Top business tips from a successful self-employed graphic designer

In this podcast episode we interview Clare McCabe of Purple Star Design where Clare shares her top tips for being in business for nearly 20 years and becoming a successful self-employed graphic designer.

Clare has experienced all of the ups and downs that we tend to go through when working for yourself.

As a result, she's taken the lessons on board and is now more successful than ever.

Some of the lessons are:

• Make sure you understand that your cash-flow can be inconsistent at times, especially when you start.
• Do your best to avoid distractions, it's far too easy to go off on a tangent that doesn't help you or your business
• Make sure you set goals and keep an eye on the bigger picture
• Being in business in about having choices
• Know what you're good at and delegate the rest (to sub-contractors, virtual assistant, bookkeeper etc)
• Say no to stuff that's not your key passion or isn't taking you where you'd like to go
• Be proud of your achievements and try to celebrate your successes
• Trust your network, they can be a great source of advice and inspiration (and clients)

The big deal, to go from basic freelancer to a successful self-employed graphic designer, is to work hard on being consistent. The includes your marketing and your work. The more consistent you are with these thing then the more consistent your results will be.

An important lesson for Clare has been coming back to trusting her instincts. When things don't seem right, they're probably not. And this has been a hard-won lesson.

Her mission now is to develop a sustainable business that will be less hands-on and possibly make the business into a saleable asset. This includes more processes, more delegation, courses, more products that are built once and sold many times.

Clare can be found here : https://purplestardesign.co.uk

Want more on staying in business and thriving in self-employment? Check out:

Small business owners need to sort themselves out (blog post)

Are you being productive or just active (video)

Got any top tips for being successfully self-employed? Please write them in the comments below: