Something that I hear a lot within the surface pattern design online world is that the market is saturated. ‘Don’t bother creating designs because you’re not going to be able to sell them’. And I wanted to come in and address that today.

So one of the things that I keep seeing popping up around the traps is people talking about whether you can be successful as a surface pattern designer, particularly if you’re trying to set up your own business from home. And then often the comment that comes up is that the market is saturated. There’s no work. You’re not going to get anywhere. Don’t bother.

I wanted to address that because the thing is that yes, there are a lot of designers out there and there are a lot of designers now trying to work from home and obviously with Instagram, Pinterest etc and with the online world, it’s very easy for us to be able to do that. But the thing is that there also are more opportunities than they ever have been before.

Why are some designers selling their designs and others not?

You’re probably wondering why is it that some people are being successful, selling their designs and other people are really struggling and you might even be wondering for yourself, why am I not selling my designs?

The thing is that it’s not just about you creating beautiful and successful designs that is going to get you the success that you’re after. There is so much more to it than that. And one of the things that I really want you to remember is that if you are wanting to set up your own business, working from home and selling your designs, then that’s exactly what it is. It’s a business, it’s an online business. There’s more to it than just creating your designs. That is just one part of what you need to be doing.

Marketing your business

There’s also of course, the marketing side of your surface pattern design business, and this is just as important as the creating of your designs. So if you do want to set yourself up to have a successful design business, then you do have to treat it like a business. That means not only do you need to be allocating time into your week to be able to create your designs, you also need to allocate time to spend on the marketing side as well.

There are lots of different business tasks, and I know that they can feel super overwhelming, especially if you’re more creative than business-minded. But if you do want to step up and you want to get your business to be successful, these are the things that you really need to consider and make sure that you’re including as part of your weekly practice.

This includes setting up some strategies in terms of using social media and putting your work out there so people can see your work. It also includes strategies for you to be able to contact clients and customers with your work. You want to set these up so that you’ve got repeatable systems within your business, so that they’re really easy to do so that you can eliminate the overwhelm for yourself, but also so that you can track and see what’s working and what’s not working as well.

Schedule your business tasks

What I really recommend is setting in a schedule for yourself for these tasks, so that you can make sure that you do them. Set them into your weekly fortnightly or monthly schedule, and make sure that you stick to them. If these are tasks that you’re not really enjoying or you’re wanting to do, then it’s easy to put them off and not do them. So making sure that you schedule them in can really help with that.

Now you could be finding that you actually are stepping in and doing that marketing and setting your business up as well as creating your design but you feeling like you’re still not getting anywhere. And one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about is that in order to be a successful designer, you have to step into the mindset and the identity of being one, because that is what’s going to take you to the next level.

Successful Designer Identity

You probably have seen designers that are doing really well who may be at the same level as you or perhaps aren’t even creating the best designs out there. You might be thinking my designs are just as good or better than theirs. Why are they successful? And why am I struggling?

And the answer will most likely be that they have the right mindset and that they are stepping into the identity of being a successful designer. So as well as you being able to create your beautiful pattern designs in your own beautiful style, putting yourself out there, you really want to make sure that you are really stepping into this identity because it’s stepping into the identity. That’s going to allow you to have the success that you’re after. So if you believe that the market is saturated and you can’t be successful, you’re going to then be creating the habits to match that.

So we want you to get you feeling, thinking and being the successful designer that you want to be so that you’re creating the right habits and you’re showing up in the right way. Therefore you’re going to be able to create the success you’re after.  This isn’t going to happen overnight. Keep in mind that it’s going to take work. It’s going to take tenacity.

People that are successful are the ones that keep going, keep putting the work in and don’t give up. And that is going to be true of anyone that runs their own business. It’s not a case that you decide you want to do something and that you then go create this one thing and then it’s going to be successful. There’s a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes to make that happen.

Have tenacity

So I want you to remember that don’t sit there thinking that the market is too saturated, that I can’t be successful. I want you to think, first of all, that I’m going to be creating beautiful pattern designs. I’m going to continue to work on my craft, and I’m going to ensure that I’m making these designs that people are going to want to buy to start with. But from there, I’m going to then allow myself to really step into this identity of being a successful designer so that I can then create the habits that I need to create so I can be successful. And not only that, I’m going to put in the work to ensure that happens and that includes making sure that I’m marketing my work, making sure that I’m spending time on the business side of things. Expect that you are going to have to work hard and put in the time and effort, get knocked down, get back up and keep going, because that is part of you having your own business.

And I really want to encourage you to understand the fact that even though you are at home and you’re creating these beautiful pattern designs, if you’re wanting to set this up as a business, it’s exactly what it is. And so there is so many more steps involved than just creating the designs. You also want to be making sure that you’ve got the right mindset, you creating the right habits and you’re putting in the work. And most importantly just don’t give up because we all receive rejection. We all have to pick ourselves up. I’ve done it a million times myself, so I know how it can feel, but it’s going to be your tenacity and the fact that you don’t give up that he’s going to bring you your success. So keep that in mind.

You can download my Pattern Design Secrets eBook here