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The 8 Best Freelancing Books for Designers

Freelancing has become a more popular way to earn a living every year for the past decade, and it is finally starting to get the respect it deserves as a viable business structure and shedding the bad reputation it somehow gained as the hobbyist’s label. That’s a good thing, because it’s the business model that is most likely to garner you the best results as a professional designer.

With that surge in popularity, hundreds of books on the subject of getting started as a freelancer have been released — but not all of them are very good. You need to start learning somewhere before you take the plunge, and if you’re going to drop your hard earned cash on some books, these are the ones to spend it on.

1. How to be a Rockstar Freelancer

How to be a rockstar freelancer

How to be a Rockstar Freelancer from Collis and Cyan Ta’eed is a great all-rounder introduction to freelancing: what you need to be prepared for that you wouldn’t have otherwise expected, and the basic business processes you need to implement, such as good project management and constant self-promotion.

2. The Unlimited Freelancer

Freelancing Books - The Unlimited Freelancer

The Unlimited Freelancer by Mason Hipp and James Chartrand looks at freelancing for the beginner but also looks at the best ways to automate many processes with software, start subcontracting and growing the business, and earning passive income. The Unlimited Freelancer is about using multiple tactics and types of revenue streams to build a sustainable, wealth-generating freelance business instead of the slave-away lifestyle that drives so many freelancers to burnout.

3. The Wealthy Freelancer

Freelancing Books - The Wealthy Freelancer

The Wealthy Freelancer is a book full of practical, immediately applicable information from some of the most successful freelancers around — Steve Slaunwhite, Pete Savage and Ed Gandia. Unlike the all-rounder books, though they are just as important, The Wealthy Freelancer has an emphasis on using multiple marketing tactics to attract more clients than the competition, and at higher rates.

4. The Principles of Successful Freelancing

Freelancing Books - The principles of successful freelancing

The Principles of Successful Freelancing by Miles Burke helps you manage the transition from full-time employee to freelancer and avoid those pitfalls of poor money management and time management that many newbies suffer from (no, just because your employer is no longer withholding tax for you doesn’t mean you should spend it!). The Principles of Successful Freelancing covers some of those essentials that have helped propel many freelancers to success that are often forgotten in the digital age, like great customer service and good old fashioned salesmanship.

5. Graphic Designer’s Guide to Pricing, Estimating & Budgeting

Graphic Designer's Guide to Pricing, Estimating & Budgeting

The Graphic Designer’s Guide to Pricing, Estimating & Budgeting tackles in-depth one of the biggest problems plaguing inexperienced freelancers: how much do I charge? What expenses do I need to include and how much should I pay myself? Pricing and estimating are minefields for freelancers in any field, but there are many factors for designers alone to consider and this book discusses them all.

6. 100 Habits of Successful Freelance Designers

Freelancing Books - 100 Habits of Successful Freelance Designers

100 Habits of Successful Freelance Designers: Insider Secrets for Working Smart & Staying Creative is a book that offers up many strategies for getting started on the right food, doing good business, landing work, getting creativity within your budget and working with your clients.

7. Freelance Design in Practice

Freelancing Books - Freelance Design in Practice

Freelance Design in Practice is a book that deals with the realities of freelancing rather than the highlight reel — as the title suggests — and helps freelancers learn how to deal with the pressure to become a workaholic, the problem of money coming in on a slower scale while the bills keep piling up (and late-paying clients making the situation more complicated), and a great deal more. Freelancing isn’t all sunshine and roses, and this book explains “exactly what it takes to create a full-time freelance business.”

8. How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul

How do you maintain artistic integrity, stay passionate about your work and retain your soul while working in the commercial environment that most designers looked to a life of art to avoid in the first place? How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul is a book that explains how to do just that. It’s not specific to freelancers, but it is recommended reading for all designers and perhaps applies the most to those who opt for the high-pressure self-employed business arena.

Despite the fact that we flock to the freelance lifestyle in order to enjoy a greater degree of freedom (and often, income) than a life in the rat race can offer, there are just as many rules that need to be obeyed — just, for the most part, of a different nature. It’s important to give yourself a background education in freelancing and take careful, planned steps towards the transition, unless you want to risk going from gainfully employed to bankrupt. These books are the perfect way to achieve that do-it-yourself education.

Written by CrazyLeaf Editorial

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