Should You Hire Employees or Contractors for Your Freelance Business?
Freelance business owners often struggle with the question of whether to hire a contractor or an employee. Many claim that contractors are the way to go, hands down; still others have only hire employees and claim they would never do anything different. So, what should you do when faced with this decision? Is there one that is better over the other, overall, or does the “right” choice depend on your type of small business?
When mulling over this decision, it is important to realize that you actually need to consider four simple questions. Answer these questions specifically to your business and you will be better educated and more confident in your choice between hiring employees or contractors as a freelancer. Continue Reading
10 Core Financial Tips for Freelancers
As a freelancer, you are on your own when it comes to keeping track of your finances. And let’s face it, the financial side of things are generally the last thing we want to mess with at the end of a day. As painful as it might be to some, we all have to take our financial future into our own hands.
This doesn’t have to be as time-consuming or frustrating as you may expect, however. A little planning can go a long way. Let’s take a deep breath and look at sure-fire ways to get the most out of your finances. Continue Reading
6 Tips for Designing a Promotion Worthy Business Card
You might not always know when an opportunity for networking or the chance to expand your client base will present itself. Incorporating personalized business cards into your professional and personal marketing efforts is a positive way to ensure opportunities will not be missed.
But before you can promote, you need a well-designed business card.
There are many options when considering what information should be included on your business card. The choices you select should clearly represent your brand or business, but there are many different techniques available. Continue Reading
Top Tips for a Safer Client Contract
So you finally got a call back and that client is ready to move forward with working with you! Great! Now it’s time to get down to business.
How do you make sure you get paid for the work you do? We all hate this part, but the nuts and bolts of a business relationship are the foundation for freelance success. It’s time to make a contract.
This is a part of the freelance gig that most of us all hate with a passion. Let’s face it – not too many people enjoy having to go through the process of reviewing and signing a contract. Unfortunately, it’s a necessary part of doing business.
In the context of a “safer” client contract, the temptation is to automatically jump to the idea of an “airtight” contract that covers every possible situation or scenario. For the most part, that’s just not the case.
Cheap But Effective Digital Office Solutions for Starting Your Small Business
Oh, where to begin? The cost of starting your small business can be expensive. Everything from office space, to business card printing, to a website all have to be purchased during the beginning years of your startup.
One of the expenses that you’ll deal with is computers and software purchases. These costs can go into the six figure range if you have as few as 25 employees. Even for solo professionals it represents a major investment that has little to no resale value.
This article discusses some alternatives to common software solutions that are free and offers premium solutions for when you are ready to upgrade.
Is Social Media Marketing Worth All the Effort?
Social media marketing is one area of marketing that some organizations question, especially since the true impact of social media marketing can be elusive.
With all the changes to the way social media marketing takes place, businesses are reasonably concerned with whether or not social media marketing is worth the hassle?
To be fair, we all know social media can work. But is it worth the effort compared to other marketing methods, such as web banners or even more traditional approaches like postcards.
To answer this question for your website and business you have to take a long, hard look at your goals.
Social media does one thing better than any other marketing media: it generates word of mouth. If this is the best way for you to sell your company and the most efficient for driving traffic, then social media will be well worth the effort.
Getting Started with White Paper Marketing
A powerful way to build trust and rapport is to develop authoritative and informative white papers.
Learn what a white paper is, several techniques for marketing with white papers, and tips for getting a white paper published.
With a little work, you can connect with customers on an entirely new level than a blog or website article, even if this is only due to the perception of white papers being at a higher level of expert status.
15+ Best Desktop Publishing Resources and Beginner Tips
Desktop publishing has become a critical business skill today, and the use of the Internet means that creation of print content is no longer the only consideration.
Now the documents you create likely have to be displayed in both print and on the web.
This article looks at how to determine the right tools for the job, as well as resources for getting the best possible desktop publishing results (such as where to find the best free desktop publishing fonts).
No matter what the final format, never forget that quality content is the primary goal, and following a proven desktop publishing process will result in higher quality results.
It’s easy to get distracted with the technical side of desktop publishing layouts. The real key is to communicate your information effectively. No matter how well-designed, how great the layout, and how clever the typography selection — if you don’t get the important information to the right people, nothing else matters.
Jump into this article and learn desktop publishing tips that will give your work the professional edge.
Freelance Toolkit: How to Get Started Video Blogging
It was just a few years ago when the major bottleneck for websites was producing content — you had to be an expert in web design AND a good writer to put content on the web. Video production was even more difficult with bandwidth issues, dozens of formats to consider, and that doesn’t even include the cost of shooting, editing, and post-production.
Today is completely different. Content is incredibly easy to publish, both written and video. Now that’s not to say it’s particularly quality content, but it’s definitely easier than ever. And the biggest opportunity for freelancers is to start producing video.
Video content is much easier to get to rise to the top of Google rankings, especially when you post your videos to YouTube and use their code on your site. Give it a shot. Run any how-to search; if there is quality, relevant video available, these will be at the top of the results.
If you’re strongly considering getting going with some video work, here are some ideas to get you started, and don’t forget to check out the resource links at the end of this article, especially if you would like to try out any of the tools recommended inside.
6 Steps to Focus Your Blog Content to Your Target Audience
Credit: PriamLimited on Photodune
Maybe you are about to launch a blog or possibly considering how to focus your content to draw a specific customer. Content consumers – your customers – are looking for something when they come to your blog. Do you deliver? How do you know?
In this article we discuss techniques so you can gear your blog content to your target audience. With a solid plan and a little legwork, you can focus your content and capture a more pinpointed audience. To do this, you must follow six clear steps.
