Freelancefolder

How to Become a Freelance Travel Writer

Posted May 25, 2011 in How-To, Writing

Freelance travel writing is as exciting a career as it is glamorous. If you love visiting new places and interacting with people from different cultures then this is a great career choice for you.

Of course, a flair for descriptive writing is an important prerequisite too. A combination of these two factors gives you the perfect temperament for successful travel writing.

But this is not all you need. There are some other skills for you to develop too if you want to taste success in this line of work.

Only when you have the right skill sets and knowledge can you commit yourself to a career of travel writing.

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How to Pick the Right Colors for Your (Personal) Brand

Posted May 24, 2011 in How-To, Web Design

As a freelancer, your business image isn’t just a reflection of your work, it’s a statement of your personal identity. With every project you complete, a portion of your personal design beliefs, creative insights and unique identity is woven into the results. These ties should be reflected in the freelance identity portrayed to your clients.

As such, when creating an identity for your freelance business, care must be taken to create a logo and brand that portray your unique business mission. While all elements of your business’s design must be chosen with care, few are more important than the colors you use. Here are six tips for choosing the best colors for your business’ identity.

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How Using Subcontractors for Projects Can Earn You More Money

Posted May 13, 2011 in How-To, Managing Clients

What if I told you there is a way you could be making more money without working extra hard?

You’d think I’m crazy right?

Many of us have a specialty we provide for our clients and that’s the full extent of our business.

Others might sell paid products like e-books or teach classes, but for the most part a freelancer’s income is directly impacted by the amount of work they output.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Making more money doesn’t have to mean taking on extra work, or figuring out how you’re going to manage an entire month on four hours of sleep.
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15 Questions to Ask Before Collaborating

Posted May 10, 2011 in How-To

In today’s competitive freelancing market, collaboration between freelancers is becoming increasingly common.

Collaboration has some clear benefits for a freelancer:

• It provides you with an expanded skillset and additional ideas, both of which can lead to a superior end result.
• Collaboration can help you take on projects that you would not otherwise have the time (or ability to do) to do otherwise.
• Collaboration introduces your work to a broader range of potential customers.

These potential benefits can make freelance collaboration sound really appealing, and many freelance collaborators do have a good experience. However, it pays to be cautious before jumping into collaborating with another freelancer. In this post, I’ll list some questions that you should consider before you collaborate.

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How to Write an Effective Reference for Another Freelancer

Posted May 9, 2011 in How-To

Scenario:

A fellow freelancer is trying to get a big freelancing gig with a Fortune 500 company. She really wants to get it and asks you to write a reference letter for her.

What do you do?

You write a flattering but truthful reference letter, of course!

We freelancers could use all the help we can get–especially from other freelancers. This kind gesture will earn you plenty of goodwill from your freelancing friend. And have you ever heard of karma? The good you do today will come back to you, a hundredfold.

Besides, learning how to write a good reference letter for others will help you get good ones for yourself, if you ever need one in the future.

If you’ve never written a reference letter before, or you have but aren’t sure you did it well, read on. I’m going to share the elements of an effective reference letter.

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How to Keep Your Freelancing on Track While on the Road

Posted May 6, 2011 in How-To, Lifestyle

If you’re like me, you don’t want to separate work and travel. As a freelancer, you don’t really have to either. As long as you can find an Internet connection, you can get your work done.

Recently, I took a trip and was also able to get some work done from my tablet. While the trip wasn’t a permanent switch to a location independent life, I learned quite a lot. In this post, I’ll share what I learned about working “on the road.”

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What You Must Know to Survive in a Rapidly Changing Freelance Marketplace

Posted May 3, 2011 in How-To, Inspiration

Running a business is tough enough, but when you’re centered in an industry that seems to change almost every day, it can seem impossible. While there’s a ton of freelance work out there, there’s also plenty of competition and it becomes a daily fight to set yourself apart.

One of the best things about being a freelancer is that when you get the ball rolling with clients, you don’t have to go looking for work or advertise often. However, if you’re not careful to keep up with the industry, you can find your skills behind the curve, and your clients somewhere else.

So how do you survive in this competition heavy industry?
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25 Easy Ways to Fine Tune Your Freelancing Business

Posted April 18, 2011 in How-To

One of the things about freelancing that’s both helpful and harmful, is that once you get the business going, it pretty much runs itself. Once you’ve gone over that first hump of finding those first few clients, if you provide great service and work, you often don’t even need to advertise or look for clients much.

While this is great and allows you to focus on working instead of doing the boring business stuff, it can also be harmful if you continue to let the business run itself for a long length of time. You could end up working on projects you hate, with clients you despise, twenty four hours and seven days a week.

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5 Surprising Causes of Creative Block and How to Overcome Them

Posted April 13, 2011 in How-To, Productivity

Most freelancers depend on their creativity for their livelihood. Freelance writers, designers, artists, photographers, and even web developers and programmers all rely on creative thinking to perform their jobs.

However, once in a while a freelancer finds that their creativity (that same creativity they’ve been relying on to earn an income) just isn’t there. The ideas just aren’t flowing like they used to.

Writers call this “writer’s block,” but it actually happens in many different professions.

Naturally, when this happens a freelancer can feel a bit panicked. After all, your income is on the line. You ask yourself, “will this be a permanent problem for me?”

Fortunately for most freelancers, creative block IS a temporary problem. Plus, if you understand some of the causes of creative block, you may be able to overcome it entirely.

In this post, I’ll identify one surprising source of creative block and give you some ideas for overcoming it.

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