What is a Design Day? How I Design Client Websites & Charge By The Day

Switching from a traditional web design project model to only working with clients through Design Days changed the game for my business. When I made the switch to Design Days, I was able to up-level my income, boost profitability, and most importantly, build the type of business I’d always wanted (with the flexibility I’d always wanted, too).

Transcription: Work/Life Balance As A Web Designer? It’s Possible With Design Days.

What is a design day and why is it the only way that I work with my web design clients, one on one?

Hi, I’m Galen. I run a web design business and I make a full-time income from this business, working on client websites, anywhere from three to eight days per month.

Flashback to when I first started my business and it was a completely different story. I felt like I was working all the time and barely making enough money to get by.

In the early days of my business, I was trying to be as flexible as possible with my clients’ timelines, because I just needed them to keep working with me. I needed to see that income come in month over month in order to pay my bills.

And I thought to myself, flexibility is great. What’s not to love about being flexible. It means that I can be flexible with the hours that I work and with the hours that I don’t.

The problem was that I just ended up working all the time. All of this flexibility led to a lack of boundaries and systems, meaning that there was no clear separation between when I was working and when I wasn’t or when I was answering client emails. And when I should have been enjoying my time off.

I was able to grow my business, but it got to a point where I was working with several clients at one time. All of the project deadlines were piling on top of each other. Clients were delaying projects. I was delaying projects because I wasn’t caught up on work from other projects. This is the business that I quit my so-called dream job working in corporate marketing for. And so it felt pretty bad when I reflected back on what I had actually built over the last five years and realized that I wanted to burn it to the ground. To put it nicely.

I was hiding that misery from my friends and family, so they couldn’t see how defeated I was and how much I was actually working to make an income that was the same, or maybe even a little bit worse than I was making from that full-time job.

A few months into trying to transition away from client work, I realized that I needed income and I needed some form of client work back in my business if I was going to stay afloat and not have to go get another job.

But all I could think about was how miserable I was when I was working with clients consistently. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the design aspect of it. I loved designing websites and that was a passion of mine, even before I started the business.

But it was everything else. It was this sales calls. It was sending proposals. It was you never ending stream of emails. That would find their way into my inbox. It was the run on projects. It was the clients taking advantage of my time. There were so many things about my business that I hated.

So I had to sit down and ask myself, Was it the client work that I hated or was it the way I was doing client work? Could there be a better way that I could do this? That would be more fulfilling and that would align more with my energy levels throughout the week, and actually help me build the business that I had always wanted. The business that would give me the freedom to take time off when I needed it. Give me the freedom to go away on vacation and not have to check my emails every day, waiting for that panicked client email, because I had a project that I was still working on that I couldn’t quite tie up before the plane took off.

This was like an epiphany for me. I had this moment where I realized that This was my business. I was in control of the business and I could turn it into whatever I wanted it to be. And if that means that I was going to do client work, but I was only going to do it in a specific way, that felt true to who I was as a person, then that was okay.

I started offering design days and what a design day is, and it’s not a new concept. It’s also called VIP days or day rates, whatever you call it. This is what I call it specifically for my design business, because a client hires me for a certain design project that I will finish over a one, two or three day period.

Everyone always tells new designers that they should charge by the project and not for their time, because as you get better at designing, you’re not going to get rewarded for the amount of time it takes because you get better, you get faster, it takes less time to complete a project. Therefore you get paid less for actually having more expertise.

The problem with charging by the project though, is that you’re probably not tracking your hours because why would you, you don’t have to, but if you don’t know how many hours you’re putting into a client’s website, how do you know what your actual hourly rate is? And if you are more profitable going that way versus charging by the hour or charging by the day.

I market my design days as a premium service because my clients are getting my undivided attention during the day that we work together. And also because they can get their project done really quickly.

When I added up all of the hours that were going into a traditional design project and looked at what I was charging, I realized that I was heavily undercharging for my work and charging by the day just made it that much easier to look at the value that I was providing and to look at the amount of time that it was taking me and to charge appropriately.

Disclaimer, there are many ways to do business. And this is just the one that I found for me that works the best and gives me the most work life balance. But if you like the way that you’ve been doing business and you don’t want to consider a change, feel free to just click away from this video. But if you do enjoy it and you are finding value out of this video, make sure to like, and subscribe and let me know in the comments I would love to hear from you.

