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If you’d asked me on January 1st what my plans for this year were, the word “freelancer” wouldn’t have appeared.

No, I was going to launch a wildly successful weblog, make a fortune from Google AdSense, and sign a six-figure book deal…

…I’m not quite there yet.

But I have managed to arrive somewhere wholly unexpected. I’m earning money from staff-writing on two blogs, both major players in their niches (Diet Blog and Daily Writing Tips) and my own blog has a small but regular readership. I’ve made about $800 so far; not “quit the day job” money, yet, but enough to make me realize that freelance blogging could be a viable way to earn a living.

You might well have a blog, though perhaps it’s a personal one based around a hobby or passion, rather than a professional one. And since you’re reading this on Freelance Switch, I’m guessing you have some interest in freelancing. If you’ve read through the “Getting started” articles, if you spend hours staring at your cubicle walls and dreaming up your next blog post (or typing away on the sly), and if you’re waiting, waiting, waiting for that first job, first client, first check, you might be closer than you think. Here’s how to fall into freelance blogging by accident…

1. Get started with your own blog

If you don’t already have a blog, or if your blog is of the “me and my cat” variety and only read by your mum, start one! I’d strongly recommend Darren Rowse’s blogging for beginners series, even if you think you know what you’re doing. (You have to be willing to rethink preconceptions, though. I read the whole thing before launching The Office Diet, and still believed that going live on 01/01/2008 would be a good idea because surely all those millions of people googling for “diet” and “weight-loss” in January would find my site…)

2. Throw a guest post out there

I wrote a guest post for Diet Blog, because I wanted to advertise my own blog in the byline. I made it the best post I could, following Skellie’s guest posting advice on ProBlogger – and was both impressed and a little scared when it received 22 comments.

Start with any blog you enjoy that publishes guest posts, and, ideally, that has multiple regular writers. Drop the editor a short, succinct email with a couple of lines on who you are and your proposed guest post. You might want to write the post first: if you do get a positive response, this means you can send it promptly, and some blogs I’ve written guest posts for (such as The Change Blog) invite readers to send in their post when they initially make contact. (I’d suggest a detailed pitch is best. Few posts are rejected once your pitch is OKed, while it can be quite disappointing when you’ve poured effort into a complete post only to have it refused. It happens to the best of us. — Ed.)

3. Jump in after your work (without looking back)

Diet Blog’s editor, Jim, wrote to me a couple of weeks later to ask if I’d be interested in becoming a staff writer. I e-mailed straight back “Would definitely be interested. :-)” and the moment I hit Send was the moment I stepped into a brave, and slightly strange, new world: that of the freelance blogger.

My next job came about in a similar manner. I contacted Daniel, who runs Daily Writing Tips, saying that I’d noticed the site didn’t have much in the “Fiction” category – would he be interested in a guest post? Within a week, Daniel asked me if I wanted to join Daily Writing Tips as a paid staff writer…

If your guest post is published and goes down well with readers, don’t be afraid to drop a friendly follow-up email to the blog’s editor. Mention that you enjoyed writing for the blog, and that you’d be interested in a regular staff position.

4. Stay on the right track – don’t crash at the start

As an accidental freelance blogger, I needed to further my knowledge in several areas:

1. My blogging subjects: health and fitness, and the English language.
2. How to blog – constructing great headlines and reader-friendly articles.
3. The business of being a freelancer.

For the first, your prior knowledge, books, and reputable websites all help. For Daily Writing Tips, I use dictionaries and style guides to research articles on the finer points of word usage. (Differences between “awhile” and “a while”, anyone? “Insure” and “ensure”?) For the second and third, look for great blogs about blogging, writing, and freelancing. Yes, you can learn a lot just by getting stuck in, but why not capitalize on other peoples’ years of experience rather than your own?

