If you’re a Mac based freelancer, you’ll be interested to head over to our sister blog Mac.AppStorm where David’s run up a list of 12 Mac Apps for Running a Freelance Business:

Running a freelance business requires you to be an expert at everything – from communicating with clients to meticulously tracking your time and expenses. Doing all this manually can be dramatically time consuming, and it’s easy to make mistakes – nobody is perfect. Fortunately there are a range of Mac applications which can lend a hand and assist in the day to day running and organizing of your business.

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Also on the same subject, be sure to check out Noupe’s list of 15+ Useful Mac Apps for Freelancing Web Designers. Between those two lists, you’ll have a plethora of apps to help you with your freelancing!

Photo by Ordinary Guy.

Most of us rely on steady jobs to help us make it financially as freelancers. Whether your steady client is a “bread and butter” client, or is a bit more watered down in pay, these gigs can be valuable to tide you over between larger projects.

I’m a big believer in steady work, also known as part-time jobs. They provide a constant cash flow, and give you valuable exposure in your industry that you may not get while project-hopping.

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Photo by Mysserli.

I know how to spot a dud client. I spent far longer (read: years) working with one of them than I should’ve, before I wised up and realized that any money you receive from them is not worth it and likely to incur a loss — since that money will likely end up working you ten times harder than it’s worth, strip you of motivation, and is time better spent marketing your business to help you earn cash from more professional clients.

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Photo by FABIOLA MEDEIROS.

Although there are numerous bright aspects to freelancing, day in day out it’s not easy to keep focused and keep producing your best work for clients. Focus can easily be lost, direction shortsighted, and shortcuts taken. There are a few things you can do to relieve a major chunk of this pressure and stress and start leading a lot more simple freelancing life.

Take Away The Unnecessary

Keep asking yourself, does this “something” add anything to my life? If you have to think about an answer to the question for more than a few seconds, it doesn’t. Remove it from your life. Throw it away. Clear out the space visually and mentally.

There’s no use keeping around a piece of digital material (RSS feed, song, file, bookmark) if it’s not adding anything to your life or helping you in some way. Try to simplify things down and keep only the essentials, both in the material and the evolving digital world. Continue Reading

Or... not!
Photo by Angela7dreams.

Last month, I spoke at my alma mater about freelance writing. The request letter from the high school was helpful and precise: I was to inform the students about a “typical day.”

So I gathered several digi-photos of me at a book signing, me wrapped in a tipsy embrace with my Random House publicist, me propping my computer up against a thatch-shaded picnic table on the sugar shores of Cocoa Beach. And then I digi-ditched them. I had half an hour to address fifteen-year-old me, and she was going to hear the truth of it all.

What is my day? This is my day. Continue Reading