Contents
Contents
Introduction, ix
I Where Do You Start?, 2
1 Essential Traits, 4
Be curious, 5
Show empathy, 7
Have confidence, 8
You're the manager, 9
Motivate yourself, 10
Professionalism, 11
Balance, 12
Don't blindly trust your experience, 13
Don't forget to..., 14
2 Never Stop Learning, 16
The never-ending lesson, 17
What design school didn't teach you, 19
Other ways to keep learning, 25
3 Find Your Niche, 28
What's a niche?, 29
Why specialize?, 32
Spread the risk, 34
4 Pros and Cons of Self-Employment, 36
II Who Do You Need to Be? 46
5 Work Direct or Be a Subcontractor? 48
Dealing directly with clients, 49
Subcontracting with agencies, 52

6 Planning for Success, 56
Truth, 59
Assertions, 60
Money, 62
Alternatives, 63
People, 66
7 Brand Naming, 68
Everything begins with a name, 71
8 Designing Your Brand Identity, 78
Your graphic identity, 79
Other parts of your identity, 85
9 Working from Home versus Renting Space, 88
Working from home, 89
Renting studio space, 94
Fit to work, 97
10 Launching Your Online Presence, 100
Your basic launch needs, 101
Hard-won lessons, 109
Treat your competitors as allies, 113
11 Marketing Yourself and Finding Good Clients, 116
Go pro bono, 119
Love the ones you're with, 122
Market for free online, 123
A little research, a lot of return, 124
It's who you know, 126
Reach out to other design agencies, 127
Zig when others zag, 128
Offer a real gift, 129
Think fast, 130
Do business where you shop, 132
When things go wrong..., 133
12 Why Bigger Business Isn't Always Better, 134
The personal touch, 137
You are what clients want, 138
13 Legalities, Integrity, and Morality, 142
Legalities, 145
Integrity, 148
Morality, 152
III How Do You Manage Projects?, 156
14 Choose Clients Wisely, 158
Red flags, 161
15 Handling the Client Approach, 172
The client questionnaire, 173
Avoid wasting time, 178
Start on the right foot, 180
16 Pricing Your Work, 182
Deciding your rate, 183
Breaking down the proposal, 186
It's not always about the money, 187
Enter Mr. Procurement, 188
How to negotiate up, 190
Raising rates with existing clients, 191
"You should be charging more," 192
17 Terms and Conditions, 196
What to include, 204
It's not unusual, 207
18 How to Best Present Your Work, 210
IV Before We Depart, 224
19 The Mentors Speak, 226
20 A Future Without Clients, 238
Online advertising, 241
Become an affiliate, 242
Ship your product, 243
Write a book, 245
Income as energy, 246
21 Keep the Fire Burning, 250
22 Resources, 266
Books, 267
Blogs, 268
Publishers, 268
Self-publishing, 269
Ad providers, 269
Project help, 269
Don't forget, 269
Contributors, 270
Index, 272