I love notebooks. I am, after all, a writer.

In the world of iPads, smartphones, and other technological devices, there is still something wonderful about a notebook.

I have always been a pen-and-paper person. In college (in the late 90s before PDAs) I kept everything in my trusty planner. I carried that thing with me everywhere. If I lost it, I was doomed. But I never lost it. It had my calendar, address book, membership cards, and even a ruler! I put things I didn’t want to lose in it’s zippered pockets and wrote everything in it.

When I graduated, I ditched the planner. My life was much less chaotic with a full-time job and I didn’t need to keep track of assignments. So I started carrying around a blank, unlined notebook. I started collecting quotes I heard and liked, lists of books I wanted to read, and sketches I drew during my lunch hour spent in downtown Boston. It was like a journal without all the personal secrets.

My favorite kind of notebooks were Moleskine notebooks. They were small, sturdy, and came without those pesky lines. Some of them even had a built-in elastic to keep the books closed. When I saw this post on designboom about a new architecture book series Moleskein was publishing, I thought “Now that’s a great idea!” Continue Reading

For the past four years, I have created a digital flipbook for every publication I have worked on—from the once-a-year publications for nonprofit organizations to the monthly publications.

Digital flipbooks are exactly what they sound like—a digital magazine that you can flip through on your computer screen.

As a freelancer, creating a digital flipbook for your clients is an easy way to offer them more without a ton of more work on your plate. You can even create a digital flipbook portfolio of your own work! It’s a great way to share your portfolio with potential clients—and it looks really cool, too.

Digital flipbooks are exactly what they sound like—a digital magazine that you can flip through on your computer screen. Now, many people (like me) prefer not to read magazines on their computers—but there are many, many more people out there who do.

Flipbook by Uniflip

The Pros

Digital flipbooks are flashy and cool—and present publications in a whole new way. You can add videos, music, and moving graphics to a publication for added pizzazz. At the magazine I work for, these upgrades cost more to implement, so the advertisers have to upgrade their ads for this online optimization.

What they don’t need to pay for is a hotlink for their ad. When you do this, people can click on any ad they want to go directly to the advertisers website. Plus, these clicks can be tracked so the advertiser can see how well (or not so well) they are doing.

Most of these flipbooks are also SEO optimized, which helps their search engine ranking. It’s just another way for advertisers (or the people you write about) to be found online. And who doesn’t want to be found online?!

Flipping through a digital flipbook is easy. And you move through the publication page by page, like a regular magazine. Depending on the set up and company you use, you can also see little thumbnails of pages at the bottom of the page for your flipping joy. Continue Reading

Last week, the British Journal of Photography helped spread the news that Kodak will stop producing digital products as part of their ongoing strategic review? What is Kodak going to do? Refocus on good, old fashioned film.

At first, this sounded like brand suicide to me. But then I read on…

The news comes as Kodak is undergoing a wide-ranging strategic review of its businesses with the “commitment to drive sustainable profitability through its most valuable business lines.” But Kodak is quick to point out that the move won’t mean the end for Kodak-branded digital cameras. Instead, the firm plans to license its brand to third-party manufacturer – a move that mirrors Polaroid’s action in the years leading to and following its own bankruptcy. —bjp-online

Film has a core niche market. There are still photographers out there who use it, and use it religiously. Jonathan Canlas, a popular photographer based in Utah, recently came out with a book titled “Film is Not Dead: A Digital Photographer’s Guide to Shooting Film”. He also leads FIND (Film is Not Dead) workshops across the U.S. (which Kodak helps sponsor). There are about 65 testimonials about the workshop on Canlas’s blog,  from photographers all over the place. Some of them are so jazzed about the workshop they’re writing testimonials before they have even attended!

Canlas shoots ONLY in film, and his business hasn’t suffered from the trend towards digital photography in the least. In fact, I’d argue his business has grown from sticking to his chosen niche.

Stacey Hedman, a New England-based photographer, has been using film again for about a year. She started noticing that the photographers she most admired were using film, and she stared to pull out her family’s old cameras to play around with. In addition of going to film, Hedman and her fellow photographers are using manual light meters and cameras that haven’t been manufactured in over 20 years. “With film I feel more connected to the process—there’s more soul and art behind it,” she says. Continue Reading

Every freelancer should have an online portfolio. You’ve got one, right? If not, skip to the last paragraph of this post. It’s written for you.

