It takes a lot of work to get a new client. Unless you have a regular stream of referrals coming your way, you may need to do all the legwork yourself by approaching potential clients, contacting them, and testing if they’d be interested in your services. This often requires a lot of research and preparation.

Still, you’re not sure any of these prospects will convert into paying clients – even if you know you did everything right. This is why, during a work famine, it may be easier to get hired again by people who already paid you before: your former and existing clients. Let’s take a look at ways to get started with earning more from current clients.

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Unless you’ve been living underneath a very large rock for the past couple of years, you’ve probably heard that Europe is teetering on the brink of financial armageddon.

While there’s no shortage of doom and gloom in the the global outlook, it’s not all bad news – especially if you’re a freelancer. There’s opportunity in every crisis, and mobile workers are now in a better position than ever.

As freelancers who aren’t tied to a desk and a physical location, we’re uniquely poised to take advantage of the shifting financial landscape. Continue Reading

So you finally got a call back and that client is ready to move forward with working with you! Great! Now it’s time to get down to business.

How do you make sure you get paid for the work you do? We all hate this part, but the nuts and bolts of a business relationship are the foundation for freelance success. It’s time to make a contract.

This is a part of the freelance gig that most of us all hate with a passion. Let’s face it – not too many people enjoy having to go through the process of reviewing and signing a contract. Unfortunately, it’s a necessary part of doing business.

In the context of a “safer” client contract, the temptation is to automatically jump to the idea of an “airtight” contract that covers every possible situation or scenario. For the most part, that’s just not the case.

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When you’re looking at banking options for yourself as an individual, you need different things than you need as a freelancer. A personal bank account is usually part and parcel of building a larger relationship with your bank. After you’ve got the bank account, you’re likely to look at car loans and home mortgages from the same place you handle the rest of your finances.

But when you’re opening a business checking account, you’re looking at the whole enchilada. While you might be able to allow for some leeway in getting good service on your personal account, you have to know that any incoming payments will be handled promptly, and any payments you make to contractors or to buy new equipment will be paid out immediately. A frozen business account can cause big problems with your ability to do business. 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 Women Entrepreneurs, Example Not Exception by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon. In this inspiring video she gives examples of women entrepreneurs across the world. She argues that women running all types of firms– from home businesses (such as freelancing) to major factories– are the overlooked key to economic development. Continue Reading

Online job marketplaces are billion dollar businesses today, ducking the recent recession and expanding at a tremendous rate. No wonder then that more and more sites open up every day catering to a small niche of freelancers.

The two biggest general online job marketplaces are Elance and oDesk, but there are many smaller ones which are specialized, offering differentiated options for freelancer. These marketplaces have potential to add value at every stage of a freelancer’s career.

While online job marketplaces are a current trend worthy of your attention, you should consider the pros and cons before investing your time and energy into one. Let’s take a closer look. Continue Reading

No one actually knows for sure what the logic behind the IRS audit red flag is. Over the years, accountants have seen commonalities within their client base and have noticed trends in businesses that seem to be audited more often than others. This article isn’t meant to scare you; it’s meant to encourage you to keep solid books.

Bookkeeping isn’t hard. With the right accounting software it should only take a freelancer 30 minutes or less per week to do. Continue Reading

Oh, where to begin? The cost of starting your small business can be expensive. Everything from office space, to business card printing, to a website all have to be purchased during the beginning years of your startup.

One of the expenses that you’ll deal with is computers and software purchases. These costs can go into the six figure range if you have as few as 25 employees. Even for solo professionals it represents a major investment that has little to no resale value.

This article discusses some alternatives to common software solutions that are free and offers premium solutions for when you are ready to upgrade.

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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 Six Ways to Save the Internet by Roger McNamee.

In this video The next big shift is now, and it’s not what you think: Facebook is the new Windows; Google must be sacrificed. At TEDxSantaCruz, tech investor Roger McNamee presents 6 bold ways to prepare for the next internet.. Continue Reading

OK, I know, “high leverage” is a cliché, and I am sorry for using this term. But at the same time it’s the one that perfectly describes the message I have for you today.

And the message is: do what matters, quit the meaningless.

If you’re a freelancer, an online business owner, or a blogger then just stop for a minute, and be honest with yourself… is it really possible that everything you do in your business is the absolute highest leverage stuff you could (and should) be doing?

Can it be that some of your tasks are truly meaningless?

To find out, first let’s talk about: What high leverage activities are. As in, let’s define them.

In finance (as Wikipedia teaches us), leverage is a general term for any technique to multiply gains and losses.

We can use this definition to understand high leverage activities as well. So in essence, high leverage activities are everything you can do to multiply your current effects.

Or in plain English, high leverage activities are those that bring the best effects with the least work. Continue Reading

Speaking from experience, I have written for a number of sites over 22 years as a freelance contractor and can happily say 95 percent of those bosses paid me on time.

That being said, there is always that one individual or company that goes about hanging you out to dry, saying in essence the check is in the mail. Boy, haven’t we all heard that line a time or two in our lives?

I, along with a number of other freelancers, would be left holding dozens of invoices that we had submitted for payment.

A freelance agreement between writer and publisher should be entered into on more than just a handshake.

In order to protect yourself and the integrity of your writing, you will want to have some form of written document that clearly states what kind of work you will be doing, who you will be doing it for, and what the terms of payment are.

Nevertheless, all of us have probably been guilty of rushing into a situation, just being so happy that someone wanted to publish a piece of our work, that we didn’t get a formal agreement in place.

One such event for me was difficult. The owner of a sports magazine had taken me on as a freelance writer and we had an agreement for me to provide ‘X’ amount of articles regularly for him at a set rate per article.

As fate would have it, the magazine did not do quite as well as he planned, and he ended up folding up shop. I, along with a number of other freelancers, would be left holding dozens of invoices that we had submitted for payment. There was always the option of small claims court, but in the end I was able to get some of the written material published elsewhere, hence most of my work did not go to waste.

So, what can you do if your publisher suddenly finds it convenient not to pay you? Continue Reading

At the end of last year, a fellow freelancer and I were discussing how 2011 panned out for each of us.

“It was overall successful, but when I reviewed where my income came from, I realized I’d become too focused on just one market,” she told me. “I need to spread myself out.”

The beginning of a new year is always a good time to take stock of your business, and plan your direction for the coming year.  Some freelancers work toward building up a name for themselves within a niche; others intentionally avoid focusing too much in one area.

Here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons of each approach. Continue Reading