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

The author's dog, Miles the Chihuahua.

The International Journal of Workplace Health Management recently published a study investigating the presence of dogs in the workplace on employee stress and organizational perceptions. As a dog owner, I was interested to see what the results were.

The study focused on studying three groups of workers—those who bring their dogs to work (DOG group), those who have a dog but don’t bring them to work (NODOG group), and those who don’t have pets at all (NOPET group).

They gathered data on physiological and perceived stress, perceptions of job satisfaction, organizational affective commitment, and perceived organizational support.

What they found was over the course of the work day, stress declined for employees who brought their dog to work with them. Stress levels increased for the non-dog groups.

“A significant difference was found in the stress patterns for the DOG group on days their dogs were present and absent. On dog absent days, owners’ stress increased throughout the day, mirroring the pattern of the NODOG group.” —International Journal of Workplace Health Management

It has been widely accepted that pets have been associated with a number of positive health outcomes, including increased survival one-year after a heart attack, fewer doctor visits, less loneliness, and greater social report, the study says. Pets actually buffer the impact of stress for their owners. And a freelancer’s life is often stressful. Continue Reading

There are a lot of last minutes when it comes to freelancers and taxes. If you freelance full-time in the U.S, you’re expected to send in quarterly estimated payments, in addition to doing your yearly routine.

Even though taxes can be fairly routine, it’s worth making sure that you’re doing everything you can to make sure all the details are taken care of. That helps to make sure there’s more money in your pockets, and it also means that you will limit your tangles with any tax agency you deal with. Continue Reading

I got a call from a friend a few days ago and it seems his small business is getting smaller by the minute. Not only is he on the brink of collapse financially, his one major customer looks like they will be folding up shop soon and that will leave my friend broke, bankrupt, and unemployed.

After a minute of doing the “oh you poor thing” thing (I’m not much for having a pity party over a business because a business is either viable or it isn’t) I asked him what he was doing for the sales end of his business. Turns out, not much.

This is a very common problem among freelancers and small business people. We love to do what we love to do–for me it is writing, for others it is photography, designing websites, coding a new video game, designing purses…whatever it is that made you want to go into business in the first place.

BUT, and this is huge, if you don’t spend as much time selling your product as you do making your product, you won’t have a way to make money and that is what we are in business for. This seems like a simple concept but for many people, being a salesperson, especially when they are selling themselves and their own product, is really difficult. After all, if we wanted to be salespeople we would be working elsewhere.

SO, here’s a few tips to help you sell your service or product. Continue Reading

I really liked what blogger Emily Heyward had to say on her recent FastCompany.com blog post called Desks, Where Creativity Goes To Die. The SXSW attendee stepped outside of her comfort zone at the conference and learned a thing or two.

Initially, I tried to attend talks or panels directly related to my industry and clients, but each time the information felt like things I already knew, and instead of feeling inspired, I just felt tired. —Emily Heyward

By seeking out experiences that had nothing to do with her own personal day-to-day, the SXSW conference became more meaningful to her. I also find that when I attend talks or lectures about the industry I work in, I hear the same things over and over again. Like Emily, we all need fresh thinking. Below are some of the ways she suggests stepping outside of your comfort zone, as well as some tips I’ve learned along the way.

Leave the Office

I have a home office and a work office. At home, I freelance and run the magazine I co-own, and at my work office I edit a monthly regional magazine. My work office is less than ideal. It has no window and the door sticks when I close it. Some days when I’m really busy (like yesterday) I don’t see the sun all day. And I hate it. I try to get out of the office at least once a day. Most of the time I can do it, even if it means a quick walk around the block or down the street to grab a coffee or cookie. Continue Reading

It’s been almost a year now since I did my last business card template roundup. As design trends tend to come and go, I thought it might be a good time to have another.

Here’s are a few of my favorite business card templates from our sister site GraphicRiver. Enjoy! Continue Reading

It’s easy to see the financial benefits of using certain tools: for some freelance niches, not having the most recent copy of the Adobe Creative Suite is the same thing as walking away from every client who is more up to date. But project management tools don’t have such a clear cut value.

