Thijs Kraan

Value Positioner

I help design leaders and businesses do 3 things:

1. Grow recognition for your design expertise
2. Build a strong, organic LinkedIn presence
3. Get inbound leads & generate demand

By helping you:

1. Analyze your unique value & position of strength
2. Strategize toward your ideal future position
3. Produce better content faster iteratively
4. Upgrade your content, profile & funnel

Together, this will help you:

- Generate demand for your design expertise 

Want to learn how? 

Go to valuepositioner.com

Design Content Strategist

Soldep

Designing better-converting websites & funnels for E-Commerce SMEs to turn more visitors into customers. 

What we'll help you do:

1. Audit your online presence & user flow
2. Research your existing customer base
3. Define an actionable UX strategy
4. (Re) Design your website
5. Tracking & optimization

Want to learn more? Message me or email to hi@soldepagency.com

Product Designer

UMC Utrecht

UMC Utrecht is an academic hospital. My job was to enrich the nurses' services by gaining insight into their process and designing a digital interactive solution to support them in remembering and transferring information. Enabling them to organize and carry out daily activities related to patient care with a better work experience. There was little to no previous research, so the project was end-to-end, including a user study, concept study, and interaction design.

Essense

Graduation internship at Essense focused on understanding customer experience, journey mapping, and customer research while working on a project for UMC Utrecht. During my time, I mapped a system for internal knowledge management to optimize information storage, access, and distribution.

Ahold Delhaize

Ahold Delhaize is a Dutch multinational retail and wholesale holding company, and Albert Heijn is part of the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands. My job was to design standalone products for pilots to test business ideas of Albert Heijn with my team of 7 software engineers and 1 product owner. During my time, I designed 2 products, including all the marketing materials, which led to launches with over 50k+ users in less than 10 weeks. Both ideas were validated and resulted in a yearly reduction of 4.5M+ kilograms in food waste. Next to that, I worked on several internal projects.

I help designers sell their expertise through writing content.

Design is in a weak position.

Because we fail to articulate the value of design:

- ±90% of organizations don’t maximize their full design potential
- ±67% of executives aren’t confident in what Heads of Design do
- ±10% of CEOs say designers play a meaningful strategic role

As a result, there are: 

- Massive layoffs
- Lower ceilings
- Budget cuts

We need to help executives understand design.

Where we share our expertise in public by:

- Showing how design contributes to business goals
- Evangelizing the value of a good design process
- Articulating the true business value of design

With high-quality content, you publish online.

One post at a time. And with every post:

→ You’ll compound opportunities

Network opportunities
Project opportunities
Client opportunities
Job opportunities

All while you strengthen design’s position.

Design leaders have high leverage here:

They have decade-long track records
They manage stakeholders the best
They are closest to design’s ceiling

That’s why I help them accelerate.

With a process called:

Value Positioning.

Learn more at valuepositioner.com

Design Content Consultant

I help design leaders, founders, and freelancers do 4 things:

1. Understand & position your unique value
2. Create your design content strategy
3. Systematize content creation
4. Start creating habitually

By:

1. Analyzing your existing customers, content & data
2. Strategizing toward your ideal future positioning
3. Producing content for authority, talent & leads
4. Upgrading your content, profiles & funnels

Together, this will help you:

- Get inbound leads
- Attract new talent
- Build authority

Want to learn how? 

Send me a message.

Most design leaders don’t have great portfolios.

- They get away with a slide deck
- They never needed one before
- They can’t think of a clear ROI
- They constantly get referrals

Not to mention, creating one is challenging:

- You have little or old visual work
- You can't show office politics
- You want yours to be perfect
- You lack the necessary time

But a good portfolio sells you 24/7:

- You claim #1 in search results
- You display your personality
- You showcase your thinking
- You share your track record

And honestly, you don’t need a portfolio.

→ A strong slide deck can often be enough.

But a portfolio is a valuable investment:

- Claims your digital real estate
- Get inbound opportunities
- Showcase your thinking
- Sell your value 24/7

Even answers the "What do you do?"

