If you’re anything like me, you probably feel a little funny about how often you check your stats. I check them throughout the day, with a regularity I’m almost ashamed to admit. There’s even a particular stat program I use which plots out a sexy graph, above which are written the words: “Statistics updated every 24 hours.” That doesn’t keep me from checking it about three times a day.

Regardless of the social implications, we stat-freaks are on the right track. For whether you acknowledge it or not statistics are the very backbone of your business, your production, your income and pretty much everything else that matters. I use them (not just look at them) every single day, whether it’s at my blog or examining my design business.

What are statistics?

If you look up “statistic” in pretty much any dictionary, you’ll notice that even people who write dictionaries have bad days. A survey of dictionaries I have to hand uncovered the following definitions for the word “statistic”:
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Winning a job in the freelance world often comes down to who is the more credible and more professional candidate.

It’s a sad fact, but many freelancers are inconsistent with their customer service and underwhelming with the quality of their work. In the several years that I’ve worked with freelancers, I’ve seen both unbelievably good work and unbelievably bad (as I’m sure most of you have as well).

When it comes down to the wire, your potential clients are trying to figure out which category you fall into: the good or the bad.

So how can you show that you’re an honest and hard-working freelancer? A lot of the time it’s the little things that count the most.
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Most freelancers are talented, hard-working, creative, and do great work. Their one Achilles heel? Marketing!

Your business can be divided into two segments-service and marketing. If you are reading this article, then the assumption is that you care about your service and about improving your business. The second part of any business is marketing. Don’t shy away from tooting your own horn. A lot of freelancers I know are not comfortable with marketing because they feel like “Slick Willy” a typical car salesmen stereotype. But marketing doesn’t have to be underhanded. In fact, marketing is really about being an excellent communicator. Create a strong message, and then communicate it with confidence so that the people who are in need of your service can know who you are. They want you as much as you want them!

Marketing is often one of the most misunderstood concepts in the world, and most people flat out hate it–and I have an inbox full of queries to prove it.

So, let’s look at what marketing is not-

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With the start of the New Year upon us, the likelihood of you deciding to head off into Freelancing full-time may be tickling your senses. We understand your passion to make it on your own, and present our Top 10 Freelance Resolutions for this coming year. Already freelancing? Hopefully some of these concepts will help you recommit to your endeavor, and subsequently bring you success in the years to come. Continue Reading

Seldom do you meet a veteran graphic designer that’s done more than create stunning visuals. But Jeff Fisher has managed to maintain a highly successful career while positioning himself as an industry expert—and author.

Hailing from Oregon, this savvy designer has a knack for business development, promotion—and Friday’s off. Read on to find out the secrets to Jeff’s continuing achievements.
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When was the last time you loved working on a project so much, you became completely absorbed in it?  Time stood still.  Minutes became hours.  Hours became days.  And, it all felt like seconds.  As creative professionals, we drop into this ultra-creative blissful zone here and there. 

But, what if you could literally create it on demand?  What if you could consistently cultivate that all-immersive state of mind where the product comes tumbling out with astonishing speed and remarkable quality, letting you not only enjoy the process more, but work less, take one more or raise your rates faster?

Good news, you can enter this magical ultra-creative, super-efficient mode more easily than you imagined, you just need to know how. 

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Benjamin J. Mace, Flash developer extraordinaire, first encountered Flash after graduating college. He lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA with his wife and children, and freelances with a variety of companies throughout the nation. Since March, he’s been a full-time freelancer. Check out some of his excellent work in the post here as well as his studio at http://www.bmace.com.

John Brougher: How did you come to choose Flash as your platform of choice? Does print design or web design (apart from Flash) ever tempt you?

Benjamin J. Mace: Right after I got my second job out of college, my new boss came by my desk and said “Hey we’re going up to Apple in Reston, VA for a Macromedia demo. They have a new suite coming out that sounds pretty cool.” I remember sitting down in a small room with a bunch of people as the speaker started to talk about the future of the Internet and how their new software was going to help change it. I hardly knew anything about the web at the time.

He brought up Flash 3 and Dreamweaver and showed this cartoon of a snowboarder and clicked around on an animated menu. I went from “Sweet… I’m not in my cube today” to “Holy crap, my life is about to change.” He showed the timeline, some keyframes, a few simple commands and how he could make a website with transitions and such. It was all there… everything… design… movement… sound… I was 110% sold. I spent literally ever free minute I had after that learning about Flash and Dreamweaver for the next 2 years.

Print and “Web” design both interest me… Flash, CSS, Pantone chips and markers are all just tools. It’s solving the problems that interests me. I’m a designer by nature and I notice lots of things from the texture of a coffee pot handle to the shape of a car fender. I love everything that has to do with design whether it’s measured in decibels, inches or frames per second. At the end of the day we all have specialties… I’m good at Flash and clients come to me for that. If GM asked me to help design a logotype for a new car, I’d love to work on that just the same.

