Freelancefolder

The Client Machine is On Sale Now!

Posted September 2, 2010 in News 12 Comments »

It’s been months of hard work and many sleepless nights, but the day has finally arrived — The Client Machine on sale now!
 
For the next 5 days we will be selling it at a 40% discount — so if you’ve been thinking about buying, now is probably the best time. As always, we are including a 100% money-back guarantee :-)
 
That’s all there is to say for now. Check out the landing page to learn more about the theme, and let us know what you think in the comments!
 
[ Click to Read More … ]

Why & How Freelancers Should Exercise (from Fitness Expert Scott Tousignant)

Posted September 1, 2010 in Interviews, Lifestyle 29 Comments »

As freelancers, our biggest assets are our minds and bodies. If we get sick, we can’t do any work. If our minds are foggy, we can’t produce our best. Therefore, we don’t make any money or as much money as we could.

Unfortunately, the care of our bodies is not always a top priority for many freelancers. It’s easy to get caught up in all our work–particularly because we enjoy it so much.

Plus, if you work from home, you have fewer reasons and opportunities to get up, walk and move. I know of at least one writer who can sit in front of her computer for up to six hours straight!

That can’t be good for anybody. In fact, research has shown that sitting for most of the day puts us at higher risk for obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers.

Scott Tousignant, a fitness expert, recently agreed to share information about the importance of fitness for freelancers. I’d like to share with you a brief excerpt from that interview.

[Click Here to Read More...]

Working on Your Business, Not Just in It

Posted August 31, 2010 in Inspiration, Productivity 25 Comments »

When you’re a freelancer, you often find yourself doing several jobs. You may design, develop, write, manage, bill, consult and answer the phone. Unfortunately, while we’re busy taking care of all these roles in the day-to-day management of our business, we forget to step back and take a look at the long term.

Working on the business may not seem important when you’ve got ten active clients and six projects due this week, however it’s an important task you need to take care of, if you ever plan on growing your business (whether you plan to stay a single person business or not).

What exactly is working on your business versus working in it? Working in your business means taking care of the daily things, the clients, the billing, and the actual work. Working on your business, however, deals with stepping back and seeing how your business can improve, where you want your business to go, and so on. You should aim to try and work on your business, at least for a few hours every month.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can work on your business.

[Click Here to Read More...]

Finding Success Through Your Strengths

Posted August 30, 2010 in Inspiration 12 Comments »

It’s the ultimate goal and dream of every grade school child. To be able to grow up and do what you love for a living, at the time it may be flying in space, driving large red trucks, or protecting and serving. As we grow older, some of us reconsider which profession would make us happy but the dream of doing it for a living stays alive.

For most freelancers this dream is the root of the choice we have made to enter the freelance market. Whether you operate as “your own boss” on a full time basis or just on the side, you probably love what you do. What happens, though, when love doesn’t pay all of the bills? When we need that extra boost up the learning curve?

When love for the job isn’t getting you all the way it’s time to turn to your personal strengths for assistance. Focusing more effort into an area you are strong at, but may not be in love with can make the difference between a mediocre freelancing career and a truly fulfilling one.

[Click Here to Read More...]

Are You a Good Sport Freelancer?

Posted August 29, 2010 in Inspiration, Managing Clients 15 Comments »

If you work online (and most freelancers do), how do you handle it when you encounter someone who doesn’t agree with you (or even like you)?

I grew up attending my brother’s little league games, and now I have the opportunity to watch my own children participate in sport activities. The one thing that nearly every coach stressed was good sportsmanship–which included the ability to get along with others on the team as well as the ability to handle losing gracefully.

Not only is good sportsmanship vital to good teamwork, it’s also a crucial attitude for the successful freelancer to have.

In this post, I’ll share some of those early lessons that I learned about good sportsmanship. We’ll look at how good sportsmanship can help your freelancing business. We’ll also list several ways for you to find and keep a more sportsmanlike freelancing attitude.

[Click Here to Read More...]

Two Special Words that Will Make Your Clients See You Differently

Posted August 27, 2010 in Managing Clients, Marketing 22 Comments »

What if there were two words that you could use that would help you get along better with current clients and also improve your chances of getting new ones? Would you want to make use of those words?

Of course you would…

It almost sounds too good to be true, but guess what? There actually are two words that can help improve your client relations and help you get new clients. What’s more, you’ve probably known about these words since you were in kindergarten.

The words are simple: thank-you.

In this post, I’ll explain how saying thank-you will help improve your relationships with current clients and may even help you get new clients.

[Click Here to Read More...]

5 Good Ways to Close a Client Deal

Posted August 26, 2010 in Getting Clients, Marketing 44 Comments »

Do you have trouble closing client deals? Do you find yourself really close to getting a new client, only to find that the deal (and the new client) never materializes?

It’s happened to me in my freelancing business, and it’s probably also happened to you. It’s really frustrating, I know.

It doesn’t have to be that way, though. You can be become better at closing deals with some practice. In this post, I’ll list a few techniques that you can use to close client deals and get more clients.

[Click Here to Read More...]

Top 3 Ways I Find Clients

Posted August 25, 2010 in Marketing 37 Comments »

Finding clients is one of the biggest challenges for any freelancer. Even when you’re fully booked, you need to have your sights set on the future–after you finish your current projects.

In the ideal world, clients and projects will come in a steady stream. However, for most freelancers, the more common experience is that described as “feast or famine.”

You’re either so booked that you barely have time to sleep, even if you work all day, all night and on weekends.

Or else you feel like the whole world has forgotten you. That maybe you did such a crappy job your clients have forsaken you.

A happy medium would be to have enough projects to keep you busy–while still having a personal life–and have projects lined up for months to come.

Below are the top three ways I know for freelancers to find clients. You can carry out these client-getting strategies on a regular basis, to keep prospects at your door.

During times of famine, you can up the ante and get your schedule filled up fast.

[Click Here to Read More...]

How to Find Your First Client

Posted August 24, 2010 in Getting Started, Marketing 61 Comments »

Once you become better known in your profession, clients will constantly come to you instead of you looking for them. You’ll often be so busy with work and won’t need to market yourself as often.

But, what do you do when you’re just starting out or not well known? Before you begin getting clients, it can be tough to figure out what to do all day. That’s the perfect time to make yourself well known.

Finding clients is different for everyone and what works for some doesn’t always for others. However, I’d like to share several of the ways I got work in the beginning.

[Click Here to Read More...]