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 WordPress Design, Web Development, PHP/Facebook Development 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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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 Web Design, Salesforce Development, WordPress and IOS Development 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!

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 Print Design, Marketing Copywriting, Magento Development 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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Do freelancers really need market research? After all, some freelancers – and even some businesses – manage to get paying customers without putting a bit of thought into how to acquire those customers. Maybe you could be as lucky as they are, your inbox always full of messages from potential clients, without ever spending even a minute researching them.

But it’s doubtful everyone’s that lucky. Odds are, you need to do even the most basic type of market research to keep your freelance practice going. Your research doesn’t have to include complex graphs and lengthy questionnaires. Market research simply means gathering and analyzing information about your target clients. This information can range from basic demographic information, such as their location, to more abstract information such as what makes your potential clients “tick”.

The good news is you don’t need to hire a pricey marketing firm to learn these things, nor do you need to sign up for Market Research 101 classes. You can start with the following simple tasks…

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As freelancers, we’re told to collect as many testimonials as possible — but what do we do with all those great descriptions of how amazing we are to work with?

There are some people who believe that testimonials should be plastered over everything, from business cards on. But there are a few uses for great testimonials that are particularly effective. Continue Reading

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

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 Freelance Design, Logo and Website Design, Graphic 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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When someone says something nice about your freelancing abilities, that statement can bring you thousands more in new business.

The right testimonial can help potential clients see how valuable your services are and win over someone who might have been on the fence.

But actually getting those testimonials in hand can be a tough proposition: it’s rare that a client will just volunteer to send you a testimonial that you can use out of the blue.

You have to be proactive — go out and ask for the testimonials that you need. 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

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 HTML/CSS Design, Writing, Magento/PHP Contractor 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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If you’re still growing your Freelancer’s Thick Skin, this one’s for you.

You’ve all read the books about starting out in freelancing – the ones that discount the time spent “preparing and perfecting” your brand, as a means to avoid shouting: “I’m in business! Come and get it!”

I couldn’t wait to begin full-time freelancing, but dreaded the sales aspect. Loud announcements? Drawing attention to myself? Horrifying.

Cold calling? Are you even a little serious? I don’t even like calling for pizza.

Maybe I could just… get the world to come to me. Random girl typing away from random laptop… sure, they’d beat the door down any day. I settled on the lesser of two evils: I’d send emails. Continue Reading

Freelancing can be fun and exciting, especially when you’re first getting started.

You have a new income stream, a new amount of freedom and control, and if feels like you’re taking charge of your skills and talents.

Of course, those are just a pipe dreams if you can’t find a client.

So how do you get started? How do you actually go about finding that first client? I don’t have all the answers, but here are a few ideas for kick-starting your freelance career. Continue Reading