Week 2: Business Models, Studios, Estimating, Invoicing and Budget

Tramaine Berry
Jun 7, 2021
7 min read

Updated: Sep 27, 2023

Weekly Learning Objectives:

Research and analyse some core operational and functional aspects of design practice and business;
Design and map a hypothetical resourcing model for budget and staff allocation to deliver a project or creative initiative of your choice;
Manage your independent learning effectively.

LECTURES //

UsTwo

Works in a digital product studio but started launching their own products, so it's interesting to see that they have started designing for themselves but also keeping this within their practise and ethos.

He talked about how the business contains three different business plans. They tried different versions before establishing this though.

Studio Moross

Kate Moross' studio runs into two departments, which is a similar structure I am looking for in my business idea.

I really liked how she outlined he importance of not letting income be uncharge of the food and promotes the practise of eating together because this improves mental health and ensures that everyone gets fresh food; some people will have different expenses they need to pay compared to others i.e. a family to support or a loan. And see advises no more than 35 hours weekly to her employees for a productive working week. She also justifies this by saying 'your business isn't your family. A good business lets you go home to your family', which contradicts the ethos that UsTwo was created on.

Additionally, she also provides paid intern positions for graduates and workplacements as part of a student's course, ensuring young people get the experience they need and fair payment. Her part-time workers are accountants, which as mentioned last week ensures the business runs smoothly and can provide advise regarding investments. And a IP lawyer to protect work from the public domain.

The hierarchy is non-existent as it can vary depending on what project it is because someone might have more experience or interest in a particular area. She has also acknowledged that there are external and internal people in meetings, so she adapts to this by encouraging notes to be passed down.

She mentions how she contrasts with UsTwo when it comes to working style because she prefers to work across lots of projects in short sprints. I think for me, it takes me a while to grasp what the project is about, but has long as I have notes from what Ive been doing, I have a lot more energy and feel less precious over what should be a simple mock-up.

Lovers

The founder, Alex Ostrowski, set up a model that allows people to choose their projects rather than 'bread and butter' projects, which involves having a large network of freelance 'Lovers' and a small team of people to project manage. This model is referred to as a 'collective' of designers, which is similar to my idea of getting the dyslexic community to collaborate with each other. This has shown me it is possible to earn an income on this and work from different locations using the Pillowtalk platform. Other tools being used include Scoro, TeamGantt, GoogleDrive, Tell and Trello. Would need to dig deeper into this and search for other businesses that use this model such as Underdog.

IDEAS WALL //

Warm-up Question

How do you prepare a quote and accompanying paperwork for a prospective design project or creative initiative of your choosing?

Estimate vs Quote

An estimate is an informal idea of price based on limited information. Consider it a starting point in terms of costs, which can go up (or down). Estimates CANNOT be used as a legal standpoint for price.
It’s important to remember that quotes are presented formally and represent a contract between you and the customer. As such they can be used as legal standpoints for price should a dispute arise.

Time Tracking

Helps estimate how long future projects are going to take and what price to value a project at.
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WORKSHOP CHALLENGE //

Brief

Map a resourcing model for budget and staff allocation to deliver a project or creative initiative of your choice.

As the last week of this project brief requires you to write a more substantive strategic plan, please ensure you choose a topic or client that is most suited to your own practice interests.

Recap of my service to employers?

Recruitment: During the recruitment process, I will be reviewing potential dyslexic employees on their strengths and weaknesses, and informing the employer how best to utilise their skills.

Establishing a work system: Consult employers on accessibility needs and different ways of working. This would involve one-to-one sessions. This service could take place without the recruitment service.

A follow-up service: After 2 weeks, follow-up with employer and employee to see what works and what doesn't work - improve the system from there.

A platform for their Dyslexic employees to collaborate with fellow creative Dyslexics, online workshops, and gain advice from each other based from their own experiences. The aim for this is to boost self-esteem. Once their employment is over, they will be given the option to invest in their own membership- with the option to reach out to their future employers.

