In this article we’ll give you some simple ideas on what you can do. There are tips here for both freelancers and business owners.

Most ways of getting new clients are logical and sound very easy to master, but actually remembering when important can be a challenge. In this article we’ll have a look at some tips that can help you succeed a bit better with this part of your business. You may have thought of some of this already, but I’m sure this also can be a valuable reminder.

Let’s have a look!

Put your focus on the local community

The internet has given us all a much bigger stage where we can work as creatives. This often leaves us overlooking some of the possibilities that can be hidden in our local area. If you need new clients – why don’t you try to have a look at local companies and offer your services in your area? Ways to do this can be talking to friends, advertising in local newspapers and magazines and attending conferences related to your niche. Many times these can be easier to get a good relationship to as they are closer, speak your language and so on.

Go meet potential clients in person when possible

If you’re working to get new clients within a reasonable distance, you should definitely consider giving them a visit. Most companies receive a lot of phone calls and emails daily, so it can be hard for you to stand out from everyone else. By meeting them in person you’ll get to hand out your business card, have a chat with them and show them your face. This counts more than most people think. Just give it a try, and you may be in for a surprise.

Use your online contacts

We all have Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more these days. But are we using social media well enough to promote our business and services? For many of us this is something we can improve upon. Something as easy as sharing our portfolio with more people, telling that we’re available for projects and so on. And it’s definitely allowed to market your business online to friends as long as you’re not overdoing it. Unless your online contacts know what you’re doing and that you’re available for projects, they wont hire you or recommend you to their friends/other contacts.

Design contests and crowd-sourcing

Taking part og design contests or crowdsourcing projects is a great way to get some experience and also get your name out there. As they’re always popular and only one winner, this is not a stable way of making an income, but if you have some spare time on your hands it can be a nice alternative. The designs you submit can be made part of your portfolio and help you attract new potential clients from all over the community.

Offering something cheap/for free

Depending on what you offer, there can be a lot of competition. One good way to have new clients give you an important first chance is by offering something cheap or for free. Then they get the chance to see what you can offer without taking too big risks. Then they will come back again later if they are happy. Examples of how to do this; offering a free amount of business-cards for client that order something, free logo design when someone’s buying a web design, free photo-retouching, contests and giveaways on your website and so on. It’s all about getting clients to notice you and using your creativity to make it happen.

Advertise

Advertising is underestimated these days. Many seem to think that all of their money should be spent on business-cards or the website. Both are very important, but never forget that advertising can be very powerful. Ads in local newspapers (online or offline), websites that have the type of visitors you’d want as customers or maybe getting an ad in a niche magazine? It’s a great way to reach new clients and stand out a bit.

Doing your best

Last, but not least, you have to do an excellent job with the projects you’re getting. Word of mouth is many times more powerful than any other way of trying to attract new clients. Do your best to give your existing clients excellent service and end results that they just love. If this means spending an extra hour once or twice, I can assure you that it’ll be well worth it.

Conclusion

Getting some new clients doesn’t have to require any “magic”. Often times you’ll see that a traditional down-to-earth approach can give great results. A key is being able to remember what one can do, plus focusing on that without trying to do too much all at once. If you’re just sitting there, you’re letting luck decide what happens. By trying out some of these methods, you’re definitely raising your chance of succeeding. That’s many times what it’s all about: taking action.

We hope these tips can be a bit useful to you and wish you the best of luck!

Being a freelancer means a lot of responsibility on your shoulders along with many “lonely” days at work. Being specialized in one field can definitely appeal to clients if you’re good at what you do, but today the ability to be versatile becomes more and more important. Clients know what they want and with all the designers and companies in the market, they can also afford to be a bit picky.

How to collaborate with others?

This can be done in different ways and you need to have a look at your options, who you know, who are available in your area and if they’re interested. A collaboration with other freelancers can mean to share office-space with them, have “unwritten” agreements on helping each other out with things you excel at and pointing clients in the direction of others when getting enquiries that involve projects that are a bit outside your comfort area.

Picture by Oliver Tam

The collaborations can be small or big depending on what you prefer. In many cases freelancers can take on bigger projects together, dividing parts of the work between them according to their different skills. As long as you’re able to find a way of billing and time-tracking that can be dealt with in a legal and correct way, you have many options.

Here are some reasons why you should consider working alongside other freelancers to get more clients by offering what they want!

Being able to compete better with bigger companies

Picture by Martin Boulanger

As companies with several designers also have more knowledge and a broader skill-range, collaborating can help you get up to that same level. This means that as you are more people doing the project, you can offer the skills and deadlines that usually are some of the benefits clients get when choosing to work with companies over freelancers.

