You’ve set up your freelance business and you’re ready to take on the world.  A few referrals are coming in here and there.  Then things start getting really busy.

How do you keep track of what projects are active, who’s paid what, deadlines, status reports, delegated tasks…yikes!

Things can get out of control pretty quickly for a freelancer without a solid project management tool.

Choosing the Right Tool

There are quite a few project management tools out there but some of them are better than others when it comes to freelancers.  Some of the best project management tools right for freelance work are those that target smaller, micro organizations – i.e. you, you + one or more team member(s).

Anything too complex can get overwhelming and the goal is to keep things simple so you can focus on getting the work done.

Ask Good Questions

How do you know which tool is right for you?  Here are a few starter questions to get you going:

1. How many people will I need to collaborate with using the tool?
2. What type of projects will I manage within the tool?  All of them, or a select group?
3. What budget can I set aside monthly to pay for the tool?
4. What do I prefer to work with most – text, visual charts, spreadsheets?
5. How will the tool integrate with systems I already use – i.e. calendar, email, etc.?
6. Does this tool work on my computer platform – i.e. Mac or Windows?
7. As my business grows, will the tool expand with it or will I have to move all of my data somehow?  If I do have to move it, will it be easy or difficult?

10 Project Management Tools

I reached out through my social network to a group of freelancers to find their favorite picks.  We came up with this short list of 10 online project management tools along with brief descriptions:

• Wrike - This tool uses a social platform to monitor your team progress across all projects. Wrike has an interactive dashboard, microblogging, real-time activity streams and instant email notifications with both free and paid subscriptions.  
• LiquidPlanner - Professional online project management software with integrated features for scheduling, collaboration, time tracking, analysis and reporting.  Has easy to use, drag and drop tasks capability.
• Dooster.net - This is a pretty neat task & project management app with a user-friendly interface if you’re not a real “techie”.  Has a dashboard where you can see everything that’s going on, organized by priority.
• Basecamp - A very popular tool for freelancers, Basecamp probably has the most tenure of all the tools on this list. It shows tasks, stores files, tracks deadlines, and more. Recently, it’s become more mobile friendly which will be an advantage to freelancers who prefer to manage from an iOs or Android device.
• WorkEtc - This one is a pretty comprehensive service and it may be a bit hefty for a freelancer without a team.  Check out the “all-in-one” concept they’ve put together – everything from tracking billable time and managing customer support to marketing and invoicing.
• Daylite by MarketCircle - Note: this project management tool is for Mac, iPhone & iPad users. It lets you quickly review your phone calls, emails, notes, or meetings based on contacts in your database.
• SUBERNOVA - Installed with the Adobe Air platform, SUBERNOVA (yes, that’s not me yelling; they usually spell it all in caps) lets you create invoices, schedule emails to clients, synchronize tasks with your calendar, and more.  Another one good for multiple platforms – desktop and mobile devices.
• Insightly - One of my personal favorites, this tool integrates easily with Gmail and Google Apps.  Looks similar in some ways to Basecamp but a bit more user-friendly and simplistic on the surface.  Great for keeping up with customer contacts over email.
• ThriveSolo - This is in beta currently so you need to sign up for approval to participate, however, the initial version has a very simple platform and covers the basic well for solo freelancers without a team, tracking things like time worked on a project, and budget for resources.
• Apptivo - Good tool for small teams, this project management tool will track time and help you categorize what’s billable.  You can also set up invoices to your clients by integrating with PayPal, Authorize.net, and more.

As you’re considering the best project management tool for you, there will be other questions you’ll probably add to the starter list above.

Here’s a couple of suggestions: write out your list of “must-haves”, then make up a chart to compare your top 3 picks.  Once you have them, evaluate which ones best fit your needs using a trial (most of these will at least give you a 10 day or more trial version to see how it works for you).

The most important thing is to pick a project management tool that helps make your life easier.

Happy hunting!

I used to roll my eyes when I’d hear a well-meaning college professor advise, “Getting a job is really just about the connections you make. You gotta’ know somebody.”

A serious student who tried hard to ensure a successful career based on academic success, I was offended that my resume might not matter to a future employer.

I can’t speak for every industry and profession, but I do know that when it comes to operating a successful freelance business, it really is all about who you know. Finding potential clients, winning them, and keeping them are simply not possible unless you have a well-established and healthy network of relationships.

