Ilise Benun

Ilise Benun is the author of 7 business books for the “creatively self-employed,” a national speaker and founder of Marketing-Mentor.com. During her 25+ years in business, she has developed and delivered programming for creative professionals, notably as co-founder/host of the Design Entrepreneurship/Creative Business track of HOW Design Live, the largest design conference in the U.S. Her books include "The Creative Professional's Guide to Money," "The Designer's Guide to Marketing and Pricing (HOW Books), "Stop Pushing Me Around: A Workplace Guide for the Timid, Shy and Less Assertive" (Career Press), "Self-Promotion Online," and "Designing Web Sites:// for Every Audience" (both HOW Books) and "The Art of Self Promotion." She also co-authored "Public Relations for Dummies, 2nd Edition" (John Wiley & Sons) with Eric Yaverbaum and Bob Bly. She also has an online store where she sells “tools” to help creative professionals grow their businesses, including: • The Marketing Plan + eCalendar for Creative Professionals • The Pick a Niche Kit • The Proposal Bundle Series (34 sample proposals + best practices) • The Package Pricing Bundle • The Networking Bundle: “It’s Who You Know” Benun is the lead author on 2 blogs: The Marketing Mix Blog and the Creative Freelancer Blog, and publishes a bi-weekly email newsletter, "Quick Tips from Marketing Mentor," which is read by 15,000+. Her work has also been featured in national publications (both online and off), including Entrepreneur.com, HOW Magazine, Toronto Globe and Mail, Inc. Magazine, Nation’s Business, Self, Essence, Crains New York Business, Dynamic Graphics, Working Woman, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Denver Post and more. Since 1993, Benun has been conducting marketing workshops for art schools and trade organizations that cater to creative professionals, including the Freelancers Union, HOW Design Conference, HOW Interactive Conference, Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario (Canada), Graphic Designers of Canada, NY Designs (LaGuardia Community College/CUNY), AIGA, Spark, Graphic Artists Guild, Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), The School of Visual Arts (NYC), Pratt Institute, Kendall College of Art and Design, Sage College of Albany, New Jersey Creatives, Editorial Freelancers Association, International Freelancers Day, International Association of Business Communicators, Business Marketing Association, NYU Entrepreneurship Summit, the 92nd St. Y and many more. (More details here: http://marketing-mentor.com/speaking) From her home office in Hoboken NJ, Benun spends her days coaching creative professionals who are serious about growing their business. She started her business in 1988 and has been self-employed for all but 3 years of her working life. She has a B.A. in Spanish from Tufts University. More info here: http://www.marketing-mentor.com