And you can keep it dead simple:

1. Show testimonials from colleagues
2. Show live products you helped ship
3. Show a little story about yourself
4. Show business ROI of your work
5. Show workshops you've given
6. Show what you can help with
7. Show brands you worked for
8. Show # of designers you led
9. Show industry perspectives
10. Show events you spoke at
11. Show awards you've won
12. Show # teams you built

You don't need all 12 elements.

But each can serve as inspiration.

Here are 8 design leader portfolios I love:

rachelgogel. com (fractional design executive)
mitchellclements. com (sr. design manager)
marklamb. com (fractional design leader)
vladzely. com (vice president of design)
rianverhagen. com (design agency md)
danmall. com (design industry leader)
stephaniegolik. com (design founder)
gev. design (fractional design leader)

Please share portfolios of design leaders in the comments.

And what's your take on design leader portfolios?

PS. If you need help, let me know. I can refer you to many great freelance portfolio designers and builders.

If you want to stand out as a designer:

→ You need to position strategically

Position yourself in a market niche.

By niching down using 11 ways:

1. Discipline
↳ Design, motion, brand, UX, etc.
    
2. Problem
↳ Conversion, churn, CLV, NPS, etc.
    
3. Distribution type
↳ B2B, B2C, omni-channel, DTC, etc.
    
4. Industry vertical
↳ Finance, health, e-commerce, SaaS, etc.

5. Revenue
↳ $1M-$5M ARR, pre-rev, X-figures, RPE, etc.
    
6. Business type
↳ Startups, SMBs, corporates, agencies, etc.

7. Audience
↳ Millennials, leaders, women, GenZ, gov, etc.
    
8. Online platform
↳ X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Shopify, Webflow, etc.
    
9. Physical location
↳ Bay Area, Amsterdam, USA, Scandinavian, etc.
    
10. Deliverable type
↳ Mobile apps, user flows, websites, funnels, etc.
    
11. Funding levels
↳ Pre-seed, Seed, Series A, Pre-IPO, etc.
    
Usually, you need to be more niche.

I rarely see well-niched designers.

Some examples of great niches:

- “I design brands that boost CLV by +15% for $5M+ ARR B2C Health E-Commerce stores"
- “I design high-converting check-out flows for Series B+ FinTech Startups”
- “I specialize in churn reduction for $1B+ Fortune 100 tech companies”
- “I’m a product design engineer focused on pre-revenue startups”
- “I build and design Webflow websites for fractional leaders

Ensure your niche aligns with your track record.

Not only does niching help you stand out.

Niching also helps you be more focused:

→ Focus on what client or job to attract
→ Focus on similar scenarios & cases
→ Focus on what expertise to grow

Without a market niche.
You'll lack patterns.

And without patterns.
You'll lack expertise.

And without expertise.
You won't stand out.

Choose your niche.

And stand out.

PS. I have an article on niching: https://lnkd.in/eeGATa9D

Stop selling the design process.
Stop selling a product feature.
Stop selling the user insights. 
Stop selling the software.

If you want true impact:

→ Sell design transformation

Start selling a drastic risk reduction.
Start selling a tangible business vision.
Start selling the business ROI of design.
Start selling the innovation, not a product.

Yes, you need to evangelize the processes.

But for stakeholder buy-in, you need to:

→ Sell outcome-first, not process-first.

A process aims to build trust.

Not to convince leadership.

1st, you sell them on a dream outcome.
2nd, you build trust with your process.
3rd, you (over)deliver on the promise.

Language truly matters.

More than you think.

Want to get better?

Study writing like:

- “Write Simply”
- “How to Write Usefully”
- “Kroger's Digital Struggle”
- “Putting Ideas into Words”
- “The Craft of Writing Effectively”
- “The Day You Became A Better Writer”
- “We Don't Sell Saddles Here” (my favorite)
- ”How To Use Words To Get People To Do What You Want Them To Do”

And practice writing daily.

Writing helps articulate.

+ plenty of benefits.

Go write more.

PS. I have a writing cheat sheet. DM me if you want it.

