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El gran salto. Guía para lanzarte como freelance en las industrias creativas
With approachable language and compelling case studies, hand-lettering artist and educator Martina Flor demonstrates how taking the big leap to freelancing is a unique opportunity to shape one's personal brand from the ground up.
157 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2019
30 people are currently reading
226 people want to read
About the author
Martina Flor
13 books20 followersMartina Flor is an award-winning lettering artist, author, and educator. Since 2010, she has worked closely with tens of thousands of graphic designers, illustrators, aspiring artists, and creatives to master the art and business of hand lettering, helping them build careers doing what they love.
With over 14 years in the design industry, her books "The Golden Secrets of Lettering" (a.k.a. The Bible of Lettering) and "The Big Leap," along with her courses, have made a significant impact, inspiring countless artists to carve their paths.
With over 14 years in the design industry, her books "The Golden Secrets of Lettering" (a.k.a. The Bible of Lettering) and "The Big Leap," along with her courses, have made a significant impact, inspiring countless artists to carve their paths.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 15, 2022
I'm already a freelancer for almost 2 years and I was expecting from that book to get some extra info\lifehacks + some inspiration by reading someone's story along with advice.
Unfortunately, in that book, was almost zero new information for me, all the information provided was very dry, without certain points. If you are not working\gonna work in illustration\photography\lettering- that book will be even less useful.
The inspirational part is missing, no story from the author. "I'm doing that,that,that, I have a studio, I have a website"- Good for you! maybe make more sense to write your story, since it's a guide for new freelancers?
If you are new to freelancing- that book might be useful, you could read some tips here, or get those tips through the pain and experience by working. (Not obvious tips are missing here)
So, for all of this- I would leave 4\5, but at the end of the book there is a link for extra materials and sources. But that link is not working... I wrote to the author, and she read my message but did not answer, so I would leave rating 3\5.
Overall- I didn't see the value that the author put in the book, it feels like she wrote the book just because she has the experience and can share basic and fundamental rules, not because she has a passion for sharing and wanted to provide value, just get an extra source of revenue.
Unfortunately, in that book, was almost zero new information for me, all the information provided was very dry, without certain points. If you are not working\gonna work in illustration\photography\lettering- that book will be even less useful.
The inspirational part is missing, no story from the author. "I'm doing that,that,that, I have a studio, I have a website"- Good for you! maybe make more sense to write your story, since it's a guide for new freelancers?
If you are new to freelancing- that book might be useful, you could read some tips here, or get those tips through the pain and experience by working. (Not obvious tips are missing here)
So, for all of this- I would leave 4\5, but at the end of the book there is a link for extra materials and sources. But that link is not working... I wrote to the author, and she read my message but did not answer, so I would leave rating 3\5.
Overall- I didn't see the value that the author put in the book, it feels like she wrote the book just because she has the experience and can share basic and fundamental rules, not because she has a passion for sharing and wanted to provide value, just get an extra source of revenue.
December 7, 2019
El libro es íncreible! Tiene muchos consejos hiper útiles para tener en cuenta si se decide ir por el camino independiente: Desde justamente iniciarte, clientes, encargos, agentes e incluso contratos, entre otras cuestiones importantísimas. Mucha información basada en conocimientos y experiencias de Martina. Lo leí en un día!
December 20, 2020
Pretty useful - a very organised book with concise steps to follow every step of the way. Can serve as a list of sorts whose tasks you can check off as you complete them.
October 26, 2020
"The Big Leap: A Guide to Freelancing for Creatives" is equally engaging in print as author Martina Flor is online in her many teaching videos. Martina’s second “Mentor-in-a-book” is a valuable resource, regardless of one's position in their design career or preference in current design trends.
Backing up, Martina Flor is an Argentinean-born graphic designer, turned hand-lettering master based in Berlin. Also a successful freelancer, educator, speaker, entrepreneur and author, she balances running her business while raising two young children. While not everyone can do it all, Martina openly shares her guidance, expertise and thoughtfulness to encourage creatives all over the world to make their passion, their life’s work and a fulfilling one at that.
Her writing is conversational and empowering, while realistic where it needs to be. She can only speak from her own experiences of course, but gives enough food for thought with wisdom behind everything she shares, always steering people to find autonomy in their own career path. Clear and considered in her approach, Martina makes this book not just informative, but a kind of workbook to keep accountable to the things one values or wants to apply for themselves.
