Biz Idea Feedback?

[Gymjunkie]

Howdy guys,

here is an idea I'm developing currently and would love to hear some feedback on:

A monthly subscription for graphic design services where you can pay a certain amount of money every month and know that can get unlimited (or limit of to 10 jobs a month) banners/posters/flyers/collateral, with first designs delivered in 72 hrs or less etc..

A restaurant could use it for updating their menus/biz card/loyalty card/flyers without having to hire over and over again. Price would start at $99/month. This would not include big designs like Web site redesign or full Brand identity creation..

What you think guys? Is it something that would make your life easier?

 

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[tafy]

Doesnt sound great to me, you may end up with a bunch of hassle and not many customers. Unlimited? What if someone signs up and wants a flyer every 3 days?

 

[Gymjunkie]

Doesnt sound great to me, you may end up with a bunch of hassle and not many customers. Unlimited? What if someone signs up and wants a flyer every 3 days?

Great point. I was thinking of making a 10 designs/month limit let's say. Also thinking price is low-ish so the designs would be small ones like banners/Facebook timelines/Pinterest graphics/ flyers for cheapest option and then bigger works like website redesign included for something like $299/month. Also, templates and processes can be developed to save time for design etc.

I think pricing is the thing that will eventually be deciding factor and will filter out worst clients (lower pay too much work..) as it grows.

Minimizing such damage could be done with having one designer just doing the same clients over and over again so that there is continuity and templates etc.

 

[Gymjunkie]

Looks like I will be going for higher prices. Still working things out but domain is bought, site is ready for design today and I've found some people who do the same/similar thing..

 

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[DeletedUser12]

Who would be doing the design work? I think this model would be difficult because of places like fiverr and oDesk. I've done freelance video editing for years, and it is becoming very difficult to get people to pay for quality work because of all the competition that will do it for $5.

Also, design, much like editing, is very subjective and creative, and it's impossible to automate hardly any of it. Things like designing logos can be very time consuming. It requires constant oversight, and clients require a lot of attention to make them happy (there will almost always be notes for changes / revisions).

 

[mayana]

How have you established that business owners have a need for this sort of thing?

From a practical perspective, I'm not sure that I would pay for a subscription for this service. I might only need to use it a few times a year, several at the most, and I would save money by paying the designer that I usually work with to do it.

There might be another business model that is similar, but works better. And could be more easily automated.

 

[Gymjunkie]

Who would be doing the design work? I think this model would be difficult because of places like fiverr and oDesk. I've done freelance video editing for years, and it is becoming very difficult to get people to pay for quality work because of all the competition that will do it for $5.

Also, design, much like editing, is very subjective and creative, and it's impossible to automate hardly any of it. Things like designing logos can be very time consuming. It requires constant oversight, and clients require a lot of attention to make them happy (there will almost always be notes for changes / revisions).

I'd be doing some but end goal is to build a team of location independent employees. I would be outsourcing it to Eastern Europe (probably). Yeah it's not super automated process but you can still have processes/templates etc that save time and make it easier.

As far as pricing, yes, there is a big part of the market only wanting cheapest work, but as a freelance designer myself I know it's still possible to compete.There are parts of market that only want the best, or want someone who is not the cheapest but not most expensive too. You choose which market you serve. I went from pricing my book covers at $125 and getting little work to charging $350 and getting clients just as well, if not even more of them. It can also be argued that the bigger the price the better clients you will get. In my experience, it's true more often then not..

 

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[Gymjunkie]

How have you established that business owners have a need for this sort of thing?

From a practical perspective, I'm not sure that I would pay for a subscription for this service. I might only need to use it a few times a year, several at the most, and I would save money by paying the designer that I usually work with to do it.

There might be another business model that is similar, but works better. And could be more easily automated.

By talking with few guys who actually provide the service already. Also even asking around on one forum, there were positive responses.

And don't take it the wrong way, but you're not the target market then. This is for higher-volume companies that have multiple blogs/projects/products/brands etc. As I work on defining the market, it seems that it's for those who almost need to have an in-house designer full-time. But that adds about $50k/yr of overhead + insurance etc.. So calculate the costs monthly.. About $5000. Plus the hassle of hiring/managing and teaching them etc..

Not saying it's a perfect biz model tho, if it was everyone would be doing it.

 

[mayana]

By talking with few guys who actually provide the service already. Also even asking around on one forum, there were positive responses.

And don't take it the wrong way, but you're not the target market then. This is for higher-volume companies that have multiple blogs/projects/products/brands etc. As I work on defining the market, it seems that it's for those who almost need to have an in-house designer full-time. But that adds about $50k/yr of overhead + insurance etc.. So calculate the costs monthly.. About $5000. Plus the hassle of hiring/managing and teaching them etc..

