How To Juggle Multiple Design Projects Per Month

I should preface this by saying (I do this often!) that what works for my business might not work for anyone else’s, and it’s important to test out your own systems to find what works best for you and your biz. I do want to say however that you should never feel bad or guilty for having processes and systems in place to support your boundaries and your own business practice. As a small business (any field but often more the creative niches), we can often feel a little out of our depth because our skills lie in design or creative services - not in business itself. However it is SO important to know that your business IS a business and you can run it however you need to to meet your goals - this could be financial freedom, or a creative outlet, or both, or none of those. Do you think banks or department stores or lawyers feel bad they have policies and systems to ensure a streamlined process? Nope! So don’t ever feel like your small/medium/large/side hustle/full time gig isn’t worthy of a good system and strong boundaries.

So without further ado, today’s journal entry is all about my system for handling multiple projects and bookings during a month, one of my most asked questions about running a design business!

I thought a cool way to chat about my system for working on multiple projects was with a little Q & A session, so let’s get into it.

How many projects do you take on a month?

I take on maximum 2 branding projects and maximum 2 website projects per month, and usually up to 4 smaller collateral projects such as custom graphics/packaging/print assets etc.

Before my price update in March I would often take on up to 5 brands and 5 websites! I managed to get the work done of course but it could be gruelling at times and just wasn’t working any more. I could work with more amazing people but the toll it began to take on my mental health and personal life wasn’t worth it.

My process is still basically the same though no matter how many people I work with, which is why I think it’s quite versatile and scalable.

So I take on about that amount of clients each month which ensures quality of time for each project and adequate room for research, design (duh), feedback and a little flexibility and padding in case of any emergencies.

How do you work out how many projects to take on per month?

Following on from the above notes, it has always come down to a few factors:

Income
I run a business, so first and foremost I have to take on projects that are going to pay the bills as well as turn a profit. This definitely isn’t to say I say yes to every project that comes my way, no sirree! It just means I will take on projects I am passionate about as well as those willing to invest in my studio and who are a good fit, leading right into…
The Right Fit
I only take on the projects and clients that are a great fit for my own studio values, my services, their needs and their deadline. My intake process is a whole other system ball game so I won’t touch on that too much, but I make sure to ask the right questions (…possibly too many ha!) to get a good feel for a project before making a decision to book them in.
Scope
I may have a few holes in my systems net (I am always learning) but generally when it comes to scoping a project to check for complexity/turn around/what’s needed - I am getting more and more efficient at this. Scope plays an important role in how many people I book as once I have eyeballed the work required, I can tell whether I can fit them in or not and plan around the scope of their project. It’s one of the areas in business that is so very dependent on a number of factors so it’s hard to explain it in great detail, but let’s just say a massive 10 page website project = larger scope of work = +/- a hard deadline = less additional projects I’ll book in around it
Timeframes
Timeframe comes in directly under scope when it comes to deciding how may projects I take on for a month. If I am taking on a website or a branding project, it’s a little easier to judge as I have strict timelines for these (we’ll touch on this further down), but if I have any custom work where the timeframe is a little less/more then I’ll need to make a more analytical decision on when something is due if I can fit it in or not depending on who I’ve already got booked in if that makes sense. Projects with a hard deadline that has been discussed will be prioritised slightly more than those without a hard deadline, and smaller projects without a deadline may even get bumped in the queue if they can be squared away sooner to allow for larger project work time. Everyone who books in absolutely gets priority of care and time and no one is more important than anyone else, but considerations will be made if I am aware of an impending deadline etc.
Personal Life/Project Padding/Admin
Last but not least, I also consider what I have going on in my personal life that month (because just as much as I am a business, I am also a soul with external needs and wants), a small amount of padding between projects for worst case scenarios/delays or tech issues, and then also ADMIN – because in between projects I still need to be tackling enquiries, booking next projects, handling questions as well as design admin tasks like saving out files etc.

How do you decide who gets booked in first/gets a spot if you get multiple enquiries?

