The first few years of my career as a freelancer, I figured that an in-person meeting was logical in order to get jobs. After all, not everyone is comfortable hiring someone they have never met face-to-face.

And it does make sense for clients to want to meet with a prospective freelancer, but I have come to observe the same thing with most face-to-face meetings: They don’t land the work for me.

At first, I thought it was me; that I wasn’t getting the jobs because I didn’t present myself well in person or did not do enough to hook the client. Perhaps my portfolio was lacking, I figured. But after finding out that many of the people I met with had postponed their project or still have yet to complete it, I’ve realized that there has to be more to it. It’s them…the prospective clients.

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I used to have an accountant who was fond of asking the following question: Is it making you money?

That question had a way of stopping me in my tracks. It forced me to think about what I was doing with my time. And what I needed to be doing.

I’m reminded of Helga the Accountant’s question whenever I read or hear the latest buzz about social networking. I can’t help thinking that all the time spent on Facebooking, Twittering, Linking In, etc., might be better spent on other things that might actually lead to sales.

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The Most Powerful Way to Presell Any Product or Service:

“Preselling is the art of conditioning potential customers and making them more likely to buy products/services. It is usually performed at your website before you send the visitor over to the vendor’s store or landing page. The goal of all presell tactics is to get prospects into a frame of mind whereby they not only feel comfortable about making a purchase but desire to do so.”

25 Creative Retro Styled Website Designs:

“My goal is to make sure the showcase posts that I create are ‘out of the box‘ and something that will spark your creativity. So, in this article I am going to showcase 25 creative websites that have a retro theme. They range from the use of old-time photos to retro patterns, colors and graphic elements. I hope you enjoy it ”

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If you tell someone that you’re going into business for yourself, he may ask to see your business plan — unless you tell him that you’re planning to freelance. There’s a certain assumption that freelancing is so plain and simple that anyone can do it, with no business plan needed.

But is it really true that a freelancer shouldn’t bother with a business plan? There are thousands of freelancers, after all, who started taking on clients without even thinking about writing a business plan. Nobody seems to have suffered from that approach. However, there are a few steps along the way that are significantly easier when you have a business plan in hand.

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I learn better when I’m active as I read. I love to have a pen or highlighter in my hand when I study. It helps me identify points of reference and make outlines of the subject material to get a better grip on a topic. Diigo helps me to do all of that on the Worldwide Web, and version 4.0 has just been released, adding features and making the experience even better. Continue Reading

I’m going to share a not-so-nice secret about some website designers. We’re creators, not maintainers. Some of us look forward to maintaining websites about as much as we look forward to a tax audit.

So, what’s a client to do? Organizations change. Information changes. Which means that websites need to be updated. How’s it going to get done?

The answer is something called a Content Management System (CMS). It will allow your clients to maintain the website without the need to call in an outsider. The clients simply log into the CMS, which looks like a cross between a browser and a word processor, make the needed changes, and then they’re done.

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Over the last ten years the face of marketing has undergone some major changes. What was once a craft dedicated to blasting your message to as many people as possible through traditional mass media, has had to adjust to media savvy customers who no longer want to spend their time watching another Dairy Queen commercial.

The Web has played a major role is this marketing shift, and Site Point’s recent book Online Marketing Inside Out helps introduce some of the core areas available for promoting your business online.

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How Increased Productivity Can Hurt You:

“A big part of being awesome in the workplace is being highly productive. Any time we can get more done in the same amount of time means greater profitability for you personally and the company you work for. Since profitability is ultimately what business is about, increased productivity is a big focus for any organization.”

The History of Web Browsers:

“The tools that we use to browse our favorite websites has a (relatively) long and rich history rife with battle for market shares and dominance. This is a look into the past major events in the browser history.”
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For just over three fantastic years FlashDen has been the jewel in Envato’s crown. It is our longest running and most active community, and thanks to the amazing authors who showcase their work there, has become the largest marketplace for Adobe Flash files in the world with over 8,500 items for sale.

Last week Adobe asked us to change our name and URL so that it would no longer contain the term ‘Flash’, which is a registered trademark of Adobe. We know that the success of our sites is about the community and content, not the names. So here at Envato HQ we’ve been busy thinking up new names and we think we’ve found a great new home for both our marketplace and our Tuts+ blog on Flash.

As of today the two sites now live at ActiveDen and Activetuts+. Continue Reading

If you visit most freelancers’ websites these days, you’ll find a blog, links to various networking sites and other signs of social media marketing. There are freelancers who spend hours perfecting their LinkedIn profiles and blog posts (I know — I’m one of them). But at some point, we each have to ask whether social media is really bringing us new clients.
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