I have a confession to make: I work on the weekends. It’s actually pretty rare that a weekend goes by that I don’t work at least a couple of hours. For many freelancers, working on the weekends is a no-no (although I think more of us would say that we shouldn’t work on the weekends than would say that we actually don’t work on the weekends). For several years, I’ve tried to figure out how to keep my weekends clear, but recently, I’ve been embracing it.

I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s nothing wrong with doing some work every weekend. There are plenty of if’s, then’s and but’s that go with this decision, of course. I know I need a healthy work-life balance as much as the next freelancer. I certainly wouldn’t recommend my approach to every other freelancer out there. But if you find yourself doing a little work on the weekends and not minding it, it doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Continue Reading

Flexibility is one reason many of us became freelancers. The idea of being your own boss, choosing your own hours, and having room in your life for other options are all very appealing.

Rockall Recruitment’s Freelance Guide lists flexibility as one of the benefits of freelancing:

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Today, freelancers tend to rely on constant, always-on access to their Internet connection. Long gone — for most of us — are the slow and unreliable dial-up connections which we used to rely on, replaced by high-speed broadband and cable networks that we can take advantage of without tying up the phone.

Unfortunately, a perfectly functioning connection isn’t always possible — technical issues arise, infrastructure crashes, or simply doesn’t exist in rural areas. In Australia, we tend to think we’re trying to pick the best ISP out of a bunch of bad options, with my own experiences reflecting a mediocre but generally problem-free run with Exetel to a terrible experience with iiNet. I don’t know how it is in other parts of the world, but this week’s poll question is: do you depend on an Internet connection for your freelancing business or have you structured things so that you’re not at the whim of your provider’s reliability? Are you a true Web 2.0 worker or a more traditional businessperson?

“Learn from the best, or die like the rest.” Sobering words for a freelancer!

In this article we try to discover what separates the best from the rest. What are the world’s top freelancers doing that the rest of us aren’t?

Some of the advice you read here might seem surprising or counter-intuitive. You may read hints you have never tried. The question is: Will you give them a go?

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Photo by Indigo Goat.

Ever wanted to know how some freelancers jump on those job postings before everyone else, and still manage to get the gig? It’s not with canned responses, I can assure you. These don’t go over well when it comes to pitching for a job. But there are techniques one can use to get their name in the hat early in the piece.

Some have questioned the point of jumping on a job quickly. Let me tell you, as someone who has advertised for and applied for many, it counts. I know a whole slew of people who employ freelancers who stop reading applications after the first 50 or 100 come in, and that can be anywhere from twenty minutes after posting the job, to twenty hours later.

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Photo by Helico.

The web allows us to offer our services and skills almost anywhere in the world. Many of us are able to speak more than one language and have already worked for clients overseas.

As a freelancing web designer who is currently in the process of moving from Germany, where I was born, to Melbourne in Australia (Good city, that. — Ed.), I’ve been able to establish a client base in both countries. Over the last 6 years I’ve been flying back and forth visiting friends and family while also staying in touch with clients and picking up new gigs.

Dealing with clients in two countries that are 10 hours or about 15,000km apart can create many new challenges. Simple things like the time difference make communication a lot trickier and depending on what nationalities you are dealing with, there can also be differences in business culture you should be aware of.

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Photo by paveitapics.

As a creative professional, constant inspiration is vital to career success. Sure, home and agency studios can be stimulating, but regardless of how cool the fitout is, it’s still the same environment.

It gets boring.

You’ll need a change, and relocating to a park or co-working space for a fresh outlook is a great idea. Checking out art galleries and city architecture during a lunch break is even better.

Traveling and working from the road? It’s the best of all. After remote working for three months, here’s the story so far — from the coast of Costa Rica. Continue Reading

Photo by frischmilch.

Your international freelancing dream just came true.

Your Dublin underground music blog vibrated with Rolling Stone and now they want to send you on tour with U2 in Japan. Your underwater photographs of Sweetpea the alligator excited National Geographic and now you’re on your way to Easter Island for a month. Your Bollywood gossip column has Entertainment Tonight calling to arrange an on-air interview in Hollywood tomorrow!

