When it comes to freelancing, the income of freelancers is always in a fluctuating mode. As a freelancer, since you are the responsible for most of the activities related to your job, you will be handling the finance department as well. You can be sure of your expenses but you can never be sure of your income so it is better to learn money management so that you are never out of money even if you are out of work.

Ascertaining your cash flow might be difficult but it is not something impossible. If you really want to handle your budget, you do not have to make serious changes in your life style. All you need to do is change a few habits here and there and you would be making and saving money. Following are a few smart money management tips for freelance designers:

Do Not Overestimate

I have often seen freelancers overestimating because they think they have a lot of projects lined up and they will be able to pay their bills and other dues very easily. However, things often don’t go the way we have planned and by the time we realize it, it is too late and the last thing we know is that there are no savings. This is something that can happen with the best freelance designers in town. Freelancers at times do not make as much money as they were expecting.

So, if you really want to manage your money the first thing you need to do is avoid overestimating. You need to keep and calculating things on average. Expecting too much can lead to disappointment so it is wise to only consider invoices which are sure to reach you so that you can plan accordingly.

Track Your Expenses

Mostly freelancers do get to earn a little more than they expect which is exactly why they spend it without even thinking. Tracking your expenses is very important because you do not want to spend your hard earned money in malls. Since taxes and other things are not deducted from pay cheque freelance designers can end up feeling richer than they actually are. Always keep a check on your spending habits and keep a track of when and how your money is spent. Later on, you can take out time to analyze it.

Once you will analyze it you will realize that a lot of expenditures were not really needed. If you really want to save, you need to make sure that you are spending more on your needs and less on your wants.

Be Particular About Your Spending

You need to compare advantages of being a freelancer with advantages of traditional jobs. In traditional jobs a person is normally getting health insurance and other benefits as well. As a freelancer you are only getting a cheque that looks and sounds a lot. You need to get real and understand that you need to take care of all your needs with this one cheque so you cannot start spending like anything. As mentioned earlier, if you get realistic, you will be able to differentiate between your needs and your wants.

Priorities the Expenditure

You will have all the time in this world to spend on luxuries. If you really want to spend sensibly, you need to start spending on your priorities first. Now, when I talk about priorities, obviously everyone will have different priorities. But mostly you should be giving more importance to utility bills, rent and debts if any.

You need to stop sending freely just because you have a lot of money in your account this month. You might not be able to earn this much in the next month because freelancers never have a stable income which is exactly why they should be more focused towards saving money.

Get Rid of Debt or Avoid It Altogether

If you are already under debt your first priority should be getting rid of it. The only way to do this is by spending wisely and by saving money. While spending, make sure you are spending on things which are really important and necessary so that you can save money to pay for your debt. If you are not under debt, you should save money so that you do not have to take loans in future. Freelancers tend to get a little unrealistic about things, which is not right.

Taking Care of the Taxes

Since you won’t be working for a proper company, you do not have to suffer the tax deductions in your pay cheques. But, this does not mean that there will be no tax deductions as you will be responsible for it. So, you will be paying for taxes yearly so be prepared for it and save money.

Smart Budgeting

Anything can go well if you have a plan for it. Same goes for money. If you have not planned the ways to spend it, you will be spending it uselessly. So you need to really focus on budgeting and giving some structure to your income. Make comparisons of expected income with expected expenses. This can help you a lot in analyzing your situation if you will be able to deal with expenses or if you need to cut on your expenses.

Also, life is much unexpected and anything can happen anytime. You should always have some backup money to handle the good and bad situations of life.

Credit Reserve or Cash

These two things can play a very important role in your money management. As a freelancer, till the time you are working, you will be getting money. The minute you fall sick or go for a vacation, you won’t be working so you won’t be getting any pay cheques. For instance, if you fall really sick you won’t be able to work for weeks and this can have a negative impact on your cash flow. In such situations you won’t be able to pay your bills. To be able to handle such situations, credit reserve or cash can definitely be of great help.

Income Streams

You should always be organized when it comes to knowing your income streams. You should have a sure shot idea of when and how you will be getting paid for your work so you can structure things accordingly. You can receive money every week or month as it depends on your project and situation. If you are aware of income stream you will be able to plan and budget things in a proper way.

