Today is day 30!

The issues I sent over weren’t my big ideas. They were about real problems designers are facing;

Getting paid properly.
Keeping clients longer.
Finding clients without feeling like you’re selling.
Losing work to designers with bigger followings.
Thinking everyone else’s portfolio is better than yours.
Posting when it feels like nobody’s watching.
…

***

I will continue writing this newsletter.
But I need to get back to giving as many hours as possible to the Six Figure Designer Programme for the next few weeks as I am updating the Offer and Sales modules.

Writing and recording chapters for the painful stuff most designers go through;

Selling “design” for $500 when the founder is actually seeking to buy business results for $5K+.

Guessing a number every time someone asks for a price.

Charging by the hour, and getting punished for being fast.

The call that goes great. Then silence.

“We don’t really have budget for this right now.” And you have nothing to say back.

Losing to a cheaper designer. Or worse, being the cheapest and still losing.

…

None of that is a talent problem.

It’s the stuff most designers never get taught, because design school ends at the Figma file.

***

Back to this newsletter. From now on, I want to write more about what you’re actually stuck on.

Here’s the deal.

One line is enough. Messy is fine.
I read every reply, every comment.
The next issue answers one of them.

*

One more thing!
As a thank you for reading these 30,
I want to give you Letters from a Designer for free.

Here's what a few readers said:

“Couldn’t take my eyes off it for a second! Such a great read! 🙏”
-Fabian Arbor

“It’s compact, easy to read, and filled up with guidelines every designer should read 🔥🤌”
-Abinash Mohanty

“Read ‘letters from a designer’ yesterday. @oykun dropped some serious knowledge in such concise detail. Such a great read that has definitely changed my perspective going forward as a designer. Would definitely recommend.”
-Peter Da Silva

How to get it:

1. Join the community (free too): designermindset.net

2. Then DM me “letters” and I’ll add you.

Thank you for reading these 30.

*

Before I end this issue, I want to give one idea you can use this week.

When a founder asks your price, say the number. Then stop talking!

The silence after a price feels like a no,
so most designers rush to fill it.
“But it’s flexible.” “I can do a smaller version.”
You’ve just negotiated against yourself, and nobody even asked you to.

That silence isn’t a no. The founder is doing maths, checking budget, thinking about next steps. Give them the room.

Count to five in your head if you have to. Whoever speaks first after the price usually gives something away. Let it be them.

See you in the next one.

-Oykun

A day goes by. Nothing. You dont hear anything back.

A week goes by. Then two. Then you stop counting.

You think you already know what happened, right?
They probably thought it was too expensive.
They found someone better than you.
They looked at your portfolio again and changed their mind.
They reconsidered your location and didn’t actually want the time zone difference.
They wondered.…

You have a million reasons in your head. And so, what do you do? You stop after the 1st follow-up message, Because the second one feels desperate.

You go back to your proposal, looking for tiny bits that put them off. Maybe it was the pricing, maybe the scope, maybe the timeline. You think about reducing the price a bit. It must be that, right?

None of that is really stupid. It is what a careful designer does with no information.

But here is the thing;
The silence from the prospect is not information.
You turned it into a story, and the story was about “you”.

*

Meanwhile, what really is happening in that founder’s day is;
The round is two weeks late.
The lead developer just quit.
The biggest customer they have is about to leave to a competitor.
Payroll is on Friday And there are some complications.
An investor wants the updated growth metrics by tomorrow.
The launch is delayed. Again!
The app got rejected by the App Store for the 3rd time.
The support team is on fire because of an unexpected bug.
The co-founder wants to wait until the next quarter for redesign.
The lawyer needs an answer today.
A competitor just shipped the exact feature they have been planning for the past 6 months.
Two interviews in the afternoon.
562 emails.
His kid is sick at home.
Shall I continue….?

And somewhere in there, in one of the million tabs they have your proposal open, which they fully intend to come back to.

So all of that and more has been happening in that founder's day while you are fuming and thinking, “how dare they ghost me!”

They weren’t ghosting you. Mostly.
The silence wasn’t because your proposal was bad, Nor was it about the price. Yes, it is important, but not urgent. While everything else on their list was both.

They did not say no.
They said nothing.
These are two different things.

So now ask yourself honestly;
How many clients did you lose this year who never actually said no?

Take the last 3 who went quiet. Just 3.
Send each one a short message that assumes nothing and is easy to answer;
”Hey mate, no rush at all. Is this a ‘Now’ thing or a ‘Later’ thing? Happy either way. ”

If it is the later. Cool. That goes into CRM for a later contact, not in the bin!

Never ever forget.

See you tomorrow

Oykun

Join the designers who follow up wth prospects properly at the DesignerMindset.net

Maybe a new business.
Going freelance from a full-time job.
Starting a new client acquisition channel.
Creating your offer.
Starting your side SaaS project.
A really big, important dream client project.
Something big. Something that could change your year.

And you dive into it. Somewhere in week 2, you notice;
Your trousers don’t fit as they used to. Slightly, but still noticeable.
You are sleeping badly. Look a bit tired throughout the day.
You haven’t been to the gym that you didn’t skip before.

You feel guilty. You question if you should force the “healthy” habits.

And of course you do Question.

You have been told to have a good work-life balance. 7-8 hours’ sleep. Regular gym. Healthy food. No screen after 6 pm. And the perfect list goes on and on and on.

And you perhaps start to feel bad twice.
One, because you feel tired.
Two, because you think you are failing the perfect balance game.

Let me tell you honestly;
You are not failing. Not even close!

*

First of all, I personally do not believe in a strict work-life balance. But let’s not go there too much.

I want you to know that;

Nobody builds something that matters on a balanced day. There is a stretch, short, ugly, tiring period where you just obsess!

