- Freelance Switch: You have to admit it. You weren’t made to work with all clients so let go of the clients that give you grief. Article doubles as advice for breaking up with a significant other too.
- Six Revisions: Some of the hardest lessons to learn as a freelancer are the business side of things. You will learn the hard way through experience but an article that gives you an outline to the business side of freelancing is a nice shortcut.
- oDesk: While we’re on the subject of the business side of freelancing, you might want to get to know how to do a profit and loss report, you know, just to see if you make money or not.
- Creative Overflow: Just to make sure we exhaust all business topics, feast on a ten step guide to starting a freelance business. Or have a look in case you forgot one.
- The Wealthy Freelancer: Now taking a step away from business talk, we’ll move on the the psychology of freelancing. Pretty interesting read… a few mental blocks that kill your freelancing income.
- Dzine Press: I know, summer is here and distractions are a plenty. Creativity, well, that goes out the window too. So take 7 suggestions to boost your creativity back up.
- 1st Web Designer: Freelancing is a hazardous occupation? Time to check up on that health insurance.
- The Wealthy Freelancer: Freelancing is not college. There is no need to frequently stay up all night to get those projects done.
- Famous Bloggers: OK, so you use Twitter to keep up with friends and mingle with those other like-minded freelancers. Take it up a notch and learn to use Twitter for your marketing too.
- Carson Brackney: If you have your down days as a freelancer, reading this will give you a better appreciation for your career (and others around you).
- Pilot Handwriting: Pretty cool tool for you to save your handwriting digitally and use it wherever the hell you want.
The Week In Freelance: June 25th
Posted: June 25th, 2010
The Week In Freelance: May 21st
Posted: May 21st, 2010
- The Sacramento Bee: Some proof that freelancers are surviving hard economies.
- Noupe: Part of the benefits of freelancing is working whenever you feel like it, working in your pajamas… the list goes on and on. To get anything done, though, you might want to actually treat freelancing like a job.
- Web Worker Daily: Are you the nice type and get the occasional client that tries to walk all over you? Time to even the playing field.
- Mashable: Let’s be honest, most freelancers don’t have a serious budget when it comes to marketing. Zero budget marketing is possible though.
- Small Business CEO: It’s a common assumption that the bid with the best price wins which isn’t always the case. “The company that gets the contract won’t be the one who offers the best price or service. It will be the one who convinces the prospect to cross the “commitment line” and take action.”
- Freelance Folder: While on the subject of bids, it’s the slight differences in your wording that can get a bid accepted or rejected.
- Freelance Switch: Some client lingo that you’d want to get to know.
- Onextrapixel: Still debating whether to take up freelancing full-time or part-time?
- Men With Pens: Freelance burnout happens to us all and can be prevented. But the root cause: “Most often, bad habits are the culprit. Sloppy work habits are far more detrimental than many freelancers realize, and they’re keeping you from rocking out everything you should be able to get done in a day.”
- Life Without Pants: If you haven’t heard of Tony Robbins, he is probably one of the greatest motivational speakers out there. Forget him, though, we have Yoda to show us what real success is.
- The Oatmeal: Remember those Pee Chee folders you use to doodle on in class?
Comments OffThe Week In Freelance: May 14th
Posted: May 14th, 2010
- oDesk Blog: Anybody that works out of his or her home (and doesn’t have pets) knows that it can get lonely sometimes. Ah who are we kidding… A LOT of times. Here are some great ideas to cure freelancer’s loneliness.
- Freelance Folder: Sooner or later, every freelancer makes a mistake. Hey, it happens. Just learn to smooth things over so you don’t lose your client.
- Web Worker Daily: It’s ideal in freelancing to have a passive income stream, or automated income aside from that received from your normal freelance work. Passive income, however, should be looked at as more of a necessity instead.
- Daily Mail (UK): Who knew it would come to this… Facebook and Twitter users are facing higher insurance premiums.
- Copyblogger: If you are losing your motvation as a freelance writer, then get down to what the issue really is.
- Ken Reynolds Design: Once in a while we run into a freelance project that requires a skill we may be lacking. Is it worth it to, say, take up a crash course tutorial in PHP over the internet and dig in or, instead, just outsource the work?
- {grow}: Excellent advice to increase your influence on Twitter from a highly influential user.
- Personal Branding Blog: Want to know what the habits are of the best bloggers out there to increase your brand awareness?
- New York Times: Microsoft Office will soon be free over the internet. I never imagined I would be typing those words, ever.
- CNN Go: Stress killing you? Then you might like to buy one of these. I opted for the feces rocket myself.