Not saying it's a perfect biz model tho, if it was everyone would be doing it.

Fair enough I wasn't trying to dissuade you from your idea. It's good to pose those sorts of questions, no matter what.

I actually was thinking of it from a small business perspective (I think my head was in a tunnel this morning), in all honesty, so now that you say exactly who the target market is, it makes more sense.

Edit: After more thought, it seems like you could probably charge much more than even a few hundred dollars monthly for this, depending on your whole list of services that you'll offer.

 

[Gymjunkie]

Fair enough I wasn't trying to dissuade you from your idea. It's good to pose those sorts of questions, no matter what.

I actually was thinking of it from a small business perspective (I think my head was in a tunnel this morning), in all honesty, so now that you say exactly who the target market is, it makes more sense.

Edit: After more thought, it seems like you could probably charge much more than even a few hundred dollars monthly for this, depending on your whole list of services that you'll offer.

It's all good. If I was going to charge $69 a month and offer a smaller package, you'd be a possible client for sure. So that discussion is good.

I started off thinking I'd serve solopreneurs/small biz owners too and charge from $99 to $300 or something but looks like there are other options. I'll go for more mid-size biz market probably. It's a very evolving tho, still can totally fail, still can totally miss out..

 

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[dknise]

There are thousands, and I mean thousandssss of these services. So the real question is... what's going to make you different?

 

[Gymjunkie]

There are thousands, and I mean thousandssss of these services. So the real question is... what's going to make you different?

Can you name few of them that stood out to you? I'd love to see as many of them as I can.

I might start out just by being a service for content marketing providers only - meaning only do web graphics first, no print, just stuff for your blog posts, Facebook or Twitter covers, etc. Lowers price somewhat but I'm not afraid to specialize first and then expand. I could also just specialize into specific industry and be specific service for them. I've done that in my freelance services already, works out.

 

[eglassman88]

As the others have stated, there's probably thousands of companies that do this out there. Not to mention, you're trading your time for money, which isn't what the fastlane is about.

When I used to develop websites, I paid for a monthly subscription to one of these services and in the scheme of things just found it not to be worth it.

In my time working for a development firm, I'm willing to be that big companies / corporations (who you think are your target market) will opt to use renowned design firms 99.99% of the time and wouldn't sign up for one of these services.

A lot of the companies out there who run these services provide subpar design work, simply due to the fact that they can't afford to hire high quality designers to do high quality work (if they begin growing), while charging such a low-cost monthly fee. This is the reason these corporations / companies opt for design firms. They're just so much more reliable.

Not to mention, the industry is so cut throat and a lot of these design firms have formed relationships with these corporations throughout the years.

Corporations do have to spend a little more money to get the work done by a firm, but it's done right and to the highest quality every single time. Now, you can say that the work will always be top of the line, etc. , etc., but the reality is, unless you're willing to work for almost no money, that's not going to be the case.

Do yourself a favor and drop this idea ASAP. If you do decide to move forward with it, I wish you the best of luck and let us know how it works out.

 

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[Gymjunkie]

As the others have stated, there's probably thousands of companies that do this out there. Not to mention, you're trading your time for money, which isn't what the fastlane is about.

When I used to develop websites, I paid for a monthly subscription to one of these services and in the scheme of things just found it not to be worth it.

In my time working for a development firm, I'm willing to be that big companies / corporations (who you think are your target market) will opt to use renowned design firms 99.99% of the time and wouldn't sign up for one of these services.

A lot of the companies out there who run these services provide subpar design work, simply due to the fact that they can't afford to hire high quality designers to do high quality work (if they begin growing), while charging such a low-cost monthly fee. This is the reason these corporations / companies opt for design firms. They're just so much more reliable.

Not to mention, the industry is so cut throat and a lot of these design firms have formed relationships with these corporations throughout the years.

Corporations do have to spend a little more money to get the work done by a firm, but it's done right and to the highest quality every single time. Now, you can say that the work will always be top of the line, etc. , etc., but the reality is, unless you're willing to work for almost no money, that's not going to be the case.

Do yourself a favor and drop this idea ASAP. If you do decide to move forward with it, I wish you the best of luck and let us know how it works out.

Well, again, if there are thousands then I'd love to hear some names.. Is there one that stands out? I don't think there is, so there is a chance to become the no.1 name in that particular type of service. Kind of like when one competitors buys out or just outmarkets the competition and becomes one big name. I do agree that big companies will go for local well known design firms but there will be some that don't. There are some that don't. I'll take it up as a challenge on marketing skills!

2nd. I am thinking of charging much higher prices than the original $99 posted here. I agree with you completely, at that price, it would be super hard to get some margins. I've seen companies that charge low and then hope to make money off of high churn rate etc.. Not going for that.

3rd. Fastlane or not? I think any business can be made into Fastlane or at least be well automated.