Running a business1 demands that you come up with good arguments, make a clear decision, and stick with it for a while. Clarity is good. I have many discussions with my business partner2 about what kind of company we want to be.
One of the decisions we made is to focus on output. When done right, it can allow you to focus on what matters: do good work. Not time sheets. Not budget reporting. Not busy work. Real work.
Once you focus on output, you can find your value. As I mentioned before3, I am in the knowledge industry. When someone hires me and my colleagues, they buy insights and expertise, not time. That expertise can take many shapes. A business might want to learn how to build a design team. Or they might ask us to design a new application from scratch. In any case, our value is what we deliver – a solution to their problem.
The way you sell a project can help to set you up for success or failure. Save for a handful of legacy contracts, we have moved away from time sheets and hourly billing. We focus on output.
It can be hard to explain. It takes time to get used to. It takes time to sell it. The right clients understand the way this works and why it is, in the end, better for them. Because when we can focus on work, the work benefits and their business benefits.
1 I run an interface design company called Mono
2 Check out the website of Johan
3 Also read a related post: The Process