March 2010

How to succeed in Freelancing: Say ‘No’ to your Clients.

Being crazy-busy and in demand is supposed to be a good indication of success. Why don’t you feel successful? All you feel is tired and overwhelmed. You must be missing something. There has to be something you’re not doing right, because when you look at other successful people you admire, they don’t look tired at all.  You try to learn the secret, because there’s obviously something you haven’t figured out yet. If you knew what that secret was, you’d be just fine. There is a secret. It’s two little words: yes and no. MenWithPens explains.

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How to present the graphic draft to the client.

Once you have created the layout of the website, you will have to present it to your client. The approval process of the draft has many aspects which are similar to the sales and marketing techniques employed throughout the business world, so it is your job to convince the client to accept your project offer. By following the method at YourInspirationWeb, you will be able to avoid making last-minute changes; additions which sometimes hinder the quality of your project and only add more time to it.

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72 Questions to ask New Web Design Clients (with a PDF Chart).

How many times have you hung up the phone after a chat with a new prospective client and then immediately slapped your forehead and said “I can’t believe I forgot to ask ______!”. Well, Bonfx jotted down their own personal list of forgetful-questions, and did a quick survey of the top 20 results for “questions to ask new web clients” and related searches. Aside from semantic fluctuations, there was zero overlap: we all ask the same stuff. So they present the best 72 questions to ask prospective web design clients, along with a PDF chart.

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February 2010

Freelancing Tips: 15 articles about Freelance Pricing.

One of the biggest challenges for aspiring freelancers is pricing their services. Like many other topics related to freelancing, freelance pricing is always a subject that generates a lot of buzz and a lot of controversy. This article at Rubiqube is a roundup of some of the best articles about freelance pricing, setting freelancing rates, etc.

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20 Freelance Cartoonists you can Outsource to.

Just as there are freelance writers who specialize in different types of written content, there are artists who are cartooning experts. They can be great for the creation of mascots, single-frame comics, and so much more. SmartLife presents a selection of 20 such freelance cartoonists that can accept your outsourced design projects.

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14 Questions to ask your clients before and after a project.

Asking questions before you begin a project is vital, but what about after you’ve completed a project? Although this may seem somewhat insignificant it’s actually an important step to finalizing the completion and delivery of your project. DesignReviver elaborates.

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How to deal with clients who get angry.

So you got the project approved and you received the deposit. You’re excited about starting on this project, because the client is also excited. All through the project, the client emails you about how happy they are and how great you’re doing. So this is going to be a quick and painless job, right? That’s until you’ve finished….or believed you’ve finished the site. All of a sudden, you get a nasty email from a client who’s yelling at you and claiming you stole their money. Where did this come from? They were so happy and you believed things were going well. What happened? AmberWeinberg explains.

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Living with a Freelance Designer.

CircleBox has read a lot of articles about striking that all important work/life balance. It’s a challenge that never ends, the fact of the matter is this: If you are self-employed the chances are that you love what you do for a living, which means the line between work and life can get blurred. How does this affect the people that make up your life outside of work?

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How smart Freelance Writers handle their No.1 hassle.

As a freelance copywriter, you need to get professional about how you deal with the parts of freelancing that aren’t unicorns and rainbows. Copyblogger discusses how to handle one of the more irritating hassles in the life of a writer: Requests for rewrites.

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Is John the Client dense or are you failing him?

Meet John the client. John runs a reasonably large website. He is a marketer who considers himself smart, articulate and professional. That said, he doesn’t know much about Web design, and so he needs your help. John comes to you with a clear set of business objectives and asks for a quote. But what happens next leaves John confused, frustrated and extremely unhappy. SmashingMagazine elaborates.

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