freelance jobs, writing, design

How To Be Genuine and Nice in a Web 2.0 World (and Why It’s Important)

Posted June 29, 2009 in How-To, Marketing 17 Rockin' Comments »

In the past, we’ve posted here about the importance of monitoring your online reputation. That post was mainly about knowing and responding to what others are saying about you, or about your business, online.

There’s a whole other dimension, however, of online reputation management that doesn’t often get discussed.

It’s the dimension of how you, as both a professional and individual, behave online.

It may surprise you to know that some of the worst hits to your freelancing reputation occur, not as a result of what others say or do online, but actually as a result of what you say or do online.

Sadly, the reputation damage that you do to yourself can often be more severe than the reputation damage that others do to you.

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Learning To Say “No” Nicely — How to Keep From Burning Bridges

Posted June 22, 2009 in How-To, Productivity 18 Rockin' Comments »

It’s scary to turn work down from a client.

Saying “no” could easily upset them, and it’s very possible that they might even get mad at you. For all you know, they might write you off as a freelancer — never to call on you for work again.

No freelancer that I know ever wants to risk losing a client because they turned down work.

For this reason, and many others, freelancers often agree to take on projects that they really don’t have the time to do properly.

However, squeezing the new work into an already full schedule could mean making mistakes (or even worse, compromising on quality). The result is often disappointment on the part of the client and frustration on the part of the freelancer.

It seems to be a problem with no good answer, but is it really? Is it possible to keep a client even after you’ve refused work from them?

Let’s examine some steps that you can take when a client contacts you with work that you don’t really have time (or desire) to do.

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5 Ways to Instantly Become a Better Writer

Posted June 15, 2009 in How-To, Writing 28 Rockin' Comments »

Writing has always been an important skill in our culture, and the rise of the internet, email, and social media have made it even more important. Buyers are selecting sellers based on website copy, and many business deals are now made entirely through email. Being a good writer on Facebook or Twitter is like being the cool kid back in high school.

From writing on Facebook or Twitter, to writing articles for your business, you need to be able to express yourself clearly and effectively using the written word — your success depends on it. Becoming an excellent writer takes a long time, but there are some things you can do right away to see immediate gains.

Here are 5 things you can do to improve your writing instantly:

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How To Make Potential Customers Pick You Over ‘The Other Guys’

Posted June 9, 2009 in Business, How-To, Marketing 20 Rockin' Comments »

Worldwide, individuals and companies are tightening their belts. They are approaching new purchases cautiously — in many cases delaying, or even avoiding, new expenses.

Consumers and business buyers alike are looking to get maximum value for their dollar. The burning question at the back of every buyer’s mind is:

Why should I buy something from you instead of from your competition?

It’s more important now than ever to differentiate your freelancing business from other freelancing businesses. Differentiating your business is the key to winning clients from competitors.

To do this, you must first discover what sets your freelancing business apart from similar businesses. Once you discover what’s unique about your freelancing business you must express that information clearly and frequently to your customers and prospective customers.

In this post we’ll try to help you with both points.

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Hit a Plateau? 4 Ways to Improve Your Skills

Posted June 8, 2009 in How-To 21 Rockin' Comments »

As freelancers, we’re often only limited by our imagination, so it can be difficult to see whether we are progressing in our given field. Sure, we can produce some great logo designs or write an article, but we were able to do that a few months ago as well. In order to stand out in a sea of talent, it’s often the case that you need to take your skills to the “next level,” something far easier said than done.

Today I want to look at plateaus in terms of ability, and four tried and tested methods to help you get through them. The journey of mastery is an on-going process, but there are lots of ways to improve our talents along the way.

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3 Ways To Get Clients From Twitter

Posted May 26, 2009 in How-To, Marketing, News 29 Rockin' Comments »

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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