This is a review of How To Make Money on Elance, an information product for freelancers produced by Alexis Rodrigo. Sparkplugging has not been paid to write this review but did receive a free review copy of the product. There are no affiliate links in this review.

In How To Make Money on Elance, freelance writer and internet marketer Alexis Rodrigo shares what she learned from Trish Lambert (an Elance Premier Provider) about making money on Elance. It consists of an interview with Trish (in both audio and PDF format), a worksheet, and a mindmap to give you an overview of the material.

If you’re looking for solid advice to help you make the most of the time you spend on Elance, then you won’t be disappointed with this product.

It’s obvious that Trish (the interviewee) knows what she’s talking about when it comes to getting clients through Elance, and Alexis asks her just the right questions. At $27, it’s a worthwhile investment if you’re planning to spend a lot of your marketing time on Elance. There’s no “fluff” or “filler” – just solid, practical tips that you can apply immediately.

So I definitely recommend this product for those of you currently using (or planning to use) Elance. In fact, I would go so far as to say that you probably shouldn’t start bidding for jobs on Elance without the information contained in How To Make Money on Elance.

But if you’re serious about attracting high-paying clients, I don’t think Elance is the place to do it.

This is just my opinion. A lot of people have apparently made real money on Elance – but not me. I got my first two freelance writing jobs through Elance, so in that sense it was a good way for me to dip my toe in the water (and maybe it’s a good option for you if you’re a freelancing newbie). But I have found that I can attract higher-paying clients in far less time using other marketing methods, so for the most part I’ve given up on Elance.

There are some good jobs posted there, but they’re hidden amongst a slew of crappy jobs posted by people whose primary goal is to pay as little as possible (regardless of quality). It takes a lot of time and energy to sift through the junk, find worthwhile jobs, and then craft customized bids for those jobs, so you have to be sure it’s worth it.

My advice: if you’re using Elance, keep track of all the time you spend trying to get jobs in addition to the time you spend on the jobs. Then keep track of the money you make (net of Elance fees) and determine how much you’re actually making per hour. With that information in hand, you can make an educated decision about whether to continue spending time on Elance.

Traci Feit Love is a freelance writer, editor & communications consultant for businesses that need smart, impressive content. She blogs here and at The Breadwinner Mom. To learn more or to sign up for her free e-course, “How to Get More High-Paying Clients,” visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.

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:

Your Homepage

Before you write anything for your homepage, decide what the function of your homepage is going to be. Is it to get visitors to sign up for your e-newsletter? Is it to get visitors to call or e-mail you for a consultation? The most important thing is to decide on a next step that you want visitors to take, and then make that step the primary focus of your homepage.

Keep your homepage uncluttered, and make sure that visitors can easily find the answers to three questions: (1) what do you do? (2) why should they hire you to do it? and (3) how can they contact you? If people have to hunt for this information, they won’t. They’ll just move on to the next website.

Finally, don’t put a bunch of links to other websites on the homepage of your website. If you do, you’re just inviting visitors to leave your website. Why do that?

Your “About” page

The “About” page is often the hardest one to write. You have to talk about yourself, which is always difficult, and you have to promote yourself without coming across as unlikeable or egotistical. It’s not easy.

I think the most important thing to remember about your “About” page is that it’s not really about you. Yes, you have to provide information about your background and expertise, but think about this from your potential clients’ perspective. They want to know about you only so they can figure out whether you can help them. Don’t disappoint them; explain how your background qualifies you to meet your clients’ needs.

If you’re really having trouble writing your About page, consider getting some help. I know this may seem crazy to those of you who are writers, but even the best writers can run into trouble when they try to write about themselves.

Your “Services” page

Be specific about the services you offer. Potential clients may not have hired a writer/graphic designer/etc. before and they want to know what it will be like to work with you.

The big question freelancers have when it comes to their “Services” page is whether they should post prices. I think you have to decide what will work best for you. I post a range of prices so that potential clients have some idea what I charge. This helps me to pre-qualify leads (by culling out the people who can’t or won’t pay what I charge), and gives clients a little bit of guidance about pricing. You may decide that posting prices is a bad idea for your particular business, and that’s fine. Whatever works for you.

