Table of Contents
- Building a sustainable creative business
- Marketing vs growth
- The growth mechanisms creative businesses need
- The fastest way to build a creative business
- The right way to "annoy" people
- How to stand out in a crowded market
- Finding your niche
- Getting leads without social media
- Your unfair advantage map
- Truth about growing a creative business
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Building a sustainable creative business
Starting a business is easy. Making it sustainable is super hard.
In 2022, 5 million new businesses launched in the US alone. Most won't make it past year one. Not because their work sucks, but because they can't figure out the growth part.
In a livestream, Chris talked with Lex Roman, a growth expert who spent 10+ years in Silicon Valley before building her own creative business. She's helped everyone from startups to one-person shops crack the code on building business growth.
This conversation will change how you think about business, building a creative business, and what growth actually means, especially if you’re a UX designer running a services-based business.
👉 The insight in this blog traces back to a thoughtful conversation with Lex — here’s the full discussion:
Marketing vs growth
Most creative businesses fail at marketing because they don't understand what marketing actually is.
Lex breaks it down simply:
"The difference between marketing and growth is that growth comes from within your company."
Think about TikTok. You probably heard about it from another user, not from TikTok's ads. That glowing share button is a growth mechanism built into the product.
Here's what this means for your creative business:
- Marketing = Going out and finding strangers
- Growth = Making your existing audience work for you
Your first clients won't come from Instagram ads. They'll come from people who already know you. Former colleagues. Past clients. That neighbor who suddenly remembers they need a website.
Most ignore this goldmine and chase strangers on social media instead.
Stop doing that!
The growth mechanisms creative businesses need
Forget going viral. Forget chasing followers.
Building business growth starts from within. Here's what works for UX designers and creative professionals:
- Referrals from existing clients
Your happy clients know more happy clients. A simple "Know anyone who might need my help?" works like magic.
- Reviews and testimonials
Social proof isn't just for Amazon. Put those kind words to work for your business.
- Case studies with notable clients
If you've done work for recognizable companies, pitch it to industry press. AdWeek loves a good design success story.
- Making it easy to share
Nobody's sitting around crafting the perfect intro for you. Give them the words. Give them the link. Make it stupid simple.
Lex shared a perfect example: A productivity tool doubled their referrals in 24 hours with a well-written email sequence. They didn't reinvent anything. They just made it really easy for users to share.
The email included:
- A pre-written blurb about the product
- The referral link ready to copy
- Clear incentives (money for both parties)
- Multiple touchpoints over several days
Simple. Effective. No growth hacking wizardry required.
The fastest way to build a creative business
Think about adjacent service providers:
- Developers
- Copywriters
- Brand designers
- SEO specialists
- Logo designers
You're all building businesses. You're all talking to potential clients. The copywriter you know doesn't need another copywriter, but they definitely know people who need design work.
Build that network. Send them clients when you can. They'll remember you when design work comes up.
Lex calls this “building your partner network”. It's low effort because you're just checking in occasionally. You're not even required to send them clients (though it helps). You're just staying top of mind.
When Lex left her full-time job, she sent one email to about 50 people. Designers. Hiring managers. Meetup organizers. People who were connected to her ideal buyers.
That one email booked her for a year and a half.
The email was simple:
- "I'm leaving my job"
- "Here's what I'm doing now"
- "Here's a blurb you can forward"
- "These are the companies I serve best"
No fluff. No corporate speak. Just clarity about what she needed and who she wanted to work with.
The right way to "annoy" people
I tried this once. Reached out to everyone I knew. Got my first client in 10 days. Then I hated the project and never did it again.
Was I too annoying? Did I burn bridges?
Here's what Lex told:
"I find like it's very rare that y'all step over this line. The risk is more I'm not asking enough because I'm worried about annoying people."
We've all seen terrible sales pitches. Cold DMs that make your skin crawl. Mail that goes straight to spam. But creatives? We usually don't ask enough.
Amazon sends 25 emails before you notice. Meanwhile, you sent one message and you're worried you're being pushy. The key is targeting. Don't email everyone. Email the people who would genuinely find your offer interesting.
❌ Bad example: Joining a design meetup and pitching your copywriting course.
✅ Good example: Reaching out to past colleagues who work at companies that need your services.
Ask yourself:
- Who would appreciate this offer?
- Who knows people who need this?
- Am I positioning this for them specifically?
If you're emailing everyone including your mechanic and dentist, you're doing it wrong.
But if you're emailing UX designers and product folks about your design services? That's just being smart.
