Certain times of the year are always slow, it’s just the way things go. Add an economic crisis to the mix and things can get extra slow. Lucky for us as designers and creatives, we have the ability to target a much more globally audience, which means we don’t have to suffer quite as bad as some.
While this downtime might seem like the perfect time to beat the next level of Halo or Guitar Hero, I suggest you use your time a little more wisely. Many freelancers use this time to work on building up their passive income streams. If this sounds good to you, be sure to check out my article on Making Money When Things Get Slow.
Aside from building up your passive income streams, you can do any number of things to help inprove your business. Below is a list of several ideas to get you going.
10 Things to Do When Business Gets Slow
1. Track Your Expenses - Tough times call for tough measures. Spend some time looking over your accounting to see where your major expenses lie. See what expenses you can cut out temporarily and what ones you can cut out all together. While you work on weeding out your expenses, you could also start working on a budget for your business.
2. Improve Your Skills - I enjoy reading and looking at the latest tutorials for the photoshop tutorial websites, but it seems like I never have any time to do them. If this sounds like you, then use this slow time to actually do some. There is a plethora of learning resources on line, go use some! It’s never a bad idea to improve your skill set.
3. Learn Something New - While you are working on improving your old skills, why not work on learning something new? The more skills you have the more opportunities arise. If you don’t feel like learning something new, see what it takes to get certified in your niche and start planning for that.
4. Start Networking - When it comes to social networking there are two kinds of people; those who do it in their sleep and those who forget to do it until they go to sleep. If you are the latter, spend some of this down time building relationships with others in your community via social networking. You never know when those people you meet online will turn into a client or business partner.
5. Revamp Your Portfolio - It seems most designers are either always working on their portfolio, but never updating it. See if you can use this time to finally get that project done and up to date. For more information on this, check out; How to Build a Better Portfolio Website.
6. Build Passive Income - As I mentioned above, there are so many ways for creatives to build passive streams of incomes. So many so that it would be silly for you not to take advantage of them. Who knows, they could help you get through the slow times a little easier. Some things to think about include stock photography and vectors, Wordpress themes, website templates, t-=shirt designs, and more.
7. Active Passive Income - While traditional passive income is great for obvious reasons, I only suggest looking for more active income. See if you can’t find part time work at a local school or college teaching design or giving workshops for some extra money.
8. Change Your Prices - Slow periods can be the perfect time to raise (or lower) your rates. Spend some time looking over your books to see how much money you need to be making and how much you want to be making. Check out this post as well; Setting Your Prices: 10 Questions to Ask Yourself
9. Try Bidding Sites - Job bidding sites like eLeance and Guru can offer you another way to look for work when things get slow. If you don’t like these sites because you never win a project, check out Freelance Switches post on How to Win Any Job on eLance, oDesk or Guru.com
10. Stay Motivated - We all have down time in our creative businesses, don’t let it get to you. Things will get better soon, so make the most of the time off.
What kind of advice do you have to offer about using your down time more effectivly? How do you make sure to stay afloat when business gets slow? Share your comments and thoughts below to help others in our industry.
22 Comments
Thanks for the tips.. somehow, I’m new in this business, and really need these tips..
Great! Glad to hear they help out.
Good read danny. Myself ive been trying to build up some passive income. and ofcourse sort other things i never seen to have time for.
What kind of passsive income stuff are you doing? I’d love to hear about how that is working out for you. I know thats somethinga lot of designers are looking into right now.
just submiting a ton of stuff to the envato marketplaces. its slowy starting to pay off as sales increase. thinking once i have a fair amount on there hopefully i can sit back and let the sales gather.
its not going to make me rich but every extra income helps.
Whats your url on Graphic River? I’ll check your stuff out.
http://themeforest.net/user/CAMS
there ya go bud its tf but has my gr items on profile page aswell. am on your twitter aswell as colourvault
Cool. I’ll go check it out now!
Passive Income FTW! The Envato marketplaces have been great, sales for me have been increasing every month to the point this month earnings are going to cover my mortgage!
http://themeforest.net/user/contempoinc
Wow! Thats awesome! Either you make a lot of money on TF or have a really small house. I’ll go check out your stuff.
Hi Danny,
Excellent advice. A slow economy is an opportunity for an entrepreneur to become more creative.
Thanks for sharing your insight
Ryan
No problem! Im always happy to share
i just came across this place and i love it already
ive been in a hardcore slump lately and slow business
this helped put me in a better and more confident mood =)
<3
Awesome. I hope you find some stuff here to help get you out of your slump.
This was a really helpful, motivating post! When things are going slow sometimes it’s hard to see past all the obstacles and figure out ways to push forward. I’ve found that down times are a great time to search for new and better solutions. With the additional time on my hands, I try to research more efficient and effective ways to incorporate into what I’m already doing. During one of these times I came across Digital Lizard - I’ve found that the printing solution they’ve provided me with has revolutionized my work and taken all the anxiety and fuss out of sorting out my printing needs. For anyone who wants to check them out, they’re at: http://www.digitallizard.com/graphic-designer.php
Hey Danny,
Very useful and interesting post!
Keep up the great work!
Ovi Dogar
AbsoluteCovers.com
Some great tips here Danny
One thing I’d add - if business is slow, why not try something non-work related to clear your mind and get you focused for when things pick up again. Learn to sail, or go camping, or take a bit of a road trip. Often just being away from work leads to work related ideas. I can’t recall how many ideas I’ve had in airport waiting rooms or on the beach.
Hey Shawn - Thats definitely a nice idea. not where I was going with the article, but you make a valid point. I too find inspiration when I step out of the office for a while and do things I love.
Great Post Danny, It’s key to diversify, agree on the points of doing something different when the need arises.
Looking at the bidding sites is far too depressing, how do you differentiate yourself amongst all the other designers all lowballing. They all look the same to me, I won’t compete on price but I can on quality and I still believe in the old adage if people buy on price they will pay twice.
Point #10 - Agree with this, it’s paramount you don’t lose sight of your goals and why your freelancing in the first place, getting in touch with old clients can help through tough times.
Great site, nicely done from Branded07
This was a very helpful read and applies well to my situation as a new company. Avenues for passive income is something I hadn’t really considered until now, but given my background is something I should have thought of sooner.
Thank you
During downturns (and this has been the worst in my career of over 25 years), I continue to network. In fact I just joined the Ad Club and this week alone I will be going to 3 networking events. It helps to get out and meet people. I still write my e-newsletter, read sites like this one, just added a company page to my facebook. But outside of work, I am a glass artist and show my work in galleries, and have a site (www.creativeglass.com). That is really my passion. So start a hobby. One other thing i did was start a mah joong group once a month. I know it sounds dorky, but its really fun and totally different from all else I do. WE are all creative so one must be creative when business is slow too…
And somehow I have never thought to utilize Envato for submitting . . . thanks for the tutorials!
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