Now let’s talk about a typical design day and how it differs from a traditional web design project.

The first stage is sales, and this is where you actually attract new clients. You get them on a sales call. And if you want some of my sales call tips, you can check those out here. I’m gonna link that video here as well as in the description below. But you want to sell this differently than you would a traditional web design project, because you need to be able to give a really strong estimate as to what’s going to be included in the project. So you can tell the client exactly how many days you need to get it completed.

My sales calls for design days tend to be a little bit longer because I like to get to know the client. I like to ask them a lot of questions about their business and their website and what their dream website would look like if we worked together and it’s so much fun to pull all of this juicy information out of them, but I use all of this information to basically inform how I’m going to move forward on the project when we get started. This is really valuable time, and I want to be able to give them the most accurate estimate as to how many days it’s going to take to actually fulfill the needs that they have for their website.

One of the really nice things about design days though, is that the proposal is so easy to create and send because there’s nothing really custom about it. There’s no specific deliverables for one client. I have deliverables that I include with every client, like I always include a brand questionnaire. I always include launch support, basic SEO , but there’s nothing specific to that project because it’s all about the amount of time it’s going to take me to get that project completed.

That means I’m selling a set number of hours that I’m going to work on this project rather than selling the deliverables themselves. And again, that’s why this sales process is so important because I want to make sure that I never over promise. I always want to under promise and overdeliver.

The next stage is preparation, and this is overly important to the success of your design day because of the fast timeline and the quick turnaround. You wanna make sure that you have all these systems and automations in place to collect the information you need from your clients to begin working on their website.

That could be things like website copy logo files brand photos all of the things that you want to make sure you have in advance, because you don’t want to be chasing your client down for all of these materials after the project is already started, because you’re going to be wasting valuable time.

If you want to learn more about what these systems look like and how you can incorporate them into your own business, I’ve got a free challenge specifically for designers. I’ll include the link in the description below. It’s everything I wish I had when I first started my business and it would’ve saved me a lot of time if I had just implemented them from the start.

Once you’ve nailed the preparation stage. We’re now onto delivery. And this stage should actually be pretty short because you’re most likely delivering your project over a one, two or three day period, depending on your client’s needs. And you want to make sure you hit the ground running. When I schedule my design days, I always check with my clients first to make sure they’re available. Because even though I’m doing most of the work, I want to make sure that if I have any questions or if I request feedback that they are at or near their computer and they can respond quickly.

Getting feedback from clients was always one of the biggest nightmares when I was offering traditional web design projects, because I found that I would email a client on a Monday asking for feedback on a page layout. And I might not hear back till Friday or sometimes even the following week. Clients would get busy because they’re trying to work on their own business while I’m working on their project.

And because there were no set deadlines or set times that we were meeting to review things, it was always tricky, making sure that I heard back in a timely manner.

Now with design days, things run so much smoother because my client and I are both on the same page about the timeline. And we are both prepared to give our undivided attention to this project until it’s completed.

I used to think having structure in my business would take away from the freedom that I so badly wanted. The freedom to be able to choose my hours, to go on vacation, all of those things I thought were the enemy of structure.

But now I realize the more I structure my business, the more I use systems, the more I rely on those systems again and again, and fine tune them over time, the more flexibility and freedom I have in my life. Because I’m only working with one client at a time, I am able to schedule vacations on weeks where I don’t have clients or in between projects.

Just in the last few months, I’ve spent about three weeks out of office and I have two more vacations planned still this year.

I also structure my calendar. So that way I have all my meetings on certain days, I only work on client projects on certain days and Fridays, I typically reserve as a catch up day. So a lot of times I’ll take half days Fridays too.

As I mentioned earlier, if you’re interested in all the systems that go into creating a successful design day experience for you and your clients, make sure to sign up for my free challenge that I’ve included in the description below. And if you have any questions, let me know in the comments, I would love to answer them for you.

Doing business this way has seriously changed my life. It’s made it so that my business is way more profitable than it has ever been in the past. And my clients love it.

Thank you so much for watching. If you enjoyed this video, don’t forget to like and subscribe and I’ll see you in the next one.