I have a simple strategy for who gets the slot in the calendar if I get multiple enquiries at once. A lot thought is put into the pillars above but also I go off gut feel for best fit meaning if you’ve been great over email, we’ve had a good chat, you seem confident you can meet the commitments of the project and your project fits the services I offer, you’ll be first in my mind to want to work with. After that if there are still a few people vying for monthly spot, I’ll go by first in first served basis meaning if you enquire first then you’ll be the first I offer the spot to.

I will never base my decision off investment ($$$) at this point, because it’s never worth it. I will never choose a project to slot in to the month based on if they are booking in for more or not (investing more). It will always purely be if they are a good fit + when they enquired as to whether I can make that work in my calendar.

Okay so tell us about the system! How do you do it? How do you not get overwhelmed by so many projects going on within a month?

Okay, we’ve gotten to the meaty part! So here goes, hopefully I can explain it well!

I book up to 2 x branding projects, up to 2 x website projects and up to 4 smaller projects. I cut it off at that. I then start ALL new projects to begin the first Monday of the new month. I think this is the real key to it – I don’t stagger projects or start mid week (unless we are doing a back to back projects together). To me, it’s a clean start, it’s even and balanced and even with differences in timezone, as long as I have content by Monday morning my time, I am happy and good to go. It leaves nothing up to interpretation, we start on the first Monday of the new month, nice and easy to remember.

The next step is to be very clear on start and end dates. I learnt this the hard way when I first started that if I didn’t give a definite end date, we could be a month over time and I’d not have been paid and patience would be wearing thin as there was just no prioritisation given to the project (on the client side). So! I have a definite start date and end date, sometimes in red, sometimes in bold, on the contract, on the invoice, on the quote, with the reminder emails, so everyone is clear that we are starting on X date and we will finish on X date. If we go over time, we will be out of scope of what was scheduled and will need to discuss where to from here (XXX consequences, argh!). If I didn’t do this, it would impact other clients who do complete projects on time or who are efficient with communication, so it’s important to me that we stick to the schedule so everyone is happy.

Next for all larger projects (and small projects too sometimes), I will give an indication of when the first draft of the design will be ready. I mark the presentation date on my calendar and will move heaven and hell to make that – if I am late even a few hours or heaven forbid a day you can guarantee I will have emailed to let you know and feel terrible (I like to keep deadlines, can you tell). So generally I’ll be on top or will present sooner. By giving an indication of presentation date, it allows me to mentally gear up and plan out my week/s of design and also gives the client a chance for a breather as they can relax while I do my thang.

Generally for branding I give a 7 day indication, so if the brief gets signed off on the Monday, I’ll present the next Monday. If I don’t hear back until Tuesday and the brief isn’t signed off by Thursday, I’ll present the next Thursday. A delay on the client side has a direct impact on the timeline (and vice versa of course), so I’m not going to bust ass to present on Monday if I haven’t gotten sign off until only the Thursday prior – I used to do this and it is just not ideal, or necessary. Take your time to reply, life got a bit busy, that’s totally fine, but it will impact your deadline if you have one coming up. There are some circumstances where I may bust ass to make the Monday deadline as I do like to go above and beyond, but if it’s simply because you didn’t prioritise your workload, then it most likely won’t happen. So same again for websites, generally it’s either a 2 or 3 week indication on presentation date.

So even that can be a nice pattern I get into, presentations generally on a Monday so that’s something I can plan for.

Lastly, setting feedback turn around times is super important to the monthly schedule. Generally when I send off a presentation email, somewhere at the bottom I will state:

“Please return feedback within 3 business days either in 1 x Word/Google Doc or 1 x email. If you get stuck, please check out the Constructive Feedback Guide for tips and prompts and feel free to send through any questions if you have them”

So I make it timezone-neutral. 3 business days is 3 business days, no matter where you are. I don’t say an exact day/time as it can so often differ between timezones and gets too complicated. 3 business days covers any timezone as well as weekends/holidays (because those aren’t working days so totally relax).

Which means generally feedback sessions happen about mid-week, Wednesday or sometimes Friday.

