Shooing Your Work Demons: Time-Wasting Activities
Whether you freelance or not, if you’re like many working adults, you probably find yourself wishing there was more time in the week. If you work at home, time has an unusual way of slipping by. (I’m probably less productive now than when I worked in an office somewhere, though there are several other factors at play.) At the end of the week, you might be wondering why you didn’t get more work done, as might your clients!
Recognizing Your Work Demons
With all the web technologies out there, it’s tough for web workers in particular to keep up, and sometimes bad online habits can become very addictive. These could be some of the things that are holding you back from freelance success. Continue Reading
Making the Switch Despite the Economy: Why it is Sooo Good
You know that commercial where the two girls sit around eating their yogurt and talking about how “it is sooo good?” Yeah, I hate that commercial.
But you know what? Freelancing in the U.S. economy has been good to me lately.
“It’s like, $4.00 a gallon gas good!”
“No, no, it’s like write-off your new laptop good.”
Kind of like that.
Thinking of making the freelance switch? Here are a couple reasons why you should buck up and go for it, recession and all. Continue Reading
Freelancers: Here’s Why You Need a Blog
Everyone with a blog, please raise your hand.
Alright, those of you with hands up can leave the classroom and hit the bar early. The rest of you, stay here, because this lesson is important.
Lets start with the quick summary of what a blog is. Short for Weblog, a blog is a website that displays posts by the author in chronological order. Their popularity is immense since most blogging platforms make it insanely simple for anyone to publish their thoughts on the web.
You’re reading one right now.
But why do freelancers need one? Continue Reading
The World’s First Freelance Camp
Come hang out August 16th in the amazing coastal city of Santa Cruz, California (bring your beach towel)!
Freelance Camp is a place to discuss and explore the different approaches to running a successful freelance business / small service company. The event is FREE and we even feed you (thanks to our very cool sponsors). Come ready to learn, and if you are up to it, ready to talk!
The event is capped at 150 people, so sign up quick if you can make it.
More information after the jump! Continue Reading
Why Freelancers Need Multiple Skills: Handling the Feast or Famine Phenomenon
We all know the old saying, “Jack of all trades, master of none.” But is there anything wrong with being very good at one thing and not too bad at a few other things? As a freelancer, are you a specialist or a generalist?
In some countries, being a specialist is more honored, but I’m a generalist. As a freelancer, I think it’s a necessity to be a generalist. In fact, if you’re a web-working freelancer, it’s a key to freelance career success in a global market. It’s what will keep you out of the feast or famine phenomenon.
I’m talking about having one or two core skills that you are (or will) become very good at, and a few sub-skills that you pay less attention to for now. For example, if you write, it’s worthwhile to have another skill — maybe podcasting. If you’re a designer, learn to code blog platforms too. If you’re a coder, learn to be a technical writer or maybe create screencasts to teach the use of your code. If you’re a consultant, learn how to be a trainer, as well. Always prioritize your specialty skill first, but make sure you have other skills to fall back on. Continue Reading
Conference-orama: Creative Freelancer Conference
Do you live in Chicago?
Could you get there?
The Creative Freelancer Conference, slated for August 27-29, 2008 in Chicago and presented by HOW Magazine and Marketing-Mentor.com, is the first business conference for “creative solopreneurs,” serving graphic, web and interactive designers, photographers, copywriters, illustrators and anyone else who is committed to making a freelance life work.
A panel of creative-business experts, led by Ilise Benun and Peleg Top, will share best practices for pricing, marketing, building client relationships, crafting proposals and contracts, maintaining a work/life balance and other skills critical to freelance success.
All in all, it sounds like a great excuse to get out of the house, learn some things and network (read: booze) with other freelancers!
Creative Freelancer Conference
August 27-29, 2008
Hyatt Regency Chicago
http://www.CreativeFreelancerConference.com
Early Bird Registration ends July 15th.
Check out the www.CreativeFreelancerBlog.com for tips and techniques too!
When Passion Meets Purpose—Turning Your Interests into Profits
Want to turn your personal interests into a booming career? That’s what Ian MacKenzie had in mind when he started his career as a new media producer.
A jack-of-all-trades, Ian recently finished producing the web series OneWeekJob.com, where a friend worked one job a week for a year. He creates citizen journalism pieces for the new portal VancouverIAM.com, and completes freelance web development projects for companies as well.
The Vancouver resident also blended his love of travel into a profitable enterprise known as BraveNewTraveler.com. I found Ian’s zest for making his passion profitable to be refreshing. He also works from home with his wife, which I know is something that many freelancer’s grapple with.
Overall, I think you’ll enjoy his perspective on things! Continue Reading
Learning When to Say No
We’ve all said yes to freelance gigs that, in retrospect, we wish we’d said no to. Bad clients, bad pay, bad projects. Ouch, ouch, ouch.
We’ve also had great projects that make us thank goodness we’re freelancers: jobs that cause us to look upon the poor 9 to 5 lemmings with a mixture of pity and smugness.
But how do we tell the difference between the good projects and the bad projects? When the phone rings with a new gig our first instinct is to say yes, but how do we ensure that we’re making a wise decision? Continue Reading
Freelance Radio, Episode 16: ORE-GONE
The sixteenth episode of Freelance Radio, the official FreelanceSwitch podcast, is now available! It’s our third mailbag episode–all reader/listener mail, all the time!
Subscriptions to the podcast are available via iTunes and an archive of all podcasts will appear in the podcast section. We hope you enjoy it!
20 Hot Client Industries That Hire Freelancers
With the coming recession, I get a lot of questions about whether it will be increasingly difficult for freelancers to get new clients and, more importantly, projects that pay appropriately.
Over the past eight months, the following industries have proved extremely lucrative for freelancers. I categorize them into Spheres.
The Extreme Sphere
The industries in the extreme sphere are those that are currently crashing or booming. Why would a crashing industry be a good industry to find clients in?
If you’re a freelancer, you’re less expensive and easier to handle for a struggling entrepreneur or business than an employee would be. Additionally, if you provide marketing services or can help them secure a presence online, they need you. Continue Reading
