2025 was incredibly challenging, and I learnt some critical business lessons to take into 2026. Want the goss about where I failed and how things need to change next year?
Here it is.
1. Prices should have gone up way sooner
The Key Takeaway: Higher prices mean better service.
I did this thing where I tried to honour existing clients’ prices as long as I could as a thank-you for their service. I also knew several of them had been loyal to me as far back as 2018, had tight budgets, and may not have been able to stick with me if I rose prices in line with my current levels.
But by keeping prices the same too long, I was overwhelmed by work and underpaid for it, which flowed on to mean poor project punctuality and a perpetual feeling of brokeness despite being insanely busy all the time.
Particularly stupid, was failing to raise prices when I brought on a team of casual freelance assistants to help with work in March, assuming my margins were large enough in comparison to what they charged (they were not large enough, as I had to supervise and revise more of their work than expected – see Lesson #3).
So I ended up doing some jobs for free or even for a loss, after I’d paid the people who helped and spent the necessary time editing their work.
In 2026, I’ll be way firmer on clients paying for full-price projects… because I have to be. And because if I’d done this in 2025, I would have been far less stressed and provided better and more prompt service to everyone.
2. Deadlines are actually critical
The Key Takeaway: Firm deadlines create a fair playing field. They mean predictability and punctuality for everyone; so we can all predict our deliverables, receivables, flow-on projects, and finance accounts properly.
One of the worst ways I messed up this year was by being too flexible with project deadlines and content due dates. I was trying to be kind to everyone during a mega-disrupted year for me, but it created a logistical mess.
If I was late on a task, it would make a future project late. If a client was late, it would also make a future project late. When that future project started before the late project had finished, I was overwhelmed (see above). And if a client came back from the middle of nowhere and asked for something to be done urgently when my books were full with people who were on-time, I should have said it wasn’t possible or charged them a hefty late fee instead of bending over backwards to make it work.
I was trying to give everyone else flexibility because of how swamped I was, but in failing to enforce hard deadlines (or charging a fee for the privilege of delaying), I just perpetuated the swamp and made my entire schedule completely unmanageable. As an apology for the fumble, I gave partial refunds to clients whose results I’d significantly delayed, increasing my Perpetual Feeling of Brokeness (see above) when I was already undercharging for their work (see above). What I should have done instead is allowed extra time for each project by giving it a longer deadline to begin with, instead of assuming life was going to get easier and then inevitably overshooting the deadline when it didn’t. Lesson learnt.
I had similar issues when managing my subcontractor assistants, where I’d ask them to complete a task and state the deadline, but the information would sometimes be forgotten or lost in their swell of tasks to complete. To fix this in 2026, I’m looking into project management software so I can keep all of us on top of timelines and expectations at all times. Needing to pay for extra software like this is another reason why prices need to go up. See #1: Prices Should Have Gone Up Way Sooner.
3. I am better at this job than I realised
The Key Takeaway: Taylor Eggleton of Origami Graphics really is *that good* at graphic and web design.
Positive lesson curveball: I’ve always been too modest and reluctant to brag about my achievements, but there were a few times this year where I realised just how skilled, quick, and efficient I am at design. In amongst the pressure storm, I did some work I’m incredibly proud of – some of my best ever – and I can’t wait to share it with you when I launch my new website next year.
Firstly, I learnt loads of new skills. While following through on my divestment from Wix and Elementor (more info here), I upskilled myself in Squarespace and WordPress, learnt how to use 2 new WordPress website builders from scratch to replace Elementor, and brushed up on my CSS to deliver gorgeous, semi custom-coded web designs for my clients.
I also learnt how to design website layouts in Figma, got practice marking up and handing designs off to development teams, and worked on a massively exciting collaborative web project for a household-name environmental organisation – with two of my new team members. Doing a multipage, completely-custom team web design job with the ladies was so much fun – and so much easier than pulling the weight alone – that I don’t think I would ever go back to managing a large website project by myself.
Then, I had some wake-up calls while managing a team for the first time. Like, when:
- One of my design assistants quoted 7 hours for a job I’d done in 90 minutes, and we needed to negotiate to establish an appropriate compromise timeframe for the work (credit to her – she said “if that’s what you achieved in that time, then that’s what I’ll aim for”).
- I realised I was the only one of us freelance graphic designers who was highly proficient in every single Adobe program plus WordPress, as well as all of the disability-accessible WCAG tech bits, and had to give others instruction on how to meet these global standards while delivering our annual reports.
- Another designer, peeking over my shoulder while I edited logo concepts this December, said “whoa, you’re fast” – taking me by surprise.
- A long-term client from 2019, not even realising I’d had design assistance on a piece, rejected my concepts – when I thought the work was reasonably strong, and she always approves my solo work on the first draft.
People have different strengths, and something I’ve learnt is how to delegate effectively to make sure the best person is doing the best and quickest job for any given specialty. But this year has also been quite revealing that I’ve undersold myself for some time and need to be charging better to honour that efficiency – especially if I need to approve an assistant’s work, send it back to revision when it’s not quite up to scratch, and train them to get to the level I’m at.
If it takes me 90 minutes at $125/hr instead of 7 hours at $80/hr, you’re saving $372.50 over a less-experienced candidate and you’re getting a far quicker turnaround to boot. That higher hourly rate means I’m being paid appropriately for my skill level, instead of being punished because I spent fewer hours doing a faster and better job.
Don’t be scared off by a higher hourly rate. It’s high for a reason. Choose efficiency – it could actually save you money.
In Summary…
These three lessons are the major learnings I’m taking into the new year: 1. Charge properly and 2. enforce deadlines, because 3. there’s a reason you’re so busy.
In self-deprecating as a business owner, the consequences don’t even just fall on you and your cash flow. The consequences of mismanagement fall onto your clients.
I do feel like this might be a slightly female problem, as us ladies are socialised to be people-pleasers, and I don’t see my male colleagues stressing about price rises or their entitlement to good pay. I also don’t see most of my male colleagues still having to schedule work until 5pm on Christmas Eve, tbh.
So… if my stricter management of quotes, projects and budget in 2026 come as a shock, I’ll link you to this article. We’ve all gotta be held accountable to make sure business gets done, and we need to make sure this industry is priced, managed, and valued as it should be. I’m not repeating these mistakes from 2025 again.
Now… let’s get to work. 💪
Tay x