A 5-Point Tune Up For Your Freelance Business
As with vehicles, your freelance business needs regular tune-ups to ensure smooth performance and prevent breakdowns. If you’re the owner of an independent creative services
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ARTICLES.
Tips and Insights on Mission, Mindset, Mechanics, and Marketing for Freelance Creatives
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?
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The Internship Epidemic
It is the responsibility of design professionals, teachers and school administrators to value the next generation of designers so that the profession is respected, appreciated and thrives. Unpaid internships won’t accomplish that.
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Taxing Topics: A 9-Point Q&A For Your Schedule C
The first 3 1/2 months of the year are known in the US as tax season. If you are an independent creative professional, that means you
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Competence, Confidence and Baseball
One fact about playing baseball: To advance to the next base, you need to leave the one you’re on. Baseball forces you to advance to
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Technologically Incorrect: Why I Still Use a Paper Planner
It’s red. It’s can get up to 2 inches thick. It’s an almost constant companion. I am describing my paper planner: my planning/project/time management companion. It’s
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Why Design Is Not Self-Expression
If we approach a design solution as an opportunity for self-expression, we’ll miss the point and risk not solving the problem.
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From the Client’s Point of View
From the client’s point of view, there are two crucial criteria in deciding what designer is awarded the project: 1. Does the creative understand what’s
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Email Scams Target Web Designers
Commenting on this article is currently closed. Previously-posted comments are full of helpful details. Please read to the end for the latest updates. Designers
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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
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Discovery Isn’t Strategy
A mistake freelance creatives can easily make is to diagnose and strategize with a prospective client before they become an actual client. This often happens
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5 Outreach Steps For Winning Better Clients
Successful freelancing is a matter of finding the right clients in the right places for the right reasons. Every client you take on affects your
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When It’s Time To Let Go
Being effective involves doing the right thing at the right time in the right place.
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The New Facebook Algorithm Is All About Quality Time… and Money
Mark Zuckerberg wants Facebook to be a place for people to connect and engage. His post on January 11, 2018 decried the plethora of public
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7 Pointers to Rock Your Social Media Marketing
To begin with, social media is not about selling, but about conversations and providing value. Be knowable, likable and trustworthy. To make the most of
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Legislation and Policy Impacting Freelancers In 2025
Creatives don’t always concern themselves with what’s going on in areas of laws and policies. We’re more likely to watch trends and pay attention to
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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,
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How To Pay Yourself As A Freelancer
Paying yourself as a freelancer is often as perplexing as how to price your services. To simplify it, begin with the knowledge that there are
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Find Your “Why” to Achieve Your Goals
You need to identify what’s at stake. I often reflect on how blessed I am to work the way I’ve always wanted to — independently, and why
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How To Get Repeat Business
Client retention is tied more to character than to talent.
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Create A Better Portfolio
Whether online or in hand, your portfolio is the primary means of landing a job or finding clients. Art school graduates have focused on developing
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How To Overcome Overwhelm
Did you know that most freelancers struggle with time management, project management, and getting things done — on time? With margin? We deal on a
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Show Your Work: How Sharing Your Process Increases Your Value
When a client is looking for a creative firm, process and procedures are not obvious priorities in evaluating performance. The prospect is going to look
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