It’s always nice to hear a good success story. That’s what struck me when I read about Andrea Wren. The UK-based freelance journalist successfully made a career out of freelance writing with no previous experience or training. Andrea is proof that as long as you can write well, you can start a thriving writing career at any time.

Q: Give our readers your “story” in a nutshell.

When it came to my higher education I was a late starter, enrolling for my Bachelor’s degree once my son began school. I graduated with a First Class Honors in Applied Human Communication in 1999, working in several jobs before getting recruited as a specialist drug and alcohol worker within a youth offending team in 2000.

I loved this job for a couple of years but after the personal crisis of my son’s father dying in 2002, it became stressful. I ended up having to take time off work with anxiety in May 2004. I was so desperate to change my work-life balance and live on my own terms, it was at this point I decided “I want to be a writer” and follow my childhood dreams.

I began researching exactly how I could make it happen for myself, then started making connections, building a portfolio and contacting editors with ideas. Once I’d returned to work two months later in July, I’d received my first paid freelance writing commission, a travel feature, and was over the moon! Continue Reading

Around here, Thursday Bram is best known as the one who answers questions sent to Ask FreelanceSwitch.

But did you know that she’s been writing since high school? That she came from a family of entrepreneurs and has always expected to run her own business? And that the deal-breaker between Thursday and the employment world had to do with shoes?

Thursday took a job right out out of college – and it lasted a week and a half. “I can’t wear shoes all day!” she says.

Nowadays, Thursday enjoys her shoeless freelance freedom from her home in a rural area between Washington, DC and Baltimore, Maryland. She hails from a town so small that it’s not even incorporated. There isn’t much more to the place than a post office. Better yet, “There are cows three miles from my house!”

If you could define a beat for Thursday’s article writing, it would be small business and personal finance.

Not what you’d expect from one of the most densely populated areas of the United States.

In addition to handling Ask FreelanceSwitch and contributing well over 100 articles to this site since 2008, Thursday’s writing and blogging credits include CNET, GigaOm, Grow Smart Business, Lifehack, Matter Network, OneVoteMatters.com, Web Worker Daily, and Wise Bread.

If you could define a beat for Thursday’s article writing, it would be small business and personal finance. She knows of what she speaks. Thursday finished her undergraduate degree with a third of the debt of the average student. And she expects to complete graduate school with no additional debt. Continue Reading

Sometimes, the freelance world can seem like one big sea with too many fishes. There are plenty of designers, writers, crafters–but then there are a few that stand out. You know the type…you look at their work and you know they are the real deal.

Courtney Mason is that type of illustrator. With a glowing portfolio full of inspiring work and Lemonaid Illustration as her agent, Courtney’s career has gotten off on the right track.

It started with two degrees in graphic design, but it’s her real-world experience and clients such as Hyundai, Ford and Sony/BMG that have helped her carve out her own unique niche. And with a business name like Punky Chicken, well, how can you not be intrigued? Continue Reading

Every freelancer out there has a bag of tricks they wouldn’t want to do work without—whether it’s their computer, useful software, or their favorite radio station. Find out what sorts of things help FreelanceSwitch.com contributors during their workday.

Perhaps their advice will inspire you to try something new, or reaffirm that what you currently use is the best in the biz.

Hardware

My Apple Kit

I regularly use a MacBook Air, iMac, iPad, and iPhone for work. I love the style and function of OSX and iOS, and the quality of these tools is just amazing.

I can enjoy a huge screen at home for digging into some in-depth work, and take the super lightweight MacBook Air on the road. My iPhone never leaves my side, and I’m constantly amazed at how much work I can get done on such a tiny device. –David Appleyard

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Nicole Ouellette’s journey from full-time employee to small business owner isn’t atypical of many other young entrepreneurs. But it’s her perseverance and success that makes for an interesting story.

Nicole, a native of Fort Kent, Maine (as far north as you can go without being in Quebec, Canada) was working at a weekly newspaper in Ellsworth, Maine, when the idea for her small business took root.

When she took the job as a web content editor, she took a huge pay cut. She started a blog about personal finance where she wrote about how she was learning to live on less money in September 2007. That blog, breakingeveninc.com, started out as a fun project and turned into something she really cared about. “I started caring that people were actually reading my blog,” Ouellette says. “That’s when I started marketing it and trying to find a way to publicize what I was doing.”

It wasn’t until someone came into her office at the paper and asked Ouellette to help her start her own blog—and told her she would pay her to do it—that Ouellette thought there might be a market for her skills. “No one in the small, coastal Maine community where I lived was doing what I did—helping small business owners learn how to blog, improve their search engine rank, and leverage social media to their advantage,” she says. Continue Reading

When I first saw this video I was confused. Sure, the jingle was catchy and the editing was swell, but, was this guy for real? Did people actually buy his terrible drawings? He doesn’t do this for a living…does he? I decided to put on my investigative journalism hat and see if I couldn’t get some answers about this crazy cat guy. I went straight to the source. Continue Reading

It’s not uncommon to find educational conferences and seminars for most professions. But finding educational opportunities when you’re a freelancer can be a more difficult matter.

