Freelancefolder

Open Thread: Where Are You Located?

Posted May 29, 2009 in Lifestyle, Open Thread

One of the greatest things about FreelanceFolder is the diverse group of participants and freelancers that come to the site. We’ve received comments from all over the world — some from freelancers working at home in other countries, others from freelancers who are traveling and working on the go.

In fact, one of the most wonderful things about freelancing is that it can be very liberating. Many freelancers work from one location, but many take advantage of their situation and travel the world.

So, in the interest of generating some conversation, I have a few quick questions for everyone:

1. Where do you work? (What country or state)
2. Do you typically work from your home, an office, or while traveling?
3. How do you like it? Any tips for others in your situation?

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Review: Earn A Living or Boost Your Income Through Staff Blogging

Posted May 28, 2009 in News

Making money by blogging has become such an overcrowded topic that it’s frequently written off as being spammy and unreliable. Between the thousands of ad networks, affiliate programs, traffic generation programs, and everything else, very few people are actually making a living with this stuff.

Well you can forget about all of that. There’s another way to make money blogging that is both reliable and profitable — it’s called staff blogging.

Staff blogging is a type of freelance writing where you’re paid on a monthly or per-article basis to write for a larger blog. Pay is often stable, and in just a few hours per week you can create a nice income for yourself. If you devote more time, you can quickly earn a full-time living working from home (or whichever vacation spot you prefer).

If you’re interested in learning more about staff blogging, you’re in luck.

Several-time FreelanceFolder contributor Ali Hale has put together an awesome Staff Blogging Course that explains the entire subject from starting your business, to finding clients, to getting a paycheck.

As a person who hires a ton of staff bloggers, I can honestly say that Ali has outdone herself with this course. It is an excellent resource that explains in detail every step necessary to start earning money as a staff blogger.

Read on for the full review, or click here to go to the product landing page.

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Eight Freelance Businesses That DON’T Require a Computer

Posted May 27, 2009 in Business, Getting Started

Everybody knows about freelancers. They are those work-from-home entrepreneurs who are tied to their computer screens during every waking hour, right?

Wrong! (Or maybe I should say partially wrong. . .)

While a considerable number of freelancers, and probably most FreelancerFolder readers, are web workers, web working is not the only way to freelance.

In fact, in certain professions it’s possible to freelance without even using a computer. Though, you’ll probably want a computer to keep your accounting and administrative records.

In a troubled economy, it’s good to know that there are many options for freelancing.

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3 Ways To Get Clients From Twitter

Posted May 26, 2009 in How-To, Marketing, News

Twitter is quickly becoming the new online powerhouse for networking, and along with that growth comes a significant opportunity for freelancers to find new clients. For those of you who are very new to twitter, I recommend checking out our previous overview of twitter for freelancers before continuing, as it will probably explain a lot.

In the early days, most freelancers used twitter as an online playground or chat area. It was great to blow off some steam, and worked really well for things like making new friends. There weren’t too many potential clients on twitter at this point.

Recently though, twitter has become populated by just about everyone (a subset of everyone, at least) — including a huge number of potential new clients. Not only are there possible clients on twitter, but many times they are such good leads that they’re even ASKING for the work. How can you tap into this resource? It’s actually pretty easy…

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Can Anybody Be A Freelancer?

Posted May 22, 2009 in Business, Lifestyle

Someone I know once said to me:

“Absolutely anyone can freelance if they want to.”

The words were flung out there innocently enough, and I know that the person speaking them truly believed it, but in a way they were hurtful to me.

I have worked very hard to set up my freelancing business and I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished with it. While it may not cost a lot to start a freelancing business, I’m not so sure that just anyone can do it.

Let’s take a look at what it really takes to start a freelancing business.

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How To Be The Freelancer That Everyone Wants To Work With

Posted May 21, 2009 in Business, Marketing

Have you ever thought about why your clients reach out to you, or what it is they want to buy from you? Maybe an amazing design from a web designer, or an awesome article from a writer? No, that’s not the answer.

When your clients decide to hire you they aren’t really buying your services, they are buying two things that we as freelancers sometimes forget — they are buying a solution to their problems, and they are buying feelings that that make them feel good about themselves and their business.

So what does it take to be the freelancer that everyone wants to work with?

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12 Practical Ways To Become More Creative

Posted May 20, 2009 in How-To, Inspiration

Creativity is quickly becoming the next currency in the business and design world. There are millions of places to outsource non-creative work, and it’s only the truly creative people who are not afraid of being replaced or outdated.

Despite what many think, creativity is not decided at birth — and there are a few very simple and logical ways that you can become more creative simply by practicing and using certain methods.

Here are a few of those methods, along with some tools that can help boost your natural abilities. Put these to use and watch your work become more creative.

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The One Freelancing Mistake You DO NOT Want to Make

Posted May 18, 2009 in Business

Sooner or later, just about every freelancer makes a mistake. We’re human, after all. I’ve made mistakes. You’ve probably made mistakes.

Most mistakes can be worked through. Your relationship with your client can usually be salvaged, and your reputation can be maintained. In the past, we’ve talked about some ways to salvage the client relationship when things go bad and we’ve also discussed some techniques to keep from making mistakes in the first place.

There are a few mistakes, however, that will usually spell the end of a client/freelancer relationship. One mistake, in particular, will not only ruin your relationship with your client but possibly even damage your reputation beyond repair.

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Which is Better for the Freelancer: Specialization or Diversification?

Posted May 15, 2009 in Business, Marketing

You’ve probably heard it said time and time again: finding the right specialty is the key to having a successful freelancing business.

If you’ve read any business advice recently, it may seem that everyone from bloggers to textbook authors to marketing specialists is touting the advantages of choosing a specialization to small business owners.

My question for you today is: what do you think about specialization and freelancing Is being specialized as important to freelance success as many people seem to think that it is?

I can see arguments for both specialization AND diversification and I’ll share them with you here.

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