Want to go deeper? Take the course "Business of Creativity and Design" $69. Over 2 hours of exclusive content. Over 22+ years distilled into one course. academy.thefutur.com/p/the-business-of-creativity-and-design
thanks Michael. If you enjoyed today's episode, you might consider joining the Pro Group. This is pretty much what we do every week. Except you get to talk to us.
Thank you for the perspective shift of how to connect with clients. I have learned to connect instead of trying to convince them of something I can provide.
"Don't get high on your own supply"... Awesome! Yeah, I get that. Having been exposed to Conceptual Development for a loong time, it's been frustrating to put your heart into something that eventually doesn't get through to production. Now I'm figuring out how to do my own stuff, just for me.
This one is pure GOLD. I wish I had seen it ten years ago, it would have saved me a lot of frustration and many sleepless nights. Thank you so much for sharing.
This is my favourite episode so far. Hoping to watch again and make notes this weekend. Thank you so much, such value. I encourage fans to become sustaining members, I never want this content to end!
There was so much value in this episode, one of the best!. Mark Contreras brings a lot of maturity and relevant experience into the conversation. Will you cover the next phase of this client/designer relationship, the longevity of the client and how to maintain the relationship after the project is over. Is this part of The Business of Creativity & Design Course?. Thank you so much The Futur
Big thanks to you teacher Chris, for the drops of knowledge and benefits you are dropping on us. There are too many to count. Keep up the great job. Best wishes to you and theFutur family.
This was a great episode! Currently dealing with clients described in this episode and I will be implementing your suggestions to make a change in my process. Thank you for making this video available to all of us!
Oh my god, the dark knight of the soul seems like the story of my life. This is kinda sad a hard to acknowledge but at the same time incredibly valuable and eye opening. Thank you for this lesson so much
Being at a coworking place full of startups... discussing this video with just 2 people over this weekend makes it apparent how everyone needs what you're saying in a big way. As designers we can really help them and the process graphic is the kickstarter. If we author our process graphic then we can speak it... and they need the same process graphic facilitated then authored for their specialization.
Chris, Aaron , Erica and all the guys from the Futur team. You all just made me see how many mistakes I'm making in my process. You guys definitely deserve yours 10% Cheers from a design student in Brazil!
Listening to this in the middle of the night, working on a design project... it's looking great, but I'm trying to stay grounded because "Don't get high on your own supply" 😅 thanks for always giving great advice!
Chris and Team, killer episode! I found the content very relatable. I thought Mark was a great co-host/contribution to the discussion as well. Thanks, from pdx
Love your channel. Will you guys ever do an episode on how to recover from a bad client experience? We recently finished a contract where nothing went well- bad communication, poor planning on our part, personality clashes with the client, and nobody walked away happy. If things had gone well it would have been a great opportunity for us, but now we're hoping they don't bad mouth us to similar companies in the area. We're definitely calling it a learning experience, although that's partly to make ourselves feel better.
I'm so grateful for all the content that you put out. I've been implementing everything that you've taught, and have had a great response from my new clients, they love the fact that I have a process. Just today I was told by a client "Wow, this is great! You really know what you're talking about". Thank you so much! I'm saving up for CORE 1.9 I can't wait.
One strength of the business terms segment is that it may be used as a mirror with which to focus on aspects of our own businesses and projects. In almost no profession, apart from accounting or business degrees, no one teaches how to run our businesses as designers, artists, or even public speakers, counsellors, or much else.
What makes you different (and better) from others is a clarity in argumentation and sharpness in presentations of ideas. Also, combining the Chris's „Mr. Smart-ass Edgy Professional“ energy with the (mostly) „I thought I knew that“ guests energy creates very dynamic atmosphere. I believe that makes this videos so likable and addicting. If there was only Chris talking stuff, I think it would be a bit boring and flat, despite content being the same. The real life examples are also appropriately chosen. I like this channel so much, even though I'm neither a designer nor a business person. Keep up the good work! P.S. I like all the people out there, but I find Mark & Aaron are the best duo completing Chris. It reminds me of standard manga setups: a sensei with two disciples, one being humble, a bit undisciplined, but willing to learn & other being cool, sharp and always focused on a task. (if you guessed who is who, then my analogy should be correct xD)
Where were you a year ago? Damnit! I send questionnaires! Good point though, it's better late than never knowing this. Thank you! Tweaking our process now.
