Freelance Life - Passive Income: What it is and Why You Should Take Advantage of it as a Creative Entrepreneur

Although I consider myself a full-time freelance illustrator and designer, I feel it’s important to always look for new opportunities to create income. The bulk of my income does come from larger illustration and design jobs but I also use passive income streams to give me a little boost!

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Freelance Life – Finding the Balance Between a Happy Client and You as a Happy Freelancer

My first foray into freelancing over a decade ago was an experience that left me considering other job options. I was fresh out of college with little in my portfolio and even less confidence. I ended up going back to school and landing a design job with a government agency for over 5 years before I decided to try my hand at freelancing again. Suffice to say, my failure at my first attempt was mainly my fault. My “greenness” and not really knowing how the business operated resulted in my expectations being really high. Essentially my outcome was so low I was totally turned off.

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Net Picks - Tropical Inspired

I'm sure many of you are still experiencing the typical cold weather that comes with winter so I thought I'd showcase a collection of lovely warm, tropical selections for this week's Net Picks! I was born and raised in Hawaii so I'm not a stranger to tropical weather (I've only experienced snow once in my life)! It's funny how being surrounded and accustomed to certain wonders on a daily basis can make you take them for granted! I literally grew up in a pineapple field so while some crave the fruit as a delicacy, I actually don't eat it at all.

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Freelance Life - My Thoughts on Spec Work

Before signing on with an illustration agency, I hadn’t really heard of or had been asked to produce spec work. “Spec work” or speculative work, is work a client may request from a designer or illustrator to submit so that the client can determine if they want to use that designer for a project. In most cases, this work is not compensated for and landing the project is not guaranteed.

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Tools of the Trade - Skillshare Class Review

Bonnie Christine’s Intro to Surface Pattern Design: Learn Adobe Illustrator | Create Patterns offers both instruction in how to use Adobe Illustrator and also how to create patterns using the software.

First of all I’d like to say that Bonnie Christine was a great teacher. Not only was her information very valuable and helpful, she was very sweet and easy to listen to. Even though this is an online course, I feel it’s important, as a teacher, to come off as pleasant, genuine and happy to be sharing your knowledge. 

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