Over a fourth of all workers are self-employed according to some studies, and now you want to join them. You’ve decided to become a freelance designer or other freelancer.

You’re especially looking forward to:

• Not having a boss
• Picking your own projects
• Setting your own hours
• Working from home

But, hold on a minute. You can have all that…maybe. However, if you’re thinking about freelancing design there are some things that you really need to know before you start.

In this post, I’ll list some freelancing details that many bloggers and gurus “forget” to mention. By considering these details up front, you’ll avoid disappointment later on and get more from your freelancing design career.

If you enjoy this post, you may also like 12 Reasons You Shouldn’t Freelance.

There’s no denying that Wordpress has become the leading CMS on the market. Anybody looking to launch a simple website would be foolish not to consider WP. It has the largest amount of free themes and plugins – not to mention the huge base of developers working to push out bug fixes every day.

But just working with the default Wordpress options is not enough. That’s why I have this collection of 26 amazing resources for those interested in learning Wordpress. You can find hundreds of free templates & plugins to mess around with. Additionally some web developers have written tutorials on how you can edit code and customize your installation. Spend some time going through these links and be sure to share your thoughts with us in the post discussion area.

Creative Office Aquarium

A lot of web designers – both beginning and advanced – ask me how they can increase their hourly rate.

They want to work fewer hours and make more money so they can have the things they want without sacrificing time with their family and friends.

Some web designers know this is possible, they just don’t know how to do it. Other web designers think it’s a “pie in the sky” kind of dream.

I’m here to tell you, making $125 (or more) per hour as a web designer is not unheard of. In fact, it’s the average rate my students are able to make after completing our training programs at LearnWebDevelopment.com.

For the past 8 years, I have worked with tens of thousands of beginning web designers and, as a result, I’ve developed the best way to start and run a web design business.

For both beginning and advanced web designers, one piece of advice comes up frequently: To increase your hourly income, build your websites in WordPress.

Over the past few years, since I started recommending WordPress, it’s only increased in popularity and demand. It’s gone from a simple blogging platform to the most popular content management system around. It’s so popular that clients are now asking for WordPress websites.

If you’re still not using WordPress to increase your web design income, what are you waiting for? Here are three ways WordPress will make you a more profitable web designer:

Getting sick is no fun for anyone. For a freelance designer (and other freelancers), getting sick (or injured) might spell financial disaster. That’s because freelance designers who don’t work don’t get paid. There’s also the risk of losing a client.

In this post, I examine some of the uncomfortable decisions freelancers must face when they become ill. If you enjoyed this post, you might also like Freelancing During an Illness.

Managing money can be a problem for a freelance designer. If you’ve been a freelance designer for any length of time, then you already know that your income can fluctuate as a freelancer–sometimes a lot.

Many freelance designers find the financial ups and downs of freelancing to be a real challenge. In this post, I share some budgeting tips to help freelance designers and other freelancers manage their budget. If you like this post, you will likely also like Budgeting for Freelancers.

Freelance collaboration is on the rise. Increasingly, teams of freelancers are now doing the work that in-house departments used to do. Graphic designers are now working on teams with writers and programmers.

But many freelancers are used to working alone. Collaboration definitely requires freelancers to make a few adjustments.

In this post, I’ll provide ten essential guidelines to help you put the pieces together for freelance collaboration. If you enjoy this post, you may also enjoy reading 15 Questions to Ask Before Collaborating.

In this roundup we have compiled some awesome and fantastic transparent business cards for inspiration. If you like these transparent business cards you might also want to check out our previous posts below.

26 Polished White Letterpress Business Card Designs

Showcase of Double-Sided Business Cards

Corporate business card

Marketing is a huge part of building any company. And with proper marketing comes human networking which often involves the exchange of business cards. These bits of paper often contain information about your website, phone number, e-mail address, and location of your company headquarters.

With letterpress style business cards the type of relief printing uses a printing press accessible to a type-high bed. This allows for movable type and imagery which can be transposed over the card stock. Raised surface ink is pressed into the sheet of paper which allows for same-color stock to contain unique messages. Check out the fantastic gallery below and feel free to share your thoughts within the comments section below!

Cleverly Cut

A New Era at MOJO-Themes

In case you have not been formerly introduced the MOJO-Themes, now is the time. MOJO-Themes is a buy and sell marketplace for premium themes and templates.

We spent the last year building a solid product that has proven to provide quality themes and templates on the most popular CMS platforms. We have some of the most talented people who sell WordPress themes, sell HTML templates, and sell Tumblr themes. Seeing that we have an amazing community, we felt we had the responsibility for setting the standard for marketplaces on the web. It was necessary to step up and continue evolving and improving upon was has already been built.

MOJO-Themes is a growing buy and sell marketplace for a variety of blogging and design platforms such as WordPress. New themes and templates are added daily and users are able to find themes based on theme style, cost, number of sales, and upload date.

Over the past year MOJO Themes has proven to continue to grow and keep building upon their thriving community of premium design products. In celebration of their successful year in business, MOJO-Themes is announcing their first annual MOJO-Themes Cyber Bundle packed full of the marketplaces top selling items such as premium WordPress themes. This is a package that is sure to make anyone salivate.