Listen in as Cass & Amanda deep dive into why creating your own branding and website design as a designer can feel so d*mn hard, and some simple ways to tackle the root cause and design an identity that sets you up for success long term. They also discuss some common service and pricing dilemmas that come up when establishing yourself as a professional designer, and their best lived-and-learned advice for solving them.


Resource mentioned:

 * The Designers Den Membership Community [https://foxtrotbranding.com/designers-den]
 * Pro Design Business Course [https://foxtrotbranding.com/pro-design-business]
 * Find All of Foxtrot Branding's Resources for Designers at FoxtrotBranding.com/education [https://foxtrotbranding.com/education]
   

Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro
(3:15) The story behind our branding & web design
(6:11) The dilemmas behind struggling with your own branding
(10:57) Important mindset & positioning work before jumping into branding
(23:36) The simplest & quickest way to create your branding & web design
(30:24) Common portfolio dilemmas that can hold you back
(34:60) Dilemmas around establishing your services
(39:01) Pricing dilemmas & determining the value of your services
(41:23) The course we recommend for establishing and growing your business

Why Branding Yourself Feels Impossible (And Other Designer Dilemmas)

Cass & Amanda chat about the realities of feeling like an imposter as a freelance designer and business owner and share some key ways to push past your insecurities and feel more confident in your skills and services.

Resources mentioned:

 * Pro Design Business Course [https://foxtrotbranding.com/pro-design-business]
 * Project Pricing Calculator [https://foxtrotbranding.com/design-services-pricing-calculator]
 * The Designers’ Den Community Membership [https://foxtrotbranding.com/designers-den]

All of our courses & resources for designers → FoxtrotBranding.com/education [https://foxtrotbranding.com/education]

Timestamps:
(0:00) Intro
(1:30) What’s the tea at Foxtrot
(2:50) What is imposter syndrome
(9:10) How we’ve experienced imposter syndrome over the years
(21:36) Common triggers for imposter syndrome
(32:04) Key ways to push past imposter syndrome
(46:20) A new community membership for designers

Designers & Imposter Syndrome: Why It Hits Hard & How to Push Past It

Cass & Amanda share why we missed last month’s episode, some life and business challenges we and our designer friends are facing, and practical tips for navigating and being prepared for challenges that require you to step away from your business. Let us know in a comment if you can relate to anything we share or if you have tips that helped you survive a tough time in your entrepreneurship journey.

Resources mentioned:

 * Get your free ticket to The Simply Profitable Designer Summit [https://simplyprofitabledesigner.com/ref/77/] (March 17th-21st & replays are available if these dates have passed)
 * Join our close friends list on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/foxtrotbranding/]
 * Our Templates & Courses for Designers [https://foxtrotbranding.com/education]

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro
1:42 What’s the tea at Foxtrot
13:03 Challenges our design community is facing
22:44 Tips for preparing for and navigating hard times
32:49 Creating diverse and recurring income
34:30 A great free event for designers

Surviving Tough Times in Your Life & Business

Listen in as Cass & Amanda share our top tips and advice for how to plan a low-stress, high-profit year of business, including the common areas designers go wrong in when New Year’s planning and a great free planning workbook. We also spill the tea on how we’ve planned out our service spots, blocked out our calendar weeks and vacations, how we plan to hit our financial goals, and get vulnerable about our plans for supporting our mental health and personal lives.

Have a design or business question you want answered? Leave a comment on this video or episode and we may answer it on a future episode.

Resource mentioned:

 * Map Out Your Year free workbook [https://foxtrotbranding.com/map-out-your-year]
 * Mental health subscription kit from our client (The Pearl Project) [https://thepearlproject.com/]
 * Our templates & courses for designers [https://FoxtrotBranding.com/education]

Our website: FoxtrotBranding.com [https://foxtrotbranding.com/]

Timestamps:
(0:00) Intro
(01:17) The tea about our winter breaks
(08:13) Mistakes to avoid when New Year’s planning
(11:56) Our recommended planning workbook (it’s free!)
(14:29) Our 2025 design service plans & how we got there
(19:00) How we’re time blocking our weeks
(24:50) The vacation time we blocked off
(28:03) Our financial goals & focuses
(33:34) Emotional & mental health goals

How to Plan for More Profit and Less Stress in 2025

Listen in as Cass & Amanda discuss our biggest business and life wins and flops of 2024, embarrassing face-palm moments we had, and what you can audit in your own design business to grow a design business that brings you joy and fulfillment. 

