[Orange_County_Permaculture] A Journey of Transition: Becoming a Professional Permaculture Designer Dan French – Part 3-2-1

[Wesley Roe and Santa Barbara Permaculture Network]

A Journey of Transition: Becoming a Professional Permaculture Designer – Part 3
General — by Dan French March 12, 2013

http://permaculturenews.org/2013/03/12/a-journey-of-transition-becoming-a-professional-permaculture-designer-part-3/
by Dan French


Photo © Craig Mackintosh

This time, in Part 3 of this series discussing my journey towards becoming a professional permaculture designer, I will be talking about marketing, knock-backs and my progress since the last article. Part 2 of this series focused on two large issues facing many of us trying to build our own business, commitment and confidence. Reflecting on these points, the pressure of these emotions is ongoing. I’m glad to report however, the series of strategies I outlined in Part 2 are helping me in both of these areas. Despite this, I am still finding that my momentum seems to ebb and flow. I found that Christmas in particular, the time most people bar all thoughts of work and concentrate of having some time off, had a significant impact. I gave myself a leave pass to freshen up, which was both good and bad. Good because I spent some quality time with my family — time we all enjoyed as they didn’t have to listen to my constant strategizing and questioning of where I’m headed — and because I didn’t feel the need to unload on them. Bad because the momentum I had gained leading up to Christmas was sadly lost, much like my hopes for a particular present I had long been asking for. All I received was several pairs of very nice socks….


Momentum is your friend in life, particularly when starting a business, as it takes constant effort, and not only in one area. It requires you to spread yourself across many disciplines. You can’t slack off. This is an important lesson I am taking from this whole exercise. You need to manage every area of your operation from your business focus to accounts, marketing, technical support, sales, execution and more. It has given me a whole new level of respect for those who successfully created an enterprise and for those who have given it a go. Planning and execution skills are valued at a premium. I’m slowly getting better as I go.

It’s a long road and it can get both frustrating and disillusioning, especially prior to getting a job through the door. I’m still fishing for my first client. I have however, had several offers from friends to design their place for free. Some of this is good experience, but too much of it is wasted effort and will send you broke before you ever get truly started. In saying that though, each time I run through a consulting procedure with anyone, I get a true perspective of the variability of people’s needs, consulting methods which work and the need for a detailed and planned approach to engagement and design. It has led to me developing a client engagement template (many examples of which exist on the internet), the aim of which is to gather as much information on a client’s needs, characteristics and the site prior to visiting it in person. It means I’m not working purely from scratch when I first hit the site and can therefore save myself and the client time and effort instead of being distracted with irrelevant design features and speculation.

On this point, spending time thinking about how you are going to respond to a phone or email enquiry is highly important as this is where you can impact a potential client’s decision about whether they will proceed with you or look somewhere else. For this reason, I believe you should pack responses to inquiries or promotional documentation with as much value and discussion of benefit as you can. People need to know that any money spent will be a great investment. Providing this type of information shouldn’t be hard. As we all know there are numerous long lasting benefits that accompany permaculture design — make sure you let people know of these and if possible demonstrate this in some way or another. Perhaps give them some free resources and skills information which they can use themselves. The way I see it is if there’s value in this it is more likely there is value in your service.

This is what I am concentrating on at the moment. It’s part of my marketing and skill building efforts. I am currently working on creating some novel projects on which I can demonstrate the value of investing in permaculture design. This will involve collaborating with others and therefore part of this effort requires networking. Not randomized though, targeted at partners and clients with whom I can produce specific results in terms of increasing value, measuring savings (resources) and recording client satisfaction. I want to quantify and qualify these differences so that I can prove what I claim and show that there is an achievable return on investment that results from smart design.