Final Thoughts

As a freelancer, you will have a lot of ways to save money. Since freelancers are used to being a free bird, they like to spend money like a free bird as well. Doing what you want to do can sound great in general but it is not very practical. One should always think and plan for future which is exactly why money management is very important for freelancers.

All of you will agree that stability and job security lacks in freelancing. You obviously would not want to spend your life full of debts. This does not mean that you should be making money for priority but for a good living you need to save it and this can be done only if you are good at money management. Hoping that tips mentioned above can help you in dealing with your money problems.

Becoming a freelancer might be an easy thing however, surviving as a freelance graphic designer is definitely a hard task. At times, you might think that you are a great designer but you are just not getting what you really want or what you surely deserve. In order for a freelancer to survive, you need to get the right kind of business and projects or else you won’t be able to pay your bills. If you are not getting enough work, have you taken time out to think what is going wrong and where?

If you want to get projects, you need to reach out to people through proper channel of advertising and marketing yourself. Now, when we are talking about marketing, you need to press all the right buttons at the right time. If you will not, even the most perfect marketing strategy won’t work for you. Following are a few things that you really need to focus on to become a better self marketing graphic designer.

Business Cards

I have seen a lot of people giving the very first suggestion to freelancer to get their business collaterals published. This is definitely a good way of reaching out to your clients but if you decide to get your business cards published, you need to do it the right way. Always keep in mind that as a graphic designer, people expect a lot of creativity out of you and everything done by you should be an example of your creative work. Same goes for your card as you cannot get a simple card printed with the heading of Graphic Designer.

Business cards are not only a great way to give people your contact information but it is indeed a great way to show people your creativity. You should design your business cards in a way that they become a true representation of that fact that you are a graphic designer.  You can actually impress people with a small business card because a nice business card will show them what you are capable of. Make sure that you design the business cards in a way that they represent your specialty. It could be sophistication, funky or anything else that differentiates you from others.

Reaching out to People via Email

We all know and agree with the fact that making new friends is a hard thing and keeping old ones is a lot easier. Same goes for business because in business maintain a healthy relationship with clients is easy and making new clients is a little difficult. If you decide to market yourself it does not meant that you should try and gain attention of new clients. You should give some importance to old clients as well and keeping in touch with your clients on weekly or monthly basis is not that hard these days.

The best way to stay in touch with the clients is to send them a weekly or a monthly newsletter. If they will receive newsletters from you on weekly basis, you will stay in their minds. This way if anything new comes up, they will instantly think of you. Your newsletter should be informative and it should not look self obsessed. It should be a good reflection of your work but it should not contain loads and loads of good things about you. Let your work and knowledge speak for itself.

You can include testimonials in the newsletter from your clients. So, make sure you work on sending out an informative newsletter every week so that you can stay in touch with your clients and let people know how creative you are.

Blogging, Social Networking Websites

We all know how important an online presence is for a Graphic designer. This is the best way to reach out to the people as everyone is on internet these days. Having a website is not enough because you are never sure if it is being viewed or not. Also, if you only have a website people might not be able to keep themselves updated via website so in that case, having a blog or a fan page at social networking website is a great idea.

The best thing about these social networking websites is that they make sharing way too easy. With the help of famous website such as facebook and twitter you can always stay connected to your fans and clients. We all know that anyone who has an account on these websites will visit them at least once a day so isn’t it a best way to post about your work and any new developments. You would be reaching out to a large number of audiences and that too very easily.

Understanding the Importance of Networking

Yes, it is quite easy to stay connected with everyone through internet but nothing online presence cannot replace physical presence. At times, online posts and emails can get ignored very easily. When you meet someone in person, you can impress that client with your very first impression. Now, networking does not mean that you should be attending every conference related to graphic designing Networking should also be done in a proper way because trading business cards is not going to work for you effectively.

If you are networking, you need to keep a few things in mind. You should not sound desperate for work. In fact, you should look very calm and composed. Also, you should appear friendly and easy to go with. Remember whatever you are talking in such gatherings is making an impression of you and you need to sell yourself here so be very careful with selection of words and topic to discuss.

While networking, people will definitely take a notice of what you are wearing as appearance matters a lot. No matter how casual you are, when you are attending an event, be sure to dress up properly for the event.

