Freelancefolder

Solve the Common Marketing Problems that Bug Most Freelancers

Posted January 19, 2010 in Business, Marketing 31 Rockin' Comments »

As a freelancer, you probably have a great deal of expertise in what you do. Whether it’s programming, web development, graphic design, freelance writing, or some other field–you’ve worked hard and honed your skills. Now, you may be starting to see some of the benefits of all that hard work.

With a few exceptions (those of you whose field actually is marketing), your knowledge of marketing is probably not as strong as your knowledge of your chosen profession. As a freelancer, you know that you have to market your business in order to survive. So, you’ve done what it takes. But, there are still a few nagging problems about marketing your freelance business that bug you.

It’s normal for a freelancer who doesn’t specifically specialize in marketing to struggle in this area. Here are four common marketing problems that bug freelancers (and their solutions):

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Why Every Freelancer Should Have a Personal Project

Posted January 15, 2010 in Business, Inspiration 60 Rockin' Comments »

As a freelancer, we are always looking for clients. Whether we are in freelancing for the joy and freedom of it, or to earn more than what we were being offered at our day job, a freelancer can’t always get by on the expectation of getting more clients.

If you want to succeed in the long run there has to be a back up plan–a plan that kicks in when all else fails.

Whether it’s a personal blog that earns income or a service that fills a void, whatever it is, it’s always good to have something that you can call your own…something that will somewhat support you just in case the river runs dry.

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A Freelancer’s Guide to Dealing with Difficult People

Posted January 6, 2010 in Business, Managing Clients 42 Rockin' Comments »

Does being a freelancer mean that you no longer deal with difficult people at work?

At first glance, it may seem so. As freelancers, many of us work by ourselves (or at least, we are not in an office surrounded by other people).

The challenges of dealing with Joe who makes loud personal calls from the next cubicle while you are trying to work or with Susie who hogs the copying machine to make personal copies are gone if you freelance for a living.

However, no freelancer truly works alone. We may be alone in our home office, but all of us depend on other people to earn our livelihood. At the very least, all freelancers must deal with clients. It’s how we get paid

While we may not face those everyday irritations that come from working with other people in an office, freelancers still have to understand how to deal with difficult people. This post will explain when you might find yourself facing a difficult person and provide you with some basic steps to take.

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10 Ways Freelancing Has Changed in the Last Decade

Posted December 28, 2009 in Business, Inspiration 18 Rockin' Comments »

Freelancing has been around since Sir Walter Scott coined the term in Ivanhoe—but the lances of medieval mercenaries have long since given way to pens, paintbrushes, and whatever creative tools of the trade we can wield.

As much as freelancing has changed over the centuries, the changes have been many and major over just the past ten years. Here are ten ways the industry has shifted since Y2K came and went, but all of them are at least indirectly caused by one major development—Internet supremacy.

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5 Surprising Questions to Ask Before You Set Next Year’s Goals

Posted December 22, 2009 in Business 31 Rockin' Comments »

Setting goals is an important part of running a successful freelance business. Right now, because we are at the end of the year, many freelancers are starting to think about their goals for next year.

In general, setting goals is a good thing. Goals are standards that can help us measure our achievements. If your freelance business operates on a fiscal year, now is a great time to look at your goals.

However, it’s also best to approach goal-setting cautiously and carefully if your business is to truly get some value from the experience.

In this post, we’ll examine some questions that every freelancer should ask themselves before they set their next year’s goals.

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Seven Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Outsource

Posted December 15, 2009 in Business, Productivity 32 Rockin' Comments »

Do you outsource?

Outsourcing is a business strategy that has been drummed into my brain by my mompreneur mastermind group, freelancing books like The Unlimited Freelancer, and various other posts on FreelanceFolder (such as this one). “You need to outsource if you want to become more profitable,” everybody says.

After months of hearing this — and after a catastrophic episode that involved accidentally making a blog explode into virtual smithereens — I finally decided to grow my team.

In this post, we’ll examine outsourcing. We’ll discuss what I’ve tried and we’ll look at seven critical questions that you should ask before you outsource.

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From Budget to Quality: Transitioning to High-Dollar Jobs

Posted December 11, 2009 in Business, Getting Started 31 Rockin' Comments »

Almost every freelancer starts out by taking “budget” projects to build their portfolio. Without a proven track record of happy customers and excellent pieces in your portfolio, it’s difficult to track down the big, high-dollar jobs.

Many freelancers get into a cycle of doing low-budget work, and then get stuck with a portfolio of low-budget work that only yields more low-budget clients. It can be difficult to break the cycle.

In this post, we’ll discuss the importance of moving from low-budget clients to higher paying clients, and we’ll show you a few ways to break the cycle and start finding higher-dollar jobs.

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50+ Free Resources for Writers, Bloggers, And Other Freelancers

Posted December 6, 2009 in Business, Productivity 65 Rockin' Comments »

Do you maintain a blog for your freelance business? Are you a freelance writer, blogger, or someone who writes regularly?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, then this article is for you. From organization, to finding ideas, to doing the research — there are dozens of free resources that can help you write better. In this post, we’ve found 50 that we think will be valuable to you.

Here are 50 free resources to help your writing or blogging efforts:

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Ten “Little” Things That Can Keep You from Getting Your Dream Gig

Posted December 4, 2009 in Business, Managing Clients 29 Rockin' Comments »

You know that you’re qualified for this project. You excel at every single requirement that the prospective client has listed in their job posting. In fact, this is your dream project.

You apply for the project and you fully expect that it’s just a matter of time before you start work. After all, this gig was practically made for you.

Sadly, days, and then weeks, pass without any word from the client. You wonder what’s delaying them. Why haven’t they made a decision? Then it happens… You hear through the grapevine that the client chose someone else. You wonder what could have gone wrong.

In this post, we examine ten reasons why you might not have gotten the gig.

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