While I wait for feedback, I’ll then work on another project that needs to be sent away for presentation, so it is a steady work week and I’d like to say it mostly feels like a well oiled machine!

I also rely heavily on *Dubsado Project Management (affiliate link) to send out multiple reminders and automated emails to keep clients as on track as I possibly can and aware of any impending start dates or deadlines. This works for the most part but no matter what, you cannot account for an individuals own sense of ownership and commitment, so it pays to just be really purposeful when selecting people to work with as it will ensure a more streamlined month if everyone is as passionate about getting their project to completion as you are.

During the month I also churn out business admin and other necessary life stuff. Business admin currently is fine but I do hate my delayed responses at times as I hate to keep someone waiting. Emails can take so much longer to carefully craft and cut into important client work time so while I’m doing the best I can at the moment, I feel this part of the process could be much better. I either want to bring on a VA to help OR schedule in a particular day for emails/admin and stack meetings. I’lll keep working on that system and let you know!

All in all, it’s a bit like tetris

So if you’ve been able to keep up with all that, here’s a little diagram for the way I see it (possibly simpler to understand than the garble above haha!):

At a very basic level, this is the best way I can explain my monthly schedule visually. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great problem to have. I will never not be appreciative of getting the opportunity to work with amazing clients on amazing projects, and believe me I am thankful every day for every opportunity I get. However there’s a lot more to my life than work, or just client work, so I need to be very mindful of how I book out my time and what with.

The above diagram shows how complex a month may be – varying scope requirements, different deadlines, padding if anything goes wrong, life that needs to happen around the work schedule etc.

So you can sort of see there is always room for some flexibility (and I work on this constantly as I KNOW that not everyone runs on this type of framework and things/life/sh*t happens) but also how thoughtfully and carefully I construct a month to ensure the experience for the client and efficient periods of project time.

When you book in a project for me and I scope for that particular project and it’s particular complexities, this is how it happens.

So what happens if someone cancels/postpones or scope of the project last minute* ? How do you handle this?

Well I can tell you right now, it can be little tough. As you can see from the diagram above, each project is chosen and added to the schedule and has it’s own slot and is scoped for individually. Aside from the whole working with ideal clients/projects I love/design is my passion etc etc, as mentioned above, when someone books in – I turn away or postpone other client projects to make room for the ones I can work on that month which = profit/income (because I am a business). So when someone cancels or postpones last minute, I end up with a spot I may not be able to fill quickly or with the same scope of work which = loss of profit/income.

Also it just breaks my heart in all honesty, because I have to say not it’s not possible to push the scope or push the start date out at this late hour because of the schedule I have to keep. Believe me when I say I’d LOVE to take on extra work or I so understand that life gets busy and things can slide a bit.

From the outside, it seems super simple – just swap out a website for another design project, or start a project a couple days/weeks later, what’s the issue?

Firstly, if I was a designer who made promises I couldn’t keep like deadlines, or enjoy ghosting my clients for long periods of time with no communications, or provide sub-par design, or love to overcharge and under deliver, it probably wouldn’t be an issue to change scope with little notice, or just fit in additional projects when I really don’t have time. But I’d like to think I run my studio with integrity, honesty and efficient systems to ensure I never miss a deadline, am open about all investments and fees and absolutely want to deliver you exceptional design on time or before where possible. And to do this, I specifically book out my month with hand picked and clearly scoped projects. It’s not that I don’t want to be flexible or take on more work, I just have to be open when it’s not possible (even when my heart is in my throat).

Secondly (and less important but of course still important) is INCOME. If I turn away other clients to book in your project and then you postpone/cancel or want to change scope of your project last minute without appropriate notice – I am potentially going to lose income if I can’t fill that spot and be left with dead time that I could have fitted in that other client who desperately wanted an earlier spot and did have all their content ready and could start.