You cannot fall asleep from thinking about it.
You wake up in the middle of the night from your sleep thinking about it.
You think about it in the shower, during the dinner, …
You eat whatever is nearest, Healthy or not.

Your hands cannot catch up with your brain to create the work you have in your head.
You do 10 weeks of work in 1.

From the outside, it looks unhealthy.
And it is.
But for a short period of time, it is just a price.

Speaking from experience. But only when the work needs it. When the obsession comes from deep inside me. I don’t stop it. I give in to it.

And I don’t regret a single one of those stretches.

*

There is one rule to make it okay, though.

This only counts if the work is real.
If you actually do days of work in hours
If you actually cannot stop yourself from thinking about it, creating it, writing it …

Because there is a fake version.
Laptop open at midnight. A YouTube video playing on the side. Kind of working, kind of not.
Not sleeping, not eating well, and not moving anything meaningfully further either.

That’s not the necessary work based on obsession. That’s just being tired.

I literally pull myself out of my body and watch me on the desk. Do I see Oykun actually plugged in and working? Or just slacking?

If it is the work, drop the guilt, all of it.
If it is the latter, Close the laptop. You are doing all the sacrifices and getting nothing for it.

*

It’s most likely going to be for you: creating content or creating systems to network. So that you can grow your design business and get it out of the hump it’s stuck in.

And there is one last thing. It has to end.

I can’t tell you exactly where the line is. 3 weeks, 6. You be the judge.

Define the activities, pick an end date.

Then go f*cking obsess to make it happen!

See you tomorrow

Oykun

Join the designers obsessing over activities that grows their design business and the bank accounts at DesignerMindset.net

“Oykun,
I see this 19-20 years old kids on X from a 3rd world country,
claiming to be making 500k+!

Is that even possible?
I have 10+ years of experience.
I’m not making that much.
His designs are not even that good!

It must be a lie, right?”

Let me give you something to think about over the weekend.

Is it a lie?

Maybe it is, maybe it is not. It doesn’t really matter.

Because here is what I see, and you see it too;

As a result, more and more potential clients know his name.

Not the best designer they have seen,
but the one they have seen the most!

And that’s it. That’s the whole “trick”.

*

Meanwhile, you bet on your 10+ years of experience.

Thinking: be good enough, and they will find you.

But they don’t.

So, the “kid” with average designs, is doing the one thing you won’t.

Not because you can’t.
Because it feels beneath you.
Because it feels you shouldn’t be needing to.
Because it feels like your 10+ years of experience should be enough.
Because it feels your “better” designs should attract.
Because …

You have to get down from the high chair. Design something every day. And post it.

And see how hard it actually is.

He’s doing it. and frankly, even for that reason alone that “kid” earns my respect!

It should earn yours too.

See you tomorrow

Oykun

Join the designers keeping one another accountable to post everyday at DesignerMindset.net

We had some cocktails, some food. We chat about the project. We talked about our kids and their education. We told silly stories. We laughed. We had fun.

On the way home, I thought, this is the part most solo designers have removed from their lives.

*

Look, I understand.

You went solo. You went remote.

Most of your clients are an avatar in Slack.

Some of them you worked with for a year, yet you couldn’t tell me how tall they are.

And it makes sense. You don’t have to know that, right?

You are in Europe, perhaps. A funded tech startup in California pays you more than the one down the road in your town.

And it is cool. Take that money. I’m not going to tell you otherwise.

But here is the thing, though.

You work hard in the design. You pour your soul into it. You are deeply proud of it. You work with your client’s developer to bring it to life. And it goes live.

It’s the biggest thing you designed all year. You are pumped. You re ecstatic!

And then what?

A thumbs up in a Slack channel.

You close the laptop. Walk down to the kitchen. Alone.

That’s not you being bad at networking. That’s not you being an introvert. It’s just what the remote work freelancing setup gave you. All the work, none of the people.

Again, it’s okay. No judgments. You are making money.

*

It doesn’t have to be all that, though.

For the longest time, regardless of which country I was living and working, Türkiye, UK, Spain, Italy, Ukraine, Poland, U.S., the list goes on… I made sure to have at least one of my clients in my city.

Probably not the best paid one.

But a client in flesh, whom I could sit at a cafe to talk about design.
See their face In the same room when the design went on the screen.
Go for a drink after the release and actually celebrate the thing we made together.
Witness to their happiness from the success.
Their appreciation and respect for me as a designer.

Nothing beats that.!!

Design is a people job.
We forget that when the people turn into avatars at the other side of the globe.

So,
Keep the faaaaaaaar-away client.
Keep the money.

Just save one slot for someone close enough to meet in person.

Next time, when a local founder turns up and the budget is a bit lower than the one in New York, don’t do the maths only in money.

Perhaps it is a terrible thing for me to say this, since this newsletter and my Designer Mindset Community is about making money with design,

but as much as I want you to make money with design,

I also want you to live with people in it, not just invoices.

It makes design more meaningful.

It makes a life with design more meaningful.

See you tomorrow

Oykun

Join the designers who grow their design business, not alone, but with likeminded designers at DesignerMindset.net

Most designers confuse the two.

*

Hard is good.
Hard is what you are made for.

Every one of your ancestors survived the winter that killed someone,
Explorers crossed the ocean they weren’t sure they could,
You learnt to walk by falling over a thousand times,
Your mother did something harder than anything your business will ever ask of you,
and here you are.

Hard is not the enemy!
Hard is the thing that builds you.
The person who comes out the other side of the hard is not the same person who went in.

A stronger (wo)man → A stronger business owner →A stronger designer.
usually in that order.

Do not shy away from hard.
Do not fear from the hard.

*

Complexity, though.

I bet you dealt with really hard stuff in your life, and came out from the other side stronger .

