“It took me 20 years of trial & error
to build and grow my own
high-income design business.
“Now I want to help you take
the shortcuts I missed…
“…and start your own lucrative
freelance design business…
…in Months, Not Years!”
Dear Reader,
You may find this hard to believe, but I envy you.
When I first started out 20 years ago, there wasn't any sort of school to teach people how to start and run a profitable freelance design business.
So I set out on my own…learning everything the hard way, through trial and error.
Fortunately, it's now much easier for you to start and run your very own high-income freelance design business.
In fact, if you're interested, I'd like to help you…
…take advantage of the opportunities I missed…
…avoid the costly mistakes I made…
…and start your very own successful freelance design business…
In months, not years!
That's because AWAI has just introduced its new Freelance Design Success in a Box: Your Complete Guide to Launching and Running Your Profitable Freelance Graphic Design Business – and it has all the answers to questions like …
- Will I need a license of some sort to start my business?
- What should the legal status of my new business be?
- How will my tax situation change?
- What about contracts?
- What home-office equipment must I have?
- What kind of records should I keep?
- What's the best computer and software for me?
- How do I negotiate my fees?
- How should I manage my time to maximize my income?
You'll get the answers to these and hundreds of other questions about starting and running your own profitable design business. Nothing is left in doubt. Most important, all this advice comes straight from the best authorities in the world: professional graphic designers who've already built successful, highly lucrative freelance design businesses.
Freelance Design Success in a Box was developed specifically for artists like you who are ready to start a business and want to do it the right way – by maximizing your efficiency and profits and minimizing your stress and mistakes.
In a moment, I'm going to show you…
Everything You Need to Build & Grow
Your Successful Graphic Design Business
But first, allow me to introduce myself.
Hi. My name is Lori Haller. For 20 years, I worked as a professional designer – in studios, agencies, PR firms, and publishing houses. I put up with the corporate politics…incompetent co-workers…you name it.
Until one day I decided…enough is enough!
After a Few Bumps and Bruises…Success!
In 1999, shortly after the birth of my third son, I set out to start my own freelance graphic design business. At the time, I had no idea how to start a business… much less run one.
It wasn't easy…
But let me tell you…it was worth it!
You'd be amazed at how much more productive you can be and the time you'll save by working in the comfort of your own home – listening to your favorite CD, sitting on the couch…or your back porch…or wherever you feel most comfortable – when you know how to do it the right way.
On the average, I'd say I accomplish more in one day working from my home-based studio than I could working in a congested office for an entire week!
Plus, right now I'm earning more money than I ever dreamed of making, and I absolutely love the freedom my job gives me. But things weren't always so good…
Naturally, I Made Mistakes…
When I first started my business, I had nobody to turn to for advice. Most of my decisions were based on guesswork. I wrestled with and worried over the very same questions that might be going through your mind right now…
- How do I build long-term relationships with my clients?
- What are my medical-insurance options?
- How do I negotiate fees, payment schedules, and royalties?
- Does my business really need a Web page and a dedicated email address?
- As a freelance businessperson, how should I handle my long-term financial planning?
It's just not smart to guess about the answers to questions as important as these. But I had no choice, so naturally I made mistakes. I did things I shouldn't have done and didn't do things I should have been doing. Consequently, it was tough for me to get clients…frustrating dealing with things like taxes, negotiating contracts, and time-management…and it took me a lot longer than it should have to start making really good money. But now you can avoid all the stress and frustration that I went through.
If you faithfully use the information you'll get in Freelance Design Success in a Box, you'll…
- Begin building a solid business in a matter of months, not years.
- Learn how to prepare for a variety of business situations.
- Expand your business until you have all the work you want.
- Stay organized, motivated, and focused at all times.
- Maximize your income, increase your free time, and minimize stress.
The Secret to Automatic Success
Starting and running a business is a strategic, methodical, big-picture undertaking. You're no longer an employee – you're the boss.
And AWAI is not expecting you to take this big step on your own. They've done 95% of the work for you, and will be with you every step of the way.
Why? Because we understand that the only way your graphic design business is going to be successful is if your creativity is supported by smart decisions, great organization, and savvy planning.
That's why we created Freelance Design Success in a Box – to show you exactly how to best set up, run, and grow an extremely lucrative design business.
Like the pros who pull in high six-figure incomes every year. They make that kind of money not only because they can design well but also because they're extremely smart businesspeople. Now, you can be one, too.
Strong Design Skills Are Only
Part of Your Successful Business
Freelance Design Success in a Box contains everything you need to know and do to start your own graphic design business. Putting its strategies to work for you ensures that your business will be everything you were aiming for while you worked your way through AWAI's graphics design course.
