How 2 become successful Freelancer...

So you’re reading this because you want
to become a freelancer. You’ve thought
about what you want to freelance in,
you’ve got a couple of useful email
addresses and you’ve even bought
yourself some sweatpants that will look
great with your slippers.
So you’re ready to dump that job and get
cracking on your first assignment, right?
Wrong.
One of the biggest misconceptions about
freelancing is that you sit at home and
work comes to you. When the reality is
you have to fight for it, and fight hard.
As our friend Leif Kendall aptly put it:
"First: you must strive. Nothing
good is ever easy."
I hate to break it to you, but working
freelance means working. And I mean
really working. Unlike your 9-5 cubicle,
there is nothing cushy about freelancing,
nothing stable about it until YOU have
made it that way.
"One of the biggest
misconceptions about
freelancing is that you sit
at home and work comes
to you"
But there are some simple secrets to
becoming a successful freelancer which I
am going to share with you in this blog
post. In fact, using these steps - and a bit
of determination - I’ve seen people get
out of their desk jobs and start working
comfortably for themselves in 30 days.
If they can do it, so can you. As Leif told
it:
"Your first few days, weeks and
months are probably going to be
challenging, and likely to take
everything you've got."
So what did I do when I first went
freelance?
Let’s be clear here, because what I did-
what made me successful-was done
BEFORE I went freelance, not after.
Granted, my path to the flexible profession
was abnormal. Having decided in college
that “normal jobs” weren’t my thing, I
used time in between studying and a
karaoke bar job to set myself up. But
when you read how I made the transition,
you’ll realise that if you have any
experience in your field at all, you’ve got
it easier than I did. Just always remember
that becoming a successful freelancer
doesn’t begin the day you quit your job,
but the day you decide it’s the lifestyle for
you.
Study with CareerFoundry and get
a Job You Love in 6 months or
your money back. Guaranteed. >>
Learn more here
In between deciding to become a
freelancer and becoming a freelancer, you
need to prepare to be a freelancer.
So how did I do that?
1. I Contacted Everyone I Have
Ever Known
Literally. Everyone.
The very first thing I did when deciding to
make the switch was to get in touch with
every single person I have ever known and
told them my decision. I told them the
field I was going to be working in and as
it became clear, even the date I was
planning to leave my awful day job (in 30
days time).
I also told them that I would be more
than happy to take on projects straight
away.
If I was still studying, and working a job,
why did I say I could take on projects?
Wasn’t I a bit busy already, studying/
working 14+ hours a day and organising
myself to go freelance or to take on
projects in my free time’?
The reason I told my friends and friends of
friends, colleagues and ex-colleagues that
I was willing to take on projects straight
away was for three reasons:
Experience
Contacts
References
And the earlier you send this email the
better. Do it 30 days before you want to
go freelance, or do it six months before.
But the point is, don’t leave people
hanging. Not only do you want to make
your announcement actionable, but clients
take time to develop. Don’t put yourself in
a position to do the work “in a month”,
when the discussion you need to start
may take that much time anyway!
The more experience, contacts and
references you have when you go
freelance, the easier making that final
break from your job will be.
And when people asked me to do a job for
them that they couldn’t pay me for I
would again consider:
Experience
Contacts
References
If I was going to get just one of these
things out of the arrangement then there
was no way I was turning down that work,
money or no money. If in doubt, remember
the wise words of freelance expert Jon
Norris,
"Building a network and finding
work are two sides of the same
coin."
Here I just want to include a note for
those of you who have already started
freelancing, as for you guys too I cannot
emphasize the importance of this step
enough. It’s never too late to start
reaching out to people and expanding
your network. If you have work to show for
your efforts already, your outreach will go
much further, a reason why this step
should be repeated annually even once
you are a successful freelancer! Keep
yourself fresh in people’s minds and be
their go-to person when they need a
professional in your field.
So after I’d contacted my entire network,
what did I do next?
2. I Got To Work On My
Personal Brand
So what does my personal brand have to
do with anything? I’m an experienced
[insert profession here], not a social
networker - why can’t I just make an ad
and put it online/buy a spot in the
newspaper/stick it to a tree/leave under
windshield-wipers in the parking lot?
The reason is that as a freelancer, YOU
ARE YOUR BRAND.
So help me god [or deity of choice], this is
a truth among truths, irrespective of
whether you’re a web developer, a user
experience designer, a writer or a
marketer.
What do I mean when I say you are your
brand?
I mean that when you are selling your