Self-Marketing in a Proper Way

It does not matter how good a product is if it is not advertised properly. A lot of good movies simply fail at box office because they had a poor marketing campaign. Before you go out in the market, you should have a brain storming session to understand the proper ways of self marketing. If you are not going to do it properly, it does not matter how talented you are because chances are high that your talent will go unnoticed.

Final Thoughts

Now that you have an idea of what to do when it comes to self marketing, you need to go out there and start networking in every possible way.  Design your business cards and get them printed so you do not miss out on a good client just because he was unable to note down your contact details. Get active on social networking websites and have your own blog to keep your clients updated on what you have been up to. Always remember, out of sight, out of mind so the strategy to follow here is to not to go out of sight. Always stay in touch with your clients even if you are no longer working with them. You never know when they could come up wit a new project. So, advertise yourself and do it properly.

Pedro Ferreira was born in Porto, Portugal in 1974. In 1999 he graduated in Graphic Design, ESAD – College of Arts and Design and began working as a graphic designer in a design studio. In 2000 he entered the design department of Cifial company, and since then he worked as a designer, illustrator and more recently as a digital artist.

Some of his work has won international awards and was printed in magazines of Photoshop, photo manipulation and digital art.

Pedro, could you introduce yourself to our readers?

Hello everyone, my name is Pedro Ferreira, I’m a graphic designer and digital artist from Porto, Portugal, graduated in Graphic Design in ESAD (School of Arts and Design – Matosinhos). Since 2000 I work as a graphic designer, illustrator and more recently as a digital artist. My works are very strong visually and rich chromatically, always with a message or a story to tell! They are all made in Photoshop using many times vector elements, designed in Illustrator.

Why did you choose this profession?

I think it all came together in a natural way in my life! Since my adolescence I like to draw and paint and made multiple exhibitions. I was also a teacher for some time, of painting and drawing, always having a love for images and color inside of me. At one point I dropped the brushes and swapped them for the computer keyboard and didn’t quit anymore! Create my own pictures makes me more alive, and allows me to express what I feel and think in a very personal way, using my imagination without limits!

What do you especially like about it and what do you find the most challenging?

Above all, what I like to do is for example pick some images that I think interesting and transform them, merging them, giving them a new identity and a new sense! And always with a personal brand, with a language that is easily recognized and appreciated by others. I have also always pay close attention to detail. All details are important to get a good picture, to have a convincing result in the end! The biggest challenge is to evolve and always exceeded my expectations and difficulties.
It is very important to learn and see new things and above all never give up!

What do you currently work on?

Currently I work as a graphic designer in the design studio of a large company. As a freelancer my greatest passion is digital art, of which I am a big fan and a careful follower of emerging trends. I am always ready to accept new challenges and new opportunities to show what I really like to do! I appreciate the opportunity given to me to show my work and talk a little about me!

Do you have a precised future plan?

I’m not sure how tomorrow it’s going to be, but I sincerely hope to continue doing what I like and have many opportunities to show it to others! I know I still have much to learn and grow as a digital artist, but I want to leave my mark, my pictures! I want others to look and say this is Pedro’s works!

What could you advice to those who would like to follow your steps?

Please never give up on your dreams and ambitions! Believe you can, because believe it’s achieve!
It is also important to learn from the experience and knowledge of others, propose ourselves to get go so far as they were to eat a slice of delicious cake that is success!

Thanks and see you soon!

Latest Pedro Ferreira’s Work

My work “The Island” was the big winner of the national competition, Here is a Ecological Seal  promoted by CTT – Portugal Post. Existing three categories for competition: children, youth and adults, my work was the winner of the last category.
In 2011 will be printed a ecological stamp with my work!

Check His Website For More Work

Some of the best and essential graphic design magazines for web, graphics designers and people who make websites and working on digital art, 3D, animations, photography and printing stuff. We sort out some of the best magazines in the market today with a bundle of creativity and ideas for you.So enjoy the list of vital magazines for graphic designers now.

Advanced Photoshop

Advanced Photoshop magazine is the perfect magazine for polishing up already great Photoshop skills. Aimed towards Adobe Photoshop professionals and enthusiasts, every issue prides itself on its unbeatable quality and sophisticated content.

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Layers Magazine

The How-To Magazine for Everything Adobe®. Layers keeps you on top of the latest design trends taking place within the world of the Adobe® Creative Suite® programs. Each issue unlocks new possibilities, new ideas, and new methods that help you accomplish more!. Comes packed full of tips, tutorials and techniques to help you master the entire Adobe® Creative Suite™.

