Freelancefolder

So You’re a Failure

Posted June 6, 2011 in Inspiration

Everyone comes to a point in their life where they feel like a failure. Nothing seems to go right, does it? It’s even worse when the failure has to do with your freelance business, as that means everything in your life is in jeopardy–from the mortgage to putting food on the table.

So what do we do when we begin to get the tugging feeling that things aren’t going quite so well? What if we’re already at the brink of quitting?

Everyone fails at something, but the trick is to keep trying to make it a success. No one is a failure until they give up, and there’s always a way to learn from your mistakes and turn the issue into success.
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Discouragement–the Hidden Struggle Many Freelancers Ignore

Posted June 2, 2011 in Inspiration

Freelancers face many challenges:

• Stiff competition in the marketplace
• Ever-changing technology
• Even getting paid on time

Yet, with all those challenges that we face as freelancers, it might surprise you to learn that one of the hardest challenges to overcome is a challenge that may originate from within ourselves. I’m talking about discouragement.

In this post, I’ll discuss discouragement and list some of the reasons why we get discouraged. I’ll also invite you to share your own tips for handling discouragement.

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Ten Freelancing Tactics That You’ve Probably Gotten Right

Posted May 27, 2011 in Inspiration

We spend so much time on Freelance Folder correcting freelancer mistakes, that we sometimes forget to recognize what experienced freelancers are doing right.

With so much focus on mistakes that freelancers make, it’s easy to get discouraged. While it’s important to grow and learn from our mistakes, it’s also important to acknowledge when things are done right.

In this post, I’ll list ten freelancing strategies that you’re probably doing correctly with your freelancing business (especially if you’ve been in business for a while).

You may even be able to recognize most of these good business practices as part of your standard operating procedure.

Next, I’ll go even further by suggesting one or two ideas to help you take each tactic to the next level.

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How Your Freelance Business Is Like The Deadliest Catch

Posted May 26, 2011 in Inspiration

I find it hardest to get motivated just after finishing a big project. Launch-day nerves turn into workday fatigue and it becomes increasingly difficult to sit in the chair in front of my computer when there’s a perfectly good couch in the next room.

It was in just this frame of mind that I decided to turn on the television last week to watch an hour of The Deadliest Catch marathon on the Discovery Channel. (For those of you who don’t know, The Deadliest Catch is a reality TV show about fishing for Alaskan King Crabs in the Bering Sea.)

Eight hours later, I did what any good freelancer would do–justify a day’s worth of billable hours spent on the couch by writing a blog post about what I was watching. (Freshbooks has a ‘research’ category–just kidding.)

Lucky for me, it turns out that Bering Sea fishermen can teach us a lot about running a freelance business.

WARNING: This post contains bad fishing puns and poor maritime clichés. If you have a weak stomach for that sort of thing, or are prone to eye-rolling and grimacing, you may want to skip this one. Proceed at your own risk.

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5 Lessons Being a Private Investigator Taught Me About Freelancing

Posted May 11, 2011 in Inspiration

A decade ago, I worked as a private investigator. It was by far, the riskiest thing I ever did in my life. For a year, I learned how to follow potential criminals, photograph them and even worked undercover. Though the pay was low and the stakes were high, I got the kind of education about working that you can’t learn by reading books or studying in school.

There were actually five major lessons I learned that ten years later I still apply in my freelance writing business. Five things that taught me how to survive while chasing the bad guys and almost as scary, surviving the worsening economy as a writer. It’s funny how I got more warnings and advice from people when they found out I was leaving my cushy corporate job for a lifetime of writing than when I told them I was going to take a job as a private investigator. In some people’s eyes, the risks of fulfilling a dream are far greater than the risk of one’s life.

If you are on your way to pursuing your own freelance business, read this before you jump in. There are lots of life saving tips here. Take it from a past PI and a current freelancer who has done it before and survived.

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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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10 Totally Imaginary Freelancing Tools We Wish Really Existed

Posted April 26, 2011 in Freelance Stories, Inspiration

You’ve been working hard all week at freelancing, and so have I. It’s time to have some fun!

If you’ve ever wished there was a tool to make freelancing easier, this post is for you.

We’ll take a humorous look at ten freelancing tools that don’t exist (as far as I know, LOL), but we wish did. At the end, I’ll also ask for your suggestions for new freelancing tools.

So, read on, and don’t forget to laugh.

Product developers, pay attention now! There could be a fortune in these ideas. ;)

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Freelance Lessons Learned–Make Your Own Music

Posted March 24, 2011 in Freelance Stories, Inspiration

Before I became a full-time freelancer, I’d imagine my future career and split it into two phases:

• Pre-freelance (when I lacked clarity and direction)
• Post-freelance (which would be full of purpose and perfection)

The reality was much different. Instead of leaving one life behind, I found that lessons from my previous career helped me in my new one. The most helpful lessons came from a surprising source–my job as a belly dancing teacher.

Before I was a writer (okay, I’ve always been a writer, but before I realized I could make a living off of it) I taught belly dance classes three days a week at my college. It wasn’t something I’d planned. I’d started out as a student and my teacher decided to mentor me to take over her role. For months I shadowed her classes, then worked up to teaching the warm up. The day I finally got my own class, I showed up with lesson plans, ready to take the class by storm…only to learn that I’d forgotten all my music.

In this post, I’ll explain how I handled this problem and explain what it has to do with freelancing.

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5 Freelance Lessons I Learned from Working in the Fast Food Industry

Posted March 20, 2011 in Freelance Stories, Inspiration

It’s funny where the little lessons on life stem from. I was surprised the other day to discover that many of the work habits I use daily were ingrained into me from my first job in fast food. I started working right after I turned 16, and by doing the same thing every day for the next two years, I developed a set of rules from my experience that still apply today.

Whether at the drive-thru, the front registers or cleaning up the lobby, I’ve taken those lessons and applied them to my freelance business. Although I don’t smell like burgers at the end of the day, using the customer service rules of the fast-food industry has helped make my freelance business successful.

Below are a few freelance lessons I learned from my stint in fast food that can be applied to almost any type of business.

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