Envato Birthday Giveaways at FreelanceSwitch!
As you may have noticed if you’ve been keeping your eye on any Envato website over the last few days, this week it’s our third birthday!
Over the next three days we’ll be giving away three giveaway packs here at FreelanceSwitch. It’s really easy to enter — leave a comment on the post of the day for Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, and we’ll pick our favorite, most value-packed comment from each post. Do your best to provide really great advice for other freelancers on the post’s topic and you’ll be ahead of the game!
Each post that qualifies as part of the competition will have the following sentence at the bottom of the article: “This post is part of our Birthday Giveaway competition — leave an excellent comment for a chance to win!” This announcement post is not, by the way, part of the competition.
These three lucky commenters will receive the following:
- A 12 month subscription to the Job Board
- A copy of Collis and Cyan Ta’eed’s “How to be a Rockstar Freelancer“
- A copy of Pixelmator
- A copy of Billings
- A copy of ForkLift
- A one year “Shuttle Bus” subscription from Freshbooks
That’s nice. Great things to give away!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY !
As someone just starting out with freelancing, I’m excited by the prospect of amazing comments for the next three days!
Looking forward to them, and good luck, guys!
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday !
The single most valuable bit of advice I could give to any one just starting out, is to always require a deposit up front. This is so important and will save you a ton of heartache over time.
Happy birthday everybody!!
Freelanceswitch and Envato are awesome rocking sites
I want to win!
Happy Birthday the best is yet to come
Happy Birthday !
Happy Birthday Envato!
Happy Birthday¡¡¡¡ Cumpleaños feliz¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡
And thank you for sharing incredible and useful stuff for the people like me, working in the field of the illustration and design.
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday!
Just Imagine that its been 1,095 days since Envato’s birth. And more likely even longer in your minds. The biggest struggle is always in creating an idea and the process you go through to reach that goal. Its truly inspirational to see how much you have grown and gives us as designers and entreprenuers something to always strive for. Here’s to you guys continuing to grow another 1,095 days and beyond. Happy Birthday!!!
I agree that it’s wise to accomplish as much as possible before going away on vacation. And leaving wiggle room upon your return is even more important. But I find that you can “work” while on vacation without bringing a laptop, conducting formal interviews and doing extensive research. While away, if you keep your eyes and ears open, you might return to your desk with several new ideas for magazine articles, blog entries or books. I’m not talking about any intense activity, just casual observation that piques your curiosity. It’s a way to keep your hand in the game and get a little R&R at the same time.
Happy Biiiiiiiirthday! I absolutely love opening up my RSS reader and scrolling through the posts of all the Envato sites!
Happy Birthday
You rock! Happy BD!
Happy Birthday! You should be getting gifts
Not us! But we appreciate it.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Keep up the great job guys!
Awesome give-aways, hope to get my hands on them
))
Sweet! Thanks FreelanceSwitch for 3 years of great content!
Congratulation! Happy third year birthday!
Happy Birthday Envato! One key important thing you have to look at when starting out is your finances!!!! Make sure you have enough in the bank and that you planned taken taxes and accounting. Taking the time to get an accountant, or getting the right money management software will take away work from you so that you can get more client-related things done. I’ve been using freshbooks and it’s been a great help for me! Especially with their iPhone program, it helps me while I’m mobile.
Good luck to everyone!
Love to provide some help and advice to all my fellow freelancers, so here goes…
Before work begins:
1. Spend the Necessary Amount of Research – whether it be the background of the potential client, what skills are necessary to complete the job, how to legally protect your work, or the in’s and out’s of why you shouldn’t do spec work, take the time to learn about all aspects of the freelance world so you are better equipped and ready to be a professional.
1. Have your Client(s) Sign a Contract – Include the following:
a. Detailed overview of work to complete in each round of payment(s).
b. Overall contract stating price, work required, scope and timeline.
c. Copyright agreement protecting your work.
d. Terms and Conditions in case you or they back out, have issues, etc.
2. Require a Deposit – upfront equal to 1/3 or 1/2 of total project costs. This deters window shoppers and enables you to work with less stress (especially if client backs out!). If you have a great history / relationship with client, I’d recommend smaller or no amount deposit.
3. Under-Promise and Over-Deliver – Be careful saying things like “Oh, that’s easy” or “That won’t take long”. It makes you seems over confident in your ability or at the very least cheapen the labor required.
I’ve been called out before when saying this and the client responded “If it’s so easy, then why is it so expensive?” – Even though it was easy for me, it still required effort and time. I had just undervalued myself, oops.