To succeed, you're going to have to do things like…
Sidestep the Most Serious Start-Up Mistakes. Any one of these can torpedo the business of even the best designer in the world. Yet, few beginning businesspeople even know they exist. Freelance Design Success in a Box maps out these landmines for you and shows you how to easily tiptoe around them.
Choose the Legal Status That Saves You $$$. You basically have four choices. Choose the right legal status and you can set yourself up for big tax savings. This isn't complicated – and it's not hard to do – but it's very smart.
Negotiate by Using Strategy and Strength. No subject is more volatile than money. So it's vital that you know how to negotiate fees with your clients – especially when you're building your business. Freelance Design Success in a Box shows you proven short- and long-term strategies that will keep your clients and your bank account happy for years to come.
Know Where to Save, When to Spend. Low overhead is one of the big advantages of having a freelance business. But there are some things you mustn't scrimp on – and one of them is almost always overlooked. Freelance Design Success in a Box reveals how spending a little on this single item can lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra revenue for your business.
Put a High Value on Your Own Time. It's essential to know and understand how much your time is worth. Now you can figure out, with confidence, what your hourly rate should be if, for example, your initial target is 50K. (And that number is going to grow as your business expands.) In one of hundreds of “attitude” tips, Freelance Design Success in a Box drives that point home by asking, “Why would you, a high-paid designer, pull yourself away from your office to mow the lawn when you can hire some neighborhood kid to do it for $10/hr?”
Understand the Importance of “No.” Even the best designers can lose a major client – but this calamity will never happen to you. Why? Because you're not going to have only one major client. You're going to learn to say “No thank you” every once in a while to your “best” client and, instead, use that time – 45 minutes every day or so – to look for new business.
Be Happy and Rich. Getting a new client will make you happy; keeping that client will make you rich. That first job with a new client might bring you anywhere from $850 to $8,500. Turning that client into a long-term partner could eventually bring you $250K or more…easily. Freelance Design Success in a Box shows you exactly what you must do – aside from designing your packages – to become an indispensable resource for all your clients.
These are just a few samples of the hundreds of topics that Freelance Design Success in a Box explores and explains for you. Again: Nothing is left to chance. This is a detailed, easy-to-understand blueprint for your very own successful graphic design business.
AWAI's Graphic Design Success course is helping you become a skilled designer. And now, Freelance Design Success in a Box shows you exactly how to put together everything you're learning in order to build and run a perfectly organized, money-making business of your own. Plus, how to market your new business for high income and growth.
How Successful Do You Want to Be?
I use the word “successful” a lot when describing the kind of business that I think you want to build. But really, I'm talking about degrees of success. You've got to decide how successful you want to be.
You see, it's entirely possible that with the design skills you've learned so far, you could, depending on your age, spend the next 10, 20, or 30 years just moving from assignment to assignment and never really put a “business” together. And you could still make a decent living.
But I also have to tell you from personal experience that the odds clearly show that this kind of helter-skelter approach…
- Won't be a huge success. (You're not going to make really big money.)
- Won't be a secure success. (There will be lots of ups and downs.)
- And, at the end of the day, you'll know you could have done a heck of a lot better – by using the strategies and tips in Freelance Design Success in a Box.
To run a successful business, you've got to do it right. Here's the kicker: “Doing it right” doesn't mean working harder. It just means working smarter. What are the rewards of following the simple tactics described in Freelance Design Success in a Box?
- Maximized income – really big money
- A steady, predictable flow of work – that you'll have planned months in advance
- Peace of mind – because you and your loved ones will be well taken care of
- The gratification of knowing you've done your best – which is priceless!
And on top of all this, you'll enjoy the freedom of being an independent businessperson and the satisfaction of doing something you really enjoy.
Three Steps to Financial Freedom and Happiness
The designers and entrepreneurs who contributed to AWAI's Freelance Design Success in a Box crammed everything they know about starting and running a business into three information-packed volumes. Then, we put it all into a “box” for easy delivery to you…
Volume #1, Starting Your Own Graphic Design Business, is where you'll learn what it takes to build a solid “foundation.” There's a ton of nuts-and-bolts information here on things like…
- Office Set-Up: One of the joys of designing things for a living is that you can take your “work” with you wherever you want to go – but you still need an office, a home base. How you set up that office and organize it will have a huge impact on your productivity and profit. Among other things, Volume #1 of Freelance Design Success in a Box shows you how to organize your office, what materials and technology you need (and what you shouldn't waste your money on), and how to create that all-important barrier between your in-home office and your family life.
- Bookkeeping: Now that you're self-employed, you'll need to pay taxes more than once a year. It's no big deal (really). But you're the one who's got to keep the books in order. Starting Your Own Graphic Design Business explains what paperwork you should hang on to, how to make sure your clients give you the tax forms you'll need, and why a great filing system is absolutely crucial to the success of your business.
