The Blogs Became Books... Became Clients - David Airey

David Airey is a freelance graphic designer based in Northern Ireland, self-employed since 2005. He's the author of several best-selling design books including Logo Design Love and Identity Designed - both of which started life as blogs, before turning into books... before turning into a steady stream of client work.In this episode, David talks with us about:Persuading his former employer to be his first freelance clientWhy his early "business blog" flopped, and how switching to writing about design (not just his own) changed everythingLaunching logodesignlove.com in 2008, and getting an out-of-the-blue email about a year later from a US publisher that led to his first book dealHow that one book grew into four published titles, translated into multiple languagesNiching down into logo and identity design after realising it was the part of the job he loved mostThe costly early lesson of doing design work before securing payment upfront - and how he gets paid nowWhy he's deliberately kept his business to just himself for 21 yearsHow those same blogs, barely updated these days, still bring in client enquiries years laterWhat makes a good client relationship, and why he pushes back on purely subjective feedbackWhy he doesn't set long-term goals and prefers to stay focused on the presentFind David at: davidairey.com logodesignlove.comand identitydesigned.comJOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFollandBeing Freelance is hosted and created by freelance podcast editor Steve Folland.