Editors Note: This contest has closed. Congratulations to the winners Justin Katz, Heather Hunter, and Lee Gustin. We’ll be contacting you shortly to distribute your prize. Big thanks to everyone who entered.

Credit: Luisa Vidal on MOO

Need to put your name out there? Get the right peoples attention? Grab more clients? Who doesn’t right? It’s time to put together a creative self promotion.

FreelanceSwitch and MOO have teamed up to challenge you to think outside the box. Will you create a viral video to promote your freelance business? Design an awesome set of promotional postcards? Utilize multiple media to get your message out? Or will you do something nobody else has ever thought of?

Whether you’re planning a new creative self promotion, or have a great story to share about a successful promotion you’ve done in the past, we’d love to hear about it. Win One of Three $100 Printing Vouchers from MOO by sharing your creative self promotion story or ideas.

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“I wouldn’t want to know a man who hasn’t been fired!” I forget who said that but I laughed whenever I heard it because I had never been fired. But in the corporate world “the boot” can come unexpectedly, thrust us into having to jump into running our own freelancing business, and place us in the unsteady position of needing to learn the small business ropes quickly. Being prepared before getting fired can help you negotiate a severance package that will help you land solidly on your feet, even if the worst happens.

There was one time I gave two weeks notice and they fired me the next day. They actually told me to go and not to train my replacement, which is a sound business decision because who knew if I would steal client information, or poison my replacement. It’s a good business principle to just pay someone the two weeks of salary and get the lame duck out and away from the company.

In this case, however, since they technically fired me, I was eligible for unemployment. Six long months of it, baby! I didn’t care. I was happy.

Since then there were two more similar incidents. One involved a payoff for leaving quietly with a resignation to keep my mouth shut about…something. The other was what they call an “at-will-firing” (you sign a document when you are hired, agreeing you can be fired without notice or reason and will not take legal recourse – standard in America these days). Unfortunately, my former employer gave a reason. They didn’t have to. They shouldn’t have.

It would have been better for all involved if they had just said, “we’re sorry but business is bad and we need to cut our overhead. We’ll consider bringing you back if business gets better.” Sounds better — friendly and professional. I would have been happy. Instead, after several rounds of layoffs and the strain of buyouts, retirements and severance, someone must have had the brilliant idea to change the rules on year-end-reviews.

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Looking for a new client? The FreelanceSwitch job board is a great resource of freelance gigs and opportunities. These opportunities are in various fields, from development to writing to design, and come from a wide range of potential clients. The job board is hand-moderated by dedicated staff and volunteers from the freelance community.

Each week, we’ll feature a selection of the best job opportunities posted for the week. This week, we’re featuring jobs in blog design, marketing copy writing, development and more!

To apply for any of these jobs, simply pick up a FreelanceSwitch membership for an affordable $7 a month. See something you like? Join now!

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5 Ideas for Choosing Your Home Office Equipment Setup

Now that you’ve made the decision to become a fulltime, stay-at-home freelancer, it’s time to start thinking of ways to outfit your home office. There are a few things to consider when choosing home office equipment – form and function being part of it, but personality is important, too. The equipment in your home office needs to fit a set of criteria; such as: be supportive, ergonomic, useful, durable, affordable and yes downright cool. Let’s look at a few ideas to consider as you setup your home office.

Artists unite for Japan Flags

Since March 11, the tragedy in Japan has impacted the entire world in many ways and unfortunately continues to do so. But can we make a difference? We certainly can! As artists and designers, we can support the people of Japan and their struggle with our art.

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In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, we look at charging for tying up your computer and what to do when you win multiple bids at once. Ask FreelanceSwitch is a regular column here that allows us to help beginners get a grip on freelancing. If you have a question about freelancing that you want answered, send an email to askfreelanceswitch@gmail.com.

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Many designers stumble into the web industry from a fine arts background. Working commercially is a natural progression for artists – not only does it make for a reliable income, but you have the pleasure of making something useful for a wide audience. Furthermore, both art and design draw on many of the same concepts and we artist/designers are often able to incorporate our art skills into designs and illustrations.

Sometimes, however, the inspiration behind creating original artwork is missing from the design process, especially when cranking out content-managed websites or banner campaigns. A return to artistic roots often becomes an unavoidable want, and for me, such an instinct meant deciding to paint thirty portraits in three weeks during a trip back home. What surprised me was how much I discovered portrait painting could actually make me a better graphic designer.

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Credit: Jeremy Levine on Flickr

Now that you’ve made the decision to become a fulltime, stay-at-home freelancer, it’s time to start thinking of ways to outfit your home office.  There are a few things to consider when choosing home office equipment – form and function being part of it, but personality is important, too. The equipment in your home office needs to fit a set of criteria; such as: be supportive, ergonomic, useful, durable, affordable and yes downright cool. Let’s look at a few ideas to consider as you setup your home office.

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By now, thousands of freelancers tweet, growing their brand and connecting with others 140 characters at a time. It’s an important tool for promoting your freelance business. And one of the most powerful aspects of promotion on Twitter is to get retweeted (or RT in Twitterspeak).

It’s the Twitter equivalent of forwarding an email or sharing a link you enjoyed in Facebook. RTs benefit freelancers by helping them spread content, grow their followers, and position themselves as experts. So, how can you help ensure that your tweets get retweeted and (hopefully) go viral? Follow these tips.

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Looking for a new client? The FreelanceSwitch job board is a great resource of freelance gigs and opportunities. These opportunities are in various fields, from development to writing to design, and come from a wide range of potential clients. The job board is hand-moderated by dedicated staff and volunteers from the freelance community.

Each week, we’ll feature a selection of the best job opportunities posted for the week. This week, we’re featuring jobs in concept design, illustration, development and more!

To apply for any of these jobs, simply pick up a FreelanceSwitch membership for an affordable $7 a month. See something you like? Join now!

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Networking Tips for Freelancers

The idea of working at home is a dream for a lot of people and for good reason. Let’s face it: Who doesn’t like the idea of staying indoors in a nice warm house on a cold snowy winter day when everyone else is scraping ice off their windows so they can make a long slow commute during rush hour?

Beautiful Disney Portraits by Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz is a celebrity photographer born in Waterbury, Connecticut.

Using “Preventive Medicine” Against Bad Clients

Bad clients have been an issue in everyone’s career at some point. Managing difficult client relationships when they occur or avoiding bad projects in the first place are two of the most important skills in managing any freelance business.

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