Freelancefolder

Is Your Body Language Sabotaging Your Success?

Posted April 30, 2008 in Business, Marketing 6 Rockin' Comments »

When you were a kid, did your parents constantly tell you to sit up straight and stop slouching or fidgeting? Some of my earliest memories involve just that scenario. I was always a fidgety kid; I never could sit still very long and the more I moved around the further down in the chair I’d go. Sound familiar? Now add in a few uhhhh’s and huh’s and it is a disaster waiting to happen.

What Does Your Body Language Tell Potential Clients?

Most of us realize slouching, fidgeting and stumbling over our words can be from habit. Some habits are good, however these are not and they may be sabotaging your best efforts to make a living. Even as I’m writing this, I catch myself stopping to pore over my words, or rubbing my face when a phrase doesn’t come together just right. [Click Here to Read More...]

Applying The Principles Of Kaizen And Bootstrapping To Build Your Freelance Skills

Posted April 29, 2008 in Business, How-To 12 Rockin' Comments »

Many of us freelancers are content creators, whether in terms of written content, design, or coding. What if you’ve had enough with current freelance gigs and want to move in a different direction with your skills?

Not factoring in change can be a quick path to freelance burnout. For example, the NY Times recently had an article about making money as a casual web video producer. Whether that’s what you want to do or not, how do you find the time and budget to transition into a new skillset? [Click Here to Read More...]

Do You Take Yourself Seriously As A Freelancer?

Posted April 28, 2008 in Marketing 7 Rockin' Comments »

More than anything else, your business is dependent on the personal vibe that radiates from you in every communication – your emails, your website, your collateral. Are you absolutely nailing this, communicating the confidence that brings in clients day after day … or do you let fears, insecurities and false humility hold you back? If you want more clients, you have to take yourself seriously as a freelancer, and you have to let the rest of the world know that you take yourself seriously too. Here’s a simple checklist you can use to measure how you see yourself.

• Do you have an About page that clearly and confidently communicates why you rock? One of the first things that potential clients do is go to your About page to get some background on you – your experience, your personality, your style. Will they find a page that paints you in a successful light, or one that just looks “thrown up there?”

[Click Here to Read More...]

2008-04-26 – Links Folder – Sweetest Links From Around The Web

Posted April 26, 2008 in Uncategorized 5 Rockin' Comments »

Hey folks, I hope you had a great week, it’s time for another ‘links folder‘ post. I’ve read many excellent articles in the last weeks, and thought I’d share them with you. Been a while heh? :)

This time I broke things down in categories, here we go: [Click Here to Read More...]

Have You Done Your Spring Cleaning Yet?

Posted April 25, 2008 in Uncategorized 7 Rockin' Comments »

Ah, Spring! Thoughts turn to pleasant weather, flowers blooming and the invariable task of spring cleaning. For most of the domestic goddess’s I know, this means dusting off, wiping down, and giving a fresh coat of paint to anything remotely connected to our lives. As a graphic designer, this regiment includes my office.

My office is where I live and breathe and it sometimes shows. Research material for the next article or project is either piled up in the basket or gets stuffed in a drawer with all the other papers I don’t have time to file correctly. Dog eared manila folders plastered with notes from projects I did six months ago adorn one corner of my work table while the dust bunnies under the desk have grown to the size of Godzilla.

On top of that, I can always feel assured of how loved I am by the number of cats I have nestled in my favorite sweater in the corner chair.

Is any of this starting to sound familiar? [Click Here to Read More...]

How To Get The Vacation Time That You Sorely Need And Desperately Want

Posted April 23, 2008 in Lifestyle 16 Rockin' Comments »

Vacation!

The very word is enough to cause envy in most freelancers.

Why would the word ‘vacation’ make freelancers envious?

Quite frankly, many of us are afraid to take a vacation. We’re afraid that if we leave our business unattended for a few days we’ll lose clients to competitors. We’re afraid that we’ll fall behind on our projects and never be able to catch up. We’re afraid that we’ll miss applying for the hottest project to ever hit the Internet. We’re afraid that we’ll run out of cash.

We freelancers are afraid to take a vacation, so we wind up delaying our vacation (or in many cases, not taking one at all). It’s a fear that fuels our envy of those who take vacations.

The fears are very real and this post is not intended to belittle them. However, the fact is that most of us need to rest from time to time if we are to perform at our best. What better way to rest than by taking a vacation?

This post is intended to help freelancers find a way to get that much-needed vacation rest. [Click Here to Read More...]

All Work and No Play? Really?

Posted April 23, 2008 in Productivity 10 Rockin' Comments »

As a freelancer, web-worker or both, I’m sure that you have read quite a few articles or even books about productivity and time management. A lot of people read about all sorts of approaches and end up thinking that a productive person is a robot-like creature who works all day or, in other words, someone who does not know the meaning of the word ‘fun‘.

It’s quite obvious that they end up thinking that time management is not for them and, unfortunately, they are missing out on a lot as a result of such an attitude. Never make the mistake of thinking something like that, as it doesn’t have anything to do with the way things actually stand. [Click Here to Read More...]

Jump-Starting Freelancing Productivity: 9 Reasons Why and 5 Reasons How Working Smarter Works

Posted April 21, 2008 in Productivity 16 Rockin' Comments »

Do you go through long periods of poor work productivity? Here’s a simple “time hack“… Have you considered spending less time per project, to force yourself to complete the work sooner and more efficiently?

If you’re in a salaried job and still contemplating freelancing, you may or may not have motivation to work harder. However, if you’re a 100% freelancer, your monthly income relies directly on how much work you can complete. It sounds like a scary idea, spending less time, especially if you’re worrying about monthly bills or even just food on the table. But look at it this way…

If you’ve turned into a workaholic in hopes of getting work done, and if you’re finding you’re not productive no matter how much more time you put in, then why not spend less time? So if spending too much time on projects isn’t helping you finish them, what harm is it to spend less time? [Click Here to Read More...]

Giving Back – Will You Help Us?

Posted April 20, 2008 in News 5 Rockin' Comments »

Community & Children’s Impact Center

by Lois Knight

Brenda Myer’s vision came to her in a dream after a car accident in 2004. Help the children in our community. Give them a positive place to go and do things instead of just ‘hanging out” and getting in trouble with drugs and violence. Today, Brenda is the driving force behind Community & Children’s Impact Center, a non profit organization dedicated to giving young people a second chance, away from the harsh realities of the streets.

Funded through contributions from area businesses and private citizens, CCIC has grown into a recognized name in this area. Regular events including “Make Me a Star” and the “Halloween Bash” with the “3 Acre Maze” let kids explore their talents or just have some fun without worrying about getting shot or the fear of drugs. These events have drawn crowds numbering in the hundreds and are continuing to grow as more people learn of CCIC’s message. [Click Here to Read More...]