Boost Your Profits With Mark Ups
A mark up, also known as percentage over cost, is one way you can increase your freelance revenue. Marking up is a common business practice,
Alvalyn Lundgren
iOS
ARTICLES.
Tips and Insights on Mission, Mindset, Mechanics, and Marketing for Freelance Creatives
Why You Can’t Be My Client
Since I established my design studio over thirteen years ago, I have worked with clients large and small, designed for sole proprietors and for publicly-held
Alvalyn Lundgren
Freelance or For Hire? Clarifying The Designer-Client Relationship
Misunderstandings can exist between clients and freelance designers regarding their working relationships. Questions of who owns what, what files are provided to the client, when and
Alvalyn Lundgren
8 Qualities of Successful Freelancers
Freelancing is on the rise. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the freelance (contract, temp worker and freelancer — in all industries) economy has a healthy
Alvalyn Lundgren
How to Avoid Spam in Your Blog Comments
One thing I really appreciate about using WordPress for my website platform is the multitude of time-saving plug-ins available. One plug-in I really appreciate is Akismet. Akismet recognizes and
Alvalyn Lundgren
Advice For Emerging Designers
…your process of emerging from school into the (design) profession needs to be as carefully framed and designed as any of your projects.
Alvalyn Lundgren
GDPR Compliance Steps for US-Based Freelancers
The European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation goes into full effect on May 25, 2018. The internet and blogdom are all abuzz about getting
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
12 Steps To A More Secure WordPress Web Site
Every independent creative professional should have a web site. Hands down, WordPress.org is the most popular self-hosted content management web site framework. Over 50% of self-hosted
Alvalyn Lundgren
Risky Business
© Alvalyn Lundgren. All international rights reserved. Risk. It’s a small word with big impact. Taking risks involves change and the unknown. We’re usually not
AlvalynCreative
The Importance of Knowing Why
How many people set goals and never achieve them? How many creatives start a business and then watch it fizzle out Are you someone who,
Alvalyn Lundgren
Property Rights
Although it’s a common assumption, clients are not automatically entitled to a designer’s working files. The tools, preliminary concepts and layouts remain the property of
Alvalyn Lundgren
5 Stages of Customer Loyalty
To be meaningful, design needs to connect on five successive levels of significance…
Alvalyn Lundgren
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
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
Doing Good Work and Working for Good
On his Dear Design Student blog on Medium, Mike Monteiro, design director at Mule Design, author and speaker, discusses designers and their ethics. He addresses
Alvalyn Lundgren
Create A Social Media Connection Strategy
When you’re in business, you use social media differently than you do personally. I was an early adopter on many social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook
Alvalyn Lundgren
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.
Alvalyn Lundgren
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
Year-End Planning For a Propserous New Year
Planning is necessary for any business owner. Going through an end-of-year assessment in order to set up for the next can lead you into more
Alvalyn Lundgren
A Freelancer’s Guide To Retainer Agreements
When you work project-to-project, you can experience inconsistencies in your schedule and revenue flow. One way to mitigate those gaps is with retainer agreements. These
Alvalyn Lundgren
Understanding Your 1099-K Reporting Changes for 2022 and Beyond
We’re on a mission to cultivate a business mindset in support of our creative work. If we want to profit from our creative work, we
Alvalyn Lundgren
The Designer and the Relief Pitcher
If you know me well, you know that baseball is my favorite sport, and I often employ baseball analogies to explain concepts to students and
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