Freelancefolder

The Violent Truth of Branding

Posted May 26, 2008 in Business, Marketing 21 Rockin' Comments »

You might not know it, but I was once a work-at-home mom.

For the better part of three years, I operated my freelance career as a Jewish woman living in Atlanta. I wrote for parenting and pregnancy web sites, I contributed to mommy blogs and I posted to work-at-home mom message boards.

I even entered into discussions about religion, politics and motherhood on a now-defunct moms message board. In my spare time. For fun.

Now, before you go all psychological on me and start making suggestions about how my mother must not have hugged me enough, let me assure you that my efforts were calculated, and they all contributed, in the end, to my writing career. [Click here to read more →]

The Value Of Networking - Offer A Wider Range Of Services

Posted May 25, 2008 in Uncategorized 8 Rockin' Comments »

How many times have you lost clients because you could not offer that one extra service they were looking for? Do you know your strengths and weaknesses? If you are an active freelancer you probably have a pretty good idea.

But with the economy circling the drain most of us can’t afford to expand our small businesses to include more personnel or equipment to offer a wider range of services. So what are we to do?

Create A Network

Create a network of businesses willing to work in cooperation for the better good of all. Many businesses are looking for one stop shopping and creating an effective network is a surefire way of keeping all your eggs in one basket while maintaining a budget you can live with.

But who do you pick choose and where do you find them? And once you find them, what financial arrangement is agreeable to all the parties involved? Or maybe you decide to make a reciprocating agreement in which everyone agrees to simply work together to provide a wider range of services to their client base. Let’s take a closer look. [Click here to read more →]

2008-05-25 - Sunday Links Folder

Posted May 25, 2008 in Uncategorized 5 Rockin' Comments »

Hello fellow freelancers, hope you’re having a great week-end and don’t have too much stuff left on your to-do list! I read some very nice posts this week, and of course I’d like to share them with you :)

Here we go:

• Steven from Vandelay Design put together a list of 50 designers to follow on Twitter (I’m on the list!). Thanks Steven!
• Our very own Bob Younce wrote a killer post on Freelance Switch titled High Octane Freelance Writing.
• Maki gave a very good post about Strategic Collaborations on DoshDosh.

[Click here to read more →]

Born To Be… A Freelancer?

Posted May 23, 2008 in Lifestyle, Open Thread 14 Rockin' Comments »

It’s an argument that’s been discussed on the Internet time and time again. Are the qualities that make for a successful freelancer part of one’s genetic makeup, or are they learned?

It’s the old nature versus nurture discussion brought to the freelancing roundtable for discussion: which is most responsible for the qualities that make a freelancer successful?

What do you think?

There are strong arguments for either position. [Click here to read more →]

Biting The Bullet: 5 Reasons Why Arguing With Unruly Clients Will Get You Nowhere

Posted May 22, 2008 in Business, How-To 45 Rockin' Comments »

We’ve all been there; putting out your best work, adding extra hours in just to be nice, giving multiple revisions even though the scope only called for 2.

Then it happens; you realize your client couldn’t care less about anything you’ve been doing for them and is just a plain $@#*& every time you turn around. Natural human instinct is to pounce into action and fight right back; but is it the smart thing for freelancers? I want to cover 5 reasons why biting the bullet and not arguing with unruly clients will do you much more good then if you were to spend your days arguing right back.

Feel free to chime in after the article in the comments if you’ve had a client, or two (or 20) like this before. [Click here to read more →]

Interview With Adrian Diaconescu of Rubiqube - We Talk About Design, Blogging and Freelancing

Posted May 22, 2008 in Inspiration, Programming, Web Design 7 Rockin' Comments »

Hey folks, I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Adrian Diaconescu of Rubiqube. In this interview we talk design, blogging and freelancing. Enjoy! :)

Jon: Hi Adrian, thanks a lot for taking the time for this interview. Can you tell our readers a little about yourself? Where you’re from, what you do?

Adrian: Like I said, Jon, I’m a big fan of Freelance Folder and it’s really an honor for me to be considered for an interview. Thanks!

Since I started freelancing, this has become my “freelancing pick-up line”: My name is Adrian Diaconescu and I’m a freelance (web) designer based in Bucharest, Romania. I do a bit of everything (Flash animation, web programming, design for print), but my strong point is designing for the web. Lately I started to specialize in Wordpress custom theme design.

[Click here to read more →]