Work less, charge what you are worth, attract better clients and build more freedom into your week. These are the lessons from my book, Laid Back Freelancing, expanded into practical articles for designers, illustrators, photographers, writers and other independent creatives.
Each lesson has one idea, one illustration from the book and one exercise you can start in about 15 minutes. Do one a day, skip what doesn’t apply to you, and keep the ones that make a difference.
The journey, in seven stages
- 1Design Your Offer
19 lessons, free here - 2Increase Your Value
23 lessons, coming soon - 3Market Effectively
13 lessons, coming soon - 4Win Dream Clients
12 lessons, coming soon - 5Create Amazing Work
27 lessons, coming soon - 6Maximise Productivity
27 lessons, coming soon - 7Optimize Your Business
14 lessons, coming soon
1. Design Your Offer
Create a business strategy, find your niche, build a consistent brand, solve problems effectively and discover your value.
Coming next
The rest of the book, in order. Each lesson becomes an article here as the series grows. You can work through all of them today in the book.
2. Increase Your Value
- Time vs. Money
- Earn, Spend
- Patience vs. Impatience
- Dig Deep
- Be First or Better
- Know Something Different
- Unknown Variables
- Cost vs. Differentiation
- Time vs. Milestones
- Build Boundaries
- Supply & Demand
- Consumption & Pleasure
- Excess vs. Scarcity
- Plan vs. Strategy
- Research & Budget
- Underpaid vs. Overpaid
- Choice Overload
- Reinforcement = Behaviour
- Money then Work
- Work Smart
- Knowledge & Power
- Results Above All
- Learning
3. Market Effectively
- Humans Love Stories
- Gap In the Market vs. Market In the Gap
- Trust & Doubt
- Crowded Market
- Expert vs. Amateur
- Portfolio vs. Resume
- Repetition = Love
- Luck Favours the Bold
- Attract, Pitch, Win
- New vs. Old Customer
- Skills vs. Personality
- Word-of-Mouth
- Community Over Competition
4. Win Dream Clients
- Selfish vs. Selfless
- Emotional Intelligence
- Bad Client vs. Good Client
- Qualify Clients
- Energy
- Personal Truth
- Better Skills vs. Better Clients
- Contracts
- Endless Revisions
- Absence = Respect
- Man is the Measure
- Mistakes
5. Create Amazing Work
- Suffering & Meaning
- Motivation
- Protect the Asset
- Humans
- Focus = Life
- Nature Knows Best
- Balance with Nature
- Create Harmony
- Comfort & Creativity
- Copying vs. Inspiration
- Structure & Creativity
- Research & Execution
- Empathy Map
- Keep it Simple
- Core Concept & Details
- Design Thinking
- Creative Brief
- Zoom In & Out
- AI vs. Humans
- Iterations Perfect
- Sketch & Refine
- Beta Testing
- Insight & Blindness
- Belief = True or False
- Explain with Connections
- Diversity
- Smarter Together
6. Maximise Productivity
- -Temptation = +Willpower
- Cherish Momentum
- Process
- Anxiety & Relaxation
- Factory Size = Price
- Productivity vs. Distractions
- UX Hierarchy
- Plan & Execute
- Work When it Suits You
- Productive Time
- Multitasking
- Work-Week
- Limit Availability
- Completion Time = Delivery Time
- Deadlines & Stress
- Quality
- Project Management
- To-do List vs. Priority List
- Waiting for Inspiration vs. Doing it
- Work vs. Time
- Motivation vs. Discipline
- Stagnation vs. Momentum
- Delegation
- Tools
- Templates
- Technology vs. Biology
- Lead & Let Lead
7. Optimize Your Business
- Work-Life Balance
- Bend the Rules
- Create vs. Consume
- +Effort = +Luck
- Theory vs. Practice
- Change & Insight
- Create Systems
- Built-To-Leave
- Small Changes Can Make a Big Difference
- Shorten the Interval
- Well-Being & Income
- Predictability & Fear
- Socializing
- Broaden with Balance