services, you are actually selling yourself.
So how you come across online or off is
reflective of your success, your ability, and
your professionalism. Your personality
counts. Big time. If people don’t like you,
they won’t buy what you’re selling .
So, how did I build my personal brand?
1. I got myself on LinkedIn and I fully
filled out my profile. Every single detail
of my experience. Every relevant job I
ever had. Every morsel about me that
could be interesting.
2. I then did the same thing on
Facebook. I joined relevant groups for
my field and started asking questions,
lots of questions, as well as answering
any I could.
3. I did the same on Twitter
4. And on Google+
5. And on Meetup
6. And when it was made available I did
the same with Quora , which has
become the fact-filled platform for
experts.
7. I then went to every industry-relevant
event I could find, afford and get to,
and hustled like a maniac...
If you’re someone who still believes social
media is the devil, you’re in trouble,
because it’s never a single tactic that will
get you anywhere, its a combination of
many intelligently coordinated pieces.
Asking and answering questions is the
easiest way to get people involved and
invested in what you do, and while you
could meet 15 people during a night out,
you could meet 100 online. And perhaps
yes, the contact is “shallower” but you
can be a hell of lot more targeted. So I
recommend starting online, understanding
who’s important for you, pre-empting
offline events by connecting with people
via Twitter, and leveraging LinkedIn
connections into meetings for coffee.
If you combine a strong digital brand with
meeting people in person, you’ll make
yourself:
Easy to find
Easy to remember
Good to know
You want to be understood as an expert
and an influencer in your field, and in a
world where most industry communication
is digital, you better be all over it!
Just remember not to get discouraged if
you don’t get 1000 Twitter followers
instantly, because what’s important here
is that quality wins over quantity every
time. Stay focused, stay targeted and talk
to every new connection like they’re your
best friend.
And vice versa, if you’re awkward and
depend entirely on social media to drive
your network, you’re doing it wrong. You
have to get out, you have to meet people
and confirm that you’re real and worth
investing in. As Jon Norris explained:
"Although it can be awkward
attending networking events, it’s a
great way to build contacts. Get
out there, hand out business cards
and make friends."
3. I Wrote A Plan Of Action
I want you to pay very close attention to
the next statement.
Never, ever, undervalue time taken to plan.
Never.
For each of those 30 days before I quit my
job I had a goal. Sometimes that goal
was to email a relevant contact in my
field asking for advice. Sometimes that
goal was to expand my network by X
number of people, answer a certain
number of questions, or attend a meetup.
And sometimes it was simply to plan out
the next steps.
For each of those 30 days I wrote down
my trials and tribulations into a short
(often emotional) blog post, charting my
ups and downs in that final month before
taking the leap.
I also carefully drafted and redrafted a
personal business plan , including my
financial requirements, goals, and how I
thought that would actually translate into
work. I realized that if I landed the
equivalent of 2 short projects a month, I
could survive. Well barely, but it’s good to
know where your survival limit is, because
when push comes to shove, it’s
accomplish that goal or be stuck eating
dry toast for a month.
Unless you’re one of these eternally
adventurous types, freelancing is no fun
as a hand-to-mouth game. Nobody
chooses this path with the goal of living
on a financial knife edge. And by the way,
it’s ok to be scared, in fact if you’re not,
you’re either invincible or a dumb ass, so
keep your eyes open, know your limits,
and plan accordingly.
I also used this as another excuse to grow
my network, reaching out to experts in my
industry to ask for advice:
How much should I charge?
Where do I best find my clients?
How difficult is it to close a deal?
Should I template my pitches or create
new ones every time?
This created an opportunity to learn,
improve and perfect the skills I would
need in a month while growing a power-
network of professionals in the field. Two
birds in one stone at its finest!
4. I Did My Research - And
Paid Attention To Competition
Whether it was hours scanning social
media, reading blog posts like this one,
offering my services to friends, or just
generally building a network however I
could, I absorbed as much information as
possible.
Sure, it’s overwhelming; anyone who has
spent a 4 hour stint on a single topic
online knows that the rabbit hole is deep,
and easy to get sucked into. At the end of
the day, you have to pick and choose
what’s important for you, but what I
found most helpful was taking a real good
look at what my competition were doing.
And there is always competition.
Looking closely at what others were
doing, I found out 3 things that helped me
a lot:
1. I had local competition, and I mean
local. As in down the street from me.
But even if they had been doing it for
a while, they didn’t seem to be
effectively marketing themselves, it
took effort to find them.
