The best thing I've done for myself is to go back and rewatch some of this content. I was going through a slump and depression was setting in and I remembered days when I was grinding and building and absorbing all this knowledge. Thanks to you and the team for steadily putting out such inspiring and educational content.

I know this video is almost 3 years old, but as an 18 year old looking to pursue a degree in Visual Communications/Graphic Design, the more videos of yours' that I watch, the more I think I should minor in a business degree.

Love this interview. No beating around the bush and real legit answers.

Thanks everyone for commenting. I will do an episode on bidding. What industries do you work in? What are the sizes of projects your bidding on? What specific challenges are you having? Post questions you want answers to and I'll answer all of them on video.

Make sure to subscribe to our channel to be notified of new episodes. Chris is working on the bidding episode as so many of you have requested.

This is one of my favorite episodes ever. The questions were what I would want to ask (business mistakes and pricing). The answers were very helpful. Chris Do is a great speaker. I loved the real examples, especially the pricing/bid example. Great set, topics, answers, camera ops, editing, etc.... This channel is always giving excellent, high quality content. Thank you!!!!!!

Totally hooked on these videos, I've had them running all morning! They answer all the questions that are almost impossible to find definitive answers for, especially tough if you're freelance and work alone. I think this has changed how I'll deal with clients forever, thank you!

I used to find online design entrepreneurial style youtube videos somewhat horrible. But listening to your videos while working has been a guilty pleasure of mine for the past year

If you want to see the follow up to this in-person join us in Santa Monica for the live taping. Event details here: www.eventbrite.com/myevent?eid=25637748195

I am running an animation studio in the 15th year now and this is a great and very useful talk here. This should be a core part of all type of creative studies to stop all mistakes artists and creatives do when they slowly and painfully transform from a passionated hobbyist to a professional and realize that creativity, skills and talent is a serious business. It's all about money. And money gives you (creative) freedom to run a successful business and healthy life.

Watching this after covid-19 layoff.

This has helped me a ton, I work in software and I usually underbid on projects, where I end by giving myself a small salary just to keep things running. Now I understand why many of the online calculator nearly take 50% over what I do.

For me as an introvert and freelancer, you are god send. Thank u for being a model not by talks, but through action and results from your life. Deep gratitude sir.

Recently I've decided to move on from my well-paying current job and reboot my father's old design firm. One of the major factors for being confident on taking this risk is knowing I have access to quality knowledge on this channel. Thanks, guys!

I never get sick of that intro for some reason (which isn't normal..). I feel like it encompasses your friendship, business relationship, and personalities all in one short clip.. Anyway! finally getting around to watching this. Really enjoyed this. Definitely one of my favorites. As for the bidding question, would definitely like a video more about the bidding process. I have spoken to a few local web design companies and they are similar in that they don't even mark up for copy work that they hire out. Copy usually holds up a site launch or project and can be such a headache, so they will actually just connect the copywriter with the client (talking smaller company having to hire freelancer copywriter). They only charge a markup if they are actually managing the copywriter (as in project management) and they will roll that into the price of the contract. Would love to hear some feedback on something like that, as copy is very often times a pain-point for a project especially when clients "claim" will supply copy, yeah, we all know that never happens. Great questions and answers. Really looking forward to more videos like this and love that you and Jose are so active in the comment section. You guys are definitely building an online community.

I switched directions in my career at the late age of 51 and graduated with my BFA in Graphic and Web design. These episodes are invaluable to me as a newbie and n the industry and have helped me understand so many concepts and business development standards that I would never acquire on my own with little experience in the field. Chris....you are a Monster speaker! Bringing me all of the pertinent information I need in an innovative and cutting edge format. You are the Man!

I'm part of a new design company and I am so glad I found this video. I can't thank Chris Do enough for the amazing insights!

Chris you really are a pillar of inspiration and motivation to me (clearly you are to thousands of designers & others) but I make sure to watch your videos EVERY SINGLE DAY! Even when im working I have something playing of T.F in the background. I believe even if I am totally focused & in the zone creating something, the words you speak are planting positive creative seeds subconsciously in my mind. I am 70% self taught in design, which includes you & your teams videos..The schooling I did in field of design was many years ago, but I dont believe that matters, if you got it you got it. Creativity comes naturally to me, and ive now been running my own small GD biz for about 2 years! I have a solid base of clients, over half of them are return clients, & then the rest word of mouth, this is my full time gig & I dont pay for any advertising whatsoever. All my reach is organic, & I network with other small biz peeps, it just seems to happen. Always looking for ways to expand & improve my business & services, im obsessed with ideas & implementing them. I am so grateful & blessed to be doing what I LOVE, love doesn't even describe how I feel, im super PASSIONATE & when im having a moment, I look for your videos that pick me up & get me back into the GRIND! Always works! Right now, im under charging for what I offer, my value - so im stepping up my game. Anyway, I know this is an old video back from 2015 but ive watched it twice now & you are just super helpful, knowledgable & smart , dont mean to blow smoke up your arse but just saying it how it is lol :) - ill leave you with a saying of mine, theres prob similar out there but I live by this "Theres no 9 to 5 , late nights & early rise, we grind to thrive " - Loz @ LOZ CHAI DESIGN xx (Australia)