You may be good at what you do as a freelancer, but how good are you at international traveling?

Voyaging ever since I was a glint in my father’s eye, I’m here to tell you some career-saving international travel tips. Continue Reading

Probably the most glamorous aspect of the web freelance lifestyle — aside from working when you want, how you want — is the ability to work from anywhere in the world.

Theoretically, all you need is a computer and some kind of internet connection. As you know, these key ingredients are available everywhere from Romania to Peru (especially if you BYO a laptop).

Achieving the kind of flexibility that will allow you to take a working holiday anywhere in the world does take some time and effort, though it’s certainly worth the pay-off. In this final part of the Becoming a Freelance Web Worker series I’ll be explaining how you can achieve ultimate flexibility as a freelancer by working when you want, how you want, where you want.

Part 1: Eliminating Externalities

The essence of building a mobile office is to eliminate externalities. Lugging around books, paperwork, a PDA, calendars, ledgers and diaries isn’t exactly conducive to breezy, light-weight travel.

Ultimately, your office should exist on your laptop and spill out as little as possible.

While every home office is different, you can begin the transformation with a two question process:

1. Will I really need this when working remotely?

If no, don’t take it with you. If yes, proceed to question two. Continue Reading

The web worker has a very different kind of working day. Clients are lined up and liaised with through email, payments come in via PayPal and Facebook trumps the television when procrastination time comes around.

To be efficient and effective as a web worker you’ll need to come to grips with a few important tools and change some rusted-on behaviours. In part 3 of the Becoming a Freelance Web Worker series I’ll describe exactly what you need to make it through your first working day (and every day after that) as a wired freelancer.

Equipment

Computer — if you want to go mobile a laptop is essential, but if you’re content working from home any half-decent computer will do. Some web workers swear by Macs, others swear by Linux, others are PC devotees. My advice is to go for the operating system you find easiest to use — or the one you can afford. The Web 2.0 hipsters might have their preference, but they’re not doing your work for you, are they?

Fast internet connection — while it’s possible to be a dial-up web worker (I’m doing it at the moment, but only out of financial necessity!), it’s not very cool — or very productive. If a fast connection allows you to do a day’s extra work each year, it pays for itself. Continue Reading

Freelance web work gives you the flexibility to work for clients anywhere in the world, drastically increasing the size of your target market. Because work is arranged through the web, you can liaise with clients from any city in the world. You’re no longer tied to a single location.

‘International Freelancer’ sounds a lot cooler than ‘San Diego Freelancer’, doesn’t it?

In Part 2 of the ‘Becoming a Freelance Web Worker‘ series I’ll be sharing 23 ways freelancers can find work online. Once you find your clients through the web, most of the hard work is done. You’ll be well on your way to becoming a web-only freelancer with the ability to work (and be paid) from anywhere in the world.

All freelancers

1. Build a solid online portfolio
   A killer online portfolio will be something you can show prospective clients to turn them into done-deals. A well-promoted portfolio can also get you job offers on autopilot as web traffic flows in steadily.

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It’s becoming increasingly common for freelancers to have an online component to their work. You might find clients online, have an online portfolio or work for some clients completely through the web.

In this post, I want to go a step further and answer the question: what if all aspects of your freelancing work were done online?

In this Becoming a Freelance Web Worker series of posts I’ll be outlining a complete guide to becoming a web-only freelancer: how to find clients, how to work completely online and how to run your freelancing business from anywhere in the world.

Why I think you need this guide

At the end of January I’ll be a web worker in the purest sense of the term: my freelancing and income will be completely online based. I find clients online, I work online and I get paid online.

I’m still coming to terms with what this means for me. Working as an offline freelancer is already more flexible than almost any job you can name: you have the power to work for who you want, when you want.

Working as an online-only freelancer takes this flexibility to another level. You can work for who you want, when you want, in any state or country in the world (all you need is an internet connection and a computer). Continue Reading