As a business-focused freelancer, how do you feel about the area of personal development? Have you found it useful in reaching for success in your freelancing business? Or do you switch off or cringe when you hear Tony Robbins’ gravelly voice start to speak?

If you’d asked me this as a hard-nosed strategy consultant 4 years ago, I’d have scoffed in your face. Ask me this today and you’ll likely get a very different response.

I understand why it provokes the response it sometimes does … the advice you read is usually centred around the notion that “you have special and unique talents that no-one else has and you can do anything you want”.

Fluffy clap trap? Quite possibly. Does it help you in your freelancing business? Not always.

There is one concept I read recently however that makes so much sense that every freelancer should read it and remember it… Continue Reading

Did you make a resolution to learn a new skill in the new year? Then Tuts+ Premium is here to help you do it!

To celebrate the new year, we’re offering a sale on our subscription for the very first time. Sign up before January 31st and save 25% off the already discounted year membership price! You can now enjoy an entire year of Tuts+ Premium content for only $135. That’s a cumulative savings of $93 off the monthly price. Continue Reading

In light of the recent Tuts+ Premium compromise, we’ve been auditing our systems to make sure they all have good practices around account and password storage. Because our FreelanceSwitch system was connected to an older version of BBPress, it was storing some accounts using a simple hash (not a good practice). Newer accounts, and ones which have had a password reset in recent times, had better security (a better hash, and a per user salt).

So to be certain that everyone is up to date, we have reset all user passwords on the job board and forums. Users will need to update their password using the Reset Password Form.

To be clear, this is just a precaution to improve general security on FreelanceSwitch.

We’re sorry for the inconvenience this will cause users. If you have any questions or run into any problems, don’t hesitate to contact Support.

The FreelanceSwitch Facebook Page has almost 12,000 Likes and an active following. This is where we post links to our published material, as well as to freelance related posts from across the web. If you’d like to follow what impacts freelancers daily, our Facebook page is a great way to do that.

Today, we have some quick FreelanceSwitch reader news about our Facebook Page. We recently updated our page’s branding to meet the new Facebook format and guidelines, and to give the page a facelift. Continue Reading

The last installment in Tut+ Premium’s freelancing course, Freelance Bootcamp, is all about advancing your career. If you’re a Premium member and following along, this is your space to share your ideas with fellow FreelanceSwitch readers!  The section starts with Marketing for Freelancers. In the last section of the series, James Clear examines the essential strategies for growing your business, including:

• Focusing your marketing
• The down and dirty on your legal needs
• How to raise your rates
• And finally, the importance of referrals and mentors.

If you’re a Premium member who’s completed the Freelance Bootcamp course with us, what’s your feedback? Did you find the course worth recommending to fellow freelancers?  Continue Reading

We’re excited to let you know that now, in addition to Twitter and Facebook, you can get involved with the FreelanceSwitch community over at Google+! We’ll be using Google+ to let you know about our latest articles, interesting content from around the web, and news.

We already have over 1,000 freelancers following us there and it’s growing quickly. Read on to find out more…

What to Expect on Google+

Through Google+, we’ll be publishing links to our new tutorials and articles, industry news, graphics and examples from our community, and lots more! It’s going to be an extension of the FreelanceSwitch site and community, in the same way we treat Twitter and Facebook. Continue Reading

Are you looking to start your new year with a fresh set of prints to help promote your design business? Today, our friends at UPrinting are kicking off 2012 by giving away business cards, posters, or postcards to 36 lucky Tuts+ readers. To enter, all you have to do is submit your entry using the form below and select which prize you would prefer.

Update: The winners for this giveaway have been selected. Thanks to everyone who participated.

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

This week we look at Insight Design Conference-Quite Strong by Design Collective Quite Strong. In this video two members from the group, Jennifer Sisson and Jana Kinsman, share tips and and ideas on self promotion in the design industry.

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Almost everyone uses social networks for personal or business purposes. Communication via social media is taken for granted. Even employers check freelancer’s reputation with the help of social means.

Today we’ll explore top apps for better social media management. However, we will go beyond solutions like Hootsuite as it is a well-known brand on the social media apps market. The tools in this roundup are easy, useful, and affordable for freelance social media experts and are rising stars you should get your hands on.

Bizo Switchboard

Bizo Switchboard

Bizo Switchboard is more than a just a free Twitter link shortener. It helps you get the most out of your tweets and promote your website, blog or your freelance services. As you publish a URL, Bizo Switchboard shortens it and makes a unique bar, which pops up to anyone who clicks on your link in the tweet.

The bar contains your Twitter account name, your message and “Follow” button. Switchboard bar can be customized to meet your website color scheme. Besides, Bizo Switchboard shows statistics such as link impressions and click through rates. 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 The day I turned down Tim Berners-Lee by Ian Ritchie. In this video he goes over one of his biggest fails, not buying into Tim Berners-Lee idea that his World Wide Web would take off. This is a short story about information, connectivity and learning from our mistakes.

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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.

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

This week we look at The Benefits of Creating Talking Head Videos for Your Blog by Darren Rowse. In this video he discusses the benefits of creating simple videos on your blog. “Talking head” videos are easy to make, a great way to deliver information, while showcasing your personality.

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