In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, Travis King and Thursday Bram look at how to clock your time and how to register your business.

Ask FreelanceSwitch is a new regular column here that allows us to help beginners get a grip on freelancing. If you have a question about freelancing that you want answered, send an email to askfreelanceswitch@gmail.com.

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Much of the talk about public relations focuses on how you can get the news media to cover your business. If it’s good coverage, then it may have a positive effect on your sales.

However, getting good coverage can burn up a lot of time and energy that might be put to better use. Instead of courting the media, you could be courting potential clients.

However, this is not to say that public relations is best left to big companies with deep rosters of established clients and the ample cash needed for hiring outside firms to manage PR campaigns. There are simple PR steps that your freelance business can take. Here are five: Continue Reading

Ever had someone find out that you’re a freelancer and say, “Can I just pick your brain?” If you agree, that person will probably ask you a whole stack of questions about how you work and how you would complete certain projects. More often than not, it’s someone who probably could use your services, although if he gets answers to all of his questions, you may never seem him again. If you’re lucky, the brain-picker in question may by you a cup of coffee in the process, but it’s not exactly easy to walk away from these situations with a new client. People who “just want to pick your brain” want to be able to replicate what you do, preferably without paying for the privilege.

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Most creative partnerships begin in very organic ways. You meet at a conference or bump into each other at a local co-working space and hit it off. You realize your work styles align and that your skill sets are complimentary. It’s time to pick a name for your dream agency!

Or is it? Not every freelancer wants to own an agency. There are many reasons why freelancers decide to team up. Among them,

• Specialization – A creative partnership may enable those involved to spend more time doing what they love most and do best.
• A credibility boost – Working with other respected freelancers increases your credibility as an individual.
• Greater income – Combining forces makes bigger projects possible. With those bigger projects comes the potential for significantly bigger paychecks.

But how do you get that and everything else you’re hoping to get from your new creative partnership? Continue Reading

Your portfolio is one of the most important promotional tools you have, no matter what kind of freelance work you do. It’s one of the the first things that a client will look at before choosing you for the job. You’ve got to make it good.

Three tips from Carbonmade‘s co-founder and design guy, Dave Gorum, to get the ball rolling:

Quality over quantity.
I understand the desire to have a robust portfolio, bursting at the seams with gold star work. Fact is, the majority of folks can’t pull this off and it’s not something you can fake. A thin portfolio with a few solid pieces never turns me off. Looking through 20 ad banners does.

Show off your potential.
Apart from talent and expertise, potential is the biggest thing I look for. It’s not as tangible as the other two, but you can design your portfolio around it. Highlight your most ambitious pieces. I drool over the prospect of finding and hiring a designer with untapped potential.

Don’t make me ask.
Nothing drives me battier than looking through a portfolio of top shelf work and having no idea what you did on each project. See, I’m lazy, and playing 20 questions seems like a big hassle. Be up front with me and I’m that much closer to hiring you.

It’s your turn to tell us what makes your portfolio a success. Tell us your portfolio tips in the comments, and the best three tip-givers will win a free Carbonmade Whoo! account. Whoo! is Carbonmade’s premium offering, giving you room for up to 50 projects, 500 images and 10 videos in your online portfolio–without the hassle, money and time you’ll need to spend getting your own designed, coded and live.

The rules are as follows:

• Envato and Carbonmade staff are not eligible to compete.
• Entries must be submitted by 9am on Friday the 30th of April, Australian Eastern Standard Time.
• Judging will take place at the end of competition. The winners and their tips will announced on the site.
• Only one comment per user–if you submit more than one, your first comment will be considered your real entry.
• All decisions are final.
• Comments that are taken down for any reason are not eligible to be counted.

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I read a series of great articles by Jaan Orvet and Andreas Carlson (“Strategy Basics: It’s Really About Having A Plan” and its follow-up, “Strategy Basics: Getting Your Clients Ducks In A Row“) on Carsonified’s Blog called “Think Vitamin” and on the importance of having a sound plan for a successful project. This is basic project management logic, but so often when we start a project the client has not fully developed what they want to do as well as many of the details of how to accomplish it.

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I recently had a project that did not end well. In a nutshell, the client refused to work with me to revise his copy and simply insisted he didn’t like it. He didn’t even give me the chance to improve upon it. Without his effort, I was left to retort to the middleman who brought us together. Even though that relationship blossomed because we both realized this particular client wasn’t our ideal type, I was still left with a bad taste in my mouth regarding the sour client.

Sometimes, you work with people that refuse to work with you. They give you little direction and expect miracles. And even when you flex your customer service muscle and offer to help, there’s no getting through to this type of person. Or you may have worked with a client that treated you poorly.

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For freelancers, the question of how to price your services is always up for debate. Should you charge by the hour or per project? What should your hourly rate be? What type of payment terms should you require? The answers to these questions will vary based on your industry, your reputation, and your personal preferences for your business. But there is one thing that I believe should factor into every pricing decision you make:

Price your services based on value. Continue Reading

In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, Travis King and Thursday Bram look at dealing with the hidden project approver and how to make connections.

Ask FreelanceSwitch is a new regular column here that allows us to help beginners get a grip on freelancing. If you have a question about freelancing that you want answered, send an email to askfreelanceswitch@gmail.com.

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Photo by JSmith Photo.

Most business models can attest to the power of a buzz piece. This marketing tool provides valuable information for prospective clients, the ability to transform readers into customers and a ton of exposure. So if you don’t have one, you should absolutely consider it.

Here’s what you need to know about buzz pieces.

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