In General

All of the content on your site should be client-focused and serve a purpose. Don’t feel like you have to fill your site with hundreds of pages of content; just get your point across and encourage visitors to take the “next step” down the path towards becoming your client.

photo credit: dbdbrobot

Traci Feit Love is a freelance writer, editor & communications consultant for businesses that need smart, impressive content. To learn more or to sign up for her free e-course, “How to Get More High-Paying Clients,” visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday. Each week we’ll share some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to

This week’s directive is to “spark an idea about purging,” which in my case is kind of like asking a toddler to spark an idea about patience and self-discipline. But hey – it’s “Spark an Idea Thursday,” so I’ll give it the old college try.

The thing is, I could really benefit from some purging:

• I have a basement filled with plastic tubs, each of which contains an incredible assortment of papers, mementos, and miscellaneous items from various stages of my life. Why? Because I find it impossible to throw stuff like that out. Instead of throwing stuff out, I buy more plastic tubs so I can keep all of my crap totally organized. Ridiculous, right?
• I have a “to do” list for this week that could never be completed in a single week. Why? Because I find it impossible to admit that I’m not going to get to everything. Up until 5:55 pm on Friday, I hold out hope that I will somehow miraculously finish everything on the list. At approximately 5:56, I give up and transfer the tasks I didn’t complete to the following week’s list (and repeat this process weekly).
• I have about 10 different ideas for books I want to write. If you follow this blog you know that I really want to get a book published, but the first step is to pick one single idea – which means giving up (at least temporarily) on the other nine. You have no idea how difficult this is for me.

I know that if I could just get better at this whole “purging” thing, I would be more focused.

My life would be less cluttered. I would probably be more productive and achieve more of my goals. So why is it so hard?

As you can probably tell, I don’t have any brilliant ideas about purging, except to underscore its importance. Have any of you struggled with this issue the way I do? Have you figured out any solutions that you’d be willing to share?

I’m all ears.

Traci Feit Love is a freelance writer, editor & communications consultant for businesses that need smart, impressive content. To learn more or to sign up for her free e-course, “How to Get More High-Paying Clients,” visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.

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.

Selecting a Theme (Template) in Squarespace:

If you’re using Squarespace, go to your website and then log in. Click on the paintbrush in the upper right-hand corner and you’ll see the Appearance Editor pop up on the bottom half of your screen. You’ll see a button that says “Switch Templates” on the lower left-hand corner of the Appearance Editor. From there, just select the Template you’d like to use. Once you select a template, you can use the Appearance Editor to change the colors, fonts, column sizes, and other design elements of your site.

Customizing Your Site

Once you’ve selected a theme or template, you’re almost done – but not quite. If you stop now, you’ll have a site that looks pretty basic (and possibly very similar to a lot of other sites out there). You don’t have to spend tons of money on a web designer, but if you’re willing to spend just a little bit it will make a big difference.

For my site, I hired a designer (Jamie Varon of Shatterboxx Media) to customize the stylesheet, the header image, and my subscription button. I was really happy with it turned out, but you may not even need to go that far. At the very least, I recommend that you get a custom-designed header image. You can find very inexpensive designers on Elance, but be careful to review samples of their work before committing. Alternatively, find a website you like and ask who designed it. You may end up paying more, but you’ll probably be very happy with the results.

So that’s it for now. If you run into problems or have any questions, share them in the comments and I’ll see if I can help!

Up next: Step 5 (Content and Copywriting)

photo credit: Paul Keleher

Traci Feit Love is a freelance writer, editor & communications consultant for businesses that need smart, impressive content. To learn more or to sign up for her free e-course, “How to Get More High-Paying Clients,” visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.

This week’s “Spark an Idea Thursday” theme is about “something you want so bad you can taste it.” The idea is to share “something from deep inside that you have a huge will to accomplish – and what you’re doing to prepare for it!”

So here goes: I want to write a book and get it published.

Wow – that’s a really scary thing to say out loud. Am I the only one who finds it scary to tell other people about personal goals and dreams?

Bookstores and libraries have always been my favorite places. As a kid, I used to beg my mom to drop me off at the library and just leave me there for a few hours. I would wander through the shelves, picking up anything that interested me and reading it for as long as I stayed interested. It was fairly common for me to end up sitting on the floor in the middle of two giant stacks of books, wondering how I was going to pick 8 or 10 books to check out when there were so many to pick from.

I’m still like that. The only difference is that back then, I just assumed that I’d have a few books of my own on the shelves by this point in my life. And now I wander through the bookstore wondering how much longer it will be until that happens.

What am I doing to make sure I achieve this goal?