If you're not getting results from LinkedIn:

→ Your content isn't valuable enough

Because LinkedIn growth is simple:

High Value + Consistency = Fast Growth
Low Value + Consistency = Slow Growth

If you post consistently with slow growth:

→ You don't consistently provide value

And value has many definitions.

But on LinkedIn, it's usually:

→ Helping professionals be more productive at work

Help them get opportunities
Help them increase impact
Help them feel understood
Help them decrease costs
Help them stay up-to-date
Help them reduce effort
Help them think clearer
Help them take action
Help them feel better

And “them” is unique to who you target.

Write specifically, tailored to this person.

I split LinkedIn content writing into 3 parts:

1. Hook → Profile + Post headline (+ Visual)
2. Reward → Content to deliver on a hook
3. Prompt → Call to take action or think

And I use performance to indicate value.

By looking at 3 value indicators:

1/ High impressions + low engagement rate signals:
→ Strong hook + weak reward or prompt

2/ Low impressions + high engagement rate signals:
→ Weak hook + strong reward or prompt

3/ Low impressions + low engagement rate signals:
→ Weak hook, reward, and prompt

And, then I weigh them based on:

- Engagement quality
- Inbound lead quality
- Comment(er) quality

Based on the indicators, I iterate on my content.

And slowly, you'll learn how to deliver value.

The only focus you need for growth.

Don't overthink algorithms
Don't overthink strategies
Don't overthink systems

They'll come later on.

Overthink your value.

→ How can you best provide value to {Reader}?

Write about that.

And only that.

Consistently.

PS. Who do you write to?

7 high-profit business ideas for designers (earn $60-$1k+/h):

1/ Fractional or freelance design ($6k to $128k+ per month)
↳ Example: gev. design

2/ Design workshops or training ($1k to $35k+ per day)
↳ Example: ajsmart. com/training

3/ Design reviews or critiques ($100 to $2.5k+ each)
↳ Example: brianlovin. com/crit

4/ UX- or usability audits ($500 to $13k+ each)
↳ Example: marklamb. com/uxaudit

5/ Public speaking ($100 to $35k+ per event)
↳ Example: speakerhub. com/speakers/ux

6/ Consulting ($300 to $1.5k+ per hour)
↳ Example: nngroup. com/consulting

7/ Coaching ($100 to $5k+ per hour)
↳ Example: thefutur. com/people/chris-do

All business ideas & prices are validated:

- Through observations
- Through interviews
- Through myself

I charged around $100/hour as a student
Most freelancers charge $60 to $150/hour
Fractional leaders charge $100 to $250/hour
And I've seen only few charge over $250/hour

High rates usually don't charge by the hour.

Hourly pricing isn't leveraged, but easy.

High-earners price services based on:

- Projects (x deliverables)
- Retainers (x months)
- Value (x outcomes)

Each has unique benefits.

The pricing equation looks something like:

Sales skills + Expertise + Demand / Supply = Price

And you supercharge your price with:

+ Accountability (social proof, track record)
+ Positioning (alternatives, uniqueness)
+ Leverage (labor, capital, media, code)

Experiment with what works for you.

But how where do you get started? 

Here's how you can start in 10 min:

1. Go to your LinkedIn profile and scroll down
2. Add a featured section offering a service
3. Link to your portfolio or Calendly page
4. Describe your offer + the benefits
5. Add a value prop in your headline

There you go. Ready to rumble.

Now, you need clients. 

7-steps you can follow to attract the right clients:

1. Map the ideal customers for your new service
2. List all the titles or industries of those people
3. Find decision-makers (use Sales Navigator)
4. Change your offer to target those people
5. Connect with them. Add a personal note
6. Click the notification bell on their profile
7. Start more conversations with them

Ideally, share your expertise to attract inbound leads.

Don't have time (or energy) to set this up yourself?

I can help you set up everything within 28 days:

→ Set up your foundation to get started effectively
→ Set up your profile and optimize your funnel
→ Set up your systems to attract more clients

Takes around 4 to 8 hours of your week. 

Send me a DM if you're interested.

3/5 slots left starting from June.

PS. I don't set this up for free.

Around 90% of organizations don't maximize design's full potential. 

