The Free Creatives

Posted on January 14, 2010 by Crystal

Every web designer has that one designer above them that they look up too, whether it be for their accomplishments, the style of work in their portfolio, or their success in some other way. We consider these people experts in the field, at least to our own judgments.

By idolizing those certain designers so much, though, we can get sidetracked with improving ourselves, or feel as though we’ll never reach their level. Yet, everyone has to start somewhere, right? We are each at different skill levels and professional levels; some of us already experts, but most of us probably not quite yet. In this article we’ll look over the seven essential steps one needs to go through to finally become the expert they’ve always aspired to be, and finally get deserving clients as well as the self-respect!

Posted on January 8, 2010 by Crystal

Happy Friday everyone, and happy first link love day. This is a series of posts which we’ll try to get out every Friday, or at least once a week on another day, to share useful and interesting posts from around the web — whether they are new or re-discovered.

We realize link love posts are a little all to common among blogs, but we still feel as though we definitely can’t provide all the spectacular content out there, especially not in every niche. Please don’t consider these lazy posts; we’re still wanting to get great, meaty, hand-crafted content out to you guys a few times a week!

Posted on January 5, 2010 by Crystal

Part 1 and part 2 of this series has so far consisted of planning and finally setting up shop as a new web designer. However, you can’t be a very good freelancer unless you have clients, right? In the previous steps we’ve definitely done work, but we need to start getting paid to work!

This is why in part 3 we will be focusing on getting clients, and more specifically on landing our very first clients. This can be difficult because many just starting out may not have any real-client portfolio pieces, and we can easily look inexperience or unskilled. There are plenty of ways to overcome this, though, so let’s look over a few options.

Posted on December 31, 2009 by Crystal

With a new year coming up, we all have new years resolutions spanning a few areas of our lives, and no doubt freelancers have a few new goals and dreams to accomplish. Whether you have yet to set up shop, you’re just getting started and are still learning, or you are an experienced freelancer, one year of well-set goals can do a lot, and a one-year time span can accomplish so much.

In this post, we’ll look over some inspiring stories of freelancers and web entrepreneurs that have covered so much within the short time of a year, and how they got there. We’ll also cover how you can set productive goals and New Year’s Resolutions, and keep motivated throughout the year to accomplish great things in 2010.

Posted on December 22, 2009 by Crystal

In part 1 of this series, we talked about the preparation involved in getting into the web design industry. We went over deciding on an exact niche, buying the necessary equipment and materials, and we covered learning the basics of web design and the  business behind it.

In today’s part 2, we’re going to get into the actual doing of becoming a web designer. We still won’t be able to get any clients yet, but we can start to set up a portfolio, our work, and put ourselves into a position that will get us some real clients. Today’s post is all about setting up your online presence and defining yourself and your work as a web designer.