Start a Desktop Publishing Business - 10 wk: 1. Going Freelance

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Start a Desktop Publishing Business - 10 wk 1. Going Freelance From Jacci Howard Bear, your Guide to Desktop Publishing Welcome to the Start a Desktop Publishing Business Email Course. In our first two lessons we're going to find out if freelance design is right for you and if you are right for it and find out if you've got the design skills needed or if you'll need to budget for more training. To get the most from these and future lessons, don't skip a lesson just because you think it doesn't apply to you and don't skip the assignments associated with each lesson. This course is free, but it is most effective if you treat it as if you'd paid money for the class. Do the assignments. It doesn't matter if no one but you sees the work, put what you are learning in writing. If you do, by the end of this course you'll have a working business plan and the beginnings of a marketing plan, a freelance contract, a realistic hourly rate and project pricing, and a better understanding of w hat running a design business is all about. Lessons Is Freelance Design Right For You? It doesn't matter at this point whether you've been a designer for years or have just finished a community college class on using QuarkXPress or Microsoft Publisher. Entrepreneurship requires more than design talent. It doesn't matter whether this is your first business venture or your fifth or fiftieth. Design is different. http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/freelance/a/freelance_myths.htm The Design Side of Freelance Design It's not unreasonable to believe that a person thinking of starting a desktop publishing business is doing so because they already do some kind of design work (either as part of their job or for personal projects) and want to make money doing something they enjoy. But that's not always the case so let's assess your current design and desktop publishing expertise with these quizzes. http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/freelance/a/design_skills.htm Your Assignments Put It In Writing Get yourself a notebook. It can be a spiral notebook or a looseleaf notebook full of paper. It can be fancy or plain. Get dividers if you want. There are written assignments associated with every class in this course. If you do the assignments, do the research -- taking written not just mental notes -- by the end of the course you will have the framework and much of the essential content for a business plan and some useful forms tailored for your business, such as a freelance contract. Time Commitment Reading about what it takes to do freelance design is all well and good but to help it sink in, let's put it in writing and take some action too. Things often take much longer than we think they will and as we've all heard many times "time is money." http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/freelance/a/freelance_myths_2.htm Money Commitment In the previous exercise we touched on the matter of money. In this exercise I just want to reiterate some of the expenses you'll incur in doing business. This isn't meant to be a detailed lesson in business income and expenses and taxes. http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/freelance/a/freelance_myths_3.htm Assess Your Skills Based on how you do on the quizzes as well as your own related design experience and how well you believe you know your software, write up an honest assessment of your current desktop publishing skills and knowledge. Identify your areas of weakness as well as your strengths. Create a plan of action as to how you can improve on those areas that need it: taking software or design classes locally; enrolling in online software or design courses; doing self-study through books, videos, online tutorials; and any other learning avenues available to you. Discussion Talk About Starting a Business Come to the DTP Classroom to ask questions about any of the topics covered in this email course or other questions you have about learning desktop publishing or starting a freelance design business. http://forums.about.com/ab-desktoppub3/ This email is written by: Jacci Howard Bear Desktop Publishing Guide Email Me | My Blog | My Forum   Missing a lesson? Click here. About U. is our collection of free online courses designed to help you learn a new skill, solve a problem, get something done, or just learn more about your world. Sign up now, and we will email you lessons on a daily or weekly basis. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the About.com 'Start a Desktop Publishing Business - 10 wk' email. If you wish to unsubscribe, please click here. About respects your privacy: Our Privacy Policy Contact Information: 249 West 17th Street New York, NY, 10011 © 2010 About.com   Advertisement