The problem arises

When you have too many things, hard or not which introduces complexity

A day doesn’t go by I hear from one of the over 1,000 designers in the Designer Mindset Community that a new idea to get client

Hey Oykun, what about if I start doing cold calls to business owners to sell my design service?

Hey Oykun, I heard there are these private groups of founders I can maybe find a way to get inside and attract them. Would it work?

Oykun, one of my friends registered 5 Google Workspace emails, and he is sending 50 emails each day to total 200+ prospects. I want to do that for my design service. Good idea?

YO, Oykun …

Or they keep asking about tools;

Hey Oykun, I found the system where I connect advanced Notion databases to Airtable, where I talk to it through my openclaw setup, which I built on a Mac at home, and ….

Oykun, I have a friend who uses …

Or they keep asking about

• hiring,

• complex proposals

• negotiation tricks

• …

AAAAaaaaaallll of that while doing a million other things and having 0 clients as a solo.

Procrastination with complexity, The worst.!!

Even if they manage to build all those systems. They are not able to run it long enough to see the results. Because;

complexity breaks.
complexity causes you burnout.
complexity makes you lose control.
complexity is not sustainable.

Complexity is the wrong kind of hard.

You don’t need complexity, my friend.

You already know what you need to do to get clients;

1. You need to define a category.

2. You need to create content to raise awareness of your existence among your ideal clients.

3. You need to connect with your ideal clients.

4. You need to have a simple, good offer.
   

That’s it!
Commit to 1 way for each one of them. Just one.

In the beginning;

Do not worry about covering multiple social media platforms to create content.

Do not worry about installing complex AI products to send automated messages to your ideal clients on multiple platforms.

Do not worry about …

That’s pretty much what I do in the Six Figure Designer Programme, Giving you a well-structured, simple path for you to commit so that you can ignore all the shiny objects, all the complexity.

No magic pills, just a proven simple system that you can do it long enough to see results. and do with other like minded designers.

But you don’t even need that.
You can create your own simple system, as mentioned above.

Whatever you do.
For f*ck’s sake;

Stop adding.
Start removing.

Cut until what is left is hard, not complex.

One category. One place to post. One way to reach people. One offer.

Then do those four every day, and nothing else, until January.

It will feel hard for a month.

Then it will just be a Tuesday.

You are built for exactly that. Your ancestors proved it. Millions of other designers proved it.

Go be uncomfortable in one direction.

Do the Hard!

See you tomorrow

Oykun

Join the designers who do the hard with a simple system at DesignerMindset.net

It goes like this;

Father gives his son a beaten old car as a gift for his 18th birthday.

Tells him that he is not sure if it runs, and asks him to take it to the used car lot down the road to see if he can get something for it to buy a proper car.

The son goes there and they say they would give $1k for it.

The son comes home and tells his father and father asks him to go to the scrap yard down the road.

And he does and they say $500.

Then father asks him to try the classic car dealer, he goes there and finds out that it is one of the rare classic cars and gets offered $100K!

The same car, 3 different places, 3 different prices.

$500 → $1,000 → $100,000.

The very same car is worth different to each one of them.

*

It is exactly the same for your designs.

The marketing website you design for a local dry cleaner worths less than the funded tech startup.

So earning more is less about what you make and more about who is paying for it.

Yet, most designers try to solve their income problem inside Figma.

That is the son driving back to the scrap yard with a nicer paint job.

The car was always worth $100k to the right buyer. It just kept being shown to the wrong buyers.

Stop polishing. Change the road you drive down.

Go to the person where your work is more valuable!

See you tomorrow

Oykun

Join the designers who drives on the right road to buyers with money at DesignerMindset.net

He said that he was considering to leave “design” because he struggles to find clients.

He thought, as most designers do, that
his designs weren’t good enough,
he wasn’t good enough,
he wasn’t built to make money with design.
he wasn’t …

And that’s why he couldn’t find any clients.

I looked at his designs. They were actually good. Well-thought through, I could see the care he put in the details. Good typographic hierarchy. Good colour palettes. Good contrast. He was a good designer.

Instead of trying to convince him, I asked what he would do instead.

He said he was thinking about starting a t-shirt business.

I asked how he would make that business work and make money.

He spoke about marketing.
He would create content regularly, maybe do Instagram, show people his T-shirts. The more people he shows, the more people will buy.

I said,

“Interesting. How is it different than finding clients for your design service? ”

He went quiet. Thinking. Easy 2 minutes of straight silence. And then he spoke;

“Yeah, I still need to find clients. It’s the same.”

*

At the core, all businesses are the same.

That’s it!

It doesn’t matter if you are selling T-shirts, apples, websites, cars, toys, software, ...

He was looking for an escape from marketing, creating content and reaching out to potential clients.

But that’s exactly what you’re going to do at any business you pursue.

At least do it at the business you enjoy, “Design”.

If you really hate all that marketing stuff, perhaps you are not built to run your own business. And that’s fine.

Just get a full-time job, and you won’t have to worry about any of that. At least you will have regular income, paid holidays, a career path, people around you to socialise with. You can make good money and have a good life with a full-time job.

At least until you grow large enough to hire a dedicated sales and marketing team. Even then, I’ll encourage you to represent your business.

So acknowledge it. Accept that this is the job.
Block 2-3 hours every day to let people know about your designs.
Do that for long enough and finding clients stop being the stressful part.

See you tomorrow

Oykun

Join the designers who attract their dream clients with a well-structured content plan at DesignerMindset.net

Don’t. Not just yet.

*

What most designers do on a Monday morning is, at least the ones who want to be a bit more planned and organised, plans the new week, new list, new energy, new big ambitious goals for the week.

Almost none of them take the time to look back at the past week first.

Which is strange, actually. The last week is the only thing that happened and has information for you to improve upon about.

So this time, before you plan the new week on your Monday morning, ask two questions. 2 minutes.

