Becoming a Freelance Web Worker: Part 3, The Working Day
SkellieThe 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.
USB thumb drive — I’d suggest getting a USB thumb drive big enough to store your current project on it. If you’re a freelance writer you’ll be storing mainly documents and text files, so you can get something really cheap. If you’re a web developer or designer you’ll need a more heavy-duty option — but you’re also probably a technophile, so I don’t need to tell you that.
Optional: Scanner – sometimes nothing beats a pen and paper for getting an idea across, sketching and brainstorming. A scanner will allow you to share your pen and paper sketches with clients instantly. You can also make digital copies of paperwork (if you need it). If you’re an illustrator or animator, a scanner is a must-have.
Client liaison
Email — the only option for me, I’ve had no troubles working with clients over email. It encourages a kind of professionalism that’s hard to capture through other mediums. The relatively slow response time means you’ll soon learn to ask the right questions from the outset.
That being said, I’m a freelance web writer and that gives me a lot of autonomy. If you’re working closely with a client on a design, for example, you’ll probably need to make heavier use of more immediate options.
(For many web workers, there’s email, and then there’s Gmail. You can use a different email client, but prepare to be mildly teased/socially ostracized).
Skype — if you’re missing the sound of your clients’ voices over the phone (or just feeling lonely), Skype is the liaising option for you. It can take 5 minutes to work out something that would take three days via email. That being said, a call through Skype is a bigger interruption than a new email in your inbox — particularly if you’ve started working online to finally escape the sound of forever ringing phones…
Instant Messenger — if you’re searching for the immediacy of Skype without the awkward silences, IM could be the client liaison option for you.
Just remember not to LOL in the wrong places.
Getting paid
PayPal — corporate clients will often want to pay you old-school style, but individuals will favor PayPal. You lose a few dollars in the transfer process, but the immediacy and control is worth it. You can invoice and get paid within minutes if your client is online. PayPal will also handle the conversion of foreign dollars into your home currency for you.
If you’re one of those people who’ve been somehow wronged by PayPal and don’t want to use it, there are alternatives (but clients happily using PayPal might be a bit grumpy about the inconvenience).
Time management
Resisting temptation — I’ve always thought freelance ink illustrators would be masters of productivity, because none of the tools of their trade actively encourage procrastination — unless doodling counts?
If you thought the temptations of traditional freelancing were bad, for a web worker, they’re just one click away. We’re also good at convincing ourselves that procrastination is work. Reading feeds is “research”. Facebook is “networking”. StumbleUpon is for “inspiration”.
I can’t really think of a solution for this. I’m too busy writing an update on Twitter.
Anti-procrastination charms and pendants — usually called ‘Web Apps’ and ‘Firefox extensions’, a common piece of advice given to web workers can be summed up like this: more web apps and extensions = more productivity — though the sources of this advice wouldn’t like it being so brutally paraphrased.
I’m going to be a luddite here and say this equation is wrong. Technology won’t magically make you more productive. In fact, I think a lot of web workers fall into the trap of spending more time reading about productivity and learning to use new productivity tools than they do actually being productive!
My rule: if it’s faster than doing the same thing with pen and paper, keep it. If not, scrap it, be old-school and proud of it (and more productive).
Having said that, keeping your paperwork to a minimum is essential if you want to work anywhere in the world… something I’ll be covering in the last part of the series, Part 4 — coming soon.
Part 4 of the series will be online tomorrow, you can also read more from Skellie at her brand new blog Anywired
Ben Helps | Small Business Journeyman
January 13th, 2008
As always, another thought provoking article.
I guess I’m lucky our pet supplies business has a mobile EFTPOS machine - I’ve found customers like paying by EFTPOS, Mastercard or VISA even more than by Paypal.
As far as client liason goes there’s also sites like Elance and RentACoder if you’ve secured a job through them (though most such mediums are lame in comparison to plain email/IM).
While it could blow out to more than an article could handle or turn into a comments flame war, budled with the computer as equipment is all the associated development tools and applications, depending on your type of online job.
Also, congrats on the wins in the Performancing Top Blogs of 2007.
–bed now.
Regards,
Ben Helps.
Adnan
January 13th, 2008
Awesome article Skellie! One of the best pieces of software that’s really helped me keep organised is Microsoft Excel (and I’m sure other spreadsheet software programs will help too). I update a spreadsheet with monthly earnings, another one keeps a tab on advertisers, another one has a list of contacts etc.
Like you, I also love Paypal - and am yet to be wronged (although I shouldn’t speak too soon). The convenience of simply withdrawing money to your bank account is second to none, and means I don’t actually have to leave my computer at all (whether that’s a good thing remains to be seen).
Loving this series!
Darren White
January 13th, 2008
Excellent series.
