(LifeWire) - Overview of this Business:
If you've been considering small business ideas you can work part time, you might consider a desktop publishing small business from home.
Mastering software, meeting deadlines, and making yourself known are the keys to launching a desktop publishing home business. The need for computer-generated documents and publications has never been greater -- but a more computer-literate population is often doing it for themselves. That's where delivering a well-designed product quicker, cheaper or better comes into play.
Among the many tasks desktop publishers perform are producing books, newsletters, magazines, brochures, Internet content and graphic design for logos and signage. Certification can't hurt, but in the freelance world, a portfolio will speak louder than any formal education.
The savvy self-employed learn as they go, marketing what they know and acquiring the applications they'll need on an as-needed basis. Ten percent of desktop publishers in the corporate world make more than $55,000 a year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook.
Desktop Publishing Businesses and Big Cities
Prospects for independent desktop publshing practitioners are better in big cities, where they can charge $15 to $30 a page, and collect enough customers to make a living. A national survey of region-specific fees can be found at several sites, including brennerbooks.com.
Pros of a Desktop Publishing Small Business
Maria Thompson, a mother of three in Irvine, Calif., charges between $25 and $75 per hour, she tells Parenting Magazine. She has designed brochures for real estate agents and helped other work-at-home mothers with their publishing needs. Already the owner of a PC, she spent $200 for supplies and a business license to get started.
If you've been considering small business ideas you can work part time, you might consider a desktop publishing small business from home.
Mastering software, meeting deadlines, and making yourself known are the keys to launching a desktop publishing home business. The need for computer-generated documents and publications has never been greater -- but a more computer-literate population is often doing it for themselves. That's where delivering a well-designed product quicker, cheaper or better comes into play.
Among the many tasks desktop publishers perform are producing books, newsletters, magazines, brochures, Internet content and graphic design for logos and signage. Certification can't hurt, but in the freelance world, a portfolio will speak louder than any formal education.
The savvy self-employed learn as they go, marketing what they know and acquiring the applications they'll need on an as-needed basis. Ten percent of desktop publishers in the corporate world make more than $55,000 a year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook.
Desktop Publishing Businesses and Big Cities
Prospects for independent desktop publshing practitioners are better in big cities, where they can charge $15 to $30 a page, and collect enough customers to make a living. A national survey of region-specific fees can be found at several sites, including brennerbooks.com.
Pros of a Desktop Publishing Small Business
- There's plenty of room for creativity in desktop publishing.
- A desktop publishing small business provides flexibility to build slowly and start part time from home
- There are plenty of niches in which desktop publishers can specialize
- Desktop publishing requires constant effort to stay on top of software updates.
- The rates you charge for your desktop publishing services might have to be low at first to attract customers, especially small businesses, which are typically on tight budgets.
- Juggling estimates with workload reality can be tricky at first.
- Extended time at the computer can lead to overuse injuries, eye fatigue, and back ache.
- A business license, if necessary in your location (typically not).
- The ability to stick to and meet your deadlines. Being known for fast turnaround can attract frantic customers willing to pay higher rates.
- A powerful computer, monochrome and color inkjet and/or laser printers, various paper stocks and a CD/DVD burner to produce hard copies for your clients, are all beneficial tools for desktop publishers.
- Desktop publishing and other software packages that might include Adobe PageMaker, Quark Express or Corel Ventura; Adobe Photoshop or Corel PhotoPaint; and Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw.
- Business cards, advertising and a website to promote and display your work, as for any small business idea you might be considering.
- Attendance at local commerce functions to drum up clientele. Chambers of Commerce and local business groups can really give your desktop publishing small business a boost.
- You can bid for jobs at freelance job board and membership sites such as elance.com and guru.com. You can also exchange information with fellow desktop publishters at desktoppublishers.com forums.
- You'll definitely want to frequent the About: Desktop Publishing site.
- Patience when clients request a do-over or who may seem to be nit-picking. However, when you own your own small desktop publishing business, you do have power to choose which clients you keep and which you decide to jettison, for whatever reason.
Maria Thompson, a mother of three in Irvine, Calif., charges between $25 and $75 per hour, she tells Parenting Magazine. She has designed brochures for real estate agents and helped other work-at-home mothers with their publishing needs. Already the owner of a PC, she spent $200 for supplies and a business license to get started.