01
What did I actually do last week for the business and what came back?

Not the client work, the business.
Messages sent, and replies.
Posts made, and profile visits.
...

02
What’s the one thing I will do slightly better this week?

Not a new habit, not creating a big system. Slightly better.
A price with no discounts in it.
A tweet written for your ideal client instead of a designer.
…

I know, it sounds small, and that’s the point.

The designers who look like they jumped ahead didn't jump. They fixed one small thing every Monday, for years. Boring. Works.

*

For what it is worth, I threw away 3 drafts tonight before writing this one. My one thing in the new week: “Decide the idea before I open the Substack, not after!”

What’s yours?

Leave a comment

Look back first, then plan.

See you tomorrow

Oykun

-

Ps, we had the DesignerMindset.net Monthly free coaching call today.
Booked for 30mins, ended up running for nearly 1,5hours.
We discussed topics like raising a productized design offer from $500 to $800,
why/how your past experiences is your unfair advantage,
what to say when a lead goes quiet. and more…
Next one is in a few weeks, it's free, come and bring a real question.

Both do the same two things.

Both starts tweeting to attract clients, both tweets twice a day for 1 week. Both gets the same result: a few likes from other designers, one comment from a friend, zero founders, zero profile visits.

Both builds a list of prospects, both send their first 20 messages. Both gets the same results: 3 “thanks”, 1 “not right now”, 16 silence.

Designer 1 says: “This does NOT work!”
Designer 2 says: “OK, that’s week one.“

From that moment on, they are no longer the same designer!

*


Designer 1 goes looking for the faster way.

A new outreach template that converts.
A course on creating funnels.
An AI tool that automates the DMs.
Then a redesign of the portfolio website, Because “the problem must be not having a flashy enough website”.
Then a new niche.
Then no niche.
Then back to the old one.

On X, the same story. 1 week of posting, no engagement, so it’s “the algorithm”.
X just doesn’t work. Switch to LinkedIn.
2 weeks there, then switch to a newsletter.
Then a YouTube channel because Everyone says that’s the place they get clients. So he creates a YouTube channel with 3 videos. No results.
Then back to X with a new profile photo and a new cover image.

Every switch feels like progress. It is not!
It is the same week, repeated Over and over again!

Here is the painful reality my friend;
Nobody replies to the new thing.
The 16 prospects who saw the first message never got a 2nd one. No follow-ups.
A few possible clients who saw the first few tweets watch the Designer 1 go quiet because he switches to a different platform.

The cycle just keeps going.
Two years later, Designer 1 is still at week 1.
And Angry at the market. Angry at the mentors. Angry at the clients who just “don’t get it “.

*

Meanwhile ,
Designer 2 does something “boring”.

Week 2: she follows up with the 16 who were silent in week 1 With a small improvement idea on their product or a useful link, anything of value, small or big. Gets 1 reply out of 16, says “Maybe next quarter. “. She writes it in the CRM and moves on.

Week 3: 20 new names, 20 new tweets. 20 more the week after. Response is still slow, but she keeps sending follow-ups. She keeps Tweeting.

Nothing dramatic happens for a while. And that’s the point.

Month 3 comes. The guy who said “Maybe next quarter“ books a call out of the blue!
the one that she has been replying for 6 weeks, following her back.

Month 4: Someone she messaged in week 1 refers a friend, and a post she wrote in month 2 gets picked up and brings 4 profile visits a day.

Month 6: 2 retainers, a few inbounds from X, and 200+ prospects who know her name and what she does.

Same market, same skills, same strategies. The only difference is what each of them did with the silence.

One got frustrated and changed.
One kept going.

*

You have to understand;

Sending messages, creating content doesn’t matter.

So when you look at an empty inbox after 2 weeks of outreach, or 8 likes after 2 weeks of posting on X, you are not looking at the result of what you just did. You are looking at the result of nothing you did 4 months ago.

Impatience says “This does not work. “ And quits!
Patience says. “We just started two weeks ago.” And keeps going…

That’s it. That’s the whole difference between the Designer who gets there and the one who doesn’t

*

Now, I’m not necessarily saying it’s going to take you 3 months, 6 months to get a client. No. But it may. You can’t force it. The more/better you do, the sooner you get there.

Just stop restarting The same week over and over again!

“No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”

-Epictetus

Plant this week → Water next week → Keep watering.

See you tomorrow

-Oykun

Join the patient ones at DesignerMindset.net

Long week. One of my multi-six-figure client hired a new tech lead. I can’t share much here, but the short version: he decided to build things his way. The opposite of what we’d planned together month ago. I found out when things started breaking.

A nice client turned into a difficult one in about 4 days.

I’m not firing them. I solved it with some tough conversations and a new plan. I’ll finish what I owe, as agreed. But it reminded me of every difficult client I’ve had in 25+ years. Not many, that’s why they stand out I guess : )

I bet you’ve had your fair share:

Clients who give feedback 2 weeks late and then want the revision by yesterday.

Clients who “just have a few small changes” every single day.

Clients who pay, eventually, after the 3rd reminder.

Clients whose brother-in-law has opinions about the logo.

Clients who agreed on the scope, then act surprised by the scope.

Clients who… (tell me yours in the comments please)

Yet, you keep them.

Because they pay, even if it’s late.

Because the gap scares you.

Because firing a client feels like a luxury for designers with a full pipeline, not for you.

Here is how I see it. When a client turns difficult, you have two options.

Option one:

keep them, and treat it as a learning opportunity to become a more resilient designer.

Tough conversations, holding the line on scope, saying no without losing the relationship. These are crucial skills, and difficult clients are where you learn them.

That’s what I’m going through this week. I kinda like such clients actually, they teach a lot ; ) but I mean “difficult” I like the challenge, “rude, disrespectful” though, that is another story!