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Photoshop Creative

Photoshop Creative provides Photoshop users with lashings of practical advice and inspiration. Whether you’re brand new to the program or simply looking to improve your existing skills, this is the magazine for you. We don’t like to leave anyone out, so we want to make sure there’s something for everyone – from the Adobe Photoshop Elements user right through to those lucky enough to own Photoshop CS3.

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Digital Artist

Digital Artist is the perfect magazine for anyone who uses their computer as a canvas. It is the only community-focussed magazine to cover all art styles and all art software, making each issue a medley of breathtaking images to inspire you to create your own.

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3D Artist

If you work with 3D, want to get into the world of 3D, have finished a course and need a job creating 3D or are simply interested in this leading edge artistic and technological medium then we have the perfect magazine for you.

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Digital Photographer

Digital Photographer is the ultimate monthly photography magazine focusing on the continually evolving quality and scope of today’s digital marketplace. Aimed towards digital photography enthusiasts and professionals, every issue readers are treated to interviews with leading expert photographers, cutting-edge imagery, practical shooting advice and the very latest high-end digital news and equipment reviews.

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A List A Part

“For people who make websites” A List Apart Magazine (ISSN: 1534-0295) explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on web standards and best practices.

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CMYK

Bridging the Gap Between Emerging Artists and Creative Professionals.
CMYK Magazine is where aspiring creatives showcase their talents to an industry driven by inspiration and new ways of creative problem solving. At the same time, CMYK Magazine is where creative directors, agency principals and art buyers recruit students and recent graduates at today’s top art-design schools: art directors, copywriters, designers, photographers and illustrators.

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Communication Arts

Founded in 1959, Communication Arts is the premier source of inspiration for graphic designers, art directors, design firms, corporate design departments, advertising agencies, interactive designers, illustrators and photographers—everyone involved in visual communication. Whether in print or online, CA’s editorials, feature articles and the annual competitions it sponsors provide new ideas and information, while promoting the highest professional standards for the field.

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Computer Arts

We aim to satisfy that passion by delivering some of the world’s best-selling magazines serving the creative industry. Across all of our creative titles; Computer Arts, Computer Arts Projects, 3D World and MacFormat, you will find step-by-step tutorials, tonnes of tips and tricks for web design, typography, 3D, animation, motion graphics and multimedia. Together with reviews of the latest hardware and software releases, enhance your skills and knowledge with creative tips, technical advice and interviews from the leading experts in the global design world.

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Web Designer

Web Designer is the premier magazine for aspiring online creatives and industry professionals. The monthly title offers cutting-edge practical projects spanning XHTML, CSS, Flash and WordPress as well as hosting features and interviews with the web community’s most influential people. Each issue also has a dedicated Industry section covering news and views from the trade, website showcases featuring the finest design talent and a free CD of valuable resources.

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.Net Magazine

.net is the world’s best-selling magazine for web designers and developers, featuring tutorials from leading agencies, interviews with the web’s biggest names, and agenda-setting features on the hottest issues affecting the internet today. If you’re serious about web design, then .net is the magazine for you!

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How Magazine

HOW magazine’s goal is to help designers, whether they work for a design firm, for an in-house design department or for themselves, run successful, creative, profitable studios.

HOW strives to serve the business, technological and creative needs of graphic-design professionals. The magazine provides a practical mix of essential business information, up-to-date technological tips, the creative whys and hows behind noteworthy projects, and profiles of professionals who are influencing design.

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Design Edge

Designedgecanada.com, launched in February 2006 and redesigned in 2008, serves the Canadian graphic design industry with up-to-the-minute news, a national job board, events calendar, contests, links and resources. Its companion e-mail bulletin Design Edge Express is published every two weeks and alerts readers to what’s new on the website.

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Graphic Arts

Graphic Arts Monthly is widely recognized as the most authoritative publication covering applied technology for the printing industry. With the most experienced editorial staff in the field, GAM is uniquely qualified to provide the news, exclusive economic and business trends, emerging technologies, practical applications and new product information printing professionals need.

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Digital Output

Business magazine for electronic publishers and digital imagers. Features news and articles on digital graphics industry.

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Eye Magazine

UK magazine for graphic designers and other professionals in the art and business of visual culture.