Offering more

A bit of the same as the first point. If you are a web designer collaborating with a freelance writer, graphic artist or photographer, you will most likely be able to offer the client a more complete package. Clients love it when they don’t have to look around for many different people to work with. If you have a deal with others you can simply tell the client that you’re able to also take the pictures for the website, design the logo and so on.

More contacts

Picture by B S K

You have your contacts, others have theirs. By working together you have a much bigger network and a whole lot more potential clients and projects just by sticking our heads together. This can give more clients, better deals and a broader network.

Dividing costs

If you’re sharing office space with someone else it will eventually be cheaper. You’ll get to divide the rent, electricity bills and maybe even some of the equipment. This is not necessarily the main reason for choosing to do so, but definitely a great bonus, especially for those struggling economically.

Giving each other feedback

Picture by Laura Leavell

Getting feedback from others with similar skills can be great for you. This can help you becoming better at what you do and it never hurts to have someone to discuss different cases with. When you work completely alone it can feel easier to get a bit stuck sometimes. A fresh pair of eyes can do wonders to your work.

More social

One of the top things that freelancers miss is the social part of working in a bigger company. Having someone to have a coffee with and to talk with in between all the hard work can be a very positive experience.

Leaving a more professional impression

Picture by Jan Willem Geertsma

In general this will help you come across as a lot more professional. Your clients will like the fact that you have others that can work with you and if you have an office together this usually will look way better than meeting clients on your sofa at home. Some times this can be what gets you chosen over other options.

Someone that’ll have your back

If you for some reason need to have an unexpected day off, if you can’t answer the phone or just need a bit of help with something, this can help you out a lot. When you have someone else around you that you trust you will feel safer when unexpected situations occur. Even if you’re your own boss and have your responsibility, you can feel less alone by having someone there. Just remember that it has to be both ways.

Conclusion

Picture by Sachin Ghodke

These points are all good reasons to at least consider working with others. This doesn’t necessarily have to mean sharing offices, it might as well be having someone you can call when needed. The ways of collaborating are many and you will need to find out what works the best for you. Some areas have office buildings meant for this purpose, so make sure to check out your area to see what possibilities that are available for you. Remember though, that you have to try pick people who you thing you will work well with and be prepared for giving back in every way you can. Think through these things and you will find out of this can be for you. There are pros and cons of everything and some things have to be tried out.

We’d love to hear your feedback. Maybe you have some experiences and tips to share as well?

Good luck!

One thing is for sure; freelancers can be found behind every tree and underneath every rock out there. In America alone there are an estimated and unbelievable amount of 42 million freelancers divided into a wide range of niches. This is an example of what kind of competition you can expect. Obviously not all of these are in your niche or competing for your clients, but you get the point.

Picture by Sanja Gjenero

For many freelancers their skills and interests will limit them to work in their own country or region, while others (like for instance web designers, graphic designers, different types of writers and so on) can theoretically take on work from pretty much any region of the world.

Are you happy with things?

The first thing to ask yourself before doing any changes to your current situation is “am I happy where I am today”.

Picture by Svilen Milev

For many of us the comfort of working with clients that are close to use geographically, speak the same language and can be met in person is what makes us successful. For some freelancers, going international is not something that will be worth it or feel right. So make sure to think things through for a while before getting your hopes up and diving into things. Taking the step into the rest of the world doesn’t necessarily have to be the best solution for you if you’re happy with your current situation. But, if you’re not pleased, this can be an opportunity of a lifetime.

Now let’s have a closer look at some things that can be rewarding and challenging if you’re going international.

THE POSSIBILITIES

Endless amounts of potential clients

Picture by Gabriella Fabbri

By opening up your business to clients worldwide you will have many potential projects out there. If you’re struggling to find fitting projects “at home”, taking the step out into the world will give you a better chance at finding projects that fit your expertise.

Additional income

Looking for clients in other parts of the world can provide you with a nice additional income on top of what you’re currently earning. Many freelancers that have some spare hours when their regular projects are done find this a great way of getting a valuable income stream.

New experiences

Working with clients from other parts of the world can give you some very valuable experiences that may not be present in your home country. These can look great in your portfolio and help you become even better at what you do.

Meeting new people

Picture by Mike Johnson

Getting to know new people all over the globe is a positive experience for many of us. This can give us a great creative boost and also benefit us in our everyday life. Personally I’ve gotten a lot of valuable inspiration from working alongside freelancers that work hard, stay positive and value what they have in a completely different way compared to many people I knew before.