The business of design. The business aspect. Variety. Yes. Please. big fan. :) Also, as of writing this, I'm still on the 4 minute mark so I'm not sure if the topic is here or not, but.. just a thought: one problem designers have with clients stem from our first contact -> a decent contract / letter of agreement. Now, I know there are a lot of contract templates out there on the interwebs... but I would much prefer a template 'branded' by The Futur.
This video is full of useful information. I watched it live, and everyone ought to watch it, but if we're not Chris with his experience, how do we begin if we're a different type of person? If we try to learn or duplicate his process, we can easily get stuck since we're drawing on a different background that is our own and not Chris's. He can show us his way, which is often THE way, but how can we also follow our way so we can think on our feet in discussion with clients, for instance, and not try to remember what Chris said? I think it starts with having an idea of who we are and I have a possible starting point should you be interested.
Ok, but it's easy enough to follow along with and appreciate what Chris says. It's a different story, however, when we have the script, so to speak, and have to perform, live, with a potential client. We're not all the same, nor do we think the way Chris does, but if we try to be like him, we can grind to a halt. There may be a perfect way to proceed, but we, ourselves and on our own, have to deliver it. Can we have a solid starting point, that is natural for us, on which to build?
Very relevant Chris! We spent a lot of time criticizing clients but we often forget that we have to work with them, not for them. I also highly recommend the « Start With Why » philosophy of Simon Sinek which totally changed the way I present my own agency and interact with clients. Just a question: how is it possible to have never seen Transpotting? ;)
Marie Brun excellent book. I've only heard Simon speak and watched his videos. I better read the book. I work with some young people and I guess they missed the genius behind train spotting.
I too only saw Simon's videos and I have to read his book. Young people, you don't know what you're missing! ;) I highly recommend you to read the original Irvine Welsh's book, raw and brutal!
I don't agree with your Part about questionnaires (23:15). I would definitely recommend to funnel every single potential client through a questionnaire! The purpose is to save you time and let only the good clients in. If you do not have a questionnaire, you are operating with no filter. What I want is to find clients with red flags so I can immediately discard them. If everything is fine, I get into a personal call but thats after I have read the questionnaire.
hi! I think you should include the link to being a sustaining member in the description in the future, took me a bit of browsing and googling to find that option. nevertheless great content, amazing as always.
Recently I have 3 clients, for whom I've gone through the style scope process mentioned here. They respond something like I will know when I see your works, during the process of the style scope.
@@thefutur The scape I made the way you show in your "building a brand" series, some 3-4 different styles that I have in mind when I got the keywords from initial discussion with the customer. Some customers give very clear feedback on why they don't like one style and why they like a style. Some just ask me to design anyway because they couldn't imagine how one style applies on their brand untill they see the design. How to attach an image to a comment here ?
@1:33:40 Chris - Scenario - The decision maker is, umm, lets say Elon Musk. He's starting a new brand to create Widget A. He has a team working to bring Widget A to life, but he make the final decision of the design direction of Widget A. His time is very valuable and will not be present for an initial consultation, or discovery. How SHOULD you proceed? Work with his team, document clearly and create summary packages so his team can present to Elon for final approval? Will that be enough to guide his decision making if his team have directed everything?
work whoever you have access to. we have a few billion dollar clients. we are not working with the ceo directly. we working with the CMO and the marketing team. the CMO will bring it up the chain and get approval as needed. that has worked for us.
How do you actually make that first prototype look unfinished, specially when you work directly on the pc? Keep on doing these videos guys, your cotent is amazingly helpful ;-)
you can create wireframes. you can sketch on paper and then scan it in. up to you. the computer is not the boss of you. you are the boss of the computer.