I am still gathering inspiration from where I can by researching others who run successful businesses who have made them well known by benefitting others. Try Joel Salatin, Michael Mobbs, Veta la Palma, etc. I concentrate on how they have become well known and how they reproduce the quality of work which keeps people talking about them. As you will note, most of those we look up to in these areas are excellent self-promoters and collaborators as well as being dedicated and calculated risk takers. Their use of social media, publications and education to remain engaged in their respective fields of expertise is often exceptional. There are many out there who are also equally as successful who fly under the radar, and your approach of course depends on your goals and personality. Personally, I am interested in trying to encourage the use and acceptance of regenerative ecological design so that it is mainstream and common practice, so I’m probably going to be more of the outspoken type.

In summary of where I’m currently at with this whole process, I feel that all my foundations for business have been laid and its time to start heavily promoting my services and learning and refining my skills as I progress. This is an intimidating proposition as I’m putting my reputation on the line. I frequently put this into perspective by staring out to the horizon while floating in the sea or staring at the night sky and realizing how fleeting this moment in time is and how my successes and failures as an individual are actually not that significant in the scheme of things. They are however important to my family (in particular the values I want to impart upon my son) and my mission to leave a positive impact on this planet, so in that regard it’s time to get going and see where I can take all the ambition and skills I’ve taken on board as a result of the teachings and community of permaculture.

One final discussion point before signing off. I was contacted by a designer in Italy after writing my last article about how to determine what you should charge for your services. My opinion is as follows. Your fee depends on what you are offering. I would suggest looking at what similar services such as landscapers, architects, horticulturists, environmental consultants, etc., are charging in your area. You may also want to see if anyone else is conducting permaculture design in your region and take note of their fee structures. It is likely that not many are offering design services in this area, so in that regard you may have to become a price setter rather than a price follower. Nick Huggins took me through a process of first determining what level of income I am targeting over the course of a year and working backwards from this figure. This makes sure you have a target in mind and aren’t simply fishing for anything without considering what you are actually looking to achieve financially. He has tested price points for the market so I took note of this and what others are charging for similar services. I have set my price structure using this approach and have a documented sales process (i.e. the steps that are necessary to complete a paying job starting from a phone or email enquiry and finishing with a final payment from the client). I will therefore be able to gauge whether I have set a fair price for my services by seeing how far along my sales process I progress with each potential client. If I frequently bomb out after sending through a written quote I may have to examine my fees and see whether this is what is causing a lack of sales.

I hope this helps. Until next time, when I intend to discuss the ups and downs of completing real jobs, wish me luck!


A Journey of Transition: Becoming a Professional Permaculture Designer – Part 2
Education Centres, General — by Dan French December 8, 2012

http://permaculturenews.org/2012/12/08/a-journey-of-transition-becoming-a-professional-permaculture-designer-part-2/

OK, here we go, the second installment of this series regarding my journey to become a professional permaculture designer. In my last article I touched on who I am, what I am doing and why, and discussed some general topics which included defining my services, networking and, on a very general level, the importance of examining price structures for services. As a result, I was contacted by a nice guy by the name of Scott Mann who runs a great podcast series called The Permaculture Podcast. It turned out we had a lot in common. He had also travelled the road of becoming a professional designer, and although he ended in a different stream of permaculture, the process he undertook led him to the path he is now on, that being sharing important permaculture information from various experts to a global audience. A job, I might add, that he’s doing very well! So, regardless of the outcome, the fact he took steps to becoming a designer got him to where he is now. There’s a lesson in that.

Anyhow, during the interview Scott asked me about obstacles I have encountered so far in my professional development and ways in which I have addressed these. It was a good question and I thought this might be a handy topic to concentrate on this time around.

When I reflect on the process so far, although there have been numerous obstacles, the most notable for me have been psychological — specifically those of commitment and confidence. I touched on these two hurdles in my first article but thought they warranted a bit more explanation as for me they have been so significant. My experiences so far are as follows.