If you’ve ended up an Accidental Freelance Blogger, these are very useful blogs for people like us, all of which I subscribe to:

• Problogger – great insider advice on all aspects of professional blogging, from writing content to using Google Adsense.
• Daily Blog Tips – similar advice to Problogger, though more suitable for beginners and hobbyists.
• Skelliewag – insightful and thoughtful articles on writing content for blogs. Fewer posts than Problogger and Daily Blog Tips, but every one’s a gem.
• Daily Writing Tips – your grasp of grammar and spelling needs to be solid to get that first staff blogger post, and adding some flair to your writing will help you win further jobs.
• Copyblogger – learn about writing great web copy and the business of writing for a living.

And, of course, you could do far worse than hang around at Freelance Switch …

5. Keep speeding up …

Don’t be afraid to spend money on quality resources, too: earmark a percentage of your freelance income to invest on improving your skills and your business. That might mean buying a book (I snapped up How to Be a Rockstar Freelancer with my first week’s freelancing pay, and I pre-ordered Darren and Chris’s ProBlogger the day it was announced.)

Once you’re beginning to make a name for yourself, you may want to pay for a professional design for your own blog to showcase your work, or spend some of your earnings on a course to further your skills and to make new contacts.

6. Have some idea where you’re heading next (even if you’re not sure where you’ll end up)

If you haven’t yet banked your first dollar from blogging, make that your goal for this month.

If you’re biting your nails every time you think of trying to make contact with the people who are waaaaay above you in the blogosphere – write that e-mail today. Keep it short and friendly (bloggers are busy people), and make it clear what you’re asking. I found the advice at the bottom of “5 Habits Of Highly Ineffective Networkers” very helpful.

If you need to polish up your skills, buy that book you’ve been thinking of, or register for that course. Don’t feel guilty investing money into your business.

Whatever action you need to take in order to fall further into freelance blogging, do it today. If you really need a motivational boost, post in the comments telling us what you’re doing to take that next leap.

Me? I’m sending this post into Freelance Switch…

Ali started freelancing by accident and is now almost as obsessed with it as she is with chocolate. She invariably takes on too many projects at once, and spends the 9-5 hours regretting the need for a day job. She writes at The Office Diet.

Original post by FreelanceSwitch.com

When to Say No to New Business

When you are new to your business, you could have a tough time getting new and continued business. In your desperation, you might also cater to clients that you would not normally do business with.

Here are some cases where you should say no to new business.

When Clients Don’t Respect You

There are clients that will be very rude to you - who may think that by giving you business, they own you or that you are obligated to them.

You should avoid this type of client at all costs. You have every right to expect that your clients give you the same respect that you give to them.

Clients Who Value Only Money

There are always customers who will be desperate to make sure that they get the lowest price possible – at your expense. They will regularly deduct some amount from your payments for frivolous reasons, and threaten to go to your competition.

Drop customers like these like a hot brick. They will end up costing your more money in the long run.

The Time Bandits

There may be some clients who remain confused, even after you have spent hours trying to explain a particular product or service to them.

Such clients will only end up wasting your time, and in the end might go to your competitor to purchase the product. Spend only a limited time with people like these - you may have to ignore them if they are still confused.

Clients Who Expect Freebies

There are some clients who will expect to pay only once - and then expect all future services to be free.

They will not pay you for any extra effort that you make. Customers like this should tactfully be avoided, since it will only result in a waste of your time and effort.

Turning down new business may be hard; but in some cases it is necessary to ensure that your business is profitable.

Original post by Buzz

Original post by FreelanceSwitch.com

Whether you freelance or not, if you’re like many working adults, you probably find yourself wishing there was more time in the week. If you work at home, time has an unusual way of slipping by. (I’m probably less productive now than when I worked in an office somewhere, though there are several other factors at play.) At the end of the week, you might be wondering why you didn’t get more work done, as might your clients!

Recognizing Your Work Demons

With all the web technologies out there, it’s tough for web workers in particular to keep up, and sometimes bad online habits can become very addictive. These could be some of the things that are holding you back from freelance success.

