If you find yourself saying “I hate my job” more often than you change your clothes, it might be time for a change. Keep in mind that there is no perfect job. As we go through life, difficult situations at […]
The life of digital nomads look so glamorous. Armed with nothing more than your MacBook and hiking gear, you trot to the top of a mountain and start working away the moment you reach the summit. But ‘freelancing on the […]
Are you taking it easy this holiday season? If you run a thriving business, maybe you can afford to take a month off. But the truth is that many companies are doing two things right now: Scrambling to ramp up […]
Nobody likes writing invoices, but we all like getting paid, don’t we? From web designing to providing digital marketing services, starting up and running a self-owned business requires a fairly in-depth knowledge of the various aspects of working with your […]
My father was self-employed. As a kid, I remember watching my mother struggle to keep track of all the receipts, invoices, and vendor payments my father had to pay every month to stay in business. She really needed an expense […]
Just for the fun of it, type in “accounting software” into your favorite search engine and see what appears. When I Googled it, I found a list of apps, ads and reviews of the top online accounting software programs. Figuring […]
One of the scariest parts of freelancing for me is dealing with money. I consider myself an artist, and don’t want to be bothered with things like finances and taxes. But in order to be successful as a freelancer, I […]
Going full-time freelance means leaving the comfort of a steady paycheck. But many freelancers find they make as much or more money once they make the switch. If you’re someone stuck in an office job or a freelancer wondering how […]
Millo Mastermind is a great place to talk shop about the business side of freelancing. We’re all great designers, writers, illustrators and artists, but the thought of contracts and pricing and scope creep can send even the most battle-tested freelancers […]
Freelancing is a roller coaster. Sometimes we get so caught up in the ride that we forget to plan ahead. I’m a horrible accountant. Fortunately, my mother is a brilliant one. This article is brought to you by our partners […]
I remember freelancing in the “old days.” As a writer, I mailed a lot of letters with SASEs (Self-Addressed Stamped Envelopes). Contracts and deposit checks often came by mail, and if I was in a real hurry I could fax […]
The goal of every business is to make as much profit while spending as little as possible. With all the free tools available to freelancers, running your business on a shoestring is easy. But that doesn’t mean it’s the best […]
The anonymous nature of the internet makes it easy for people to hide. While most of us are honest folks, unfortunately not everyone shares our values. Even the most discerning freelancer encounters clients who disappear when it comes time to […]
To be successful as a freelancer you have to be smart about how you conduct business. Talent is a wonderful thing. But being the world’s greatest creative doesn’t ensure success. New freelancers quickly learn that you are your own business […]
Being a freelancer seems glamorous, even romantic at times. The notion of working when you want, how you want, and only on projects you deem worthy sounds too good to be true. While it’s true that freelancing is pretty darn […]
Angelina Samadhi had always been successful. She landed a job with a small agency after college and was able to work on some of the company’s most important accounts. But after her agency career and two businesses of her own, […]
Denise Love spent over a decade toiling away in kitchens and bathrooms. Not scrubbing them, but designing them. “Working in the kitchen and bath industry was really stressful,” says Denise. “But I wanted to use my interior design degree.” But […]
I wanted to be a writer since the first grade. I remember the day like it was yesterday… My teacher told me the Principal wanted to see me in her office. I was terrified. Every time someone went to the […]
Lisa Glanz started her career cutting out soccer players in Photoshop for a magazine company. Today 90% of her income comes from selling on design marketplaces. We sat down to chat with Lisa about how online sales allowed her to make a decent […]
One of the first pieces of business advice you’ll hear is how it’s a good idea to save at least 6 months to a year of living expenses before trying to win big at full-time freelancing. While this is wise advice from […]
When you’re new to freelancing, the majority of your time is spent marketing yourself. When a project finally does come in, it’s very simple to drop everything to get it done. Sounds easy, right 🙂 But what about when the […]
One of the basic tenets of business is to keep expenses low and profits high. Over the last few years, particularly in the tech startup world, an extreme form of this theory, called bootstrapping, has become extremely popular. Bootstrapping is […]