Well, I’ve spent a lot of time coming up with book ideas, learning how to write a nonfiction book proposal, and researching literary agents. I’ve ghostwritten books for other people, so I know I am capable of writing a book, and I continue to learn about the process of getting published.

But I think the time has come to take the next step. It’s time to get this party started.

So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to:

• select one book idea from my list;
• write a book proposal based on that idea;
• create a list of literary agents to contact;
• write a query letter; and
• send the query letter to the agents on my list.

I’ll keep you updated on my progress – and if you happen to notice a lot of time passing with no status updates, feel free to remind me of this post! Hopefully a little accountability will help me bridge the gap between “wanting” and “doing.”

How about you? What do you want “so bad you can taste it?” Share in the comments so we can help one another achieve our goals (and so I’m not the only one with her hopes and dreams hanging out there for all to see!)

Traci Feit Love is a freelance writer, editor & communications consultant for businesses that need smart, impressive content. To learn more or to sign up for her free e-course, “How to Get More High-Paying Clients,” visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday. Each week we’ll share some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to

This week’s “Spark an Idea Thursday” theme is about “being a lifetime learner,” a topic which is very close to my heart. Keeping your heart and mind open to new things, being interested in the world around you, and learning something new every day are (at least for me) the keys to a happy life.

When it comes to being an entrepreneur, continuing to learn new things isn’t really a choice – it’s a necessity.

If you just plod along doing what you’ve always done, and fail to adapt to the changing world around you, you will fall behind your competitors. But what’s even more important is the joy and vitality that come from learning something you didn’t know before. My late grandfather, Hy Perry, taught me that by example (thanks, Grandpop).

When I was very young, he found ways to make learning fun for me. I remember him creating little handmade “awards,” with gold stars and little drawings, and giving them to me as I learned the alphabet, numbers, and (eventually) reading. I still have those little scraps of paper and treasure them more than any of the “real” awards that came later.

My grandfather never stopped learning new things, and as a result, he was one of the most vibrant individuals I have ever met. At an age when most of his peers had stopped trying to “keep up” with new technology, he mastered it. He was using the internet, e-mail, and new software applications before most people my age. He taught the other seniors in his retirement community how to use their computers to stay in touch with their children and grandchildren. He agreed fully (and so do I) with Eleanor Roosevelt’s sentiment that “when you stop learning you stop living in any vital and meaningful sense.”

So the next time you have the chance to learn something new, embrace it. Don’t worry if you don’t catch on right away. When it comes to learning, the process is the point. Enjoy it.

Recommended Reading: You Learn by Living, by Eleanor Roosevelt

Traci Feit Love is a freelance writer, editor & communications consultant for businesses that need smart, impressive content. To learn more or to sign up for her free e-course, “How to Get More High-Paying Clients,” visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.

Step 2 – Choose a web host and purchase a hosting package.

Two basic options: Hosted blog service or self-hosted.

There are two basic ways to publish a blog-based website: (1) use a hosted blog service, such as www.blogger.com or www.wordpress.com; or (2) use a self-hosted blog. What’s the difference? The main thing you need to know is that with a hosted blog service, you have a lot less control over your website. Different services have different rules about what you can and cannot do, and you should review those rules carefully if you’re considering using a hosted service.

If you really want your site to look professional and business-like, I recommend against using a service such as Blogger or Wordpress.com. They may be easier to set up (and free), but you’re sacrificing the ability to completely customize your site.

Note: Wordpress.com is a hosted blog service; Wordpress.org offers Wordpress blog software for free download, which you can then install on your self-hosted blog.

Setting up a self-hosted website.

If you’ve decided to take the plunge and set up a self-hosted website, congratulations! You’re on your way. I think you’ve made a good decision. Now it’s time to choose a hosting company.

There are literally hundreds of web hosts to choose from, and there’s no way I could list them all. Here are 3 web hosting companies that I believe to be reliable and user-friendly. I’m an affiliate of ReliableWebs, but not the other two:

1. ReliableWebs

2. Bluehost

3. GoDaddy

All three of these companies will install Wordpress for you (one less thing to worry about). I recommend that you visit their websites, read about their offerings and pricing, and select the one that you think will work best for you.

You could also choose another company – I’m just trying to keep things simple. The important thing is just to select a company and purchase a basic hosting package (it should be less than $10/month).

One other option: Squarespace.

