Archive from August 2009
Choosing clients and communicating with your clients in Freelancing jobs
Montag, 10.August 2009What is the key advantage of working as a freelancer? It is the flexibility factor. You are your own boss. There is a great variety in the work you do and you have complete control over it. You have control over the number of hours you work for. So picking a client is what you should do naturally. It should be in tandem to your working theme. So they should be enjoyable to work with and give you good money. Also they should be profitable and give you complete creative freedom.
However there are a few factors that should be discussed:
1.If you were hired by a company where most of your work was related to a particular niche and you have sort of specialized in that field, then your primary step should be to find similar type of clients for the next projects. The main reason behind this aspect is that the specialists charge more for their expertise as compared to those who offer their services to a wider platform or across the board. Thus it is sensible to offer your services in the same niche and cash it. Hence choose clients which are providing similar work. This practice will not only improve your skills, it will make them come back to you all the time, because you are the “expert”. This approach will let you enjoy a higher margin of profit instead of the “jack of all trades” approach where you will keep marketing yourself all the time and get less clients.
2.Why have you chosen freelancing? Is it for part time basis or you enjoy a low living cost? If yes then you should not be bothered about the profits that much. This eases your problem of choosing the clients. You can work with any client who offers work at low rates.
3.In case freelancing is what your living depends on, then you need good financial returns. In the freelancers’ arena, most will tell you that it is easier to obtain business from the old clients. Actually it is true. You will have tough time converting the cold contacts into regular or paying clients. So, the other aspect of freelancing is that you train yourself in other skills. Especially the skills which are in demand so that you are more proficient in offering a variety of services to your new clients or industry where your skill will be able to boost the profitability of the client who is lacking in these in-house skills.
4.Next aspect is to get yourself marketed by the word of mouth. This kind of freelancing works well within markets which require special sets of skills. Do not always look for clients who are paying you high money. Try to gel with the clients who will pay you just $50 for a logo design but have a clear communication. You should actually enjoy working with them. On the other hand, clients who require careful handling may drain your enthusiasm and many work hours.
Now that you have chosen your client, communication is the next issue. How will you ensure that the next time your client thinks about work, he thinks about you? Do you know that 80% of your business comes from the 20% of your clients? So what is the key to such business? It is the regular communication which is most essential.
1.Always ask for the client’s feedback. It shows how much you value their opinion. Apart from that it also tells you about the problem areas so that you can improve your skills and do not deliver defective work in future. So a small questionnaire can be emailed to him and you can ask him to spend some time to complete that so as to evaluate your skills and work. This kind of communication will save you from any embarrassment that can be there during personal meetings.
2.Once you have finished with the project, follow up with your client so that this demonstrates your ongoing interest in doing business with him.
3.Keeping in touch with your clients is the golden rule of freelancing. A “Happy New Year” card, “good luck” card, “get well soon” card etc are some of the best ways.
The bottom line is that, choose a client and try to build a long lasting relationship with him that is mutually beneficial.
7 Habits Of A Successful Freelancer
Montag, 10.August 2009Not everyone can become a successful freelancer. It requires some special ingredients and people who know how to tackle this niche will end up minting huge sums of money. But in general, there are seven basic steps or perhaps we can call it ‘habits’ of a freelancer that is common and can`t be missed. These habits make them stand apart and end up in their success:
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Analyze the market: Successful freelancers first identify the market direction. They analyze and identify the latest trend that is now making the market ‘hot’. If at all their niche is fixed, analysis is done with respect to their niche. They find out whether there is an increase or decrease in demand of their products or services. A graphic designer would look out for the latest designs and the hottest color of the season. Similarly a software developer will see the latest programs. Another aspect of market analysis is whether there is a slowdown in economy. Any slowdown will result in more outsourcing and less in-house jobs. This translates into the fact that freelancers will have more contracts in their hands. Also in such times freelancers are paid better. They can choose from the plethora of jobs available, whether in the local market or internationally.
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They do break some ‘rules’: Rules at times need to be broken by successful freelances too. But when they do it, they know the repercussions and they also know which rule to break. Though they don`t do it often, some special cases do demand breakage of rules. For example, sometimes the freelancers, who are members of the freelancing websites which help them in getting clients, try to get payments in their paypal or such account. This benefits them in ways that they don’t have to pay commission to the website. But this is against the website’s rules which lose its revenue.
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Reinvestment of money into the business: Not all the money from freelancing goes to your pocket. To be successful, you need to re-invest some amount back into the business. Some costs like office supplies, professional dues and above all, costs required for expansion will have to be refurbished. In short to get more money – invest it!
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Inculcate interest in your work: The basic fundamental thing to look out for is to do the work that interests you or vice versa i.e. inculcate interest in the work that you do. You should never be forced to do a work; it will make it entirely monotonous. Also digressing will help.
