by Patrick Rhone

It is quite often that people ask me about freelancing, either how to get started or help where they are. In general, along with talking their ears off with info and ideas, I recommend several books that really helped me along the way. For my first contribution to this project, I wanted to tell you the ones that I think should be on every freelancer’s (or freelancer to be) bookshelf:

• Making A Living Without A Job (Barbara Winter) – It does not matter if you are just starting to think about breaking out on your own or comfortably down the self employment road, this book is a must read. It is chock full of ideas, tips, recommendations and lessons on how to really get paid for your passion. I really consider it the bible for anyone aiming to make a living from doing what they love.

• Guerrilla Marketing (Jan Conrad Levinson) – This is a great guide to simple, clever and inexpensive marketing for any small business.

• On Writing Well (William Zinsser) – No matter what your career or interest, writing is an indispensable skill. Writing proposals, grants, webpage copy, marketing brochures, even email, depends on you writing your best. This guide urges straight, no fluff, to the point communication – while un-training you of all of those bad habits your have learned along the way.

• The Elements of Style (E. B. White, William Strunk) – Same reasons as above. As a freelancer – as an adult human being – you will write. Here are the rules.

I then decided to reach out to some other Freelancers I know to see if they had any to add. Here is some of what I got back:

• Who Moved My Cheese? (Spencer Johnson) – A modern parable about dealing with change. How to be prepared to go searching for new cheese when the cheese runs out.

• The 4-Hour Workweek (Timothy Ferris) – This book often gets a lot of push back on it’s extreme scenarios and examples but there are actually some good tips if you look between the lines about how to deal with e-mail, reclaim control over your time, and the importance of having as much free time as possible. Because if you are not working hard to have the life you want right now, why work at all?

• Getting Things Done (David Allen) – Even if you only use this a a springboard for ideas to enhance your own personal productivity, it is worth the read. It has practically become the bible for personal productivity for geeks.

We would love to have more on this list. Do you have any that you feel should be added?