Credit: Michelle Tribe on Flickr

Most freelancers have an assortment of clients, ranging from high profile clients offering big paychecks to little known, lower paying jobs. Many seasoned veterans advocate cutting off low paying ‘bottom feeders,’ with the argument that they soak up time from your workday that you should spend on higher paying endeavors.  That logic is true, but I’ve had many months where I welcomed those checks that trickled in from some of my smaller, tried and true customers.

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of working with low profile, lower paying clients.

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I never cease to be amazed by the number of players I meet who still believe in playing the classical music equivalent of corporate cubicle nation – clinging onto the notion that an orchestral job is fundamental to reputation and survival.

Those of us who have already escaped from the traditional straitjacket can assure you that life is infinitely more pleasurable and less stressful when you’re fully in control of your own destiny.

For classical music jobs, successful freelance musicians center their work around the concept of a “portfolio” career. In order to survive and thrive with such a lifestyle, just like learning to play an instrument, it is essential that you start with the basics in order to build solid foundations.

Following the method outlined below, I re-launched my classical music career after two decades out of the industry and have never looked back. It works! Continue Reading

A goal without a plan is just a wish. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

You might have noticed it already, but I really enjoy living the freelance life.  The freedom and the flexibility that I now have allows me to look at things differently.  I may not have the security that comes from a steady paycheck, but as one commenter noted a while back, it’s unlikely that all of my clients are going to disappear at the same time, and I will always have the ability to go out and find new clients.

As much as I enjoy this lifestyle, it’s not something I see myself doing for the rest of my life.  No, I don’t think I will ever be comfortable working directly for someone else, but I do anticipate graduating from virtual assistants and working from my home office.  I can see an office environment, with a small team, where we can help small and medium sized businesses achieve their goals. Continue Reading

Staying motivated isn’t easy – we often convince ourselves not to be. We often give ourselves excuses, allow other people to put us down, or look at the success of others and think, “That’ll never be me.”

There are two basic types of motivation: intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation comes from the feeling of self-achievement inherent in the task or project achieved, i.e. solving a puzzle, completing a school assignment, or finally publishing that website you were working on for a client.

Extrinsic motivation is the reward you get from others – or outside “forces”. This includes money and other financial or tangible rewards, such as a free vacation for achieving your sales targets, a trophy for winning first place at the Olympics, or even the crowd cheering as you overtake car #2 in the last stretch of the race. This explains the “home team advantage” methodology.

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If you’re working for an employer, your career patch can be pretty clear: work hard and move up the corporate ladder, hopefully winding up somewhere near the top. But when you’re freelancing, your career path can be a lot less clear. We all want to land more clients and earn more per hour, but where do we want to wind up?

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It’s 2010 and everyone is off to a fresh start. It feels fabulous. Each new year is a great time to start new and think about where you are headed. But if you think that involves having to make a resolution, think again. You can still accomplish great things without having a “resolution.”

In years past, I’ve always had a resolution. In 2007, it was to publish my book. Check. In 2008, it was to query magazines. Check. So this year, I was all ready to focus on one fabulous career resolution, and then I started thinking about it. In truth, I was tired of setting goals. I was tired of pushing myself. I push enough. Maybe, I thought, it was time to try another method and take it easy on myself.

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Every year around this time, I think of all the kids heading back to school—and I still can’t believe I’m not one of them. But I do think freelancers can benefit from this important time of year when people get refocused on school and work, and “fall” into a more steady routine. While you may not be a pupil anymore, here are some ways to harness back-to-school time and make it work for your business.

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Freelance businesses can have small beginnings. I found our recent poll on “Where Are You Taking Your Business” interesting. It was educational to see where everyone is heading with their freelancing. Most are building a business for themselves. Only 7% of people are using freelancing to get themselves paid employment. I’m heading in the opposite direction: scaling down my full-time employment to grow my hours available for freelancing.

I’ve been balancing freelancing with employment for several years now. After starting my computer support business, I took on some part-time employment to stabilize my income. Although the hourly rate wasn’t wonderful, it was good knowing that there would be a certain amount of money in my bank to pay the rent. In those first few months of freelancing my income fluctuated wildly from week to week.

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When freelancers get together, they’ll almost inevitably get around to discussing where they plan to take their businesses in the future. As a party to many of these conversations, I’ve noticed that there are four prevailing goals for the future among our kind: those who enjoy freelancing for the solo and simple work life it provides them and want to keep it that way, those who want to transition to a passive income through selling products they can create with the skills they provide to others, those who want to take on employees and start a firm, and those using freelancing as a gateway to employment.

Most people I’ve talked to plan to stay in the first category — not surprisingly, as freelancing can be a great way to make a living. Those who want to take on employees and grow their enterprise take second place. Conversation, however, isn’t the most scientific way of gathering evidence and I’m curious to see where FreelanceSwitch readers hope to take their businesses in the months and years to come. For those who don’t fit into one of those four categories, I’ve left an “Other” option. Have at it and let us know!

For me, the most remarkable aspect of being a freelancer is the power to decide what projects I’ll work on and which ones I won’t. If you’re reading this, chances are it is for you, too. Being in charge of exactly what fills each workday is a pinch-me privilege. It’s also a pressing responsibility.

As an employee, the Pointy-Haired Boss gives you a desk, a computer, a dress code, a time to show up at the office, a time to leave, and projects to work on in between. When you don’t have that any more, you realize it’s not that bad a deal. Not having to make those choices about what to work on every day makes life easier because you don’t have to think. When you’re a freelancer, you’ve got the decisions to make AND the work to do.

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Photo by piccadillywilson.

Among other things, I’m a ghostwriter. Not the sexy kind that sits down with Sarah Palin or Oprah or that guy who killed his wife and married his daughter (I’m sure there is one!) and writes their story, getting an “as told to” or even “with” credit on the front cover. No, I write articles that appear in publications large and small under someone else’s name.

My reasons for doing this are plentiful, and not worth getting into in depth here – what it boils down to is that the money is good, the work is easy, and it saves me the time I’d normally spend querying editors and thinking of ideas. Since I teach a full-time schedule, that time saving is important.

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Photo by jenn_jenn.

I recently concluded a series of articles on New Year’s Planning. And here we are, in the New Year, and I have it on good authority that some of you still haven’t created your 2009 client acquisition plan.

I’m also hearing that there are some freelancers who have yet to do an annual budget.

We’ll start with client acquisition. I’ve created a free Excel application that will allow you to track your efforts. Download the 10 Business-Building Tools Tracker file and open it in Excel. Since it’s in Read-Only format, save the file under a different filename so you can work with it.

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