Being a good designer is not enough for success and career growth. Below are the top 10 tips from our own firsthand experience that you should know or accept if you want to succeed in the business of design.

1) Never do speculative work for anyone but yourself.

2) A contract is never a guarantee you will get paid.

3) Employers and clients believe they own your mind, not just your design.

4) Non-competes might be unenforceable, but that will not stop a client or employer from coming after you in unimaginable ways.

5) You need a mentor of the opposite sex.

6) You need a brainstorm buddy who doesn’t think like you.

7) Focus groups are not market tests. Results are never statistically capable of taking into account consumer rationale and buyer motivations.

8) There will always be that designer who is really a one note (and likely an a**) but keeps getting more and more work. Don’t let it be you.

9) Get out of the office. You cannot design in a vacuum.

10) If you can’t sell your own work, then no one else can or will. Find a new career.