2. People who were looking for someone
of my expertise had no central data
bank to find me, or other freelancers
like me. I had to be in the right place
at the right time.
3. I could easily differentiate myself from
my competition by having an
attractive personality, and a digital
presence.
Leif Kendall likes to tell people to
“Deliver work that is better than
anything your competitors are
doing”
and truthfully, I couldn’t agree more.
Maybe you have a lot of experience, and
maybe you don’t, but your job is to
perform better than everyone else in your
field, both in the work you do, and the
way you act.
But how did I know what my competition
were actually doing?
Remember that old adage “Keep your
friends close and your enemies closer”?
This is one way of looking at it, but in a
world of freelancing where your network is
everything, you can’t afford to have
enemies at all. So try this instead:
“Keep your friends close, and
make friends with your enemies.”
Don’t be guarded, don’t be defensive.
Share, trade, and exchange what you can
from your own knowledge and then keep
doing it better, and better, and better, and
better, and better, and better. In the end,
you’ll find that some people have big
egos, but a lot of people are happy to
have a friend. Freelancing can be a bit
lonely sometimes as by its definition you
often lack those daily colleagues who
understand the work you do. A lot of
people out there are just like you, and
happy to have someone they can relate to
about work, and even share a bit of
knowledge and experience.
5. I Got Myself A Mentor and
Landed A Real Client
The best piece of advice I ever received
was simple in theory and tough in
practice:
“Don’t burn any bridges.”
If you’re a freelancer, this quote should be
read in all capslock and underlined,
because you can’t afford to. Every contact
counts , and on behalf of your reputation
and livelihood, although it’s very tempting
to give your boss the finger as you storm
out the door, it’s not something you can
afford to do, ever.
No one likes “kissing ass” and I don’t
really recommend it, but now that you’re
leaving you need your employer more than
ever before, because face it: your current
employer is your strongest link to your
first job as a freelancer. If your job is at
all related to what you plan to do, they
may themselves be your first client.
In my case, the karaoke bar owner would
eventually make it very clear that he
“didn’t give a flying f&%$” what I was
doing beyond his bar. But I needed
something, so I went and found myself a
mentor. Aka, I willingly became a slave to
an influencer in my industry. It was the
smartest decision I ever made because
despite totally over-working myself, I sure
enough gained Experience, made Contacts,
and walked away with one hell of a
Reference.
Oh, and yes, I did this on top of the study,
the job, and the prep. If you want
something, don’t half ass it.
So how did I manage to get myself a
mentor?
Well if you have a boss who knows
anything, that’s the best place to start.
But if you’ve read this article then you can
probably guess how I did it: I networked
like a maniac, showed my plan of action,
and proved I knew how to work like the
competition.
In the end, I convinced my would-be
mentor that I was worth that little bit of
time and effort, and sure enough Richard
Levy passed me my first client after only a
couple weeks. And Bam! I was officially a
freelancer, on schedule and making
money.
Whether it’s a boss, mentor, professor,
uncle, slave driver, or homeless dude with
good advice, the people you see daily are
most likely to have the biggest impact on
your transition. So be accommodating, be
thankful and be willing to work your ass
off for an opportunity to do what you
love.
As Rik Lomas wrote in his blog post
about freelancing on Medium :
Do not piss people off. Remember
that you’re a professional and are
soon to be leader of your own
company. Act like it.
So finally....
So what’s my last piece of advice? What’s
that final nugget of understanding you
need to open the doors to your new
career, new lifestyle, and impending
financial freedom?
The simple answer is that there isn’t one.
There is no one solution, there is no one
path. Your puzzle is your own! And
understanding how the pieces fit together
is what will guarantee your success.
If you’re hunting for that single piece of
magical advice that will get you out of
your job and thousands of clients a year,
let me tell you, it doesn’t exist. Like in
life, relationships, and all other forms of
comedy, it’s your ability to understand
the big picture and refine each detail to
pixel-perfect clarity that makes you who
you are and good at what you do.
So my advice is don’t forget that, don’t
get hung up on singularity in a world full
of complication, because what will make
you successful is knowing how to apply
who you are to what you want to do to
the best of your ability.
As for the rest of what you need to know?
Start by reading this article! People will
say you’re crazy to set out on this path of
uncertainty, which if you’re like me is just
confirmation that you should be doing it!
Freelancing is something you really have
to want, and be prepared to work hard for.
And the result of that is a lifestyle, and a
sense of freedom that is unrivalled by any
other job in the world.