McKinsey shows that the 10% of companies that excel at design:

→ Grow revenue & shareholder returns at nearly 2x the rate of industry peers 

Proves the value. Right?

Nope. 

Most businesses fail to see the value of design because:

→ Designers fail to articulate where, how, and why design contributes to the overall business goals.

My hypothesis is it's because there's no common ground. 

A vocabulary all designers share.

With some form of consensus.

Without this, we'll keep seeing:

- Massive layoffs
- Lower ceilings
- Budget cuts

A shame if you ask me.

Design leaders play a big role here.

That's why I started Value Positioner:

→ To empower design leaders to establish their expertise

Together, we can strengthen design's position and articulate its value.

For the next 5 years, I'm on a mission to establish a common ground in our vocabulary. 

Arming designers with words, examples, and data to prove the value of design.

Are you with me?

I often get asked: “How do you stay so consistent?”

Or: “How are you so disciplined?”

They see me writing for 700+ days in a row.
They see me exercise 110+ minutes a day.
They see me work every day from 7 AM.

Even on all my weekends.

And the only thing I see is: 

Seth Godin, who wrote for 8000+ days in a row.
David Goggins, who exercises 4+ hours a day.
Alex Hormozi, who works 12+ hours a day

I don’t necessarily want to live their lives.

But I do admire how consistent they are.

My observation here is:

- If you’re not as consistent as someone
- You don’t want it as much as they do

Because if you truly want something:

→ You’ll do it consistently

There is no magic formula.

But you do…

…pursue what rewards you.
…avoid what punishes you.

Pleasure vs. Pain

If it pleases you, you’ll do it.
If it pains you, you’ll stop it.

And to achieve your desired behavior.

Follow the 4 rules of Atomic Habits:

1. Make it easy
2. Make it obvious
3. Make it attractive
4. Make it satisfying

Want to read more?

1. Aim to read 1 page every single day
2. Have your book in sight all the time
3. Read what you love until you love to read
4. Count the streak of days you read

Not clear? Read Atomic Habits.

Don’t make it too complex.

Consistency is simple.

Growth is rarely linear.

Growth is spiky.

Some hit.
Most flop.

The best you can do is:

1. Show up
2. Practice
3. Reflect
4. Repeat

But most people don't show up.

- Practice increases quality
- Quality generates results
- Results give opportunity

So, if you want to stand out.

Show up and practice.

Can't see growth?

Zoom out.

Do you show up every day?

If you face a hard conversation. Write.
If you can't see things clearly. Write.
If you want a promotion. Write.
If you don't understand. Write.
If you made a decision. Write.
If you fail to articulate. Write.
If you stop growing. Write.
If you lost a client. Write.
If you got laid off. Write.
If you are stuck. Write.
If you feel bad. Write.

Writing helps you see.
Writing helps you think.
Writing helps you grow.
Writing helps you laugh.
Writing helps you clarify.
Writing helps you ideate.
Writing helps you decide.
Writing helps you design.
Writing helps you convey.
Writing helps you process.
Writing helps you articulate.

Healthy nutrition for your mind.

A compounding skill for life.

Don't know what to do?

Go write.

Status signaling holds you back.

- Course creators
- Salespeople
- Marketers

Designers hate to be perceived this way.

Because “being a designer is sacred.”

And yes, I’m one of them:

I don’t want to be “your course guy.”
I don’t want to be “your sales guy.”
I don’t want to be “your lead guy.”

Meanwhile, the ones who don't give an F make millions.

And the more I work with design businesses & leaders.

The more I see ego holds you back (including myself):

- Not wanting to be perceived as X

No courses mean you won’t scale lead generation
No leads mean you won't get good sales volume
No sales mean you won't have any customers
No customers means your business is dead

If you want a profitable design business: 

→ You need to get damn good at them

The best design entrepreneurs:

- Are course creators
- Are salespeople
- Are marketers
- Are designers

All-in-one.

