This week’s episode is about getting more efficient in our creative businesses. We’re looking at fixing processes, solving inefficiencies, and learning how to work smarter. It may sound incredibly boring, but we promise this stuff can have a real-world impact on moving your creative business forward. So without further ado, let’s get into the show!

[smart_track_player url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/honestdesigners/HD_134.mp3″ social=”true” social_twitter=”true” social_facebook=”true” social_gplus=”true” title=”Episode 134: Working Smarter in Your Creative Business”]

Watch more of the Honest Designers episodes here: Honest Designers Podcast Playlist. And remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel for regular updates direct to your inbox.


Show Notes for This Episode:

[1:20] Tom shares the reason for this week’s show.
[2:00] 1% improvements can make massive improvements.
[3:00] The British cycling team goes from worst to first.
[4:00] Compounding small improvements over time.
[5:00] Become 50% better than you currently are in just one year.
[6:10] Design Cuts saved $50,000 a year with this plan.
[7:30] Finding the joy in becoming more efficient.
[8:00] Discovering hacks and learning shortcuts is money in the bank.
[9:00] Commit to learning one shortcut a day.
[10:15] Take one step backward to take two steps forward. It’s worth it!
[11:05] Dustin shares Noah Kagan’s time saving tip on your mouse settings.
[12:30] Tom’s timesaving email hack.
[13:10] Look at your day, week, month and year and evaluate your process.
[14:00] Batch work makes the creative process work.
[15:00] Calculate the value on changing a process to find your motivation.
[16:00] Tom walks through his creative process.
[17:30] Slowing down to gain speed.
[18:00] Dustin shares how he focused his effort to see gains with Passive Income.
[19:00] Work ON your business rather than IN it all the time.
[20:20] Tom’s decision to hire someone to help with his social posts.
[21:00] How Tom turns 1 hour into 7 days’ worth of posts.
[22:00] Breaking Creative Block.
[23:00] Not every process needs improving or refining.
[24:00] List your work so you can see where time is spent.
[25:10] Dustin drops a huge truth bomb on work processes.
[26:00] Keep It Simple Stupid.
[27:00] “The World’s Most Dangerous Writing App” is a game changer for Dustin.
[28:00] Dustin dreams up The World’s Most Dangerous Design App.
[29:10] Ian feels he has a few roadblocks preventing him from moving forward.
[30:20] Hire out your pains to make some gains.
[31:15] Dustin shares his process with building products.
[32:15] Apply what you know.
[33:00] The guys encourage Lisa to let go.
[34:00] Recycle posts.
[35:00] Tom explains how Ian is ticking boxes.
[36:20] An overview of Lisa, Tom & Dustin’s focus.
[38:30] Corporate Ian.
[39:40] The worst job on the planet!
[40:00] Serving as Ian’s Project Coordinator.
[41:00] Getting a slap in the face when you visit social media.
[42:00] And that’s a wrap!

Find us on iTunes, Spotify, and Instagram by searching for The Honest Designers Show.

“A must for every creative freelancer (or those aspiring to freelance). Thank you for being so… honest! Such a wealth of information from people I admire who have ‘been there and done that’. Listening to the podcast every week feels like I’m among friends. Can’t wait for more episodes!”AG_GD