After Work begins:
1. Know your Role – You are not there to simply receive orders. They hired you for your creative knowledge and ability. Use it to listen to their big picture and details, but take it and run with it. There are tons of mediocre designers who follow orders. Again, take the clients input and run with it.
2. Listen to Everything – Speaking is only one way the client is communicating to you. Take in their body language and tone and
3. Communication, Communication, Communication – No client ever complains that you kept in touch too much and let them know how the project is going. Always keep an open line of communication with the client and make yourself available as quickly or easily as possible.
Set boundaries on them for how much they can contact you (don’t call after 8pm for example), but make sure you get in, get what you need, and get out. No need to waste their time or yours being ill-prepared with questions.
4. Admit when you Run into Trouble – Sometimes problems inside or outside the project affect the timeline. If this happens, contact the client ASAP so you make sure you look as good as possible if/when you can’t meet the deadline. Also, having alternative (realistic) solutions will put you back in good graces with the client, so make sure to provide those as well.
Throughout the Job:
Be a Professional – period. Yes, even when they treat you poorly. You never know who THEY know and who knows, they might come back later and want you to do more work for them. This has happened to me on a few occasions because I handled them well.
Enjoy the Freedom – It has it’s up’s and down’s but it’s a great life with plenty of rewards. If you find yourself frustrated from it all the time or stressed out, maybe it isn’t for you. That’s fine, you should do what makes you happy though. Enjoy life! Go find what makes you happiest.
Be Amazing – Even if you stay up all night long (been there) working on that project, go above and beyond what’s required of you. It will always pay future rewarding dividends that you will reap. The client will be overjoyed and you will grow immeasurable experience. Be Amazing!
Note: Whether or not I gain a greater chance at winning this prize, I’m just happy to pay it forward to all my fellow freelancers out there.
Shoutout: Obox Design (David, Marc, and Nat), Danny Outlaw, Jeremy Davis, Jeffrey Way, Chris Coyier, and many more.
I totally agree with you… By the way, your comment is like a mini blog post in itself lol… nice work
Feliz Cumpleaños!!
Truly worthy of a retweet.
I agree with Sarah Lynn – you should be receiving gifts – not giving them out. But…when the sun is shining, take advantage of it – right?
Happy Birthday – and here’s my 3 points of advice:
1. When approached by a client to do a job, don’t jump at it immediately. Learn to say no when something rubs you the wrong way. If a prospect has said they’ve hired multiple web developers but none could come through or design *just* what the he wants – don’t say “Yeah, I can do it!” – think first and contemplate whether or not it was the designers….or the client that caused the previous attempts to fail.
2. When you take on a new client – and have either a small portfolio or are dealing with an inexperienced client – collecting a 50% deposit may seem as if it’s a massive investment that the client may or may not want to jump into. Try cutting your deposit down to 30% instead of 50% but make sure that you have everything in writing as to what will be done for that amount. Make sure your time is covered – in case things go south, and remember – a client is renting a portion of your life and your expertise. Don’t undercut yourself, but make it clear that you’re worth every penny that the client is going to spend.
3. I can’t stress this point enough most times – and I must say that it happens to me every once in a while – stay in contact with your clients. Follow up on a phone call if they didn’t call back – shake the tree as it were – and be constantly proactive in every aspect of your business relationship. Sure, you may think you’re constantly bugging the client by calling every couple days, but keep in mind that they have businesses to run too. Just because they don’t call you back does not mean that you’re off the table, they may have just run out of time in their 8 hour window of work.
I just bought my first MacBook Pro and loaded it with a trial run of Billings 3 – and I’ll tell you, it’s helped me track my clients, notes, and job progress extremely well. I hope to purchase it in the near future – because it is worth it.
Speaking of an 8 hour work window – I need to return to work. I hope to post another comment with another three tips for the aspiring freelancer. I, by no means, am a professional freelancer but I will post based on my experiences throughout my professional and freelance careers.
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Freelance Switch. We appreciate you!
The best advice I can give as a freelancer is to avoid working for family. I have taken on my Dad as a client and it is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
The same could be easily true for friends as well. A contract is always recommended!
Happy birthday!
Awesome- Thanks! and Happy Birthday!
I am admittedly drooling over the price. *wipes my mouth
Anyway, you guys have a long list of accomplished goals.
May you have many years of useful information to come…
Oh, did I mention? Happy 3rd Birthday!
Happy Birthday Envato!
Happy Birthday FreelanceSwitch!
Happy Birthday!
When I was young I remember giving presents to the birthday boy and at the end I’d get a goodie bag – It’s nice to see a goodie bag again
Happy Birthday Dear Envato!
