The Graphic Designer's Business Survival Guide

Graphic design is a crowded, highly competitive world. And it takes a lot more than raw talent and technical ability to make it as an independent designer. Successful graphic designer and entrepreneur, Larry Daniels exposes the weak spot of so many: the critical business side of running even a one-person design firm. Designers often prioritize aesthetics over a client's needs, and ignore basic business skills such as writing, record keeping, and relationship building. This practical insider's guide explains how to build a profitable, sustainable design business. Packed with sample agreements, letters, forms, and more, it reveals how to: create a website and portfolio that highlight design solutions; do pre-pitch research and deliver winning presentations; prepare inviting proposals that win lucrative contracts; establish a reliable system for tracking billable hours (and staying solvent); use cold-calling strategies even sales phobics can master; quantify design decisions in ways that business management can relate to and respect; break out of "freelancer" mode to highly compensated creative consultant. The field of design is littered with failures. To stand out and succeed, you need to be professional, efficient, and focused on the bottom-line results that clients value. "The Graphic Designer's Business Survival Guide" shows you how.