If you are a solopreneur, branding yourself is key. You want to make a statement and interest people while being true to who you are as a person and a professional. No matter your niche, creating a brand for yourself is important! But how do you do that as a freelancer and not be, well, boring? I found an article on Entrepeneur.com that gave some great ideas.

Be Visual

Take a second and think about logos—what ones stand out in your mind? That adorable apple with a bite taken out of it? The swoosh that signifies Nike? That little Twitter bird? These logos are simple, and that’s what makes them memorable.

She named her baking company, Nothing Bakes Like a Parrott. It’s whimsical and funny because, clearly, a bird can’t bake. But that’s why it’s memorable!

You can be memorable too—just remember to be simple. Is there something about your name that is visual? There’s a real estate agent in town named Dani O’Halloran. Dani uses a shamrock for her logo, which makes her stand out—especially since we live in an area where French last names are more prevalent than Irish or Scottish ones.

There’s a baker I know named Jessica Parrott. She named her baking company, Nothing Bakes Like a Parrott. It’s whimsical and funny because, clearly, a bird can’t bake. But that’s why it’s memorable! Another friend, an event consultant, has such a weird name—Antonia Opitz—that it’s terribly difficult to remember unless you grew up with her (like I did). She calls her company Standing O, capitalizing on the first letter in her last name. Her logo is super simple and stunning, a perfect white circle inside of an orange square. Continue Reading

How much of your time do you spend sending outbound emails? How much time and effort do you put into every pitch, hoping that a client will select you over countless others?

Successful freelancers know that there is another path. Instead of going to the client, have them come to you. Getting clients to desire your services—to approach you rather than vice versa—is a function of two variables: producing excellent work and being able to market that message.

Getting incoming traffic and loyal users is called inbound marketing, and it refers to the process of bringing customers to you via several avenues, rather than approaching them. Some examples are: creating search engine optimized content, viral videos, and shared articles that brings incoming traffic. Continue Reading

Once a week, we feature a fantastic freelance-themed comic from the talented N.C. Winters. Why not also take a look at our comic archive? Continue Reading

What do you do if you have one main client and for some reason the work from that client dries up? Perhaps the client goes out of business or goes in a different direction or just has a lull in business?

Your main source of income is then gone. Which is why it’s crucial for anyone who relies on their freelance revenues to have multiple streams of income.

That’s easier said than done, of course, as many freelancers have two or three main clients and are happy to focus on those alone. But as many experienced freelancers will tell you, that’s a mistake.

Today we’ll look at a few different ways to set up multiple streams of income to make your freelancing business more stable and ensure that you’re living the freelancing good life for years to come. Please note that the following are just different options you can choose — I’m not recommending you do all of them. Continue Reading

View engaging conference lectures, interesting how to discussions, and high quality freelance advice via video here on FreelanceSwitch.

This week we look at Beware online “Filter Bubbles” by Eli Pariser. As web companies strive to tailor their services (including news and search results) to our personal tastes, there’s a dangerous unintended consequence: We get trapped in a “filter bubble” and don’t get exposed to information that could challenge or broaden our worldview. Eli Pariser argues powerfully that this will ultimately prove to be bad for us and bad for democracy. For marketing online through SEO it’s critical to understand how search engines tailor results. Continue Reading

Dave Copeland of ReadWriteWeb talks about what I preach to my journalism students every week in his blog post titled “Want To Save Journalism? Start At The Bottom“. It’s not enough to just be a good writer or a good photographer these days—you have to be good at everything.

“When I started out as a journalist in the early 1990′s, being a good writer or a good reporter or a good photographer was usually enough to land a good entry-level job in print. That model doesn’t cut it anymore: now students need to have all those skills, plus an ability to work in a range of content management systems. Being able to edit video and audio and being fast enough on your feet to file a broadcast from your smartphone doesn’t hurt, either. Oh, and don’t forget all those crucial social media skills that colleges are not stressing enough.” —ReadWriteWeb

My undergrad alma mater, like many other universities and colleges around the nation and around the globe, started a new media track in the 2000s to help train students for jobs in the digital world. Not solely journalism, or film, or marketing— these new media tracks focus on creating and producing video, web sites, audio files, film, and much more for an audience that gets their news and information from more than just traditional news sources.

At the recent Spring College Media Convention in New York City, college students participated in workshops that touched on many aspects of journalism. Some of them were:

• Website Revolution: Rake in Readers, Tame the Flames, Land a Hot Job
• Phone Alone: How to be a Multimedia Journalist With Whatever’s in Your Pocket
• Brand Me: Using Social Media to Brand Yourself & Your Newsroom
• Video Basics and Beyond: You Don’t Need to be a Final Cut Pro to Make Your Multimedia Amazing

Sure, all of these things are important to know for a budding multimedia journalist. But what about WRITING!? I’ve taught at two schools—one a state university and one a small, private media college. The writing that comes out of these students is usually abysmal. And if this is the way journalism is heading, we should be scared. Continue Reading

I’ll be honest– my home life is completely insane. My house is like a zoo with two feral monkeys on the loose, tearing apart everything they can get their little hands on.

