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Creativity is a blessing, but even when you have a bountiful supply, guidance is required to apply it productively. This is particularly true in the creative services field. You must know the basics of your profession before you sell services to a client. This book will not teach you the basics of your trade; no book can.

Like most fields in the arts, work in the creative services industry requires some formal education to teach you to apply your gifts in a professional manner. Either enroll in an accredited college or art school or volunteer with an established expert in your field. Just as a doctor with a medical arts degree requires hands-on experience, so will you. You will need a period of apprenticeship under more accomplished people in your field. Finally, when you know what you’re doing (and only you can be sure that you do), you may be ready to risk self-employment.

Going into business for yourself is always a financial risk. Starting a creative services business has its own risks. You might make a mess out of a project that was beyond your experience. You might not know how to produce something you design. (This is cited as the number one drawback to hiring someone right out of school.) Or you might lose a client because you cost them a bundle of money when you specified the wrong ink color. There’s nothing more painful than spending your own money to redo a botched job.

You may be starting your creative services business due to unemployment, retirement, or because you’re not happy taking orders from someone else. Whatever the reason, I want to emphasize that basic skills in your field are required before any book on starting a business will help. Be sure you have the tools required to do the job right, both mental and accoutremental, before you launch your business.

No matter what the economic climate at the time you read this book, finding good clients is hard work. What this book will do is teach you how to start a creative services business from scratch, how to build a client list that fits your skills, and how to protect what you’ve built. It will provide a series of steps to help you avoid trouble, show you how to get out of trouble, help you identify signs of impending trouble, and give you tips on what to do when you get into trouble. However, it cannot teach you to trust your instincts. It will not bolster your ego during cold calls, give you tips on anger management, or get your spouse to respect your efforts at generating cash. In other words, it cannot address every eventuality. As you will discover, being in business for yourself requires many kinds of skills. Therein lies the challenge — and the reward.

Despite pressure to play it safe by sticking with your day job, you owe it to yourself to follow your entrepreneurial dreams. It’s up to you to create the life you want. In the field of creative services, the competition is stiff. The market is flooded with web designers who have no training in design, desktop publishers who have no education in typography, even secretarial help competing for newsletter work. One of your greatest assets, aside from creative skill, is your ability to rise above the competition and make potential clients take notice.

I hope the stories I share in the following pages provide some insight into the creative services field. I’ve shared my own mistakes in the hopes that the information I learned will help you achieve the results you desire. Finally, remember: Believe it, and you can achieve it.