My newest post on WDL came out today:

Finding clients is one of the toughest things for most small businesses. Many people are looking for projects online these days with the widespread use of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites that allow you to connect and chat about business opportunities. These are great ways to find new business across the country and even in different countries, however finding business locally is equally important. Staying local is becoming a big thing today with “being green” becoming increasingly popular.

See the full post at WDL.

I wrote another blog post for Six Revisions yesterday, How to Start a Freelance Company. Lots of people have gotten into the discussion and have some great feedback for new (and experienced) business owners on how to run a successful business, network, find new clients, etc.

From the post:

Starting your own company is wonderful, scary, and exciting! I’ve recently gone through the process and started up my own freelance company, Snoack Studios, and I’d like to share my personal insight on how to get your own company off the ground, using my own story as an example.

See the full post at Six Revisions.

Freelancing is hard work. Not only do you have to design work that satisfies your clients, but you have the other office tasks that come along with any business: accounting, job management, client management… the list goes on. These things usually don’t come easy for creative types, myself included. As anyone that has worked on their own knows, wearing a bunch of hats doesn’t always come easy.

I’m fairly new to freelancing as a business, although I’ve done quite a bit of freelancing in general. Here’s my unofficial list of what you need to start up a freelancing biz and feel good about going to get clients:

• a brand – as a designer I feel this one is extremely important. How can you sell branding and marketing if you can’t bring yourself to do it?

• a purpose – every major successful company sets out with a goal, creates a plan, and then executes it. To be successful, you certainly need a purpose.

• determination – working on your own takes drive and patience, and sometimes some long hours to get you through

• good solid contracts – without these, you look unofficial

• supporters – this one seems silly, but without support, you’ve got nothing!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my list, what kinds of things do you need to get through the storm?