Hi Chris! I am not sure this the right place to ask but can you please cover the topic "Scaling The Design Agency" & "Challenges in finding business mentors specifically from Design domain" I am also putting this on Facebook. Thanks in advance.
When talking about prioritize, you say “making them commit to 5 top ones, then 3, then 1.” How do you “make them commit” to one? This might be answered in one of your many videos I haven’t watched or noted it yet. I’m curious to see what that step looks like in action.
The Futur ahh, okay so. Breaking it down for them and finding out which of them is the most important one by allowing them the eliminate them in groups. Thanks for such a quick response really appreciate the answer and time taken.
yep. most of what we do is to help our clients make more informed decisions. making decisions is hard and can seem arbitrary. should we use this color vs. that color? does this message "feel" right? should we include this feature/function?
you charge accordingly. but i try to use the whole onion analogy. we peel back one layer at a time ti we get to the core. no surprises (unpleasant kind). otherwise you are wasting money. but hey, if you want to spend it, i got private school i have to pay for.
not necessarily. it's just to get you to become aware of how to talk to clients to facilitate a discovery. you can do it in a number of ways. but CORE is a possible solution.
What about keeping half for free and another half behind min 5 bucks subscription, and post a teaser? Chapo Trap House does it quite successfully. "Voluntary" subsctiptions do work in twitch tho, no paywall also doesn't divide the audience.
Want to go deeper? Take the course "Business of Creativity and Design" $69. Over 2 hours of exclusive content. Over 22+ years distilled into one course.
academy.thefutur.com/p/the-business-of-creativity-and-design
Got it loved it u should to
This episode is one of my new favorites.
The content on this channel keeps getting more valuable. No one does it better. Thank you!
thanks Michael. If you enjoyed today's episode, you might consider joining the Pro Group. This is pretty much what we do every week. Except you get to talk to us.
Going to be walking into a client meeting (5 people! ) in few hours. This session has boosted my confidence x10 times. Thanks Team.
Divya Arien you got this!!
Become a sustaining member. The Futur is counting on you.
www.thefutur.com/product/donate-every-month/
done, officially sustaining member:)
Done!
Thank you for the perspective shift of how to connect with clients. I have learned to connect instead of trying to convince them of something I can provide.
"Don't get high on your own supply"... Awesome! Yeah, I get that. Having been exposed to Conceptual Development for a loong time, it's been frustrating to put your heart into something that eventually doesn't get through to production. Now I'm figuring out how to do my own stuff, just for me.
This one is pure GOLD. I wish I had seen it ten years ago, it would have saved me a lot of frustration and many sleepless nights. Thank you so much for sharing.
YAY! It's still here.
Ya, thank god I just woke up!
This is my favourite episode so far. Hoping to watch again and make notes this weekend. Thank you so much, such value. I encourage fans to become sustaining members, I never want this content to end!
Thanks Claire. We're going to need a lot more people to step up. Otherwise, this will become a member exclusive channel.
There was so much value in this episode, one of the best!. Mark Contreras brings a lot of maturity and relevant experience into the conversation. Will you cover the next phase of this client/designer relationship, the longevity of the client and how to maintain the relationship after the project is over. Is this part of The Business of Creativity & Design Course?. Thank you so much The Futur
Understand it? I live on it, AND there were times, where I really gave back the clients the money for real! THANK YOU!
Big thanks to you teacher Chris,
for the drops of knowledge and benefits you are dropping on us.
There are too many to count.
Keep up the great job.
Best wishes to you and theFutur family.
This was a great episode! Currently dealing with clients described in this episode and I will be implementing your suggestions to make a change in my process. Thank you for making this video available to all of us!
Oh my god, the dark knight of the soul seems like the story of my life. This is kinda sad a hard to acknowledge but at the same time incredibly valuable and eye opening. Thank you for this lesson so much
You're very welcome. time to write a new story right?
Oh absolutely :) thanks Futur
Been writing pages full of content from this video. Absolutely amazing, thanks team!
the follow up to this might make your head explode then.
