The golden arches. The red bulls eye. That blue bird. I don’t have to tell you which companies these images represent, do I? You just know. While we easily think of multi-million dollar corporations when we think of successful branding, we need to apply those same ideas, principles, and techniques to the freelance business we [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]