You need to guide great design
You need to get your product(s) seen
You need to sell everyone on your vision
You need to educate employees on scale

But you don't call yourself that:

If you ever shot a Loom → you made a mini-course
If you ever won a deal → you sold something
If you ever had a view → you marketed

And yes there are…

…many bad course creators
…many pushy salespeople
…many harmful marketers

But you don't need to be one of them:

- Valuable course creators exist
- Valuable salespeople exist
- Valuable marketers exist

Just like great design:

→ Great courses, sales, and marketing is invisible.

And if you're anything like me:

Ditch your status signals.
Try to remove your ego.
Focus on what's best.
With good intentions.

Don't let your ego hold you back.

Kill your ego.

PS. How do you want to be perceived?

Fractional design leadership is upcoming (and I love it).

I spoke to many fractional design leaders last week(s).

They have a new approach to design leadership: 

- Focus on value, not fixed time
- Better than freelance
- More cost-effective

Because most companies can't invest heavily in design.

A shame.

But fractional work is a great intro to high-level design:

- Part-time hires to solve specific problems
- Highly valuable to immature design orgs
- More strategic, setting the direction

A win-win for both sides.

Why you should consider this as a design leader:

1. Great first step into business
2. Better income diversification
3. More freedom & flexibility
4. Increased earning ceiling
5. Faster pace of learning

Some fractional design leaders do around $1M/year:

They are truly hands-on, intelligent design leaders
They nail the fractional leadership proposition
They have a big track record of successes

Hence, why I see this becoming big soon.

Businesses are capitalizing on this trend:

- Design Executive Council
- Design Leader Community
- Huddle
- Neol

The new freelance for design leaders.

Have you considered fractional design?

P.S. If you’re a fractional design leader, let's connect.

Everybody says “consistency is key” but nobody tells you how.

Yes, consistency is key.

But consistently doing the wrong thing isn’t.
Consistently improving your expertise is.

Before you start, ask yourself:

- “If you were to do X for Y days, would you be better off even if you don’t achieve Z?”
- “If you were to do X today, how likely would you be in a better position than yesterday?”

Often, the answer is “yes.”

But you don’t start.

You’ll watch another video or read another book.
You’ll start tomorrow, next week, or next year.
You‘ll do the more comfortable task first.

You procrastinate.

Tomorrow turns into next week.
Next week turns into next month.
Next month turns into the next year.
Next year turns into never-in-a-lifetime.

But what if you started doing that one thing you have wanted to do for years? Where would you be today? Like

- Eating healthier
- Going to the gym
- Daily walks or runs
- Building that business
- Sharing your expertise

Believe me, I’ve been there.

And often still am right there.

But every year, I start a little faster.

By consistently doing 5 simple things:

1. Take action.
2. Learn by doing.
3. Study by observing.
4. Iterate by reflecting.
5. Trust by experimenting.

And then, following the 4 laws of Atomic Habits:

1. Make it easy
2. Make it obvious
3. Make it attractive
4. Make it satisfying

Not easy at all. 

New habits rarely are.

But expertise requires growth.

Stagnation leads to a slow death.

Start today. 

PS. What have you always wanted to do but never did?

If you want more opportunities as a designer, have more conversations.

Conversations with peers
Conversations with clients
Conversations with experts
Conversations with prospects

X conversations ≈ X opportunities 

Conversations turn into collaborations
Conversations turn into full-time jobs
Conversations turn into learnings
Conversations turn into clients

Every week, I have many conversations:

100s of designers in the comments
30 to 50 designers in the DMs
5 to 12 designers in live calls
10 to 30 designers in person

More conversations = more opportunities

So, I made a Conversation Cheatsheet.

Summarizing my learnings. 

I hope you like it.

PS. If you want to high-quality PDF, send me a DM.

How I shape high-performing content strategies (in 4 hours):

1/ Understand you & your ideal future

Diving deep into your:

- Offers (What do you offer & what performs best?)
- Loves (What work always felt like playing to you?)
- Network (Who do you want to remember you?)
- Status (How do you want to be remembered?)
- Track record (What convinces people of you?)
- Market wants (What does the market want?)
- Strengths (What do you do uniquely well?)
- World needs (What does the world need?)
- Personality (What makes you unique?)
- North Star (Why are you doing this?) 

With this data, I position them for success.

