I love this question from designer Jan-Paul Koudstaal in response to my previous newsletter issue.
What if part of the fun of running a design business is not knowing what‘s next?
To which I say:
If it’s fun for you, keep doing it!
JP doesn’t mince words:
I’ve designed websites, apps, even posters and magazines for NGOs, a national park, agriculture, eCommerce, even the Dutch government — and honestly, I love the surprise of it.
Like JP, many business owners love running a business that brings them things they couldn’t have predicted. That joy is often the reason people go independent in the first place.
Others, however, hate surprise in business. One of the biggest things I hear that my students?
Stability. A steady stream of income and clients.
I don’t think everyone needs to have a narrow positioning. Narrow positioning isn’t mandatory.
It’s a solution to a problem: people don’t have enough specific proof that you can help them and therefore don’t hire you.
If you don’t have that problem, you don’t need that solution.
Narrow positioning reduces ambiguity for your prospects—and for you. If you’re fine with the ambiguity (and so are your prospects) then there’s nothing wrong with staying broad.
JP asks:
Is there a way to stay open, say yes to the unexpected, and still build a clear, recognizable position?
Yes! Two main ways:
One way is to not need a lot of clients. If you can keep demand much higher than supply—even two clients waiting when you only need one—you don’t need hyper-focus to thrive.
Another way is best demonstrated by brands who don’t narrow at all by who they serve but still seem to have a clear, recognizable position:
What do they have in common?
Being the lowest-cost provider, deployed at scale.
Clearly, this works! Walmart has been the highest-grossing company in the world and has been for 13 straight years. They don’t narrow at all; anyone can shop at Walmart.
If you want to stay open but have a recognizable position, doing high volume of a low-priced offer would absolutely work.
But “low price, high volume” sounds like the opposite of what so many business owners want. If I had a nickel for every time I heard a studio owner wish for “a small handful of clients who pay really well”…
After all, who wants to be the Walmart of design?
I love JP’s question because they’re challenging provocations, but also because of who’s asking it. He’s as talented, humble, and smart as they come. So when I say this next part, it’s with the deepest admiration and respect:
Get a life!
(I kid, I kid.)
Look at JP’s Instagram. it’s full of design, music, pizza crawls, family trips, travel, and more.
And that’s the point.
Management consultant Peter Drucker said, “The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.”
American economist Milton Friedman said, “There is one and only one social responsibility of business: to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits.”
If you get variety and range from your business, that’s awesome. But for many of us, business is the hardest place to find that.
An easier strategy, in my opinion? Run the most profitable business you can spend your money and time buying variety elsewhere.
Maybe the question isn’t how to keep curiosity in your business, but whether business is the right container for it at all.
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