Just in case any of you are freaking out or feeling overwhelmed by the idea of a self-hosted site, I want to mention one other option: Squarespace. Squarespace is a hosted blog service, but it gives you far more control over your website than services like Blogger or Wordpress.com. It has a lot of built-in options that make it easy to get your site up and running, and the learning curve is much shorter than with a self-hosted blog.

Unlike Blogger or Wordpress.com, Squarespace isn’t free. After the 14-day free trial, you’ll have to pay $14/month for the version allowing custom domain names (meaning you can post your website to your own domain name, instead of on a domain name such as www.yourname.squarespace.com). But if you’ve ruled out self-hosted blogs because you think they’re beyond your technical ability, I strongly recommend Squarespace over the other hosted services. I built my first website (The Breadwinner Mom) with Squarespace and have been happy with it so far.

I put together this extremely brief video to show you what it’s like to set up a new site with Squarespace. It’s my first foray into the world of video so please let me know if you have any suggestions for improvement. Hope you find it useful.

(note to the curious: I don’t work for Squarespace and I don’t benefit financially if you use Squarespace. I just think it’s a good option for people who don’t have the time or inclination to learn about self-hosted blogs)

photo credit: KristianD

COMING FRIDAY: Step 3 – To Blog Or Not To Blog?

Traci Feit Love is a freelance writer, editor & communications consultant for businesses that need smart, impressive content. To learn more or to sign up for her free e-course, “How to Get More High-Paying Clients,” visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.

In light of that goal, I’ve put together a “Build Your Own Freelancing Website” series that I hope you will find helpful.

Each post in the series will cover one step in the process of building your own website, and I’ll be available to answer your questions about that step in the comments.

Please keep in mind that “building a website” is a huge topic and there’s no way I can cover everything. Maybe it’s better that way, since I got the impression that many of you are suffering from information overload on the subject of websites.

So we’re going to keep it simple. My plan is to just take you through the steps I followed to create my site. If that sounds good to you, read on!

Step 1: Choose and Reserve Your Domain Name.

The first thing you have to do is choose a domain name for your website. You can search for available domain names at Instant Domain Search, Go Daddy, 1 and 1, or elsewhere (there are a lot of services that sell domain names). In most cases your first choice for a domain name will be the name of your business, but you may find that someone else has already taken that name. What to do then?

You can use your own name (this is what I did), a name that describes what you do, or an abbreviated version of your business name. Whatever you do, just make sure that potential clients won’t accidentally end up on a competitor’s site when they’re looking for you.

If you’re having trouble finding a good domain name, try www.bustaname.com. You can enter a bunch of words that you would like to include, and it will give you a list of different options based on what’s available.

Once you find a domain name that you like AND that’s available, purchase it. It should cost you less than $10/year.

What else do you need to know about domain names? Please share your question(s) in the comments! To make sure you don’t miss a post in the series, subscribe to the Freelance Parent blog.

photo credit: KristianD

COMING WEDNESDAY: Step 2: Choose and Purchase a Web Hosting Service.

Traci Feit Love is a freelance writer, editor & communications consultant for businesses that need smart, impressive content. To learn more or to sign up for her free e-course, “How to Get More High-Paying Clients,” visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday. Each week we’ll share some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to

This week’s “Spark an Idea Thursday” theme is about “homepreneur health.” I have to admit, this is not my area of expertise. But there are a few things I’ve learned about staying (mostly) healthy as a homepreneur, so here they are – my top 3 tips (ok, my only tips):

1. Don’t let the cat sit in your lap for too long. I love the fact that my cat wants to sit on my lap, and I love the fact that she can (since I work from home). But if she stays there for too long, my back pays the price. So after a few minutes, I send her off to her second most favorite place: my bed. It’s a tough life being my cat.

2. Don’t forget that there’s a world outside your house. When you work, sleep, eat, and hang out in the same place every day, it’s amazing how easy it is to completely lose touch with the outside world. From a mental health perspective, that’s not good. So get out of the house – take the dog for a walk, take your kid to the playground, whatever works for you. As long as it requires real clothes and actual shoes, it’s a good activity.

3. Keep healthy foods in the fridge. When you work this close to your kitchen all day, you’d better make sure your kitchen isn’t just a collection of sugar-loaded temptations. You need fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. You need water, not soda. I’m starting to sound like the school nurse so I’m going to stop now.

What else, fellow Freelance Parents? What have you learned about staying healthy? I obviously need your suggestions!

Traci Feit Love is a freelance writer, editor & communications consultant for businesses that need smart, impressive content. To learn more or to sign up for her free e-course, “How to Get More High-Paying Clients,” visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.