What I would say is that Gmail is great if you have more than one account. Rather than spending time checking each email address you can allow it to pop any accounts for you. I know multiple accounts can be set up in Outlook, Thunderbird etc but with keeping with the ethos of the series GMail allows you do it any where in the world as long as you have a connection and without any syncing issues.
You may cover this in the next series but keeping this immediacy in mind I keep all my documents online using Google Docs (or an alternative like Zoho). This allows me access to any spreadsheet, article etc no matter where I am.
blue2x
January 13th, 2008
I 100 percent agree with paypal , I used services like western union , bank transfer or even http://www.xoom.com to get paid from clients and some clients dont like it. We can now receive funds here in the Philippines which is a good thing , the only thing that I dont like is it converts dollars to the local currency ( I wished more banks here could withdraw paypal dollars as dollars to your account ) , I have yet to get the funds to my bank account , they say it might take up to eleven days ! but I hope its shorter. =)
Anyways for instant messengers , i use yahoo or msn messenger to get the job done. As for the computer, I have a part time job which requires me to work only 4 hours a day, or even more , and I only get the chance to do some freelancing at night. My question is, what is a good laptop? If you use programs like illustrator, flash, fireworks, photoshop ? Some guys say that you should get a mackbook pro? Is the 15 inch good ? Or is there any vista capable laptop thats good for graphic designing too?
Jordan
January 13th, 2008
Thanks for these great articles. I’m 95% a web freelancer (doing PowerPoint), but I find that sometimes a new client really feels the need to see me in person to start the project. Usually that client is a bit on the technophobic side (so wants to go over papers in person), but more often I get the feeling that it’s just an emotional thing; They’re hiring me and they want to have a look at me. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions for dealing with those 5%?
Thomas
January 13th, 2008
Here’s what runs my web design shop:
Communication: Email (Thunderbird, SquirrelMail), cell phone (nothing fancy)
Computer: Macbook that’s been put through hell
Web Design: Photoshop, all the browsers: Firefox, Opera, Safari, Camino, IE6, IE7, and all Windows versions of the other browsers via my XP installation with Parallels
Web Development: TextMate, Eclipse (phpEclipse, but trying PDT now)
Hosting: HostGator
Domains: GoDaddy
FTP: Transmit
Time tracking, invoicing: On The Job (by Stunt Software)
Office Docs: NeoOffice
Payment: Checks. Always checks.
These are really the only tools I need. On occasion, I use Adium for IM’ing a client that prefers that, but in general I prefer phone and email; IM seems to give clients the idea that changes will be made whenever they want, instantly. And for Mac users, Transmit, TextMate, and On the Job are tough to beat. I use Eclipse for heavy PHP work, but TextMate for work in any other language.
Grant
January 13th, 2008
Great article, i have been following this series and cant wait to here the rest.
Some great tips, maybe you could give up some ideas of places to get contact templates, time keeping software, other essential stuff.
thanks
michael brito
January 13th, 2008
keep it coming! loving this series.
Lee
January 13th, 2008
Just wanted to say thanks. Some great information that should prove very useful when I’m hitting the road this summer to combine my two favourite things .. developing software and travelling the world.
I’m also building a new web service to help me (and others) to do just this - become a freelance web worker and work anywhere. *shameless plug*
Looking forward to part 4. Thanks again.
Hansson
January 13th, 2008
Any reason you didn’t mention Google Checkout as an alternative to PayPal? (Nothing about it in the link you provided either). I haven’t used it but the fees are lower than PP. Would be interested to hear if anyone has used it.
Lea Woodward
January 13th, 2008
I’d have to agree with you Skellie on the high speed connection thing - and it’s one of the criteria we always look for when choosing which country to visit next. We’re on our way to South Africa for 3 months tomorrow however…and I’ve just heard the connection speeds are not too hot
Having said that, I have often found that not being constantly connected can be a very good thing and force you to be ultra productive when you are connected. My wireless connection went down whilst we were in Grenada for 2 months last year (although my husband’s was fine) which was annoying as anything…but in the end it was not being connected that meant I actually wasted less time which I then spent writing a book about being “location independent” web workers - so it’s not always a necessity unless of course your business requires you to transfer large files frequently.
I’ve listed a number of tools we use to run our businesses as we travel here >>
Great series!
Chad
January 13th, 2008
Great list…I have impressed myself by using all the equipment and software that you recommend. Now I just need to stop wasting so much time on facebook
Greg Hollings
January 13th, 2008
Hi Skellie,
Very helpful article! I look forward to reading the rest of your series. I do agree with yourself and Lea Woodward from LIP that fast internet is a must. I’m currently researching fast internet connections in Rio de Janeiro and other Brazilian towns for our move over there in October. I’ll let you know what I find out!
