I have yet to adopt the new Facebook Timeline interface. I don’t want to. I’m comfortable with using Facebook the way it is, thank-you-very-much. When I found this post on mashable about how to revert back to Facebook classic, I knew I wasn’t alone in wishing some things would just stay the same.

I know I probably sound like a curmudgeon to you, but honestly, when things I use on a constant basis—like Facebook—go through an “upgrade” it’s all I can do to not pout. They say they are making their product more user friendly, but all change has a learning curve. I’m a busy freelancer, if I don’t have to learn new things I’m fine with it.

I know that I am going to have to use Facebook Timeline in the near future—there’s no getting around it—but I’m not sure I really like the new look. For one thing, I have to scroll down just to see my friend’s status updates. I don’t really care about having a great big photo at the top, either. I think it just takes up valuable real estate.

“We want to design a place that feels like your home. Where you tell story online is very personal. You spend a lot of time curating it. We want to make timeline a place you’re proud to call your home,” Zuckerberg said of the Timeline at the f8 conference. “It’s a completely new aesthetic for Facebook. It gives you the ability to curate all your stories so you can express who you really are.” —huffingtonpost.com

I don’t want Facebook to feel like my home! I want to have an actual life that doesn’t involve a computer or Internet. I want to be able to enjoy a family meal without someone updating their status, or watch a movie without checking wikipedia for “factual”  information. I’m also not all that interested in “expressing who I really am” on Facebook. That’s not what I use it for. Continue Reading

Want to boost your profile? Add additional income streams to your freelancing business? Release your own self published book? It’s time to have a chat with author and freelance marketer Danny Iny.

He quit school at the age of fifteen to start his first freelance web design business. The only problem with it was that it didn’t work. He then tried several other businesses, continually pushing himself. A lot of hard work and devotion paid off.

Soon he saw himself guest lecturing at the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University, making a good income from his blog Firepole Marketing, doing more than 80 guest posts on all the A class websites and co-authoring the book Engagement from Scratch! with well known people like Guy Kawasaki and Brian Clark.

Recently I had the opportunity to pick Danny’s brain. Read on to learn more about self publishing, tips for promoting your freelance business, and boosting your name recognition. Continue Reading

It’s the beginning of the year and things are slow. You are hustling to get work and the work that comes your way you don’t feel you can turn down. By the time summer rolls around, you have been working your butt off and let things—like life outside of your office—go by the wayside.

Having a life outside of your job is incredibly important. Spending time with your family and friends, as well as making time for your hobbies keep you grounded, energized, and overall happy.

I really loved the ideas these entrepreneurs shared with Inc.com on how to get a life outside of your job. Here are more of my favorites:

Communicate Constantly With Your Spouse

Then you will know how to  best support each other. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, says the biggest decision you’ll make in your career is who you decide to marry. I think this has really been true for me. Having a spouse that you know is in your corner is a huge source of comfort and confidence. – Anishiya Taneja, founder and CEO of TravelDNA, a travel planning site.

I would not have the confidence to do what I do if I did not have the support of my  husband. He believes in me, which helps me believe in myself. We can both tell when the other has had a bad day, and we do little things for each other—like cook dinner, do laundry, shovel the snow off our deck—to help each other out.

We also make sure to tell each other when we need an extra hug or quiet time. We both have high stress jobs, so talking about them and being honest with our needs is important. Continue Reading

So, you want to be a freelance web designer? Ah, the glamor of it all.

Your own boss, answering only to the call of your creative muse… get up, feel inspired, do some work, go for a walk, laugh knowingly with other freelancers who have also discovered The Secret of: high profile projects, the big bucks, expensive coffee, conferences in glamorous European cities, laughing at the corporate rats you’ve left behind… enjoying the high life that you so richly deserve. Hurrah!

Or… welcome to a world of uncertainty, of irregular income, of blurred lines between work and home. Where, instead of having just one boss telling you what to do, you have 20 bosses across 3 different time zones who want their logo bigger now, dammit!

The truth lies somewhere in between, of course – but you’re more likely to achieve the success you would like (and the balance you strive for) if you can create a plan and structure for your freelance business early on.

In this post you’ll learn the main issues you need to consider to set up your freelance web design business. Up front though, I’m going to make some assumptions about you – I’m going to assume that you’re motivated to do this. It’s not something you want to fall into by accident.