Learning new things

No matter which clients you work for, there’s a good chance that you will get knowledge of things you never thought you’d learn or even get use for. This often adds positive energy. And let’s just admit it; gaining knowledge is a good thing, no matter the topic.

More exciting projects

Picture by Tray Stoi

When taking a look outside your own area you will soon see that there are many exiting projects you can be part of. This can be very useful and the experience can be priceless and life-changing in some cases.

THE CHALLENGES

Language

The language barriers must not be underestimated. One thing is that you have to at least have English skills above average, and additional languages is a plus. The reasons for this are many. Misunderstanding the projects can cost you valuable hours if something has to be completely redone. And your clients also have to be able to communicate well. One way of preventing unnecessary problems related to this will be to always ask any questions you may have. Asking one extra time is usually a good plan.

Competition

Picture by Ilker

As mentioned earlier you will meet a lot of competition. You will need to be prepared for this and have the strength to deal with many turn downs before you finally get a project. Trying and failing will help you in getting to know how things are done “out there”.

Standing out

With more competition, you will need to find a way to stand out in the crowd. Make sure you know your One of your best tools in this process will be having a good portfolio, as good work usually speaks for itself. Remember to show your variety and prepare to put in your best effort and numerous hours making the portfolio a good one. Additionally you will need a good website. This is very valuable as it is accessible for anyone with an Internet connection, in this case all of your potential clients.

Contracts

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Working with clients abroad can mean many changes to your standard contracts. Not only will you have to get this translated the correct way, you also have to make sure that they are correct for the types of products/services and the countries involved. My tip would be to talk to a lawyer or someone else that has expertise in this field. Doing things the wrong way can become very pricy and give you extra work.

People not being who you think they are

Meeting new people is great and while most people are honest and serious, there are always some rotten apples. When working with people you are unable to meet or get valid references from it can be hard to know how things will turn out. Maybe you’ll be unlucky and end up not getting paid and so on. There are many things that can be done to prevent “scammers”, but you will never be 100% sure. An advantage of working locally is that you can check with others or get good references that can easily be contacted.

Not being able to meet in person

Picture by Sergio Roberto Bichara

There are more things to this than people being someone else than you thought. Not being able to meet your clients in person will increase the chance of misunderstandings and give you challenges regarding communication in general. When you’re not able to meet someone, you will need to compensate by having a good dialogue via phone or mail.

Payment issues

One of the most common problems related to this type of work is often of a financial type. There are many things that can affect this. You have to have agreed upon a payment method that works for both parties. Theres always the chance of delays, extra fees and tracking payments can be harder. This means that you will have to find a policy of when you’re supposed to get paid and when to deliver the finished product.

Pricing your services

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People earn differently in various countries. You may not think of this as an issue at first but this can eventually mean that your hourly wages will be considered extremely high in some areas and decent in others. Always check out what the usual price range is in the actual country and calculate what your earnings will be in your own currency before deciding.

Legal issues

You have to know about any legal issues, like copyright, taxes and so on. When you start doing business outside your own country it’s very important to gain proper knowledge of which laws that apply.

Conclusion

As you can see there are both benefits and challenges that will enter your freelance-life the minute you take a leap into the world. If you have the right attitude, do your things well and prepare, you can be in for a lot of positive things as well.

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The advice I’d give you is to have a look at each of these points, read up, consult professionals and make your decision. A healthy great way of exploring this new opportunity can be to start taking on smaller projects part-time until you have the experience to go all in.

As usual we’d love to hear your own tips and experiences.

Good luck!

Design can be complicated and design can be simple. By making infographics you can practice using your skills, setting up information in a new and creative way along with educating others in a fun way. There are lots and lots of these out there. This time we’ve decided to simply show you some of the better ones we could find, on any topic. Here are infographics related to design, social media, economy and all sorts of other topics.

Have a look at how the information has been set up. Sometimes these can look just like a mind map or brainstorming notes, while they other times are set up in a more specific way. A lot of the techniques use can translate well into both mind maps, web design and other creative areas.

We hope these can inspire and teach you a new thing or two.

Make sure to click the images to go see the full-sized ones. Several of these are very big and very detailed.

Enjoy!