Option two:

Fire them.

You know you can fire a client, right?!

Yes. You. Not “big agencies”. You.

And firing them doesn’t cost you the money.

It costs you a new, easy to work with client.

It costs you the case study you’d be proud of, because the difficult one never ships anything worth showing.

It costs you your evenings. Your weekends. Your patience with your kids at dinner.

So fire them. Politely.

Finish what you owe. Then tell them, simply:

“I don’t think I’m the right fit for what you need going forward.”

Recommend someone if you can/want.

Wish them well and mean it.

No drama. No hatred. No long email explaining everything they did wrong. They already know. And you’re not doing it to punish them, you’re doing it to protect your business. And theirs.

One more thing.

The reason most designers can’t fire a client is not courage. It’s the empty calendar behind them. When you have a pipeline, a warm list you talk to every week, a next client already in conversation, firing a bad one is not scary. It’s just a Tuesday.

So build the pipeline. That’s what we’re doing in the community, every day. It makes every decision in your business easier, this one included. And if you want help building yours, that’s exactly what Six Figure Designer Programme is for.

See you tomorrow,

-Oykun

Join the designers who deals with difficult clients properly at DesignerMindset.net

Prettier boxes... Cleaner designs... More colourful pixels….

They think that;

If my pixels are nicer, they will pick me.

And sometimes it is true. Rarely, though.

*

Here is what happens in the founder’s head.

They have 5 designers with equally pretty pixels.

How can you even tell which one is “nicer”? It’s such a subjective thing.

So the work is not the only thing that decides it.

The way you spoke on the call.

The one question you asked confidently that nobody else did,

The way you smiled on the call and the way you were relaxed instead of sitting there like in a job interview,

How clear you were while you were having the conversation.

How rested you looked on the call and strong.

How …

Remember, people work with people.

Nobody says I hired the pretty drop shadow.

I have been on both sides of this in my 25+ year long journey. Hired designers, been hired, worked as a freelancer with any scale company you can imagine, from a small startup to the world’s largest/richest companies. And I’ve seen it, experienced it over and over again;

The pixels get you recognised.

Everything after that is your personality. Most designers pay zero attention on that!

They just keep polishing the pixels in their portfolio website.

Your curiosity,
your humour,
your accent,
your haircut,
your smile,
your confidence,
your posture.
your …

That’s the unique thing about you. Nobody else has it. It cannot be copied from a Dribbbbbbbble shot.

*

I often ask my clients after a bit that what made them decide to go with me, And I often hear;

I liked your vibe, Oykun

or

I knew I wanted to work with you the moment you walked into the office and shook my hand.

So, my question to you today, my designer friend;

Reflect back on the last call you had with a potential client.

What would they remember about you?
The answer is '“the pixels”, you left the deciding factor to luck!

And the fix is simpler than you think. Just show up as the person you already are with your friends and family. Confident, direct, relaxed, clear.

That’s more important for a founder’s decision about you than you think. A lot more.!!

See you tomorrow.

-Oykun

booooooooring opening, just show me the devices!!

.

iPhone 18 (pro)
“we have a new fancy colour”
dont care! and it is ugly!

.

Siri AI you say,
awesome, it can tell me what I already see.

Ps, maybe use the opportunity to call your mum and ask her. make her happy. how about that?!

.

ok I like this that I can write to Siri anytime from the a single place

.

hmmm you still sounds the Scarlett johansson from the movie Her!

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Extending, manipulating images. No thank you. I hate this sh*t so much. killing the memory. That moment in life is special as is! with the car in the background, with wrong focus, with the cut out, with .... im not filling my meaningful moments with artificial crap!

wait wait! is that it with Siri ai?! What?! no way!!

-

super cores, super cpus, 923893% faster, thermal nano bla bla design, dont care all that specs! who does!

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could not care less for games on iPhone. I use phone to run my businesses and stay connected with my family.

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Oh look. something good actually. Manual Pro Controls in the photo app! End of manual camera apps.

.

ok ok smart focus is cool as well. I would actually use this.

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$1300! well nothing from apple is less then $1K anyways…

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EarPods 5? naaaaah I use the earpods with cable! The best!

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hmmm real time translation is cool though.

.

no thanks. not buying it.

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Apple Watch. never wore one. however I have been interested in wearable health trackers for a while..... hmmmm lets see. maybe finally this year.

I like the green light : ) very tacky
wait! Apple just killed Fitbit ?!

.

just some nice designs here : )

.

new health app? ok. kinda ugly though!

.

I like detailed health tracking though.

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This is just weird!! and that screen is waaaaaay too small there to follow anything. come on! be honest, you dont see shit!

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Live Rewind! Oh just f**ck off now. always recording? so that I can rewind anything for 15secs?! how about asking the human again or paying f**king attention!?

.

Siri Recap! Awesome, im never ever again talking next to anyone wearing Apple Watch! hey!

.

hmmmmmmm.... $400 -> $800

.

AND here it is !!

iPhonePad

cant see clearly how that folding works. toooooo much edit in that transition!!

.

haha finally no camera bump! it is not even funny at this point.

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hmmmm that’s how!
yeah I bet magnets are satisfying.

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New layout !! New ratio for us designers to design now!

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eewwww! this hand looks sooooooo fake!!!

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AHAHAHAHA No they didnt!!!!!

I still remember Steve Jobs introducing iPhone and making fun of Blackberry’s stylus !!!!! now they bring Apple Pen to iPhone?! hahahah

watch this instead; 100000x better show

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yeah sure. I cant wait to have this giant thing in BRRRRIGHT ORANGE, YELLOW!!!

.

it is just tooooooo big! how does it even feel in pocket?!