I’m going to assume that you have some basic skills in web design – that you’ve learned your craft and that you’re ready to promote your services to potential paying clients. And I’m going to assume that you have a little business savvy, a good amount of time, and a real commitment to doing this. Okay? Okay! Let’s get started. Continue Reading

Online job marketplaces are billion dollar businesses today, ducking the recent recession and expanding at a tremendous rate. No wonder then that more and more sites open up every day catering to a small niche of freelancers.

The two biggest general online job marketplaces are Elance and oDesk, but there are many smaller ones which are specialized, offering differentiated options for freelancer. These marketplaces have potential to add value at every stage of a freelancer’s career.

While online job marketplaces are a current trend worthy of your attention, you should consider the pros and cons before investing your time and energy into one. Let’s take a closer look. Continue Reading

Many freelancers are stuck in a rut. We don’t dare pass up work because we aren’t confident it will keep coming in.

We forgo weekend plans and even vacations because we are busy. But guess what? All work and no play leads to burnout.

It’s important not to forget that you do have a life outside of your office space. You don’t have to be stuck in front of a computer forever, just because you are a freelancer.

I came across this article on Inc.com that asked busy entrepreneurs to share their best tricks for coping with the daily grind. While the advice is geared towards start-ups, I’ve added my thoughts on how the advice can be heeded for freelancers. Here are some of my favorites:

Make What Time You Spend With Your Family Count

Drive the kids to school each day and really talk to them without checking your e-mail. Turn off the cell phone entirely when you’re playing with them, or you are watching their games. Don’t think about work during that time. High quality time really counts. – Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail, a visual voice-mail smartphone app.

It’s important to MAKE time to spend with your family. I am a newly married woman without kids, with a husband who is addicted to his iPhone and MacBook. He travels a lot for work, and I have been busy with tradeshows on the weekends. The other night I put my foot down—NO TECHNOLOGY!

We made dinner, rented a movie, and turned our cell phones, iPad, and computers off. Even when Shane wanted to look something up about the movie we were watching, I told him it could wait until tomorrow. And you know what? It did! We paid attention to each other—which is something we both desperately needed to do. Continue Reading

Switched on freelancers know that publicity is good for business. Positive press coverage in newspapers, trade magazines and professional journals can raise awareness of your freelance business, create leads and even fill order books.

One way to reach a larger audience with public relations activity is to get television news or feature coverage for your freelance business. Local TV news shows are always hungry for strong, visual stories with a local angle and also welcome expert interviewees who can comment on business news stories. Becoming an expert interviewee on television will enhance your credentials and publicize your freelance business. Continue Reading

Was your New Year’s resolution to start your own freelancing business? We’re five weeks in—how is it going? I found this article on Freelance: UK that got me thinking about financial issues to consider before taking the big freelance leap. Here are some of their suggestions as well as some of mine. Continue Reading

Here’s the scenario: you give up your job to take up freelancing full time. First, you work in grinding drudgery for a while, until you land a sweet client who not only loves your work, but wants you to do more and more, until you find yourself dedicating 40 hours a week to just that one client. It feels great: stability, steady income, the same work week-after-week, all the things you left your job for…. or was it?

If you’re in this position, or see your schedule starting to line up with one major client, then it’s time to assess the pros and cons of dedicated freelance work. Continue Reading

I had never heard of the freelance-writing online marketplace Contently until I stumbled across this piece of info from the Wall Street Journal:

Freelance-writing marketplace Contently has raised a $2 million Series A round led by Lightbank. Co-founder Shane Snow said he started the company to help resolve some of the business challenges–such as securing a string of new assignments and getting paid in a timely manner–common to many freelance writers. —wsj.com

What does this mean, exactly? Well, it means that Lightbank, a Chicago-based company that help create and fund early stage entrepreneurs, has given a sizeable chunk of venture capital money to an online community that supports freelancers. Lightbank is run by two guys who were the first two angel investors in Groupon. Guess they know a good thing when they see it.

Kinda cool, huh?

I decided to check more into this Contently company and see what it was all about. Their manifesto states, in a nutshell, that they believe in high quality content that is created by experienced journalists and writers, not blather cranked out by content farms. Continue Reading

Every once in a while you need to do freelance work while you’re traveling.

Trying to stay on top of your freelance tasks while on vacation can be stressful, especially if you’re traveling with your partner or family. Trying to find a balance between work and play isn’t easy. It’s important to avoid letting work dominate your holiday time, even when you need to complete assignments while on vacation.

Here are the 9 steps I follow when I’m traveling, but still need to get work done. Continue Reading

Once a week, we feature a fantastic freelance-themed comic from the talented N.C. Winters. Why not also take a look at our comic archive? Continue Reading