Resources Mentioned:

 * Free Map Out Your Year Workbook for designers [https://foxtrotbranding.com/map-out-your-year-workbook]
 * Our courses & templates for designers [https://foxtrotbranding.com/education]

Our website: FoxtrotBranding.com [https://foxtrotbranding.com/]

Have a design or business question you want answered on a future episode? Leave a comment on this episode or send us a DM on Instagram. [https://instagram.com/foxtrotbranding/]

 Timestamps:
(0:00) Intro
(3:27) Our wins this year
(8:02) Our fails this year
(13:11) Our biggest face-palm moments from this year
(19:00) Why you should audit your business at the end of the year
(24:47) Audit questions to ask (and putting ourselves on the hot seat)
(36:23) A free planning workbook we recommend
(37:56) Listener question

Our Year-end Wins, Flops, & What All Designers Should Audit

Cass & Amanda discuss all the different methods they’ve tried to find brand and web design clients, how to confront your fears around starting a business and marketing, how to make a marketing plan, and what to do once you find prospective clients who are ready to book!

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

 * Get 30% off your first year of HoneyBook [https://share.honeybook.com/foxtrot]
 * Shop our HoneyBook templates [https://www.honeybook.com/templates/partners/cassidy-amanda]
 * Free Guide - Launch Your Design Business in 6 Weeks [https://foxtrotbranding.com/guide]

Find all of our resources for Designers at FoxtrotBranding.com/education [https://foxtrotbranding.com/education]

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Intro
06:01 How we found our first clients
10:20 The vulnerability of starting a business
15:11 How to make a marketing plan
23:43 What to do when you find potential clients
27:06 What is a CRM and why you need it
35:15 Listener question

How to Actually Find Design Clients (and wtf to do next)

Listen in as Cass & Amanda spill the tea on some of the biggest mistakes we made with our first design clients, from missing red flags to scope creep to taking feedback wayyy too personally. Let us know if you relate to any of these and if you have any topic suggestions or questions for a future episode.

Establish a steady & profitable business with Pro Design Business Course! Use code PDBLAUNCH100 at https://ProDesignBusiness.com for $100 off enrollment. Launch discount expires EOD 10/18.

Timestamps:

1:08 What’s the tea at Foxtrot?
4:00 Mistake #1: Super inconsistent project pricing
8:10 Mistake #2: Not having established services or packages
11:20 Mistake #3: Not being prepared for sales calls
16:33 Mistake #4: Allowing scope creep
24:04 Mistake #5:  Missing client red flags
33:10 Mistake #6: Not sending solid contracts
36:10 Mistake #7: Not sending design direction
38:11 Mistake #8: Offering a service you’re not prepared to
39:32 Mistake #9: Taking feedback personally
41:32 Mistake #10: Trying to please clients at all costs
43:10 Our best course recommendation for designers
44:48 Listener Question

Mistakes We Made with Our First Design Clients

Listen in as we spill the tea on the 13 hardest lessons we’ve learned from our 6 years as co-founders of Foxtrot Branding. Let us know your thoughts and what you’d like to hear more about in our next episodes!

