I read these 5 books and it changed my freelancing career

0:00 if you want to start freelancing as a designer there is a lot of things to think about and learn and know we're talking about business and marketing and social media creative work clients proposals and contracts finances and insurance and all those things it's just a lot to think about so in this video I want to share with you five books that have brought me an immense amount of value when it comes to my freelancing career I want to share these five books with you because I really love them and I think they'll bring a lot of value to you if you're an up-and-coming freelancer all right book number one is a must read it's a must-have and it actually covers just about everything that has to do with freelancing as a creative and that is freelance and business and stuff by

0:45 Jen and Amy Hood the hoods but team they're my homies they're my friends but I read this book long before I ever met them talked to them or knew them it's an amazing book full of immense value it talks about pricing and proposals finding clients managing and marketing yourself your finances whether you should be an independent contractor A S Corp a C Corp it talks about all the business stuff all the setting things up all the branding of yourself just all of their years of knowledge and they have tons of it they're super duper smart I cannot recommend this book enough also a quick note Jen and Amy have also created a course out of this book so if you are more of an online course person you could definitely take this one absolutely love the book love the course love everything they do buy it live it love it it's good stuff all right book

1:31 number two is a must read for those of of us that are actually selling our work to clients that's going to be the large majority of us and while you are selling you need to know what you want to sell how you sell where your value lies and stick to that value then you need to read the win without pitching Manifesto by Blair ends this book is small it's a short and easy read but it has 12 lessons for you as a creative as a business person because really that's what this is all about you running your business where you can take back the seat of Power by becoming an expert and learning how to diagnose and drilling down on one specific thing and tons of other amazing tips on how you should actually negotiate and speak and carry yourself and think about yourself it's a huge mentality shift when you realize

2:18 that you are not just a servant to the pixel and to the client but instead you are somebody who brings immense amount of value and expertise to that client and so read the win without pitching Manifesto it actually changes the way that you talk to clients land clients and interact with your clients next book on the list is for those of us who have not gone to business school but need some sort of kind of real quick down and dirty training when it comes to how to run and operate and think about our business and you can't find a better book than business Made Simple by Donald Miller in this 60-day challenge where every day you'll open it up and read a small snippet and you'll learn a short lesson it's going to teach you everything you need to know in 60 days about marketing and Leadership and business and finances everything that

3:04 you would learn by going to business school you're going to get in this shotgun fast drinking out of a fire hydrant method with Donald Miller it's super great it's super informative and after you've gone through you'll find certain ones that are really challenging to you other ones that are easier and you get to really drill down on those challenging ones can't recommend business Made Simple enough get it all right the next book on the list has nothing to do with freelancing or with design or creativity but has everything to do with your money and specifically how you invest your money if you are a freelancer you are a business you are running your business operating your business and that cannot be so that you bring home nothing at night and save nothing for the future you need to be thinking about what your business is doing for you and for your future

3:49 because you can't work forever and so when it comes to finances and investing I would highly recommend the simple path to wealth by JL Collins I read this entire book it is just a straightforward understanding of how you should manage your money think about your finances be smart make a budget stick to that budget invest and how you can slowly but surely get away from being a slave to the nine to five and living paycheck to paycheck or living in feast or famine mode as a lot of Freelancers do this is going to encourage you and challenge you to actually build a business and start investing money and start actually having a future with some foresight alright last book on the list and it's super important I think for Freelancers because as you War Landing clients doing

4:34 work managing your business doing all of that you have to form some habits that will help support your trajectory your consistency and your goals and there's no better book than Atomic Habits by James clear this book is going to give you a simple step-by-step way to think about setting habits attaining your goals it's going to start with the smallest little micro habits and how to build good habits how to reclaim bad habits of laziness or maybe you like to put things off or postpone things or procrastinate Atomic habits is going to challenge you to establish and set in place healthy habits in your life so that you can actually be successful and run your business and not burn out but instead you'll be able to do it at scale and do it for the duration of however

5:21 long you want to be freelancing so I highly recommend Atomic Habits by James Clear super great read the audiobook read the physical book whatever but just read it also you can sign up for James clear's newsletter where you get just short little shots of wisdom to your inbox every week it's fantastic one of the few newsletters I sign up for and still read every single time it comes into my inbox alright that's it those are my top five favorite books that I would recommend for you if you're starting your freelancing career they have to do with creativity they have to do with business they have to do with your finances they have to do with your habits why because at the end of the day you will spend so much more of your time doing the business stuff and not just all the creative stuff not all the design stuff and so you have to be a business person you have to look at your freelancing career like you're running your business you are your business and

6:07 you have to learn how to lead and love your business and so I recommend these books by every single one of them read all of them as soon as you can and you'll have a wealth of knowledge to start executing upon and start crushing your goals as a freelancer hope you enjoyed this video if you did make sure to leave a thumbs up subscribe to the channel I do lots of videos about design and development and sometimes even recommend resources like this so ring that Bell so you know when more videos like this one come out if you have any questions leave those down in the comments check this description for links to all the books that I've recommended here they will be affiliate links that helps the channel out a little bit but I do highly recommend them I've read every single one of them I recommend you read them as well I hope you're having an amazing week I hope you're designing amazing things making amazing things and arming yourself with knowledge to absolutely crush your business goals as a freelancer this year see in the next one