The phone calls usually go like this:

Caller: “I want a website for my business.”

You: “What kind of business do you have?”

Caller states the nature of the business, launches into a list of pages that he or she wants on the site, and then asks you for a price quote.

Not a very satisfying encounter, is it?

The caller seems most interested in price, and you? Well, you’re interested in a relationship. As in, the kind that lasts for years.

It might not be possible to have a meaningful relationship with price shoppers, but it’s worth taking the time to learn what your potential clients want in a website. This article will help you create a prospect qualification questionnaire that can be used via telephone or Internet or in face-to-face meetings. Continue Reading

Believe it or not, there was a time when WordPress was regarded as a great blogging platform, but that was all. Build an entire site on it? No way!

Well, that was then, this is now. These days, WordPress is powering some of the biggest names in news, music, fashion, business, politics, and sports. Names like CNN, Jay-Z, StyleWatch, UPS, Wonkette, and Major League Baseball.

Okay, so you’re not a big name. You’re a freelance photographer. And you’re more than invited to join the WordPress party. Here’s how: Continue Reading

You’ve probably heard about the benefits of mastermind groups. Simply put, they’re groups of people who come together to help each other grow their businesses to greater levels of success.

Some are very informal – they get together for lunch and brainstorming once a month. Others are quite formal, with applications before acceptance, hefty dues, and accountability requirements.

Being part of a mastermind group exposes you to ideas that you never would have thought of on your own.

There’s a good reason why such groups exist. Being part of a mastermind group exposes you to ideas that you never would have thought of on your own. And you’ll have a built-in support crew to turn to when things get rough. Better yet, your knowledge and experience can be useful to others. Continue Reading

Around here, Thursday Bram is best known as the one who answers questions sent to Ask FreelanceSwitch.

But did you know that she’s been writing since high school? That she came from a family of entrepreneurs and has always expected to run her own business? And that the deal-breaker between Thursday and the employment world had to do with shoes?

Thursday took a job right out out of college – and it lasted a week and a half. “I can’t wear shoes all day!” she says.

Nowadays, Thursday enjoys her shoeless freelance freedom from her home in a rural area between Washington, DC and Baltimore, Maryland. She hails from a town so small that it’s not even incorporated. There isn’t much more to the place than a post office. Better yet, “There are cows three miles from my house!”

If you could define a beat for Thursday’s article writing, it would be small business and personal finance.

Not what you’d expect from one of the most densely populated areas of the United States.

In addition to handling Ask FreelanceSwitch and contributing well over 100 articles to this site since 2008, Thursday’s writing and blogging credits include CNET, GigaOm, Grow Smart Business, Lifehack, Matter Network, OneVoteMatters.com, Web Worker Daily, and Wise Bread.

If you could define a beat for Thursday’s article writing, it would be small business and personal finance. She knows of what she speaks. Thursday finished her undergraduate degree with a third of the debt of the average student. And she expects to complete graduate school with no additional debt. Continue Reading

True confession: I recently went on an e-mail killing spree.

The objects of my ire were all of those not-so-crucial e-mails that I’d saved under my Gmail account. And I took a certain pleasure in squashing many of them with my Delete key. Ahhh. Nothing like a leaner, meaner Gmail account.

Unfortunately, you can only get so far by killing superfluous e-mails. That’s because a lot of the e-mail in our lives is truly useful. It just needs better management.

Enter Boomerang, a handy add-on for Gmail, Google Apps, and Microsoft Outlook users. It will allow you to:

• Schedule email in Gmail or Outlook
• Track responses to emails
• Schedule recurring email
• Put messages back in your inbox when you really need to deal with them. This is the boomerang function for which the software is named.

Continue Reading

When my father left his industry to become a consultant, he was as much of a business rookie as any of the new freelancers who visit this site. Since we’re talking about the early 1980s, business advice for solo practitioners wasn’t as plentiful as it is today.

So, my dad made the trek down the very long driveway of a highly successful neighbor named Richard. He and his family didn’t just have a house in the neighborhood — they had an estate. That’s where being a world-renowned expert in your field can get you.

During their conversation, Richard offered three rules of consulting success. Continue Reading

Note: A few times a month we revisit some of our reader’s favorite posts from throughout the history of FreelanceSwitch. This article by Martha was first published April 12th, 2009, yet is just as relevant and full of useful information today.

