On the Creative Freelancer Blog lately, Dyana Valentine, who will be conducting the workshop on creative collaboration on the first day of the Creative Freelancer Conference, has been offering up some tips on how to prep so you do the best connecting you can at this conference — or any conference for that matter.

First, she suggests taking a box of 500 (even if you end up using 30) business cards, then she offers three tips for what to note about someone on their business card. Read them here:

Also on the blog last week, Nettie Hartsock, writer and PR blogger, is looking for insight into what creatives are grappling with, thinking about and even reading, so she can take the message out there to other creative communities via some sites she writes for. Take a moment now to share your wisdom with her — and the world — here:

The final early bird deadline is Thursday, July 31st, so if you’ve been thinking about attending, now is the time to take advantage of the $60 discount. Sign up here:

How can you, an enthusiastic, creative solopreneur, not give away all your ideas in the first meeting with a potential client?

1. Listen more than you speak. That will help you restrain your enthusiasm (or desperation) PLUS you’ll get more information, which you’ll need to do the project.

2. Offer a paid, 1-hour brainstorming meeting instead of a free interview or portfolio review. To do this, explain how your prospect will benefit much more from a brainstorming session than a mere portfolio presentation. Then, even if you decide not to work together, they’ll walk away with some good ideas and you will have been compensated for your time.

As we get ready for the Creative Freelancer Conference in Chicago, August 27-29, we are simultaneously building a resource web site for freelancers that will live well beyond this first event. (BTW, early bird deadline was extended to July 31st. You can still get $60 off the registration.)

So even if you can’t make it to Chicago, take advantage of our research. Here’s what we found to help you build your business:

Articles about marketing and other business issues for freelancers here:
Helpful links for freelancers of all types here:

And be sure to check out our growing list of sponsors, which includes HOW Magazine, Lynda.com, FunctionFox.com, Freelancers Union, Artisan Talent, SalesKite.com, Freelance Switch, OddPodz.com, MyEmma.com, Graphic Artists Guild, The Creative Group and more to come.

Time management is a big challenge for most creative freelancers. You want to slow down and enjoy the season (or life in general) but you’re afraid that if you appear “unavailable” to clients, you’ll lose them or if you don’t take every one that comes along, you’ll never get another one. What to do?

Here’s one suggestion from Tracey Watt, owner of Rave! Design just outside Toronto, where Tracey lives on a farm and sometimes takes time during the day to ride her horse. (more…)

It’s already 3rd quarter—do you know how close you are to your 2008
year-end goals.

What are your top 3 goals for 2008? Have they changed since January? Have you already reached them? Are you halfway there?

What? You can’t remember what your goals are? It’s true, that was a
whole six months ago, but here we are mid-year and there’s still plenty of time to get yourself on track with your marketing and reach your annual goals by the end of the year. (more…)

1. How can you make time for marketing?
2. Should you have an e-mail newsletter?
3. Are proposals best presented in person?

These are just a few of the pressing questions that will be answered by creative business experts at the Creative Freelancer Conference
in Chicago, August 27-29, hosted by HOW Magazine and Marketing Mentor. (more…)

By Ilise Benun

At Marketing-Mentor.com, we see too many creative freelancers working their butts off for small potatoes clients who don’t appreciate or value their work — being paid peanuts for it to boot! And all because you haven’t learned the basic business skills you need to get the projects you want, from the clients you want, at the price you want, just so you can live the life you want.

That’s why we pitched an idea for a business conference for freelancers to the folks over at HOW Magazine. Turns out, they had already been thinking along similar lines. So we put our resources together and, voila, the first ever Creative Freelancer Conference to be held August 27-29 in at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. (more…)

Last Friday, I was speaking with a Marketing Mentor client about two proposals she was about to spend the weekend writing.

She was very excited about these new projects, but when I asked her what the budgets were, she said she didn’t know. It wasn’t that she had neglected to ask that all important question. In fact, she had, but the prospect wasn’t forthcoming with that information. My client didn’t want to push at the time, perhaps because she didn’t wish to annoy or anger this potential customer.

To her, each job was worth at least $20,000, but in reality, she didn’t know if her prospect would be able to afford that. To me, preparing the proposals without first learning this essential information sounded like a potentially colossal waste of her time, not to mention her weekend.

So I suggested she get on the phone before putting pen to paper, and I told her to ask the question that even a client who refuses to give you a budget can’t evade: “Are you thinking $500, $5000, or $25,000?”

Could that work for you? Would your clients answer that simple question?

In my last Marketing Mentor Tip, How to Dominate Your Market, I focused on what you get if you decide to specialize — namely higher fees because clients are willing to pay for expertise.

But how do you choose which market to focus on? This is the question that stumps many designers.

So here are a few questions to ask yourself about the markets you’re considering:

1. What size and of what type are the projects available through this market?
2. Are they the kind of projects that you enjoy and are capable of doing? Or do the projects conflict with the kind of work you normally do?
3. Do you have experience and samples to show interested prospects?
4. Does this market know they need your services?

Defining your market and determining if that market is viable will be the topic this Thursday, September 27 when my partner, Peleg Top, and I give our first of the Grow Your Business from Your Desktop webinar series in partnership with HOW Magazine.

Many designers believe that marketing the widest range of services to the largest possible group is the path to success. You’d rather be a generalist because you think you’ll get more business. And on one level it makes sense: the more opportunities you have to make a sale, the more sales you are likely to make. But in reality it doesn’t work that way. In fact, success comes to those who focus on (more…)