Improve your Marketing Skills

1. 
   1
   Become an excellent public speaker. Take part in a local toastmasters group, if you do not feel comfortable cold calling, meeting with clients or speaking in front of groups. Some salespeople end up in this field without learning to speak effectively, so take the time to learn now.
2. 
   2
   Take a time management course. Ask your company to pay for training if managing your day is the biggest impediment to sales. Most proficiency experts agree that you should do your most important tasks in the morning, to improve the success of your day.
3. 
   3
   Do interval calling. You may have heard of interval fitness training, and the same principles can apply to your sales schedule. Start your day by calling your most important clients, take a 1 hour break to do email, do a cold call power hour, take a break for admin tasks and return to calling in hour intervals throughout the day.

   • Close your email program when you are calling. Consider this time sacred. Focus on the call, take notes as needed and avoid allowing other distractions.
4. 
   4
   Develop a listening strategy. Overall, you can personalize your sales process to the client if you listen closely. Use the information to establish a clients pain points, preferences and needs.

   • Listening is an excellent skill. Don't jump into a sale pitch until you have asked potential clients what they are looking for and what their worries are. Add a few questions to your sales process.
5. 
   5
   Improve your sales aids. Add PowerPoint presentations to your laptop or print color copies of promotional materials. Ask your company's marketing department for help creating materials if you are unable to do it yourself.
6. 
   6
   Establish a next step before leaving a meeting or getting off the phone. Unless you are qualifying leads and you are not finding good potential, each call should end with an appointment scheduled or a task for your client to complete. Get your client involved in the process immediately, because they are likely to forget about your phone call or meeting when the next task starts.
7. 
   7
   Become an industry expert. Subscribe to industry journals, read blogs, research competition and visit lectures and seminars. If you are able to supply information to your client that reaches further than just your product, you can become their first resource when they want to make changes.
8. 
   8
   Polish your online presence. Start a LinkedIn Profile and website biography that you aren't afraid to share with clients. Avoid using social media, like Facebook, where people can post personal or inappropriate information where clients can see.
9. 
   9
   Get inspired before you call. Choose a favorite song, get your favorite beverage or watch your favorite YouTube clip to increase your energy and enthusiasm.
10. 
    10
    Streamline your pitch. Try to change and improve it every week. Adding new information from research or current events will allow your information to seem relevant during the sale.
11. 
    11
    Develop relationships with important clients. Send birthday cards, thank you notes or informational emails. Establish a personal connection, while you go above and beyond to meet their needs.
12. 12
    Put yourself in the shoes of your buyer. Examine your sales pitch to see if you would buy the product you are selling. Develop several other ways to ask questions and deliver information that might spark your interest if you were on the other side of a sale.
13. 
    13
    Ask for referrals. Leverage your strong relationships by asking if they know of other businesses that could use your services. Although you don't want to ask every time, make sure you have asked for referrals from each of them within the last year.

