Freelancefolder

FreelanceFolder News: New and Improved Community Links!

Posted November 26, 2008 in News 3 Rockin' Comments »

Regular FreelanceFolder readers out there may have noticed that the community news section has been a bit quiet lately, and that’s because we’ve been working on an improved version that will let us publish more of your links with much less hassle!

The old system was a bit archaic and required us to re-type all of your link submissions — which severely limits the number we can showcase in a given week.

In the new version, however, almost everything is handled automatically. You can just submit your articles and tutorials as usual, and all we have to do is approve them.

Hopefully this will lead to more cool resources published in the sidebar, and a better chance for you guys to promote yourselves on FreelanceFolder.

So, if you’ve got an article to share, just hop on over to the community link submission page and fill out all of the details as you would normally. Otherwise you can kick-back and enjoy the links :-)

Note to spammers: Everything is run through Akismet, and we still get to manually review each submission — so don’t even bother trying to submit an irrelevant link!

The 2 Keys to Personal Branding Success

Posted November 26, 2008 in freelancenews Add Comment »

The 2 Keys to Personal Branding Success
Freelancers need a strong personal brand, and the importance of this only grows with the need to distinguish yourself. This is what you need to succeed.

De-Clutter Your Interface With Hover Controls

Posted November 25, 2008 in freelancenews Add Comment »

De-Clutter Your Interface With Hover Controls
Interfaces get too cluttered if we put too many controls on them. Simplify your interface with simple CSS hover controls. This tutorial shows you how.

Are You Wasting 90% of Your Prospecting Efforts?

Posted November 25, 2008 in Marketing 19 Rockin' Comments »

Did you know that only 10% of the energy used by an incandescent light bulb produces light? The other 90% is given off as heat.

Seems like a lot of wasted energy, doesn’t it?

Well, it’s no different when it comes to prospecting for clients. Most of the time energy freelancers put into a promotional effort is wasted.

It usually goes something like this: You send out hundreds of letters, make dozens of cold calls or go to a handful of networking events, only to end up with just one or two golden nuggets — the few prospective clients that have an immediate need for your services.

It’s true that those few “hot prospects” are ultimately what we’re all looking for. But, too often, the difference between just “getting by” and earning an executive-level income as a freelance professional lies in what you do with prospects who are NOT ready to hire you. [Click Here to Read More...]

10 Things You Should Keep for Tax Purposes

Posted November 24, 2008 in Business 12 Rockin' Comments »

With the holidays right around the corner, income taxes are probably the very last thing that you want to think about.

Contrary to how festive you might be feeling, however, now is actually the perfect time to get your paperwork in order for this year’s income taxes.

With everything together and organized by January 1st, you will be able to file your 2008 tax form quickly and (nearly) painlessly. If you are due for a tax refund, filing early can help you get your money back as soon as possible.

So, gather up all those unfiled papers now and start to sort through them. Starting on taxes early also gives you a chance to find or ask for copies of any records that you are missing.

(Note: The post is geared towards taxpayers living in the United States, though others may still benefit. This post does NOT constitute specific professional accounting advice. For help with your particular tax question, consult a tax specialist.)

[Click Here to Read More...]

How To Find Hidden Traffic And Use It To Get More Clients

Posted November 21, 2008 in How-To, Marketing 15 Rockin' Comments »

Finding clients isn’t always the easiest thing to do. Working above and beyond to get great customer feedback and solid word-of-mouth advertising isn’t always enough to keep the bills paid and the fridge stocked, so any client-grabbing advice is welcome news to the harried freelancer.

But did you know that underserved, ready-to-buy clients might already be visiting your website? Let’s take a look at how to use statistics tools and SEO plugins to find these “hidden” visitors to your website, and then how you can convert them into clients.

[Click Here to Read More...]

Freelance Door Hangers: 10 Days Left to Get Yours

Posted November 20, 2008 in News Add Comment »

As most of you probably know, we launched a major FreelanceFolder redesign earlier this month.

In order to celebrate the launch of the new forums, we’ve been giving away “Freelancer At Work” door hangers for free :-)

The contest is officially over at the end of this month (about 10 more days), so if you’re interested just head over to the forums and read the full post for more info and official rules.

Oh, and for those of you who have entered already — we’ll be shipping out the first batches next week, so keep an eye on your PM box for a ’shipped’ notice.

A Health Blueprint for Type-A Entrepreneurs

Posted November 19, 2008 in Lifestyle, Productivity 31 Rockin' Comments »

Maintaining a healthy physical and mental routine every day is crucial to remaining productive and hardworking on a regular basis, especially if you want to perform at a high level.

The stress of being an entrepreneur is enough to take a huge toll on your life and business if left unchecked. On top of that, it’s impossible to avoid burnout and even depression without properly taking care of yourself.

With that dire warning behind us, let’s move on to some health tips that you can use to remedy the situation and keep yourself working at peak performance physically and mentally.

Here’s a simple-yet-powerful health blueprint for entrepreneurs:

[Click Here to Read More...]

Multi-Jobbing: Freelancing On The Clock

Posted November 18, 2008 in Business, Lifestyle 17 Rockin' Comments »

It can be tempting for freelancers who are employed full-time to slip in a bit of “personal” work during office hours. Whether it’s answering client emails, scribbling some concept designs or writing a full website, attending to your freelancing whilst on someone else’s dime is a risky business.

What I’m going to suggest in this article, though, is quite different.

If you’re a full-time or part-time freelancer in need of a bit of extra cash to make ends meet, look for a job which allows you to freelance whilst earning: taking multi-tasking to the whole new level of multi-jobbing. (Also known as “empty job” freelancing.)

Get Paid For Being There

In order to make this work you need to find a job which basically pays you for being there, rather than for doing stuff. These jobs don’t usually pay very well, but they do give you ample free time — and with little else to do but twiddle your thumbs you can easily get on with your freelancing.

Some examples are:

[Click Here to Read More...]