Illustration created for Johnny B Painting
Looking Back at 2023
2023 was personally, and for Schildbach Design, a great year. With the COVID pandemic behind us, and having spent my first full year living in a rural environment in decades, I’m able to focus more on my business and creative projects. Half way through the year, I developed a clearer picture of what my clients were needing. I’ll explain this with a percentage breakdown of what kind of work Schildbach Design did last year, including some personal work projects.
46% Web Design
WordPress sites continue to be what my clients need, or they are flexible and agree that because it is my specialty, I should build and design within a framework I know well. Almost half of my time at work is building websites, redesigning old sites, or adding additions to old sites.
19% Administration
Anyone who runs their own business knows how much administrative work is required. Almost 1/5th of my time is email, cleaning and organizing my computer and office, digital paperwork, record keeping, taxes, estimates, applications, and invoicing. All of this mundane work is essential for running my business.
17% Illustration
Partially separate from Schildbach Design, is my previous career of being an illustrator. Website illustration is an alternative to stock art if you have the budget. Unrelated to my client websites, I also create product illustration, children’s book illustrations, and editorial illustration part time.
8% Fine Art
Entirely separate from Schildbach Design is my fine art. Occasionally, I have art patrons who will commission me to create a painting for them. Or, I occasionally will create drawings for group gallery shows. In keeping with my attention to client work, the percentage of time I put toward these creative endeavors is small.
4% Graphic Design
I’ve been doing graphic design professionally for 30 years but there was very little request for it in 2023. The hardest part about this digital download economy we live in is fields like graphic design have been replaced by templates and downloading existing designs. Starting in 2023, AI has replaced creatives by typing a command line to create a logo. I am deeply saddened by this. I miss the times of David Carson and Milton Glaser, two graphic designers who taught me to think creatively and take risks.
4% Photography
It is quite laughable that I did as much architectural photography as I did graphic design considering I’m not a photographer. But, one of my web design clients needed architectural photography for his website portfolio, and I have a camera that can do wide angle shots for home interior photography.
1% Videography
Occasionally I will do videography for my clients. They are simple videos for social media and YouTube posts. I shoot the videos with my mirrorless camera, and do editing in Adobe Premiere.
1% Marketing Schildbach Design
Most of my clients are referrals and repeat clients, so I don’t need to market Schildbach Design very much. Marketing includes SEO, social media, newsletters, and print and online advertising I do to attract new clients. I’m grateful to my clients for all the referrals and repeat work!
Looking forward to 2024
Starting today, January 3rd, 2024, my rates for hourly work is going up from $75 an hour to $80 an hour. I will still offer the same web maintenance packages at 5% and 10% off my hourly rate.
About half way through 2023, I made a change to my business strategy that I will be continuing through 2024. Prior to July of 2023, I was putting a lot of energy into trying to get graphic design, illustration assignments, and new website builds because these are the most creative projects. I’ve become more of a realist in that I’m focusing more on what my clients need. The most important things I’ve found that my clients need is consulting, web maintenance, systems administration (hosting, domain, and email setup), production (posting site content), and increasing their visibility (SEO, newletters, social media). So, in 2024, I’m focusing on cleaning up existing websites and working on the peripheral tasks associated with a website (like search engine optimization), and utilizing the best tools to serve my clients.
Happy New Year!
I look forward to working with you in 2024.