All Graphic Design Portal is a directory of resources, articles, & design education links for graphic designers & web designers including a design forum, blog, & directory.
Take a look at these creative templates for brochures, flyers, newsletters, stationery, postcards, ads, menus and posters for a variety of businesses. If you're faced with time limitations, budget constraints or simply need new creative ideas, let these designs do the work.
Time Management & Managing Procrastination for Freelancers Working in a Home Office
7 Reasons Why Doing Nothing Should Be Part Of Your Time Management System - If you want to be more productive at work, you need to balance the amount of time you spend being active with the amount of time you spend doing nothing. In fact, doing nothing can be the most creative and productive part of your schedule. Here are 7 reasons why.
9 Business Time Management Skills You Need To Succeed - Here you will find 9 time management suggestions which will in turn help you accomplish tasks more efficiently and give you a chance to open up more opportunities to do the things you'd rather be doing.
The Problems With To-Do Lists - Do you use to-do lists? Do you find it satisfying to check off the items on that list? Too satisfying perhaps?
Secrets for Accomplishing More in Less Time - But there are clear and definite ways to maximize your time to accomplish more without getting out of balance. In this article I’ll share a few.
10 Ways to Stop Procrastinating - A list of 10 ways that you can stop yourself from procrastinating. After you read this article, maybe you can actually get some work done for once.
Freelance Tips: How to Cope with Spring Fever When There's Work to Be Done - We all know how glorious those first warm days of spring feel. The trees are blooming, the birds are singing... boy, it's sure hard to keep your head out of the clouds when the skies are blue and the sun's shining brightly. But if you're outside enjoying the warm weather... who's running your business?
Freelance Productivity: Do One Thing Extra Each Day - This may not sound like a big deal. But it's amazing how completing one extra task each day can quickly add up and make a difference.
Here's how it works for me
Small Business Spoiler - Procrastination - One of the most common issues that comes up for business owners is procrastination -wasting time, putting obstacles in the way of taking action towards goals, making excuses for delays, creating confusion/busyness etc. Procrastination is a self-defeating behavior.
Time Management Tips for Solo Entrepreneurs - Does it seem like everyone and everything is vying for your attention all at once? It can be hard for solo entrepreneurs to know what to do first, let alone try to find the time to get caught up. Here are some time management tips that will help you to stay on top of it all.
5 Tips to Locating Highly Competitive Wholesale Products - Part 1 - Finding a GREAT wholesale source for your products can be BOTH the most frustrating, as well as the most rewarding, part of an online (or offline) business, but it's 1000 Percent easier when you have a guide to help you along -
A Minute Can Turn into Hours for the Child of a Work-at-Home Mom - In theory, working at home is an ideal situation. But in reality, it's difficult to balance the needs of your family with the needs of your clients. Phones, fax machines and e-mails have no common courtesy, nor does your client really care about your personal situation.
Managing Your Time In Your New Home Based Business - Instead of dealing with meetings, phone calls, reports, face-to-face chats with clients or customers or employees or “the boss,” deadlines, “managing by walking around,” countless interruptions, and all that, you will need to schedule time for focusing on the work you are doing from home, maintaining your home itself, your family, and maybe even YOU!
Calendar Organization- The First Key to Success - The skills required to balance a freelancing work lifestyle are needed by the single person just as much as the family parent, my slant is on the single girl, but the rules apply just the same.
Procrastination: How to Beat It!- Now I reckon I'm an expert on this subject - procrastination? Could write a book about it! But no, I won't inflict that on you, just a few ideas, tips and hints that might help you get over those situations when a job has to be done, and you're really struggling to start.
Help Me! I'm Overwhelmed! Although we can't change other people, we can change ourselves. And the tiniest changes we make in ourselves have the most amazing effect on our lives and the people we love.
Home Office Productivity- Working at home is not always as easy as people with "normal" jobs might think. There are hundreds of distractions home workers must struggle against.
7 Steps to Managing Your Time EffectivelyHere’s a simple 7-step formula for making a schedule you can live with while making sure you accomplish all the tasks you need to run your business successfully.
Fourteen Ways to Double Your Productivity Increasing efficiency and productivity often bring forth images of someone standing with a stopwatch timing every activity with a watchful eye.
And
Never The Twain Should Meet! - The
fundamental key to a successful transition to a home-
based business is to keep your business and personal
lives as separate as possible
Do You Have The Time? - Business
success does not come about through money alone. There
is another resource you need to consider: Your time.
Time
- An Unrenewable Resource - Ever
thought up of a great idea but didn't do anything about
it? Welcome to the world of p-r-o-c-r-a-s-t-i-n-a-t-i-o-n
When
You've Hit The Wall - What
happens when You've had enough of freelancing problems
... Here's
nine tips that will help.
Time Management in Home Office - In a survey of 1,300 home-based workers, respondents cited flexibility as the number one advantage to working from home. The most common problems cited had to do with time management and isolation.
The 24/7 Lifestyle: Time Management in the Home Office - Between having a home office and the 24/7 nature of life, you need to learn how to manage those 24 hours in a day when your desk is just a 60-second commute away.
How to Manage Your Homebased Time - You have a number of responsibilities as a homebased entrepreneur. Here's how to juggle them all.
Communication Tips for a Healthy Workplace - Misunderstandings and communication problems remain one of the most common sources of workplace strife. While conflict is inevitable, it need not ruin your workday or cause unbearable stress. Try these conflict resolution tips to make your work environment a less stressful, more productive place.
