Freelance Resources | Calligrafile

When Starting A Business...

AIGA — Highly recommended
A great resource for designers with an online Resources section featuring helpful links and articles

The Calligrapher's Business Handbook — Highly recommended
The book by Calligrafile founder Molly Suber Thorpe, addressing all the most frequently asked business questions by lettering artists

Elle & Co.
Online courses, workshops, and downloadable workbooks for creative freelancers

Freelancers Union — Highly recommended
Free to join; offers great support about contracts, taxes, health coverage, and more. They also offer some great, member-exclusive discounts to third-party services here.

Freelance Kit
Bundles of useful material to help freelancers in all industries start out with all the resources they need

The Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines — Highly recommended
An indispensable compendium of rates charged by American graphic designers for just about every design service imaginable, including hand lettering

Hyke
An all-in-one service for business formation, financial and tax advice, and business management.

U.S. Small Business Association — Highly recommended
The government agency providing resources for registering a company in the United States and creating a business plans

Getting Paid

PayPal
Highly trusted portal for accepting and making online payments, either directly or integrated into a website

Square Register — Highly recommended
Point-of-sale service making it easy to accept payments on the go

Stripe — Highly recommended
Extremely user-friendly payment infrastructure for selling online

Contracts & Forms

17Hats — Highly recommended
Client and project management platform for creating quotes, contracts, invoices and more.

The Contract Shop – Highly recommended
Contract templates specifically drafted for creatives, such as calligraphers and stationery designers.

Cuda Sign
Electronic signature service ideal for sharing and signing contracts with client

Freelancer's Union Customizable Contracts — Highly recommended
Build a standardized client agreement with this step-by-step contract creator.

Google Forms
Free service for creating surveys and simple contracts with free, customizable templates

Hello Sign
Legally-binding e-signature service. Among the nice features, it seamlessly Integrates with gmail. Paid monthly or annually.

Shake
Legally-binding e-signature service. Offers templates of all sorts

Typeform
Create visually appealing, easy-to-use, web-based forms and surveys

Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts
An affordable legal aid and education organization dedicated to New York artists and its arts and cultural organizations.

Dropbox
Cloud-based file sharing and storage service; free and paid plans available

Google Drive — Highly recommended
Cloud-based file sharing and storage service that integrates with all Google accounts; free and paid plans available'

HelloFax
An e-fax service with free and paid plans

WeTransfer — Highly recommended
Free file sharing up to 2GB, or up to 20GB with a paid account, which includes analytics and a customizable home screen

Miscellany

Breather – Shared Workspace Finder
Find work or meeting spaces in a city near you.

Creative Howl — Highly recommended
A community helping artists sell their work, with useful guides and tutorials on how to improve in a creative profession.

F*ck You, Pay Me
A great lecture by Mike Monteiro, Design Director, and co-founder of Mule Design Studio, about standing up for yourself when it comes to being a freelancer getting paid

Free Conference
Free, international conference calling, with affordable add-on services

How To Set Up An Online Portfolio & What To Include
Article by Robert Mening

Teaching Calligraphy Effectively
Downloadable eBook from the Bow Valley Calligraphy Guild (August 2020) with tips for calligraphy teachers

WiseStamp
Email signature plug-in to create custom, graphic signatures for Gmail, iPhone, Mail, and Outlook

Yes, Equal
A global association of women designers founded by our own contributor, Isabel Urbina Peña

Bookkeeping

17Hats — Highly recommended
Client and project management platform for creating quotes, contracts, invoices and more.

Bench
Affordable small business accounting services provided by a team of live experts. Payable monthly.

Number Nerd Bookkeeping
If it's a human bookkeeper you're looking for, Number Nerd can do it all for you, or train you to do it yourself.

Bookkeeping Article List by UAB Collat School of Business
Scroll to the bottom of the page for a nice long list of freelancer bookkeeping articles

Wave Accounting
Free online accounting software for small businesses

Zoho Books
User-friendly, cloud-based accounting software for small businesses; small monthly fee with a free trial option

Staying Organized

Asana
Project-tracking and collaboration tool

Evernote — Highly recommended
One of the most popular productivity tools, with a robust platform capable of integrating into a range of workflows

Google Calendar
A simple yet robust calendar on the cloud

Trello
Create visual lists and boards to stay organized, and even share them with others

Workflowy
The ultimate text-based to-do list software on the cloud