Freelancefolder

Three Easy Tips to Help You Effectively Estimate Project Time

Posted January 27, 2012 in How-To

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Do you know how much time your next project will take? As a freelancer, you should at least have an idea.

If you’re freelancing, you must be able to effectively estimate the time each of your projects will take. If you can’t do this you won’t know how much to charge for your work or how to best schedule your time.

Estimating is one of the core freelancing skills, yet it is one that many freelancers struggle with. If you have trouble in this area, you’re not alone.

In this post, I’ll give you three easy tips to help you improve your estimating skills. I’ll also briefly share task-based estimating.

If you’ve ever underestimated the time it takes to complete a project, this post is for you.

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How to Deal with the Unique Challenges That Freelancers Face

Posted January 25, 2012 in Getting Started, How-To

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Sure, everyone faces some challenges from time to time. But, due to the unique nature of freelancing perhaps freelancers are a bit more susceptible to some challenges than others.

If you’re properly prepared, though, you can handle most freelancing challenges that come your way while minimizing your stress.

In this post, I’ll outline some of the common challenges that freelancers face. I’ll also discuss how to handle those challenges that are most unique to freelancing.

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Making Mondays Work for You

Posted January 23, 2012 in Lifestyle

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Are you one of those people who always get the Monday Blues?

Do you have to drag yourself out of bed? Do you feel sluggish and unmotivated all day Monday? And does every thing seem to go wrong on this day?

The Monday blues are common. In fact, a study by the firm Mercer found that 35% of all sick leave is taken on a Monday. In another study, more than 25% of people surveyed said the thought of going back to work on Monday morning was enough to ruin their weekend.

These studies were done among employees, and you’re a freelancer. But I’ll bet if you could take Mondays off, you would.

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How to Set Personal Boundaries When You Work From Home

Posted January 20, 2012 in How-To, Lifestyle

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Do you crave a balance between your work and your personal life?

Most freelancers do, but the challenges of working from home can sometimes make life/work balance seem unattainable. You may feel like you are constantly being pulled towards both family and work commitments–a bit like being in the middle of a tug-of-war.

One answer that can help you achieve better balance between your work and personal life is boundaries. In this post, I’ll explain how boundaries help freelancers. I’ll also list some of the areas where you should consider establishing boundaries in your own freelancing business.

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How to Find and Apply Vision to Your Freelancing Business

Posted January 18, 2012 in Business

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Fortune 500 companies, non-profits and other “serious” businesses have them. Should your freelancing business have one too?

A vision, that is.

A vision is simply a statement (several paragraphs, actually) of where you’d like your business to be in the next x number of years.

Apparently, a vision is really good for any business, including yours.

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Do You Make These 5 Common Negotiating Mistakes?

Posted January 16, 2012 in How-To, Managing Clients

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Negotiations are key for successful freelancers. Nearly every project starts with negotiations (or if it doesn’t, it should). Freelancers who can’t negotiate a profitable deal are at risk for losing money, or even worse, going out of business.

So, it stands to reason that negotiating skills are also important. In this post, I identify five common negotiating mistakes that freelancers often make. Read the post to make certain that you’re not guilty of making any of these errors yourself.

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10 More Reasons Why Freelancing Is Not for You

Posted January 13, 2012 in Freelance Stories

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On this blog, we normally encourage people to become freelancers. That’s because we believe that for many people, freelancing offers a terrific combination of great opportunities and a great lifestyle.

However, there are a few individuals who just aren’t cut out to be freelancers (and that’s perfectly okay).

In this post, I list some characteristics that I’ve observed over the years of former freelancers who ended up returning to traditional employment. Most of these folks were quite miserable as freelancers. If you see several of these characteristics in yourself, you may want to carefully reconsider whether freelancing is really the right choice for you.

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How to Deal with Freelancing Change

Posted January 11, 2012 in Inspiration, Lifestyle

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Change is inevitable.

This is true whether you’re a freelancer, or not. But, because of the nature of freelancing, we freelancers tend to face change and its consequences a bit more frequently than other folks do. That’s why it’s really important to have a Plan B and to keep that plan up to date. Having an emergency fund does not hurt either.

There’s much more to dealing with freelancing change that just having a Plan B, though. You also need to deal with the emotional toll that freelancing change can take on you. Handling the emotional toll of freelancing change is what this post is all about. In it, I’ll share some practical tips to help you keep the inevitable freelancing changes in perspective so you can stay at your best as a freelancer.

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7 Warning Signs That You Are About to Lose a Client

Posted January 9, 2012 in Managing Clients

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Long-term clients are great for a freelancer’s bottom line. There’s nothing quite like knowing that you have a six-month or even a year contract for the foreseeable future.

It should come as no surprise, then, that losing a long-term client can be traumatic for a freelancer and devastating to a freelancing business. Losing a client that you were counting on for regular work can take many of us from feast to famine in no time.

In this post, I list some of the most common reasons why freelancers lose clients. You can use these reasons to help determine if you are about to lose a client. Also, I invite readers to share their own advice and experiences about losing (and retaining) clients.

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