A Freelancer’s Relationships Are The Lifeblood Of Future Work

Relationships give you:

• Future clients – Acquaintances, colleagues, friends, and relatives may very well become your next paying clients.
• Referrals – Those who know you and the quality of your work will confidently refer you to their network, bringing you new customers.
• Testimonials – Satisfied clients’ heartfelt recommendations serve as a stamp of approval for the potential customer who may be on the fence about hiring you or buying your product.

Make New Friends, But Keep The Old

Did you happen to sing the song, “Make New Friends,” as a Girl Scout? I did. And its advice is just as pertinent to business-building as it is to any other relationship in life.

Online

Today’s social media tools make finding new friends incredibly easy—and sometimes overwhelming. Instead of going for quantity, focus on quality. Strong bonds with select leaders in your niche will have the most lasting impact on your business and your growth as a freelancer.

• Target key influencers within your key market. Concentrate on getting to know them, which is impossible by just casually glancing at their feeds. Interact with them and consume their products.
• Identify one or two online professionals with mentoring or training materials. Become a student of theirs. Learn the way they work a business and put their principles into practice.
• Once you’re “on their radar” and you’ve had some meaningful interactions, ask for a Q&A blog interview or audio interview. Promote the interview like crazy, and then make it available to them for their use afterwards—with no restrictions or conditions.

Offline

If your prospect list has grown cold, it’s time to speak up about your business in all the social situations you encounter daily.

• Call former bosses, colleagues, and co-workers. Let them know what you’re doing now and ask them to keep you in mind for any freelance projects.
• Talk to your friends and relatives. Remind the gals from Bunco night and Aunt Margaret exactly what you do. You don’t have to be pushy, just offer a simple, “Yea, I’d love to add a few more clients to my queue. Let me know if you know of anyone.” (I landed a client after talking with him at our church small group one Sunday night. I mentioned the type of work I did, and he had a need I could fill.)
• Locate a few local business owners within your niche and create a face-to-face group that meets on a regular basis. You can offer one another encouragement, new business ideas, and troubleshooting techniques. I’ve been a member of a group of Nashville women bloggers for about five years. We get together for coffee a few times a year and help one another with blogging questions. Between face-to-face meetings, we offer support through a Facebook group. Inevitably, members post job leads in the group a couple of times each month.
• Treat a mentor to lunch or coffee. Find someone in your area who is excelling in your niche. Offer to buy them a meal if they’ll answer your questions for one hour. Most people are flattered to be asked and will eagerly trade their expertise for a sandwich. Follow up with a thank you note and check in with them periodically as you grow your business.

My own freelance career started as the result of a relationship. I was working full-time as an editor at a publishing house when I became pregnant with my first child.  Just before my third trimester of pregnancy, I quit my job to get ready for motherhood. On my last day of full-time work, my boss said to me, “Let us know when you’re ready to work again. We’ll have some freelance projects we’d love to hire you to do!”

That relationship with my former employer was begun more than ten years ago, and his company is still one of my regular clients. (In fact, I have an assignment due to them in two weeks!)

Devote time in your business to intentional relationship building, and you’ll reap the benefits for years to come.

Freelancers rock…this, we already know.  But certain qualities can take a mediocre freelancer to serious rock star status.

Ever heard of Jon Bon Jovi?  Raised by a hairdresser in a blue-collar New Jersey neighborhood, Jon had no secret “inside connection” growing up.  He simply had aspirations of becoming someone great one day and kept pursuing what he loved, hanging out at local clubs where his role models played so he could take on their qualities and do what they do.  By his twenties, Jon formed a band and started to get noticed.

After years of modeling the successful qualities of the people he hung around, staying persistent and making with the right connections, Jon eventually launched himself and his band into rock star history.

As a freelancer, you too might be starting from meager beginnings, but when you adopt the right qualities and grow strong connections, it can kick your business into rock star celebrity!

Here’s a short list of 6 Rock Star Qualities for Freelancers:

• Independent Thinkers – Rock star freelancers are comfortable in their own skin.  They know what they’re good at and they pursue it aggressively.  They see themselves as “star of the show” long before it becomes a reality to anyone else.

• Networkers – Rock star freelancers understand the value of a strong support system and creating powerful connections.  Like Jon, they surround themselves with people who can encourage and refer them to the right clients and partners for the “big breaks”.