While one could argue this freelancer guide is yet another in the genre, or nothing new to share, I appreciate how timely and current it is. It discusses practical, constructive ways to connect with social media networks and build up online recognition—which is where many creatives are now working out of necessity or have been all along. It’s not always an easy road for those who choose to freelance, but tenacity coupled with talent, smart planning and a dose of luck, make for an undoubtedly interesting journey of personal growth and discovery. Her second book is a keeper to revisit and enjoyable as a motivating jumpstart at any time or any stage.
Backing up, Martina Flor is an Argentinean-born graphic designer, turned hand-lettering master based in Berlin. Also a successful freelancer, educator, speaker, entrepreneur and author, she balances running her business while raising two young children. While not everyone can do it all, Martina openly shares her guidance, expertise and thoughtfulness to encourage creatives all over the world to make their passion, their life’s work and a fulfilling one at that.
Her writing is conversational and empowering, while realistic where it needs to be. She can only speak from her own experiences of course, but gives enough food for thought with wisdom behind everything she shares, always steering people to find autonomy in their own career path. Clear and considered in her approach, Martina makes this book not just informative, but a kind of workbook to keep accountable to the things one values or wants to apply for themselves.
While one could argue this freelancer guide is yet another in the genre, or nothing new to share, I appreciate how timely and current it is. It discusses practical, constructive ways to connect with social media networks and build up online recognition—which is where many creatives are now working out of necessity or have been all along. It’s not always an easy road for those who choose to freelance, but tenacity coupled with talent, smart planning and a dose of luck, make for an undoubtedly interesting journey of personal growth and discovery. Her second book is a keeper to revisit and enjoyable as a motivating jumpstart at any time or any stage.
July 17, 2023
A good overview of the kind of things you should consider when setting off on your own. Overviews are OK and repeating the fundamentals has value in any study BUT this is by no means an exhaustive preparation for freelancers - it doesn't explore any of its topics with enough depth to be helpful beyond 'you should look into this.' The section on 'Terms and Conditions' almost literally just says 'include terms and conditions'.
The thing I like most about this book, beyond the technical information included, is Martina's spirit. Freelancing is fun, its a chance to do what you love for people you support. Everyone's experience is different of course, but freelancing can be someone's dream job, and Martina Flor's excitement about that possibility is not only apparent it's infectious. It is also sickeningly rare. She also paints clients as collaborators and patrons who should be respected, if occasionally educated, rather than enemies who need to be endured or defeated. I suspect this has a lot to do with the author being a working professional and not a full time social media expert.
Click to reveal nitpicks: I get the feeling the book was laid out by a graphic designer not a book designer. The entire book is left aligned and i spotted more typographical errors than most books.
BUT i am very impressed by how much they squeezed out of the duotone
Overall i enjoyed the book, i wish had read it before beginning my freelance career, but i'll happily (and indeed have already begun to) recommend it to friends closer to the start of their journey.
The thing I like most about this book, beyond the technical information included, is Martina's spirit. Freelancing is fun, its a chance to do what you love for people you support. Everyone's experience is different of course, but freelancing can be someone's dream job, and Martina Flor's excitement about that possibility is not only apparent it's infectious. It is also sickeningly rare. She also paints clients as collaborators and patrons who should be respected, if occasionally educated, rather than enemies who need to be endured or defeated. I suspect this has a lot to do with the author being a working professional and not a full time social media expert.
Click to reveal nitpicks: I get the feeling the book was laid out by a graphic designer not a book designer. The entire book is left aligned and i spotted more typographical errors than most books.
BUT i am very impressed by how much they squeezed out of the duotone
Overall i enjoyed the book, i wish had read it before beginning my freelance career, but i'll happily (and indeed have already begun to) recommend it to friends closer to the start of their journey.
Read
August 29, 2022Found this book on Goodreads while searching for “The Big Leap” by Gay Hendricks. Totally different books but this one was good too 😂 I will say that the subtitle would be better to say that it’s a guide for graphic designers, as opposed to just saying creatives. The author is a designer, and it’s clear that all her experience and advice is focused on design. Some of the business tips are relevant to any creative endeavor, so if you’re super new to freelancing and looking for some general advice to get started, this is a good book. It might have been more helpful to me if I had read it about 5 years ago but at this point in my freelancing career, most of this advice is stuff I already learned the hard way.
September 23, 2022
Pure gold! This short book is jam-packed with valuable insights for creative freelancers of all kinds.
Martina’s creative expertise is in lettering though she is also an absolute master in professionalism, organisation and business thinking. The author covers everything from basic responsibilities, financial planning, dealing with clients, executing work and keeping your freelance business sustainable in the long term.
I’ve been working as a freelancer for many years and have found extremely valuable ideas that I had not considered before.
An absolute must-read for any freelancer - beginner or seasoned - to get started or fine tune all the essential parts of a thriving freelance business.