Happy Birthday ^^ thanks ¤¤,
Buon compleanno !
Happy birthday envato
Party Hardy
Just throwing a tip:
For anyone wanting to become a freelancer,
just start now with whatever your good at,
regardless of your conditions.
Happy birthday, Envato! Too bad most of the software you are giving away is for Mac, and I use Linux.
Bappy Hirthday!!
Happy Birthday and Congrats guys!
Happy Birthday Envato!
Birthday Time! I say that well all raise a glass and give cheers to such an awesome community. I wish you guys many more birthdays.
I think this article is excellent and is great for corporate graphic designers as well. I have had many jobs in the past where I would postpone my evenings or weekend plans due to projects. It took going on a road trip to really gain perspective and start realizing that you do have to take care of your happiness to actually be a benefit to clients and employers.
Happy birthday Envato!!!
Congratulations ENVATO and FREELANCE SWITCH. You are Amazing!
Include an itemized list in every contract covering exactly what is included in the project to avoid scope creep. Also a good idea to mention some common things that are NOT part of the project scope and specify how those things will be priced.
My advice to new freelancers would be to find a productivity method that works for you, learn it and implement it well while you’re still small. It’s something that you will need and really appreciate once you start working on multiple projects that you need to keep track of.
WOW! What a great giveaway! Happy Birthday (shared with mine)!
I recently started freelancing and am taking the slow route, so I look forward to more of the great information that you continously share!
Happpppy Birthdayy!! Well I found about the site this year only hence I missed out on the previous two birthday bashes
Am also new to freelancing but I know two things which I think count the most in freelancing:
a) Don’t mix up your work and personal life because most freelancers tend to work from home. This would effect both your personal and professional life
I have seen many freelancers who tend to skip social events and hardly go out with their family. I think it’s wrong… One should plan out proper schedule for work so that it doesn’t interfere with one’s personal life.
b) There are many freelancers who study as well as freelance. For them I would suggest not to harm their studies while freelancing. I have seen many examples where people have left their courses midway just to give more time to freelancing. Some one once told me that with each learning you learn something new. One should work even harder and try to be the best in both the fields. Yet again, proper planning and time management is very important in this case so that both the field’s don’t intersect
Well, these are just my views and I don’t mean to offend anyone…
I learned loads of stuff from this site and am listing some other resource for being a better freelancer…
]
Successful Freelancing Guide: Top 10 Tips!
Great freelancing tips
Top 100 Freelance Blogs
[Obviously, FreelanceSwitch is right there at the top
The 7 Highly Effective Habits of Successful Freelancers
Wishing Envato all the best for the future and am sure they will come up with new ideas to make the web a better place for us freelancers
Great!
Happy B-day
As a former semi-pro online poker player, i know how important it is to be finacially secured. The same goes for a freelancer.
If you are off to become a pokerpro it is advised that you have a saving, which is big enough to pay the rent/food for 3 months.
The same goes for a freelancer. The income might not be as steady as you would like, and some month you will have a very hard time finding any jobs, and thats why you need a savings account.
So you DONT have to think about money, when you have no clients. Instead you can focus on improving your skills, and finding new clients, without worrying about money problems, and how to pay next months rent.
Because with this saving, you can keep up for 3 months (maybe more?) without a single custumor. And thats the most important thing to know psychologially.
Happy birthday, Envato!!!
Happy Bithday and continue the great work
Happy Birthday Envato! Here’s to many more info packed and helpful years ahead!
Guys, you made an awesome work.
Just keep rockin’ with your projects!
Happy B’day!
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday Ennvaato!
Happy Birthday to you.
Keep up the great work! We love ALL your sites here at upSTAGE – wish you all the best and can’t wait to be a part of the communities in your future ventures.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY !
Happy Birthday Envato!
I can’t believe you guys can’t stop giving something to the community. I guess that’s probably the best way to attract more users/readers.
Thanks for being so generous and showing how generosity helps for online presence.
You guys rock!!!
Happy Birthday and keep up the good work!
Happy Birthday. I love all of your sites!
Happy Birthday Envato!
And thanks for the hard exceptional work, you guys deserve everything…
Happy Birthday from Switzerland!
Vdotextrainspired by you guys and the work that you do! So thanks to everyone at Envato and Happy Birthday to ya! I just think excellance sown back into the online community makes for a better web world, print world…better creativity all round!
I learnt design for web from the vast array of online teaching and it’s great to know I can continue to do that with all your sites!
Big love and God bless ya!