This week’s “Spark an Idea” theme is about sharing something you’ve learned (either directly or by example) from another blogger that you really respect and enjoy. There are so many great bloggers that it was hard to choose one to write about – which led me to think maybe I should write about other bloggers more often (so I think I will!). For today’s post, I decided to go with someone who has taught me a lot in a very short period of time: Scott Stratten, known on Twitter as @unmarketing.

Yesterday, Scott posted a new video entry on his blog, in which he writes about five people he thinks you should follow on Twitter (check it out if you have time). In that spirit, here are the top five things I think freelancers can learn from him:

1. Be yourself. Watch a couple of Scott’s videos and you’ll feel like you know him. That’s because he doesn’t seem afraid to be exactly who he is. I think a lot of freelancers get so caught up in appearing “professional” that they end up being totally bland and forgettable. Remember, there are a lot of freelancers out there. If you want prospective clients to think of you the next time they have a project, you have to stand out somehow. You have to be memorable. So try to inject a little bit more of who you really are into your public persona (note: if “who you really are” is someone no one in his right mind would hire, you should probably keep that to yourself).

2. Make the most of your strengths. Scott is a speaker, and he’s great on camera. So his blog posts are in video form (rather than the more traditional written format). Great idea. Are you making the most of your strengths, or are you trying to do what everyone else seems to be doing? Don’t be afraid to be a little bit unconventional if it means you’ll be better able to show off your talent.

3. Promote others generously. In yesterday’s post, Scott shares what he likes about five people he met through Twitter. The point of the post is not to say how great he is, but to say how great others are. This is not only a nice thing to do, it’s good business. When it comes to freelancing, although competition for work can be fierce, there will be times when you’re just not the right person for a particular job. When that happens, recommend someone else who would be a better fit. Both the client and the other freelancer will appreciate your referral. Maybe next time the other freelancer comes across a project that would be perfect for you, she’ll pass your name along.

4. Be passionate about your work. In everything Scott does, you can feel the passion and enthusiasm. Are you passionate about your work? Isn’t that the whole point of freelancing – getting to do what you love on your own terms? If you’re feeling less than enthusiastic about your freelance work, maybe it’s time to reconsider your career path (for your sake!).

5. Don’t be shy. This is perhaps the biggest lesson for me personally. As a writer, I’m most comfortable in front of my computer. But that doesn’t mean I should stay there. Freelancers have to find their own work, and that means putting ourselves out there. I’ve started to do this a little bit on Twitter and on my personal blog (The Breadwinner Mom), but I need to push myself a little harder to meet people in real life. When you’re a freelancer, you’ve got to market yourself, so you’ve got to push past the shyness. Maybe I’ll try to set an example by doing a video post at some point (oh my god that’s a really scary idea…maybe we’ll just pretend I didn’t say that).

On the other hand, if you either (a) don’t have a website or (b) you have a website, but it’s not quite right – I’d like to help.

I’ve learned a LOT about creating and managing websites over the past couple of years, and it would be great to share some of that knowledge with my fellow freelancers. In that spirit, I’m planning to do a series of posts for you about how to build a professional website that will get you more clients – with limited time and limited funds.

The thing is, I don’t want to bore you with stuff you already know, and I don’t want to skip ahead to advanced material if you’re still stuck at the beginning.

So I need to know a few things from you:

1. If you don’t have a website, why not? What’s stopping you?

2. What are your biggest questions about creating and/or managing a website for your business?

3. If you already have a website but you’re not happy with it, why not? What would you like to change or improve? Would you like a free review of your website with suggestions for improvement (this would be a public review so you’d have to be ok with that)?

4. What resources do you think you need in order to create or improve your business website?

5. Anything else you’d like to know?

You can provide your answers in the comments, or, if you want to respond privately, click here for my contact information.

Thanks in advance for your responses – I’m really looking forward to answering your questions and helping you build or improve your website!

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday. Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to

This week’s “Spark an Idea” theme is about creating a “wow!” experience. I love this topic because I believe it’s the foundation of a successful freelance business. And it’s fairly simple: to impress your clients and create a “wow!” experience, you have to deliver more than you promised to deliver.

This may seem unfair at first glance. Why should you have to provide more than the services the client paid for? Well…you don’t have to. You could just deliver exactly what you promised to deliver, and that’s totally fine. But don’t expect the client to be overly impressed.

The fact is that clients expect you to do what you said you would do.