The Week In Freelance: May 7th
Posted: May 7th, 2010
- Web Designer Depot: A couple weeks ago they posted 20 reasons you shouldn’t be a freelancer. If you weren’t scared off yet, here’s the follow up on overcoming those 20 reasons.
- Freelance Switch: These days freelancers can find clients without even leaving their homes. Ditching the emails and going back to the old school ways of finding new clients, though, may net you even more.
- Noupe: Has an excellent and nicely detailed article on precisely calculating the value of your web design work.
- oDesk: Web designers take note of eleven red flags that trigger the hire of a new designer.
- Freelance Folder: If you’ve been freelancing a while then you surely run into this dilemma… do you take some time off already? Best reason to do so: “what’s the point of making so much money if you never stop to enjoy it?”
- Rocket.ly: Personally, I still haven’t jumped on the Facebook train. Now I’m convinced this was a good idea after reading this.
- Personal Branding Blog: OK, so you have a Twitter account and a few regular followers you keep in touch with. Now how about taking it to the next level and set up your personal brand on Twitter.
- Copyblogger: In freelancing, you need to sell your services, salesman or not. Therefore, it helps to know how to sell without without being all pushy.
- Web Worker Daily: We need all the good habits we can get. Knowing how to create and maintain good habits may keep you from hanging out on Twitter a tad too long.
- Dumb Little Man: If your work requires creativity, then you know it is difficult to maintain it on a consistent basis. Stepping away from the computer and finding other ways to access your creativity is a start to finding it again.
- Indexed: The reality of freelance projects.
The Week In Freelance: March 26th
Posted: March 26th, 2010
- Freelance Folder: Still looking for clients? Laura shares her five simple tactics for finding clients. As a matter of fact, they are so simple we forget to use them.
- Freelance Switch: One of the biggest fears in raising your freelance rates is the loss of business or backlash from your clients. You’ll learn how to avoid these outcomes and be convinced it’s an absolute necessity after reading this article.
- Freelance Switch: Freelancers have to do their own marketing and eventually learn it to a degree. It might be worth consideration, though, to hire a marketing expert to drum more higher profile clients. Here’s a guide to beginning to work with one.
- CNN: Has an inspiring article on Ruben Gonzales, a 47 year old luger who was the first person to complete in four Olympics in four different decades. “My strength is not athleticism, it’s perseverance, so I thought I’ve got to find a sport with a lot of broken bones, a lot of crashes. Maybe there will be a lot of quitters and I just won’t quit — and that’s why I picked the luge” Some parallels can for sure be drawn to freelancing here.
- Dumb Little Man: I took close to a two week break from this blog and conveniently found this article helpful in getting back to my routine. It works too!
- Zen Habits: I’m one to be extremely dependant on Google but Leo brings up a good point about this dependancy: “But if it’s also in our email, calendars, maps, search, and basically everything we do every day, then there’s no hiding from it. I’m not convinced that using amazing software is worth giving a corporation complete access to my life and my attention.” Maybe it’s time to break our dependance on Google.
- Bit Rebels: Has ten great techniques to get your tweets noticed… all in a good way.
- Copyblogger: This article has a great test to see if you are ready to go places with your blog.
- Insic Designs: And if you are looking for an exhaustive list of tips to become a better blogger, look no further.
- ProBlogger: And, lastly, if you have blogger burnout, take a tip or two on what other pro bloggers have done to combat this.
The Week In Freelance: February 19th
Posted: February 19th, 2010
- Entrepreneur: Has five excellent tips on treating freelancing like a real business (which of course it is). One point I haven’t given much thought to, but should, “Yes, a website is a must and Twitter is a fantastic schmoozing tool [...] But if you can’t list 75 people in your industry you know well enough to invite to coffee–freelancers and staffers alike–you’re missing a critical component of small business marketing.”
- Fast Company: For U.S. freelancers, there is one HUGE disadvantage of freelancing and especially making the jump to it: providing your own health care coverage. Some tales of health insurance for freelancers do not help the cause at all. You can, however, do your part to advocate for better health care coverage for freelancers [Freelance Switch].
- Freelance Switch: One great quote that everyone should listen to: “There is almost never a perfect time to do anything. It will rain on your wedding day, your website won’t be perfect, or your teeth might not be perfectly loose. That won’t matter to you though. You have your goal. You know what’s driving you to find success. You’ll find that success by looking for the least inopportune moment. That’s just another way of saying to find the best possible moment while giving yourself room to make a few mistakes.” Read on for 5 steps to freelancing success.
- ReviewPLS.com: Determining your project pricing is a very inexact science. Sure, you may have your hourly and go by that but, a lot of times, other factors come into play such as the employer’s budget, how bad you need the work, etc. Freelancing your price quotes can take a lot of the guess work out of it.
