If you’ve ever wanted to take your design career to the next level, you won’t want to miss this exciting news: Today, we are excited to announce, for the first time at Millo, a premium memberships email course delivered to […]
Keeping all your design clients happy and be a daunting task. If you’ve ever lost your mind trying to keep all of your clients happy, keep reading for a few tips on keeping everyone happy without losing your marbles. Making […]
Have you ever been found in this frequent freelance design situation?: You work hard to find a client, you make a pitch to them, sign a contract, complete a project, get paid, and never see them again. Granted, with some […]
Is your design blog dead? Mine was too. I’ve been a blogger for a long time, but I never really had one that took off. I mean, I’ve had a few readers here and there, a few comments now and […]
There’s a continuous debate in the design community (that I don’t plan on diving into today. If you’re interested, read here.) about whether or not a designer should specialize in one specific area or strive to be a jack-of-all trades. […]
Outsourcing has negative connotations (at least here in the states). Whenever you mention outsourcing you immediately get comments like “Why would you send jobs overseas just to save a few dollars?” or “That’s the real problem with the global economy […]
Have you ever pitched to a potential client or perhaps responded to a request for proposal and then never heard back from anyone on the project? If you don’t hear back from a potential client, it might have been your […]
Diligence A freelance designer has to be diligent. After all, you’re working hard not only to design great pieces, but to find new clients, bill current clients, follow up with old clients, file taxes, market your business, and more. If […]
Running a design business is hard. And sometimes it can be pretty touch on your pocketbook. But there are some pretty common ways we all throw our profits down the toilet. Today, I’ll mention a few and attempt to help […]
I’d like to discuss a topic that comes up frequently in my discussions with freelancers. Should you market yourself using your own name or create a business name? There are Pros and Cons to each option and today I would […]
Bringing in a significant amount of business is all about first impressions. And naming your design business is vital to create a solid first impression. But even though a rose by any other name might just smell as sweet, a […]
So you’re a freelance designer, eh? You’re living the big life because you are doing what you love and getting paid for it. The only problem is, you’re not getting paid very much. But who cares, right. I mean, you […]
I’ve had an interesting paradigm shift lately. I have had need to hire a few freelance designers to take over projects I simply don’t have time for. This means I’ve had a chance to interview them (which I wrote about […]
Starting a business is no easy task. It takes time, effort, and (a lot of times) a whole heap of money. But there are lots of designers who have built a rockstar design business without spending their life savings away. […]
Whether you are a freelance designer or work at a design agency, there are almost always two important goals at the forefront of your mind: Impress your current clients & bring in more business. If you’ve been working at building […]
Take a moment and scan the web for successful freelance designers. I mean financially successful freelance designers. I’m not talking about designers who have a great following on their blog, I’m not even talking about designers who crank out phenomenal […]
I know you’re busy working in and on your design business, so I don’t want to take too much of your time today, but I’d like to offer 25 solid pieces of entrepreneurial advice. I got these gems from a […]
How much do you charge for your design services? And how in the world did you come up with those numbers? There are a lot of different factors to consider when establishing your pricing methods as a designer and, frankly, […]
From time to time, I like to visit the web sites and portfolios of designers who comment on the blog here, join the facebook page, or follow me on twitter. I am always interested in finding new talent, meeting new […]
I had a pretty unusual experience the other day. You see, as a web designer, I am used to visiting clients and pitching my services to them in hopes that I will win the account. But a few days ago, […]
Offering price quotes to potential clients can be one of the most difficult tasks a freelance designer faces. But the difficulty of quoting clients grows exponentially if those clients don’t even offer a ballpark budget for you to work within. […]
It’s pretty hard to be amazing at everything. Am I right? Granted, there are a few designers out there who are amazing at Print design, branding, print marketing, HTML, CSS, Web programming (PHP etc.), Javascript, and anything else you throw […]