Cal Evans, the founder of Day Camp 4 Developers is looking to solve that problem — at least for developers.

The Importance of Educating Freelancers

Whether you’re a developer, an illustrator or some entirely different variety of freelancer, getting the right skill sets to grow your business can be tough. Even identifying those skills can be problematic: there are plenty of great schools turning out top-notch developers and other creatives. But very few teach anything in the way of how to mange the business side, even down to the basics of how to create an invoice. Continue Reading

Welcome to Part III of our series on civic mindedness. Previously we’ve heard from the head of the Northwest Freelancers Association in Washington State and a freelance public relations manager in Ohio. Today we talk with a top-notch professional wedding photographer with a big heart.

A former photographer and photo editor for USA Today and The Washington Post, Emilie Sommer moved to Portland, Maine in 2003 to open her own wedding photography business called emilie inc. Her business has grown to include two additional photographers, videographer, graphic design artist, and photo booth.

In the ultra competitive world of wedding photography, Emilie Sommer stands out from her peers, not only because of her talent and business acumen, but because of a side project—Pink Initiative. Sommer started this nonprofit to bring wedding industry professionals and private donors together to fund awareness, outreach, education, and research for breast cancer. Continue Reading

Welcome to part two of our discussion on the importance of being civic minded. In researching people to interview on the topic, I virtually stumbled upon a website called Good Things Going Around. Owner Lisa Desatnik is a freelance public relations manager and runs her Ohio-based business with an emphasis on raising awareness and strengthening relationships for clients who have a heart for the community.

Desatnik’s cause-related PR campaigns have earned her numerous regional awards. She is currently working with the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati, the Cincannati Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired, and the Appalachian Festival, among others.

Why is it important to you to be connected to your community?

Being connected to my community and thinking about others is just a direction that my heart takes me. The type of gratification I receive from bringing smiles to others is just immeasurable. My parents have instilled in me an appreciation for all of the beauty that life brings us and I hope to share that with others because life is really special.

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Richard Roberts is a US based illustrator and designer, known in the field for his work with Photoshop, and surreal style. He’s worked hard to build strong relationships with his clients, and has learned to adjust to the variable flow of freelance work.

He thrives on working on diverse projects and riding the wave of freelance projects, while always focusing on delivering high quality art – he’s proud of. He shows how focusing on art, while promoting your work, is a winning path for freelance illustrator success.

Q: How did you get into illustrating?

The story behind my venture into digital art is quite interesting. When I was thirteen I played online games like most other kids my age, and I came across a digital art piece on a gaming forum and was instantly fascinated. It led to me installing an early version of Adobe Photoshop.

For a few years it was just a hobby, but it grew into more of a profession once I knew it was possible to make a living off it. My school years were quite dysfunctional because of moving, which led me to finishing high school online. This allowed me to have ample free time, which resulted in me putting my full focus on improving myself as an artist and mastering my trade.

Although I have much to learn, my current knowledge and skills have got me to where I am today. Three years ago I started theotherstream my online portfolio and freelance company. Since then my freelance career has really taken off.

The Reaper

Q: How long did it take you to get on your feet as a freelancer? What were some of the challenges?

I would say about two years, at first it was quite hard to find work, as I hadn’t really established much of a name for myself. I had the odd job here and there to keep me afloat. I think the main challenge I faced was simply keeping myself in the mindset that I could do it if I tried hard enough. The biggest challenge would be the lack of clients at times.

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Justin Knechtel lives in between the cities of Seattle and Bellevue, Washington, on Mercer Island. As the founder of the Northwest Freelancers Association (NWFA), an independent nonprofit organization, Knechtel works with freelancers throughout the entire Pacific and Inland Northwest.

Knechtel also created and runs The Small Potatoes, which is a design and consulting agency made up of freelance professionals living and working in the Pacific Northwest. The Small Potatoes works with small businesses, nonprofits, and startups to provide services on a pay-what-you-can-afford model.

When researching the topic of civic mindedness in freelancers, Knechtel seemed like the kind of freelancer who would have a lot to talk about on the topic. I wasn’t disappointed.

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At FreelanceSwitch, we get plenty of mail from teen Web designers that want to be featured on the site. It’s hard to weed out who has something valuable to say, because we like to interview people with experience and wisdom to share — at that usually comes from having a few years of professional experience. But when we heard from Trevan Hetzel, we knew something was a little different about this “kid” from Iowa.

This 20-year-old has a flawless eye for design, a knack for doing business — and even his own office space. Read on to learn more about how Trevan does business. We think you’ll be inspired!

Tell us how you got into design.

I’ve always had a creative personality. I remember as a little kid playing with Legos nonstop. That’s what my parents used to ground me from when I got in trouble! It may be a bad example, but I really do think those types of toys foster creativity in kids. I actually got into Web design my freshman year of high school when I took an elective class on Web design and loved every minute of it. There were no boundaries to what you could create, and I just loved how there were endless opportunities to learn more.

I spent probably a year tinkering on my own personal project (www.hetzelracing.com) and then got asked to design a site for my school’s elementary sports program. I guess you could say the rest is history! I then got into logo design and spent my study halls and after school hours learning Web and graphic design because it was so much fun! Continue Reading