Freelancefolder

How to Break into Social Media Consulting

Posted November 30, 2010 in How-To, Social Media

Everywhere you look, it seems everybody’s into social media nowadays. From solopreneurs to small businesses and Fortune 500 companies, everybody wants to maximize the powers of social media.

The growing popularity of social media only means greater opportunities for freelancers. On one hand, we can and should use social media to attract more prospects and clients. On the other, we can expand our service offerings to cover social media services and consulting.

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How Not to Be a Freelancing Diva

Posted November 29, 2010 in Getting Clients, Marketing

Are you too quick to turn down a potential client?

While it’s vitally important for freelancers to charge what they are worth, many freelancers move from being too timid to charge a fair rate to being too eager to dismiss a potential client because the work isn’t enjoyable enough or the pay isn’t high enough. In fact, a few freelancers are downright rude about the way that they dismiss inquiries that don’t their standards.

As you can imagine, this diva-like behavior can leave a pretty bad taste in a potential’s client’s mouth.

Of course, some clients really are tire kickers with no real interest at all in doing business with you. So, it does pay to be careful sometimes. (We’ve already provided a lot of information on how to screen clients, so this post deals with the other side of the problem–the freelancer who is just too picky for his or her own good.)

In this post, I’ll distinguish between being a careful business person and being a freelancing diva. I’ll also explain how not to be a freelancing diva when it comes to examining new client prospects.

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How I Kept My Freelance Business Intact During Relocation

Posted November 28, 2010 in Lifestyle, Managing Clients

I recently moved across the United States from Florida back to our home in California. In preparing for the move, I had several concerns about my freelance business and how it would be impacted.

In this post, I will share my experience, some of the issues I faced and how I handled them in the hopes that this will help other freelancers who are concerned about moving. This post should be of interest to anyone who is interested in becoming location independent.

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Give Yourself a Raise

Posted November 26, 2010 in How-To, Lifestyle

Congratulations! You are a freelancer. You have taken your own drive, your own talent, and your own skills and forged a path that doesn’t require you to put on a monkey suit and go into the office every day to build someone else’s asset.

Well done.

Now its time to kick it up a notch and start running your freelance business at maximum efficiency. So I am going to let you in on a huge secret that might be the equivalent of giving you a huge raise. This is ninja level stuff.

(This post is for informational purposes only, it is not legal or tax advice. Seek the assistance of an attorney or accountant for actual legal or tax advice.)

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Focus on the Freelance Folder Forums

Posted November 25, 2010 in Forum Talk

Today is a holiday in the United States, which means that a lot of our Freelance Folder staff won’t be working today. If you’re in the U.S., we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.

However, Freelance Folder is still open for business. In particular, our popular Freelance Folder forums provide a great opportunity for freelancers to network and help each other. The forums are moderated by veteran freelancer, Behzad Jamshidi, who is the creative director and owner at DesignFacet.

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Six Dilemmas That Freelancers Face Over the Holidays

Posted November 24, 2010 in How-To, Lifestyle

It’s the holiday season!

At least it is the holiday season for North America and many Western European nations. For a lot of folks the months of November and December are an exciting time. It’s time to get together with family and friends. It’s also a time of celebration.

For a freelancer, however, the holidays can be very stressful. The holiday season presents the average freelancer with a number of confusing dilemmas.

In this post, I’ll address some of those holiday dilemmas directly and explain what a freelancer can do to prepare for them.

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You Know You’re a Freelancer When…

Posted November 23, 2010 in Freelance Stories, Humor

Sometimes it’s difficult to tell whether you’re a true freelancer or just someone doing some work on the side. The distinction is an important one, because you’re expected to act differently as a freelancer–and by act differently I mean work longer hours, become a vampire and lose your social circles.

But fear not, I’m giving you a trusty guide to settle the dilemma…..are you a freelancer or not?

(and yes…I’m pretty much guilty of ALL of these…)

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Why Freelancers Should Secure Their Data

Posted November 22, 2010 in Productivity

Imagine this:

You’re working in your favorite coffee shop, typing away at your laptop (just one of the many perks of being a freelancer). You take your grande Caffe Americano and bring it to your lips. It is much hotter than you expected, you jerk it away from your face… and promptly spill the whole thing over your shiny computer. You drop your shoulders in defeat as the brown liquid quickly slithers from the keys into the electronics of the laptop.

“I’m dead.”

Yes, you are as far as your work goes. You’ve just lost everything that you’ve been working on. And that’s why you need to think seriously about securing your data.
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10 Secret Reasons Why You Lose Clients

Posted November 21, 2010 in Managing Clients

Have you ever lost a client and then wondered why?

Of course, you can always ask your client what went wrong, but many will not tell you. They may be afraid of hurting your feelings or they may just want to avoid a potentially unpleasant confrontation with you.

Since I use freelancers once in a while that puts me in the unique position of being a freelancer and also an occasional client of freelancers. So, today I put my client hat on for a change and listed all the things that I could think of that would keep me from rehiring a freelancer.

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