Freelancefolder

3 Ways To Get Clients From Twitter

Posted May 26, 2009 in How-To, Marketing, News 35 Rockin' Comments »

Twitter is quickly becoming the new online powerhouse for networking, and along with that growth comes a significant opportunity for freelancers to find new clients. For those of you who are very new to twitter, I recommend checking out our previous overview of twitter for freelancers before continuing, as it will probably explain a lot.

In the early days, most freelancers used twitter as an online playground or chat area. It was great to blow off some steam, and worked really well for things like making new friends. There weren’t too many potential clients on twitter at this point.

Recently though, twitter has become populated by just about everyone (a subset of everyone, at least) — including a huge number of potential new clients. Not only are there possible clients on twitter, but many times they are such good leads that they’re even ASKING for the work. How can you tap into this resource? It’s actually pretty easy…

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How To Be The Freelancer That Everyone Wants To Work With

Posted May 21, 2009 in Business, Marketing 11 Rockin' Comments »

Have you ever thought about why your clients reach out to you, or what it is they want to buy from you? Maybe an amazing design from a web designer, or an awesome article from a writer? No, that’s not the answer.

When your clients decide to hire you they aren’t really buying your services, they are buying two things that we as freelancers sometimes forget — they are buying a solution to their problems, and they are buying feelings that that make them feel good about themselves and their business.

So what does it take to be the freelancer that everyone wants to work with?

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Which is Better for the Freelancer: Specialization or Diversification?

Posted May 15, 2009 in Business, Marketing 27 Rockin' Comments »

You’ve probably heard it said time and time again: finding the right specialty is the key to having a successful freelancing business.

If you’ve read any business advice recently, it may seem that everyone from bloggers to textbook authors to marketing specialists is touting the advantages of choosing a specialization to small business owners.

My question for you today is: what do you think about specialization and freelancing Is being specialized as important to freelance success as many people seem to think that it is?

I can see arguments for both specialization AND diversification and I’ll share them with you here.

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Creating an Elevator Speech: How Looking In The Mirror Can Help Your Business

Posted May 11, 2009 in Business, How-To, Marketing 21 Rockin' Comments »

One of the most effective ways to get new clients is through face-to-face contact. Those in your existing social circle and new acquaintances can both lead you to new clients — as long as you can describe your freelancing business to them quickly and accurately.

Experts recommend that small business owners should have an elevator speech ready for social occasions. An elevator speech is a short talk about your freelancing business that can be given in the time that it takes an elevator to reach its destination (usually 30 seconds to a minute).

The timeframe for an elevator speech is short because, in many social situations, a minute is about all the time that you’ll have to talk to an acquaintance before you lose that person’s attention or need to move on. If you can’t communicate your freelance business story in that timeframe, then you’ve missed out on an opportunity. Here’s how to make sure that doesn’t happen.

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Customer Loyalty — Why You Need It and How To Get It

Posted April 21, 2009 in Business, Marketing 22 Rockin' Comments »

To make money and stay in business, you need customers. However, you don’t always need new customers — in fact constantly finding new customers can drain both your energy and your resources.

So what is the best source of work?

While new customers are great and vital to the growth of your freelancing business, repeat business is the true key to your long-term success. Loyal customers who regularly turn to your business will boost your income, keep your business alive, and contribute to a long and happy freelancing career.

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42 Questions Every Freelancer Should Ask Their Clients

Posted April 8, 2009 in Business, Marketing 67 Rockin' Comments »

Taking a gig as a freelancer is often times much more than a temporary decision. A freelance project can involve working with someone for a potentially long period of time, and both you and your clients can have a lot at stake.

If you take a freelancing gig that doesn’t really fit with your skills and abilities you have a much higher risk of winding up with a dissatisfied client or bad client. You could also wind up working much harder and making a lot less money on the project.

It’s important for freelancers to get to know every prospective client before taking on a new job. That’s why I’ve created this list of 42 questions for freelancers to ask prospective clients during the interview/briefing process.

(You probably won’t have to ask all 42 questions to each and every client. Most clients will volunteer a lot of this information, and you’ll also find some of the answers as you do your own research on the client.)

As you examine the answers to these questions, look for differences between the way that you work and your client’s expectations. If you find that there are many differences, you should consider it a red flag and consider referring the project to someone else. If you do decide to proceed with the project, do so with caution.

Here are 42 questions every contractor should ask their clients:

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Open Thread: Do You Have Business Cards?

Posted April 6, 2009 in Marketing, Open Thread 68 Rockin' Comments »

Business cards are a tried-and-true method of promoting a business — they have been used for decades by companies large and small to drum up new clients through word of mouth and local networking events. They are often considered to be one of the first requirements of starting a new business.

But, the situation is a bit different for freelancers. A lot of freelancers work primarily online, rarely ever visiting a local or in-person event, making business cards seem a lot less useful. Why go through the trouble if you’ll never be handing them out?

For many online freelancers, though, the cost of business cards is easily worth it, if only for the ability to give them to family and friends. Other freelancers swear that business cards are incredibly useful no matter what business you’re in.

So, what about you?

Do you have business cards? If so, how do you use them to get more business?

Are business cards worth having even for freelancers who work mostly online?

Let us know what you think…

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Ten Characteristics of a Good Client

Posted March 9, 2009 in Business, Marketing 38 Rockin' Comments »

Do you know the key characteristics of a good client? Can you distinguish the good clients from the bad before you start working for them?

Or, when the tables are turned, do you have what it takes to become a good client when your business expands and you’re ready to hire other freelancers?

Here are ten characteristics of a good client:

1. Communicates expectations clearly. The number one characteristic of a good client is that they are able to express what they want and need. This ability is vital for a freelancer to deliver the right product or service. A freelancer can’t deliver what wasn’t asked for.

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Should You Use HTML In Your E-Mail?

Posted January 29, 2009 in Marketing 38 Rockin' Comments »

Judging from a recent question that I conducted on Twitter, to which two people responded, not many freelancers have thought about the use of HTML in e-mails.

That’s a shame, because e-mail is the lifeblood for most freelancers. It’s how we communicate with our clients.

Inserting HTML images and text in e-mail has been in favor with Internet marketers for some time now, and there are some good reasons for that. HTML lets you put all the bells and whistles in front of a client or prospective client.

In fact, the Internet is filled with free HTML e-mail templates to help you create HTML e-mail with just a little bit of effort on your part.

Of the two individuals who responded to my question on Twitter, one said that they had no opinion on whether HTML should be used in e-mail. The other said that they didn’t like HTML in e-mail and referred me to a post on the topic of what constitutes a good e-mail.

I tend to side with the individual who said that they didn’t like to receive HTML formatting and images in e-mail. Of my three e-mail accounts, I have the HTML option turned off on two of them. On the one account that accepts HTML, I often find my e-mail bogged down by incoming HTML messages (usually messages that are of no interest to me).

A few reasons you may not want to use HTML in e-mail

Whether you are in favor of using HTML in your e-mail messages or whether you oppose it, here are some factors that you should be aware of:

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