Thirdly (is that a thing?) – It can impact other clients and that won’t be happening on my watch. Failure to make a deadline or a massive change in scope could see projects overlapping too much and just not enough time in the day for to ensure quality of time and design for others who have booked in and have committed to the process. Which is why I am very strict on change requests as they cannot impede on other projects (just as you would hate for another project to impede on yours). Which is why I set up so many boundaries and systems to ensure it doesn’t happen.

What I have a hard time working with in business is last minute cancellations/scope changes/postponements which were absolutely avoidable. Simple ownership was not taken and time management was not on the radar and communication was not open. I don’t want to go on to much here as I am very purposeful about working with only those who prioritise commitment to their project and open communication, but basically if you are working with me or any designer, we appreciate appropriate notice where possible and will always try to accommodate requests if they aren’t last minute – but we are at once both only human and also running a business, so somethings gotta give!

So going back to the initial question - how do I handle it?

Well, again it’s super tough because as much as I can plan and schedule and prepare, things happen, so I have to adapt and look at the options. I will generally list them out over email and try and take as much emotion out of it as possible (tough!) as I am running a business so it has to be based on facts. I have X amount of time in the day/week/month, I have X amount of clients I am also working with, I may have X number of clients on a waitlist, I have X amount of wiggle room to work with the cancellation/postponement/scope change request. So I factor this in when I go back with the options and consequences of the change request.

Usually, I’ll tackle consequences first just to shed a little light on how it will affect the project that is booked in. Next I’ll lay out the options, example below for a client who wants to postpone their project as they have failed to provide a lot of the much needed site content:

Option A - We restart the project but it will have to be a month later instead of a week as I am now booked out. Restart fee will be $$$
Option B - We start the project as scheduled with what you have but on the condition that when you do finally get the other content through to me, we may miss your deadline because of the delay and there may be $$$ fees as we will be out of scope
Option C - I work with the content you do have and you will just need to add in your finalised copy after the project has wrapped up/when you have it and understand you’ll be signing off on a site that may have placeholder text and or/imagery

So that’s usually how I handle any change requests. I will outline the consequences of what will happen if they want to proceed down this path and then lay out the options as best I can. It changes person to person and project to project, but generally any sort of change after a project has been agreed upon and scoped for will impact the deadline as well as the investment.

* And then I should also put a disclaimer about cancellations/postponements/changes to scope – sh*t happens! I know this, and of course if suddenly a family member gets sick or there is a death in the family or a traumatic life experience etc then I will always be flexible when it comes to this, as long as communication is open and honest and you get in touch as soon as you can.

Why do you think this system works so well?

There’s always going to be blips on the radar, you’ll never hear me say any of my systems or processes are perfect (I’ve often not brought resources on my processes becauseI don’t feel they are quite good enough!) and I am aware of a lot of the blips and work to fix them. BUT I do think this system works well, if not always for my own mental health and wellness (i.e. I sit for too much of the day because I haven’t factored in exercise time and possibly can be too rigid at times haha) then definitely for the clients I work with who value and appreciate that I will:

Never miss a hard deadline because I manage my time well
Always go above and beyond where possible because I value and respect the investment they have made in me (and time they may have waited to book in)
Always provide exceptional fit for purpose design because I have developed strong boundaries and turn around times appropriate for the scope of work
Never ghost or disappear without any form of communication because I value open communication too much myself
Never overcharge or throw out ridiculous fees because I take the time to scope for the project requirements and am transparent about what things cost and what * may * incur additional fees
Always provide thoughtful and purposeful design because I have planned for the time to generate this

I think the system I have right now for working with multiple clients works well because I am confident in my ability to deliver, while also knowing my own boundaries and being able to apply them to ensure hopefully everyone is happy. I know sometimes I value the system and output/end product and getting to the end product possibly more than experience (i.e. I want you to have the PERFECT design, I may not be as flexible/gentle as I could be, trying to achieve that goal) and I am aware of that and always working to improve on the experience. However if you are investing in good, solid, usable design then I will absolutely deliver and above is exactly how I do it :D

Whew that was a lot hey! Welcome to my Ted Talk. Thank you for reading my verbal diarrhoea, any questions comments don’t be afraid to drop them in the box below!