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My pleasure!

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All that is awesome! Your response means you're doing everything right as far as I can tell.

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Maybe illustration doesn't have "trade shows" but maybe there are more art shows to get involved in? Even if it's just volunteering to help work the event if there's no room to post your art.

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Competitions can be expensive but I think personally that the ROI would probably be way worth it. Don't quote me, but I'd be willing to bet that you could probably write off the entrance fee as a business expense on your taxes, which makes it "free" :D

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For art hanging, if after 6 months to a year I would move it to another place. Oh! Afterthought! You could potentially have the opportunity to hang your art at one of these new businesses, maybe they'll even want to purchase it themselves if they're still settling in.

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I'm not familiar with MailChimp but it should be like any other mass mailer. Do you have the automation set up for different types of outcomes? For example, if the person doesn't open the email it sends a follow up message. You can get really intense with these and following up is important. I would also make the emails seem as personalized as possible.

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If you like to read about sales stuff I would love to recommend this great read to you!

Tom Hopkins is killer. He's smart and has sold a ton of different things and is an authority on selling. (He once sold 365 houses in a year)

I don't think you should be worried at all about asking your freelancing friends questions as long as you don't ask in a way that makes it seem like you're asking for their clients. You're new-ish at this, everyone needs a little help now and again :)

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I think your last thought about reaching out is a good idea! With your own personal flair you can be like:

• If they're local - "Hey [Name], it's been a bit since our last project. I was gonna be in your neighborhood around X time and would love to catch up over coffee/lunch if you're available!"
  
• If you work remote for them - "Hey [Name], it's been a bit since our last project and I just wanted to check in and see how things were going. I've been doing some cool [work] and thought you might like to check it out. Any cool projects going on on your end?"
  
• If you're cold emailing/calling - "Hi [Name], I'm Whinyartist and I do x work. I like your company/business/past work and would love to collaborate with you on future projects. Would that be something you're interested in?"
  
• If you're cold emailing/calling #2 - "Hi [Name], I'm Whinyartist and I do x work. I like your company/business/past work and would love to collaborate with you on future projects. Would you be available for coffee on x day or x day to talk about how we could help each other out?"
  
  • \^These last two need finessing lol but you get the point I hope.
    
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ReWork is a good read, but I'm not sure it's what OP is asking for...

I'd look into Michael Port's Book Yourself Solid.

He talks about a "Red Velvet Rope Policy". It's basically:

• Determine what inspires you >
  
• You’ll love what you do >
  
• You’ll do a better job at it >
  
• You’ll create more customer value and satisfaction >
  
• You’ll build a foundation of more loyal and profitable customers

I'm not a web designer, I do motion design. But a lot of this advice is universal for any visual creative freelancing field:
Start collecting inspiration pieces. Stuff you like, stuff that catches your eye, colors you like etc. Websites that "work" Annotate why you like them. Go back through them when starting a project and building mood boards. Always keep expanding. Pinterest can be a good resource for this.

Read. Trade magazines, Communication Arts, etc. Hit up the library and get some books on design fundamentals, composition, grid systems, typography and color theory.

Also, get some books on freelancing. I'd recommenced Creative, Inc. by Meg Ilasco & Joy Cho. This will help you clear your head and get in the "mindset" of freelancing.

Make an account at Adobe's Kuler this is my number #1 color theory cheat sheet, and helps me find color pallets that work.

Flash is going on the wayside, at least from an animation standpoint. Some knowledge might be useful, I rarely touch it anymore. Granted I'm a motion designer and stick primarily to AE, C4D etc. I'm not a webdev, so take that with a grain of salt. (Look into HTML5 maybe?)

Lastly, build some thick skin on taking critique. Knowing how to show your work to people, and work their suggested/requested changes to improve your design (and not take it personally) is very, very important.

If you can't tell from the responses, networking (building relationships) is very important.

Being social, helping others, and letting others know specifically what you do and for whom is very beneficial. I've gotten a lot of referrals from my network.

You never know when someone that's a relatively weak tie in your network has an opportunity to refer business to you or send you introductions to others. If you can stay top of mind with those people, then you'll have access to more opportunities.

Here are some books worth reading if you haven't read them before:

• How to Win Friends & Influence People - http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671027034
  
• Never Eat Alone - http://www.amazon.com/Never-Eat-Alone-Secrets-Relationship/dp/0385512058
  
• Adversaries into Allies - http://www.amazon.com/Adversaries-into-Allies-Manipulation-Coercion/dp/1591846366
  
  Make sure that when you start "networking" you aren't just peddling business cards. It's about making a connection, adding value to others, and staying in touch. If you go to conferences, aim to meet and get to know a handful of influential people. Don't push 200 business cards onto others.
  
  If you have troubles staying in touch with all the people you meet or want a more efficient way then a text file or excel file, then try using a tool to help.
  
