1) Complete difficult tasks.
Don’t let scary projects stall you. You have to let go of the idea that you can ever do a job ‘perfectly’. In the end you are only competing against and improving your own skill. The lessons you learn while finishing an overwhelming task will help you get the next one done even better.

2) Make your work space give you positive feedback.
Put up projects that make you feel proud. It especially helps when you in the midst of projects to be reminded of what you have completed before. (more…)

1) Make your header image/ banner/ Blog Heading link back the home page. A lot of people get to your blog through a specific post.

2) Give your blog a simple ‘visual flavor’. Using a simple and arresting graphic for your header and matching favorites icon can do a lot. Color and coordinated text are also great ways to make a blog look super polished. Consider choosing two font faces (perhaps one serif, and one sans-serif) and apply one of the fonts to your headers and side bar links and the other to your side bar paragraphs and post text.

3) People often like to link to just a singular post that they are Interested in. Consider making it easier to get to the individual post by making your post title the ‘perma-link’ rather than a tiny timestamp. (more…)

When something goes wrong there are probably a thousand reasons why it ended up the way it did. However it is important in business that you don’t use excuses to justify a fumble. Using an excuse only makes you seem untrustworthy instead of making your actions seem justifiable.

A simple ‘I am sorry, I will see that the problem is fixed’ is always better than a litany of excuses or multiple apologies. It is a natural impulse to want to be forgiven or pardoned when you make a mistake. Remember that whoever is dealing with the said problem does not have the time to also make you feel better as well.

Sometimes it is hard to realize when an excuse is leaving your lips. How can you tell if a reason is really just an excuse? A good rule is that if you had ample opportunity to change the result and you didn’t then it’s an excuse.

All is not lost however; people are most impressive when they are able to calmly fix a difficult situation. So think of each mistake as a moment to inspire confidence.

One of the fine lines to walk when you are freelance designer is between doing work that is exciting and that develops your portfolio, and becoming overwrought with too many deadlines and projects that you don’t know how to do.

When you first start to get jobs, you may be so happy to get another project in your portfolio that you agree to do it for ridiculous rates. Or you may promise things that you are not sure that you can actually do. These are not good plans, because if you promise something, and don’t follow through you are sure to lose a client instead of building a successful relationship. And anyone interested in ‘discounted’ fees probably doesn’t want to pay you your market value in the future either. Know yourself and your limits, and promise only what you can deliver.

This doesn’t mean that you should stop stretching your abilities. We only learn by doing what is difficult. But we also have to learn our limits, and that we can’t always learn what we need to under a deadline. When you do say no, you may want to refer the client to a more specialized professional, which will help cement your relationship with the client as a dependable consultant. And if you pick a trustworthy person they most likely will in turn send specialized business your way as well.