0:00 Intro
3:30 Weekend Highlights
5:51 Backstory of how we started our business
6:55 Lesson 1: Time off from work is a non-negotiable
9:12 Lesson 2: Rest is necessary for your creativity and mental health
11:10 Lesson 3: Supporting your mental health as a business owner is crucial
14:40 Lesson 4: Running a business is emotional, and that’s ok
18:53 Lesson 5: The biggest projects aren’t always the best
20:53 Lesson 6: It takes time to figure out your service offerings
23:15 Lesson 7: There are pros and cons to running your own business
28:46 Lesson 8: Being a client to someone else makes us better service providers
30:52 Lesson 9: Collaboration & outsourcing is scary but worth it
34:00 Lesson 10: It’s worth investing in education & community
38:39 Lesson 11: You’ll no limit to how much you can learn
39:25 Lesson 12: There’s a client for every designer (the market isn’t oversaturated)
43:08 Lesson 13: Building a business that will last takes time and intention

Hard Lessons Learned from 6 Years in Business

In this second Spilling The Design Tea Episode, we (Cass & Amanda) discuss how we keep a balanced work schedule including planning around our personalities, our weekly schedule breakdown, and how you can avoid burnout and overworking yourself.

Let us know your thoughts and what you'd like to hear more about in our next episodes!

Our Templates & Courses for Designers: https://FoxtrotBranding.com/education

0:00 Intro
2:21 Weekend Highlights
5:03 The importance of a balanced work schedule
9:39 Our personal work styles
16:36 How our schedules and work environments have evolved
19:38 Our Mon-Fri daily schedule
25:28 Puzzle-piecing your services and desired schedule
28:10 Falling into overworking & burnout
31:28 How we set up life and work to-do lists
36:34 How soloprenuers can keep a balanced schedule
39:06 Answering a question from designer

Creating a Balanced Schedule as a Self-employed Designer

We're trying something new at Foxtrot Branding and starting a podcast (maybe?) to share our thoughts on all things design entrepreneurship and how it relates to our lives. Let us know your thoughts and what you'd like to hear more about in our next episodes!

Resource mentioned: 

-Effortless Client Communication Library: https://foxtrotbranding.com/client-communication-library [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbU9ndEVmYnBSamhVMkFfZjdlVlgxUTV4Vk0xd3xBQ3Jtc0trdjJFRXJfWmxPNkNaWllVYnJsLWZYbFcyMU9qa1BwUUUwdHY2OFZHeDh1Nmh0ZXNEWGhOVWdLOWl2VUZjZDZsdDg4TUYtS04xbWNNQWJSanFidFloRWdsMlU1cDVYQ1BaQ2dYRGVwWTRUNkJaZkg0Zw&q=https%3A%2F%2Ffoxtrotbranding.com%2Fclient-communication-library&v=XNaJCYxbFqE]
-All resources for designers: https://foxtrotbranding.com/education [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbllROHMwQmJGM0NlbVhJSjBodHhWREdxV2RlUXxBQ3Jtc0tubDFJVWZIQ2E4b2ZIUkIwN2NZSlhUVWx0NkZUZzl0U3RjbVd0YU9mbEsta3lGeng1MEZsSzhQMGdqT3dCQzRpXzQ5emZQcmF1TmFWLUhfNXpJWGJjTlFkVzFnSEl4NEdvQTV5d0pac3ZYRko3Vzk5WQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Ffoxtrotbranding.com%2Feducation&v=XNaJCYxbFqE]

Timestamps:

0:00 Introductions
4:24 Weekend Highlights
7:56 Topic Intro
9:07 What We Did On Our Summer Breaks
15:26 The Importance of Rest for Creatives
20:10 How We Schedule Our Breaks
21:52 How We Financially Prepare for Time Off
26:51 When We Do Our Preparation
28:07 Preparing Your Clients & Automations
33:34 Our Client Communication Templates
35:05 Making Time Away a Reality for Yourself
40:10 Listener Questions

How We Take 6+ Weeks Off Each Year

Spill the Tea is a design business podcast by Cass & Amanda, Co-Founders of Foxtrot Branding. Each episode, we spill the tea about navigating our lives as designers and business owners and the challenges and rewards that come along with creative entrepreneurship. Whether you’re an up-and-coming freelancer or a seasoned designer, these casual conversations offer relatable and encouraging insights for design entrepreneurs.