As I teased at the end of last week’s post, I’ve published a second paperback book and ebook, titled Help! My Freelancers Are Driving Me Crazy, which provides relationship strategies for the motivation and management of freelance workers. [Read more…]
When freelancer is the other “F” word
You don’t have to be in the creative biz for long before running into a prospective client who has had a bad experience with a freelance writer, graphic designer or web designer (or all three)—the kind that turn “freelancer” into the other “F” word. Although coming to the rescue may seem a good business opportunity, this once-bitten client also has DANGER stamped on his or her forehead. The reason? Well, as tempting as it is to blame a fly-by-night freelancer, how can you be sure that the freelancer caused a bad relationship? Is it possible that a toxic client caused the issues? You don’t want to become the next casualty. [Read more…]
Test assignment for a copywriting job?
Dr. Freelance, I am a new, part-time freelancer in the midst of interviewing for a copywriting job and was given a 200-word test assignment by the prospective client to complete in order to make it to the next round. The instructions in the email say that “points are given to creativity,” so I’m trying to decide whether to do a simple mock up, even though the job I’m being considered for does not require any graphic design. I am spending the majority of my time before the deadline on writing creative copy, but I just wanted to see what you think about trying to push that creativity into fleshing out the concept.—The Prospector [Read more…]
How a freelancer can answer the 4 key client questions
In “4 basic questions a freelancer always needs to answer,” I talked about the importance of preparation in advance of a client meeting. Since every meeting, client, and freelance job is different — and your business is also unique — these aren’t “teacher’s guide” answers, but rather pointers toward formulating your own individual answers to key client questions.
A major caveat here: Your goal in a first client meeting is not to tell all about yourself and your freelance writing, design, or other services. It’s about figuring out how to help the client and making the sale, right? Ultimately, that’s about *asking* questions, which I’ll address in a future post. [Read more…]
4 basic questions a freelancer always needs to answer
Over the course of a prospective client meeting, there might be a dozen random questions a freelancer might need to be prepared to answer — but there are basic ones that you should be able to handle seamlessly even on your worst day.
This post was sparked by a few serendipitous items over the past week: Lori Widmer’s thoughts in “6 Ways to Get More from Your Marketing,” Jared Tendler’s upcoming Mental Game of Poker 2 (which I helped edit and found to be highly applicable for a freelancer), and the client meeting I mentioned in my Tuesday post, “The thicker the folder, the thicker the applicant.” [Read more…]
The charitable freelancer
While so many posts revolve around pricing and estimating or finding freelance jobs, today I want to step back and discuss something that can help freelancers maintain a sense of perspective and purpose: working on charitable or non profit projects. For the new freelancer, being a charitable freelancer can be a way of building a portfolio; even for us oldsters, it’s a way to give back—and remind us of how our talents can be applied beyond the usual bounds of the page. [Read more…]
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