Start a Desktop Publishing Business - 10 wk: 3. Your Qualifications

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Start a Desktop Publishing Business - 10 wk 3. Your Qualifications From Jacci Howard Bear, your Guide to Desktop Publishing We're going to get personal in this class of our Start a Desktop Publishing Business Email Course. Tell me, what's so special about you? What makes you unique? How will you convince prospective clients that you're the designer they should be doing business with Missed a class? Get it here: http://desktoppub.about.com/c/ec/101lost.htm Lessons What's So Special About You? USP is your unique selling point. Also called your unique selling proposition, it is what sets you and your business -- or you as an individual -- apart from your competition. It can be an actual fact or a perceived difference or specialty. Every business needs one. http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/freelance/a/usp.htm Qualify Yourself to Your Customers What makes your business unique? How do you convince your prospects that you are better qualified than your competitors to publish their newsletters, layout their résumés, or design their corporate logos? Through your brochure, business cards, letters and portfolio you paint a picture of yourself and your business that says "I'm the Best;" and "I'm the One to Call." Here are five items you can use to tell or show customers what you can do. http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/freelance/a/qualify.htm Your Assignments Develop Your USP Answer the four questions in this lesson about your business. Pick out at least one key point from your answers to each question. Which one stands out in your mind? Run your ideas past a few trusted friends to find the one that best expresses what is special about what you offer. Now, take what's unique about your business and express it as a benefit to your customer. For inspiration, take a look at some examples that a desktop publishing business might use. Write a Bio List all awards, honors, and professional memberships. List them in order of prestige and applicability to your current freelance business. If you have a résumé already, extract the most relevant jobs, skills, and experience from it. Or, create a new résumé for yourself concentrating on those skills and experiences that translate to your current business. 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/ Alternatives Daily Version Is this course moving too slowly for you? Some prefer the faster pace of daily lessons. The daily version contains the exact same material but condensed into a 17-day course. http://desktoppub.about.com/c/ec/83.htm If you wish to try the daily version, use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email to stop the weekly course then use the above links to sign up for daily delivery. The first few days will be covering material already covered in this course but you can use the emails as reminders to review what you've done so far. 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