Here are some of my work-demons, often the result of poor work habits:

1. IM. Satisfying friends’ “need it now” social voting requests via AIM.
2. Twitter. Getting distracted by incoming Twitter tweets (via the Twhirl client) and an even more addictive Twitter-like service, Plurk. (My addiction used to be Google’s MyMaps, or any kind of mapping mashup.)
3. Email. Being signed into GMail all day (tsk tsk), and obsessively checking for new messages, only to waste time mostly filtering spam.
4. Comments. Visiting sites where I write, to see if I need to respond to any comments. (I don’t always get an email alert, despite “subscribing” to the comments of a post.)
5. TV. Turning on the TV capture card on my computer, and telling myself I “need” to watch something in particular, to get ideas for blog posts.
6. Being indecisive. Fooling myself into believing I can start several projects for one client and not deciding which to finish for the week. This is anti-productivity (but is not the same as multi-tasking). It doesn’t work, and nothing done means no dinero.
7. Over-booking work. Taking on too much work because I don’t like to tell people “no.” As my online brand grew, the number of offers grew — though not being selective results in damaging to my reputation.
8. Attempting too much. Trying to cover way too much in a project. For example, trying to do a “31 and a half reasons” list instead of five, seven or maybe eleven good, well-thought out reasons that you can elaborate on. This over-reaching comes from an abject need to give that cliched “110%” on a project. The net result is performance anxiety and incomplete projects.
9. Working at home. This environment has its benefits, though there are many home-related distractions.

Ways to Fool the Anti-Muse

For years, when I was not writing creatively for a living, I had a writing muse, even a coding muse. However, sometime before I started freelance blogging full-time, that muse started going AWOL, showing up less and less often, occasionally replaced with an anti-muse. Here are some of the strategies I have to employ to fool that anti-muse:

1. Use two computers/ laptops.
   Run email and chat clients on one computer, A, and do work on the other, B. If you have a few people that need to communicate with you daily, set up a secret IM username and make sure they don’t give it out. This has worked very well for me. (I still do social voting for other online friends who either ask via email or use a social site’s “shout” feature.) You can still turn on IM accounts on computer A less frequently in the day. It’s easier to adhere to an “I’m only available on IM at such and such times of the day” rule. (Using two computers is not an option for everyone, but if you freelance at a home, and web-work is how you earn your living, you should think about having a backup computer anyway.)
2. Tune out.
   If computer A is getting too distracting with all the incoming message/tweet sounds, turn off the audio. The Twitter client Twhirl, for example, is configurable so that only incoming direct messages will cause a “beep”. That’s far less distracting than beeps on every tweet, and will alert you to when you might need to respond. In extreme cases, turn things off.
3. Turn off.
   If tuning out doesn’t help, turn off computer A’s screen and only check back once every few hours, or when you complete an important task. If you’re only working on one computer, just shut down all communications applications for a few hours. I have successfully tried answering emails only at lunch and supper times. It’s not easy for the perpetually distracted, but it’s possible. Just ask yourself, will any truly urgent message ever come in via email, IM, or Twitter? Probably not. So turn them off for now.
4. Seek virtual company.
   TV is a terrible distraction, and even if I’m “researching” ideas for pop culture articles, the TV eventually needs to be turned off. This is difficult for a TV addict, and if you’re at home and feeling lonely, it’s even worse. Listening to music sometimes helps, though everyone has their own idea of what type of music is productive or not - I prefer Baroque music, some types of opera, and occasionally rock - unless I feel compelled to sing along to Pavarotti or Rage Against the Machine. Spoken-word podcasts, on the other hand, nearly always work for me.

   On the other hand, I find that the spoken voice is at least soothing and rarely counter-productive. (This does not work for TV by leaving on audio and turning off the video simply because there’s too much content transition.) Another option is to simply set aside a bit of TV watching time, or take a short break at the local cafe - though I haven’t the discipline to pull the latter off. (I think this is something that varies a lot between different people. For example, I can’t listen to music with lyrics or have the TV on when I’m writing because I can’t tune it out. — Ed.)