Design Days, VIP Days, Day Rates, Intensives, Oh My!

So, what is a design day, and why is it the only way I work with my web design clients one-on-one? I’m sharing all the details about why I made the switch, what a design day is, and the three stages of a design day so you can start implementing this strategy in your design business.

How I Used To Run My Business (& Why It Made Me Miserable)

When I first started my business, I felt like I was working all the time, and barely making enough money to get by. In the early days, I was trying to be as flexible as possible with my clients’ timelines. All I wanted was for my clients to keep working with me, so I’d do whatever to make it happen — I needed that income to come in month over month in order to pay my bills.

I had the mindset that flexibility is the most important thing: to be adaptable for my clients, and to embrace flexibility in when I worked and when I didn’t.

The problem? I just ended up working all the time.

All of this ‘flexibility’ led to a lack of boundaries and systems. There was no clear separation between when I was working and when I wasn’t, which led to me doing tasks like answering client emails when I should’ve been enjoying my time off.

I was able to grow my business that way, but eventually, it got to a point where I was working with several clients at one time. All the different project deadlines were piling on top of each other. Clients were delaying projects. Heck, I was delaying projects because I felt overwhelmed and couldn’t ever catch up on all the projects I was working on.

This is the business that I quit my so-called “dream job” in corporate marketing for, so it felt pretty bad when I reflected back on what I had actually built over the last five years…and realized that I wanted to burn it to the ground.

I was hiding my misery from my friends and family. I didn’t want anyone to see how defeated I was, or how much I was actually working to make an income that was the same (or honestly, maybe even a little bit less) than that full-time job I left.

Client Work Itself Wasn’t The Problem — It Was How I Was Offering Client Work

A few months into trying to transition away from client work, I realized that I needed income, and I needed some form of client work back in my business if I was going to stay afloat and not have to go get another job. But all I could think about was how miserable I was when I was working with clients consistently.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved the design aspect of it. I love designing websites, and that was a passion of mine even before I started the business.

All the other aspects of offering client work were what felt awful. I dreaded:

  • Hosting sales calls
  • Creating and sending custom proposals
  • The never-ending stream of emails that constantly landed in my inbox
  • Run-on projects without firm deadlines
  • Clients taking advantage of my time

In short? There were so many things about my business that I hated.

So, I had to sit down and ask myself: Was it the client work that I hated, or was it the way I was doing client work?

Could there be a better, more fulfilling way I could do client work? Was it possible to align client work with my energy levels throughout the week? Could client work actually help me build the business I’d always wanted, with the freedom to go away on vacation without checking my email constantly waiting for panicked client emails or loose end responses to projects I still hadn’t wrapped up?

(Spoiler alert: yes…through design days!)

I had this epiphany: this is my business, and I’m in control. I realized I could turn client work into whatever I wanted it to be, and do it in a specific way that felt true to me.

What Is A Design Day?

I started offering “Design Days” in my business and never looked back. Design days aren’t a new concept, and you may’ve heard of them before as “VIP days” or “day rates.”

With this strategy, a client hires me for a particular design project that I will finish over a one-, two-, or three-day period.

I market my design days as a premium service because my clients get my undivided attention during the day we work together, and also because they can get their project done really quickly.

Why Design Day Pricing Is Better Than Project-Based or Hourly Pricing

Everyone always tells new designers they should charge by the project and not for their time. And this is partially true, because as you get better at designing, you don’t get rewarded for the amount of time it takes. As you get better, you get faster, so it takes less time to complete a project and you get paid less for actually having more expertise.

The problem with charging by the project, though, is you’re probably not tracking your hours, because why would you? You don’t have to.

But if you don’t know how many hours you’re putting into a client’s website, how do you know what your actual hourly rate is, and if your current rates are even profitable?

When I added up all the hours that were going into a traditional design project and looked at what I was charging, I realized that I was heavily undercharging for my work. Day rates made it so much easier to look at the value I provide and the amount of time it takes me so I could charge appropriately.

Disclaimer: there are many ways to do business, and design days are just the strategy I’ve found that works the best and gives me the most work-life balance. But if you like the way that you’ve been doing business and don’t want to consider a change, that’s okay, too.

3 Stages of Design Days

Now, let’s talk about design days and how they differ from traditional web design projects.