A few years ago, articles of this sort were all about building one’s mailing list.

And we in the design field knew the drill quite well. We’d create a list of likely prospects, design something cool to send out, and then wait for the phone to ring. Sometimes it rang, sometimes it didn’t.

A-a-a-ah, the olden days.

Back then, those spinning business card files bearing the Rolodex brand were like gold. If you are of a certain age, you may remember that strict “Don’t Take the Rolodex with You” policy if you decided to leave Company X.

While you were at Company X, the cards in your Rolodex spent a great deal of time on your desk, waiting for you to give them a spin. Occasionally, they had to be spun into a mailing list, and you may be curious as to how that would happen.

Continue Reading

Are you a graphic designer or copywriter with a disappearing proposal problem?

You know the drill: You find an interested prospect who requests a proposal. You write a masterful proposal – one of your best ever! Then you send it to the prospect and wait for an answer. Which never comes.

It’s as if your proposal has disappeared into a black hole. What did you do wrong?

The answer isn’t as simple as you might like it to be. Proposals fail for a variety of reasons. Which can make reading Marketing Mentor’s Proposal Bundles feel like a painful, but ultimately beneficial, experience. Continue Reading

“Photographer” is one of those professional titles that many people want. And why not? Taking pictures is fun and exciting.

However, reality isn’t so glamorous. According to a report prepared by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), “More than half of all photographers are self-employed, a much higher proportion than for most occupations.” The BLS adds, “Salaried photographers—most of whom work full time—tend to earn more than those who are self-employed.”

In short, what we have is a business that isn’t a hotbed of jobs – or high earnings for those who aren’t employed as photographers. Not a pretty picture.

The BLS continues with the killjoy theme by saying, “Most photographers spend only a small portion of their work schedule actually taking photographs. Their most common activities are editing images on a computer—if they use a digital camera—and looking for new business—if they are self-employed.”

However, similar things can be said about the music business. But people still pick up guitars and start to play. Likewise, the theatrical arts. It’s tough to make it onto the stage or screen, but somewhere, there’s an audition attracting hopeful actors right now.

Okay, so I’ve acted like your parents and given you the “Tough way to make a living, but I know you want to do it!” speech. Now let’s get to work on helping you succeed in the business of photography.

Continue Reading

Have you ever met one of those people who says that they get all of their business by word-of-mouth?

They have no need to advertise. No need to roust themselves out of bed for those early-morning networking meetings. No need to pick up the phone to make a cold call. None of that. They can just focus on doing their work.

One of my relatives fits this description perfectly. He’s been running his remodeling business on word-of-mouth for many years. Some of his clients like and trust him so much that they’ve given him keys to their houses.

However, such admiration and trust did not prevent him from enduring two months without work back in January and February. Good thing that his wife and son both have steady, year ’round jobs, or that family would have been hurting. Continue Reading

You may be committing a portfolio sin without even knowing it.

And what might that sin be? Well, it’s as simple as that stuff that’s keep your portfolio work samples in place. It’s…

…plastic.

In the eyes of art directors, photo editors, and other buyers of creative work, plastic-sleeved portfolios are a serious no-no. So, if you’ve been sending one of those things out into the world, stop and repent.

Your atonement is spelled out – in excruciatingly great detail – in a book called No Plastic Sleeves. It will show you how to build a portfolio that might just get you hired. You can also check out additional material on the No Plastic Sleeves Blog.

Authors Larry Volk and Danielle Currier are both art professors, and their academic perspective does tend to predominate. Many of the book’s portfolio examples come from art students entering the job market, but don’t let that stop you, the experienced freelancer, from delving in. Continue Reading

It’s probably happened to every freelancer. Your friends, relatives, and acquaintances heard about your business – especially your never-ending quest to find and retain good clients – and they try to help.

Sometimes, this help can be just what you need. I can remember when I finished my first-ever website design back in 1996. The client was my father, who was an engineering consultant. He was so happy with his site that he got on the phone and told all of his colleagues about it. The happy result was a nice influx of business for Yours Truly. Two of those colleagues remain clients to this day.

Then there are those helpers who mean well, but let’s just say that their help isn’t terribly helpful. Take, for example, a retired university professor I recently met.

He’s one of those guys who’s forever encouraging his former colleagues to apply for grants, and guess what. If they haven’t applied for those grants already, they probably aren’t going to do so. Continue Reading