Oh wait they never showed this thing pocket!! ahahaha

.

cool. so I can just distract myself with tv series while writing my mum!
”Son! focus!”
”Sorry mum, I was watching shit”

.

Why are they constantly watching stuff on it!!?

.

oh look. apple car play on iPhonePad thing now!!

.

No thank you! My Notifications are for MY eyes only please!

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Ok, finally I like something.
still kinda useless though unless I can charge in this way.

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of course, watching stuff even more crap….

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nano bla bla yeah we will see how that edge will age

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yessss yes we know we are watching on it… im buying a damn portable tv at this point!

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oh I can be like my grandma taking photo with iPad.

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Ok this one I actually like. Dual cam, showing both back and front camera. Why not do this with the normal iPhones as well!!!!???

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oh look, finally my wife can tell me how terrible im angling the photo before I take it. Now my wife doesnt need to trust me and use me as just a puppet. cool.

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hmmmm. I dont know how I feel about that.

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uuuuffffff starting at $1999999999999999!!!

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Yeah shot on iPhone with $100K extra gadget.

Ok so what now?!

My reactions were sarcastic. I was having a bit fan with it.

But genuinely thinking that the most features are going to make people lazier and distracted even more, pay attention world around even less…

That’s concerning.

Anyways what can we take out as designers;

I actually need to watch it again by paying attention in details but it looks like we have a new ratio to design for now. I noticed new combined icon ideas, I suspect that will appear on other apple devices.

I’m actually happy to see a new hardware from Apple. and it looks like it will influence design details on other apple devices. Exciting!

I want to go through the screenshots, images to observe the design decisions in more details.

anyways, it is 23:48, I need to publish this before 00:00

if I can bring the conversation back to Business Side of Design, I want to say that;

especially for a first generation device!
You pretty much pay money to become a test user!

In business/finance, it is not so much about how much you earn but how much you keep.

I know too many designers earning multi six figures, yet struggle to pay bills. I also know many designers earning mid five figures and live richer.

I still use iPhone 11. yeah, seriously.

No, I'm not being stingy! :D iPhones or Cars are not something I care about to keep upgrading.

But you will see me spending $$$ for top-class holiday resorts, villas to host large family, first class flights, top restaurants, best seats in musicals in London, basically experiences and conveniences, that’s where money goes… Also investing of course, heavily!

Upgrading to new iPhone every year may be important to you, that’s completely fine, but then find something that’s not and balance it out.

You will be grateful that you did when the tax season and a family emergency comes up.

See you tomorrow

-Oykun

the objection I often get is;

Okay, Oykun, I hear you but,
When am I supposed to create content?
When am I supposed to connect with founders?
When am I supposed to log my activities to understand bottlenecks in my business?
When am I supposed to journal?
What am I supposed to …?

You get the idea.

Look. I don’t have more hours than you.
We all do have the same 24 hours.

I usually write this newsletter either early in the morning or late at night.

However, I’m writing this issue at 11:14 on my phone, on my way to a client meeting.

Why? Because;

In the morning, I was with my daughters. Their first school day.

During the day, outside for client work and coffee with some friends.

In the evening, family dinner, time with the kids.

At night, coaching call with a design agency owner to help him get to $100K a month,
then writing the Getting Client module updates for the Six Figure Designer Programme
then replying to all messages from members.
then logging my numbers,
then …

Packed!

So, sometimes
I write my articles on my commute,
I write my tweets in the coffee queue,
I connect with a founder on X at my walk.

And you know what I see other people doing at these moments?
Yes. Swiping TikTok, scrolling Instagram, watching Netflix, …

Yes, my designer friend.
Let’s be brutally honest;

Yes, it’d be ideal to dedicate time at your desk to fully focus, but if you ever have a day like mine with family, friends, coaching, … you may need to be a bit flexible and do your best with what you have.

*

I invite you to do 1 thing to grow your business;
Next time you are stuck in a queue,
Instead of opening YouTube to start watching pranks or funny cat videos,

Open LinkedIn or X to engage with a potential client.
Write a tweet to attract your ideal client.
Journal your business activities to understand your bottlenecks.
Read…

I assure you;
even though it may not look like much at the moment,
these small activities will compound to your $100K+ ARR business success.

See you tomorrow,

-Oykun

Shall I focus on
X or Linkedin or Instagram
to get clients?

5 designers in the community asked it last week alone.

Even though they are asking it, most of them focuses on X since my audience usually comes from X.

Plus,
Because that’s where the designers are.
Because that’s where they get likes.
Because that’s where they see other designers posting designs.
Because that’s where they talk to other designers about tools.
Because that’s where other designers …

Designers, designers, designers…

You see where I’m going with this, right?

You post a design.
You get 400+ likes from other designers.
You get comments that says “Clean!” “You cooked mate”…
It feels good.

And then you look at your bank account.
$0 came from those 400+ likes.
That doesn’t feel so good.

Not because your design was bad, but because designers liking your posts wont get you dollars.

Now, I’m not saying; Do not post for designers. That works as well. Designers recommend you to potential clients. Designers bring you over to their team. Designers’ engagement with your post increases its reach to potential clients…

What I’m saying; That alone will not bring you clients reliably.

So, the right question is not which platform to post.

The right question is

Are you targeting tech founders?
You’d find them more likely on X and Linkedin.

Are you targeting healthcare/gov/fintech founders?
You’d find them more likely on Linkedin.

Are you targeting lifestyle business founders?
You’d find them more likely on Instagram.

Are you targeting …

You got the idea.

*

So the real question is not which platform.

It’s this;

Do this now;

Name one person who could actually pay you. A real name, not “tech founders”.

Go find where that person posts, reads, replies. Not where they have an account. Where they are active. Other founders alike will be there as well, since they want to stay up to date with one another.

That is your platform. It was never a debate.

Go there and post useful things for your dream client. Keep the designer posts too, just stop counting them as client work.