Stage #1: Sales

The first stage of a design day is sales. This where you actually attract new clients and get them on a sales call.

Related: How To Confidently Crush Sales Calls As An Introverted Creative

You’ll need to sell a design day differently than you would a traditional web design project, because you need to get a really strong estimate of what’s included in the project. That way, you can tell your prospective client exactly how many days you need to get it completed.

My sales calls for design days tend to take a little bit longer than traditional sales calls. This is because I like to get to know the client and ask them a lot of questions about their business, their website, and what their dream website would look like if we worked together. And honestly, it’s so much fun to pull all of this juicy information out of them!

I then use the information from the sales call to inform how I’ll move forward on the project when we get started.

Design days are really valuable time, so I want to be able to give my clients most accurate estimate as to how many days it’s actually going to take to fulfill their website needs.

Design Day Proposals Are Different, Too

One of the really nice things about design days, though, is that the proposal is so easy to create and send, because there’s nothing really custom about it.

There aren’t any specific deliverables for one client. I have deliverables that I include for every client, like a brand questionnaire, launch support, and basic SEO. But there’s nothing specific to that project, because design days are all about the amount of time it’s going to take me to complete that project .

That means I’m selling the set number of hours I’m going to work on this project, rather than selling the deliverables themselves. And again, that’s why this sales process is so important, because I want to make sure that I never overpromise. I always want to under-promise and overdeliver!

Stage #2: Preparation

The next stage is preparation. This stage is so important to the success of your design day because of the fast timeline and the quick turnaround.

Before you start offering design days, set up systems and automations to collect the information you need from your clients to begin working on their website. This is the most important part of the preparation stage: collecting key information.

You’ll want to collect things like:

  • Website copy
  • Logo files
  • Brand photos
  • Brand colors or fonts if needed

You don’t want to be chasing your client down for all of these materials after the project has already started because you’ll be wasting valuable time.

If you don’t already have systems in place, what are you waiting for? I’ve put together a free workshop to help designers build the systems I wish I’d had back when I started my business — sign up here.

Stage #3: Delivery

Once you’ve nailed the preparation stage, it’s time for the final stage: delivery. This stage should actually be pretty short because you’re most likely delivering your project over a one-, two-, or three-day period, depending on your client’s needs.

You want to make sure you hit the ground running. When I schedule my design days, I always check with my clients first to make sure they’re available, because even though I’m doing most of the work, I want to make sure that if I have any questions or if I request feedback, that they’re at or near their computer and can respond quickly.

Getting feedback from clients was always one of the biggest nightmares for me back when I was offering traditional web design projects. I found that I would often email a client on a Monday asking for feedback on a page layout, and I might not hear back until Friday or even the following week. Clients would get busy working on their businesses, and because there were no set deadlines or set times we were meeting to review things, it was always tricky making sure that i heard back in a timely manner.

Now, with design days, things run so much smoother — my clients and I are always on the same page about timeline, and we’re both prepared to give our undivided attention to this project until it’s completed.

How Design Days Unlocked Freedom & Flexibility In My Business

I used to think having structure in my business would take away from the freedom I so badly wanted. I thought freedom was the enemy of structure!

But now I realize that the more I structure my business, the more I use systems, and the more I rely on those systems again and again and fine-tune them over time, the more freedom and flexibility I have in my life.

Because I’m only working with one client at a time, I’m able to schedule vacations on weeks where I don’t have clients or in between projects. Just in the last few months, I’ve spent about three weeks out-of-office, and I have two more vacations planned still this year!

I also structure my calendar so I have all my meetings on certain days. On other days, I just work on client projects. And I typically reserve every Friday as a catch-up day and end up only working a half-day.


Doing business this way has seriously changed my life. Design days have made my business so much more profitable than it’s ever been in the past, and my clients love it too. If you’re ready to start implementing the systems you’ll need to shift to the design day model (and a more profitable business), sign up for my free workshop!

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  1. Lindsey says:

    Hey there! Thanks for this post. This renewed the spark for my business again. All of the problems you talked about I experienced. Especially this past December with a client that was dragging her feet after many attempts to stay on schedule. I’ll definitely look into restructuring & marketing since this biz model would fit with my day job. Keep it up! 🙂