Indispensable Business Knowledge for Designers

by Jane Portman at UI Breakfast

Step #1

Understand Your Place in the Business Universe

Step #2

Study Business Essentials

Step #3

Practice in Your Own Product Sandbox

Step #1

Understand Your Place in the Business Universe

Ptolemaic geocentric system

An illustration by Bartolomeu Velho, 1568 (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris)

Design is never a priority.It’s just a small aspect of your client’s business.

You are never a priority.What matters is your ability to solve problems in your

client’s business.

Why is UI design important?It helps to make more money!

Why is UI design important?It increases sales

It simplifies onboarding & reduces churn

It makes customers happy

It makes the business profitable

Your path to success in a nutshell:Call yourself a consultant

Talk with your clients about their business

Charge 10x

Step #2

Study Business Essentials

The Business of ConsultingYour ideal client

Your unique value proposition

Your rates

Your working process

Brennan Dunn (blog and courses)http://doubleyourfreelancing.com/

The Independent Consulting Manual (book I co-authored)

http://independentconsultingmanual.com/?coupon=uibreakfast

Product DevelopmentPositioning

Research (“sales safari”)

Pricing & subscription models

Product lifecycle

Amy Hoy & Alex Hillman (blog)http://unicornfree.com/

Startups for the Rest of Us (podcast)http://startupsfortherestofus.com/

CopywritingLong-form sales copy

Customer research for language

Conversion rate optimization

The Brain Audit by Sean D’Souza (book)http://amzn.com/B00COQFUNU

Joanna Wiebe at Copy Hackers (blog and books)http://copyhackers.com/

MarketingAudience and positioning

Email marketing

Lead magnets

Outreach

Your First 1000 Copies by Tim Grahlhttp://amzn.com/B00DMIWAIC

Drip (free crash course)http://blog.getdrip.com/

Running a Successful Outreach Campaign (podcast episode with Kai Davis)

http://uibreakfast.com/06-successful-outreach-campaign/

Step #3

Practice in Your Own Product Sandbox

Why do your own products?Practice the whole business cycle

Build authority/audience for future projects

Get better clients who respect you

Get some “passive” income

Define your audienceKnow them, like them, make sure they can pay

Option A: people like yourself

Option B: people like your clients

Set up your business environmentMarketing site with long-form sales copy

Email list

Lead magnet (freebie)

Start with productized consultingSell your services with long-form sales-pages

Set your own rules and processes

Get recurring revenue

Productize Your Service by Brian Casel (free course)

https://casjam.com/resources/productize-your-service/

Move on with infoproductsNo technical burden, no support

Practice the launch process

Make your first product money

Obtain instant credibility as an author

Authority by Nathan Barry (book)http://nathanbarry.com/authority/

Think twice before going into SaaSHigh technical/support burden

High investment of time & money

Much harder to sell

Very slow growth curve

Higher chances of failure

Sign up for my free course explaining the business view of UI design

http://uibreakfast.com/1hour/

Good luck in business!Thank you my friends!