Chris, you blew my mind by teaching how to bid. From $5k to $20.5K That was awesome

Chris Do just dropped some serious knowledge. Thank you so damn much for this episode!!! I've been stressed to the gills, working the past two months into freelance, and have been freaking the hell out about managing clients/scoring contracts and had no clue how to bid appropriately. This episode just lit up my foggy path. I need to watch this a few more times. I hope you doing a Deep Dive on Bidding /Part 2.

IDK what's cooler...all this information about starting & running a design business OR the fact that you have a Danny Way Alien Workshop board!! The KA board by Evan Hecox is just an added bonus!

I ve been in the design/advertising business for a long time, about 15 years, but have somehow missed this series entirely. It's really well put together & has some great advice for younger people starting out, something not often found in KZfaq vids. Seems like most vids are just about ego & Net fame. Anyway, great job by your whole team. I'm stoked to keep watching them today while I'm supposed to be working. - 1 topic suggestion which may already be done...The thing I get asked all the time by new designers is how do I find all my work. Where are all these jobs coming from? I get a lot of referrals but new designers or agencies obviously don't have that luxury.

I'm going to start a business with one of the most ambitious person I know. And your videos are really helping us to get started and inspires us to dream big and work hard.

These questions are well-thought out ! The answers were spot on and truthful. No BS. Just useful information. Thanks for sharing!

I am 25 years old industrial designer working on advertising company in Turkey. I want to found my company as always but i thought i should learn the bussiness first i am trying to teach myself everything about bussiness, then i discovered you and addicted your videos its really helpfull makes me focused.

man I love how chill you are in this video!

that moment when you realize you just came across a gem. Bro this is amazing series of informative videos.

This is one of my favourite channels. This man is a visionary. I love this.

I think the process has the best intro yet

Hey, What's up! 2:34AM your videos are keeping me up way past my bedtime, BUT I can't really stop watching - Firstly I'm absolutely in love with the pricing structure of this episode. I've honestly never seen anything like it and I think that there are a number of people out there who have been using this Blueprint to cost their "Build You're Social Media Business" Tutorials which the charge hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for people to enrol in. 5k to 20k Dollars, let's talk about that. Living in South Africa, I think that the only people who have the capacity to charge those amounts are agencies because of the South African, 3rd world mindset (not for long, these are totally going to be my agencies going rates). You see I KNOW that in the South African industry, almost everyone I know has adopted the mindset of feeling bad about charging people a fair amount of money because they feel as though the client will not be able to find value in their work. The Truth you're bringing to the table is that YES " by saying NO, you're making room for bigger clients". The BIG difference for myself as a creative is without a doubt experience with work which is why I'll be taking the time to go through as much of your content as possible, and creating my own success blueprint which will function within a South African context. It's not that I can't go and start meeting with clients immediately, it's more along the lines of what I've seen so far on Futur. I feel as though I would only be lying to myself if I were to perform strategy for a client BUT I was not up to scratch with my own company strategy. I don't want to become a brand who doesn't practise what they preach and I want my clients to see that I am able to perform the services I will be offering them, for myself. This will include a Mission Statement (I think that was the first few minutes of the video @ ). I completely agree on how difficult that is, however, I like the value profile model - WHO, WHAT, HOW TO SOLVE. Just to clarify on the middle segment - Accounting for error - (@ ) - I have charged somebody (MORE LIKE THEY SIMPLY PAID ME) - R2500 OR about $200 to film for 3 days and perform an edit which took me about 3 months to complete. I have also worked on projects until completion for free with NO way to redeem my earnings from the client. What I've learned, are the different ways it hurts. You see, because I was working at the time I didn't realise just how bad it was, however, I now think more critically about the Freelancer who is sitting at home and will accept minimum pay to perform extraordinary amounts of work because they are desperate for the business. I can confidently say that after being a part of the process for a good few videos now (50+), I will NOT be held responsible for the degradation of creatives by reducing my rates & I will inform other creatives of their disservice to the community by undercharging and undervaluing other creatives work during the bidding process, which even I have been guilty of in the past. Little did I know just how shallow minded I was being. However, I am older and wiser now. 3:02AM I have work in the morning - thank you all for always bringing the STEAK, I will probably be writing one of these long ass comments in one of your videos which I will watch tomorrow. Cheers.

