There are many freelancer stories that start with the wonderful day you stomped out of your full-time job and became self-employed. Or maybe the boss beat you to the punch and said “You’re fired!”

Whatever works.

Then there’s Ross Hudgens. You won’t talk to him for very long before you realize that Ross is a Man with a Plan.

In a recent post on his blog, Ross announced that he’d be leaving the best job he’d ever had to become an entrepreneur. And this job had it all – fat paycheck, interesting work, even a comfortable desk chair!

It was a wonderful environment for Ross to use his digital marketing expertise. Visit the Ross Hudgens Digital Marketing blog and you’ll see that he really knows his stuff. Plenty of long, chewy posts on achieving high search engine rankings by adding the right keywords to your site, improving your site’s link popularity, and developing quality content.

In short, Ross is the kind of guy a company would really want to keep on the payroll.So, why was he leaving his great job? Especially in this crummy economy? Continue Reading

Whether you’re a seasoned freelancer or just starting out, choosing the right price point for your client’s projects can be tricky and stressful. Today I’m going to walk you through the iOS app MyPrice, which is designed to factor in all of the variables to determine the most appropriate valuation for your time and effort.

Step 1: Set Up Your Profile

Putting the right price on your time and your work is one of the most crucial decisions you can make as a freelancer, and for good reason. The ideal rate will convey to your client your personal value for what you do. It will assert your expertise in your field, and your intention to make a living from your craft. However, there are a lot of factors that need to be taken into account when determining that magic number. And doing so can be an arduous process.

MyPrice considers all of those factors by asking you to respond to a series of questions before suggesting an optimal price point for your work. When you first launch the app, you’ll have to fill out your Profile. This is personal information that won’t necessarily change from project to project, and will establish an ideal rate for any hourly work you might perform, outside of a contracted project.

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How do you feel about editors?

Many writers I know fear or even hate them.

To new writers, editors can seem like mysterious beings who dwell in a far-off land…and you can’t figure out how you might get them to notice you.

Or simply an annoying obstacle standing between you and the writing career you want.

But here’s the magic: With the right approach, you can connect with a brand-new editor who doesn’t know you — even one at a great-paying, high-profile publication — and start getting gigs.

You don’t need connections.

You don’t need a lot of published articles under your belt.

What you do need is to know how to build great relationships with editors.

I’ve broken in cold at quite a few publications, and gotten to know a lot of editors.

These days, I also sit on the other side of the desk, as editor for guest posts on my own writers’ blog.

Here’s my guide to not just breaking in but becoming the “go-to” writer for your editors: Continue Reading

Your brand is crucial: it’s everything that makes a prospective client happy to work with you, or even reminds the client that you exist. But a brand isn’t something that you come up with overnight. You build a brand, brick by brick. You need the right foundation and the right supplies. 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

Looking for a new client? The FreelanceSwitch job board is a great resource of freelance gigs and opportunities. These opportunities are in various fields, from development to writing to design, and come from a wide range of potential clients. The job board is hand-moderated by dedicated staff and volunteers from the freelance community.

Each week, we’ll feature a selection of the best job opportunities posted for the week. This week, we’re featuring jobs in PHP/MySQL Development, Copywriting, Web Design and more!

To apply for any of these jobs, simply pick up a FreelanceSwitch membership for an affordable $7 a month. See something you like? Join now!

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To make it as a freelancer, you need to be able to sell your work. That’s why making a great pitch to a prospective client is one of the key skills you can develop to be more successful.

However, many freelancers screw up the pitch in a number of common ways, from talking too much about yourself and what you want, from not knowing what the client wants, to rambling on, to not saying who you are and why you’re perfect.

Don’t make these mistakes. Follow the steps below to make the perfect pitch.

1. Know the client. If you know the client well, you’re in a great position to make a great pitch. If not, you need to take the time to do a little research. Get to know their product, company, or publication. Google them, find out more via LinkedIn, contact others in your network who know the client. The more you know, the better your pitch.

2. Know their goals. Specifically, you want to know what the client hopes to achieve. Sure, they hope to sell a product or service. But how? What message are they trying to sell to the public? Who are they reaching out to? This is key. Talk to others, read their website, learn their message from promotions and marketing and advertising.
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I am a freelance blogger and an online copywriter. Most people look at me in amazement when I tell them that.

Do you mean you can actually make money doing this thing? I am asked this question – a lot.

Isn’t blogging for people who want to share things online? Isn’t it really hard to make money from your blog? How do you find clients? Do they pay well? The questions keep on coming. There is genuine puzzlement on their faces, I can see that. So I thought it would be good to answer all these questions for you who wonder the same thing.

Yes, it is possible to make decent wages by offering your freelance blogging services. Very much so. Let’s look at how. Continue Reading

Certain types of clients want to see references, sometimes very early in the process of deciding who to hire for a particular project.

By preference, these references are probably past clients of yours who can speak to your abilities in handling whatever type of project you’re currently trying to land. But do you know, off the top of your head, what your clients will say when someone calls and asks about you?

This isn’t something to guess about — you need to actually know, because if it’s anything less than a positive review, your reference may hinder your ability to land future work. Continue Reading

The key to successful marketing lies in understanding and accurately reaching out to the proper target market. Target market research is critical to fine-tuning your approach and building a customer base.

Without this focused target market research, you end up wasting a lot of time trying to connect with people who are a lot less likely to want your services as a guru freelancer.

Some of the questions you will ask include:

• Who is going to want to know about the information that you are so specialized in?
• What are your target market demographics?
• Once you find them, how do you find out the best way to connect with this group?

This article is a freelance writer walk-through on determining your target market and the research you’ll need to go through. The end goal is to give you a specific set of tasks you can work through that will leave you with at clear picture of your target audience. Continue Reading

So you’re a brand-new freelancer with no work for your portfolio. How can you get started building your business?

We all know it’s tough to get a job without experience, and tough to get experience without a job. But you can break this cycle and start getting some samples. You really only need three or four to get started marketing your freelance services to paying prospects.

The trick is, your want these samples to look great, so you’ll choose your targets carefully. If you’re a writer, for instance, clips from Associated Content or other content mills are unlikely to impress anyone.

Instead, target small publications, local nonprofits, or small businesses that have a great reputation. How can you find these first gigs? By using what I like to call the low-hanging fruit method. Continue Reading

Ahh, location independence. Freelancing offers no greater perk than the freedom to travel. We lucky souls can roam the Earth at leisure, while our cubicle-dwelling cousins spend 48 weeks of the year chained to a desk.

In my humble opinion, every freelancer should take a working sabbatical at some point in their career. Just pack the laptop and go. Transplant the home office to a mysterious foreign land with nice weather, great food and cheap booze. It’s an opportunity too good to miss.

Can’t afford it? Good news: You don’t need to. Just about any freelancer can take a long-term working holiday at no expense. Without dipping into your savings or racking up debt, you can venture off into the great unknown for as long as you damn well please. Continue Reading