Managing a creative studio isn’t easy. Studios and agencies who have survived the lean years are now facing the challenge of carefully navigating growth, if they’re to thrive.
This improvement in the creative economy is great news, but it comes with added pressures.
More projects mean numerous moving parts, resulting in more tasks to track and monitor. It can feel like your to-do list is never ending.
Studio Directors: How are things going, Really?
When asked, “How are things going?”; most studio directors have a rough idea. Busy, busy, busy, more clients, more revenue, going great!
But they can be vague on specifics; nitty gritty details are often hidden away. Anyone who goes running has a clear idea of their fitness metrics: calories burnt, distance, average speed. It should be no different for a creative business.
Most studio owners (57%) don’t use software to manage critical functions, such as projects, tasks, revenue, staff and client relations. On the other hand, 42% use up to 3 different ad-hoc online and offline tools to help inform decision-making. Either way, missing or fragmented data means many can’t answer the question, how are things going, accurately.
The team behind Thrive built a creative studio but never found the right solution to their 'studio management' problem. Managing client accounts, invoices, projects, collaborative work, freelancers and dozens of other issues can be overwhelming. They tried a hell of a lot of different tools. Nothing ever stuck; so they built Team.
Everything they learned from decades of creative experience is distilled into Team. Thrive learnt the hard way and know the pain-points that get in the way of growth. Team is designed to help other creatives navigate these, to grow, thrive and succeed.
Introducing Team: Measure, Manage, Improve
Data is everything when it comes to making business decisions. The problem is no one has time to sit around crunching the numbers.
When planning projects consists of long email chains, post it notes and lists, you are spending time on the wrong thing. Team has all the functionality of competing products, but with an emphasis on simplicity, convenience and flexibility.
Important business decisions can be backed-up by data, which most other tools don’t offer. Team gives you the ability to monitor the time spent on a project, budgetary spend, team performance, tasks, milestones, capacity and dozens of other useful indicators.
There's light touch CRM to manage clients in one place, instead of having information scattered around. Sending invoices digitally means quicker payment online; currently users get paid 42 days quicker. Team uses the power of the cloud, to store everything in one convenient location, accessible from anywhere.
Summary of Team Benefits
Freedom to focus on doing what you love, saving you time on mundane day-to-day tasks;
Monitor key metrics, so you know how to improve performance, revenue and client satisfaction;
Manage projects, time sheets, milestones, and invoices in one convenient, cost-effective and creative-friendly piece of kit.
Sara Goehner from Hustle Creative says: “As creatives, numbers are the last thing we want to fuss with, so the fact that it's all taken care of for us is huge. We've been dying to have a simple, uncluttered studio management tool and are so glad it's finally here. Team has streamlined the way we work, and their customer service is awesome to boot.”
Team was designed to bring clarity to the hectic working lives of creative directors. You won’t need to lay awake at night worrying about that one thing you can’t quite remember. So the next time you’re asked, how’s things going, you will have a clear handle on all of the details. With Team, managing your studio will get easier.