Keeping your client pool full is one of the most difficult tasks that any design firm or freelance designer faces. Interestingly enough, it’s also one of the most important aspects of running a design business. After all, if you don’t […]
I have fellow designers email me all the time with questions and concerns about how to run their design business. Whether they are graphic designers or web designers (or both) most problems seem to be pretty similar. They can’t find […]
Over the past few months I’ve been working on getting starting a freelance design business. It’s definitely been a learning experience (in a good way, mostly), and I thought I’d share some tips that I’ve come across. Determining Business Structure […]
Every designer wants more clients. More clients usually equates to more income, so it is important to do your best and secure a project from each prospect who engages in your services. Yet securing these projects, and turning prospects into […]
You go to a networking meeting, or the grocery store, or someone’s birthday party… Somehow you get talking about what you do and before you know it there’s a spark and they become a potential client. You exchange business cards […]
Minimalism is one of the fastest growing movements these days and seeks to help people live more conscious lifestyles. By incorporating the principles of minimalism into your office, you can greatly increase your productivity, create more space for yourself, and […]
When starting a new design project, it is often difficult to decide where to start from. Ideas can flow from the brain like a waterfall and so it’s hard to remember them for later use. In my experience, I’ve found […]
I make an effort to frequently visit the web sites, portfolios, or blogs of people who take time to leave comments here at Millo, follow me on twitter, or ‘like’ Millo on our facebook page. Needless to say, I spend […]
In recognition of being in business for 10 years, I thought I’d share ten questions that I get asked most often as a professional website developer. Some of them I’m sure other like-minded professionals have also had to answer. These […]
All print designers are familiar with deadlines and the havoc they can often wreak on your life! It is incredibly frustrating to spend hours and hours designing your work in Photoshop, only to send it to the printers and get […]
A few days ago, Millo published an article titled “5 Questions to Common Freelance Design Questions“. This podcast (the first of Millo’s audio podcasts) will elaborate on 5 more common freelance design questions. Have a listen and leave your comments […]
Not too long ago on twitter (follow me here and Millo here) I asked you what sort of freelance design questions bother you the most. You answered back with an array of questions and I have tried to sum them […]
Recently, in a post titled “Defining success as a designer”, I discussed the importance of setting goals and measuring your success based on how well you achieve your goals. Then, Millo published an excellent guest article by Karol K. titled […]
“You don’t know what you don’t know” – a sentence true in every situation. That’s why the majority of websites are messed up before someone even starts designing them. The main issue is that the client doesn’t know how to […]
On the Millo facebook page, I recently asked what sorts of articles you would like to read during the next few months here at the blog. While I plan to write articles for nearly all the responses, one particular response […]
Recently I was in on a roundtable discussion with a bunch of freelancers and we were talking about some of the similar problems we all face. One topic that kept coming up was that many freelancers have a hard time […]
Unless you went to business school or graduated with a degree in business, chances are you weren’t taught how to write text that will bring in clients. This is typical with technical and creative arts, and is one of the […]
When I first started working for myself, one of the hardest things for me to do was finish a design project in the amount of time that I had anticipated. Projects that I hoped to finish in a week, took […]
As I was reviewing a few articles here at Millo, I noticed that a trend among many readers that leave comments here at the blog is to give discounts to potential clients. In other words, when trying to rope in […]
A few days ago on Millo, we discussed elements of an awesome facebook page for your design business. Today I would like to explore the phenomenon of custom facebook page design a little further. Being the awesome designers that you […]
Anyone who owns a business, from freelancers to top CEOs, knows that they need to be on facebook. You know you need to establish a successful presence on facebook for your design business. What a lot of people don’t understand […]
The Millo Mail Bag is a new feature I’m adding to the site here at GraphicDesignBlender.com. Each week I seem to get more and more emails from readers with questions about their design business. I love interacting with others and […]
Bonsai
Bench 
WP Engine
Chrometa
Design Cuts
Freshbooks
AND CO
Bluehost