Costs to consider:

Finance consultant / Accountant : my sister usually gets paid £10.25 r/hr
Branding Service : FREE labour (me) & Adobe Software
Marketing: Zoho Social, HUBSPOT (email campaigns), Trello (organisation)
Platform for collaboration: Medallia Crowdicity/ bright idea / bluescape/ Miroverse craft.io/ https://www.capterra.com/sem-compare/idea-management-software?gclid=Cj0KCQjwzYGGBhCTARIsAHdMTQwFUjLRyl2YbmEQGNrZUCWBKTSjRGMPPzockQMAoQzqEBzgT90X84kaAi6sEALw_wcB
Consultancy website and blog for Dyslexic members (Wix platform):
Workforce: Me (fixed income, tax, pension, unpaid holiday, NI, student debt)

Living costs monthly

£568.54 (Utility, council tax, rent, internet, TV licence)

Below is my workings out of how much one off items would cost based on the standard 2 year guarantee. I decided not to invest in the ideas software because none of the companies Ive looked into have given me any quotes (concerning) and I want to be able to have a similar community platform on my website; it lowers the expenses and its a simpler system.

Business Schedule

Based on how Ive organised my hours, I should be able to take on a maximum of 20 clients monthly. Below, I have divided the costs between the clients to give me a rough guide on what I should be charging.

Things I need to consider for accurate quotes:

Seperate Community membership
Varied prices depending on how many employees are using the service per employer.

I was looking at company sizes to get an idea of how many employees to expect from businesses. Because 10% of people are dyslexic, I will use this statistic to create a range of quotes.

Small Businesses: 1-4 Employees

Medium Businesses: 5-24 Employees

Large Businesses: 25 or more Employees

(Offer Community Membership separately from consultancy service)

Community Memberships: £10.35 monthly

Consultancy Service bundles

I think I need to break this model up a bit more because there is a large gab in-between the prices.

1-4 Employees: £261.84

5-10 Employees: £654.60

11-22 Employees: £1440.12

If I get a big client per month, I will at least cover expenses and earn my income.

Website Layout

I would probably need to rename the platform as 'community platform'.

Brand Name

Tips on the naming process of my business

The LESS it has to do with your category, the better. Think of Apple, Starbucks or Nike
Write a real English word that is easy to pronounce. I would also need to think about making the name easy to pronounce and spell for Dyslexics.
Dont forget to come up with a tagline to support the name
Think of how the brand name can be used in campaign messaging

What do I have over my competitors?

Solutions for the individual, not the diagnosis - reviewing what solutions work for the individual
Bringing people together
Listening to both employer and employee

Naming Process

Gather - to gather information differently, to collaborate.Maybe my brand identity should be inspired by a dyslexic workshop?

Consult - to gather together - advise - guardian - angels

Animals that gather things - Squarrels,

Differ
Poly (more)
Polarise (different properties)
Dyslexic Organisation (DO)
Dyslexic Independant Solutions (DIS) - 'DISadventaged? DISability? We DISagree!'
Stigmatics - relating to a stigma or stigmas, in particular constituting or conveying a mark of disgrace. It sounds like a field of study, which is kind of what my consultancy is.
Maybe this idea of support- what is associated with support? Patch/ extra/ extra hand / CAST. CAST (Collaborating and Staying Together). ‘Cast Away those stigmas’. Look at dyslexic designer names. Brace. Further. Alligance / Allign. Framework.

Tutorial

Change 'follow-up service' to 1 month instead of 2 weeks
Open up the service to more issues, not just dyslexics. Or maybe make it inclusive to the whole workplace (non-neurodiverse)
How to sell yourself? TED talks. Podcast interviewing Dyslexics.
Recruitment service sounds a bit discriminative. What if this service was for people looking for work and you could help them find out what their strengths are.
Your current pricing is too low! Look at other consultancy prices.
Turn consultancy sessions into workshops because then I am able to handle more clients. Think about travel costs, renting spaces, etc.

Follow-up Ideas

With the recruitment service being altered to help people find their strengths, I think collaborating with AvatarJo (my old employer) would be a good collaboration. AvatarJo is a small business filled with actors to help people practise different scenarios, so what if people were able to test out their new recruitment plan on a mock-up interview; this will test the effectiveness of my service as well as provide regular business for AvatarJo.

REFLECTION //

Working out my resource model took longer than expected. Before establishing a fixed income for myself, I needed to estimate what my bills would be because I have recently moved. Consulting with my accountant sister gave me a better idea of how I wanted to control the money flow of my business. To give my business the best chance of growing, I have not based my personal income on the hours I dedicate to the business, which allows me to create a quote that I think is fair as well as not having to worry about income tax or paying off my loan.

When the business grows, I will use my holiday time to draw-up a new business plan that enables me to hire help. I could use the kickstarter program, which is government funded and allows start-ups to grow; however, I would need to first establish a simple work system, social media templates, brand guidelines, and scripts for emails and social interactions.