JB: How did you find your first clients? Where do you go to find your next clients now?

BM: The first few years out of school I had a day job and didn’t really seek work… a friend would mention me in passing and I would moonlight on occasion. As the Internet grew I was heavily involved in forums and the Flash community. Right before the dot bomb people were dying to get intros done and find anyone who knew anything about Flash. Just posting in forums was enough advertising alone back then.
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How much time do you spend worrying about your competition? How often do you do things because you think your competitors are doing them and you need to keep up? Do the words “they stole my client” ever creep into your mind?

As a solo freelancer, bigger competitors in particular can seem rough and scary. Recently however a couple somethings happened to me that changed my viewpoint. I worry a lot less now about what my writer/designer neighbors are doing and pay a little more attention to monetizing the situation. Here’s what I’ve realised about those bigger competitors:

• The hiring process takes time and money
• There may be new-employee benefits and insurance to worry about
• They need physical space and raw equipment resources
• If they hit a slump they’ll have another person to fire (yes, HR personnel worry a great deal about this)

Regardless of how big or small your competition is though, here are five good reasons not to break into a cold sweat think about them.

1. Your Competition Isn’t As Good As You Are

Think about it.

Someone somewhere is the worst graphic designer in the universe.

Somewhere else is the worst writer ever.

Somewhere there’s an accountant who’s probably worse at math than me.

We all the know the old parable where two buddies are out hiking and they come across a bear. One of the guys takes off his backpack and gets ready to run. His buddy says, “It’s no use. You can’t outrun a bear.” The other guy responds, “I don’t have to outrun the bear. I only have to outrun you.”

Fortunately it’s the same for freelancers. We don’t have to be the best in the world. We just can’t suck worse than everyone else. If you simply show your potential customers that you’re not that guy, you’re bound to get work.
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Do you break into a sweat at the thought of raising your rates and having to tell loyal clients that you’re going to have to start charging them more?

Is your biggest fear that all your clients will walk away if you add even a tiny increase to your current fees?

As the new year is approaching, it’s a key time to get your business in order, focus on your strategy and ensure your business will not only be here this time next year, it will be thriving. Of course, earning the money you deserve for the value you add to your clients is a big part of that and many freelancers often don’t charge nearly enough.

One of the most common questions I get asked when coaching clients is “How can I raise my rates without losing any clients?”

So far, none of my clients have lost any of theirs once they’ve broached the subject of their increased fees and many, much to their pleasant surprise, have been met with the same response – “I’m surprised you haven’t done this sooner”. Continue Reading

Each week I get two or three requests for design work. They come sometimes from contacts, but more often than not they come from random people. Sometimes they even come from web-famous people or well-known companies. What is interesting about this though is that I no longer freelance, advertise for work or even have a portfolio.

Actually it can be pretty hard to contact me, though I did finally put up a little website for myself two weeks ago.

Although these days I turn away all this work, for some years I did in fact work as a freelance designer and happily always had more work than I could do – despite being inclined to overwork.

So how do you get web design jobs? Or any other type of job? Here are some things that have worked for me. Continue Reading

What do you hate most about freelancing? I expect right up there will be either sales or not having enough work. Cold-calling, pitching, struggling to pay bills, worrying if you are doing the right sort of promotion, freelancers have enough stress without all this sales stuff.

You can tell when you are doing well with your freelance business, instead of chasing new work, clients come to you. The most successful have to reject work, it seems they are beating customers off with a stick.

How do you achieve that dream scenario?

In brief:

1. Potential clients need to know you
2. You need a hook
3. Leads are only half the equation; you need to close

When you start out you have the greatest challenge. Getting your name known and building a profile should be high on your agenda but this needs to be combined with creating a compelling hook.
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There’s nothing like thanking someone to make them want to be nice to you. It’s positive feedback, just like Pavlov would have used and works on anyone and everyone, including your clients. Saying thank you for their work, time and effort, during the holiday season is a great way to leave a good impression on them to ensure you are remembered when it comes time to hire someone in the new year.

And not only will it leave a good mark, but saying thank you is a great opportunity for giving your clients notice about when you’ll be closed for business, any specials you might have and when you’ll be back at work. With 2007 fast fading into the rear view mirror, it’s time to think about ways you can say thank you to your clients. Here are seven innovative ideas you might like to try:

1. Buy a Sheep … on Their Behalf

Do something good for the world on your client’s behalf and purchase something from Oxfam’s Unwrapped service. You can pay to have a poor farmer’s land irrigated, buy books for school children or invest in a fair trade coffee coop. Last year Cyan and I bought cows on behalf of our clients and named them after major projects we’d worked on. It was amusing, heart warming and something that gets your clients talking and mentioning your name at every christmas and new year party they go to. Continue Reading