No one likes to be the bad guy. But there comes a time in every freelancer’s life when it becomes glaringly obvious that it’s time to say goodbye to a client. It’s true that difficult clients are a part of doing […]
We talk a lot about freelance contracts at Millo, because it’s a vital part of your success as a freelancer. Depending on where you live, a handshake or even an email may not be enough to settle payment disputes, copyright […]
If you’re reading this, you probably don’t know how effective your marketing emails are. I used to be completely in the dark, too. There’s plenty of advice online. but when do you know which methods work best for your potential […]
The freedom of working on your own can be exhilarating. And overwhelming. Many of us escaped corporate slavery because we were tired of punching a clock. The day we hit the door we left the trappings of that world and […]
Clients are the lifeblood of every freelance business. Even though they drive us crazy, we love them just the same 🙂 But there are some clients that just aren’t worth it, no matter how much money they seem to have. Read […]
Being a freelancer can be tough. Sometimes, even with a regular practice of daily marketing, the work is slow and we find ourselves staring at our monitor with nothing to do. Instead of sending out another 50 cold emails to […]
Your portfolio is what sets you apart from the thousands of other designers online. Have you ever thought what it says about you? Most of us have. But after we’ve created one, many of us take a “set it and forget […]
Great news: the “starving artist” cliché doesn’t have to be your reality. The truth is, business is everywhere. But we have to train ourselves to look in the right places to uncover new opportunities. The great news is that it’s […]
From desktop gadgets to the newest tools of the trade, our 2017 gift guide has just the thing(s) for your favorite creatives. If you’re searching for the perfect gift ideas for designers, writers or other creatives in your life, look […]
I’m one of those strange workaholic creatures doubly blessed with an enjoyable full-time job and a thriving freelance business. By day, I do real estate marketing for a large group of entrepreneurial-minded agents and a small, well-respected brand. By night, […]
As creative freelancers, we don’t have the luxury of big corporate budgets and massive staffs at our disposal. When working on a team project, it’s crucial that everyone pulls their weight and gets the job done with the maximum amount of […]
We’ve all been there… Sitting in front of a computer screen/notepad/art table with absolutely no idea why your client hired you. All your normal routines aren’t working. No matter how much music you listen to or how many minutes of […]
Selling is a tricky business. Competition is everywhere. It’s hard to stand out among the gazillion other freelancers out there. The overwhelming amount of advertising people are exposed to means that they can see a sales pitch coming a mile away. And aggressive sales […]
Are you longing for the day when you can turn your side hustle into your main hustle? Or maybe you’ve already taken the plunge and business isn’t at all what you expected to be. Perhaps you’re not currently working and figure […]
We’ve all said we don’t have the time. Wearing your creative/marketing/financial hat has you working long hours, sometimes for little or no pay depending on the task at hand. You may even hire people to free you up to do the […]
You know all entrepreneurial advice says you should constantly be marketing your business. But holy cow, that’s a lot of work! Finding time to do this seems impossible: Logging on to every social media profile and posting updates is time […]
I don’t know about you, but email is both my worst enemy and my best friend. Am I right? 🙂 And as business continues to grow, so does the amount of email demanding my attention. That’s because when you’re working […]
Business is good. Real good. So good, in fact, that you’re sleeping 2 hours per night and working 22! Uh oh. Before you lose your mind and fire all your clients, it’s time to hire someone. Like yesterday. Because after several hours […]
One of the biggest problems any freelancer experiences is unpredictable cashflow. One month brings in a truckload, while the next you are struggling to buy toilet paper. Budgeting becomes impossible. Life becomes chaotic. Every time you have a windfall, you’re […]
How much work do you donate in a given year? None? Why not? If you’re charging appropriately using value-based pricing, you can probably afford to donate at least one project annually to charity. Imagine what good could be done if every designer donated […]
Two new users join LinkedIn every second, making it one of the fastest growing social media networks, especially for professionals. And because it’s a business networking site, people expect – and many times welcome – freelancers approaching them to help […]
Everywhere I look for advice about new and innovative ways to run my freelancing business always produces the same generic results: Start small. Don’t quit your day job until you can afford to. Pick a niche and stick with it, […]
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