Commitment. For a long time and in various forms this has been a biggie with me. For personality types like myself who could be defined as a “free spirit”, someone who likes to have countless options and likes to be able to jump on any of those the moment they seem irresistibly attractive, commitment can be hard. I mean once I have committed to taking on all the long hours and extra work to build experience, reputation and credibility, doesn’t that cut out a whole heap of other options that I might like to indulge in? And what about being judged? It takes time to become competent at different skills. If I commit and put myself out there, won’t my peers see me as some sort of fraud and ridicule my credibility? Have I got the staying power? Can’t I sit on the fence and just dabble in this when I please? Well, it depends on who you are and what you want. To not commit seems sometimes easier, but I have also noticed that once you’re committed, things start to fall into place. I suddenly have focus which stops me thinking about all the things I could be doing and instead lets me concentrate on what I amdoing — where it may lead and how I’m going to go about it. It forces me to start building a method. It has given me a sense of calm and it also enables me to communicate my intent with others and to start taking action, experiencing successes and failures and feeding back into my approach an evaluation of what works and what doesn’t and how I will go about doing things as I progress.

Commitment to starting up a permaculture business has allowed me to build a meaningful timetable of how my week and month will be structured and the tasks that I need to complete in each area to establish my business. It gives me a course of action and a measure of success — i.e. am I meeting my targets or are tasks taking me longer to complete than expected? If so, do I need to reprioritise, be more efficient or be more realistic and inventive in how I get things done or am I just being slack? To get a job done and to be taken seriously, and to take yourself seriously, it helps to know how to commit. This doesn’t mean dumping everything such as other work commitments, family, friends, etc. It means deciding how much time, effort and resources you are willing to dedicate to achieving your goal and getting going on doing it. Ironically, it seems as if more options have opened up for me as a result of commitment — it’s really not that bad!

Commitment is a course of action. It means I move from thinking about things to actually doing them, which leads me to my next topic regarding obstacles: confidence.

When starting anything afresh, building confidence plays an important part. Being relatively new to permaculture and knowing I have a lot to learn has left me feeling a little light on confidence at some points. I keep thinking about how animals smell fear and that a person of two minds is unstable in all their ways… and all sorts of other potential omens both established and made up. Combine that with the fact that I am starting to get out there and let people know what I am doing, reading the doubt and cynicism in people’s responses (….or did I just imagine that?!?) and the fact that I am lacking… well, confidence, can be a bit of an Achilles heel. It has the potential to make me retract into my shell and not expose myself to criticism or risk making mistakes. But that’s not what we’re here for, is it folks. No! We’re here to ask questions, make mistakes, put our reputation on the line, accept feedback and learn as we go. I know that if we want it bad enough, we can make almost anything happen. We are as capable as the next person and with the right drive, determination, persistence, strategy and support it’s remarkable the number of self-imposed boundaries we can challenge.

So, how have I challenged the issue of building self-confidence? Planning, rehearsal and execution. By running through challenges, reviewing performance and setting new goals with Nick Huggins each week my confidence is growing and any setbacks are easier to take. A knock-back or negative response to one of my attempts to establish a network is no longer a personal attack, it’s more feedback to refine my approach and another reminder that, in business and permaculture, as with much of life, successful interactions are dependent on beneficial relationships and win-win outcomes.

For example, networking and getting what I am doing known amongst permaculture circles and a wider audience is necessary, I feel, if I plan to collaborate with and learn alongside other professionals and win jobs on an ongoing basis. Specifically, I am trying to get a Holistic Management course running here in South Australia as it is recommended as an excellent part of the permaculture tool box as a whole systems decision making tool. To date, attempts to contact various people in permaculture and land management circles have had a mixed response. Whilst some people are very willing to help out, others aren’t. Why is this? Could it be that they are busy and have other priorities, don’t think it’s a good idea, aren’t willing to collaborate, don’t know me and don’t yet value how I work, or a myriad of other reasons? I don’t need to over-examine possible motives and may never know. It makes me aware however that by planning on how I am going to make first contact with persons of interest, relay an idea or concept and gain the level of support I am seeking, I need to formulate a script or list of key messages and deliver that in a way which is concise, non-confronting and provides value or some benefit to whoever it is that I am communicating with. By putting that planning into action and making the calls (execution) I now receive feedback. It’s either positive (yes, sounds great, send me more details), negative (no thanks, please don’t talk to me again) or neutral (ambivalent or no response). Either way, it’s a chance to evaluate my performance and modify my approach using what works and noting what doesn’t, all of which is building my confidence to adapt, grow and become more professional with each attempt.

