For a little while now, I’ve been planning on doing a series of tutorials on the ins and outs of freelancing. The problem is where do you start? It made perfect sense to start from the beginning and continue in a natural progression, a la just make a big goddamn tutorial.
I have to give credit to ProBlogger after completing their brilliant 31 Days to Build a Better Blog and Skellie’s awesome post on 30 Days to Be a Freelancer for helping me get the ball rolling on this. For the record, there is no intention of taking Skellie’s post and “sprucing it up” but rather use the daily format which, in my opinion, makes for a better tutorial. I’m adding ten days more anyway so nyeh.
Setting aside one day to learn a subject, then doing a small specific task eventually adds up to getting a lot done after forty days. Freelancing can be overwhelming at the start but taking it day by day and task by task can get you a real jump on your career before you know it. I’ll even give you the weekends off so you can Twitter and drink beer or be a good student and catch up on the tasks assigned to you.
Table of Contents:
- Day 1: Full Time Or Part Time, That Is The Question
- Day 2: Know Thy Market
- Day 3: Define Your USP
- Day 4: Create Your Business Plan
- Day 5: Become Your Inner Coca-Cola
- Day 6: Bookkeeping For Dummies
- Day 7: The Essentials For Freelance Work
- Day 8: Assembling The Portfolio
- Day 9: Taking The Portfolio Online
- Day 10: Shameless Self Promotion
- Day 11: An Introduction To Job Boards
- Day 12: Project Bids, The Ticket To Getting Freelance Work
- Day 13: How To Win Projects And Influence Your Piggy Bank
- Day 14: Project Pricing, Not Quite An Exact Science
- Day 15: Time Tracking… Proof You’re Not Goofing Off
- Day 16: A Document That Will Save Your Ass
- Day 17: Invoicing, The Polite Way To Ask For The Cash
- Day 18: The Grand Opening To Your Career
- Day 19: Why You Need To Blog As A Freelancer
- Day 20: Twitter, Stumbleupon and Freelancing
- Day 21: Do Not Treat Freelancing Like a J-O-B
- Day 22: Project Management Tools (Until You Get a Secretary)
- Day 23: The Rights and Wrongs of Client Communication
- Day 24: Never Forget To Ask These Two Questions
- Day 25: Uh Oh, I Just Made A Mistake
- Day 26: Common Freelancing Mistakes To Avoid
- Day 27: Upselling to Clients… Without Being a Salesman
- Day 28: Now Is About Time For That Website
- Day 29: Setting Up Your Own Blog
- Day 30: A Little SEO To Promote Your Website
- Day 31: What On Earth Do I Write In My Blog
- Day 32: Networking, Or Schmoozing With Your Fellow Freelancers
- Day 33: Take Advantage Of Other Freelancing Resources
- Day 34: Small Daily Tasks That Pay Off
- Day 35: Special Offers: The Tried And True Method To Drum Up Business
- Day 36: Stepping Outside of The Box
- Day 37: Passive Income
- Day 38: Freelancing Zen
- Day 39: Just In Case You Run Into Trouble
- Day 40: Congratulations, You Made It
And while we're on the subject...
Twitter Trackbacks for Freelance In 40 Days: Introducton - The Freelance Rant [freelancerant.com] on Topsy.com
August 22nd, 2009 at 2:56 am[...] Freelance In 40 Days: Introducton – The Freelance Rant http://www.freelancerant.com/2009/08/21/freelance-in-40-days-introducton – view page – cached Starting next week, The Freelance Rant will bring you Freelance in 40 Days, a series over the next eight weeks on going from zero to freelancing like a pro. — From the page [...]