Should You Display Your Pricing On Your Website?
Every project and every client is different. Freelance creatives need to consider the unique needs and objectives of each client when determining their fees.
AlvalynCreative
freelanceisn’tfree
ARTICLES.
Tips and Insights on Mission, Mindset, Mechanics, and Marketing for Freelance Creatives
Use the Socratic Method to Close the Sale
A key principle in successful use of the Socratic Method is that your work product is not the thing — the objective. It’s the thing that leads to the objective the prospect wants to make happen.
AlvalynCreative
Keys to Building a Better Portfolio
Art and design students focus on developing their portfolios during the final terms of their education. The portfolio is the most important tool when entering
Alvalyn Lundgren
Advice for Freelancers: On Being an Owner
Ownership is simply the idea that something belongs to someone. In the case of your freelance business, you own it. It belongs to you. You
Alvalyn Lundgren
How Much Will It Cost?
All too often a business or organization seeks a designer to execute an untested, unrefined idea as quickly and cheaply as possible. A business that’s design-oriented will not regard design as an afterthought but as the basis for its marketing communications and brand awareness.
Alvalyn Lundgren
5 Stages of Customer Loyalty
To be meaningful, design needs to connect on five successive levels of significance…
Alvalyn Lundgren
Does Formal Design Education Matter?
Aesthetic sense and talent are raw materials. They amount to nothing without discipline. Education forces you to add skill, discipline and expertise to your talent. And in order to meet project deadlines, you learn to steward your time.
Alvalyn Lundgren
Making the Most of a Creative Review
You can get more out of a creative review than just a go-ahead to move to the next phase of the project. In coming together
Alvalyn Lundgren
Don’t Cry When A Client Leaves
How we can best respond when client relationships end? Here’s a professional, non-emotional approach you can take when a client informs you they’re leaving or have left.
AlvalynCreative
Maintaining Long-Term Client Relationships
When it comes to clients, it is better to pursue relationships instead of projects. We’ll build our businesses more successfully via relationships and connections, not
Alvalyn Lundgren
No-Money Marketing Tips for Creative Freelancers
We are always marketing. From the quality of our work to how we talk about ourselves, we are constantly sending messages into the public square,
Alvalyn Lundgren
12 Rules for Freelance Success
Setting and maintaining boundaries will help you avoid relationships and circumstances that are potentially harmful.
Alvalyn Lundgren
How To Write An Effective Creative Brief
Creative freelancers can save time and avoid miscommunication when working with their if they use an effective creative brief in their process. Simply talking about project expectations
Alvalyn Lundgren
3 Questions To Ask In Your Marketing Reset
Many businesses are going through a reset right now, and creative freelance business owners are no different. As we emerge from a state of lockdown
Alvalyn Lundgren
7 Reasons Why Freelancers Should Not Discount
With value pricing for design and illustration projects, I am able to custom-tailor my services and fees to fit each client and project. But even
Alvalyn Lundgren
Leads and Referrals — What’s the Difference?
Early in my freelance journey I joined a business networking group through my chamber of commerce for the purpose of generating leads and referrals. Networking groups
Alvalyn Lundgren
Idling and Acceleration: The Four Cs of Moving Forward
I’ll get to it when I’m ready. I’m sure you’ve had the experience of planning to get something done and then putting it off until
Alvalyn Lundgren
159. To Quit, Or Not To Quit
How do you know if you should quit or not? Sometimes quitting is in fact, the wise and right option. Freelancing isn’t easy. It takes courage and tenacity to push through. It starts out being fun, like a great adventure, especially when you land your first couple of clients and get paid for the projects. But when obstacles and opposition show up, what will you choose?
AlvalynCreative
Creative Freelancer Q&A: Do Business, Not Favors!!!
Avoid awkward moments and misunderstandings about getting paid for your freelance work. Prepare written agreements for each client that outlines the type of work you will do, how much you will charge for it, and how you want to be paid. You cannot make a living by doing favors.
Alvalyn Lundgren
Which is Better for Self-Promotion: Email or Mailers?
Self-promotion is an ordinary and necessary aspect of doing business as an independent creative professional. Unlike social media marketing, self-promotion campaigns are targeted to contacts
Alvalyn Lundgren
10 Ups and Downs of Freelancing
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Freelancing provides more freedom than any other type of work structure. With that freedom come the responsibilities of ownership and reputation. When we choose to
Alvalyn Lundgren
Creativity and Change
Creative thinking requires us to cease from thinking as we always have. This is neither automatic nor easy because we automatically default to doing that which requires the least amount of effort.
Alvalyn Lundgren
How To Work With Clients
10 Best Practices For Building Reputation and Relationships When you accept a client’s project, you need to make it your own. While you’re not creating for
Alvalyn Lundgren
Try This Easy, 8-Point Tune-Up For Your Freelance Business
Every business needs regularly-scheduled tune-ups. Just like with automobile maintenance, tune-ups keep things running smoothly. They’re most effective in maintaining performance when they’re done regularly.
Alvalyn Lundgren