Hello, and welcome to design and business conversations for creatives. I'm Cheyney,
and today I'm chatting with you about business advice for creative startups.
Where do I start? First of all, I intended this video to be for creatives, people
who are starting up creative businesses, however I do believe that the content in
this will be broad enough for anybody starting any business. So, without further
ado, I will get into it. Number one, make a business plan. It's really important to
have an intention for your business and a plan is really going to help you map out
your journey and it's something that's really useful to look back on in a few
years. This is a document that will continue to grow and evolve. So. I'm
coming to you from New Zealand, I have a business called Design by Cheyney, which
is a freelance graphic design business. I started originally with a candle and
soap business called Camille Co which I started five or six years ago, I
don't know, I'm atrocious, concept of time, that's for another video. Where I started
was with a business plan, and even though my business has changed quite a bit from
when I first started, some of those core principles and values still apply
even to this business which is now a service based business and quite
different. But it's really good for me to reflect back on it and to look back on
why I started and how I've evolved and yeah, I cannot recommend it enough. If
you're starting a business, start with a business plan. New Zealanders
specifically, business.govt.nz has got some great free templates
online. Anyone in the world can access these documents I'm sure, but that's
where I I downloaded a business plan template and that was my starting
point, and yeah, six years later, still in business, still going, still look at it,
and yeah, really good place to start. Number two, just do it. Hope I don't
get in trouble because I'm pretty sure that's trademarked by Nike. Anyway, it's a
great message. Just do something. Like something is better than nothing. People
might disagree with me on this one but for me I believe that you just need a
starting point, it can be really scary when you're starting a business to
actually take the plunge and do something. I see it all the time with
clients that I work with in Design by Cheyney. I work with a lot of startup
companies and I see a lot of them in the beginning just kind of humming and
hah-ing and they have a lot of ideas and possibly having trouble committing
to the idea, but I just think sometimes you just have to do it, just start. A good
example of this is for me with YouTube. It's something that I've wanted to do
for a year and just one day, I mean we're in the Covid-19 lockdown at the moment
so I have less clients than usual and a lot more time on my hands to work on my
business, so now is the perfect time. But I literally had to take the plunge, like
I'm somebody, whether you at home can tell or not, I am not very good in front
of the camera, I'm much better behind it taking photos, but I just knew it was
something that I had to just do and I'm pretty sure I'm going to look back on
these videos in a few years once I've been doing this for ages and just cringe
at the content. Cringe at the content, cringe at the layout, cringe at the editing and
all of the above. But, you know what, it's a start. Number three, this is the best
piece of advice. Ever. Are you ready for it? Seriously, I've had
two accountants on different occasions tell me this, and it's the piece
of wisdom that I impart to anybody starting a new business, including clients
that come to work with me. I'm not an accountant, I'm not a financial advisor,
however this has been super, super, super helpful.
So, stop blabbing on and just get to it. Bank 30% of all
income from day dot. Whether you are obliged in your country, wherever you're
viewing from, to pay tax from day dot or not, this is a really, really great habit to
get into because one day, when your business gets big and successful, you're
going to need to pay income tax, and you're going to want to be sure to have
that money set aside to pay for it. I've seen many a business collapse because
when it comes around to tax time, they haven't factored it in and they're
scrambling to get the money to pay the tax and some of them have to fold as a
result. So yeah, I highly, highly suggest that if you're starting a business,
whether it be creative or not, Bank 30% of all your income from day dot. So, I do
this, I have, New Zealand's pretty progressive in terms of banking, I don't
know how it is where you are, but for me I can just open my banking app and I can
create a new account, which I have labeled tax, and just literally every
transaction that comes in I take out 30% and put it straight into tax, and 30% is
more than what I actually need, but it allows a really good buffer. So when it
comes up to me paying provisional tax, in New Zealand we have to pay instalments
of provisional tax four times a year, it's there, and then some, so I
use the extra money to pay the accountant bill, which comes in once a
year, which is quite significant. So that is there, I don't have to scramble
for it, and I know I'm covered and if I have any left over, I use it to
invest in something that's going to help my business, like computer, camera,
anything to help the business. Number four is delegate. And this is super important,
and I know it can be a little bit hard, particularly if you're new business and
your budget is low. However, I do recommend that for the things you don't
like to do, or that you're not very good at, spend some money to get a
professional to do it. So, an example for me, something that I've paid for from day
dot, before I even started making any money, was an
accountant. I'm basically number dyslexic, here it is on the internet for you all
to hear, I am hopeless with numbers and doing the financial side and
accounting side of my business really stresses me out. So I've just paid a
professional to do it and it's fabulous. I've also outsourced some of my styled
photography, to help advertise my business, to get a fresh perspective on
it. Sometimes it's really good, even if it's something that you are good at,
to get somebody else to do it for you because they see it through a
different lens, and that can be really exciting to help keep your business
interesting and keep you interested in it as well. So yeah, that's number four.
Number five, it's a bit cheesy, just a warning there, but always learn, grow,
and evolve, and be open to this. You're never going to know it all. There's always
going to be technology that's advancing and, just keep up with it. So I choose to
watch YouTube videos, I do little, I use creative software Adobe Creative Suite,
and they offer little videos and tutorials for upskilling, so I'm always
trying to grow in different areas and as a result, my business kind
of grows with it. So now I've just been learning how to video edit and this is
something that I might be able to offer further down the line to my clients. It's
a new skill that I've learned and I'm willing to let my business evolve
with it. And just have fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun. Business is awesome, owning your
own business is so rewarding, I would never have it any other way.
I think I'm virtually unemployable now, I'd be like, 'what? I can't have lunch when I
want, I can't wear what I want, what?' So yeah, have fun with it and if
you have anything to say to me in the comments, please do. I will do my best to
get back to you. Please keep it positive and light. I want to say
thank you for watching, if you liked this video, give it a thumbs up, or click below
to subscribe to my channel. I'll be uploading more videos like this and
thank you for watching. Bye.