There are plenty of freelancers who manage big projects with what amounts to a stack of sticky notes and a calendar — a minimal cost when you look at tools that might charge a monthly subscription or have a one-time cost with a couple of zeros on the end.

Putting a number on saving a few minutes here and there can seem barely worth the effort. But the reality is that project management tools, used correctly, can save you a lot more time than just a few minutes at a go. Continue Reading

One of the most difficult things to deal with when working with a client is when they’re unengaged, absent, missing, and seemingly disinterested in the work you’re doing.

Developers and designers people crave recognition. We love hearing “this is wonderful”, whether it’s from a peer, client, or anonymous blog comment. Most of us want our clients to be eager to validate and review the work we produce immediately. After all, they’re spending a lot of money on you and staking a lot on your success or failure – shouldn’t they be obsessed?

If you’ve been freelancing for a while, you know how dangerous an unengaged client can be. A while back, one of our clients provided a laundry list of changes as we were ready to deliver him a finished product. The month leading up to delivery was a month of tacid approval and nodding of heads. Where was this coming from, and why are we just learning about it now?

Continue Reading

If you are a solopreneur, branding yourself is key. You want to make a statement and interest people while being true to who you are as a person and a professional. No matter your niche, creating a brand for yourself is important! But how do you do that as a freelancer and not be, well, boring? I found an article on Entrepeneur.com that gave some great ideas.

Be Visual

Take a second and think about logos—what ones stand out in your mind? That adorable apple with a bite taken out of it? The swoosh that signifies Nike? That little Twitter bird? These logos are simple, and that’s what makes them memorable.

She named her baking company, Nothing Bakes Like a Parrott. It’s whimsical and funny because, clearly, a bird can’t bake. But that’s why it’s memorable!

You can be memorable too—just remember to be simple. Is there something about your name that is visual? There’s a real estate agent in town named Dani O’Halloran. Dani uses a shamrock for her logo, which makes her stand out—especially since we live in an area where French last names are more prevalent than Irish or Scottish ones.

There’s a baker I know named Jessica Parrott. She named her baking company, Nothing Bakes Like a Parrott. It’s whimsical and funny because, clearly, a bird can’t bake. But that’s why it’s memorable! Another friend, an event consultant, has such a weird name—Antonia Opitz—that it’s terribly difficult to remember unless you grew up with her (like I did). She calls her company Standing O, capitalizing on the first letter in her last name. Her logo is super simple and stunning, a perfect white circle inside of an orange square. Continue Reading

How much of your time do you spend sending outbound emails? How much time and effort do you put into every pitch, hoping that a client will select you over countless others?

Successful freelancers know that there is another path. Instead of going to the client, have them come to you. Getting clients to desire your services—to approach you rather than vice versa—is a function of two variables: producing excellent work and being able to market that message.

Getting incoming traffic and loyal users is called inbound marketing, and it refers to the process of bringing customers to you via several avenues, rather than approaching them. Some examples are: creating search engine optimized content, viral videos, and shared articles that brings incoming traffic. Continue Reading

Once a week, we feature a fantastic freelance-themed comic from the talented N.C. Winters. Why not also take a look at our comic archive? Continue Reading

What do you do if you have one main client and for some reason the work from that client dries up? Perhaps the client goes out of business or goes in a different direction or just has a lull in business?

Your main source of income is then gone. Which is why it’s crucial for anyone who relies on their freelance revenues to have multiple streams of income.

That’s easier said than done, of course, as many freelancers have two or three main clients and are happy to focus on those alone. But as many experienced freelancers will tell you, that’s a mistake.

Today we’ll look at a few different ways to set up multiple streams of income to make your freelancing business more stable and ensure that you’re living the freelancing good life for years to come. Please note that the following are just different options you can choose — I’m not recommending you do all of them. Continue Reading