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How to stand out in a crowded market
There are a million UX designers. A million marketers. A million of everything. So how do you stand out? Lex's answer:
"It's your own perspective. It's your own take on the work."
Not your portfolio. Not your pricing. Not your fancy website. Your thinking.
Here's why content became so important for creative businesses: People need to know how you think before they hire you.
They're not just buying design work. They're buying your approach. Your problem-solving process. Your perspective on what makes good design.
Look at Basecamp (37signals). They make a productivity app. Nothing groundbreaking about the product itself. But they wrote books about how companies should work. How teams should communicate. How remote work should function.
Their product is good. Their philosophy is what made them famous.
That's "your niche is you" in action.
Content isn't about visibility (though that's a bonus). It's about conversion. It's answering the question: "Should I work with you or the other option?"
Your live streams, podcasts, blog posts, LinkedIn content, these help people decide if they like how you think.
The catch: You don't have to play the content game if you don't want to.
If you're selling high-ticket services (four, five, six-figure contracts), you can have a very low-volume, one-channel content strategy and make it work.
It's when you're selling $18 memberships or $5 ebooks that you need to go hard on content. Because you need volume.
Choose your business model wisely.
Finding your niche
"Niche down!" everyone screams. But how? Lex recommends thinking about intersections:
- Industry expertise. Worked in fintech for years? That's a niche.
- Location. One web designer Lex knows only works with German businesses. Unusual? Yes. Effective? Absolutely.
- Service combination. A branding strategist teams up with a designer. Now they can compete with agencies.
- The way you work. Basecamp again. Their niche isn't what they build, it's how they build it. Lex's lawyer told her: "Your niche is you." She hated it at first. But it's true.
Your niche can be how you think. How you approach problems. How you communicate with clients. That only works if you're into content creation though. If you hate making content, pick a more tangible niche.
The UX designer who only does fintech.
The app designer for the beauty industry.
The podcast editor for B2B SaaS companies.
Pick something. Test it. See if leads get easier. If it doesn't work? Pivot. People are flexible.
Mark (who Lex mentioned in the interview) was a photographer for 10 years. Now he makes kombucha. People figured it out.
You can change niches without blowing up your business.
Getting leads without social media
"Isn't social media the only way to get clients now?"
NO.
Lex has 300 followers everywhere. She's been in business for five years. Social media isn't her primary engine. Here's the full list of channels that work:
- Industry press and publications. Guest posts. Guest blogs. Industry features. If you're B2B, this is more targeted than TikTok.
- Conference speaking. Get paid to speak. Get clients from the audience. Double win.
- Your own blog (SEO). Harder now, but still works if you're super differentiated.
- Partnerships. Team up with adjacent providers. Share audiences. Grow faster together.
- Communities. Get active in Slacks, forums, meetups. Be the expert people turn to.
- Freelancer platforms. More competitive, but worth exploring if rates are good.
- Directories. Specialized directories in your industry can drive steady leads.
- Cold pitching (but from the inside out). Ask for introductions from your network before going cold.
- Press pitching. Pitch yourself for podcasts, interviews, features.
The key? Go high-touch early. Build real relationships. Then move to broadcast channels (LinkedIn, podcasts, newsletters) once you have momentum.
Most do this backward. They go straight to broadcasting before they've built anything to broadcast about.
Your unfair advantage map
Here's a framework Lex shared that's pure gold. Three overlapping circles:
Circle 1: Your talents and skills — Things you actively work on: visual design. UX research, writing, etc.
Circle 2: Things you genuinely enjoy — Stuff you'd do without getting paid. Could be researching anime, playing basketball, studying typography.
Circle 3: What the market needs — What designers actually get hired to do.
The intersection of all three? That's your unfair advantage. Map it out. Find where your skills, passions, and market demand overlap.
That's your positioning. That's what makes you different. Use it in your messaging. Test it. See if it resonates.
If it doesn't? Adjust one of the circles and try again.
👉 Here’s how to find your unfair advantage:
Truth about growing a creative business
Growing a business isn't about finding some secret hack.
Your existing network. Your past clients. Your partner relationships. The people who already know you do good work.
Start there.
Figure out what kind of business you want to build. High-ticket services? Low-ticket digital products? Something in between? Then pick your growth channels based on that.
And remember: You don't have to do everything. You just have to do the right things consistently.
Growing a creative business isn't complicated. But it's definitely not easy.
The ones who make it aren't the most talented. They're the ones who figured out their growth engine and actually stuck with it.
Be one of those designers.
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