    • Practice several ways of asking for referrals. Some salespeople feel awkward asking, so figure out ways to fit it into a call seamlessly. For example, instead of saying "Do you know anyone who would be interested in this product?" try "This is a limited discount, do you want me to share it with anyone?

    
    
14. Thanks to Wiki How.....

Finding New Clients for Design Business

Finding New Clients

1. You need a compelling positioning statement.I probably could take your current positioning statement (in other words, “what makes you unique in the marketplace”), hand it to your competitors, and they could say all the same things. Most design firms are much better at differentiating their clients’ products/services than they are their own. They typically make these three mistakes with their communicating with design clients about their positioning statement:
   • They talk about what’s true but not necessarily what’s different (“We think strategically to provide graphic design solutions”).
   • They rely on things that are not demonstrable during the dating process, confusing why clients come to them with why clients stay with them (“You’ll like working with us”).
   • They emphasize the wrong things (“We’ll do things on time and on budget, and you’ll work with senior staff”).
   So that’s the first mistake: a positioning statement that sucks, that’s no different from those of other design firms and is just marketing gibberish. You may be able to bust into any room, but if you don’t have compelling things to say when communicating with design clients, you’ll lose their attention quickly.
2. You need personal confidence. Successful people exude confidence and (potential) clients relax. Do you really believe you are different (see above)? I mean, do you really believe you are better at what you do than most of your peers? If you don’t really believe that, find another field of work where it can be true. If you do believe that, act like it. Get out there and make credible claims, price your work accordingly, and then deliver with solid graphic design solutions. Remember: great graphic design solutions come with deep expertise in a repeatable fashion.
3. You need connections. In spite of our grandest plans, most great clients come not from your direct efforts but from your indirect ones. These indirect ones include a client connection, vendor connection, employee connection or supporter connection. If you don’t believe me, list the top five clients you’ve ever had and then tell me how they came to be a client. Probably two-thirds of them were not tied directly to your marketing plan or your staff sales person. Immerse yourself in their world, not the world of your peers, if you’re being realistic about how to get new clients.
4. You need to be intimately involved in the process of finding new clients. As the principal of your design firm, even when you get old you should be wheeled into the corner where you can drool intelligently and communicate the weight of this meeting only with your presence. This process of finding new clients is not like account service, like project management, like accounting, or like IT; finding new clients demands your personal involvement. And notice that I didn’t say anything about cold calling. No professional design firms do that.

Importance of Robots.txt file

Your Robots.txt file is what tells the search engines which pages to access and index on your website on which pages not to. For example, if you specify in your Robots.txt file that you don’t want the search engines to be able to access your thank you page, that page won’t be able to show up in the search results and web users won’t be able to find it. Keeping the search engines from accessing certain pages on your site is essential for both the privacy of your site and for your SEO.

This article will explain why this is and provide you with the knowledge of how to set up a good Robots.txt file.

How Robots.txt Work  

Search engines send out tiny programs called “spiders” or “robots” to search your site and bring information back to the search engines so that the pages of your site can be indexed in the search results and found by web users. Your Robots.txt file instructs these programs not to search pages on your site which you designate using a “disallow” command. For example, the following Robots.txt command:

User-agent: *

Disallow: /thankyou

…would block all search engine robots from visiting the following page on your website:

http://www.yoursite.com/thankyou

Notice that before the disallow command, you have the command:

User-agent: *

The “User-agent:” part specifies which robot you want to block and could also read as follows:

