Freelancefolder

How to Create a Client Pricing Package to Really Build Your Freelancing Business

Posted August 21, 2011 in Getting Clients, How-To

Are you looking for a slick and quick way to increase your volume of new projects?

If this is you, a client pricing package just might be the way to go.

Although we’ve discussed the pros and cons of a public price list for freelancers before, a client pricing package is slightly different from simply publishing your prices online because a pricing package bundles a high volume of work or a group of related projects together.

In this post, I’ll explain what a client pricing package is and explain when you might choose to use a client pricing package to benefit your freelancing business.

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Freelancing Doesn’t Mean Working for Free

Posted August 19, 2011 in How-To, Managing Clients

For the countless individuals who either freelance on the side or do it full-time to support themselves and/or their families, there are many advantages and some disadvantages that go with the territory.

Advantages include being able to work for yourself, set your own schedule, and build a portfolio of work that can be used to gain a full-time job (should you so choose).

On the down side, freelancers face inconsistent work schedules that lead to being paid well some months and not so well other months, hours that can be all over the place, and often having to come up with their own health insurance benefits.

One of the other issues freelancers often face is making sure they are being paid an appropriate wage.

Whether you are doing freelance writing, photography, web design etc. … you certainly want to get compensated with a fair wage. Too often, companies try to underpay freelancers, figuring they’re just happy to have the work in the first place.

In this post, I’ll share some tips that you can use to make sure that you get paid fairly for your work.

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How Freelancers Can Brand Themselves Using Twitter Trends

Posted August 18, 2011 in How-To, Marketing

Trending on Twitter was a difficult undertaking just a few years ago. If you were a major celebrity who a lot of people liked, you would have a shot. If you were famous and said something really stupid, you had a fighting chance. If you were at any point a well known name and you suddenly croaked, you have an 80% probability of trending high on the social networking site.

With this in mind, it is no shock that businesses and especially freelancers have found it an almost insurmountable task that for many have been unwilling to even contemplate. Why set out to become a trending topic if there is such a tiny chance that they will manage to succeed? Especially now that the site is growing and there is more competition.

There is also a further problem now. A short while ago, Twitter began to tweak and change their algorithm that monitors trends. It is no longer enough to be a popular name, because it doesn’t register topics that are consistently being mentioned. Instead, it gives preference to sudden surges in specific events, because they are considered novelty posts. For example, Amy Winehouse’s sudden death became a huge Twitter trend as all at once people began tweeting links, condolences and speculations about the cause.

You might be wondering how there could be an upside to all of this. If it is so impossible to become a trend on Twitter, why go for it at all as a freelancer? That, my friend, is where things get interesting. Because finding public data and exploiting hashtags can really help you to brand yourself through trending topics on Twitter.

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How to Write a Good Freelancer Bio

Posted August 17, 2011 in How-To

Unless you want to spend the rest of your life in a cave and never have a freelancing assignment again, you need a good bio.

A “bio,” short for “biography” is a summary of who you are, what you do, and why people should be interested in you. If it’s well-written, a bio will help prospective clients to know, like and trust you–enough to want to hire you.

It’s pretty useful. You’ll want to include one in your resume. It’s a must-have in your freelancing website and buzz piece. If you write articles, press releases and other content, you’ll need a brief bio for those as well. Also, whenever someone interviews you, they’ll need a bio to introduce you to their audience.

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So You Think You Can’t Afford a Vacation?

Posted August 1, 2011 in How-To

Freelancers need vacations, there’s no doubt about it. Someone’s got to keep the freelancing edge sharp, right? Vacations are essential if you want to avoid burnout, keep feeding your creativity, and stay connected with your loved ones.

But freelancers often hesitate to go on vacation for various reasons. Freelancers usually have tight budgets and, let’s face it, vacations cost money. There’s airfare or other transportation, hotel, food and shopping costs to think of.

Besides, freelancers don’t have paid vacation days. No work, no pay. So vacations end up costing us a lot more money than the cost of the vacation itself.

If we skip work for two weeks, that’s two weeks of income we have to forego. Or we need to make up for it somehow, by doing two weeks worth of work in one week. Either way, we pay in the form of time, energy or money.

But because taking a much-needed break is not only healthy, but vital for freelancers, I’ve compiled some types of vacations freelancers can afford.

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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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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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Four Tips to Once & for All Detonate Procrastination

Posted July 15, 2011 in How-To, Productivity

I nearly didn’t write this article because I didn’t know if I would ever get around to it.

That, my friend, was a joke!

I know of so many people who battle with procrastination.

But their main problem is this. They never ever get around to dealing with the problem head on, and that makes the problem bigger than it really is.

So, here are some tips to help you once and for all detonate procrastination. Blow it to smithereens. Poof! It’s gone.

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