Tips & Tricks for Freelance Graphic Design

March 24, 2008

Having a good workspace that contributes to your creative process is also essential. Whether it’s a spare room in your house or a rented office space, you must have a studio in which to work and store your finished pieces and supplies. Many art supplies are toxic to animals and small children, and distractions can be toxic to your creativity, so having a workspace set aside is an absolute necessity. Be sure that the workspace in question has plenty of light, both artificial and natural, as you must be able to see how your artwork will appear under various lighting conditions. Decent studio furniture is a must as well, nothing wrecks concentration quite like back pain from a bad stool or poorly designed drafting table. Last but not least, having a workspace set aside can help train your mind to start generating ideas when you enter your studio. Keeping the studio separate from where you go to goof off is vital for many professional artists and graphic designers.

While it doesn’t pay to be penny wise and pound foolish in business, as all business is an investment risk by its very nature, it’s still a good idea to find creative ways to minimize costs. Finding economical work space, cheap supplies, and creative marketing are all absolutely essential to running a business of any kind in today’s world. The studio space you’ll have to find on your own, but the following tips can greatly assist in the rest of your needed components.

Choosing a good, inexpensive art supply store is key to making a living as a graphic designer. You’ll need to find ways to get both quality mediums and art papers. Because your business is almost entirely built off of these supplies, finding the right company to partner with is essential to the long term growth and success of your business. If, however, your graphic design is more computers oriented, of course getting hold of the latest in computer graphics programs and enough hardware to run them is also important. In purchasing computer equipment, it actually does pay to get the latest and greatest, as it will probably continue to serve your needs for much, much longer.

Of course, for most graphic designers contracts do not start rolling in just because you hung out your shingle as a freelance market place. For this reason many graphic designers take a job with a design firm for a few years before trying to fly solo, but even if this course is taken, marketing is still a vital continual endeavor. You must be known as an independent, freelance artist before you can expect to get contracts. Getting a professional account on a website like Bizreef.com, which provides an online gallery space and an account option allowing you to sell prints through them, is an integral strategy to many graphic design freelancers. Bizreef.co.uk is another website that allows freelance artists to sell their original works in an environment tailored for hand made art appreciation. Most graphic designers don’t place their works in brick and mortar galleries, as those are generally reserved for fine art, but offering subcontractor services to interior design companies can be another way to get your name and reputation known.

Everybody likes value added services, and your clients are no exception. Offering packages for promotional bags or other items already imprinted with your client’s logo or blazon takes stress from them, makes you easier to work with, and will probably get you repeat business. Of course, using these items with your own logo imprinted on them is a good advertising idea as well.

Freelance Market Place is a booming business, there are several people who have done freelancing since a long time through these sites and have made good money, and several who got their jobs done through these sites, all are satisfied, so you can try out how freelancing works for you.

 

Source: www.bizreef.co.uk | www.bizreef.ca | www.bizreef.com.au


Bizreef - Online Freelance Marketplace

March 10, 2008

The world of freelance employees is here, and businesses everywhere are recognizing the benefits of contracting with freelancer instead of hiring permanent workers. What’s driving this trend? Business owners are discovering that there’s often a better value for their dollar when they hire freelancers. And they’re able to choose from an almost unlimited field of skill-sets for each specific project they need help with.

With the freelance industry worth millions of dollars worldwide, as a freelancer, you have the ability to start a profitable small business with a very low investment as well as have the flexibility to work almost anywhere, anytime.

But just where do you find the work? At last count, there were 37,200,000 freelance market place sites on the web and that number’s only bound to grow. Out of this large number of freelance marketplace, there are a few, like Bizreef.com, Bizreef.co.uk, Bizreef.ca and Bizreef.com.au that are globally popular. To help you evaluate your choices, we’ve reviewed these sites to determine how each stands out from the crowd.

Bizreef.com With a freelance service provider base of more than 37,200,000 Bizreef.com is the largest freelance market place on the web.

What it costs: Freelancers pay quarterly registration fees based on what type of membership they buy. Prices range from the free Basic Membership to the Vendor Membership, which can cost as much as $150. In addition to the quarterly membership fee, the site charges a commission fee per project that’s deducted from your earnings.

How it works: Bizreef minimum bid for any project and it follows what’s called a “closed auction” type of bidding, meaning no one competing for a project can see their competitors’ bids. Your bids for a project can be based either on hourly rates or the total project cost.

Resources: http://www.bizreef.co.uk/ | http://www.bizreef.ca/ | http://www.bizreef.com.au/