For many freelance designers, an extra buck here and there would be a welcome sight. Unfortunately, many freelancers are currently experiencing just the opposite. I’d like to share a technique that can help you create additional income opportunities through recycling old work. For the purpose of demonstration, I will be talking about turning unused logo concepts into cash, but with a little imagination, this same technique could just as easily be applied to almost any other design medium.

If you are a graphic designer, you have probably designed quite a few logos for clients that included presenting multiple initial concepts. What happened to all of those concepts? Some designers may get a little bit of mileage out of their unused concepts by including them in their portfolio for self-promotion, but generally speaking, most unused concepts go to waste.

Continue Reading

There are times when creating a logo can seem overwhelming. But in an industry where efficiency is key, I’ve learned a few tricks that help me to create logos that are effective, meet my clients’ objectives, and are portfolio pieces that I feel proud of.

Today I’m going to walk you through my logo design creation process, and what better way to walk you through it than by using a client case study?

Meet The Modern Woman’s Divorce Guide, a web-based divorce how-to that also empowers women.

Continue Reading

Image by Computer Science Geek.

Do you remember that feeling as a child of not ever being afraid to try new things? Nuh uh, me neither.

And yet as children one of the primary ways we learn and grow is by experimenting and testing — forever pushing the boundaries of what we can do and what’s ‘allowed’. Yet somewhere along the path to adulthood, fear took over…

A fear of failure, a fear of making mistakes, a fear of standing out, a fear of being different, a fear of trying new things.

So here you are today running a modestly (very?) successful freelancing business or wondering how to get started. What’s the main thing holding you back from going to the next level? Fear.

If you’re a relatively experienced freelancer, have you sometimes thought you yourself: “I wonder what would happen if I [fill in the blank]?” but then listed over a dozen reasons why you shouldn’t try? In today’s world where businesses can be launched or tested on a shoestring budget, what is it that holds us back?

There’s great quote by Price Pritchett, the organizational change guru, which goes like this:

“If you send a rocket towards the moon, about ninety percent of the time it’s off course – it “fails” its way to the moon by continually making mistakes and correcting them”.

If you weren’t afraid, what would you try out today to take your freelancing business to the next level?

Here are some ideas to get you started… Continue Reading