- Taxes and Legal Status: There's no need for you to worry about your new tax status – everything you need to know is right here. Including an explanation of your EIN (Employer Identification Number) and how best to approach your federal, state, and self-employment taxes. You'll also discover that you have a lot of choices when it comes to the legal status of your business. Starting Your Own Graphic Design Business helps you decide which one is best for you. Don't pull out your hair trying to research this stuff for yourself. It's all here!
- Time Management and Motivation: Having your own business gives you a lot of freedom – but you've got to use that freedom wisely. Here are all the tricks and organizational tools that the best graphic designers in the world use to manage their time and generate an incredible income.
Volume #2, Running and Accelerating Your Design Business, shows you how to stay focused and keep your business humming along super-productively. It includes everything you must do to keep your business growing, including…
- Everyday Concerns: AWAI doesn't want you to “sweat the details,” but you should be prepared for the little things that might come up on any given day. Paying attention to these things can make the big issues a lot easier to deal with. Volume #2 of Freelance Design Success in a Box sorts it all out for you.
- Killer One-Page Proposals: You may know how to write fairly well, but proposals are another ball of wax. Running and Accelerating Your Design Business shows you how to outline and flesh-out project proposals that will have clients fighting for your business.
- Contracts: Here are the nuts and bolts that will make sure you always protect your best interests as a graphic designer and businessperson. Not complicated. Just essential.
Volume #3, Marketing Your Business for High Income and Growth,is all about the second most important aspect of any graphic design business: marketing. Never forget the need to always be looking for new clients and you'll never be short of work (or money).
- Self-Promotion: One of the easiest and most potent forms of self-promotion is building a modest website and then linking it to a wide range of search engines. Marketing Your Business for High Income and Growth shows you exactly how to do this, along with many other easy self-promotion tricks.
- Networking: This is your key to a lifetime of design assignments. You see, having a home-based business shouldn't mean a life of isolation. In order to grow, you've got to have your name and face in front of the right people. As you'll see, it doesn't take a lot of work – if you know what you're doing.
- Getting Clients: Don't stop trying to get new clients just because business is booming. Volume #3 of Freelance Design Success in a Box shows you how to best leverage the success of your business to attract new clients. It also shows you how to ensure that your value to your existing clients constantly increases.
- Perpetual Marketing: Look at it this way: You're really running two businesses – your design business and your marketing business. Your good design skills will make your marketing easier and your good marketing will make your designing easier. Marketing Your Business for High Income and Growth lays out the easiest, most time-saving, and most productive ways to have an ongoing marketing effort that really works. Nothing is more important than this!
7 Steps to Design Success, Yours Free…
When Katie Yeakle told me that AWAI was offering you all three volumes of Freelance Design Success in a Box for only $99…I practically fell off my chair. What a steal! Especially when you consider that I spent YEARS building and growing my freelance design business. Mind-boggling – but it's true…
Right now, you can have all three volumes sent to you for only $99. And you can have them sent to you immediately by clicking here. Katie tells me the development costs were kept low. That's the reason they're able to offer this to you at such a bargain price.
Even better, to celebrate the launch of Freelance Design Success in a Box, I'd like to send you a copy (on CD) of AWAI's recent teleconference: 7 Steps to Design Success,with special guest Roger C. Parker, ABSOLUTELY FREE!
If you've ever had questions about how to improve your design skills and make your promotions seamlessly easy to read…how to create a marketing plan…or the importance of client acquisition efforts vs. client retention (and who hasn't?), you'll find the answers right here. This CD is crammed with the kind of useful, hands-on info you need to make this your most successful year yet!
Roger's 7-Steps to Design Success CD sells for $59.00. But we'll tuck it inside your Freelance Design Success in a Box at no extra cost.
Freelance Design Success in a Box is a natural extension of AWAI's goal of creating high-performance, high-wage graphic designers. And it's a logical and very smart career move for you. You succeeded in AWAI's Graphic Design Success course because you were determined to become one of the best. You wanted to become a designer because the financial rewards and lifestyle appeal to you. Freelance Design Success in a Box will finally make this a happy reality.
Follow this guide…do what it says…keep doing what it says…and you'll end up exactly where you hoped to be when you first started your journey: an accomplished graphic artist running a very successful freelance business.
But, like I said, it's up to you to decide how successful you want to be. My advice? Play it smart. Go with the decision you know you'll never regret. Take advantage of all the shortcuts I missed…avoid the mistakes I made…and start your own lucrative freelance design business in months! Not years!
Best regards,
Lori Haller
Professional Freelance Designer
P.S. You could easily make $1,000 or more using just one of the tips you'll find in Freelance Design Success in a Box.
So call Barb or Scott at 866-879-2924 today. Or click on the link below.
Immediately, we'll send you everything you need to build and grow your very own high-income freelance design business…plus, your free CD, Roger C. Parker's 7 Steps to Design Success.