One long web ting ;o)
Happy Birthday!
Just wanted to mention that not every “freelancer” uses a mac, so offering Windows software, or software that works on both would be nice.
Anywho, Happy b-day, glad to see Envato going strong.
As far as advice goes, someone already wrote what I was going to say about requiring a deposit… Other than that I would say don’t undersell yourself. Your work and time are worth a fair wage so don’t demean yourself by accepting underpaid jobs.
Happy Birthday Envato! I really enjoyed the interview video over at PSD tuts! You guys really funny!
Wow. Having only used Google Reader to follow your blog, I didn’t realize what a beautiful site you have!
Ah well. Happy Better-Than-The-Day-of-Ones-Birth: Today!
on your birthday, we get presents !! what else can we say.
Happy wonderful day to you all!
I want to win, congratulations Envato
Happy birthday, I raise my glass for another 3 years of Envato!
Happy Birthday from Israel and many more to come !!
Keep up the great work.
Happy Birthday, always great content!
Happy birthday guys! I’m proud!
If its your birthday why are you giving us stuff?
We should be giving you gifts.
But hey you missed my birthday anyway so a gift from you would Great!
You guys Rock Happy Birthday!
**2 bits of advise to freelancers.
1. Pick your clients, don’t just let them pick you. Otherwise, you may end up hating a project from beginning to end.
2. Don’t stay content with what you know. The web evolves, trends come and go, but knowing your tools and learning outside of your realm will always give you the upperhand.
Happy Bday!
Well all freelancers out there should know:
If you really want something and put all your concentration nd will in it, it will happen. I think this is the most useful advice for all of you and if you don´t enjoy what you are doing at the moment think of other great freelance activities, everyone can find the one which is perfect for him (or her).
And of course:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ENVATO, YOU DO A GREAT JOB!
Thanks
Love what you do for a living and you will never have to “work” a day in your life again! Happy Birthday – thanks for making our job fun!!
Happy birthday Envato, You have helped me show much in the past years with my web design skills and much more, especially After Effects.
Just keep on building and becoming better.
Happy Birthday Once Again Envato!
“Excellent!”
Happy Birthday!! thanks for everything you are doing!!
First of all, Happy Birthday Envato! It has been a inspirations to me all the times. Can you stop developing and let me take a breathe for awhile
?
Happy Birthday! Enjoying my subscription!
Congratulations.
My tip? Contracts are killer. Grab a hold / write your own foolproof contract and you’ll be laughing! The amount of hassle you will avoid will allow you the time to really enjoy and improve your work!
Paul
This is really cool. Happy Birthday, you guys are the best!
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday!
Advice:
Give the benefit to the author of the marketplaces, let them see the job board details without subscribe to it.
Thats a great offer!
Happy birthday!
My advice is, being a freelancer gives you the ultimate choice of deciding who you want to work with. Make the most of out this opportunity and work with individuals who will push your boundaries so you innovate and constantly learn as you develop your career.
Happy Birthday!!
Happy Birthday!
Envato Rocks!! Good luck in the future guys!!
Thanks for all the stuff and the great free tutorials today.
I just practicing with them and it is a lot of fun.
Keep it up!
Chris
Happy Birthday!
Great info on SEO – it’s hard to know what’s “proper” and what’s not when you’re just out there doing research.
Happy birthday!
My advice is to listen to Freelance Radio. This truly helped me a lot.
happy birthday and thanks for everything
One of the toughest parts of being a freelancer is attending conferences, keeping up with new trends and meeting up with like minded people & industry related professionals…all while trying to work a 12 hour work day.
The people you meet can be so valuable. For example, if you are a web designer, you may benefit from working with dedictaed developers, or marketing types. There’s no better place to meets these people that at these social events.
In short, ATTEND A CONFERENCE/MEET-UP AT LEAST TWICE A YEAR!
East or west ENVATO is the BEST… I love all your site… I wish you all will celebrate 300th birthday bash with the same glory, same community strength..even more powerful.
Thank you
PCP
Always worth trying, especially if you are beggining freelance and resources count so much.
Happy birthday FreelanceSwitch!
Hi FLS!
Am I late for competition?
Happy Birthday!
Exellent Giveaway!!! of lately I have come across some amazing giveaways and contests from various websites. One that I can remember is from Invoicera and I guess it is still open at http://www.andysowards.com/blog/popular/giveaway-4-free-subscriptions-of-online-invoicing-application-invoicera
These are fabulous posts and are very exciting -:)
Cheers!!!
A late Happy Birthday, envato!
happy birthday!!!!!