- Pro Blogger: Here’s a novel idea… if you run into blogger’s block, blog like a cartoonist.
- Consumerism Commentary: If you’re a new blogger, put up dozens of Adsense ads all over your website and are waiting for the loot to roll in, then you may want to read this article on some expectations you might really want to have.
- Pro Blogger: … Then you may want to read the real factors that generate traffic to your blog. Hint, it’s not the Adsense.
- Social Fish: If you’re now still serious about blogging, here’s a handy slideshow to bookmark on the 11 must-do’s for the serious blogger. The tips are spot on.
- Web Worker Daily: Here’s proof that the world won’t disintegrate around you if you happen to take one off from Twitter.
The Week in Freelance: February 25th
Posted: February 5th, 2010
- ReadWrite: Something all freelancers can use… a nice list of legal resources at your disposal. Note that these are primarily geared for U.S. businesses. If you know some other good legal resources outside of the States, feel free to let me know in a comment below.
- Freelance Switch: Has advice for new freelancers as a list of quotes from other seasoned vets. My favorite: “Make sure you are marketing your business every week, even when you are swamped.”
- Freelance Switch: How do you do your bookkeeping, or do you scramble to know if you are are in the red or not? Mary Shaw offers excellent advice… use Outright which is free and simplifies your bookkeeping.
- Freelance Switch: Has 7 elements of a successful website for freelancers. One thing you don’t see on most: post your approximate prices for your services.
- Freelance Folder: Brings up a good point when it comes to client-freelancer relationships: “Freelancers are often handicapped when it comes to creating good client relations. Many of us do most of our work from home. We rarely see our clients face to face and most of our communications are through e-mail. We hope that our clients are happy, but we never have the opportunity to see the expression on their faces or read their body language or hear their tone of voice.” Read on for ways to overcome this.
- Entreprenuer: Has 5 really good business tips for freelancers that you really should be doing anyway. Personally, it’s taken me years to learn these the hard way.
- Psychotactics: Many freelancers have their pet projects to hopefully garner some recognition and fill up the piggy bank. How often do we fail to follow through on them though? Sometimes they even, reluctantly, get scrapped. Sticking to the 70% principle may just keep that project alive and get it done in the near future.
- ProBlogger: While we’re on pet projects, have a read on the reasons that are holding you back from completing them. Lesson: simple, just get it done.
- The New Man: Think your path to freelancing was a rocky one? Have a listen to this (absolutely funny) podcast interview with Esquire writer, Chris Jones, interview with Esquire writer, Chris Jones, and his homeless stint in Arizona.
- Tremendous News: Looking for more Twitter followers? How about seven ways that no one will ever tell you about (cough… laugh).
Comments OffThe Week In Freelance: January 29th
Posted: January 29th, 2010
- Smashing Magazine: Besides those New Year’s goals (or have you forgotten those yet), there is a checklist of those small, forgettable tasks we all need to go through each year. Does updating the copyright date on your website ring a bell? I finally got around to cleaning that grime off of the keyboard keys myself.
- Freelance Switch: Sometimes our careers as freelancers are filled with trials and errors. If you keep on taking the punches, you eventually land on your feet swinging your fists. Here is an inspiring story from Martha Retallick on her journeys through not-so-ideal jobs, schooling at Stanford and how she really found her niche in freelance work.
- Dumb Little Man: Looking for some ways to earn some extra cash as freelancer? And without involving illegal activity? Here are some ideas with insider tips you that might not have thought of.
- Brazen Careerist: There are bound to be some legal issues that arise in your freelance career or you may just have a question on a legal issue concerning your business. Get an answer free through an attorney forum. Note that this serves for businesses in the U.S.
- TutorialAday.com: Has a must-read article on effective pricing for web designers which can apply to other freelancing fields as well. Great for learning to set your boundaries and charging for what you may otherwise not charge for.
- Scott H Young: Has 20 ways to stay productive while working at home. Here’s one tip: GIVE TWITTER A REST FOR ONCE!
- Plugin ID: Glen shares a fear that we can all probably relate to. “I’m afraid of looking back on life when I’m older and seeing nothing but reactivity and missed opportunities.” While, in this case, it relates to blogging, it’s worth a read to put your career in perspective as well. Don’t be that old man or woman who was really the one who came up with Google but had a hangover that day.
- Econsultancy: Do you say any one of these five statements to your clients? They may not like you for it.
- Copyblogger: Writer’s block is a time-killer for writers and bloggers that afflicts us on occasion. It sucks. Period. Have you tried one “foolproof” technique to fight it? Quotes.
- Grace Smith: Has a list of ten freelancing websites that you wish existed (but probably never heard of).