Freelancefolder

5 Exciting Career Tracks for Freelancers

Posted July 20, 2011 in Inspiration

Can a freelancer have a career track?

Back when I was an employee, the company that I worked for decided that each professional-level employee needed to choose a career track as part of their employee development plan.

We were given a choice. Jump on the management track and be groomed to move into middle management. Or, choose to stay in your professional field and continue developing expertise in your field. Eventually those on the expert track would become team leads.

At that particular company, those two choices were pretty much the only ones available to the employees.

The other day I was thinking about freelancing and wondering what freelancers could expect from their freelancing careers. At first glance, it might seem that freelancing exists outside of career development. It might seem that once you’re a freelancer, that’s all there is–you’re a freelance writer, developer, designer, or whatever your field happens to be.

Well, of course staying in exactly the same position is okay if that’s the way you want it, but some freelancers may want to move ahead in the career. As freelancers, can they?

After thinking about this for a while, I became excited when I realized that freelancing actually offers many more career tracks than nearly any other business environment! Here are five career tracks that you may wish to explore.

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Rekindling the Romance of Writing

Posted July 3, 2011 in Inspiration, Writing

Do you remember those days when the thought of escaping the office and the torture of a 9 to 5 pay-the-bills-job to sit at home in your pajamas was enough to make you nearly unbearable to be around?

Remember dreaming of having nothing more pressing to worry about on any given day than sipping coffee and pouring out thoughts on paper after leisurely reading the paper and sending out some very non-urgent Tweets?

Remember the flutter your heart felt when you thought about writing all day long and writing about whatever you wanted to, not what somebody shoved down your throat for you to write?

Remember being flirtatious with your computer? Or maybe even more scandalous–being flirtatious with pen and paper?

If a love of writing was what propelled you into becoming a freelancer, read on.

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7 Top Freelance Survival Tips

Posted June 30, 2011 in Inspiration

These seven freelance survival tips will help to see you through the lean times–and there will be lean times, at least until you have an established, reliable base of regular customers.

Every freelance worker has gone through a bad patch, when none of their job bids are accepted, on-spec submissions are rejected, or rock-solid clients cancel a gig (or go under). How you deal with adversity is critical to the survival of your business.

Here are seven tips to help your freelancing business survive.

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3 Reasons Why You MUST Move Out of Your Comfort Zone

Posted June 24, 2011 in Freelance Stories, Inspiration

Freelancing is great, isn’t it?

If you’ve been freelancing for several years, you may be pretty comfortable by now.

You’ve got an established client base–folks who come to you regularly when they need something done. You know and like them and they know and like you. Plus, you’ve found your ideal niche and as a bonus, you’re really good at it. The niche work that you do is just challenging enough to hold your interest without shaking you up too much.

All in all, after several years of struggling things are getting pretty comfortable in your neck of the freelancing universe. Things are so comfortable, in fact, that you feel like you can relax and take things easy–but should you?

I say “no.” It’s good for everyone, and especially freelancers, to move out of your comfort zone from time to time. Tackle something new. Step outside of the comfortable freelancing cocoon you’ve wrapped around yourself. You can even (gasp!) take the chance that you might fail at something you try.

Here are three reasons why you must move out of your comfort zone.

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