What does Jim Cramer’s book have to do with learning the freelance writing game? Simple–here’s a guy who you’d never identify with freelance writing dispensing his stories of what it took for him in the earliest days of his career to learn the ropes and succeed in spite of the odds.

He wasn’t writing, he wasn’t editing, he was trying to make it in the fast paced world of Wall Street. And his struggles are suspiciously similar to the uphill battles those new to freelancing deal with. From that perspective, Cramer’s book is quite inspirational.

You can learn a lot by studying stuff like this, but also by taking lessons from freelancers in other professions. How does a graphic designer set her fees? What’s a designer’s time worth by the hour? Per project? Can you translate their experience to your own? You bet you can–the things all freelance workers have in common is a need to put a price on their time, how to manage that time, how to convince a prospective client to take your resume seriously, the lot.

Study more established freelancers and you’ll find some consistent themes in all of them–the ability to finish a project on time, on or under budget, and without excuses for why things went wrong. When they do go wrong, how do these successful freelancers handle the issues? I personally like to read about how photographers, graphic designers, even professional thieves conduct themselves in when they’re on the clock. Trust me on the professional thieves front–they’re much more fascinating and informative than you might expect. Even ripoff artists need discipline and a clear head to make it in their chosen profession.