Freelancefolder

How Flaky Freelancers Destroy Golden Opportunities

Posted November 17, 2011 in Freelance Stories, Managing Clients

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Getting started as a freelancer online isn’t easy.

You start by building a website, and showcasing your work. But you don’t have any traffic, so you make your way over to the online freelance boards like eLance, oDesk and 99Designs.

And finding work for decent pay is a lot harder than the online job boards make it out to be.

Sure, you’re really good at what you do, but you don’t have much of a portfolio to show, and in the online world, most prospects don’t know you from Adam.

Not to mention the enormous amount of online competition, and that most business owners are very hesitant about trying a new freelancer on for size.

But eventually, you get a gig. The key is not to blow it…

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Want More Gigs? Try Walking in Your Client’s Shoes…

Posted November 16, 2011 in Managing Clients

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Would you like to get more repeat business, positive references, referrals, and be genuinely appreciated by your clients?

Of course you would. What freelancer wouldn’t like to get more gigs? Even if you are very busy right now, it’s always good to get a positive reference from a client.

But how can you accomplish this? How can you get more business from clients and make a favorable impression on them?

The answer is simple. Try walking in your client’s shoes. It’s called empathy, and if you can show it then you will be a better freelancer. In this post, we’ll discuss how you can use empathy in your freelancing business.

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10 Ways to Overcome Cabin Fever

Posted November 15, 2011 in How-To, Lifestyle

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As the nights grow longer and temperatures fall, let us remember that this is the time of year when many freelancers succumb to cabin fever.

Cabin fever isn’t a disease. It is more a malady of the spirit characterized by sadness, lack of energy, malaise, and irritability.

Many people are prone to cabin fever around the winter months, because we spend less time outdoors and get less sunlight.

However, freelancers may be even more susceptible to cabin fever than the average person. Unless you have three kids to send off to school like I do, you probably won’t have any reason to drag yourself out of bed while it’s still dark out.

We don’t get out as often as our employed friends, and when it’s freezing outside, we have even less reason to leave home.

Cabin fever is no fun for anybody. It zaps our lives of joy and happiness. It even affects our ability to produce quality work–something which is crucial to freelancers.

In this post, I’ve come up with 10 suggestions for how freelancers can avoid or overcome cabin fever.

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8 Reasons Freelancers Should Charge More Than Employees

Posted November 14, 2011 in Managing Clients, Marketing

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One of the biggest issues that beginner freelancers face is deciding how much to charge their clients.

It can be difficult to decide how much to bill for your work. While it is something you do figure out with time, you have to start somewhere.

A piece of sound advice is to decide how much you need to make in a year to be happy (taking expenditures into account), estimate the number of billable hours you will work, and figure out your rate that way.

Of course, even estimating the amount of billable hours you will work can be difficult. A year is a long time, and a lot of unexpected things can happen.

But in the midst of all the confusion there is one certain thing: as a freelancer, you should charge more than you would be making as an employee!

Here are a few reasons why…

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How to Ace Your Next Freelancing Job Interview

Posted November 13, 2011 in Getting Clients, Getting Started, How-To

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Most people don’t realize it, but freelancers frequently face interviews.

Unlike a traditional employee, who may go years without being interviewed once they have been hired, a freelancer may face an interview nearly every time a prospect considers them for a project. So, good interview skills are an important part of a freelancer’s arsenal.

In this post, I’ll provide some tips to help freelancers prepare for various types of interviews that they might face. I’ll also identify some good answers to tough interview questions that freelancers get asked.

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Thank-You to Our November Advertisers

Posted November 12, 2011 in News

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The leaves have dropped off the trees. It’s time to light a fire in your fireplace. Are you ready for the cold weather?

Don’t forget to look into the products offered by the great companies who support the Freelance Folder blog. It’s the support of these advertisers that allows us to provide you with great information year-round. We definitely recommend looking into these products and services.

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Why the Shortest Route Isn’t Always the Best One

Posted November 11, 2011 in Productivity

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A few weeks ago, I had an appointment in another city. I plugged in my GPS, set it to find the shortest route to my destination, and I was ready to go.

Or so I thought.

Unfortunately, taking the “shortest” route used an extra hour. I wound up being late for my destination. My shortcut wound up being the worst way to go.

I hear about freelancers taking shortcuts all of the time. At first glance, what freelancer wouldn’t want to take a shortcut? Taking a shortcut might seem like a good idea, but unfortunately, many of those shortcuts wind up costing the freelancer.

In this post, I’ll explain what went wrong with my shortcut. I’ll also explain why freelancing shortcuts may not always work.

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10 Brand New Productivity Tools You Probably Missed

Posted November 10, 2011 in Productivity, Tools/Resources

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Freelancers may have more of a need than other business owners to access data on the go, and from more than one platform. Productivity tools in the cloud offer a great way to address the issue of unknown source accessibility, especially when they are designed to sync between various devices, such as PC, tablets and smartphones.

Because there are already several articles at Freelance Folder featuring established productivity tools and software, today I’ll introduce ten new productivity tools that were launched in 2011. Some are cool, some are trendy, some are fun, but all of them can be of great help in the right hands.

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14 Q & A Sites Where Freelancers Can Shine

Posted November 9, 2011 in Getting Clients, Marketing

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Freelancing is all about making positive connections and building relationships. The more relationships that you build, the greater your pool of potential customers.

That’s why, as a freelancer, I like to examine different means of connecting online. Today, I’ll examine question and answer (Q & A) sites and provide a mini review for fourteen popular Q & A sites.

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