Freelancefolder

How Defining Your Ideal Project Can Improve Your Freelancing Business

Posted November 11, 2010 in How-To

Have you ever gotten one of those projects that just sets your teeth on edge?

You know the kind I mean–the kind of project that you dread waking up to do, but feel obligated to complete since you committed to doing it.

I think every freelancer struggles with this problem, sooner or later. Let’s face it, some of those unpleasant projects pay pretty well, but they sure can suck some of the joy out of freelancing.

If you’d taken the time to define your ideal project up front, you might have been able to avoid some of those dreadful projects–or at least been able to negotiate better project terms for yourself.

In this post, I’ll describe how you can improve your freelancing business by avoiding the projects that you dread. In short, I’ll explain how to define your ideal project.

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How to Write a Great Twitter Bio to Get Targeted Followers

Posted November 10, 2010 in How-To, Social Media

Much has been written about using Twitter for business, for social networking, for personal connections, for making money with and increasing follower count. But many people forget that without a good (great) Twitter bio, it’s virtually impossible to get targeted followers, much less engage meaningfully with them.

Now some may argue that writing an itty bit bio of a 160 characters is hardly rocket science and they’d be right. But the number of atrocious bios I’ve seen lately has inspired this post. It’s not always easy to combine brevity, meaning and interest.

Whether you use Twitter for business or other, take a good look at your Twitter bio and ask yourself “Will someone reading my bio want to follow me?” and if yes, then ask “Will that follower be the kind of person I wish to attract?”

No one relevant will follow you if they don’t know who you are. And no one will know who you are if you don’t tell them succinctly. Enter your Twitter bio.

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Dealing With Big Name Clients

Posted November 9, 2010 in How-To, Managing Clients

The day that every freelancer dreams of finally comes–you get contacted by a big name client. The want you to do some work with them. You’re excited and as soon as you get off the phone you jump around your office screaming “YES!”. Surely that means if you’re doing work for one large company, you’ll never again have to scramble to find work.

However after the initial excitement has worn off and you’ve finally calmed down, your next thought hits you hard–now what? Is this just another client? Do I treat them the same? Can I charge them more? Can I use their work? Should I pretend to be a large agency?

I recently did some projects for Audible, an Amazon company, and a very large company that I’m not allowed to mention the name of and I was faced with many of these questions. I’ve learned a lot by dealing with these two large companies. I hope that what I learned is as helpful to you as it was to me.

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17 Sure Signs That Your Freelancing Rates Really Are Too Low

Posted November 4, 2010 in Getting Started, How-To

One of the scariest things about freelancing is raising your rates. If freelancing is how you earn your living, you may believe that raising your rates will cause you to lose clients (and that can be scary).

The truth is that having lower rates doesn’t always mean having more clients, and when it does the clients that you are likely to attract are not the clients that you really want to keep.

But, how do you know whether your rates really are too low? Of course, you can rely on surveys and other similar methods to determine what a fair rate is.

However, if you honestly examine your situation, you can probably also tell whether you’re charging enough for your services. In this post, I list 17 signs that indicate that your freelancing rates are too low.

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