Financial posts

Whether you’re just starting out or have hit a dry spell, there may come a point in time where you have to find a way to make your money without design clients. Let’s face it, the search for clients can be harsh.

There are tons of different avenues you can take and picking the right one makes all the difference. On top of that, once you get a nice lead, that doesn’t guarantee you’re going to be doing work for someone–how many times have you entertained someone for a week only for them to choose someone else to design a logo?

If you can master it, client work is great and can be rewarding. If you don’t get it quite right, there’s no need to pack it all up and quit. There are so many...

I was getting ready to quit my job and start a new company. It was one of those moments where you psych yourself up and rack your brain for any good excuse not to go through with it. Sort of like that moment right before you go off the tall diving board for the first time. Naturally, a thousand pin-pricks of doubt tickled the back of my mind, coalesced into a cannon ball, and plunged to the pit of my stomach where it promptly burst into furious butterflies.

I took some time to calm down and remind myself of all the reasons it was a good choice, the right time, and all the other perfectly sane reasons that prompted me to break out on my own in the first place.

What I really needed though, was a pep talk, so I called an old boss of mine who has always been encouraging.

Let’s share a dirty little secret that really isn’t so secret: the economy is bad and it’s impossible to make money ends meet.

Whether you freelance or have a full-time position, chances are you are not earning enough to live a comfortable lifestyle. Sure, maybe you manage to pay all of your bills each month.

But maybe you live in fear that the roof will need fixing or you’re driving on bald tires or you have no health insurance—you are not alone.

We are all part of what is now being called the “99%.”

While at my last full-time job, most of us had a second job or paying hobby. It’s not...

All freelance designers and developers eventually have to face these ultimate questions; “How much should I charge for my services? Should I charge by the hour, or by the project?“

And then, once that question is answered, of course, the question becomes, “How can I charge more?“

As opposed to a traditional job, in which you are paid a set rate based on what your boss, or your company, is willing to pay you, determining freelance pricing can be tricky.

As...

Newspapers around the world are struggling to survive while competing with websites that offer comparable news more quickly and without a subscription fee.

Many newspapers have embraced the Internet and use their own websites to post news, but their online revenue is a fraction of what they get from print advertising and subscriptions.

Newspapers are losing money and one by one they are going bankrupt.

How can print newspapers maintain...

The other day my daughter, Sophia, announced that she wanted to set up a lemonade stand.

Seeing as how I didn’t really want to spend the better part of my weekend selling lemonade, I tried to talk her out of it by showing her how much she’d need to spend to buy the lemonade mix, get the cups, that sort of thing.

Regardless of my best efforts, there was no changing her mind. She wanted to go into business and there wasn’t anything I was going to do to stop her.

So as I succumbed to...

The immediate challenge for smaller web design companies is how to attract new business and keep old clients in a downturn economy.

Customers are falling off of maintenance contracts and smaller businesses may not be looking to start a website right away.

Enterprise level clients are becoming more price-conscious. What...

Efficiency and organization are critical for freelance web designers. Managing finances and tracking down payments is not what drew most freelancers into this line of work. Fortunately, while handling finances is a necessary part of the business of freelancing, there are many tools and resources to that can help to simplify things. These tools can be critical to keeping your business running smoothly and efficiently.

In this post we’ll look at 15 online tools and services that can offer freelancers some help in the area of finances and billing. Most of these tools are paid, but limited free...