As Duffy & Partners celebrates 30 years in the design business, founder Joe Duffy shares some of his secrets to finding success in this "crazy business."
Be a Design Entrepreneur: How to Start a Graphic Design Business
4 Personality Traits of Successful Freelancers
Discover the top 4 traits that are inherent to successful freelancing.
Time for a Marketing Reboot?
If your marketing has slowed down lately, you’re not alone — and there are lots of possible reasons why…. It could be the effect of the summer lull. Or maybe you’re coming off a monster project that consumed every bit of your time and energy and you literally couldn’t focus on anything else while it was going...
How to Start Your Freelance Career With oDesk
When many people hear oDesk and ELance, they picture outsourcing jobs overseas for $3 per hour. For years, I thought the same thing—but I was wrong.
Do Designers Need Business Insurance?
At the Creative Freelancer Business Conference in Boston, one of the important (but not-so-sexy) business questions that came up a few times was, “Do we need business insurance? And if so, what kind and how much?” It’s an important question, but certainly not sexy. Still needs to be addressed, especially if you work in...
An Action Plan for Freelancers
In the latest episode from the Speaker Podcast Series for this year’s Creative Freelancer Business Conference, I talked with Corwin Hiebert, a business manager for freelancers, visual artists, and entrepreneurs, about how to create a Business Action Plan, which is much simpler (and can be better for creative professionals) than a traditional business plan....
Taking the Plunge: How to Become a Freelance Designer
Thinking about going solo? Here are six things Tom N. Tumbusch wishes someone had told him before he took the freelancer’s leap of faith.
[Podcast] The Coin Counter and Other Bad Clients
In this interview, Doug Dolan offers some lessons learned the hard way on how to make the distinction between bad clients, and clients behaving badly.
Should you hire a bizdev person?
Like many creatives, Jen Lombardi doesn’t like sales. So when she started Kiwi Creative, her first hire was a business development employee.
Breaking Free: 7 Tips for Opening Your Own Agency
As you welcome the bold embrace of the New Year, you may be contemplating change; not just in the months to come, but well into the future. Are you currently working in-house and thinking about opening an agency of your own? Before you quit your job, wait! You should have a solid strategy in...
