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Constant up gradation of skills: Successful freelancers constantly keep swimming along the tide. They analyze as to where the demand lies and equip them in such a manner that they can supply their service in the optimum manner and the apt time. For e.g. if C++ programming is becoming obsolete, a successful freelancer would look at an alternative to satiate the requirements of the clients by learning and becoming proficient in newer languages.
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They give the best quality: Successful freelancers always work to the 100% of their efficiency. They always supply the customers or people with the best quality service and never fail any deadline. Substandard work will never be heard of from them and they will always be referred by people who prefer quality and word about them will spread naturally without any manual advertisement. Apart from the quality, they are also polite and courteous. They rectify there work if there are some mistakes and communicate well with the customers.
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They rely on diversification: Successful freelancers will never stick to one field; instead they will be a jack of all trades. Relying on a single client or a single buyer for a source of income is baseless and if there is a problem with that buyer, you are literally out of job.
Interview with a freelance writer
Donnerstag, 6.August 2009Considering the fact that the global economy is dipping each day, the industrial sector is the one that is hit maximum as far as getting business is concerned. This in turn is affecting their incomes. The employees are being laid-off and basically there is a job massacre. These people are now turning towards freelancing jobs, which are perhaps the best solution to this issue. But there are people who have chosen freelancing out of passion or because of the fact, they were too restricted to move out of the house. The category of “work from home moms” describes this best. Here is an interview of a freelancer who started this because of two main reasons.
How did you start freelancing?
Freelancing came to me by chance. I was earlier working in a 9 to 5 job, which demanded lots of tours to the sites. I was working as a technical writer with a firm that developed e-learning modules for a steel company. So, we had to go to the site of steel operations very frequently. This was a demanding job, more so because I was the team leader who was responsible for delivering the course in a timely manner. All this was taking toll on my health and I was feeling stressed. So I decided to quit and stay at house. Once I was browsing through the net and came across these wonderful websites where I could take up small jobs on contract and deliver them within a relaxed frame of time. All I had to do was become a member of the site and what’s more – the membership was free! At first I was wary, whether the work would actually convert into money. But, when after my initial assignment, I was paid I could trust the site genuinely. So that’s how I entered the world of freelancing – a world of limitless opportunities.
How long are you in this business?
I am in this business from past 3 years. This field has given me immense experience and I feel enriched each day. My general knowledge has increased and now I can talk about almost anything that is under the sky.
Have you had previous experience in writing?
Yes, I was a technical writer in an e-learning company. So that background suited me ideally. In technical writing we are more prone to writing things in a very orderly and logical fashion. But when I started taking up various jobs as a freelancer, I came to the conclusion that there are diverse writing styles that I had to adapt to. Letter writing, sales letter writing, press release writing, landing page writing, blog writing, article writing, web content writing etc are just a few styles that I have learnt and have managed to perfect them. Now my clients come back to me chiefly because of my writing style. My USP is extremely good research.
How did freelancing change your lifestyle?
Freelancing has changed my life to a great extent. After breaking that 9 to 5 regime, I feel more relaxed. I can do work from comforts of my house and also take care of small household things. I consider myself to be financially secure. Also, my communication has improved to a great deal as now I deal with a variety of clients from across the globe. When I was in the office job, I was limited to communicating with people from my country and my culture. But now things have changed drastically. I feel easy to communicate with people from various nationalities.
Another that I have learnt is that any business is based on honesty, integrity and openness. Working in an environment like the internet, is extremely good and important. For me customer satisfaction is very important. So I have amended my nature and have become more patient. I am dedicated to help my clients and this has also affected my lifestyle, whereby I feel more committed to any work that is given to me.
Where do you find most of your clients?
I am a member of 3 freelance websites – Getafreelancer.com, elance.com and odesk.com. So I find most of the clients on these sites only. However, out of these I have been luckiest with getafreelancer.com. This was the first site that I had joined and moved to others much later.
Frankly speaking I am not a member of any of those paid-up sites which ask you to pay a monthly sum compulsorily. I feel they simply con you. Once they have received the money they stop giving you any tips or ideas. Also even though they keep deducting their monthly fee, you actually seem to get into a negative balance because you may not enough projects to even cover your fee!
Has the financial crisis affected your business?
The financial crisis has not affected my business in a negative manner, rather, I have gained. In this global crisis, companies are laying-off their workers and giving their jobs on contracts. This seems to be a better strategy for them as they don’t have to pay regular salaries on monthly basis to the in-house employees. They just give a small amount to the freelancer who is remotely based. They don’t have to bother about his/her medical bill or any other compensation.
Therefore, this is the boom time for the freelancers and I have also been a part of this band wagon.
Do you work as a freelance writer full time?
Yes, I work as a writer on full time basis. Though in future I want to digress and move on to link building and SEO projects. This is because I want to learn more and these fields are more lucrative as they offer great money.
If somebody wants to hire you, where can he find you? Do you have a website?
I don’t have a website, but I have a blog coffeetabletalks-mk.blogspot.com. Whenever, I bid for a project, I do give address of that blog as a reference. This gives my clients an insight on the kind of work I have done in the past.