I fully admit to the utter truth in the saying, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know that counts.” Well, mostly. Before you slash your wrists because you think you don’t know enough people to find work, let me assure you it’s never too late to start what...
Negotiation is a phenomenon that hasn’t been given due attention as a specialization. You might have heard of some very successful freelance negotiators who have mastered the art of coming out on top of any negotiation process. Corporations are happily paying huge sums of money for the services of expert...
The benefits of being a freelancer have long been spoken about: bloggers and industry experts have written over and over on how to be successful and how to avoid common mistakes. However, as someone who was once an expert at committing these mistakes, I’ve realized the importance of sharing what...
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you have been subject to criticism for any damn work and couldn’t arouse your critic’s attention on a rather special project of yours? Regardless of where you work or who you work for, taking criticism is part of the job. Sometimes...
Writing a blog is about getting your views and thoughts conveyed to as many people around the world as possible. Successful bloggers have worked at it for years, and it takes grit and perseverance. I have known very few people who gained popularity in the blogging world overnight. It takes...
I’ve traveled to many art schools, being asked to review senior student portfolios and speak on professional practices in the design business and the one thing I always notice is the lack of direction in student portfolios. Even with professionals, there is often no idea what or even how to...
For a full-time freelance designer, hardly a day goes by without hearing about or reading some nightmarish client story. Whether I hear about it in person, by email, over the phone or on the web, one thing seems clear: designers like complaining about their clients almost as much as they...
When you create a color swatch with Illustrator you may need to know some easy settings which the software proposes. Particularly the difference between Spot Color and Process Color is really important for a good printing result. Moreover, properly choosing the type of color between these greatly affect the final...
Nowadays, for each web designer or developer is awful not to have a good connection to the Internet; much more I believe that there are few days in their life when they do not read a post or see an inspirational article from various blogs. Blogs represent an inestimable resource...
One piece of business communication that hasn’t changed in a thousand years is the résumé. It’s the first contact you have with a prospective employer and your chance to sell yourself in 20 seconds. With such pressure, most people make huge mistakes with their résumé. Seasoned professionals struggle with issues...
According to Wikipedia, a job board is a website recommended for job hunting, the choices presented varying from very general tasks to precise niches. In the past few years, this kind of activities practically exploded; this trend was on constant rise, before the economic crisis, things changing quite fast afterwards....
In any business, there is always a need to look for new clients. Hypothetically, the existing clients should continue to avail services (without much of convincing), but this does not happen. For any freelancer, work always comes in phases. Either you get overloaded with work that you have to turn...
One day I was surfing through a social networking website, and I came upon a page where freelancers from all over the world were complaining about various types of online payment systems. In that moment, an idea came to me. It seems that freelancers everywhere have to deal with the...
Infographics are visual presentations of information that use the elements of design to display content. Infographics express complex messages to viewers in a way that enhances their comprehension. Images are often an extension of the content of a written article, but infographics convey a self-contained message or principle. If a...
Being one’s own boss is a lucrative profession for budding freelancers, but it has its own set of challenges. Being the boss implies that you take all the responsibility for your business. One lapse and you could ruin your reputation, without any guarantee that you’d have an opportunity for redemption....