1. The colors of the top 100 web brands

2. Yahoo developer network metro map

3. How Google works

4. The boom of social sites

5. The cmo’s guide to the social landscape

6. Do you need a new logo?

7. The 2010 social networking map

8. A modern history of human communication

9. How much do we really recycle?

10. Money in the food industry

11. Education by the numbers

12. Time wasted on loading unnecessary data

13. Green through the ages

14. Farmville vs. real farms

15. Facebook: facts you probably didn’t know

16. The most widely spoken languages

17. What BP could have bought with all the money they lost

18. Rock ‘n’ Roll metro map

19. Largest bankruptcies in history

20. What are people buying online?

21. The human tongue

22. Digital lifestyle

23. Serial killers

24. Twitter users profile

25. Animals & Humans: What’s the difference?

26. Healthcare costs by state

27. Labor day by the numbers

28. What makes good information design?

29. Nurses by the numbers

30. Can I afford an iPad?

31. A guide to buying your own island

32. The life of a cruise ship

33. What’s cheaper now than it was in 2000?

34. The bumpy rise of a start-up

35. The perfect pour

36. How do I win rock, paper, scissors every time?

37. Rubiks cube

38. Mythical creatures

39. The display ad tech landscape

40. Music preference by gender

Those were our picks of 40 really cool infograhics. We’d love to hear from you!

Which one did you like the best? – and can you see these translating into your area of design?

It sounds so easy: quit your current job, set up a desk in a spare room at home, and start working as a freelancer.

Picture by Blade Multimedia

Unfortunately it isn’t as easy when you’re standing there getting ready to take the leap. As we’ve talked about in previous articles there are both good and bad sites to being a freelancers. There are many things that can go wrong, but also a lot of possible benefits if you work hard to succeed.

Now let’s have a look at what you can do to make the transition as good for yourself as possible!

Read up

Read up on freelancing to know what’s ahead of you. We have a lot of freelance tips here at 1stwebdesigner, and you’ll find a lot of other websites out there that have good resources for you. Find different forums to see what others that have walked the path before you have to say. There are many other freelancers all over the world and they many times share a lot of valuable information. Something as easy as searching for freelancing through bigger search engines can give many interesting hits.

Local support

Picture by Enrico Nunziati

In many countries there has been set up various services to help out new business owners and freelancers. Check out what’s available in your area. For instance in my community there are cheaper office spaces for rent for the first year someones in business, great financial help that can be offered and much more. It’s therefore a good idea to at least check this out before you go into business. There are also several places where local freelancers/business owners have set up different work and support groups that it can be very valuable to become part of.

Save up some money

By saving up ahead it’ll be a lot easier the first months if you’re having a hard time getting projects in the start. As your monthly bills still have to be paid, not having a steady income can be hard to get used to. If you’re able to save up some money, you will minimize some of all the stress you will be experiencing in the beginning. Starting your freelance career with no money at all can cause you many problems and be very risky.

Make an overview of goals

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Set up what your goals are and how to get there. After you’ve been in business for a while it will be easier to see if you are on track. After a month or two you should use these goals and your experiences to set up an overall business plan. Once you have a good plan to start off with it will also be easier to get help both financially and if you’re looking to others to collaborate with. You’ll quickly notice that having a clear plan will always be helpful in several different ways.

Registering your company

In most countries, even if you’re just freelancing you will need to register your business. Check out what is the case for your country to make sure it’s done the legal and correct way from day one. If you fail at this you could be in a lot of trouble.

Make the important practical decisions

Picture by Svilen Milev

Before your start-up you have to make all the important decisions that will help shape your business. Will it work to set up a workspace at home or should you rent a space? Will you need another phone or internet line? There are many questions like these that you will have to answer. My tip is to sit down one day and imagine a workday as you see it when you start freelancing. Go through it in your mind including when you start, where you’ll be located, what equipment to use, how to do meetings with clients, how to organize lunch breaks + +. This will help you see some things that you will need to consider.

Insurance, bank-accounts and such

This is hand in hand with the previous point. Make sure to have proper insurance, have a business bank account to not get it mixed up with personal stuff and so on. Maybe you should get a post box to have a company address too. Several things need to be taken care of.

Make sure to have working equipment and software

When you’ve made decisions on how to work, where to work and so on – it’s time to see if you have what you need. Most people tend to have a lot of what they need already and can avoid any bigger investments in equipment in the beginning. Go through what you have properly and decide if anything has to be repaired or upgraded in order for you to work well from day one.

Make a good portfolio

Picture by Jakub Krechowicz

One thing that can really make everything easier on you is building a portfolio BEFORE leaving your current job. To get new clients you often need to have a portfolio to show in order for them to see that you know what you’re doing, and get a good idea of what you have to offer. If you have problems building a portfolio you can try to find crowdsourcing projects or contests to attend. It’s without doubt a good tip to work a bit on the side to get a few projects that can be used for later reference. This could also mean that you have to take on some charity work or get less paid. Nevertheless building a portfolio and getting that experience is worth it.

