Got super good at design. Clients love that

>>252972
$$$

>>254202
^ This

To piggyback off

>You partner with a couple guys who have totally different but complementary skillsets to your own,

I'd recommend having a business major. The people who grease palms and are comfortable approaching strangers with your company's elevator pitches, and can competently step up to the mound to compensate for any social shortcoming you or your team might have, especially when networking with clients who might be leary about hiring a fresh company with not many notches on their six-gun, or don't understand the value you'd be bringing their company.

It might also behove you to have some people who excels at administrative work, to ensure that there's a paper trail, and are tasked to make sure clients pay the fees, and make sure the lights are on. Sure, you could do this yourself, but it'd free you up to concentrate on what you'd rather be doing (i.e. designing neat shit). (possibly the aforementioned business major)

Partner with a good printshop. Even if you're doing exclusively digital things, having good leave-behinds and printed collateral can help your branding- because sometimes a client might not be able to get online at a crucial moment, or is old-fashioned enough to not be impressed by your fancy big-city ivory-towered highfalutin "website."
Sure, you could get these done through an online company, but having a local source can speed up the production time, and you can take advantage of their experience in producing such things.
If you invest in something like teeshirts or retractable banners, this can also help solidify an identity for you and your team. But this can be expensive and potentially wasteful early on, so don't count your chickens too early on!

Finally, take advantage of your social networks. Dad might not need your work, but his employer might, or mom might know such and such who is in need of this and that. (replace family member with friends or friends of friends- you build these connections for a reason!)

>>254203
(man, that previous post I was referencing was spot-on. I wish it wasn't excised- s/he was making a really good point about the necessity of struggle and boot-strap-pulling)

>>254204
I was going to edit it because it made it sound like I didn't appreciate my other partner's marketing background, but then I went to bed.

Here it is in full:

You partner with a couple guys who have totally different but complementary skillsets to your own. Maybe one has an advertising background and knows how to code. The other might have worked in marketing or something and can also edit video. You pour all your cash into a DSLR and a few laptops and a month or two of rent at a small office space.

It's rough going at first, and you'll do a lot of small time shit for small time clients. And you'll be poor for a while. Like you sit down and eat the three granola bars you have in your cupboard, one after the other, and that's your lunch for the day. And you worry about paying rent and bills. Your student loan might be a month overdue, but fuck em.

You keep dumping cash into new, better equipment. You make the other agencies take notice of you, and you turn down their lowball buyout offers. You keep grinding. Keep picking up clients and bumping your rates up. You take every fucking tiny little job just as seriously as the bigger ones. From one off business card designs for small non profits, to full fledged campaigns for citywide events.

Then three years later you're setting a financial goal of netting a half million, and you do the math and between the next three clients you have lined up before the first quarter even starts, you realize you're already halfway there.

Starve. Work your fucking ass off. Suffer. Do that until you start making money, and then keep doing it. Your business is the best thing you've ever done with your life, fucking act like it.

not sure if mentioned yet, but look out for volunteer work if you need to build your portfolio. and chances are very few people you talk to need logos, be open to doing whatever comes your way