2/ Position yourself as a go-to expert

First, we identify ways to niche down based on:

→ Discipline, problem, industry, audience, deliverable, business type, distribution, online platform, physical location, revenue, funding. 

Then, we specify a market category by mapping:

- Customer characteristics (your audience)
- Competitive alternatives (your enemies)
- Unique value (your super secret sauce)
- Proof of value (why the sauce is good)
- BONUS: Relevant trends (your edge)

And then, we set OKRs:

- Baseline (Where are you currently at?)
- Objectives (Where do you want to go?)
- Key results (How do you measurably get there?)

Baseline metrics include: 

- Customer count, lifetime value, deal size
- Performance metrics (LinkedIn, website)
- Revenue, profit margin, employee count

At this point, I make a first draft of the content strategy.

3/ Establish your expert content strategy

First, I list relevant topics related to the core offering(s).
Second, I cluster all related topics into content pillars.
Third, I define a 1-3 word category description.

Then, we specify an ideal customer:

Ideal customer → {Audience} ({Titles})
ICP statement → {Audience} at {Identifier1}, {2}, {3}, etc.

Based on this statement, we hypothesize:

- What desired outcomes do {ICP} want to achieve?
- What required activities do {ICP} have to execute?
- What perceived obstacles do {ICP} experience?

Then, you turn the hypotheses into solution frames:

- “How to {Activity}?”
- “How to {Activity} (even if you {Obstacle})?”
- “How to {Activity} without {Obstacle1}, {2}, {3})?”

And then, we make a content plan:

- When to publish what content
- Who & when to engage with

Boom: a content strategy.

–

Figuring this out yourself takes 10s if not 100s of hours. 

Because:

- You can delay your decisions and procrastinate
- You analyze yourself, which is hard and biased
- You get lost in the sea of unstructured notes

I can tell because I figured this out myself.

→ Yes, I've been iterating since May 16th 2022

Only after I figured it out, I got the results I wanted.

Now, I help design leaders do the same in 4 to 12 hours.
So they work in the right direction from the beginning.
And cut off 3 to 12 months by starting the right way

DM me “Content Strategy” to get 100% of the one-pager. 

PS. This is only 50% of my complete content strategy.

How I go from 1 audience insight to 28+ content ideas (in 6 simple steps):

1. Pick an audience or customer you want to attract
2. List the desired outcomes they want to achieve
3. List activities required to achieve the outcomes
4. List obstacles they perceive in the activities
5. Combine the elements into a solution frame
6. Choose a goal & format to generate ideas

Use my GTC framework to pick a content goal:

- Growth (grow your audience)
- Trust (show your expertise)
- Conversion (sell your expertise)

For growth, you can use 12 formats:

1. Personal stories
2. Valuable traits
3. Shocking data
4. Observations
5. Predictions
6. Reflections
7. Appraisals
8. Resources
9. Lessons
10. Failures
11. Trends
12. News

For trust, you can use 12 formats:

1. Case studies
2. Breakdowns
3. Testimonials
4. One-pagers
5. Spiky POVs
6. Showcases
7. Analyses
8. Critiques
9. Reports
10. Results
11. Guides
12. Essays

For conversion, you can use 4 formats:

1. Sales letters or VSL
2. Offer (documents)
3. Landing pages
4. Lead magnets

Here's an example of how I go from insight to post:

- Audience: Design leaders
- Outcome: Get high-value, low-energy business clients
- Activity: Getting inbound leads
- Obstacle: ”I don't have time”
- Solution: How to get inbound leads (even if you don't have time)?
- Goal: Build trust
- Format: Breakdown
- Hook: “How I get 4+ inbound leads a week:”
- Reward: “7 steps to get inbound leads”
- Prompt: “How do you do this?”

Cool, right?

If you want more insights like this, make sure to follow me. 

By the way, this is 1/3 of my content strategy one-pager.

DM me “Content Strategy” for the full version.

PS. Did I miss any formats?

Writing is at the core of my business. So, I made a cheatsheet containing: 

- 8 writing guidelines
- 12 writing principles
- My writing framework
- My editing framework 

Are any tips, principles, guidelines, or frameworks missing here?