Missed this live but watching it and taking notes.
Being at a coworking place full of startups... discussing this video with just 2 people over this weekend makes it apparent how everyone needs what you're saying in a big way. As designers we can really help them and the process graphic is the kickstarter. If we author our process graphic then we can speak it... and they need the same process graphic facilitated then authored for their specialization.
Chris, Aaron , Erica and all the guys from the Futur team. You all just made me see how many mistakes I'm making in my process. You guys definitely deserve yours 10%
Cheers from a design student in Brazil!
trust me. you are not alone. time for us to change the way you work with clients.
Listening to this in the middle of the night, working on a design project... it's looking great, but I'm trying to stay grounded because "Don't get high on your own supply" 😅 thanks for always giving great advice!
Chris and Team, killer episode! I found the content very relatable. I thought Mark was a great co-host/contribution to the discussion as well. Thanks, from pdx
WOW!! I have never seen this legendary video before! Thanks a lot ♥
Man I needed this.
Thanks!!
I would love to see Mark on more shows. Great input from him.
I like his energy too...very chill
he is a cool cat. we'll have him on more, but he's only in the office a few days a week.
I follow Ramit keenly, there is a lot of value in his newsletters, thy do not apply to me anymore, but i share with others.
Wow, this is sooooo juicy ! Really hope time goes back and I could watch this show before I start my studio !
thanks a lot for your time and great show, love to take the knowledge you share with me
glad to help.
Love your channel. Will you guys ever do an episode on how to recover from a bad client experience? We recently finished a contract where nothing went well- bad communication, poor planning on our part, personality clashes with the client, and nobody walked away happy. If things had gone well it would have been a great opportunity for us, but now we're hoping they don't bad mouth us to similar companies in the area. We're definitely calling it a learning experience, although that's partly to make ourselves feel better.
I'm so grateful for all the content that you put out. I've been implementing everything that you've taught, and have had a great response from my new clients, they love the fact that I have a process. Just today I was told by a client "Wow, this is great! You really know what you're talking about". Thank you so much!
I'm saving up for CORE 1.9 I can't wait.
congrats. people are often surprised when they try the things that we teach and it works!
One strength of the business terms segment is that it may be used as a mirror with which to focus on aspects of our own businesses and projects. In almost no profession, apart from accounting or business degrees, no one teaches how to run our businesses as designers, artists, or even public speakers, counsellors, or much else.
I am watching this episode twice. It's important.
then you are twice as smart!
This is incredible, thank you so much!! Also it still here 25 hours hence. YAY!!!
you saw it. that's all that counts right? who knows? it may disappear.
What makes you different (and better) from others is a clarity in argumentation and sharpness in presentations of ideas. Also, combining the Chris's „Mr. Smart-ass Edgy Professional“ energy with the (mostly) „I thought I knew that“ guests energy creates very dynamic atmosphere. I believe that makes this videos so likable and addicting. If there was only Chris talking stuff, I think it would be a bit boring and flat, despite content being the same. The real life examples are also appropriately chosen. I like this channel so much, even though I'm neither a designer nor a business person. Keep up the good work!
P.S. I like all the people out there, but I find Mark & Aaron are the best duo completing Chris. It reminds me of standard manga setups: a sensei with two disciples, one being humble, a bit undisciplined, but willing to learn & other being cool, sharp and always focused on a task. (if you guessed who is who, then my analogy should be correct xD)
MeyPlaylists we have good energy together. More mark it is.
Chris sharing your video everywhere. Love you all, aaron, molly (think your smile is the cutest) chris. You are appreciated in the world :)
thanks!
LMAO "I know that feel bro" Meme!!
Chris, I totally caught your Trainspotting reference!
nice!
totally true, BIG thank for help guys :D
Where were you a year ago? Damnit! I send questionnaires! Good point though, it's better late than never knowing this.
Thank you! Tweaking our process now.
[the other] Tim Wong time to change the process.
This episode is great. it's a real mind opener. I am considering to go deep taking your Business of Design course asap.
Thank you.
this is gold.
