Method to the Mayhem

Several of my tips and my work will be included in a new book about freelancing, "100 Habits of Successful Freelance Designers: Insider Secrets for Working Smart & Staying Creative," published by Rockport and authored by Steve Gordon, Jr. with Laurel Saville.

Good habits are found in every part of the design process, from promoting yourself well in order to land the client, to working with that client, to achieving the desired results on press.

"100 Habits of Successful Freelance Designers" reveals solutions from a wide range of freelance designers whose years of experience have helped them find not only the most creative solutions for their clients’ design needs, but also the most successful solutions. The book also focuses on the daily habits that inspire these designers to stay creative, and business strategies to be successful when working on your own.

About Steve Gordon, Jr.
Steve Gordon, Jr. has been a professional graphic designer for the better part of a decade. He’s run the full range of the career path with experience from in-house design at internationally recognized Fortune 1000 companies, agency and studio work, to now working as an independent designer and creative consultant, RDQLUS Creative.

He frequently lectures on how small studios/freelance designers can stay competitive in the design field at conferences such as the HOW Conference.

Follow @mayhemstudios and @RDQLUS_Creative on Twitter.

Labels: 100 Habits, Business of Design, Freelance, Graphic Design, Laurel Saville, RDQLUS, Self-Promotion, Steve Gordon Jr, Successful, Tips

Posted by Calvin Lee at Monday, May 04, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Jesse Newhart, Digital Media Explorer and owner of JesseNewhart.com has a really great video on his blog "How To Turn Twitter Followers into Friends." Jesse takes you through how to becoming friends with your followers and succeed in building relationships on Twitter.

Jesse uses me, Mayhem Studios as an example of how I built relationships on Twitter, by helping others out, participating, interacting, tweeting using information, retweeting others, being part of the community, replying to questions, having good manners and sharing part of your life.

Another great video, "Now Your Followers Are Friends. Now What?" from Khayyam Wakil, I am Khayyam blog. A follow up to Jesse's video, "How To Turn Twitter Followers into Friends."

Khayyam goes over how to use Twitalyzer and what all the numbers mean. Twitalyzer is a unique tool to evaluate the activity of any Twitter user and report on relative influence, signal-to-noise ratio, generosity, velocity, clout, and other useful measures of success in social media.

He also talks about how Twitter is mainstream from ABC News, "Tweet Like a Bird: Your Guide."

So check out all the great videos and free to follow us on Twitter, @mayhemstudios @jessenewhart @iamkhayyam

Labels: Followers, Friends, Jesse Newhart, Khayyam, Retweet, Self-Promotion, Tips, Tricks, Tweet, Twitter, Video

Posted by Calvin Lee at Tuesday, March 17, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I'm not a tax expert, please consult a tax professional.

I do have a a few tips on what you can write off. It's basically anything for your business. Make sure to keep all your receipts, just in case you get audited. You can also use credit card statements, credit card sale slips, bank statements, canceled checks, invoices and paid bills as proof.

A Few Samples of What You Can Write Off

+ Hardware/Software
+ Training/Conferences
+ Books/Magazines
+ Subscriptions/Memberships
+ Office Expenses
+ Advertising/Promotions
+ Mileage
+ Web Hosting/Internet
+ Office/Cell Phone
+ Research

A Few Tax Resources

+ The Internal Revenue Service
+ Business Expenses
+ Self-Employment Tax
+ Tax Strategies
+ Hang on to that Receipt!
+ Deductions Your Small Business Shouldn't Miss
+ How to Keep the IRS From Knocking on Your Door
+ The Truth About Receipts for Business Purchases

Labels: April 15, Audit, Expenses, Taxes, Tips, Uncle Sam, Write Off

Posted by Calvin Lee at Monday, March 31, 2008 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

When running a business, small or large. At some point, you'll need to write a press release, sales letter or articles for promotional purposes. Hiring a professional copywriter is ideal, but can be very costly. If you enjoy writing and write well, it's a benefit to your business.

A great book on writing for business is "Writing for Design Professionals: A Guide to Writing Successful Proposals, Letters, Brochures, Portfolios, Reports, Presentations, and Job Applications," by Stephen A Kliment.

A few helpful writing tips.

+ Be concise and to the point
+ Write the way you would speak
+ Use grammar/punctuate correctly
+ Spell correctly
+ Keep sentences short
+ Make sense in your writings
+ Keeps things simple
+ Don't use technical babble, it will confuse

Labels: Articles, Press Release, Tips, Writing

Posted by Calvin Lee at Sunday, July 22, 2007 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post