Krissy Bradfield on Freelancing
Feb 11, 2009 50 Words
Krissy says…
Being a freelancer is really hard but it’s all about mindset. My advice? Be positive and positive things will come. Tell everyone you know about your business. Use tools like Twitter to network and get your name out there. Don’t wait for work to come to you - go to it.
About Melissa
Krissy is a freelance writer who began working in the web industry in 1995. She started Wordish.com in 2006 and specialises in creating engaging and dynamic web content.
About this Post
This post is one of a series, written by various people within the web industry. They are responses to my request for a maximum of 50 words on the topic of tips for freelance success. You can use the 50 words category to see all the answers so far.
If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to the RSS feed!
Tags: freelance, freelance guide, freelance help, freelancer
Melissa Ek on Freelancing
Feb 4, 2009 50 Words
Melissa says…
Keep a buffer of cash on hand. When that big client doesn’t pay on time, it helps to have something to fall back on.
Hire an accountant. The peace of mind is worth it.
Be nice to EVERYone. You never know who your next client will be.
Network, network, network!
About Melissa
Melissa Ek is a designer (web & print) based in Austin, TX. She can’t believe she’s been freelancing for nearly TEN years!
About this Post
This post is one of a series, written by various people within the web industry. They are responses to my request for a maximum of 50 words on the topic of tips for freelance success. You can use the 50 words category to see all the answers so far.
If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to the RSS feed!
Tags: freelance, freelance blog, freelance business, posf
Taking Time to Plan
Jan 12, 2009 Excerpts
This is an excerpt from the book, The Principles of Successful Freelancing. Sample chapters are available for downloading from this page.
“Failures don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan,” says best-selling author and business motivational speaker, Harvey MacKay.
If you are planning to start freelancing part-time, you should have the time to put together all of the plans and start saving for the just-in-case rainy-day money. On the other hand, if you plan to move straight into full-time freelancing, remember that you’ll have those looming deadlines as soon as you take on projects. Even so, it doesn’t mean that you should ignore planning or preparation.
For most people, the concept of business planning is likely to provoke a jaw-dislocating yawn. However, it’s much more productive to welcome this as an exciting time, where you start to understand where you really want to travel on this freelance path. The world really is your oyster—you’ve made the emotional commitment, perhaps you already have some prospective clients lined up, and you may have already done much of this planning work in the back of your mind. It’s invaluable to take a little time to write these thoughts and plans down, for future reference and as a way to refine and catalogue your thoughts.
Many freelancers and small businesses fail in their first few years, and it’s widely agreed by experts that the number-one reason for such failure is because those business had little or no form of planning. This planning document doesn’t need to be a huge tome of numbers and words; it really is the summation of what you have been thinking, committed to paper.
This document is where you start to list known and unknown areas of your plans, so you can elaborate on them over time. A good business plan is an evolving one, so don’t consider it a chore to be completed in an hour and then stuck in a desk drawer and forgotten about.
There is a myriad of web sites dedicated to sharing templates and ideas about what they consider a great business plan. Perhaps the most important element of a business plan is that you remain actively involved with it. Review it frequently, adjusting and editing it where required—especially during those first few months.
Your plan could be just a few pages, or it could be dozens, but unless you have grand plans to circulate it for investors or financial institutions to read, avoid using buzzwords and reams of useless blue-sky figures. The plan is for your eyes only, so keep it succinct and to the point, and an honest appraisal of the “who, what, when, and how” of your plans.
There are many elaborate methods for writing a solid business plan, but let’s start by creating a text document, and answering what questions we can from the list in Example 1, “Business Planning Questions”. For those questions to which you don’t know the answer yet, just write the question, reminding yourself to add that material as you go.
Remember, plans change, so at this stage your efforts are likely to be more crystal-ball gazing than actual fact. You’ll expand on the plan, filling it out in more detail as you work your way through this book and progress over the first weeks and months of freelancing. And it’s fine to add other notes besides the questions included here—even if they’re rough dot points, the more notes the better!
If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to the RSS feed!
Tags: freelance, freelance book, sitepoint, successful freelancing
Myles Eftos on Freelancing
Dec 29, 2008 50 Words
Myles says…
Multiple bank accounts. It is very tempting to throw the money you make in your personal bank account and start spending big. DON’T DO IT. Go and get a business account, and get your clients to deposit the money there, then pay yourself out of that account. It’s much easier to partition that way. You can even take it one step further and get a interest bearing account and transfer your tax into it, then at the end of the year you won’t get surprised by a huge tax bill!
About Myles
Myles Eftos is a Perth-based web developer that jumped on the Rails express and never looked back. He is the event coordinator for the Australian Web Industry Assocation, which explains why most of their events are at the pub near his house.
About this Post
This post is one of a series, written by various people within the web industry. They are responses to my request for a maximum of 50 words on the topic of tips for freelance success. You can use the 50 words category to see all the answers so far.
If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to the RSS feed!
Tags: 50 Words, freelance, freelancer, freelancing, web designer, web developer, web industry
Mike Brown on Freelancing
Dec 9, 2008 50 Words
Mike says…
Let the passion for what you do shine through. That’s what will sustain you on the journey. That you’re doing something you care about. That you’re doing it well. And that it’s making a difference. Your passion and commitment will be infectious.
About Mike
Mike is one of the chief instigators of Webstock, almost certainly the best web conference in New Zealand.
About this Post
This post is one of a series, written by various people within the web industry. They are responses to my request for a maximum of 50 words on the topic of tips for freelance success. You can use the 50 words category to see all the answers so far.
If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to the RSS feed!
Tags: 50 Words, freelance, freelancer, freelancing, web designer, web developer, web industry
