Living the Dream: Putting your creativity to work (and getting paid)

Living the Dream: Putting your creativity to work (and getting paid)

Released November 2012
Publisher(s): New Riders
ISBN: 9780133085754

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Book description

Living the Dream is a business book for creative people. It provides the insights and action steps they need to confidently put their skills and passions to work, to make the best business decisions possible, all in service of the ultimate goal--to make a living doing what they love.
 
This inter-disciplinary, no-holds barred guidebook is for emerging and established creative small business owners. It delivers management, marketing ideas, and principles that can make independent creative work stress free and financially rewarding. Living the Dream is void of useless references to big companies, celebrity CEOs, or industry inbreeding. Instead, it gives creative people the real goods on proven business-building strategies without all the mumbo jumbo. This powerhouse of a book is focused on how to be successful and creative as a freelancer or small business owner. Through interviews, case studies, and features, the industry pros and subject matter experts provide the wisdom, objectivity, and context that creatives need. It's all about being creative and getting paid.

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Dedication Page
  4. Acknowledgments
  5. Foreword
  6. Contents
  7. Introduction: A Business Book for Creatives
    1. What You Should Know About This Book
    2. A Little About Me
  8. Part I. Managing Your Creative Business
    1. 1. Establishing Your Creative Capital
      1. Defining and Refining Your Skills
      2. Finding Your Creative Mix
      3. Being Educated and Getting Schooled
      4. Creative Work Should Be Hard
      5. Turning Your Assets into Value
    2. 2. Planning for Success
      1. Being in Business with Yourself
      2. Clarifying Your Business Offering
      3. Understanding Your Marketplace
      4. Preparing a Business Plan That Doesn’t Suck
    3. 3. Creating a Workflow That Works for You
      1. Winning the Battle and the War
      2. Making the Most of Your Home Office
      3. Build a Schedule That You’ll Love
      4. Planning a Project Like a Smarty-Pants
    4. 4. Making the Most of Your Meetings
      1. Running a Meeting
      2. Attending a Meeting
    5. 5. Getting Clients to Love You
      1. Understanding Your Clients’ Needs and Wants
      2. Establish a Scope of Work
      3. Fitting In and Standing Out
    6. 6. Being a Lawful Entrepreneur
      1. Starting Your Business on the Right Foot
      2. Letting the Legal Beagle Out of the Doghouse
      3. Making Sense of Your Contracts
      4. Putting Your Legal Documents into Action
    7. 7. Dealing with Those Pesky Finances
      1. Risking It All Without Risking Your Future
      2. Building a Pricing Strategy
      3. Asking for Money
      4. Borrowing Money and Making It Count
  9. Part I Summary: Your Management Style
  10. Part II. Marketing Your Creative Business
    1. 8. Generating Demand for Your Services
      1. Eliciting Curiosity
      2. Developing Auteur-like Attitude
      3. Creating a Marketable Brand
      4. Putting Your Brains and Your Brand into Action
    2. 9. Building a Marketing Strategy
      1. Creating a Marketing Plan That Doesn’t Suck
      2. Preparing Your Marketing Mix
      3. Focusing on Bottom Line ROI
      4. Assessing Your Marketing Impact
      5. Planning a Think & Drink
    3. 10. Doing Self-Promotion Right
      1. Adjusting Your Attitude About Selling
      2. Succeeding Through Subtle Persuasion
      3. Fostering Real Word of Mouth
    4. 11. Making Your Mark Through Collaboration
      1. The Collaboration Effect
      2. Finding the Right Collaborators
      3. Choosing the Right Project
      4. Making a Collaboration Awesome
      5. Building a Buzz
      6. Being a Fan and a Follower
    5. 12. Networking in the Real World
      1. Be the Lone Ranger, Not a Loner
      2. Creating Your Own Sphere of Influence
      3. Building a Proximity Plan
      4. Giving the Media Your Attention
    6. 13. Creating a Marketable Web Presence
      1. Shaking Your Digital Head(space)
      2. Marketing to Your Social Network
      3. Leveraging Your Digital Assets
    7. 14. Producing Collateral (Not Damage)
      1. Making Your Creative Work Touchable
      2. Putting Your Business Card in its Place
      3. Portfolios and All That Jazz
  11. Part II Summary: Your Marketing Style
  12. That’s a Wrap
  13. Index

Product information

  • Title: Living the Dream: Putting your creativity to work (and getting paid)
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: November 2012
  • Publisher(s): New Riders
  • ISBN: 9780133085754