Martina’s creative expertise is in lettering though she is also an absolute master in professionalism, organisation and business thinking. The author covers everything from basic responsibilities, financial planning, dealing with clients, executing work and keeping your freelance business sustainable in the long term.
I’ve been working as a freelancer for many years and have found extremely valuable ideas that I had not considered before.
An absolute must-read for any freelancer - beginner or seasoned - to get started or fine tune all the essential parts of a thriving freelance business.
April 28, 2021
É muito significativo um livro sobre ser freelancer escrito por uma mulher da área criativa, e tão próxima de minha área de atuação, o projeto gráfico do livro deixa tudo muito mais fluido facilitando bastante a leitura. Já li alguns livros sobre empreendedorismo mas como são focados no mercado mais convencional, no fim você fica duvidando ainda mais quanto à possibilidade de você aplicar tudo aquilo.
O livro, pra mim foi bem proveitoso. Indico pra quem já tentou ser freelancer mas não deu muito certo, que foi o meu caso, agora me senti mais preparada e apoiada.
O livro, pra mim foi bem proveitoso. Indico pra quem já tentou ser freelancer mas não deu muito certo, que foi o meu caso, agora me senti mais preparada e apoiada.
July 20, 2024
This book is like 2 books in one. I loved it. There's a brilliant story to help you follow a path towards starting your own business as a creative, guided by the artist. The second part is all action items. Martina Flors has an excellent strategy to help you succeed in really working towards getting on the right path. She offers so much helpful advice and action items. I really enjoyed it. Sign up for her newsletter too, it's brilliant.
June 17, 2022
Realmente es un libro que me hubiera gustado leer antes, probablemente cuando empecé la carrera de diseño gráfico y mi emprendimiento. Hoy en día, lo uso como un repaso, pero si recién estás arrancando lo considero una guía muy interesante que se complementa con los estudios técnicos de la carrera.
Ideal para los que recién comienzan en la industria creativa, muy recomendado.
Ideal para los que recién comienzan en la industria creativa, muy recomendado.
December 12, 2021
Martina’s book delivers an easy-to-follow how to be a freelancer guide. I found it to be the perfect length. Great delivery and insight on how to deal with clients, deadlines, estimates and everything in between.
Thanks Martina!
Thanks Martina!
March 30, 2022
Um livro incrível, com as informações resumidas mas bem explicadas e exemplificadas, que acredito ser leitura necessária para todos da área criativa -independente se pretende atuar como freelancer ou não
May 19, 2021
Beautiful formatting and a great introduction book.
September 2, 2021
This book helped me a lot to take my own leap! Great book!!!!!
February 8, 2023
Everything that feels obvious to me tbh. Idk if it's because conceptually it's natural to me or if this just doesn't provide much info beyond "do it :)"
April 15, 2023
Very helpful, isn’t super detailed but gives just the right amount for those starting out
January 29, 2024
Very helpful information written in an easy to follow and easy to understand format.
September 28, 2020
Me lo compré en un impulso porque al pasarlo rápido en la librería tenía una sección de redes sociales. No es para nada lo que yo esperaba. O sea, no es un mal libro per se pero lo confundí con un libro de una persona que iba a hablar en detalle de X cosas que ayudan a posicionarte en las redes sociales y tal.
Es muchísimo más para principiantes. Principiantes tipo: "Jamás he pensado en que tendría que negociar y hacer las cuentas si vendo directamente yo". Líneas muy generales. En fin. No es completamente inútil pero no se lo recomendaría a nadie a mi alrededor.
Es muchísimo más para principiantes. Principiantes tipo: "Jamás he pensado en que tendría que negociar y hacer las cuentas si vendo directamente yo". Líneas muy generales. En fin. No es completamente inútil pero no se lo recomendaría a nadie a mi alrededor.
January 19, 2022
This was a nice book to read and had some points I didnt think of, but lots of times it did feel like a summary of things with all the tiny chapters about different subjects (like ways you can earn money, social media etc). I would have loved to get more info about some subjects, because it felt very general to me and I felt like Martina Flor could’ve dived deeper into things.
All in all, its a really good book for if you just started out or are planning on going freelance and haven’t read any in depth books or done any courses about freelancing for creatives. But I don’t know if other people will get what they want out of this book.
All in all, its a really good book for if you just started out or are planning on going freelance and haven’t read any in depth books or done any courses about freelancing for creatives. But I don’t know if other people will get what they want out of this book.
June 1, 2022
Incredibly helpful. I ended up with 6 pages of notes with ideas for improving my freelance illustration career. I borrowed this book from my library, but I think I'll be buying a copy for myself to reference.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews