Author
Business
7 quick tips to grow your business without spending lots of money
A lot of us in the creative workforce start our businesses by bootstrapping. Whether you want a side gig that pays for some fun “extras”… Read More
Business
How to find new leads with higher budgets
There comes a time in every freelancer’s life when they sit down and ask this question: Where can I find… Read More
Business
3 subtle but success-stifling mistakes every freelance designer makes (and how to avoid them!)
Nobody likes making mistakes. Sure, there’s that whole “fail faster” thing where you convince yourself that failure is a good thing because you can grow… Read More
Design
Do you have a creative ritual yet? Here’s how to find it
You may be a creative professional, but that doesn’t mean you’re just a creativity widget that can be cranked every time you need a new… Read More
Marketing
Sales funnel fundamentals every web designer should know
Ever heard of a sales funnel? Of course you have. But do you know what a funnel is and how to use one? That one’s… Read More
Design
A designer’s survival guide for prepping for vacation
You need a vacation. And guess what! You can take one. Even if you work for yourself. Especially if you work for yourself. When you’ve… Read More
Business
The best advice for transitioning to a new niche business
You’re bored. You’re restless. You’ve grown. You’ve found some greener grass somewhere else. For whatever reason, you look at your pipeline and you kind of… Read More
Business, Development
5 A/B tests every web designer should build into their process
A new motto I’ve adopted as a freelance service provider is to give my clients “the Disney experience.” I’m all about delivering great results in… Read More
Design
Why (and how) to design with personality
Think about your last few designs. Which are the ones you really loved? Which are the ones you thought were really good but were missing… Read More
Design, Development
Web design vs web development: What’s the difference and why does it matter?
Ever had a prospect contact you for what they thought was a new web design, when it turned out what they really needed was a… Read More
Marketing
How strategically segmenting your email list increases engagement
If you’ve been in the online business space for any length of time, you’ve probably heard about the importance of your email list and… Read More
Design
The dangers of lorem ipsum (and what to use instead)
Do you love the lorem? Or do you loathe the ipsum? I’m asking, of course, about dummy text. A long-used form of placeholder text in… Read More
Design
Overcoming design perfectionism
Perfect. It’s how we want our designs to be. It’s what we want to offer our clients. Perfection is, ultimately, what we’re after with our… Read More
Business
How much work is too much? (And how to survive it)
Have you ever been completely swamped with work, with no real way of getting it all done and maintaining your sanity? For some, this almost… Read More
Business
Why you absolutely need a contract for every project
Contracts are absolutely essential for your businesses, and you need one for every gig. They’re an important instrument that defines the scope of your… Read More
Business
How to seal the deal with a new client
Whether you’re freelancing on your own or working with a larger organization, one thing you’ll need to be able to do if you’re going… Read More
Business, Marketing
Why you need a leave-behind
Ever heard of a leave-behind? It’s something graphic designers, photographers, artists, and advertisers have done for a long time, but the leave-behind is also applicable… Read More
Business
The key to managing freelance projects while you work full-time
The side gig. Whether you just want some extra cash or you dream of building your own empire and becoming your own boss,… Read More
Business
5 foolproof ways to attract better clients
Are you familiar with the triple constraint? It’s a project management term that deals with the three restrictions on any project: time, cost, and… Read More
Business
Are you experiencing burnout? How to tell, and how to get back on your feet
Oh, burnout. If you’ve experienced it, you know how crucial it is to avoid it. If you haven’t experienced it yet, you must be new… Read More
Design
5 secrets to designing content that converts
As a web designer, it can be easy to think of yourself as a visual artist instead of a business strategist. While it’s true that… Read More
Design
How to establish your web design style
Web design is creative work, and it’s a skill that you develop. Like anything that takes nothing and turns it into something, design work is… Read More
Business
Loyalty programs and client gifts: Your key to recurring web design work
We’ve talked before about how customer loyalty is pretty much the dream state for your web design business. Loyal customers keep… Read More
Business
The secret to earning your customer’s loyalty
Client loyalty is the bedrock of most businesses, and web design is no exception. When you have solid customer loyalty, you’ve got a healthy bottom… Read More
Marketing
How to establish your 2021 marketing strategy and KPIs
As you surely know by now, goal-setting is a critical process in every business. You can’t hit goals that you don’t have, after all. And… Read More
Business
How to make passive income every month
How would you like to look at next month and already know you had income lined up, even if you didn’t have any new projects… Read More
Business
What to do when your client disappears
Crickets… Not what you want in your inbox when you’re waiting to hear from a client. One minute, you were trucking productively along, the next,… Read More
WordPress
How WordPress can help you establish your online brand
Branding is a basic marketing concept that refers to the way a company presents itself in its marketing materials. The key element of a brand… Read More
Business
7 things I wish I knew about freelancing before starting
Getting started as a freelancer isn’t all unicorns and rainbows, but it’s also not all lemons and red tape, either. When I began… Read More
Marketing
The best free stock photo sites in 2018
With the web becoming more and more visually oriented, images are becoming a more important part of any web design. In many markets, good photos… Read More