Credit: john.schultz on Flickr

I recently attended a University of Arizona business school seminar on corporate entrepreneurship. Which had a whole lot more to do with freelancers than one might think.

Now, I know that the word “corporate” gets strong reactions from many freelancers. After all, quite a few of us escaped from stultifying corporate environments. And now we’re enjoying a life that’s filled with Freelance Freedom.

But here’s where we and the corporate world have something in common: We want our businesses to succeed. And this seminar started off with three things that every business must do:

1. Solve customer problems. What might this three-word sentence mean to a freelancer? If you’re a copywriter, you might be replacing a client’s ineffective website copy with words that sell. Or maybe you’re a logo designer. You target startup companies, many of which have amateurish-looking logos. And you’re able to convince these companies of the worth of a polished, professional look that will serve them well as they seek customers and investors. Continue Reading

credit: by kaibara87 on Flickr

Okay, admit it. You can’t even carry a tune in a bucket. Or perhaps the happiest day of your childhood was when your parents stopped making you take piano lessons.

So, what could you possibly learn from a book written for musicians? Quite a lot!

My own encounter with David Cutler’s new book, The Savvy Musician, happened by chance. I was browsing the library’s new books shelf, and there it was. The Savvy Musician includes vignettes of 165 working musicians who enjoy meaningful and prosperous careers. I’ll admit that I’ve only heard of Anonymous 4 and the Kronos Quartet. Maybe that means that my ears need to get out more.

One thing that these musicians have in common is a high level of skill. And luck. Continue Reading

credit: hito.fr on Flickr

Photography blogs can be great ways to funnel new visitors and potential clients to your photography work. I’ve been photoblogging for almost three years. Here are seven things that I’ve learned: Continue Reading

You’ve no doubt heard that expression, “Don’t burn your bridges.” And, yes, it is a good idea to stay on good terms with former employers. After all, they could become clients.

Well, I’m here to tell you that burning bridges does not deal a fatal blow to one’s freelance career. Here are two stories from the Martha File: Continue Reading

Credit: stevendepolo@Flickr

One of the joys of having your own business is that you get to set the standards. And if you’re interested in getting paid, I’d advise you to start setting them as soon as possible.

Why? Because there are a lot of people who are constantly thinking of new ways to take advantage of freelancers. Here are six recommended standards for your freelance business:

1. Speculative work. Requests for you to do speculative projects seem to be as old as freelancing itself. Simply put, this is being asked to work for free in hopes of landing paying work down the road. Unfortunately, that paying work seldom materializes. So, it’s best to avoid falling into the spec work trap in the first place. Learn how at the NO!SPEC website. Continue Reading

Why bother with a regular newsletter? Because it’s a fabulous way to build relationships with the people who are – or could become – your clients.

Now, you’re probably thinking that, in these days of text messaging and connecting via social networking sites, email has become stodgy and boring. And that no one uses it anymore. Well, it turns out that there’s quite a bit of life left in the old email dog. According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, 89% of American users send or read email. That’s the highest percentage reported in this study. Continue Reading

In Janet Martin’s August 4 FreelanceSwitch article on creative activities, we read about the importance of building new creative muscles.

The end of this article included a list of five suggestions for expanding one’s creativity:

1. Try photography
2. Make something by sewing it or employing another craft
3. Learn stop-motion animation
4. Take a writing class
5. Take a drawing class

These are very good suggestions, but, to me, they don’t go far enough. All too often, we creatives are criticized for not understanding how non-artists work. So, it’s time to break out of our artistic bubbles and explore the rest of the world. And, not to worry, there are plenty of friendly tour guides out there. Continue Reading

Image courtesy of johnnyberg @ SXC

Aw, darn. After writing what I thought was a bang-up proposal for a ready-to-buy client, I get word that he’d rather do a basic website himself.

This, despite the fact that he’d already said that he wanted to present a professional image of his organization to grant funders. I seriously doubt that, by going the DIY route, that he’ll create such an image.

So, what’s a freelancer to do, especially after you thought you qualified that prospect to the point that you didn’t think that he or she would have any second thoughts? For starters, learn how to sell yourself. Here are four ideas for selling your services to would be do-it-yourselfers: Continue Reading

So, there you are, working away on a project, and oh, is it a good one. You’re having fun, the client’s loving your work, and then…

…the whole thing comes to a screeching halt.

A quick glance through my Projectus Interruptus file shows the following:

1. A university department’s website redesign gets scuttled because the college’s website redesign is going on at the same time, and guess what? As part of this effort, each department gets a new site too. That sure was news to the department head I’d been working with. What’s worse, he liked my new design a lot better than the college’s.
2. The company’s two head honchos can’t agree on what they want their product logos to look like, so they kill the entire logo design project.
3. Another university department’s brochure design has to be approved by the college. And the college dean’s office informs the department head that their ad agency is already working on a brochure. He was just as surprised as the department head mentioned in the first item.

Whether it’s disagreements among your clients, out-of-the-blue budget cuts, or simultaneous design efforts that your client didn’t know about, the end result is the same: You’re out of work. Continue Reading

In my previous article, I offered tips on how to read business books — and profit from them. At the end of that article, I mentioned the 12-part action plan that I’d just created. It follows the 12 chapters from Steve Slaunwhite, Pete Savage, and Ed Gandia’s new book, The Wealthy Freelancer. (Not read it? Read our book review.)

Since my plan’s rather lengthy, I’ll summarize it here. Each of the book’s chapters offer a Wealthy Freelancer secret, and here are the three that really got my attention: Continue Reading

Business slumps. Sometimes they come on suddenly. Like when your biggest client decides to stop using your services, and you’re left high and dry.

Or they sneak up on you through a series of unfortunate events. For example, you just submitted a big proposal, but you didn’t get the job. Then there’s that project you were hoping to promote so you could gain more business. Well, it ends up taking forever, and, once you’ve handed your completed files over to the client, it doesn’t get launched. What’s worse, you’re finding that many of your clients are taking their sweet old time about paying you, and you’re draining your savings in the meantime.

Whether it came on suddenly or sneakily, the end result is that your freelancing business is in a slump. Continue Reading

If you’ve been to a bookstore or library lately, you’re quite aware that there’s no shortage of business books. However, you probably have a shortage of time for reading them. As an avid reader and freelancer, I’m going to give you some tips on how to read books about business — everything from small business books to advice from Fortune 500 CEOs.

1. My first tip will probably seem like it’s brain-dead obvious, but here it is: Be Selective. There aren’t enough years in your career for reading all of the “important” business books. So, be ruthless about what you add to your shopping basket at the bookstore or online, or even as you browse through the shelves at your local library.

In addition to being ruthless, decide if you want to be a generalist or a specialist in your reading. You may decide, like I just did, that you need to get up to speed on finance in a hurry. Time to become a specialist.

However, this doesn’t rule out becoming a generalist at a later date. After all, there are only so many worthwhile books on any business topic. Continue Reading