So when did being a graphic designer start meaning you’re basically a marketing and design team in one role? That’s the question I posted on Threads the other day, after noticing job ad after job ad turning up on my social feed, all asking for a graphic designer who’s also a UI/UX designer, a web designer, a photographer, a videographer, a video editor, an animator, a marketing professional, a content editor, a copywriter, and sometimes even a coder too.
The replies said everything. Someone pointed out that on top of wanting all of that, they still expect to pay entry-level wages for it. And there’s truth to that – I’d seen two job ads that week asking for the full list, both offering £25k. One role, five or six people’s worth of skill, one junior salary.
It got me thinking, because it’s not just designers. Running a business now often means the exact same thing.
Running a business can feel like having to do it all
You started your business to do the thing you’re actually good at. Somewhere along the way, that turned into also being your own marketer, your own admin, your own social media manager, your own customer service team, and increasingly, your own IT department too.
Nobody handed you that job description. It just crept in, one platform and one expectation at a time, because we’re all living in a much more online world than we used to be, and the bar for “keeping up” keeps rising. More competitors online, more platforms to be seen on, and more pressure to look established the moment you start.
Small jobs, no headspace left
The requests I get most often aren’t big, dramatic projects. They’re tasks that would take an hour or two if you already knew how, and a few evenings if you don’t. Business owners come to me needing help with a domain that won’t connect properly, or DNS settings that make no sense unless you already speak that language, not because the task itself is hard, but because there’s no headspace left to work it out after everything else the day’s already asked of them.
I’ve started teaching small Canva and AI classes for the same reason. Not big overhauls, just the kind of tiny, mighty tip that saves someone hours down the line. Setting up a proper brand kit in Canva so you’re not hunting for the right shade of your brand colour every single time. Writing yourself a voice prompt for an AI tool so you’re not starting from scratch with every piece of content. None of it is complicated once you’ve seen it done. Almost nobody’s been shown it.
The pressure to be everywhere at once
On top of all that, there’s the pressure to be visible constantly. Business owners often feel they need a presence on every platform, all the time, because the moment you stop posting somewhere, it can feel like you’ve disappeared. Several platforms are built to reward exactly that behaviour, pushing fresh, new content and quietly burying anything older, which keeps people posting more than their business or their time actually calls for.
It’s part of why I’ve always liked Pinterest so much. It doesn’t punish you the same way for stepping back. Content there keeps working long after you’ve posted it, rather than needing to be constantly fed. That’s one small example of choosing a platform that fits how much time you actually have, rather than chasing whichever one everyone says you’re supposed to be on.
Why there’s no single right answer
Here’s the part that makes this genuinely hard to figure out alone. What actually works, which platform, which tools, how much time to give each part of the business, is a personal thing, because every business and every business owner is different. Working that out usually takes a fair few mistakes, a fair amount of time, and more trial and error than anyone tells you about upfront.
It doesn’t help that so much of the advice out there is scattered and contradicts itself. One person tells you to be on every platform. Another tells you to pick one and go deep. One tells you DNS settings are simple. Another buries the explanation in jargon that assumes you already know half of it. Trying to work out which advice actually applies to your business, on top of running it, is its own exhausting job.
What to do when you can’t be five people at once
You can’t be a full marketing team, an IT department, a designer, and the person who actually does the work your business is built on, all at once, all learned from scratch under pressure. Nobody can, and trying to be all of them simultaneously is exactly how things get half-built or dropped.
What helps is figuring out which one or two things matter most right now, and getting properly set up in those, rather than attempting everything at once. That’s a big part of why I’m building something new at Owl Luminous, aimed squarely at this problem. I’ll be sharing more on that very soon, but the short version is that it’s about helping you get confident in the specific pieces of tech and brand that actually move your business forward, without needing to become an entire department by yourself.
Where to start this week with running your business
Look at where your business genuinely is right now, not where you feel it should be. Pick the one thing quietly draining the most time or headspace, whether that’s a domain that’s never worked properly, a platform you keep posting to out of guilt rather than results, or a website you’ve been picturing but haven’t actually needed yet. Sort that one thing before you move on to the next.
You don’t have to wear every hat at once. You just have to know which one to reach for first.
That’s exactly what I’ll be talking more about soon, including something new I’m building at Owl Luminous to help with it. If you’d rather not stumble across the announcement by accident, pop your email in below and I’ll make sure it lands straight in your inbox, along with the odd useful tip in the meantime.
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Lesley Miles
Strategic Brand Designer & Digital ConsultantEmpowering businesses to soar with captivating brand experiences.