What to post to attract clients is a whole topic of its own.

It will be fewer likes. Nobody will call it clean.
But the right person will read it. And the right person will reach out in DMs for work.

See you tomorrow

-Oykun

It’s 22:12, I threw away 3 ideas, I’m tired, feeling under the weather, migraine kicking in.

I’m writing anyway. I’m giving my best for the moment anyway.

*

I bet you are going through the same at times.

You know what to do grow your design business;

Post every day.
Connect with potential clients every day.
Follow up with prospect who has gone quiet every day.
Define your category.
Raise your price.
Read …

Yet you don’t do it consistently.

You call it a discipline problem, or a time problem, or a “I’m not just that kind of person“ problem, or …

Let’s be honest, it is none of those.

It’s a WHY problem.

Ask yourself;

Why are you building this business?

If the answer is more-money, that’s the problem.

More money is blurry, vague, cold…
There is nothing emotional attached to it.
More money for what?
How much more?
By when?
Who …

With such a shallow and ambiguous whys, you are giving your brain enough excuse to say “you have just enough money for now“ at the night you are tired. And you believe it. Because it is true. You have “just” enough for now.

So the “boring” work that needs doing waits. creating content, connecting with a founder, tracking your business metrics, … waits.

The activities you know you need to, waits today, then another week goes by, then another month, year… And you wonder why your business doesn’t grow.

*

It’s 22:28 now, I’m still at my desk, writing these lines with migraine kicking in.

Not because I do not want to break my streak. No. Don’t give a shit to that.

Because I’m crystal clear with the future I’m seeing for myself, for my family, which is greatly personal.

Because I can clearly see you reading these lines and having a honest conversation with yourself to do better, and you do.

Me skipping today’s is not gonna move me towards that future, but away from it. So here I’m writing with a purpose bigger than myself!

Now it’s your turn,

Think about the last time you skipped the thing you knew you were supposed to do.

What did you tell yourself in the moment?

Whatever the answer was, your “Why” lost to it!

“I need more clients“ loses to “I’m tired“
“I need to connect with my ICP” loses to “I’m shy”
“I need to earn more money “ loses to “I’ve enough for now”
“I need to …

I, I, I…

Your excuses are vivid. You can feel “tired” in your bones.

And your why is “more money”? You can’t feel that.

So tie to an emotion.

The car, the exact one,
feel the keys in your hand.

The house with the view you screenshot and never send to anyone,
imagine yourself sitting there right now.

Your mum asking if you’re okay for money,
and you proudly answering “Yes mum“.

Your kid …

Whatever it is, whoever it is for,
it has to hurt deep when you picture giving it up.

Doesn’t have to be for anyone else. It has to be real enough that “I’m tired” sounds ridiculous next to it.

Find that thing for you and write it in one sentence. Put it where you’ll see it the moment you’re about to skip.

That’s not discipline.
That’s just refusing to let it go.

See you tomorrow

-Oykun

“Ǒykün, How do I find client?”

is the most common question I get.

For some mysterious reason, majority of designers think that clients are hiding in some secret place and so hard to find. It baffles me!

They are EVERYWHERE!

They are on X, Linkedin, Instagram, Facebook, Substack, … posting/ reading…

They are at conferences, sponsoring/speaking…

They are at venture capital websites announcing fundings…

They are at the cafe you walk by every morning, working/socialising…

They are …

There are 2 ways for you get clients;

01 You REACH out to them
02 You ATTRACT them to you

That’s it. You already know that.

If you want to become a successful business owner in this design service space, in any business really, you need to be resourceful.

Meaning;

A VC announces a $12M seed round.
Fresh money, a product built fast by 3 engineers without a designer.
That’s a client.

A founder posts their launch on X.
14 replies.
That’s a client.

The guy in the cafe on his second flat white, Linear on screen.
That’s a client.
Say hi.

None of it is hidden. It’s public, it’s free, and it costs you effort, not blind luck. Well, strategic luck.

*

Most designers treat “finding clients” as a research problem.
It isn’t.

Finding takes 10 minutes.
Everything after that is the actual work;

• Reaching out.

• Being useful.

• Following up the week after when they didn’t reply.

Attract is the same job pointed the other way.
You post, so the ones you’ll never find can find you.

*

Tomorrow morning, before you open Figma.

1. Open one of the sources I mentioned above, or one of many other you can come up with.

2. Pick 3 companies funded in the last 6 months.

3. 5 minutes on each, write 1 specific observation about each or share an useful/relevant article or fix something on their website with a design or … anything useful.

4. and send

3 names, 3 useful things sent.

That’s more pipeline than you had yesterday.

Remember all you need is;

See you tomorrow

-Oykun

These are the biggest mindset shifts I ask designers to go over. Breaking the limiting beliefs they built over the years to open themselves to new possibilities.

The list starts with this rule;

It is the one that annoys designers the most, and I understand why.

You have spent years getting good at your craft and this rule, kinda, moves it off the table.

I’m not really saying anything you didn’t experience before. I’m just wording it out!

Take a look at your own journey for a second.

I bet, you had clients who paid you more than others for the same type of work you did.

Did you do a better work for the higher paying one, or better thinking, or stayed up later on it or …?

I doubt so.

It was the very same you, same hours, same care, same software, same skills, same …. It wasn’t any of that.

They just had more money to invest into design,
and design mattered more to their business.

*

I have a UI list on X for design inspiration with 138 designers in it.

I often go there to see what designers are crafting, and I see so many beautiful work… Waaaaay better looking than what I usually create. Honest!

Yet, I know for a fact, from my conversations with them, including the Mastery Members in the community, most of those designers earn a fraction of what I earn.

Not because my designs are looking better.
I wish!
But because of who I’m designing them for.

*

Most designers try to solve their income problem with better craft.