Time Management Guide - Results in No Time is a "one-stop time management shop," providing leading-edge consulting and seminars that help with all time management problems and tasks.
Returning to a 40-Hour Work Week - It is possible to be an entrepreneur and work just 40 hours per week. All it takes is the right kind of planning and some delegating.
Time Management Skills - This section of Mind Tools shows you how to use personal time management skills. These are some of the most important career skills that you can learn.
Managing to Succeed - Success in business means mastering the art of management. Of course most freelancers do not have staff or stocks, so they are spared the problems of man management and stock control. However they must still learn how to manage:
Freelancers: Creating More Time - You are suffering from the common freelancer’s (and even staff artist’s) syndrome of too much to do and too little time to do it. Though I do not know any way to give you less to do, you can make more time!
Time Management Skills for Success - Whoever said, “Early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise,” only got it partially right when it comes to finding the formula for personal success, because great time management skills are also essential.
Ten Guidelines for Effective Time Management - But while there is no one-size-fits-all plan for managing time, there are basic principles that apply to a wide variety of circumstances.
Creative
Track -
Welcome to creativeTrack.com, the online project management
and job tracking tools you need to keep track of projects
and manage clients. No more sticky notes, restaraunt napkins,
and writing on the back of your hand!
How to Build a Strong Relationship with Your Customers - A Guide to Customer Relationships for Freelancers & Self EmployedOne of the best ways to run a good business as well as keep the clients which you currently have is to build a strong relationship with your clients. Everyone likes to feel appreciated and this is true for those who have a business relationship. The clients want to feel as if they matter to the business owner as they are part of the reason why the business is still in existence. There are a few ways for business owners to build a strong relationship with their customers as doing so will not only maintain their client base but possibly expand it as well through recommendations.
A complete, secure, online billing application that maintains hourly service billing, flat fee billing and recurring charges. Integration with Authorize.Net and other leading payment gateways provides hands-free recurring billing with a sophisticated CRM system.
If you feel like you are just going through the motions, and that you have no idea whether or not you are running your business properly, then you will be happy to know that there are many free small business courses, workshops, and seminars online. Below you will find a large list of these free educational courses.
A freelancer developing an effective marketing plan must have the right tools to foster success in business. The following list contains several links of marketing plan tools to produce a successful business.
A solid, well-prepared marketing strategy is the foundation of success in business. The freelancer or any type of business owner must become informed on the development of an effective marketing plan. The following links will focus on marketing plan articles for the freelancer to have a successful business.
In any type of the business including those people that perform freelance work, the proper tools are necessary to become a success. The following links consist of selected online tools for the freelancer to develop an effective business plan.
Business plans are necessary in all types of businesses … and this also includes freelancers. Writing an effective business plan will help you plan out the success of your future business. Factors such as customer base, profit potential, as well as many other factors will be placed in this document. The business plan will help you, the freelancer, think through every aspect of your future successful business. We found the following business plan articles to be very helpful and we hope that you will find them to be useful too.
A freelancer’s time is precious and he/she must follow precise tasks to maintain productive performance and income. The following link list will examine useful online tools that will keep the freelancer in a productive manner. The following list is a list of To-Do Lists and Task Management Lists tools and software.
In a previous list, the freelancer was presented with a list of tools for creating invoices. The following links will present the manner and methods in which to develop a proper invoice for the freelancer of any business type. With the following helpful guides and tutorials, you as a consultant will understand the steps that you will need to take in order to invoice your customers properly.
The Invoice is an important part of any type of business out there, including for the freelancer as well. The basic definition of an invoice is a detailed list of goods shipped or services rendered with an accounting of all costs included in the document. As a freelancer, we might not feel comfortable dealing with invoices or money in general. The links below offer a vast variety of online invoicing and billing tools for the freelancer in all business types.
Helpful hints and tips to overcome the dreaded White Page Syndrome - There is probably nothing more dreadful and problematic for a writer than not being able to get going, being stuck on a menacingly white page. Many a time, one or more writing assignment make us feel like Jack Nicholson in “The Shining”; one step shy of freezing to death in a haunted hedge maze. Once the choke has started its nefarious effect, it becomes quicksand, drowning us further and further into an inability to come up with something to properly put down on paper.
In the world of freelance, customer referrals are everything. The amount of customer referrals will often determine how successful one’s business can really be. As word spreads quickly, having customers refer others to you and your services is a wonderful way of gaining new business and making more money. There are a few distinct ways to get more customer referrals for your business.
A complete, secure, online billing application that maintains hourly service billing, flat fee billing and recurring charges. Integration with Authorize.Net and other leading payment gateways provides hands-free recurring billing with a sophisticated CRM system.
Browse through our extensive list of free Business, Computer, Engineering and Trade magazines, white papers, downloads and podcasts to find the titles that best match your skills and interests; topics include management, marketing, operations, sales, & technology. Simply complete the application form and submit it. All are absolutely free to freelance professionals who qualify.
The followup to Brendan Sinclairs successful Web Design Business kit is a comprehensive look at all the business aspects of working as a web designer. It's thorough and has some excellent advice in it.
All Graphic Design Portal is a directory of resources, articles, & design education links for graphic designers & web designers including a design forum, blog, & directory. 
Billing Orchard's Invoicing for Freelancers