If you do have one, you can breathe a sigh of relief. You’re halfway there.

Building your portfolio is easy. The hard part is making it good. A killer portfolio does more than just showcase your work. It transforms visitors into clients. Best of all, it’s an automatic work generator.

In this post, I want to show you how to take your online portfolio to the next level. Continue Reading

Online portfolios are one of a freelancer’s greatest marketing tools. You can reference it in your business cards, promotional campaigns, email signatures, and clients can find you on their own through search engines – generating you new business.

Your portfolio is the face of your business and needs to communicate well on its own online. Your business goals with a portfolio are clear: you want to convert those visitors into customers.

We all have to start somewhere with displaying our work. Whether you’re building your portfolio for the first time, or looking to improve your existing portfolio, some professional tips can save you loads of time and get you building in the right direction – upwards.

Often the difference between a successful portfolio and one that falls flat is implementing some simple strategies, while not overdoing it, or loosing a targeted focus.

Take a close look at 12 advice-filled articles for freelancers that will help you create an effective online portfolio, and assist you in making it the best it can be.

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Like corporate website, which use phrases like “innovative strategies” and “leading-edge solutions” ad naseum, many freelancers’ online portfolios tend to use some of the same tired phrases again and again. I combed through dozens of freelance websites (many of them discovered through FreelanceSwitch’s Find a Freelancer Directory) to create this list of over-used and ineffective phrases.

If you’re using these in your own portfolio, consider finding other phrases so you can stand out from the pool of eager freelancers. Continue Reading

In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, we look at building portfolios and teaching students. 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. Continue Reading

Remember when you graduated from school or first decided to become a freelancer?  You likely didn’t have much work to show and had to scramble to fill your portfolio.  If you now have a few years under your belt, you’ve probably started to build up quite a collection of finished pieces.

The importance of having a professional portfolio website has been discussed on FreelanceSwitch – it is essential for the modern freelancer.  But how do you decide what to include in your portfolio? If you fill your site with only your favorite work it could be focused in the wrong direction and not attract business.  If you only display giant commercial projects it may feel like a sterile presentation with no heart.  Somehow you need to show that as a freelancer you are both capable in your skills and able to produce high quality, creative results.

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When it comes to finding the right freelancer for your project, resumes don’t always tell you everything you need to know. With creative work, like a website or copywriting, a freelancer’s style can be far more important than the companies he or she has worked for. Looking through examples of a designer or writer’s work can make choosing between freelancers a much simpler matter, especially if you have a whole stack of responses to a job listing. The review process doesn’t have to be complicated: you can find the right freelancer by focusing on a few key points.

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I’m a freelancer, and I’m a lazy beast.

I put things off all the time. I’ve been putting off writing this article for two weeks already. I’ve discovered though, that when it comes to important things, sometimes I just have to buckle down and get it done, like my portfolio.

How about you? Have you been putting off getting your portfolio designed? Whether it’s lack of time, initiative, or skill, a good looking portfolio is a big undertaking. Maybe next month we’ll get it done.

Last month the folks over at Krop launched their Portfolio & Resume Builder application. Their goal is to get your work out there as easily as possible, and display it as attractively as possible. And I must say…it’s a nice little package.

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I know that some of you are going to get grumpy when I tell you that working for free can be good for your personal and professional development. But bear with me for a few minutes, and then you can return to your grumpiness.

Here are six reasons why you’d want to do pro bono work for non-profit organizations:

1. You’re just starting out as a freelancer and your portfolio is empty.

I mean, that portfolio is so empty, there’s an echo in there. The good news is that there are plenty of non-profits that need your professional touch. They may have a website that needs redesigning. Or they need your computer programming skills to build a better membership database. Or their brochure could use better written copy.

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At a time when networking is extremely important, freelancers can’t afford to have a business card that isn’t eye-catching. My rule of thumb is if people aren’t complimenting you on your cards, then it’s time to make a change.

After collecting business cards over the years, I’ve seen some pretty interesting and creative designs along with some that just plain aren’t effective. Before going over some ways to ensure your cards don’t fall into the latter group, I think it’s important to ensure all of the proper information is accounted for. When designing cards for myself and my clients, I ensure the following information is included:

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