Now. I’m not suggesting that craft is not important. Hell no! We are designers, good design is our default! That is not even a question.

Imagine a few university students ask for your help to design a movie poster for their project. They have $500 for it.
You take the work, and spend 20 hours creating the most beautiful movie poster ever using Figma.
You deliver, get your $500. Done.

In another universe, Disney comes to you to design a movie poster for their new live-action movie. They have $50,000 for it.
You take the work, and spend 20 hours creating the most beautiful movie poster ever using Figma.
You deliver, get your $50,000. Done.

The work is the same,
The software is the same,
The time spent is the same,
The skills is the same,
The you is the same!

The only difference was
who you designed it for!

Ok, my example was a bit extreme, but makes my point clear!

Want more relatable examples;

Landing page for an indie hacker
vs a well funded start up.

Logo design for a local bakery
vs an established company with $100m annual revenue.

….

*

You have to continuously upgrade your client profile.
Such an important topic, deserves its own issue later,

For today though;

Open your invoices.
Find the last ~10 clients.
Sort them by payment amount.
Spot the top 3 and go, find 3 more like them.

if you are going to new;
Focus on categories where business risk and funding is high. It’s your signal for higher budget projects.
Then find funded companies in that category to connect. You can use Venture Capital websites.
And do the work for them.

If you need further help finding them,
you know where to find me.

See you tomorrow

-Oykun

We were talking about her career, I was sharing my experiences regarding some of challenges she has been going through.

Then she told me about her wedding plans, which is happening in 2 weeks btw : )

I asked how she knew he was the one. Because they met not long ago, and they are already getting married.

There was no deep mysterious reason nor feeling a deep sense of fate, none of that.

She was telling me about how thoughtful he is, the little things…

How he plugs in the hairdryer when she goes to shower, so it would be ready when she is out.

How he wakes up a little earlier and makes her coffee to take away just the way she likes.

How he ….

Little thoughtful things he does without her asking for it, nor expecting.

I was sooooo happy for her.

*

Then I realised how it is similar to how I treat my clients. Not in a romantic way : )

But how I make little pleasant surprises for my clients to make their life so much easier and pleasant.

How I create/maintain a design system while working on a specific features or marketing websites.

How I include prompting guidelines while working on a branding.

How I actually design a tee with their brand on it and send them.

How I fix the typo I see on their website while I'm in there for something else, and don't mention it. Yet, they know it.

How I send a screenshot of their product in the wild, a tweet, a mention.

How I introduce them to someone they should know, a developer, an investor, another founder, with no angle.

How I remember the thing they mentioned once, the kid's birthday, the marathon, the move, and ask.

How I …

Building a stronger relationship with your client is just like building a stronger relationship with your friend, partner, family, …

Being genuine, caring, useful… without being asked.

These little/big activities you do for your clients build such a strong relationships that they do not even consider leaving to another designer who may be more experienced and cheaper!

The little things you do build a such strong trust in you.

The work becomes much easier and pleasant.

*

Whenever I share these gestures I do for my clients, I often hear from other designers that
how unnecessary that is,
how unprofessional that is,
how I make business personal and how it is all wrong…

Not to me.
Yes, the business side is still business with mutual respect.
The work is still being done at the highest quality,
The $$$ is still being paid on time.

But also I’m not here to only make money or build amazing products.

I’m here to make friends, enjoy this beautiful profession with people I enjoy being around.

I have been taking this approach for over 25 years, it only made my network larger and stronger without that being my intention.

*

My ask of you today is;

What’s the hairdryer in your client work?
The thing you do before they ask, that they’d never put in a brief.
Find that thing and do it without expecting anything back.

My friend didn’t marry him for the big things : )

Share Designer Mindset

See you tomorrow

-Oykun

Some months busy with many clients, some zero clients.

There is no sustainability, no predictability, no …

It is a stressful business! if we even could call that a “business”.

Here is how it usually goes for most designers;

1. have no clients

2. start chasing them by creating content and sending messages

3. go through lots of back and forth messages that takes weeks, months

4. eventually get a client

5. happy happy happy!

6. money drops into the bank! the big relief!!!

7. stop doing the activities that brought you that client

8. jump into the design work with 110% time and energy

9. morning → design, afternoon → design, night → design, weekends → design, …. design design.

10. project ends

11. uh! what now?! SHIT!!!

12. repeat from 1

Sounds familiar?!

I been there as well, decades ago. Damn was it stressful! I remember stress creeping in closer to the end of the project. Old days!

Share

Such a common situation and mistake.

OK. Let’s not do that any longer.

Here is what I want you to do from now on;

It doesn’t matter if you have 10 clients or 0 clients.

It doesn’t matter if you have the money in the bank or not.

It doesn’t matter if your current client promised you 2+ years of work.

It doesn’t matter if ….

Do you really not realise that connections you make today
becomes a client weeks or months later?

Yes you may be busy today, but the project is going to finish next month.

The potential client you are connecting today is going to be ready to work with you just by then.

This is how you bring predictability to your business.

This is how you beat that feast and famine stress in your business.

This is how you sleep in peace at night, knowing you have potential clients lined up.

Share Designer Mindset

Experienced this with a Designer Mindset Mastery member not long ago.

He followed the Six Figure Designer Programme, and started seeing the results, closed his first highest paying client 🎉

and immediately considered to stop connecting with potential clients.

I explained how it works in the real life.

We planned that his days so he’s had time to do both.

*

So,

If you’re busy right now, good. Truly happy for you.

That’s exactly when this matters.

Send one message today.
Post one design today.
For someone who could become a client in 3 months.

If you’re not busy, same move. Just don’t stop when you get busy.

That’s the whole trick. Nothing clever.

Just don’t f*%king stop!

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See you tomorrow

-Oykun