
Don’t do ‘love jobs’ thinking it’ll open
more doors, they’ll always backfire
and cost you time and money.

91. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MANAGEMENT
/ LEADERSHIP
/ GROWTH
Celebrate the wins on a regular basis. Even the little
ones. (We shout drinks & nibbles every Friday for our
team to celebrate the achievements of the week,
and each quarter we do something on a larger scale
to say ‘thanks’ and celebrate reaching our goals.)

92. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MANAGEMENT
/ LEADERSHIP
/ GROWTH
Be prepared to let go. Yes, people
will make mistakes but you have
to let go to grow.

93. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
MANAGEMENT
/ LEADERSHIP
/ GROWTH
Be prepared to listen to all your team’s ideas and take
a risk on the good ones. (My marketing gal suggested
the SAAS model for my partner program and it’s the
best thing we ever did!)

94. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
PLANNING
Create a one-page business plan that gives you clarity,
accountability and results. Print out your plan and stick
it everywhere (even on the back of the restroom doors
in your office!)

95. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
PLANNING
Every January, after you’ve had a good rest and client
work is quiet, go to your happy place and plan out your
entire year’s goals. Just the habit of writing them down
will bring you so much closer to achieving them.

96. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
PLANNING
Looking ahead, create your 5-year plan then work
backwards mapping out the main quarterly milestones you
need to reach to achieve your goals. Then detail it further
and work in 90-Day sprints to achieve those milestones.

97. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
PLANNING
If you employ staff, always communicate the ‘why’
to your team. Have a mission and vision but make
it cool - not one of those ones you want to stuff in
draw and not show anyone.

98. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
PLANNING
Constantly look for ways to improve. In business
it can be the tiniest of things but lots of those
little improvements soon add up. In your personal
development, aim to lift the bar every year in some way.

99. 97 HABITS
OF INSANELY
PROFITABLE
DESIGNERS
If you enjoyed this and
want more let’s connect.
/Web123ProPartners
@BiancaBoard