BizCraft: Professional Practices for Creative Entrepreneurs

These posts are organized around the five topics of Money, Minutes, Marketing, Management, and Motivation as they are applied in creative entrepreneurship. If you find them helpful, please share them with your colleagues.

Where is Your Freelance Path Leading?

Creatives often stumble into entrepreneurship. But there some important things to consider before heading down...

19
Jan
Finding the Time to Think

When I was transitioning from the start up phase of my web design company to...

12
Jan
5 Ways to Kill Your Design Firm

I review a lot of creative service firm websites. Sadly, the frequency with which links...

05
Jan
Creative Startup Branding: Time to Hang Up the Beret

When a fine artist goes into the studio to paint, their first thought is not...

29
Dec
Creative Services Branding: Artsy or Artisan?

In my last post on positioning I made the case for how sharp, narrow positioning...

22
Dec
Taking Your Creative Startup’s Vitals

There are many benchmarks that can be helpful for monitoring your creative service firm’s health....

22
Dec
Solving the Cash Flow Crisis

Contending with cash flow can be one of the more frustrating aspects of managing your...

15
Dec
The Sharp Edge of Positioning

“If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge,he must use more...

15
Dec
The Wall Between Control and Communication

Back in 2104 my wife became very ill. For about six months she did not...

08
Dec
Detangle Your Design Firm Partnership

Here’s a sobering rule of thumb. The easier it is to enter into a business...

01
Dec
Unprofitability: Striving After The Wind

The book of Ecclesiastes begins, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain...

24
Nov
The Details of Tracking Time

In my post Time, A Nonrenewable Resource I pointed out how tracking time is fundamental...

17
Nov
Time, A Nonrenewable Resource

Back in 2000, one of my employees at Newfangled produced a Gantt chart of our...

10
Nov
What’s Your Real Hourly Rate?

Whether you’re a freelancer or an agency principal, setting your firm’s target hourly rate is...

03
Nov
Five Reasons Creative Service Firms Should Not Hire Salespeople

Over the 15 years I owned Newfangled, I made the mistake of hiring a salesperson...

27
Oct
5 Reasons Why Marketing to Everyone Will Kill Your Creative Business

Millo, a website dedicated to helping creative service freelancers improve their business practices, published one...

24
Oct
Is Your Balance Sheet Making You Dizzy?

Dealing with your creative services firm’s financial reports is probably not the most enjoyable part...

13
Oct
The Key in Ecclesiastes

The key to maintaining joy in work is set forth in the ancient, time-tested book...

06
Oct