There are spills, wrecks, crying jags, minor explosions, loud thumping sounds (heads on walls probably), and occasional horror-movie-style screams. It’s amazing that two tiny people can create so much chaos.

My wife does all she can, but she’s outnumbered. I provide back-up, but I’ve also got a job to do. In spite of all the madness, I still somehow manage to write for several hours each day.

Speaking of which, I should get started on some work right now while they’re eating pancakes. Here are 5 of the ways I keep from going completely nuts and manage to keep my freelance writing projects on track. Continue Reading

By 2016, there will be three billion Internet users across the globe, according to a new study by The Boston Consulting Group. That’s half the world’s population!

The study focused on Internet use by consumers and businesses in the G20 countries, which includes Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the EU, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the U.K., and the U.S. In 2010 alone, the Internet accounted for $2.3 trillion (4.1% of the GDP) and surpassed the economies of Italy and Brazil. In the U.K., the Internet’s contribution to the 2010 GDP is more than that of construction and education.

The Internet powers growth and creates jobs, and most freelancers use the Internet constantly. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to write for FreelanceSwitch!

I clearly remember in 1995 when my best friend’s family got the Internet on their home computer. We were enthralled with it, despite it’s limitations. What the heck was AOL? We thought the Internet was a place where you could talk to complete strangers on the other side of the country—which you could do then and can do now—and had no idea it would become so much more. Continue Reading

In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, we look at repeat clients and increasing your workload. Ask FreelanceSwitch is a 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.

Question 1

I often do ongoing design projects with repeat clients. With repeat clients is it best to have a contract for each project, or just a simple agreement with a list of deliverables?

Most of my clients are actually on-going projects, where I’ll come in and work on their blogs without a set end date. Asking them to sign a new contract every month just won’t work out particularly well. So I write the initial letter of agreement we use to set up a project to include my ongoing rates and to cover the long-term.

If we’re talking about a whole new project on top of what I’ve already agreed to do, I write out another letter of agreement. Letters of agreement work the same way as contracts and legally function as such. I do think it’s crucial to get each project in writing with the client’s signature on it. Having to sign something seems to remind most clients that they’re dealing with a professional. Of course, on top of that, if the worst happens and you need to go to court over non-payment, you have an agreement in writing — which counts for a lot. Continue Reading

When I was in journalism school (in both the late 1990s and mid 2000s), the AP Stylebook was our bible. We didn’t go to class without it and frequently had quizzes and assignments built around it.

I recently wrote a blog post about the future of journalism and how astonished I was to learn that my undergraduate journalism students were never made to even purchase their own copy of the AP Stylebook, let alone use it.

If you are going to write for a newspaper (even some magazines) you need to have your AP Style Guide handy. And the more current the style guide the better. So when I found this article at Ragan.com about frequently botched AP style points, I thought I’d share them. Continue Reading

Freelancers are often frustrated by fluctuating income. And when you don’t have the luxury of getting regular paychecks, there is the tendency to make money mistakes. But you can avoid overspending and make better use of your money by practicing good money management.

Reaching your financial goals doesn’t mean you have to be a financial wizard. Nor do you have to hire a money manager.

What could be valuable however, is a personal finance app that helps you keep abreast of your finances. Even if you have achieved freelance success, and don’t have money worries, you can still learn to sharpen your money management skills right in the palm of your hand.

Have a look at 10 apps that you perhaps didn’t know you needed, but you won’t be able to live without once you start using them.

1. iReconcile

iReconcile’s motto is ‘keep your finance in check.’ The easily customizable Android app helps you manage day-to-day financial transactions using a checkbook register. You don’t need to keep a list of all items you bought or all the money you spent. The app does everything for you; once you enter each transaction, your new balances appear automatically. It also comes with free updates and online backup. Continue Reading

Bid sites have become a part of freelancing, no matter how much some of us dig in our heels and scream otherwise. It’s become very common for a freelancer to land her first clients through a site like Elance or Odesk, or for a freelancer to pick up some work to fill in holes in their schedule.

Sure, the rates are lower than what we can probably get when we’re dealing with clients on our own — or at least they feel that way after the site takes a bite out of our revenues. But there is a level of convenience that bid sites offer.

It’s important to weigh the pros and cons of job bid sites before you start using them. Continue Reading