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.

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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.

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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

Among creative freelancers, Steve Pressfield is well-known for a book called The War Of Art. A nice title to wave in the face of someone who thinks that we enjoy an easy life.

Now he’s back with another tough-talking title: Do the Work. With the subtitle “Overcome Resistance and get out of your own way,” you can pretty well guess that this book isn’t about what’s out there. Nope. It’s about you and how you resist doing the things you need (or want) to do. Continue Reading

Like a lot of freelancers, I do a bit of volunteering in my community. All of it has been with established organizations.

That changed during an impromptu outdoor meeting on a muggy July morning. I was part of a group of neighbors who were talking about street flooding during rainstorms. Not the sort of conversation that you’d expect for a desert city like Tucson, Arizona, but take it from me: When we get rain, our streets can turn into raging rivers. Or lakes.

Our conversation focused on solutions to street flooding. And, since this is a desert, we don’t want to send scarce rain water whooshing away. We’d like it to stay around and nourish trees and shrubs that will shade and cool our city. Call it water harvesting – we in Tucson do!

Just about everyone arrived at this meeting on their bicycles, and the group was curious about what’s been happening on the water harvesting front. So, I suggested a bicycle tour of public water harvesting projects. The group thought that was a great idea.

Read on to discover how haphazard an event can come together and still be successful. Or jump to the bottom to read through five lessons learned, which will help you organize your next event. Continue Reading

Bike-tography: Combining Bicycling with Photography

Back in July, I wrote a review of Publish Your Photography Book by Darius Himes and Mary Virginia Swanson.

I finished that review by saying, “If you’d rather shun the commercial publishing route and travel the do-it-yourself road, be prepared for quite the learning experience. Because you’re not just in charge of producing the book. You’re also in charge of promoting it.”

This is the story of what happens when you actually travel the do-it-yourself road. I’m here to tell you that yes, it is quite the learning experience. Continue Reading

Credit: diego_cervo on Photodune

Back in the 1980s, when self employment was rare and stigmatized, it was difficult to get a lot of things that we modern-day freelancers take for granted.

Take credit cards, for example. When my father left his job in his industry and started a consulting practice, he couldn’t get a credit card on his own. My schoolteacher mother had to cosign for him.

These days, it’s hard to go to the mailbox without getting at least one piece touting a business credit card. Looks like the credit card industry loves self-employed people after all.

Then there are those office supply warehouse stores. You probably have at least one in your town – and they’re not targeting the Fortune 500. They’re targeting us.

It seems that the rest of the world has discovered us – and our money – in a big way. One of the big growth areas is investments. As a self-employed professional, you’ll encounter quite a few sales pitches for investments. Some will be worth pursuing. Some aren’t.

And then there are those that aren’t even investments. Such as life insurance.

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As the unemployment rate in many industrialized countries continues to languish in double digits – or close to it – government policy makers are devising all sorts of programs that will put people back to work. Most, if not all of them, focus on the creation of jobs.

Now, since this is FreelanceSwitch, the j-word is something that provokes a rather strong reaction. Many of us have not had the happiest of experiences with conventional employment. And we’re not going back to the job world unless it kidnaps us. Which is unlikely to happen.

But when it comes to the world’s economic recovery, we’re anything but a sideshow. If anything, we’re a major part of the solution. To the point, we’re building a new economy.

This article takes you on a tour of three of this freelance economy’s major features. Continue Reading