Design Business Council

Design Business Council DBC is a business advisory for designers. The Design Business Council helps designers build better businesses.

We share information to build designer’s confidence in business decision-making skills, and help them talk to clients about the value and impact of design. We do that by building their confidence in business-making decisions. Confidence makes it easier to grasp opportunities and take the initiative.

01/06/2026

There is so much confusion around specialisation.
It’s not about doing less, or refusing work, it’s about positioning yourself for success by reducing or eliminating competition.

It’s about identifying your super power, your expertise in a specific area and matching that with clients hungry for your knowledge.

Design Business Council is a business advisory consultancy. We help creatives build business skills.

We share business tips and advice in a weekly email. You can subscribe via our biog. 👆🏻

01/06/2026

There is so much confusion around specialisation.
It’s not about doing less, or refusing work, it’s about positioning yourself for success by reducing or eliminating competition.

It’s about identifying your super power, your expertise in a specific area and matching that with clients hungry for your knowledge.

26/05/2026

Never underestimate the value of someone else speaking on your behalf.

Testimonials add credibility to your services and they may give confidence a skeptic needs to make a timely decision. They reduce the risk of choosing you.

Always ask for a testimonial… we do.

Imagine a world where clients give fast, unequivocal approvals? Faster approvals is on most designer’s wishlist. So, how...
14/05/2026

Imagine a world where clients give fast, unequivocal approvals?

Faster approvals is on most designer’s wishlist. So, how do we make that happen?

Three quick fixes:
- reduce extraneous detail and present less options
- give clear recommendations, clients look to designers for direction
- share relevant research to support your opinion.

Design Business Council is a business advisory consultancy. We help creatives build strong, robust businesses.

If you like this tye of information consider subscribing to our newsletter, we share business tips and advice in an article once a week.

12/05/2026

Feel like you’re working hard but still cash flow poor? You’re probably feeling the effect of inflation.

$150 per hour you were charging in 2018 is now worth $178. Yep - that $28 per hour equates to around $40L annually. That’s huge.

So, if you haven’t put your rates up in a while you’re most certainly earning less.

The moral of the story is increasing your rates a little annually is the only way to build a sustainable business - and it surely beats having play catch-up and explain one large jump to clients.

I’m Carol from Design Business Council. We’re a business advisory for creatives. We help designers manage their business better.

We write a free weekly article sharing tips and tactics to growing a robust, sustainable creative business. You can subscribe via our biog 👆

05/05/2026

Never ever underestimate the value of a testimonial.
They may be that one piece of information that helps your client (or prospective client) come to a timely decision.

27/04/2026

The conversation between clients and designers has slowly changed. Once it was about day-to-day design challenges. Now it’s less regular and about the bigger issues. Why? Here’s what I think 👆👆👆

I’m Carol from Design Business Council.
Our weekly article discusses these types of topics.
You can subscribe via our biog or head to designbusinesscouncil.com

23/04/2026

Designers default to the marketing and comms departments when thinking about new business.
That’s a shame because solving business challenges using design is a whole of business activity.

Take a closer look, do some research, there’s opportunities across all the departments and business activities.

I’m Carol from Design Business Council.
We’re a business advisory for designers. We’re design practitioners using our experience to help other designers build better, more robust and more sustainable businesses.

If you want more info like this subscribe to our weekly article at designbusinesscouncil.com or click through via our biog 👆

20/04/2026

Research has found 87% of design-buying clients think sustainability is fundamental to their offer - from the brief to the deliverable. It’s not a bolt on, it’s not an afterthought. They want to be accountable for how they, and their suppliers, use resources.

Design Business Council is a business advisory for creative businesses. We’re experienced design practitioners using our knowledge to help others manage their business better.

We write a free weekly article - you can subscribe via our biog. Or just dm.

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