The business of design. The business aspect. Variety. Yes. Please. big fan. :) Also, as of writing this, I'm still on the 4 minute mark so I'm not sure if the topic is here or not, but.. just a thought: one problem designers have with clients stem from our first contact -> a decent contract / letter of agreement.
Now, I know there are a lot of contract templates out there on the interwebs... but I would much prefer a template 'branded' by The Futur.
This video is full of useful information. I watched it live, and everyone ought to watch it, but if we're not Chris with his experience, how do we begin if we're a different type of person? If we try to learn or duplicate his process, we can easily get stuck since we're drawing on a different background that is our own and not Chris's. He can show us his way, which is often THE way, but how can we also follow our way so we can think on our feet in discussion with clients, for instance, and not try to remember what Chris said? I think it starts with having an idea of who we are and I have a possible starting point should you be interested.
yes. i agree. you have to find your own way, but there is a path and it's not as mysterious.
Ok, but it's easy enough to follow along with and appreciate what Chris says. It's a different story, however, when we have the script, so to speak, and have to perform, live, with a potential client. We're not all the same, nor do we think the way Chris does, but if we try to be like him, we can grind to a halt. There may be a perfect way to proceed, but we, ourselves and on our own, have to deliver it. Can we have a solid starting point, that is natural for us, on which to build?
Cheers guys!!!
Very nice stream once again...
Even better when Mark Contreras is here from my point of vue :-)
All the best !
he was a great addition.
Thanks, Blaise!
Mark Contreras Thank YOU !
Please keep this video available somewhere, even if its under a paid service. I can see myself coming back to this often to reference it.
we will keep it here.
RT, this content is DIAMONDS
Gold struck! at 37:45 and 46:40
I didn't get a notification when you were live, checking it out now though.
hit the bell notification
Yeah, thought I had done that already. Great show, really valuable information and good reminder of sticking to a process! Thanks, you guys rock!
Thanks Felone
A superb video that we can relate to alot..
thanks!
cool man, i have been in the situations Chris is talking right now.
I LOVE IT !
Very relevant Chris! We spent a lot of time criticizing clients but we often forget that we have to work with them, not for them. I also highly recommend the « Start With Why » philosophy of Simon Sinek which totally changed the way I present my own agency and interact with clients. Just a question: how is it possible to have never seen Transpotting? ;)
Marie Brun excellent book. I've only heard Simon speak and watched his videos. I better read the book.
I work with some young people and I guess they missed the genius behind train spotting.
I too only saw Simon's videos and I have to read his book. Young people, you don't know what you're missing! ;) I highly recommend you to read the original Irvine Welsh's book, raw and brutal!
I don't agree with your Part about questionnaires (23:15). I would definitely recommend to funnel every single potential client through a questionnaire! The purpose is to save you time and let only the good clients in. If you do not have a questionnaire, you are operating with no filter. What I want is to find clients with red flags so I can immediately discard them. If everything is fine, I get into a personal call but thats after I have read the questionnaire.
okay. we just use humans to filter clients. but at the prices we're charging, clients aren't going to fill out a form.
hi! I think you should include the link to being a sustaining member in the description in the future, took me a bit of browsing and googling to find that option.
nevertheless great content, amazing as always.
you are right. we will do that. thanks for the reminder.
Gold Jerry! Gold!
Recently I have 3 clients, for whom I've gone through the style scope process mentioned here. They respond something like I will know when I see your works, during the process of the style scope.
aren't you showing them the styles capes the way we teach? can you show me an example of one you've done?
@@thefutur The scape I made the way you show in your "building a brand" series, some 3-4 different styles that I have in mind when I got the keywords from initial discussion with the customer. Some customers give very clear feedback on why they don't like one style and why they like a style. Some just ask me to design anyway because they couldn't imagine how one style applies on their brand untill they see the design. How to attach an image to a comment here ?
Ty Chris
You're very welcome Mike!
I miss this type of content 🥺 please go back to the old days of value content, some of us miss it so much!
When the Iphone ringtone came... My reaction was same as Chris, lol.