Logo

Getting a logo is a must! Many designers make their own logos and succeed with it. Check out our logo article for some great tips: Brilliant Tips and Guidelines for Professional Logo Design. That article will tell you what you need to know. No matter if you’re making it yourself or having someone else do it you should focus on having it ready before you start.

Printed media

Picture by Martin Simonis

Prepping business-cards, brochures, envelopes and letterheads with your logos on can be done ahead to ease the pressure when you’re starting up. Many designers do a lot of this part themselves. Just make sure to have everything ready when you start, so that you can hand out business cards and look professional from the fist potential client that you meet.

Website/blog

A good website or blog is important from almost any freelancer out there. This is a great way to be available to customers worldwide and you can also include your portfolio online for easier access. Where some designers are pros at web design, others would be better leaving this to others. A good website can mean a lot and this part should not be overlooked.

Planning application

Picture by Hilde Vanstraelen

Find a planning application that works for you. There are many good ones out there that are completely free. Try out a few different ones. Planning your days properly will definitely pay off the second you start getting more and more to do.

Time-tracking and invoicing

As with planning, you need a good system for time-tracking and invoicing. Check out what others use to get some advice, or just dive in and try out a handful of different ones. By using good software you will save a lot of time and confusion later on.

Marketing

Picture by Viktors Kozers

You will need to have a look at how to market your business and what it will cost you. A lot of the tasks related to making a campaign and various offers you want to give can be done beforehand. Once you get started you will probably have enough on your mind. Think through how you want to get your name out there and attract new customers. This can be advertising on other websites, using local newspapers, calling contacts from your studying days or having a contest on your website. Be creative and spend some time on this part.

Do a test-day or week

If you have some days off you should consider doing a little test run as a freelancer. Use smaller projects you’ve gotten or set up a training case. By working a few days you will be able to see several things that you may not have thought of and do some last-minute adjustments.

Network

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You probably have Twitter, Facebook and other types of social media accounts. Try to get connected with other freelancers, potential clients and so on. And tell everyone you’re about to start a new business. If you’re lucky you’ll get some new clients just by mention it + a lot of good advice from your online friends.

Do you need any experts to help you out?

Many questions will occur here. Do you need someone else to help you take care of accounting and billings? Do you need a company to develop a website or can you do this on your own? This has to be figured out and will also have great impact on your budget.

Conclusion

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Once you’ve gone through these steps you’re well prepared. What is required will depend on many different things but it’s highly advisable that you do as much as possible beforehand. Remember that if you find out that you’re not ready yet, waiting for a little while longer can probably be a good idea.

If you want to find out more about this topic, make sure to check out our recent article: The signs that you’re ready to start freelancing.

Finally we’d love to hear your comments and your own advice on this.

Good luck!

In this article we’ll have a closer look at some signs that will appear to show you that you’re getting ready to take the step into the challenging yet exciting world of freelancing.

In most cases it would be correct to advice people to learn how to crawl before they can run. In the world of freelancing, and often times business in general, this rule definitely applies too. A certain amount of experience in a “safer” environment will do us well before taking the leap into the unknown.

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But how do you know that you’re ready? There are many signs of both, and in this article we will have a look at some of the signs to look for to see if you’re ready. Different settings and personalities will also have an effect on the outcome, so make sure to look at all aspects before making your decision.

Now, let’s have a look at some of the more common signs!

You’re ready for more responsibility

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The freelance life treats us all differently. One first thing we can agree upon though, is the fact that there will be more responsibility included in it for you. Being a freelancer is to be running a whole business on your own, with no one to hide behind. You will get the credit when things go well and you will be the person being blame for everything that goes wrong. You are the one that has to clean up the mess and work the extra hours if anything needs to be done at the last-minute or during holidays and weekends. You’re the one that always has to stand up. If you understand this, and feel ready and willing to get more responsibility – you’re on a good way to getting ready to start out!

You want new challenges

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Wanting new challenges can obviously mean a number of different things. If you’re ready for new challenges unlike what you’ve done before, freelancing could be for you. You’ll have to deal with new tasks and be the person in the lead. You’ll have to think of new ways of doing things, along with working at your most efficient. There will be parts of running a business you’ve never dealt with before blowing up right in front of you. New clients, new projects and more responsibilities. Are those the right challenges? If yes, you’re ready!

