It’s funny how many different meanings words can have. A backup could be a person who provides help, musicians who play behind the main person in a band, a traffic jam, or a copy of computer data. If you haven’t already guessed, that last one is what I’m talking about here. My computer setup: A […]
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You probably track your business mileage. At least you should, or you could be paying more in taxes. The 2012 IRS mileage rate is 55.5¢ a mile: that means that you get to deduct 55.5¢ from your taxable income for every mile you drive for business. It’s gone up to 56.5¢ for 2013. Going to […]
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Lately I’ve been trying to get away from thinking too much about how to run my business. Instead I’ve been trying to focus on why. Why do I do what I do? It’s a much tougher question than it seems. So why do I care? I believe that I need to understand the why so […]
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I usually work in my home office. Ok, it’s a little desk in the corner of the little living room in the little apartment that I share with my hubby and teenage son. When son is out or at school and hubby is out or working at his little desk in the other corner of […]
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I’ve been decluttering and organizing. I just brought a pile of stuff to my local thrift shop. And it was just stuff: nothing with sentimental value or that would cost much to replace. And you know what? When I got rid of the stuff that was cluttering up the surface, I gained access to the […]
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You’ve heard it before: freelance work can be feast or famine. Busy one day, nothing to do the next. Over the past 5 years or so of my freelance life I’ve been lucky. The famine times have been rare. Right now, my business is in a famine. Up until last week I was fairly busy. […]
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You’ve heard it before. Use a contract, use a contract, use a contract. But what should be in a contract? A disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. There are lots of sources for contracts out there, which I’ll write about another day. When I first started my business (AKA […]
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Logos are a special case for design pricing. Here are some of the things I think about: Company size (ie is there one “decider” or will you be having multiple meetings and feedback from a whole committee’s worth of people) Research required (bigger company probably requires a lot more research) Value to company Is an […]
View PostLet me know if this happens to you. You’re working away, diligently designing or writing. “Oh,” you think, “I’ll pop onto the internet to look up this very important fact.” A half hour later you quit your web browser only to realize that you spent 30 minutes browsing Facebook (or whatever site you like so […]
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Q: Is it possible to have a successful freelance career as a designer (or web developer or writer) if I don’t go to school for it? A: I’m a designer, so my answer is directed to someone who wants to be a designer. Yes, it’s possible. To do it well takes work. It takes time […]
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