That’s why they’re paying you. Think about it: if someone agrees to pay you $1200 for a project, and then pays you $1200, are you amazed? No – you’re glad they came through, you’re relieved they did what they said they would do, but you’re not thinking, “holy crap! this is the absolute best client ever!”

The same concept applies to your services. Do what you’re supposed to do and the client will be satisfied. Do more than what you’re supposed to do and the client will be thrilled. You want your clients to be thrilled – every single time. When they believe they’ve gotten more than they paid for, they will tell their friends. They will give you awesome testimonials for your marketing materials. These are priceless.

Remember: every project is a marketing opportunity.

Instead of viewing extra work as “unpaid labor,” think of it as an investment in your business. The time you spend on the client’s basic project is for the client’s benefit; the time you spend going above and beyond is actually for your benefit since it will ultimately grow your business.

If you commit to creating a “wow” experience for every client on every project, you will grow your client base. You will be able to charge more for your services. And you will eventually be able to turn down projects that don’t appeal to you. Isn’t that worth the extra effort?

When you’re setting up a business, trying to find work, completing projects, handling administrative tasks, and trying to be a good parent at the same time, “branding” tends to sit quietly on the “when I have some free time” list. And we all know what happens to the stuff on that list.

I’ve been as guilty of this as anyone. I sort of have a brand – “smart writing for smart businesses.” But I haven’t spent enough time defining and building it. So I thought I’d do some research on branding, share my findings with you, and then try to apply that knowledge to my own business (I’ll keep you updated on that).

Here are the most important things I’ve learned so far about branding for freelancers:

1. Your brand has to quickly tell people what’s different about you. I like the way Dave Navarro put it in “3 steps to creating a freelancing brand that sells,” a guest post on the Freelance Folder blog: “Since the drop-dead easiest way to get extra business without extra work is by word of mouth, it’s up to you to give all of those mouths the word(s) they need to say.” In other words, it should be easy for people to tell others about you in a way that differentiates you from your competitors. What do you want people to say about you? What words should come to mind immediately upon hearing your business name? Do those words make it obvious why potential clients should choose you instead of someone else?

2. Your brand has to address a real need. This one is fairly obvious but extremely important – it’s pointless to build a brand around something people don’t care about. Make sure that your brand will really resonate with your target market.

3. Your brand should strike an emotional chord. Without an emotional aspect, your brand is boring and you won’t be able to command top-notch rates. That’s because your prospects are more likely to make decisions based purely on your rate if they view your service as an interchangeable commodity. If, on the other hand, your brand makes prospective clients feel something that makes them want to work with you, your rate becomes less of a deciding factor.

4. Consistency is key. Two types of consistency are important here. First, your message has to be consistent. What you tell people about you and your brand (through your logo, your blog posts, your social media activity, etc.) has to be consistent in order to make an impact. Second, the level of service you provide has to be consistent (consistently good – or consistently great if you’re selling yourself as the best in your field). People gravitate towards brands they can trust.

This is not meant to be a comprehensive list (branding is a huge topic), and I’m sure I’ve left out some important stuff – so please share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments! We can all learn a lot if we share our knowledge and experiences.

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.

If you find yourself succumbing to these kinds of thoughts, take heart. There is a way out.

You have to remember that this is business. It’s not personal. It sure feels personal when you’re a one-woman (or one-man) shop, and it’s your name on the letterhead. It feels even more personal when you’re marketing to people you’ve met on Twitter or Facebook, and you have a friendly relationship with them already.

But in the end, when prospective clients are deciding whether to hire you or not, it’s a business decision.

They have to decide whether they will get the best value from you or from someone else. While personal feelings may come into play (who wants to work with someone they can’t stand?), they’re not usually the deciding factor.

Instead of getting caught up in the “OMG, what did I do, I should have asked for less/more, I should have said this/that, etc.,” try to think more like a business owner and less like the creative spirit you probably are.

Don’t agonize over every estimate – look at every estimate (and response) as a piece of data, compile the data over time, and use it to build your business. As you gather more data, you will start to figure out what works best for you and you will get better results.

The key to this strategy is that you must have a lot of estimates going out the door.

If you only have one potential project, it’s going to seem like the end of the world if you don’t get the job. If you have 10 or 15 estimates going out, it’s more of a numbers game. I think you can look at things a little more objectively when you’re not pinning all of your hopes on one gig.