'Enter Dark Night Of The Soul' 😹 #TotallyRelate
Chris, I would like yo talk something about strategy, I am very interested in this subject. Tx
@1:33:40 Chris - Scenario - The decision maker is, umm, lets say Elon Musk. He's starting a new brand to create Widget A. He has a team working to bring Widget A to life, but he make the final decision of the design direction of Widget A. His time is very valuable and will not be present for an initial consultation, or discovery. How SHOULD you proceed? Work with his team, document clearly and create summary packages so his team can present to Elon for final approval? Will that be enough to guide his decision making if his team have directed everything?
work whoever you have access to. we have a few billion dollar clients. we are not working with the ceo directly. we working with the CMO and the marketing team. the CMO will bring it up the chain and get approval as needed. that has worked for us.
Ok cool, because that seems to be my situation on every proposal.
I am a little late on this live show, but I have a question.
How to deliver a winning logo to a client that says "I'll know it when I see it"?
How do you actually make that first prototype look unfinished, specially when you work directly on the pc? Keep on doing these videos guys, your cotent is amazingly helpful ;-)
you can create wireframes. you can sketch on paper and then scan it in. up to you. the computer is not the boss of you. you are the boss of the computer.
Hi Chris! I am not sure this the right place to ask but can you please cover the topic "Scaling The Design Agency" & "Challenges in finding business mentors specifically from Design domain" I am also putting this on Facebook. Thanks in advance.
Jjaja guys mae in spanish is some sort of abbreviature for maestro (master) loved that
I get no results when I look for the Futur Network group and the Chris Do page :(
facebook.com/BizOfDesign/
facebook.com/groups/FuturOfWork/
SWAG = Stunning Wild Amazing Guess ;)
i have faced most of the client issues
now
watch out clients
Im the NEW me
that game of thrones drawing is insane!
It’s dope!
it would be great if you make a vlog about "THE PROCESS" setup with all computer,cable ,broadcast settings (hardware n software) #watchedprevioustour
When talking about prioritize, you say “making them commit to 5 top ones, then 3, then 1.” How do you “make them commit” to one? This might be answered in one of your many videos I haven’t watched or noted it yet. I’m curious to see what that step looks like in action.
It’s a process of elimination. They arrive at the best choice
The Futur ahh, okay so. Breaking it down for them and finding out which of them is the most important one by allowing them the eliminate them in groups. Thanks for such a quick response really appreciate the answer and time taken.
yep. most of what we do is to help our clients make more informed decisions. making decisions is hard and can seem arbitrary. should we use this color vs. that color? does this message "feel" right? should we include this feature/function?
What do you do when you have a client that insists in seeing things in a high-fidelity? This is for print design projects. :/
you charge accordingly. but i try to use the whole onion analogy. we peel back one layer at a time ti we get to the core. no surprises (unpleasant kind). otherwise you are wasting money. but hey, if you want to spend it, i got private school i have to pay for.
Jajaj I thought the C- Suite was the Chris-Suite...
haha.
This is about CORE Kit isn't it?
not necessarily. it's just to get you to become aware of how to talk to clients to facilitate a discovery. you can do it in a number of ways. but CORE is a possible solution.
01:24:00 😂😂😂😂😂
is that a red panda ballpen? HAHA
What about keeping half for free and another half behind min 5 bucks subscription, and post a teaser? Chapo Trap House does it quite successfully. "Voluntary" subsctiptions do work in twitch tho, no paywall also doesn't divide the audience.
Mars Vai let's see how this works.
Put everything behind the pay wall and see what happens.
what do you predict will happen?
People will pay.
i would like to become a sustaining member, but i dont have a paypal account. Is there any other way to contribute?
yannick visser credit card works.
I thought Aaron got fired?
nah. we're just messing around.
Kesey Badgett aaron is the most chill guy in the show, wouldn’t be the same without him.
Tony get the yayo
"Mae/Maje" is the equivalent of "dude" or "man" in Central America
Hi guys, that language is Spanish
it´s ok, i will give you my money.