5. Choose your battles.
   If too many projects for one client inhabit my mind and I can’t decide which to work on, I’ll try to suss out which requires the least time to complete and pick that one. If that’s no help, maybe it’s time to work on another client’s project. Still not productive? Maybe it’s time for a break.
6. Consider outsourcing.
   If you’re taking on too much work, there are only a few possible outcomes:
   1. Say “yes” and lose more of your personal time to get the work done, possibly having to outsource some of your personal tasks. Downside: more work, less play time.
   2. Say “yes” and don’t finish the work. Downside: damage your reputation (even if your intentions were good).
   3. Say “no”. Downside: losing a potential client.
   4. Say “yes” and delegate some of the work to a colleague or other freelancer. Downside: you’re on the hook for the quality of the work.
7. Respect yourself.
   For those of us who had to be competitive in our early years, and lived with that stupid “put in 110% effort” motto, it’s time for some self-respect. You’re more valuable to your clients when you complete 100% of a project on time rather than trying to offer 110+% and not getting anything done. Striving for perfection is fine if you don’t get obsessed — especially on flat-rate projects. Respect yourself and your clients, and streamline your “100%” effort so that 110% isn’t necessary.
8. Resolve your distractions.
   Every home-based freelancer will have different distractions, but do what you must to resolve them. Where I work, there are birds, cats, dogs and occasionally young men driving by in their loud cars. I have a very small window for my podcast recording work each week, and I try to schedule everything around this, if I have the luxury.

Final Thoughts

If the anti-muse has been visiting you far too often, some of the above might help. A few might seem anti-social, though when you’re a freelancer, it’s hard to justify being social if you’re not putting food on the table.

What distracts you when you’re working, whether at home, in a cafe, library or office? How do you cope with your work demons?

Original post by FreelanceSwitch.com

You know that commercial where the two girls sit around eating their yogurt and talking about how “it is sooo good?” Yeah, I hate that commercial.

But you know what? Freelancing in the U.S. economy has been good to me lately.

“It’s like, $4.00 a gallon gas good!”

“No, no, it’s like write-off your new laptop good.”

Kind of like that.

Thinking of making the freelance switch? Here are a couple reasons why you should buck up and go for it, recession and all.

1. Downsizing is good for you. It may feel counterintuitive while you’re sitting in your cube farm, but downsizing is actually a good thing for new, start up businesses. Who do you think companies will turn to when all the cubes are empty? That’s right- you! The copy needs to be written, and the website needs to be maintained. Someone’s got to do it, and a company’s number one choice is going to be a former employee. One that’s gone freelance. One like you.
2. Less gas! Man, doesn’t that feel good? While most small businesses grow first from a home or virtual office, those who elect to rent an office or Jelly will still save a few bucks. Even train commuters and Mother Earth benefit from less oil use.
3. More helpful handouts. When the economy takes a nosedive, Uncle Sam opens the wallet. Although the government’s Small Business Association loans have plummeted recently, the news wasn’t entirely unexpected, and lawmakers are already calling for the relief to begin.
4. You still get your stuff. Last year, over $1,100 of my expenses went to some form of books or print material. Luckily, many of the books that I buy can be written off on my U.S. tax return as reference or research material. Plus, don’t even get me started on the Holy Grail of tax write offs- the home office tax deduction. Rules have recently loosened up a bit, so see if you’re eligible.
5. Digital camera, digital organizer, digital postman. Whatever it is you need to run your business just as efficiently as the big boys, someone out there has invented it. Your seamless global office is waiting. Need a primer? Be sure to visit the Freelance Switch list of 101 Essential Freelancing Resources.
6. Slow is good. I just read the Tortoise and the Hare to my 4 year old, and realized that slow is good for freelancers. Steady, sustainable growth enables new start ups to find their footing without the danger of a fast, violent pop on the other end. If your sector is growing at breakneck speeds, you won’t have time to catch your breath and learn from your early mistakes. But the easy growth you’ll experience now is a good way to get your contracting feet wet before you dive in.
7. Competition is cutthroat. Still. Remember all those panicky companies that were laying people off in #1? They’re looking for ways to stand out from the crowd in their sector. They’re eyeing new branding campaigns or thinking of upgrading their websites. They’re ready to spend their money on certain services that will strategically place them ahead of their competition. That’s where you come in.