What do you think?

photo credit: whatmegsaid

Exactly 3 months ago, on April 1, 2009, I started my freelance writing, editing, and consulting business. It’s hard to believe how much has happened in that very short period of time. I started a blog (The Breadwinner Mom), launched my business website (http://tracifeitlove.com), became a Sparkplugging intern, and began offering a free e-course (”How to Get More High-Paying Clients“).

At the same time, my monthly revenue from freelancing has grown substantially. I’m now earning more from my freelance business than I earned in my first full-time job after college, and next month is looking even better. It’s truly amazing. I’ve always enjoyed writing, and I’ve always wanted to start my own business, so getting to this point is a dream come true.

What I’ve learned through my internship at Sparkplugging is how much I enjoy connecting with, learning from, and helping other freelancers and solopreneurs – which is why I’m so excited to become a part of the Freelance Parent blog.

As a parent, I know how meaningful it is to be able to spend time with your kids while helping to support your family.

The best part of my day is after lunch, when my husband (a stay-at-home dad) brings my daughter upstairs for her nap. She reaches out for me, and I take her into her bedroom to rock her to sleep. There’s absolutely nothing like it, and I treasure those moments.

So I understand how scary it can be when things aren’t going well – when you’re afraid you might have to go back to a 9-5 job and spend most of your waking time away from your family. I know what it’s like to have others question your ability to work from home and still earn a decent income, because they just can’t imagine that it’s possible.

I want to help you get through those scary times and make your business work for you. I want to remind you that it is possible to support your family while working from home, and to provide you with useful resources and information you’ll need along the way. And when your business is booming, I’d love for you to share what you’ve learned in the comments so others can benefit from your experience!

I look forward to getting to know you better, and would love to find out what kinds of posts would be most helpful to you. What are the biggest challenges you’re facing? What do you need to know? What do you want to achieve with your business? What questions do you have?

Please share in the comments!

So, you may have already seen Tamara’s post letting you all know that we are saying “goodbye” to Freelance Parent. It’s been an incredible two years here at Sparkplugging, and we really do credit this blog with much of our business success. I remember the early days when we had to go out and learn stuff just so we’d have something to write about! Freelance Parent and its readers really kept us motivated to learn and grow as entrepreneurs.

Of course it is hard to let our baby blog go. We’ve found ourselves looking at it as a friend, a support network, a source of talented writers to hire, and—to some degree—as one of the things that most defined us as a team. It is sad to say goodbye to that.

On the other hand, this means good things, too. Tamara and I don’t need a public forum to tell each other how much we appreciate one another, as we can do it quite easily in our office or during one of our business meetings. Heck, sometimes I walk Baby Brewer up to Tamara’s house in the stroller.

It also means that our business has really grown. Where we used to have so much time to research and write the informative posts that got us on the Top Ten Blogs for Writers list (twice!), we now have far less time to take a deep breath, let alone get down to the nitty-gritty. The fact of the matter is that we’re now so busy living our freelance business that we have far less time to talk about it.

We really want to thank those of you who have helped to make this blog a community. You have offered us great advice, wonderful encouragement, and the occasional wake-up call. I am not exaggerating at all when I say that we would not be where we are today without you. So, thanks, and we’ll be working with many of you in the future, I suspect.

I know that Tamara told you about her latest exciting news (and I am SO proud of her), but I also have some fun stuff to share. First of all, I will still be blogging. I was flabbergasted to discover that I beat out more than 500 other applicants for a blogging job on Freelance Writing Jobs. I’ll be starting on the Other Stuff blog later this week, and I plan for it to be a fun place for freelance writers to hang out, get a chuckle, and feel less guilty about wasting their time online. My other big project is still in its early stages, but you’re welcome to check out the skeleton of www.buncobunco.com. Again, it’ll be focusing on the fun!

I can’t believe that two years after we started our little freelance agency, we’re at this point. I hope that the fact that we documented the beginning of our business will be helpful to others who stumble upon these words on the Internet. I imagine we’ll look back on them fondly ourselves. Thanks again to all who have read, subscribed, commented, and emailed. We’re always looking to hire quality writers at the Berry|Brewer Freelance Agency, and we’d sure love to see you hanging around our new online homes!

The End.

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday’.  Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers.  We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog!  If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

Tamara and I have written about goal setting  several times on this blog. We’ve even talked about making (and not making) various goals that we’ve set for ourselves. While neither of us is necessarily a “law of attraction” type, we’ve both realized the power of truly stating our goals. Tamara once told me that she felt like all we had to do was say something out loud, and it would happen.