Watching to Chris Do under that light is instant peace

4 years later, and I am from another country (argentina). And this video is useful as hell. Lots of great information really down to earth. Thank you

I recently jumped into the freelance world. It can be tough at times. This channel has provided so much valuable insight and knowledge to me. Huge fan. Thanks!

I just graduated from Industrial Design, and im starting up my design business firm. You sir, are my sensei! Thank you so much for your tips and knowledge, it's helping me quite a lot.

Mr. Do, your philosophy in the business of design, inspired us to incorporate. And it works!!! we felt more confident than ever! and can mark up (reasonably) with our clients :) so a massive grateful thank you!

I love how much you trained urself up and how passionate you are. you should definitely gimme a slice of that^^. I liked the "How To Price Design Services & Make More Money"-Episode the most, cause you constantly emphasized the value to the client and how that should affect your offer, rather than throwing out a hourly rate in combination with a rough time assessment. Actually I just give some feedback now, cause this episode covers a little bit of bidding, which is calculated by the hourly rate * days = subtotal. One of the enlightening moments from the "How To Price.."-Episode was the fact that this model is kinda unfitting for that sort of work. I feel now like if it is sorta inconsistent. I hope you could light me up a little bit. Greetz comes Berlin

no other videos like this online. epically useful, you have demystified so much of the process

God this is gold. Seriously Chris your changing my life man, I'll own a successful shop and large part will be thanks to you thanks man. I'll send that 10% lol

LOVE THIS! I'm a Brand Consulting and this video is exactly what I was needing. Thank you!

Wow! Took a lot from this episode. Advice is still gold! Thank you Chris Do. Loved the straightforward interview. Wish to have that kind of communication strategy too!

Thank you Chris for taking the time and sharing your knowledge to those in the world who need advice, like me , in the process of starting my own design studio!

I can't stop looking at the Evan Hecox skateboard and the art piece. The Danny Way AWS board is also great :D love the information thank you

Chris you guys are on a big time roll. Awesome episode, I plan to watch it twice but while I watched the first time a question popped up for me. You stated that really, you could sell your company and really based on your skills and confidence continue to make a living. The question I have for you is if you were starting again with 20/20 being your asset, how would you build your business today ? Would you build a team and focus on sales ? Or would you keep it small and mobile using only what you needed to get the jobs done ? Or would you take on most of the work yourself ?

Thank you. I'm starting to freelance as a graphic designer and this helps a lot.

I'm learning SOOOOO MUCH from this channel!! So glad I subscribed!!! Thank you guys!!!

i loved this episode so much. So much of those questions that i have been longing for an answer has been clearly given here. Thank you so much for this. Means a lot

This was great, man. Appreciating The Futur content very much and finding it motivational. Great job guys

Awesome episode! Best part: I'll show "the viewers" how to bid. :)

This episode is the best! Right now I am really in a lost space here in the Creative Industry in Indonesia. Maybe it's because I'm just a fresh graduate, but I just don't like to keep working for a company or someone. I wanted to start my own business and be something more higher than just sitting in front of a PC or a workstation and just "click, click, click" (no offense to other designers). Thank you for the great content!

Waiting for the day when there will be someone like Chris, but teaching for Industrial Designers. Still, this has been extremely useful, since graphic design is my side hustle.

Just want to thank you and send some good energy your way, I truly appreciate your insights on the design industry!

one of the best education channel in youtube and in the internet

It takes knowledge and experience to feel more confidence in what you do in that career to explain yourself well and to get your messages across to sell yourself, as you know.

Thank you so much Chris, I loved the bidding table and combining all the costs that I don't usually think of. The idea of what would it cost for someone else to do the work is brilliant - definitely takes me out of the 'do it all myself' model. I loved all these questions and really enjoy the way you succinctly answer them. Thanks heaps!

This was seriously amazing +Chris Do. Really to the point. We would love to hear more details about bidding and how to justify your bid to the client.

Helpful, informative, easy to follow. Thanks a ton Chris!

Thank you so much Chris for taking the time to teach us about the Business of Design...your lessons are very helpful in my career! I appreciate it very much. Cheers!

Over the past couple of days I've watched a lot of your videos - and I'm really impressed with all of them, especially this one. I've been looking for a lot of answers and I may have found them. Thank you ever so much.

Wow, this is an incredible episode. I love it. I thank you for the information, and the insightful, it has helped me a lot. Thank you very much.

You are brutally straightforward, but to me you make scenes. I can understand you, Best mentor one can wish. Thank you.

You guys are blowing my mind. Thanks for awesome advice. Go Chris!

Congrats on this episode guys. Always a fantastic job but this one in particular was amazing. Finally someone who is not afraid of talking numbers. And as always, production value is topline.