User-agent: Googlebot

This command would only block the Google robots, while other robots would still have access to the page:

http://www.yoursite.com/thankyou

However, by using the “*” character, you’re specifying that the commands below it refer to all robots. Your robots.txt file would be located in the main directory of your site. For example:

http://www.yoursite.com/robots.txt

Why Some Pages Need to Be Blocked

There are three reasons why you might want to block a page using the Robots.txt file. First, if you have a page on your site which is a duplicate of another page, you don’t want the robots to index it because that would result in duplicate content which can hurt your SEO. The second reason is if you have a page on your site which you don’t want users to be able to access unless they take a specific action. For example, if you have a thank you page where users get access to specific information because of the fact that they gave you their email address, you probably don’t want people being able to find that page by doing a Google search. The other time that you’ll want to block pages or files is when you want to protect private files in your site such as your cgi-bin and keep your bandwidth from being used up because of the robots indexing your image files:

User-agent: *

Disallow: /images/
Disallow: /cgi-bin/

In all of these cases, you’ll need to include a command in your Robots.txt file that tells the search engine spiders not to access that page, not to index it in search results and not to send visitors to it. Let’s look at how you can create a Robots.txt file that will make this possible.

Galaxy J2 DTV: Samsung’s First To Be launched with A Digital TV Tuner

Last year, the Korean gadget manufacturer launched the Galaxy J2, which turned out to be one of the best mid-range smartphones of 2015. A year later, the company launches the Samsung Galaxy J2 DTV, with almost the same specifications but with an added bonus – a Digital TV tuner.

The J2 DTV is the first handset from Samsung to feature a TV tuner. However, for now, the device is only exclusively available in the Philippines, and there is no word yet on when the phone will be available in India and the rest of the world.

Source: Samsung.com

The TV tuner is, in fact, the prime USP of the device. But, we’ll talk more about this feature in the later part of this article. First, let’s have a look at the rest of the spec sheet:

Specifications:

• 4.7-inch Display
• 1.3 GHz Quad-core Processor
• 1GB RAM
• Android Lollipop OS
• 8GB Internal Storage
• 5MP Primary Camera
• 2MP Secondary Camera
• 2000 mAh Battery

Having a look at the specifications, you can definitely make out that the J2 DTV is meant to target the budget segment. As discussed earlier, the handset is currently available in the Philippines for 6,990 pesos equivalent to $150. So, the device is most likely to cost you around Rs. 10K in the Indian market.

Source: Samsung.com

No doubt, a 5-inch display would have been a better option. 1.3 GHz Quad-core processor with 1GB of RAM is not the best one around, but surely a good deal at a price of Rs. 10K. An 8 GB of internal storage with an option to expand it up to 128 GB using a micro SD card would fill up the empty spaces.

How About A Digital TV Turner

Source: dtdd.net

Alright! Now, let’s talk about the most crucial part – the TV tuner. Interestingly, the J2 DTV is one of its kind smartphone with a built-in capability to broadcast television. Now, it won’t be wise to view this phone as a replacement to your existing television, but can surely help you watch your favourite TV shows while you are away from home travelling.

So, why only Philippines and not the rest of the world? According to a few reports, the internet speed in Philippines is not the best, and therefore subscription-based streaming services like NetFlix and Hulu aren’t too popular. To help individuals in Philippines get an equally-exciting TV-viewing experience, the launch of J2 DTV in the country is truly justified. It is worth noting that the feature may not function as expected in other nations due to the difference in the digital broadcasting standards.

8 Good Reasons To quit your Job Now

1. Your input is disregarded… or

even not wanted.

Everyone has ideas. And everyone loves

when their ideas are taken seriously –

and implemented. The feeling that you’ve

contributed in a special way is incredibly

gratifying.

But when your boss or company shoots

down or even laughs at your ideas, that’s

not only insulting, it's demotivating. And

pretty soon you stop caring.

Life’s too short not to care.

Related: What Should You Tell Your

Employees When Layoffs Are

Imminent? (LinkedIn)

2. You get criticized publicly.

We all need constructive feedback. We all

need a little nudge. We all need to be told

when we can do something better – and

how to do it better.

