2013 Creative Freelancer Conference Recaps and Round-Ups

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One of the best-kept secrets in the freelancing community is the HOW Creative Freelancer Conference. I’ve attended it several times and always come away with my head swimming with new thoughts, ideas, and advice on how to work smarter, treat my clients better, and as a result boost my income. It’s not an exaggeration to say my income has gone up well over 50% since I started attending back around 2007-ish, and a large part of that is due to things I’ve learned from the conference.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend this year’s conference, but others who did attend have posted some great blog posts and recaps outlining what they learned. There’s some great stuff here! Most of it has been gathered into one Pinterest page by Ilise Benun (who co-founded a terrific company, Marketing Mentor). Or, you can click on some of the links below:

Top Ten Things I Learned At The Creative Freelancer Conference by Jill Lynn

The Dark Art of Pricing by Jessica Hische

A New Perspective: The Creative Freelancer Conference by Kimberly Salisbury

Creative Freelancer Conference Recap by Loretta Robinson (Part 1, Part 2)

Resources For Making People Love You Madly by Colleen Wainwright

CFC: My Ten Specifics Behind ‘The Awesome’ by Deidre Rienzo

The People You Meet And The Books You Read by Luke Mysse

Episodes of the Reflex Blue Podcast related to the conference.

Now….get out there and work smarter!

EDIT: Next year’s conference will be May 12-16, 2014 in Boston. Mark your calendars!

Creative Freelancer Conference on Twitter

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As I write this, independent creatives from all over the country are gathered in San Francisco for the Creative Freelancer Conference, which is part of a larger event known as HOW Design Live. I’ve attended several times and it’s always been worth my while. I’ve learned a great deal, made some valuable connections, picked up lots of tips for working smarter instead of harder, and come back energized and inspired to tackle the “business end” of being a self-employed illustrator. For most creatives learning about business issues sounds about as fun as doing your taxes, but the folks that run the conference somehow find ways to make it truly exciting and inspiring.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend this year. Each year the attendees are encouraged to tweet insights, nuggets, and goodies they are learning using the hashtag #CFConf. If, like me, you are not spending your weekend in a hotel conference room in San Francisco I would highly recommend punching that hashtag into the Twitter search window and see what you get. I’ll bet it will be worth your while.

2011 Creative Freelancer Conference Is Fast Approaching

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Later this month I’ll be in Chicago for the Creative Freelancer Conference, a two-day event designed to help freelancers work smarter, up their game, and as a result boost their incomes. This will be my fourth year attending and I can’t wait. It’s easily one of the top events I attend each year.

The Creative Freelancer Conference will be held June 23-24 at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Chicago. If you make a living as a creative freelancer (photographer, designer, illustrator, etc.), or are thinking about taking the plunge into freelancing, you absolutely must go to this conference. You’re guaranteed to walk away loaded with practical info and inspirational ideas on how to make freelancing work better for you. The better you are at freelancing the happier your clients will be and the greater your chances of overall success. Its a win-win for everyone.

Time is short but its not too late to register. This year the conference is also piggybacking off of the HOW Design Live conference so if you plan to attend both you get a discount.

To get a taste of what’s in store you can purchase audio and powerpoints from the 2009 Creative Freelancer Conference here. Attendees of the 2011 conference can also order audio of this year’s event but if past conferences are any indication that audio may not be made available to the general public. If you still aren’t sold, you can read my recap of the 2009 conference. I’d also recommend visiting the website of Marketing-Mentor, the terrific people who partner with HOW to make the conference such a success.

Hope to see you there!