Studio Update #1
It’s been a great month, lots of good feedback on the new content, invoices paid, and new opportunities to share with y'all.
It’s been a great month, lots of good feedback on the new content, invoices getting paid, been exercising lots more via cycling. Great vibes. Also, I have been figuring out how to balance a 9–5 WFH role as a Lead Designer and running my own studio lots better in the recent than I have in the past few years.
This leads me to this months Studio Update.
I was featured in a newsletter this week, Indie Hustle
I got a cool opportunity to be featured in Indie Hustle recently, which is a newsletter dedicated to showcasing independent creators and how they make a living. BTW, those are mostly really old photos — I didn’t expect them to add imagery lmao. All good, I appreciate the chance to share my story with his readers.
Check that out here:
Moving Toward a Productized Model, Maybe
First of all, moving from custom pricing to productized pricing. I should have done this long ago when I was testing it for "Crafted Essentials" which was a sub-branch of Crafted Studios, designed for small businesses, non-profits, and solo founders looking for a cost effective option to web design. Without templated options and thrown together shit, of course.
I want leads to come through, look at the work, look at the price, and make a decision (or not) and that's what it is.
I’ll still do custom quotes for larger orgs (universities, government entities, etc.) if it’s asked for, but otherwise fixed pricing has made things way more predictable for both me and the client. It’s cleaner, easier to sell, and it pre-qualifies leads.
Only Collaborating with Specialists
I’m realizing that when I work with people who are very good at one thing, that’s when the best work is made. For our upcoming projects, I’m bringing in some specialists who have an amazing eye for design. I like the idea of working in parallel with specialists since they don’t require much time upfront to help out with initial concepts myself. This puts time back in my hands to tackle other things.
Where we’re headed
I sometimes wonder how I want Crafted to look. I sometimes wonder if I should change it’s name entirely. I sometimes wonder how I want to work and if we’re building the right habits today to shape tomorrow. I wonder lots of things, but ultimately I want to get to a place where we’re working on exciting projects, with the right people, and in the best way possible. Whether that’s fully customized projects or packaging our work. Only time will tell.
Content Volume
YouTube as been an experiment. I really like making videos and will continue to do so, I just need to figure out the volume of which I’ll be putting content out. Once a week is relatively easy for a newsletter — but to pair that with YT content is kind of insane. Here’s the thing, I don’t want to flood the timelines with content just for the sake of content. I want it to be insightful, valuable, etc. In terms of the business of design, there’s only so much I can put out without being redundant. I definitely don’t want to become someone who sits back and gives think-pieces on the state of anything (God no), but I’ll figure it out.
Do me a favor, if you’ve liked the recent content - let me know.
What we're working on
Web apps for an HBCU
Lots of monthly client updates and support
Crafted Studios site (I swear this will be done one day) but we’re getting close
Final Thought
This season is about working smarter. I don’t want to build things that drain me—I want to build systems that support the life I’m creating.
Simpler processes. More aligned collaborators. Cleaner offers.
Peace.
—Dexter