• Resilient – Rock star freelancers get knocked down, but they get back up and keep going.  Every entrepreneur will face trials and challenges, but it takes resilience to pick up the pieces and rock on.

• Disciplined – Rock star freelancers make a plan and then commit to doing the things necessary to meet the plan goals.  They do something every day to make their dream a reality.

• Resourceful – Rock star freelancers learn how to find the right people, tools, money, and great ideas they need to get the results they want.

• Honest – Rock star freelancers are brutally honest  - with others and with themselves.  Being authentic and real will help you get noticed and build your fan crowd.

When you take a look at this list, which quality do you have where people already see you rock?  Where can you stretch yourself more?  What else would you add to the list?

Wherever you might be right now in your freelance business, fine-tuning these qualities will take you far.  Keep rockin’!

For freelance parents, the thought of summer vacation doesn’t create the type of excitement we all remember as kids. In fact, it usually elicits another feeling altogether: dread.

Is there a way to keep your freelance business running smoothly while kids are home on summer break?

Sure.

But freelancers should also accept that a summer routine will look different (than it does during the school year) for your family and your business.

As you plan your summer, use this post, 94 Ways to Keep Kids Busy for the Work at Home Parent, to find new ideas for keeping the little ones out of your hair while you’re working.

Keeping your sanity, the house running smoothly, and the kids happy all require some creative problem-solving, compromises from everyone, and flexibility.

1. Say goodbye to guilt.

We all talk about “balance” when it comes to work and family. I honestly don’t believe in “balance.” Getting things done—whether work projects or family projects—requires trade-offs of time and energy. And that’s OK.

Don’t feel guilty about devoting focused time to your business, and don’t feel guilty about devoting focused time to the kids. You can’t be in two places at once, and you can’t do everything simultaneously.

Often in the quest for balance, we try to cram too much on our plates. Forget multi-tasking, and everyone wins.

2. Lower your expectations and plan for interruptions.

The summer months are probably not the time to sign a multi-project client or tackle the biggest assignment of your career.

Summertime with the kids at home means you’ll have more interruptions, more fragmented days, and more open-ended time slots on the calendar. Identify a manageable workload and work it well. Watch that you don’t over-commit.

3. Plan to vacation at the end of summer.

Scheduling the big family vacation for late July or early August gives everyone something to work toward and eagerly anticipate. Hang a count-down sign in a central spot, so everyone knows just how many days are left before departure.

4. Pay for some help.

If a big deadline’s approaching, you may need to hire a sitter to watch the kids while you work. But you may also want to schedule more regular help throughout the summer just to stay on top of work tasks.

Most nine- or ten-year-olds can work as “Mommy or Daddy helpers.” While you are working in your home office, your tween helper is watching your little ones for a couple of bucks an hour. You’re on the premises—available for any question or emergency—but your helper keeps the little ones occupied, fetching snacks and playing Hide and Seek.

5. Hire your kids.

Pay your children to help you with age appropriate administrative tasks for your business. Doing so increases your productivity, cuts down on your outsourcing costs, and teaches your child work ethic and money management skills.

6. Create a Yes/No Jar.

Get a jar, box, or any type of container and label it, “Yes/No Jar.”

If your kids are constantly asking to do this or that and you must say “no” because of work demands, tell them to write their request on a slip of paper for the Yes/No Jar (i.e., “go to the zoo,” “go swimming,” “watch a movie with me”).

Designate two to three days each week as “yes” days. Kids get to pull a previously requested activity out of the jar and do a “no” activity on a “yes” day.

7. Send the kids to camp. 

If you’ve looked into summer camps, you’ve probably come away with sticker shock! They can be terribly expensive.

But take some extra time to research the local county or city government parks in your area. I am able to send my kids to an awesome day camp operated through a local county park system that only costs me $17/day (7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.) per child. That fee also includes field trips to a water park, the movie theater, and the bowling alley!  The best part is that you only pay for the days you use, so it really functions as a drop-in day care. Oh, and my kids love it!

8. Use the tried-and-true strategies that work.

Sometimes you’ve got to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Pop in a video, beg your neighbor to watch them for an hour, or stay up way past your own bedtime because the kids are asleep and the house is finally quiet.

I promise the kids’ IQs won’t suffer because they watched another Spongebob episode, you can certainly reciprocate babysitting for your neighbor, and a thirty-minute nap the day after a late work night will make you feel brand-new!