  I co-founded a SaaS that helps freelancers make sure they stay in touch with the important business contacts you meet, but that you don't see on a frequent basis. I use it to make sure I'm staying in touch with a large group of people that I've met in the past or want to build a better relationship with. http://relate.ly

Illustrator here - Decide if you REALLY REALLY REALLY want to freelance as an artist, because the honest truth is that you might never be able to freelance professionally full time, even if you are INSANELY talented, because convincing people to buy squiggles you make is very difficult to do.

Anyway, everything you need to know to starts with this question:

Who are you selling your work to?

From there, everything comes into place. Selling illustrations to businesses is a DIFFERENT business model than selling to consumers. Selling your illustrations to children book companies is DIFFERENT than selling to Tech companies. Selling your illustrations to old cat ladies requires A TOTALLY DIFFERENT DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM from selling your illustrations to metalheads.

"But I want EVERYONE to buy my illustrations!"

HAHAHAHA! Forget illustration, you should be a stand-up comedian, kid!

Read these:

Inside the Business of Illustration, by Marshall Arisman and Steven Heller

Breaking into Freelance Illustration, by Holly Dewolf

2013 Artist's & Graphic Designers Market

Well, it just so happens that I have a list prepared to tweet out—figured I'd share here as well :)

How to Win Friends & influence People

Never Eat Alone

The E-Myth Revisited

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook

Tribes

Linchpin

A Whole New Mind

The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing

The millionaire Next Door

Cashflow Quadrant

Why We Want you to be Rich

Drive

Rework

The 4 Hour Work Week

Entreleadership

Thou Shalt Prosper

Driven

How to Get Ideas

The Go-Giver

I totally understand. But try to look at it from a new angle. It's not about how much you're worth. It's not about how much you value your work. It's about where your quality of work and expertise fit in the wider market.

I would suggest that you take about an hour and pretend that you are trying to hire a UI Designer. Find out what they need and value. Then research your competitors. Who are the people in your field who are doing really well? How much do they charge? What are they offering?

Just by glancing at your work, I can tell that you definitely have enough skill to increase your price.

Also - Just from reading your comments, I get the impression that you need to change the way that you think about money. This book "You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth" really kicked my ass. Made me realize I totally undervalued myself. It also helped me clear up some subconscious beliefs about money. I 100% recommend it.

Not all web dev work is making websites from scratch. Plenty of companies have websites already that they would like to add functionality to.

If you do have clients that want you to handle design you can subcontract without cutting into your costs too much. Designer hours are cheaper than programmer hours. If you really want to do it yourself, I'd recommend Don't Make Me Think for usability and The principles of Beautiful Web Design for making it pretty.

Other suggestions here are good. Use bootstrap and Kuler.

Don't learn flash.

I don't charge differently per hour, I charge by project. Clients often have little or no understanding of what an hour of work means, and I shouldn't be monetarily punished for being efficient. I used to charge per hour and then I'd get inspired and bust out a flier or copy for a brochure in 20 minutes when I had quoted two hours. If I'm charging for time, I can't ethically take the whole two hours. But if I'm charging by project, I can take more projects and make more money by rewarding my fast work.

I use the Graphic Artist's Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines to price projects. This way, if they have any pushback on pricing, I can show them the exact page where I got the price for their project, so they know it's not just on a whim - it's the ethical price to charge. That's won me a lot of business.

I always liked Strategic Selling.

Really helpful framework for looking at complex, long-cycle sales.

Teaches you to consider a buying decision from multiple angles. Who stands to benefit from buying what you're selling? Are they the same person as who's in charge of the decision-making? How can you enlist the former to help influence the latter?

etc, etc.

Good stuff!

I highly recomend the Graphic Artist's Guild "Pricing & Ethical Guidelines" that covers this topic pretty well.

Essentially what you should do in your contracts (I guess it might be too late for this job) is specify what mediums this logo is being used for. Anything else and they'd have to pay you more. NEVER just turn over full ownership like that. If you do, you best be charging a butt-load of money.

As an example: say a client approaches you and wants you to design a screen for a shirt. You do it for him, and price it accordingly. And then a few years later they are using that design for all of their print collateral, on their website, ad placements, tv commercials, etc. Protect yourself from this!

Instead of making money on royalties / equity, you might want to look into the idea of value based fees. Here is THE book on the subject.

You are correct in your assumption; Aligning your financial incentives with the client's financial incentives is a win for all parties involved.

Here's a few resources on the subject.

This is a guide to the average pay rates of certain design jobs. They also give the average freelance rates based on company (you might want to go a little bit below average, considering you're just starting out)

If you want to charge a lump sum instead, I suggest either just estimating your hours worked, or really just ask yourself what your time was worth. Don't sell yourself short, web design is a big job. This person hired you because you know what you're doing, and they don't.

