How to Business EBook

How to Business is a guide to basic business skills, written specifically for creative people.

I call this "Business Skills for Creative People" because I have found that even talented, successful creative people mostly don't feel so great about their business skills.

I hope the text is especially helpful for anybody starting out as a freelancer or consultant who feels like they're not quite ready to tackle the business challenges of working independently. I wrote this with creative freelancers in mind but everything in the book is applicable to independent professionals in any field.

After 30 years in the creative world, leading digital agencies and product teams for large companies, I started Business Letters to help creative people be more successful. I've coached dozens of independent creatives of all kinds on business skills, helping them deal with proposals, pricing, clients, feedback, and more.

This guide is a quick read designed to improve your confidence in business dealings. The main section of the book details six key business skills for creative people:

• Empathy
• Charm
• Compromise
• Fairness
• Negotiating
• Feedback

The Fairness section discusses: Working for Free, Pricing your Work, Fair Dealings, and Remedies to tough situations.

The Negotiating section discusses: Your side, The Other Side, The Clock, Sticker Shock, Living Together and Deal Points.

The Feedback section discusses: Setting expectations, giving negative and positive feedback.

This is a short book, but it's filled with specific tips that will help you operate with confidence as an independent. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Here's a short excerpt from the introduction:

"Business is a set of skills that enables you to work well with others in a professional context.

I think a lot of people worry that being good at business means being things you aren’t or don’t want to be: bossy, assertive, greedy, or mean. But none of that is true. Taking care of business means taking care of yourself and the people you’re working with.

If talking about business makes you feel bad, you’re human. Many children are taught that talking about money is taboo, and presumably everybody else learned it from them, because it comes naturally to almost nobody. There are plenty of us who have been practicing for nearly our entire lives, and it still feels strange sometimes.

But even though being uncomfortable with business is common, it’s not good for you. You probably picked up this book because you know that being bad at business can be bad for your career.

If you work for a corporate employer, it can hold you back in your job. If you’re a freelancer or work for a small agency, it can cost you money — lots of money. In almost any walk of life, not being able to take care of business puts you at a real disadvantage.

Fortunately, getting comfortable with business isn’t as hard as learning a foreign language. That’s because it’s a not a language, with rules, grammar, and vocabulary. It’s a set of skills — just like your creative skills — and you’re going to learn those skills the same way, through instruction and practice.

Once you’ve learned these basic skills, you’ll start to find that the rest comes naturally. You’ll start to find that you feel like you’re on more of a level playing field in situations where you used to feel at a disadvantage. You’ll be able to help your friends and family make decisions that seem difficult to them but are easier once you know how to look at them."