You have a number of good contacts in the business and are willing to use them

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An overwhelming amount of all business-opportunities, new client-relationships and great collaborations all start with existing contacts. If you’re already respected and well-known in your field you can get a road that is a whole lot easier when starting up. This is where it will pay off that you were outgoing during the studies, or that you’ve been good at getting new contacts through social media and so on. If you have a pile of business cards, phone numbers, old colleagues, buddies from when you studied and social media contacts that you’re willing to use, you’re ready!

You’ve know what the financial consequences may be

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A person ready for the freelance-challenge knows what awaits financially. This means having set up a budget and knowing what everything will cost. This is needed to know if you can afford it, and how much you will need to work to get that money. You have to go check out what it costs to rent an office space or to set up a proper and working workspace at home. You have to calculate everything to know as much as possible before you get started. Will you need a new computer, new software or other things?

You have a specific business-idea

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Wanting to go freelance and succeeding at it, requires a plan. This actually applies to any type of business you want to start. You need to know how to present your business to others when they ask what you’re doing. A businessman without a plan will not get anywhere at all. You need to know how to market yourself, what your specialties will be and so on. You can’t just start up and see what comes along as that’s way too risky. If you have a clear idea of what you want your business to do, and know how to say it in 2-3 sentences, a valuable part of the work is done!

You have the needed savings to start with minimum risk

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If you’re serious about starting up, you need to make sure that your bills are still taken care of for a month or three. You can’t expect money to come flowing in from day one. My advice would definitely be to plan this a bit ahead financially. Take a part of your paycheck every month for a while and try to get enough money saved up for paying your bills for at least a couple of months, just in case. You should also have a bit extra if you need any new software, equipment and other investments. The financial aspect of starting up kills many new businesses due to bad planning. Don’t be one of the casualties!

You understand that it won’t be a “walk in the park”

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To be ready for this challenge and deal with it in a good way, you need to be aware of the fact that it will be hard work. You have to take the whole thing dead serious and walk into it with a lot of willpower and energy. If you don’t, you will most likely get very disappointed within just a few days. Learn to motivate yourself, read up on freelancing online, talk to other freelancers and build up positive energy to start out with. A week of vacation before starting can be a valuable boost to a new era in your life.

You accept that you may have to do things you don’t want to

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To make it you will sometimes have to take on projects that you’d rather not do if you’re having a dry period. This also means that if there are any “bad news” related to a project, you’re the one having to talk to the client. You’ll have to deal with the unhappy clients, you’ll have to make hard decisions and so on. By being aware of this, accepting it and trying to see things from the positive side – you’ll be ready!

Your family is ready

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A final, but vital, point that I’d like you to think through is your family. If you have a wife, husband and/or kids – they’re part of this too! That can be a bit hard to remember sometimes. My advice is to include your family in the equation from the minute you start considering a freelance career. Is your new work situation possible to combine with what you find important in life besides work? Will you still be able to spend the time with them that you need and are they positive to the transition? Maybe it’s all good to start up immediately, or maybe you would be better off waiting another year or two before starting? This is an important decision that you need to think through.

Conclusion

Starting up as a freelancer will require many changes to your life. This career-path is not cut for everyone, and there may be times in life when this is a good idea, and times when it’s a bad idea. As long as you take the time to analyze the situation properly you will have a good chance of success. Hopefully this article will help you out a bit on that.

Picture by Svilen Milev

Good luck!

Are you ready?

The color green has had many meanings throughout the years. It’s usual to associate the color to plants, nature, eco friendliness, money, energy and more.

These websites will show you some examples of most of the mentioned associations, along with both traditional and more creative and alternative design.

Enjoy!

1. Sylvain Toulouse

2. Frexy

3. Talk to Gary

4. Easy Peasee

5. dConstruct 2010

6. The squad

7. Josh Sullivan

8. Springhouse solicitors

9. A modern eden

10. Emotions

11. Zendesk

12. Tolingo

13. Tori’s eye

14. Objectified

15. Hungry for change?

16. 3 sided cube

17. Duplos

18. Go glamping

19. Forrst

20. Verdeo

21. Camp firebelly

22. charity: water

23. Plain green

24. Green planet solutions

25. BEN

26. Mustard monkey

27. Pixel to Xhtml

28. Jack Jaselli & the great vibes foundation

29. Evernote

30. Anthony Nolan

31. Min Tran

32. Naturetrek

33. GreenXtreme

34. Myddfai

35. Design jam

36. Greene Hill school

37. Pixelbaecker

38. Optikko.fi

39. Web://contact

40. VideoTeaching

41. Websmultimedia

42. Sunrise design

43. Turbomilk

44. Biology

45. Cutcaster

46. Cullpa solutions

47. Systima technology

48. Freshmail

49. Shorthand

50. Lifetree creative

51. The forbidden corner

52. Mocapoke

53. Mint

54. FrogWatch

55. Breeze

That was 55 green web designs. We’d love to hear what you think. Maybe you have a favorite that isn’t included here or a green website of your own?