Please share your feedback. 

PS. Get the high-quality version with my free Notion Design Content OS: https://lnkd.in/e5R3GFCk

LinkedIn is the best social platform for designers. 

Hands down.

134M+ daily active users → Network opportunities
61M+ weekly job searchers → Talent opportunities
65M+ decision-makers → Project opportunities
2% of users create content → Room for you

If you're thinking of getting started. 

To grow & establish your expertise.

Use my LinkedIn Cheatsheet with:

- My 9-step process for LinkedIn posts
- The 11-step LinkedIn profile journey
- My 6 tips for LinkedIn engagement
- My 3-part LinkedIn post anatomy

Helps you nail LinkedIn earlier.

DM or comment “I want it.” for the high-quality PDF.

“Design” derives from the Latin word “designare.” 

Designare means: “to draw or plan” (a process) 
Design originates as a process (“to design”).
With “a design” as the result (an entity).

That's why I define “Design” as: 

- Process: “visualizing a solution to solve a problem.”
- Entity: “a tangible solution to solve a problem.”

Words, descriptions, and language matter.

What's your definition of “Design”?

Source: a few Google searches. Not an etymologist.

20 weeks ago, I did a podcast with Sera Tajima.
 
A month before the podcast, I changed direction:
 
1. From “UX Side Hustles” to "Design Content”
2. More focus on helping design businesses
3. Stopped building my Design Content OS
 
Because I learned: 
 
- Content has low ROI without proven offers
- My product didn't solve actual problems
- Leaders with a 9-5 are extremely busy
- Design businesses wanted my service
- Individuals rarely can afford retainers
- Too much flexibility harms progress
 
A week later, I started a consultancy retainer:
 
→ For my 1st design agency client
 
Working with them quickly taught me:
 
- Design businesses want content for qualified leads
- Most design businesses' core product is expertise
- $500k-$5M+ ARR businesses value my expertise
- Content strategy efforts have way more ROI here
- Designers truly struggle with staying consistent
- Thought leadership is highly effective for leads
 
So, a month later, I changed direction again:
 
1. From “Design Content” to “Design Expertise”
2. 100% focused on design leaders & business
3. Finished Design Content OS, made it free
 
And that was the last “bigger” pivot. 
 
Now, I help designers get recognized for their design expertise so they can stand out of the herd, build more valued expertise, and get inbound opportunities.
 
After listening to the podcast (to reflect on myself).
 
I thought to myself: “Damn, you've learned a lot.”
 
Because when my niche felt right, I dove deep:
 
- Turned 600+ days of experiments into frameworks
- Finally got version 1 of my websites live (in 1 week)
- Systematized my end-to-end content strategies
- Stacked my offers, finalizing my funnel strategy
- Got more clarity on who I help and what I offer
- Talked to around 5 design leaders every week
- Started working with more design businesses
- Built my back end to deliver services faster
- Decided to work with a “business coach”
- Set clear constraints for what I consume
- Study everything I can get my hands on
 
Only after I dove deep I learned deeply.
 
And I'm still learning. Every single day.
 
Because running a business is hard.

Hard, but meaningful and exciting.
 
But if you're interested in digging deeper into how I started all this, watch or listen to the podcast. 
 
Links in the comments (YouTube & Spotify).
 
PS. What was your latest biggest learning? 

On day 676 in a row of writing every day. I can tell you it's the most compounding skill there is.

Taplio

Thijs Kraan's Linkedin Analytics

Thijs Kraan

What is Thijs talking about?

Who is engaging with Thijs

Thijs Kraan's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Want to drive more opportunities from LinkedIn?

Taplio

.css-1jgreyo{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39,43,72,1) 0%, rgba(33,47,183,1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Thijs Kraan's Linkedin Analytics

Thijs Kraan

What is Thijs talking about?

Who is engaging with Thijs

Thijs Kraan's Best Posts .css-qqfgvy{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);}(last 30 days)

Want to drive more opportunities from LinkedIn?

Thijs Kraan's Linkedin Analytics

Thijs Kraan's Best Posts (last 30 days)