The issue of confidence has also made me think about the importance of a mission statement or a core ethic and goal by which your business is run. I see the strength of that being in the focus and as a constant reminder of the burning desire I have to achieve a specific result. I imagine it will be a foundation from which I can draw strength when I am feeling disillusioned. It can also serve as a set of goal posts that can assist me in determining whether I am remaining loyal to principles which guide my business activities. Mine is in the making but I know that whatever it is it will include my intent to collaborate with others to better the state of the environment and ensure a prosperous future for the following generations (…maybe that’s it?). Big concepts but specific in focus, concepts that I know if I focus on will bring results that I can be proud of and that also provide a vision that inspires and can be expanded upon.

Another confidence building exercise I am in the midst of with Nick is running through different quoting scenarios for a range of clients, firstly for an on-site consult and development of a concept plan and secondly, for a detailed design. By ranging the scenarios from urban to rural I am breaking down specifics of how a job will be delivered, how much that costs and how much I will charge to make a profit. It requires an understanding of what results I am trying to achieve for a client, what resources I require to deliver these results and how much time I realistically need to allocate. This process sets a baseline for how I will go about providing my service and forces me to think proactively — i.e. if I have trouble providing specific expertise how am I going to provide it and who can I get in contact with to help assist me with the job?

It gets me thinking back to when I was working with a multi-disciplinary consulting company/engineering company as an environmental consultant. I was often approached by clients and colleagues to tackle an issue that I had little experience in. The vast majority of times, when asked if I could take on whatever it was I said yes and then started planning on how I was going to do it. We had an internal network of experts however, so if a task required outside expertise I looked up the best people on that subject I could find and then gave them a call. They were generally glad of the recognition and were often happy to help out if I made it worth their while. I realize from this that as long as you are prepared to organize and manage, you shouldn’t be afraid of taking on things outside of your direct line of expertise and learning as you go… as long as you do a good job of it. I mean look at Milkwood Farm (where I did my PDC). They’re awesome! They built what they have with full knowledge of their inexperience and fast-tracked their professional development by becoming experts at teaming with the experts. In other words, if you haven’t got all the skills try teaming with others.

There are other things I’m doing to build confidence such as running pilot consults and engaging in ongoing education to broaden my skill set, but I’ll go into that another time.

Incidentally, a great reference for me has been an audio recording of Stephen R. Covey’s inspirational book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. It’s only 3 hours long and provides distilled wisdom on how to develop habits that instill confidence and independence as well as guidance on how to effectively communicate, collaborate and work with others — because at the end of the day, you’re dealing with people.

Until next time, if there’s anything readers are wondering feel free to leave a comment and I will respond as soon as I can and if anyone is interested in attending a Holistic Management course here in South Australia please let me know. I need expressions of interest to take it further. Finally, don’t forget to visit the resources section here on this website, it’s full of good templates and other valuable tools for helping you get your permaculture business up and running.


A Journey of Transition: Becoming a Professional Permaculture Designer
General — by Dan French November 9, 2012

http://permaculturenews.org/2012/11/09/a-journey-of-transition-becoming-a-professional-permaculture-designer/
by Dan French


Photo © Craig Mackintosh

Like the title suggests, I’m going to write a few articles about my journey to becoming a professional permaculture designer… if you don’t mind? I’m doing this for a few reasons: to help me articulate and formalize what it is I’m doing; to tell others who might be interested in doing the same about my ups and downs; to gain exposure and fast track my development as a designer; and perhaps, on some sadistic level, to just put a bit more pressure on myself. Let me explain to you why.