If you're going to be doing this more often, I suggest this book by the Graphic Artist's Guild. It has tons of design jobs in it, and gives you a reasonable range of what to charge for each.

Good luck.

I like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Freelance-Illustrator-Graphic-Designer/dp/1581151993/ref=cm_lmf_img_2

annnnnd

http://www.amazon.com/2013-Artists-Graphic-Designers-Market/dp/159963614X/ref=pd_sim_b_6

That series (they put out a new one every year) is pretty valuable.

Charge more. Come up with a base fee and then tack hourly on top of that. As an example: $599 pase price plus $30/hr for 12 hours = $960 or whatever works for you.

Get this book: Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines

It explains how to price and what the average pricing is for different types of websites, among other extremely useful information.

Get the latest edition of the Graphic Artist’s Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines. It has excellent info on how to (and why you should) price your work appropriately. Specific section in there for just this issue.

https://www.amazon.com/Book-Yourself-Solid-Reliable-Marketing-ebook/dp/B076G811V8/ref=sr_1_1?crid=B91ANIZHIM4G&keywords=michael+port&qid=1559222194&s=gateway&sprefix=dji+mavic%2Caps%2C142&sr=8-1

Yes, the title and language read a little cheesy. But it's actually a pretty solid read. And $10 is a lot cheaper than going to some seminar in a hotel ballroom.

Honestly...I don't.

Until I'm at the point where I have a consistent stream of referrals and organic leads from search engines, my free time (within reason) becomes prospecting time.

In many ways, prospecting is more important than client work. If you end up finishing with a fantastic project, but then are left with a barren period of time afterwards, you run the risk of screwing with your finances (and subsequently your mental health).

Just got done reading Zero to One by Peter Thiel, and there was a really fantastic quote in there that rings true for freelancing:

> If you've invented something new but you haven't invented an effective way to sell it, you have a bad business - no matter how good the product.

Value-Based Fees is the one I swear by. Really shows how the relationship should be set up (for example using "we" instead of "you"). Definitely a good read.

I have worked in fundraising or resource development for 20+ years. I was phobic about asking for donations, but learned a simple thing. My job is to ask for money and not beg or apologize. I simply ask for $XXX and wait.

This skill helps with invoicing. My job is to bill (it's in the contract) and their job is to pay. It's nothing special. Actually, I find it harder to ask clients to do work than invoicing them. I hate "bothering" them to answer a question or review a document.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) may help. You would learn to identify your distorted thinking and then counteract it with alternative thoughts. Research has found it effective for depression and anxiety.

You can learn CBT on your own. David Burns' Feeling Good, the Mood Therapy is a great book that teaches CBT techniques.

Seems fair to me. I usually work $20-$30 hr with a $50 minimum. So that sounds about right. You might want to look into buying this http://www.amazon.com/Graphic-Artists-Handbook-Pricing-Guidelines/dp/0932102158 of course look for the most recent edition

From Serf to Surfer

The Artist's Survival Manual. Pure gold, imo. It's not only motivational, it gives artists instructions on how to build a portfolio plus a directory of agents and publishers.

Is this what you're talking about?

www.amazon.com/Graphic-Artists-Handbook-Pricing-Guidelines/dp/0932102166

Check out this book https://www.amazon.com/Getting-More-Negotiate-Succeed-Work/dp/0307716902

You should really read this book https://www.amazon.com.br/Clean-Coder-Conduct-Professional-Programmers/dp/0137081073

No problem!

If you're serious about developing a web application, there's a book I really dig about the "high-level" thinking that goes into building something that people are going to use: Designing the Obvious: A Common-Sense Approach to Web & Mobile Application Design

There's no code in it - mostly, it just talks about the general ways that a web app can hinder users, and the common patterns that already exist to solve those problems.

I frequently buy this book (among others) for my clients, and I often read books about their industry that they recommend to me.

The hugest - and least-quantifiable - cost in a software project of any kind is in the communication portion:

• Sending a dozen emails trying to hash out how some component ought to look
  
  
• Your developer thinks they get what you want, but they misunderstood a key component (or you forgot to mention it!) and spent hours going in the wrong direction
  
  
• You think you're describing one thing but, since you and the developer are speaking your own version of "industry language", you've described something completely different to the graphic designer and the developer, and now they're working in different directions
  
  
• You thought the developer would plan out such-and-such, and the developer thought that was coming from you
  
  
• Etc., etc.
  
  The more you can do ahead of time to bridge the gap between you and your developer (or team), the less you'll pay overall, and the better the product you'll get.
  
  Anything you can define ahead of time will help you to get a more accurate estimate: a written specification, examples cribbed from other apps... I even had a client who had made a crude prototype in Powerpoint, and it was actually incredibly helpful as a reference when we were banging out the details; it probably saved him 15 hours of my billable hours throughout the project.