While things haven’t truly been that simple, I think they have been made easier by the mere fact that we do set goals.  For us, they’re important so that we can recognize our own progress. If we’ve set a goal for making a certain amount of money or acquiring a certain number of new clients, then when we get to the end of the month, it’s pretty easy to see if we’ve succeeded or not.

• Give yourself measurable goals. “I will acquire X number of new clients by July 31st.” This gives you a timeframe to work under and makes you more productive.
• Use positive wording instead of negative. For example, “I will work only on projects I enjoy” instead of “I won’t work on projects I hate.” It’s a little thing, but it changes your focus and outlook and actually makes you more likely to reach that goal.
• Break bigger goals down into objectives. Instead of creating a goal in July that says, “I will finish a 90,000 word manuscript by Dec. 31st,” look at how you can break that down. Maybe consider writing a certain number of words a week until you’ve gotten to 90,000 and add in time for rewrites and edits. By Dec. 31st, you’ll have reached your goal with several successes in between.
• Don’t be too easy (or hard) on yourself. If you set goals that are absolutely impossible, then you are setting yourself up for failure. On the other hand, if your goals are too easy, you’re selling yourself short and won’t get as much as you can out of your performance. Set goals that are a little outside your comfort zone but that aren’t unattainable, and then work toward them.

I have a lot of other thoughts on the subject, but I don’t want to get all new-age-y and make Tamara roll her eyes. (Use visualization…there, that’s all I’m saying.)

Anyway, we really, really have seen the benefit of setting goals in the past. In fact, this Spark and Idea Thursday has made me think that it’s really time for us to go back and revisit those we set at the beginning of the year. If I remember correctly, this is the month that we’re supposed to set ourselves up a 401(k) plan…

When I prepared to write this post, I had a hard time picking just one movie to use. There are so many choices, and for a writer, actually being “assigned” to write an analogy is like the ice cream truck stopping at your house, the driver coming to the door, and finding out that Drumsticks are on a 100% off special today. OK, maybe not that great, but still pretty cool.

I started out thinking I’d use Jerry McGuire. After all, the main characters in that movie really followed their beliefs. Tom Cruise believed in doing business a different way, Renee Zellwiger believed in Jerry’s vision, and Cuba Gooding, Jr. believed in himself. But, it felt too obvious after spawning the phrase “Show me the money!” (Also, “You complete me” pretty much makes me gag.)

Then I thought, well, what about my favorite movie, Lady Jane? It’s all about how these two young people use their unwanted power for benevolent purposes. Sounds good until you consider a) I’m probably the only person around here whose seen it (rent it, seriously) and b) um, it’s not got a very happy ending (keep a box of tissues nearby).

I also considered:

• The Goonies (“Goonies never say die!”)
• The Princess Bride (OK, I can make some pretty good arguments for this one, including using words when you don’t know what they mean.)
• The Wizard of Oz (I’m sure there’s something to be said about how freelancing can take your life from black and white to Technicolor.)

But, in the end, I decided to go with the Keanu Reeves/Sandra Bullock/Dennis Hopper “classic” movie, Speed. Because it pretty accurately reflects my last two weeks in freelancing.  Ready for a big, fat analogy?

OK, so I’m admiting a lot here, but this is sort of what my last two weeks have looked like:
You step on a bus thinking it’s going to be an ordinary day. The next thing you know, some crazy person has hijacked the bus without even being on board.
-or-
You sit down to work on a nice little project you’ve been assigned, only to find out that the client—who lives across country but has your cell phone number—is totally freaking nuts.

The hijacker rigs the bus to blow up if you go below highway speeds.
-or-
Everything Crazy Client needs from you is marked “Urgent!” and you feel like you just can’t let him down. After all, you have a reputation to uphold, and you kind of feel for him.

The bus ends up driving in big circles on an airport tarmac while everyone else finds a way to safely jump ship.
-or-
The client asks for endless revisions, you feel like you’ll never get through it, and anyone who hears you complain says you should “just dump” the client.

I think there was something about the bus crashing into a subway and Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves making out in the rubble.
-or-
Since I’m still in the thick of this thing, it’s hard to see how the happy ending part is going to come about, although I suspect the “rubble” thing might be accurate.

So, if you had to compare your freelance business with a movie, which one would it be? Leave us a comment, or write about it on your own blog…Really, we’re dying of curiosity. Don’t leave us hanging.