Christmas isn’t far away, but when it arrives hopefully we’ll all be able to have some time off. If we’re fortunate we may even be able to spend it with our family and loved ones after a long year apart.
Whilst I expect most of us will want to switch off from work entirely, it could also be a good time to get a bit of reading in too. After all there’s only so many Christmas movies we can watch, and the UK weather is likely to be cold and wet.
With that in mind I’ve included a list of books below that have been valuable to me over the years as a freelancer. These are books I have consistently returned too, and that are never too far away from my desk.
I’m not a book reviewer and I won’t be going to any such lengths to detail them. You’ll have to check them out individually and see if they’re for you. However what I would say is that the thing these books all have in common is how accessible they are. They are easy to pick up and digest the information presented in them – leading you to realistic actionable objectives.
For me, a big part of the appeal of these titles is the mix of common sense combined with ideas that will push your boundaries. They will make you question some of the archaic and long standing business practices which we tend to just go along with. Regardless of whether they fit us as individuals and our own businesses. They will make you question how you operate currently and provide you with ways to assess and tailor your value to your customers. They’ll remind you why you wanted to be a freelancer, to pursue your passion, to gain freedom over your time and your creativity.
So check them out, have a read, and let me know what you think.
- REWORK by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson
- Business for Punks by James Watt
- Purple Cow by Seth Godin
- Be More Pirate by Sam Conniff Allende
- Anti-Sell by Steve Morgan
- Pricing Freelance Projects by Tom Hirst
Finally I want to include A Field Guide to Freelancer Finances by FreeAgent. It’s more reference based and informative than the other books in my list. However it was a big help when I first started. It helps in laying out the foundations of finances and principles that we as freelancers should be familiar with. It’s clear and concise and will help you better understand financial and tax jargon.
I hope this list might be helpful to some of you. And Have a Merry Christmas!