I really don't give a fuck bro, we need our money.

Client services can be a drag, and it will always be a drag. Even if you hire people to manage it, it's not a luxury that small business owners can always afford. Even if you manage to get away from the daily grind of maintaining client relationships, you will still have to secure new clients, and you’ll need to constantly do it, because you need money. Service businesses like design studios eat and shit money; if either end stops, you’re fucked. I’ve been lucky to see how important it was while working at Abovegroup—things can get shaky, fast.

Gareth Jenkins, one of my early mentors, and co-founder of Abovegroup, told me when I told him I was starting the Studio: my most important job will be to bring in the money. And I don’t think there’s anything he’s ever been more correct about. Whether it’s selling licenses for our payment infrastructure, coordinating grant applications, or doing a little dance with my hat in my hand, or chasing contract clients, my priority is ensuring that my 16 team members are able to pay their bills, buy beer, give their landlords rent, and buy their partners a little something nice because its month end—all very important parts of life. Revenue is survival, and we need to survive.

It can be surprising for some clients how strict we are about our payment policies. We don't do anything for free (you want me to get on a call to talk through an idea? Okay, the first 15 minutes are free); we charge kill fees, and for overtime. Cash flow is critical, and we take it seriously. While we may be unfortunately viewed as “creatives” by some, we are still a real dollars-and-cents business that needs to prioritise paying its bills. It’s understandable that some clients are a bit put off that we require down payments, or additional fees if a project takes longer than anticipated. But, I believe our success is partly due to our serious approach to ensuring that we can pay our bills, even during economic downturns.

Once a contract is signed, there are two things we are certain about: the peerlessly high quality of our work and that we are going to get our fucking money. If the project's value changes on the client's end, that's unfortunate—when can we expect to be paid for the work we’ve done so far? If a client can't make it to the bank to deposit a payment, that's fine, but our team can't work until the payment has been received. Oh, it’s your daughter’s graduation ceremony and you can’t sign the contract until you’re back? Sounds good, we’ll go ahead and ice that “urgent” request until you can.

It may seem harsh, but my priority is my team members. Our company's vision is pillared on kindness, and I believe I best embody those values when I prioritise my team's well-being. We have won awards because we work together and share a purpose and deep concern for the work we do, not because of my design skills or because Chris is a genius, or because Cyan is a natural born leader. What we have is a result of collective effort. Our success comes from our focused approach to problem-solving and our desire to do good for the Caribbean people. For me, doing good has to start with the people closest to me.

Working with us is an investment in your company's future, and the only way to make that investment is with cash, checks, direct deposits, or Bitcoin. And investing in us will feel like an investment, because it is. It won’t be cheap—you’re probably going to need to talk to your Chairman to get approval for the spend, but it will be worth it. So you have to pay for it. The clients who understand this have the success to show for it.

And for the clients who don't understand this? I don’t really know what to say—we hardly hear from them anymore.

PS, watch this. You need to.