Great article!
All the best,
Greg
Evan Meagher
January 13th, 2008
Great content aside, this article has great flow. Very engaging. Even the plug for the next article in the series was perfectly led into and delivered.
Anthony Caruana
January 14th, 2008
Great article. With scanning docs, whiteborads and the like, I’ve taken to using the camera on my mobile phone. I’ve got a Nokia N95 and the 5MP camera with autofocus is very handy.
As far as work management goes I’ve started using an application called Bento. It’s a new Mac only program that lets you create a customer front-end to the inbuilt iCal and Address Book programs. I blogged about it recently (http://pocketmojo.net/index.php/mymaclife/2007/11/23/bento_from_a_freelancer_s_pov). It’s proven to be very useful and I reckon, with very little work, I’ll have it producing invoices.
As you can tell, I’m a Mac user (one of my regular clients is Australian Macworld magazine (www.macworld.com.au) so I use iWeb for my business website (www.gestaltcommunications.com) and I use that to post large files (images and the like) that my clients need. iPhoto stores images (in a separate library to my family snapshots).
I have a mobile broadband card for my laptop as well.
Finally, and this is a little off-topic, but I recently built a new office at home, converting an old shed. Pics and notes at http://pocketmojo.net/index.php/thepdaguy?cat=35.
Rico
January 14th, 2008
I’ve recently learned that maybe having a laptop may not be the best option for productivity: Why My Borken Laptop Led to Improved Productivity. So I guess any computer would do for the freelance web worker, IMHO.
shafiu
January 14th, 2008
The biggest problem of foreign clients for me is also receiving money. Right now its only Western Union. I am in Maldives. PayPal still hasnt started accepting incoming payments here.
May be I should sign up for an alternative method to transfer money.
Melissa Donovan
January 14th, 2008
I’d love to get on Skype, but I’m still trying to figure out why my desktop doesn’t have a mic-capable sound card. It’s not even three years old! Luckily I have the backup laptop, but using two separate computers is somewhat of a pain.
One of the best and simplest time management tips is make a schedule and stick to it. I always have a schedule, and if I stray from it, I can always return. Keeps me in line.
Em
January 14th, 2008
I love these articles!
I’m just starting up as a freelance graphic designer, and would LOVE to be able to have clients all around the world. But I’m not sure how to go about handling all the payment stuff… Ok, so I can start up a PayPal account, but what if the client doesn’t pay or there is some kind of problem with the payment? I can’t do anything since he’s on the other side of the world in another country, with a different legal system etc. Should I ask for some money in advance? How do freelancers usually go about these things? I’d love an article discussing those issues!
Also, I’m getting a headache trying to sort out what to do with tax, vat etc. when it comes to clients abroad. There are so many practical issues that I need to sort out before I can start even thinking about getting clients abroad…
Skellie
January 14th, 2008
Hey guys — thanks for the comments! It’s been really cool to see some of the setups you guys are running to get through the working day.
@ Hansson: I haven’t tried Google Checkout, so I didn’t want to comment on it without experience to back it up, but like you, I’d be interested to hear what kind of experiences people have had with it… particularly if the fees really are lower than PayPal (which can be a killer sometimes!)
Bob
January 14th, 2008
“a lot of web workers fall into the trap of spending more time reading about productivity and learning to use new productivity tools than they do actually being productive!”
I fully relate to this….and I’ve done something about it. Don’t call it a New Years Resolution, call it change - I’ve cut my feed reader from 155 to 25 (see I kept yours!) , am spending more time thoughtfully reading and applying the great advice to my life and business. It is bringing about more change and productivity once spent in scrolling through hundreds and hundreds of titles only to “mark all as read” and get nothing out of it.
Hansson
January 15th, 2008
I found out that google checkout isn’t available yet for sellers (you!) outside of the U.S and UK. You also need a gmail/google account to be able to use google checkout. Buyers could be anywhere it seems. The fee is 2% + .20 usd and if you use Adwords you get up to 10 times your adwords spend in free transactions.
http://mashable.com/2006/06/29/google-checkout-launches-today/
shockboogiedesign
January 17th, 2008
Awesome checklist!
I’m glad to know that I do have all these in my freelance arsenal:)
Nathan Ketsdever
January 18th, 2008
Skype rocks. Finding a way to track time productively is critical.
Also finding options for wi-fi are super helpful.
I’ve found that the questions section of Linked IN has been very helpful.
I wish I lived in a community where co-working was an option. Co-working is a work environment in which web-workers work together in the same place. It serves as a hub of activity, ideas, and community.
Thássius V.
February 17th, 2008
Hey, nice article. I would include, near e-mail, an online office application, such as Google Docs or Zoho.