How do you manage work and kids during summer vacation?

If you own a business – whether it’s an online or offline business – you’re an expert. Your expertise will differ from other business owners but YOU have something unique to offer your audience.

I bet you never used the adjective ‘expert’ in conjunction with your own name before, have you?

It’s a mindset thing. For some reason I could always call myself a ‘business owner’ or a ‘virtual assistant’ but when given the term ‘expert’ I would cringe and think they couldn’t POSSIBLY be talking about lil’ ol’ me…

Until I had some friends point out the obvious…that SOMEONE out there needed my help and considered me an ‘expert’ because I knew more about a topic than THEY did.

Experts Still Learn

One of the misconceptions I had about the label ‘expert’ was thinking an ‘expert’ was at the top of their class, finished learning all there was to learn about a subject, and could answer any question about the topic.

But I think someone’s expertise in a subject is always evolving, always growing as new information is discovered or taught. Even the most skilled surgeons in the country learn new ways to operate and try new techniques. School teachers and other skilled professionals take part in continuing education classes each year to stay up to date on their industry’s standards.

The same is true for freelancers who work online. Sure, I know how to make changes to a WordPress theme but I’m blown away when I see the true talents of my web designer friends!

And think about all the ‘gurus’ in the internet marketing world who are teaching the latest and greatest techniques for running an online business. Learning in any subject is a never-ending process but you can still develop your expertise as you continue learning.

Now, let’s be real. Reading one book or blog post on a subject does not make one an expert on that topic. Your first-hand working experience lends to your expertise as well as your learned knowledge from school or classes.

Don’t Take Your Talents for Granted

So much time is spent doubting whether or not we can accomplish something. Is it a good idea to start an online business? Will anyone hire me? Sit back and think about everything you know how to do (and it doesn’t have to all be business-related…maybe your hidden talent could uncover a cool niche for you to monetize!) Remember, you know more than you think you do!

As I was trying to write about this very abstract topic, I kept thinking back to one of my husband’s very good friends, who he met through a business networking group. This friend installs business telephone systems. Is he an expert? Darn straight! I only know about using the phone, not the inner workings of setting up an entire network!

We’ve also got a handyman coming to replace the railings on our front porch. Is he an expert? You bet, since I don’t think we even own a saw or know the first thing about choosing the proper wood (we are the quite the opposite of ‘handy’)!

So…what’s your expertise? I’m a Virtual Assistant and an expert at creating website content for other online business owners.

Feel free to share your expertise in the comment section below!

How would you characterize your business?

• Do you have set business hours?
• Are you able to close the door to your office?
• Do you have a steady clientele paying you each month?

OR does this scenario better describe your typical day?

• You’re completing work in 1 hour intervals, in between naptimes
• You have no filing system and non-business papers are over-taking your work area
• The kids are kicking you off your computer because they want to play games (and you let them!)

If you relate more to the second scenario then you’re essentially working a hobby, or a part time job. You do what you can when you can instead of insisting on working a set number of hours or tracking just how much income you’re generating each month.

Lessons Learned from a TV Show

One of my favorite shows is Restaurant: Impossible on the Food Network. Chef Robert goes into these failing restaurants, evaluates the problems, and gives them a complete redesign. Very often he’ll ask the owners questions about their food costs and monthly income and expenses and more often than not, the restaurant owners can’t answer him without looking through stacks of papers.

Could you answer those same questions about your business?

As a business owner (and not a hobbyist) you should be doing bookkeeping each month to know your expenses and monthly income. If you don’t know these numbers, how can you possibly know how to grow your business?

Balancing Work and Life

Being a freelance parent is both a joy and a chore. The joy part is not having to commute or deal with a boss or the office politics but the chore is finding the time to actually do the work, while also marketing your business and finding new clients.

Many times I have complained to my husband that I just need another 18 hours in the day to complete my to-do lists. And he continues to reassure me that he meets people in the course of HIS job (doing sales for a local company) who encounter the same exact problem.

But if we’re working from home in an effort to spend more time with our kids, have you taken note of whether that’s actually happening? Are you truly present when they get off the school bus or are you thinking about the 50 things that are still on your to-do list?

(By the way, I suffer from this terribly!)

Changing Your Mindset

I must admit, even though I describe myself as a ‘business owner’ that’s not how I would treat myself. The work always gets done but I never had any kind of systems in place and I never truly thought about myself as a business owner.

