Tools for freelancers: What does it cost you to hang a shingle?

Before you can price a product or service, you need to know your costs to provide it. This CDB calculator is one tool to help you get a handle on those costs. But it's only as accurate as your inputs, which can be hard to estimate. Err on the high side, since unexpected things can catch up with you, and as you bill more, your expenses almost surely will increase. As high as totals from this calculator may look, experience will probably prove them low.

The calculator was designed by The National Press Photographer's Association, but a little creative thinking will make it a useful exercise for any freelance professional.

Get the Work You Want

On my drive home tonight, I saw a handwritten message taped to a stop sign. It read: Garage Sale. Buy our stuff so we can eat.

Damn.

The world seems out of whack these days, and many creatives feel stuck in neutral.

ADCD takes this to heart as we believe all creatives deserve a creative life. With that, a good number of our board members and close friends to our club congregated to pump out this whimsical little read.

Get the Work You Want is a friendly reminder of the little touches we need to progress. Network. Stay organized. Propsect. Fine advice from some of Denver’s finest talent: copywriter Jordan Sher, illustrators Shaw Nielsen, Jarrod Wheaton, Ali Colby, Steve Schader, Sarah Bergman, Liz Richard, and Paul Vismara.

Download it here, please.

What's working right now

Finding work in a "tricky economy" like this one isn't easy. It's takes a lot more effort to get the work that's out there. So now is the time to be creative with the business side of your business. You need to hustle and get as close to that line between persistence and pestiness as you can get without going over it. That's how assertive and visible you need to be. Most freelancers don't have (or haven't developed) what it takes -- the marketing skills – to do this and they usually give up early on.

Read on for some new ideas and good reminders from Ilise Benun of Marketing Mentor.