Freelancefolder

What Freelancers Really Do About Vacation

Posted May 31, 2011 in How-To, Lifestyle

Whether you’re new to freelancing or have been freelancing for a while, you may struggle with what to do about vacation.

In a traditional job, an employee typically receives paid vacation. For a freelancer, however, vacation is different.

Vacation is an unpaid time and a freelancer must plan ahead and save before they are able to take one. Many freelancers are afraid to take a vacation because they fear that they will lose clients. Other freelancers don’t take a vacation because they can’t afford to lose income.

Did you ever wonder what most freelancers really do about vacation? With planning, it is possible for a freelancer to enjoy a vacation.

In this post, I’ll share how some actual freelancers handle vacation. I’ll also describe three types of vacations that freelancers can plan for and how to handle each of them.

[Click Here to Read More...]

Happy Memorial Day

Posted May 30, 2011 in Lifestyle

Today is a holiday in the U.S. It’s Memorial Day, a day that is set aside to remember those who died serving their country.

At Freelance Folder many of us are also taking this day off to relax and spend some time with our friends and families. Most importantly, we will also remember those who died in the service of their country.

We hope that you have a good day too.

If you are craving some great discussions on freelancing here are ten of our most popular posts from the past few months:

[Click Here to Read More...]

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.”

[Click Here to Read More...]

Stress and the Freelance Writer

Posted April 29, 2011 in Lifestyle, Writing

Writing in itself is probably not a difficult job, except when it comes to writing for money (especially if you aren’t a celebrated writer who bags huge bucks for a couple of articles, or editorials). When you’re focused on small freelance writing jobs like writing articles, blog posts, or press releases, there are certain demands that you need to meet.

In fact, freelance writing requires immense focus, resilience, staying power, and verified facts. You can write without any stress or constraints whatsoever when you are writing for fun, but as soon as you take it up as a job and start writing for others, you’ll have certain deadlines to meet, demands to fulfill, and criticism to bear.

Freelance writing jobs are often well paid, but they can turn out to be a little too stressful for many freelancers. Why wouldn’t they be? A writer often has to meet certain goals both in terms of quality and quantity at the same time, and the stress can double up if you are required to do some creative writing every once in a while.

In this post, I list some common causes of writer’s stress (or distress). If you’ve been doing freelance writing for some time, you will be able to relate. In fact, if you are going through some of these stressful situations right now this post will help because when the mind is stressed it often fails to realize the reason why and you keep going in circles. I sincerely hope the post will help freelance writers out there, especially those who have just started and are now beginning to feel the heat.

[Click Here to Read More...]

How to Take a Vacation Without the Internet

Posted April 27, 2011 in Lifestyle

Even though we can work from anywhere and can dictate our own schedules, it’s not often that we allow ourselves to take non-working holidays, especially ones where we’ll be completely off the grid with no phone or internet access at all.

I never thought about this issue until about eight months ago when I got engaged. In another month, we’re going on a Caribbean cruise for our honeymoon, and I have no idea if I’ll even have a phone, much less internet access. But then again, do I really want to?

I don’t know about you guys, but it’s insanely difficult for me to stay away from the computer and work. Even when I’m not working on client work, I’m always checking emails, Twitter, Facebook, writing blogs or shopping online. This makes me wonder how I’m going to survive almost two weeks without the internet.

Is it possible? What will happen to my clients? What if I come home and there’s no business left? These are just some of the scary thoughts one might have after running a very successful and busy business for a few years.

I’ve done a lot of research and planning to make sure nothing goes wrong while I’m going and to make sure I still have a business left when I come back. Here’s how to take your vacation without any electronic devices tying you to the grid.
[Click Here to Read More...]

10 Home Office Time Savers

Posted April 12, 2011 in Lifestyle, Productivity

Working from home is one of my favorite things about being a freelancer. However, it can end up being a distraction if you’re not careful. There have been plenty of times that the whole day has gone by before I even got started working–simply because I decided to play around the house or on the internet.

While it’s okay to do this from time-to-time, it’s not okay on a regular basis, your projects either start being late or you’re forced to work off-hours to make up for it. The way your office is set up plays a big part in whether you’re more or less productive throughout the day. There are several ways to help it speed along your work.
[Click Here to Read More...]

Taking Time Off Without Going on Vacation

Posted April 7, 2011 in Lifestyle

Because you are self-employed and your office is located in your own humble abode, you’re already all too familiar with the tired misconceptions friends and family have about your career. The believe that you don’t have a real job, you are immune to deadlines, and you are free to help them out in any way necessary when called upon since everyone else is busy working.

Without clear boundaries, the freelance life can quickly deteriorate into the most demanding lifestyle imaginable. If you are successful, you have probably already established these boundaries and taken a little heat for it. But friends and relatives with their “honey-do” lists are only part of the discrimination you face on a daily basis.

In this post, we’ll help you avoid the problem of having too much to do and show you how you can take time off without going on vacation.

[Click Here to Read More...]

What to Say When They Ask You What You Do for a Living

Posted April 4, 2011 in Freelance Stories, Lifestyle

You’re at a class reunion, meeting with people you haven’t seen in years. You’re having a great time when suddenly, without warning, it happens. The question you’ve been dreading…

“Where do you work now?”

What exactly should you say? Do you need to go into a long-winded explanation of how you started a freelancing business? You’re stumped.

New freelancers, especially, have been known to choke on these questions:

• “What type of work do you do?”
• Or (more commonly), “where do you work?”

But, even experienced freelancers don’t always have a ready answer for questions about employment.

The key to answering employment questions is knowing in advance what you’re going to say. In this post, I’ll give you five serious answers and five humorous answers to these questions so that you’ll never be at a loss for words. I’ll also invite you to share your own answers.

[Click Here to Read More...]

What to Do When You Have too Much Work

Posted March 22, 2011 in Lifestyle, Managing Clients

We all strive to be there–we want to have so much work we never really have to advertise or cold call or do much marketing ever again. We want enough clients so that we can pick and choose the best ones with the best projects. But what happens when you actually make it there?

Personally, I have a tendency to overschedule myself–which is normally a good thing because clients usually take longer than they think they will to get the project to me. However, every so often it seems everyone does decide to start their projects on time and I end up working 15 hour days with little sleep.

No one likes working overtime, least of all a freelancer, so what do we do when we have too much work? How do we get our schedules on track?

[Click Here to Read More...]