But we need to be told those things in

private.

Life’s too short to walk around waiting

for the next time you’ll be criticized –

and even humiliated – in front of other

people.

3. You never hear the word,

“Thanks.”

Everyone also needs praise. We all need

to know when we do something well (and

everyone, even poor performers, do some

things well.)

Life’s too short not to be recognized for

the contributions you make.

4. Your boss manages up, not

down.

You know the type: as a leader they

should focus their time and attention on

their direct reports, but they spend all

their time “following” their boss. It seems

like your only job is to contribute to the

greater glory – and advancement – of

your boss.

A great boss knows that if her team

succeeds – and each individual on that

team succeeds – then she will succeed too.

Life’s too short to spend your time

developing your boss’s career at the

expense of your own.

5. You feel like you have no

purpose.

Everyone likes to feel a part of something

bigger. Everyone likes to feel they make

an impact not just on results but also on

the lives of other people.

Life’s too short to go home every day

feeling like you’ve worked… but you

haven’t accomplished anything

meaningful.

6. You feel like a number.

Everyone is replaceable. Everyone,

ultimately, works for a paycheck. But

everyone also wants to work for more

than a paycheck. They want to work with

people they respect admire… and they

want to be respected and admired in

return.

If your boss doesn’t occasionally stop for

a quick discussion about family, an

informal conversation to see if you need

an help, or simply to say a kind word…

then you’re just a cog in a larger

machine.

Life’s too short to only be a cog in a

larger machine.

7. You aren’t even mildly excited to

go to work.

Every job has its downsides. (I’m willing

to bet even Richard Branson has to do a

few things he doesn’t enjoy.) But every

job should also have some fun moments.

Or exciting moments. Or challenging

moments. Or some aspect that makes you

think, “I’m looking forward to doing

that…”

Life’s too short to spend only looking

forward to quitting time.

Related: Branson, Cuban, and Why the

Quality of Advice Matters More than

the Source (LinkedIn)

8. You can’t see a future.

Every job should lead to something:

hopefully a promotion, but if not the

opportunity to take on additional

responsibilities, learn new things, tackle

new challenges… to feel like tomorrow

has the potential to be different – in a

good way – than today.

A decent boss works to improve the

company’s future. A good boss works to

improve her employees’ futures too, even

if – especially if – that might mean some

of those employees will eventually move

on to bigger and better things.

Life’s too short to live without hope.

10 Key Steps to Start a Freelance Business

1. Define Your Goals.

Without clearly defined, easily measurable goals, you're going to have a very difficult time getting to

2. Find a Profitable Niche.

Let’s assume you’re a graphic designer by trade, or you've at least been building your skills with Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop in your free time.where you want to go.

3. Identify Your Target Clients.

Just as important as finding a profitable niche, is attracting the right types of clients for your freelance business.

4. Set Strategic Prices for Your Services.

I've spoken a lot about setting the right prices for your freelance business before you get started.

5. Build a High-Quality Portfolio Website.

Because I'm such a huge advocate of creating a powerful online presence to support starting a freelance business, I brought in an expert, Laurence Bradford, to share all of the essential elements to building a freelance portfolio that wins you high-value clients.

6. Create Examples of What You Can Deliver (on Your Portfolio Site).

You want your website to serve as a destination to demonstrate your expertise.

7. Thoughtfully Choose Your First Clients.

Because you have a very limited amount of time to source new clients (and actually do the work for them) as you start your freelance business, you need to get the most out of the clients you do bring on. Both from a financial and portfolio-building standpoint.

8. Mention Potential Clients in Your Content.

You're going to have a hard time making a name for yourself within your niche, if nobody knows you exist.

9. Learn How to Pitch Yourself.

No matter how skilled you are at your craft, if you want to turn your skills into starting a freelance business, you need to be able to communicate those strengths and convert your conversations into paying clients.

10. Don't Mix Your Day Job Priorities with Freelance Business.

Above all else, it's important to remember that your day job (and sole source of reliable income) is your number one priority.