Creative Advent 2008: Rebecca Brian

Starting my design firm right out of school meant that I didn’t get to learn the ropes from anyone older or wiser. Except my dad. While not a designer, he is a serial-preneur. He helped me figure out how to wear all of the hats at the beginning when that was my only option, and then how to delegate away as much as possible when that became a possibility. I’d say the most valuable piece of advice ever, was, “Do what you love and are good at, and hire terrific people to do all the other stuff.”

Hire Terrific People to Do All the Other Stuff

Now, instead of wearing all of the hats, I only wear the ones I love - business development and management, and have fantastic outsourced help for design, bookkeeping, accounting, sales, project management, printing, photography, etc. Utilizing other people’s skills helps give me the time I need to bring in business and run things, while at the same time feel confident in the various areas of my business. Especially bookkeeping! Having clean books was never a possibility for me before (a yearly shoebox of receipts and gazillions of checks in my handbag waiting to be deposited were my MO for 5 years!), but now I am able to get P and L reports, YTD comparisons, and everything I need to budget and project into the future. I’ve even managed to open a second office in San Francisco and run both operations simultaneously because I have such great help on both coasts.

Guest Author Bio

Rebecca combines leadership, laughter, and an intuitive marketing capability, bringing this positive spirit to both clients and her company, Tribecca Designs. Running her own firm successfully for over 6 years, she adds business savvy and strategy advice to the branding and marketing services Tribecca provides, creating an all-in solution for our clients.