5 Essential Books For Running A Successful Freelance Design Business

Christmas approaches as does the end of the year, below are 5 great gifts you can get yourself. These are books that I have personally read, so they definitely are receiving my full recommendation – full of tips and great answers towards running a successful business and making money from what you love doing!

1) The Business Side of Creativity by Cameron S.Foote

This is a great book that helps you address the validity of your ambitions aswell as taking you through matters such as tax, the importance of branding and pricing! A one-stop shop! This is one that I highly recommend.

This business companion is a guidebook for becoming a successful creative entrepreneur for freelance graphic designers, art directors, illustrators, copywriters and agency or design shop managers. It guides the reader through the process of being successfully self-employed – from getting launched as a freelancer to running a multi-person shop to retiring comfortably. The author has compiled the book over six years from the experiences of more than 4000 entrepreneurs.

2) The Graphic Designer’s Guide to Pricing, Estimating and Budgeting by Theo Stephan Williams

Another initial favourite of ours.. (we were cheap and only rented this one from the local library) loved this one as its full of loads of scannable invoices / contracts / non-disclosure agreements that you can print off and brand yourself. Lovely little resource. Goes into depth about the ‘ethos of charging’ aswell. Good for the beginner, who has no idea on charging conventions etc

A comprehensive guide to graphic design pricing procedures. It seeks to provide start-up and experienced design business owners with useful, creative methods for achieving profitability. Revised and updated, this edition covers: how to set rates; flushing out the competition; Internet pricing; pricing options; preparing an estimate; proposals; establishing and managing budgets; negotiating; and positioning the firm.

3) The Designer’s Guide To Marketing And Pricing by Ilise Benun and Peleg Top

This is easily the book that ‘reads’ the best. Simple, off the cuff, bordering colloquial advice from the authors. Jam packed full of loads of tips. Lots of it almost feel like a discussion so very engaging. Definently should be read for the marketing tips inside. It really deals with the process of marketing yourself. Spamming twitter with links is like 0.001% of what this book thinks you should be doing! Good read.

“The Designer’s Guide to Marketing and Pricing” answers all the common questions asked by creatives every day. This book teaches readers, the nuts and bolts of running a creative services business including: creating a smart marketing plan that reflects their financial goals and planning small actionable steps to take to reach those financial goals; learning which marketing tools are most effective and how to use them; and, learning how to establish contact with potential clients, or how to deal with insiders who could make referrals to potential clients.The book also touches on tricky subjects such as how to talk about money with clients and prospects, how to figure out a fair hourly rate, and how to give an accurate estimate for a project.

4) Start Your Own Graphic Design Business by George Sheldon

A great little read, you’ll probably scoot through it in like 3 days, I did. However its packed with lots of little things that you would have never thought to do. Little legal bits and pieces – how to analyse your local market – which one should always do even with the internet as a vehicle for worldwide sales… Worth the read! It’s a great little checklist of things I should have done! This book is great it deals with and prompts your mind to a lot of the related issues with setting up a business. Gives you a few sample documents, ideas for expansion etc. Only problem is that prices/start up costs/balance sheets are in dollars so you have to estimate for sterling; also advice on law etc is based upon acts registered within the USA so you have to check for UK law independently. Great otherwise.

5) How To Start Your Own Business – For Entrepreneurs by Robert Ashton

This is a great little purchase for thinking outside the boxes of the design community and the conventional. If you are interesting in becoming the next big thing or maybe even owning your own agency. This book is a great starting point!

More than 300,000 people start a business every year. That number will rise over the next year or two if the current economic downturn leads to widespread job losses. It is a fact that many people choose to turn the threat of redundancy into the opportunity of self employment. It is also a fact that when economic growth is low, business failure rates are higher. There has never been a greater need for a simple, explicit, practical business start-up guide that can increase new business survival rates in tough, as well as good times. People today need a start up guide that holds nothing back and tells them all they need to know. How to Start Your Own Business for Entrepreneurs does exactly this.

Any other books that you can recommend?

Related Posts:

• January 30, 2010 -- 5 Free Non-Disclosure Agreements (4)
• December 13, 2009 -- Long Term Freelancing Success – Part 2 – Marketing (8)
• December 2, 2009 -- Does a successful freelancer have to be a good sales person? (6)
• November 25, 2009 -- Factors To Consider When Pricing For A Project (6)
• November 19, 2009 -- Should You Find a Niche To Stand Out From The Pack? (3)
• November 18, 2009 -- Long Term Freelancing Success – Part 1 – Dedication (7)