Thanks for reading, we hope to see you in the comments!

A certain amount of stress is healthy to keep you focus, but being able to keep the right balance can be really hard sometimes. This can result in anything from ulcers to insomnia, eating problems, restlessness, relationship problems and depression. Stress can also cause you to do your work at a lower quality and even have you work slower, ironically.

Picture by Muriel Miralles de Sawicki

For most people, the symptoms don’t have to be huge or dramatic, but it all starts with small tendencies and it’s important to try minimize the stress to not end up in a bad situation. The fact is that most people are more stressed than what they wish they were and often their work is the reason.

Now let’s have a look at some tips for how you can get less stress and more time to do your job properly.

Don’t take on more than you can handle

Picture by Marco Michelini

This tip is in my opinion the most important one. A lot of freelancers want to have the time to do as much as possible, to earn a lot of money and step forward in various ways. As much as you need to get things done to make a living, you have to make sure you only take on the projects you’re actually able to successfully do without putting your own health at risk. If you’re able to keep a good schedule and only say yes to the projects you’re able to do within the work hours you’ve set, you will feel less stressed every single day.

Have a schedule and keep it updated

Picture by Maxime Perron Caissy

To be able to make the best of the first point we’ve mentioned, you need to find a way to keep a schedule. For some people it works best to buy a simple book and write everything down by hand, while most of us prefer to use calendars in our computers and cellphones. The biggest mistake you can do is not having a schedule. You should look through it daily and remember to add new meetings or projects that have been added. This can help you in reaching deadlines and generally get days with less stress.

Use proper equipment

Picture by Dmitri Popov

It may not be the first thing that comes to mind, but having a computer and software that works will definitely have you stress less. Make sure that you are updated with the latest software updates and that everything works as it should. And of course you must have a good backup routine in case something happens. The last thing you want to happen is to have software that messes up your work, a computer that runs slowly and so on. Once you’ve taken the time and money needed, you will see that you are a lot more effective and feel less stress.

Realize you’re not perfect and admit it!

Picture by Bob Smith

A lot of stress can be because we’re trying to be someone we’re not or trying to do things we’re insecure doing. By making sure you say yes to only projects that you have the right expertise for, you will eliminate a huge source of stress. If clients want you to do parts of a project that you know are beyond your expertise and you’re afraid to lose them because of this, you could instead try to find another freelancer that can work with you.

Always have a plan B

Picture by Nate Brelsford

Many times you’ll realize that stress can be caused by last-minute changes due to a plan failing. No matter how good you are at planning, you will sometimes be in need of a plan B. By having thought through how to solve different situations that occur, you will not have to think of all possible scenarios or feel very stressed. Your plan B can be working with others, having some spare time that you save for these scenarios and so on.

Solve conflicts

Picture by Sebastian Danon

If you have anything unsolved or feel insecure regarding any client relationships, this can cause a huge amount of stress. Take the time needed to talk with your client and do what needs to be done to solve it. You will feel a lot better after and not have to spend a lot of energy worrying.

Tidy finances

Picture by Ivan Prole

Many freelancers worry all day and all night about their finances. How to get enough clients, how to get the bills paid and so on. This stress will always be there at some degree, but it can also be minimized. Keep a budget so that you know at all times how things are looking and how many projects you need to get to have ends meet. Always do work that you’re proud of and get returning clients who help you have a somewhat steady income. And finally, if you have the chance, get a buffer through savings to make sure you can pay the bills and get what you need to survive.

Exercise and sleep

Picture by Iwan Beijes

If you are tired or out of shape, you will be stressed easier and deal with it in a much more unreasonable way. By setting up a schedule that includes exercise and going to bed at a decent time, you will not only feel less stressed but also deal better with the stress that occurs. You don’t have to go run a marathon every month, it can often help with just smaller things like an hour on your bicycle every Sunday, playing with the kids, yoga on set days, tennis with the wife every Wednesday and so on. Use your imagination and you’ll be able to have fun, get fitter and minimize stress.

Learn to ignore what isn’t important

Picture by Scott Liddell

Having the ability to turn off “everything else” to work as well as you can, is a great ability to have. Most of us have to be available to clients through mail and phone, but did you ever think of all the unnecessary distractions you keep falling into daily? You can help yourself to better efficiency by not checking Twitter, Facebook and so on all the time. I personally have set hours for checking emails and Twitter and it works great for me. For a lot of people the distraction coming from “everything else” will cause a lot of unwanted stress. Before you know it, you’ve spent a lot more time on Twitter than you planned to and so on.