I agree with those who say this interview is a great help and concisely delivered. I'm a UK based designer who is looking at starting up a product development practice and this puts allot more reassurance in my little steps.

Man this is such a useful talk here. Thank you so much Chris Do and team at the Futur. You guys are amazing.

Definitely one of the best videos. Straight to it! Keep it up guys!

I was a creative hippy now I feel more like a business man. Thank you!

Love this episode, hearing your views has suddenly enlightened me. Thanks.

This episode feels like it was directed straight at me. Great one. Thanks, Chris and team

3 years late but this video is great. I own a construction company but i do design as a hobby, and the business side is just the same.

Such a powerful episode.

Great episode! This is what I needed to hear and learn when I first started my design business (thou I lost at least 5-figures due to non paying clients) wished that the business of design was taught in school. Even now that I am an educator myself, I still got so much to learn and pass onto my students. Thanks you so much @TheSkoolNetwork for your videos and words of wisdom :)

I totally loOoOove the opener Lol! 🔥🔥🔥

AMAZING!!! Chris, you are such an inspiration! You are an incredible mind. I have learnt so much and I am so grateful for this knowledge going into the freelancing world.

2021 and this content is still useful. The Futur, you are doing well.

Started pitching $500 websites, after encountering Chris Do, pitched $4.5 and have 3 verbal agreements, plus 2 payments of part of the quotes, for part of the deliverables. Then I pitched $50k for a web app (albeit delivered by a world renowned partner development firm) Nevertheless, the fact that I even had the notion to pull in a superstar partner firm and go for $50k is absolutely a function of Chris Do's transformational education.

6 yr old video, still amazing relevant in 2022(always in the futur) 😉!

This is awesome! So much knowledge!

Oh my, I never thought this channel had so much value... :D

So informative, So inspirational... Best design channel on youtube

I'd love to see a video with a more complex breakdown of bidding, based on your personal strategies- I don't work with Fx (yet!) moreso 'agency' meets production company for film, video, stills, etc.... but budgets are definitely something I need more info on since I have been working solo for 7 years and previously worked with bigger studios in another country (U.S, now I'm in Germany). Either way, thanks a lot for the candid info... it really empowered me to just do it since my assertions matched most of your advice, but I definitely feel you are the guy to ask for my more complex questions. And I'm def. down with helping with the littles' tuition upon implementation, I got you!

its so difficult to find such intensely informative and fully concrete knowledge. awesome stuff

everything about this conversation was perfect. thank you 🙏🏾 ❤

As a freelancer, how can you bid even $100 when there are plenty of other designers out there, bidding like only $10? Please make a video about freelancing. P.S loved this video. Chris Do is awesome! 👏🏻

Thanks God I found this channel. There is so much helpful stuff !

Very informative. I appreciate you sharing the process.

I just subscribed to your channel and I'm Loving it. The videos I've seen so far, cover a lot of "dark areas" in running your business in graphic design; information not found anywhere else in a way as good as you present it. Thanks

You have a lot of wisdom.....it took me a decade to learn some of these lessons. :) Fortunately my agency survived that ignorance. And yes yes yes, collect your funds in advance. Like your channel, glad I found it.

I literally canceled Netflix after watching couple of your videos, thank you so much!!!

That breakdown on the whiteboard was #GOLD.among other great insights. Thank you so much!

This really helped, especially the bidding part! They should really teach this sort stuff at university! My problem is that I always charge too little for my graphic design work. I'm about to watch your Proposal video. Thanks for all the help!

Chris!!! This is so so soooo helpful!! THANK YOU SOOOOO MUUUUUCh!!!!!!!!

Great content! I'm a huge fan of the win without pitching manifesto. Also really glad you never shied away from money talks :)

Great Video! Thanks for sharing Chris! Your wisdom is valuable.

Dude the bid example is about to change my life!!! Thank you!!!!

I am writing a bid right now based on this formula. Great content.

Keep doing what you're doing man you're helping myself and a lot of others navigate their lives in this confusing ass world of start-up and business. Please keep it up and dont start giving us inspirational BS like many others end up resorting to, not that thats bad on its own but Real useful knowledge is still always the most important, so thanks for doing what you're doing =)

This is amazing asking all the right questions and giving the right answers very impressive

Man youre great, thank you for these videos, so much knowledge, awesome

What are some examples of design positions? I'm currently working in manufacturing engineering but have always had a strong passion for visual design. Working in engineering has given me a highly logical, business minded, problem solving mentality and I want to be able to utilize that in my designs. I've been looking into UX design, but I believe there may be other options out there to fit my skill set. Any suggestions? So much value in this content, futur. Love the videos

Love these videos man! Please keep them up!