Freelancefolder

Five Fast Facts About Freelancing

Posted July 31, 2011 in Getting Started, Inspiration

You’re thinking about becoming a freelancer. Or, maybe you’ve already started your own freelancing business.

Good for you!

This means you’re doing something positive about your dreams. You’re taking action (or about to take action). Taking action is a very good thing.

Freelancing can provide a wonderful life. But freelancing also has its ups and downs–the downside just doesn’t get mentioned very often.

In this post, you’ll learn a few fast facts about freelancing that you may not have realized before.

This post lists some of the difficult truths about freelancing that no one really wants to talk about. However, really understanding these fast facts will put you ahead of the game as a freelancer.

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How to Create an Informal Editorial Calendar for Your Blog

Posted July 29, 2011 in Marketing, Writing

If you use a blog as part of your freelancing marketing strategy, then you may have already faced that common question that many bloggers eventually struggle with: What shall I write about today?

Even if you started your freelancing business blog with a ton of great ideas, eventually the day will come when those ideas will run dry. This struggle, often referred to as writer’s block, can be at least partially avoided through the use of a blog editorial calendar.

In this post, I’ll explain what an editorial calendar is and discuss how it can help you keep up with your blog on your freelancing site.

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Top 5 Problems Clients Have with Freelancers–Solved!

Posted July 28, 2011 in Managing Clients

Anybody who wants to become a freelancer needs to know and accept that freelancing is a job–a very serious job that requires dedication. Freelancers need to give the same amount of time and dedication to freelancing (in fact more) that they would give to a regular office job.

If all freelancers realized the importance of freelancing, it would have grown to be a widely respected and accepted profession. Sadly, instead of the respect they deserve, freelancers are sometimes regarded as a cheap alternative to other workers–the last resort, and a risky option. This is partly caused by problems that freelancers create for themselves and for clients.

In this post, I’ll explain why freelancers don’t get enough respect. I’ll also list of some of the most common freelancing problems faced by clients, along with some tips on how freelancers can keep such problems from happening.

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Ten Rude Twitter Habits to Break Today

Posted July 27, 2011 in Lifestyle, Managing Clients

Many freelancers enjoy connecting on Twitter. It’s a simple application that’s easy to learn, yet it has a huge number of apps that can be added to expand its functionality.

Plus, most freelancing specialties have a large Twitter community. From personal experience, I know that there’s a large writing community on Twitter. I know that there is also a large design community there as well as communities for several other professions.

Clearly, freelancers can benefit from using Twitter, but along with the good is the bad. I’m talking about bad habits. Many freelancers develop bad habits using Twitter simply because they haven’t taken the time to think about how they use this tool.

In this post, I share ten bad Twitter habits that may even be considered rude. If you’ve developed some of these habits, you may be annoying your Twitter community and leaving a bad impression.

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Think Vitamin Membership Review–Great Way to Expand Your Web Knowledge

Posted July 26, 2011 in How-To, Tools/Resources

I’ve been investing a lot of my time lately on learning new things. I prefer to stay a front-end developer, but I’ve always wanted to play in different languages and keep up to date with design trends. Following long how-to books really isn’t my thing, as I usually end up falling asleep before the first chapter ends.

I’ve never been a big fan of video on the web either, since I’m never at my computer unless I’m working so I never have time to watch. However, upon learning that Think Vitamin created a new membership service, called Think Vitamin Membership, I was immediately interested.

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How to Become an Irresistible Freelancer

Posted July 25, 2011 in Managing Clients

Have you ever thought about how “irresistible” you are as a freelancer?

When you’re irresistible then prospects are excited to work with you. They hire you even if you’re more expensive than your competitors.

And then, after they’ve worked with you, your clients keep coming back to you for more. They rarely complain, they trust you and give you the benefit of the doubt, and they give you plenty of positive feedback on your work.

What’s more, happy clients send plenty of referrals your way–without you asking for them. Because they’ve been warmed up and pre-sold on your services, these referrals often need little to no convincing to hire you.

Wouldn’t you want some of this in your freelancing experience?

You can, and you may be surprised how simple it is.

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Finding Your Writing Rhythm

Posted July 24, 2011 in Writing

As a freelancer, there is a constant conflict between the practical side and the creative side of your brain. Your practical side works at 1,000 miles an hour, quickly navigating the logistics of pitching a story, negotiating fees, and creating connections with editors.

But once you land an article, you have to immediately switch to your creative side, that part of your brain that generates innovative ideas and the unique language to convey them. It’s like changing from Clark Kent into Superman. You quickly have to toss aside your business attire and put on your thinking cap (or is it cape?).

So how do you negotiate this abrupt shift when you sit down to write an article?

Balancing your creative spark with your entrepreneurial spirit is a challenge for even the most experienced of independent journalists and freelancers. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

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5 Ways Crowdsourcing Can Help You Make Some Money

Posted July 22, 2011 in How-To

It seems like a lot of tech and business publications are talking about crowdsourcing these days.

But, what is crowdsourcing? Do you know? Could it impact you as a freelancer? Is it the future of projects?

In this post, we’ll briefly explain about what crowdsourcing is and how it works. We’ll also share five crowdsourcing sites that you may wish to explore.

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How to Find Your Unique Writing Style

Posted July 21, 2011 in How-To, Writing

As bloggers, writers and authors we need to find a unique edge over other people to stand out from the crowd. But, what is the one thing you have that nobody else possesses, which you can use to have an advantage over your competitors in your industry?

Yep! It’s your personality–a unique mixture of your life experiences, values and talent.

How do you cultivate your personality in your writing so that you can stand out from the crowd?

Everyone’s unique. We are all different with various colors, talents and styles. To inject your personality and your voice into your writing, you first need to find your style. Here are some tips to help you find your unique writing style.

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