But that’s changing and already I can FEEL a difference in my mind and body. Last night I paused the television and wrote out a to-do list with my client work at the top and all the non-paid work near the bottom (such as marketing, blogging, social media, etc). Obviously I hope that this non-paid work eventually turns into paid work but the point is I wrote down EVERYTHING that was on my mind.

Will it all get done today? Truth be told, probably not, but I’m a very visual person and seeing a list helps keep my mind focused. Just knowing that I gave myself 30 minutes to write this blog post has gotten me moving.

I’m also moving all the papers off my desk in the hopes of keeping my brain less cluttered. Maybe I can outsource some of the organization to my daughters for extra allowance money

Have you ever been in the hobbyist mindset? What changed for you once you thought of your hobby as a business? I’d love to hear your thoughts so leave a comment below!

About the Author: Christina Lemmey is a Virtual Assistant and Owner of Multimedia VA. She specializes in creating written, audio and video content for businesses who need an online presence. Christina was a call-in guest on The Dave Ramsey Show and is currently in the process of creating a super secret training course for other do-it-yourself-ers.

Coming up with project estimates (and waiting for the client’s response) might be one of the toughest things about freelancing.

How do you know how long a job’s going to take? How do you know what to charge? And then how should you present it to the client – hourly, per word, per page, flat fee?

It seems like the whole process should be a matter of logic and math, but in the real world our emotions kick in.

When you want a job badly enough, you start to second-guess everything: “should I really charge this much? what if he thinks it’s way too much? what if she’s insulted that I even asked for this much? what if I’m undercharging? what if the client thinks my work must be crap if I’m charging this little?” And so on and so forth.

It gets even worse when you finally decide on a number, send it to the prospective client, and hear nothing. For days.

“Oh no,” you think, “this person thinks I’m an idiot. She’s never going to hire me, and she’s going to tell all of her friends that I have no clue what I’m doing. I’m never going to work again.” Or maybe that’s just me.

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Welcome to the fifth and final post in our “Build Your Own Freelancing Website” series! So far we’ve covered domain names, hosting, whether to feature a blog on your site, and customizing your site design.

In today’s post, we’ll cover the most important step: adding content to your website.

Step 5: Create Content That Converts Leads Into Clients

As a freelancer, you will want to have at least the following pages on your website: (1) Homepage; (2) About; (3) Services; and (4) Contact Me. You may also want to add client testimonials, samples of your work, and other information that helps demonstrate your knowledge and skills. As you draft the content for your site, keep the following tips in mind:

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Welcome to the fourth post in our “Build Your Own Freelancing Website” series! So far we’ve covered domain names, hosting, and whether to feature a blog on your site.

Now it’s time to talk about how to make your site look good (without spending a fortune).

Step 4: Select a theme and then customize it.

Whether you’re working with WordPress or Squarespace (the two platforms I recommended earlier in this series), you’ll need to select a “theme” (called a “template” in Squarespace) for your website. The theme you choose will determine the basic look of your site.

Selecting a Theme in WordPress:

If you’ve created a self-hosted WordPress blog, you can select a theme by logging in to the admin area of your site, clicking on “Appearance,” and then clicking on “Add New Themes.” This will allow you to choose from a variety of free themes. There’s nothing wrong with using a free theme, especially if you find one you really like – just make sure you add some customization to make your website unique.

There are also premium (read: not free) themes available elsewhere on the web. There are a lot of them (do a Google search for “premium WordPress themes” and you’ll see what I mean). The premium theme that I use on my site is Thesis, which I highly recommend. I selected Thesis (and subsequently became a Thesis affiliate) because it is exceptionally flexible, easy to use, and well-supported. If you choose a premium theme, you should follow the installation instructions from the theme designer instead of using the “Add New Themes” button.

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A designer friend recently told me that she was stiffed on a design job and how it really rocked her core trust in online business owners. This isn’t enough to make her jump back into the corporate world but she really took this slight personally.

I shared my own story here yesterday about not being paid by a client but my friend’s story is a little bit different because the client pulled the job prior to it being completed. My friend worked a few hours on these graphics, trying to bring the client’s vision to life, but the client decided to go with another designer. Certainly, that is the client’s perogative but should the first designer get paid, even if it wasn’t what the client wanted in the job?
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