I grew up in the Adelaide hills, on the top of the ridge where the elements are in full swing, alongside a national park. This ensured there was plenty of animal and wildlife interaction during my upbringing and lots of time spent outdoors. Here I developed my affinity with my environment, which has stayed with me and led me to studying environmental science and taking employment as a fisheries research scientist, environmental consultant in a large engineering company, environmental volunteer manager and now permaculture designer and eventually, educator… I hope.

During my previous professional lives, I spent many moments wondering what it would be like to break the shackles of endless corporate procedures, boring reporting and restriction of action by various legislative approaches. I remembered back to when I first starting working out of school in the landscape and building industries and the satisfaction at the end of the day or week when you could stand back and see the results of your work laid out in front of you. These are the drivers for me to take on being a professional permaculture and environmental designer and because I believe in the urgent need to start rebuilding and repairing our environment, and that the diverse services of permaculture are desperately needed in the professional world.

German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer stated, “All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed; Second, it is violently opposed; and Third, it is accepted as self-evident.” I’m not exactly sure which phase permaculture has reached yet in terms of acceptance, but I believe it belongs in the third. If that’s the aim, the practice of permaculture needs to be rapidly accelerated to be incorporated into not only agricultural and landscaping practices but also in infrastructure, social, development and energy sectors. I know this is already the case, I don’t however believe it is occurring at the rate which is necessary. The three guiding principles of care of the earth, care of people and return of surplus are simple and timeless and seem like sensible considerations for most things we do.

Just like a religion, it seems permaculture is expressed in many forms. I highly doubt becoming a professional in this field is for everyone, but to me it seems a noble pursuit. It’s something I believe in and I aim to practice to the best of my ability. To this end, I am starting to collaborate with others in the fields of permaculture, science, media, business and other industries (i.e. drawing on the skills and knowledge of others and creating a business ecosystem) and am not letting my ‘greenness’ in this new field stop me from setting plenty of personal challenges.

I like working with people and getting the occasional kick up the bum, so I have teamed with Nick Huggins of Permaculture Business World who, I’m glad to say, has really fired up my progress. He has challenged me initially to define both my services and client target groups, formalise promotional gear/branding (i.e. business name, potential clients, capability statements aimed at client groups, etc.) and to start networking with potential clients, previous professional associates and business networks (which are likely to include people who have never heard of permaculture before). I have found this process to be extremely helpful for solidifying my intent of what it is I’m doing and how I’m going to go about it. Furthermore, it forces me to learn how to concisely state these things to those with no knowledge of permaculture. Furthermore, by starting to network I am formally making a commitment to following through.

Another task I have been assigned is to start writing about and promoting permaculture. There are several benefits that I expect will result, the most obvious being that I am increasing awareness of permaculture and its benefits to a wider audience, I am forced to know my subject if I aim to build credibility and I am getting my name out there.

My other major focus at present is to hone down on what I want to get out my business financially, what it’s going to cost me to run and therefore what my rates, terms and conditions will be. This is vitally important information that’s essential for starting, maintaining and growing a business; making it sustainable, so to speak.

Although I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time I have only formally begun pursuing this idea in the last three weeks and at times it can get overwhelming… and I’ve hardly started yet! It feels pretty satisfying though. My life and professional goals of accelerating real ‘on-ground’ environmental remediation in domestic and commercial circumstances is happening. I want to promote permaculture and holistic environmental management as a viable commercial alternative — i.e. to show that re-aligning domestic and commercial practice with being truly socially and environmentally aware can be good for all. Satisfaction also comes from committing to a course of action. It eliminates my internal banter.

I’m lucky enough to have another part-time contract in the field of community fisheries that can provide a buffer for my family and I while things get up and running. I would still be doing this regardless, but having this extra work for me makes it all possible now. My intent is to become a skilled designer/rebuilder of ecosystems and to carry these skills over into the world of fisheries and aquaculture, as whole systems management approaches and a decentralization of these industries is sorely needed.

Ok, enough gas-bagging. Hopefully this is helpful to someone somewhere or stimulates some discussion. I will write more about how its all going with details of the methods behind my development a little further down the track.
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