Conclusion

Picture by Chris Withers

You may not feel it right now if you’re fairly new to freelancing or if you have a great way of doing things already. But, chances are you’ll have to deal with unhealthy stress at some point. By thinking through this beforehand and making some small changes to how you do things, you’ll be able to keep it at a healthy level. Even if you currently have a high level of stress but deal with it really well, it wont be like that forever. We all get older and your stress level today can lead to problems years down the road.

Think through these things, look at your own routines and try to do the adjustments needed for a long and happy freelance career.

We’d love to hear your comments and own tips as well.

Good luck!

Animal logos are more than just picking an animal and a color. Many of these will show you that the designers have been thinking of many different aspects, and also some times implemented the animal in a great way to make it fit in with the font and/or the message.

Enjoy!

1. Albino Rhino

2. BowesPigs

3. Creative dog

4. Pixie studio

5. Toadprint

6. Tuscan style

7. Lee Jackson

8. El-paca

9. Dent cats

10. Rocket dog

11. Redibex

12. Elephant talk

13. Wicked elephant

14. Monkey business

15. Shleep

16. smArtfox

17. Spear nose

18. Xerxes

19. Girafrica

20. Rhino life

21. Sketchy cat creative

22. Jaguar ecological reserve

23. BrainTrust

24. Koloroo

25. Spots

26. Elephruit

27. Snuffsta

28. Brokers

29. Burnt finger BBQ

30. Telezoo

31. Boswick

32. Okapi

33. Xerxes

34. Timberwolves

35. Wyldlyfe

36. Texas longhorns

37. Chihuahua

38. Scared client

39. Volos

40. MonKey

41. IronHorse

42. Wool online

43. Pacer

44. Cowbra

45. Rusty T Ranch

46. Giraffe

47. Bluegiraffee

48. EvolutionNet

49. Literate frog

50. Pandabanda

51. Toro

52. Office pet

53. PaperFox

54. Serdar Aslan

55. Fricker

56. Nahlik

57. Kamaq

58. Deer valley

59. Giraffeo

60. White pony

61. Hedgehog solutions

62. eQuest

63. Heather Mulholland

64. AM studio

65. Kenya

66. Cultures east

67. Someday

68. FundRival

69. Al-Kaabi

70. Juiced

71. Cheetah

72. Lion Bird

73. Stingmaster

74. PunchyTime

75. Kodiak

Those were our picks this time. We hope you’ve enjoyed the selection!

We’d also love to hear your comments; tell us which is your favorite – or share other logos that you think we should have included in this collection.

And don’t forget to share this article if you liked it. Thanks!

This time we’ve spent quite a few hours trying to find some of the really awesome blue web designs out there. The color blue especially saw a new blooming era after Twitter became such a huge hit. These are 60 designs in various tones of blue that we think are great pieces of work. We’ve tried to pick out a variety of different styles and tones.

Enjoy!

1. Festival Creative

2. Box.net

3. Today’s document

4. Icelab

5. Lead Zeppelin

6. Eagle rock yacht club

7. Eric Campbell

8. Los colores olvidados

9. Love freelancing

10. NineFlavors

11. Hull digital live

12. Mighty dream

13. BountyBev

14. Drag city

15. PSD2HTML

16. Iemai

17. Knoxville leadership foundation

18. Yiipu

19. Masswerks

20. Deckpeck

21. Creative Nights

22. Victory church

23. Cbi research center

24. Rockstar new media

25. Edward Dark

26. Steven Little design

27. Talker

28. Reichweite

29. Ben Stock design

30. Fuel brand inc.

31. Behind the web design

32. Alex Swanson

33. Phureal

34. Altitude marketing

35. Three60

36. Sman96

37. Design attik

38. Jai Pandya

39. Indigo media

40. SkyLuke

41. Full thrown magic

42. Blackwave

43. North2

44. Piipe

45. Whitewater

46. Qwert city

47. Polargold

48. OhLife

49. TGC

50. Icebrrg

51. Sean Halpin

52. Posicionados

53. Testlab2

54. Tympanus

55. Vancouver 2010

56. Ek och Gren

57. Jon Leverrier

58. Pony

59. 2AdvancedStudios

60. Hull digital live

We hope you’ve found these websites inspiring. As usual we’re looking forward to your comments. Thanks!