If you’re tottering on the edge of your switch, don’t back away because of today’s economy. A well-planned start-up has a shot, even today.

Join us…it really is sooo good.

Allena Tapia is a freelance writer and editor based in Lansing, Michigan. After serving in career positions as a marketing writer and an editor, she made the switch to freelance by establishing GardenWall Publications. She leads new and intermediate freelancers through the process as About.com’s Guide to Freelance Writing.

Original post by FreelanceSwitch.com

How to Keep Your Office Equipment Running Smoothly

With the business world going high-tech, even small businesses need to have a certain degree of automation to speed up their daily work.

Computers, copy, and fax machines are among the more common machines that small businesses use. Here are some ways to ensure that your office equipments perform smoothly.

Installed in the Right Place by the Right People

It is very important to get office equipments installed by the right people authorized to do so. Trying to cut corners by letting inexperienced people install them could literally burn your fingers.

The equipment should also be installed in the right location, so that they are isolated from heat, dust and vibrations.

Use with Care

You should use the equipment with care, and instruct your employees to do the same. Banging on your computers or on the copier isn’t going to make them run any faster - but is surely going to damage them.

Keep an eye on your employees to make sure that they are not mistreating the equipment.

Preventive Maintenance Is Key

You should hire the right people to maintain all your office equipment. They should regularly come to service the machines and should also be available in case of an unexpected breakdown.

Your service provider should have the right mix of testing equipment with experienced staff to look after your office equipment.

It is not only important to procure the right quality equipment for your office, but also look after it properly. If you do this, you’ll save lots of time and money in the long run.

Original post by Buzz

Everyone with a blog, please raise your hand.

Alright, those of you with hands up can leave the classroom and hit the bar early. The rest of you, stay here, because this lesson is important.

Lets start with the quick summary of what a blog is. Short for Weblog, a blog is a website that displays posts by the author in chronological order. Their popularity is immense since most blogging platforms make it insanely simple for anyone to publish their thoughts on the web.

You’re reading one right now.

But why do freelancers need one?

It’s an extension of your portfolio

First and foremost, a blog is yet another place to show off your writing, design, photography or coding skills.

As such, it’s another place for potential clients to find you.

The ideal freelancer’s blog should be another part of his or her portfolio site (you already have one of those, right?)

But a key difference is showing off a little more personality on the blog since I’ve found most online portfolios to be a little on the sterile side (I’m just as guilty on that front.)

Along with a different method of posting from a more traditional portfolio site, most blogging platforms allow readers to leave comments giving you quick feedback on what you’re showing off (once you have readers, more on that later.)

Networking and marketing

One of the biggest advantages to having a blog is being able to build relationships with fellow freelancers who also blog by linking out and leaving comments on each other’s sites.

I’ve met people who’ve expanded their business into other countries thanks to relationships they’ve built up through blogging.

Now start one!

Getting a blog is easy and for the most part, free.

Go to one of the major blogging platforms like Blogger or Wordpress and sign-up for a blog. If you can’t think up a clever domain name, just go with your own name.

Using one of the free providers by default will give you a .blogspot or .wordpress domain but both providers support domain mapping (Blogger does it for free, Wordpress charges $10 per year though for $15 they’ll deal with registering it as well.)

Many people suggest that having a stand-alone domain makes you look more professional, but personally I don’t think it’s that big of a deal — especially since I’ve met company CEOs who have .blogspot.com domains.

Blogging away

So, now you’ve got your own little soap-box on the web that can be updated quickly and easily, what do you do with it now?

Well, an introduction post is usually good. Who are you and what are you doing?

Since we’re looking at this as a marketing tool, after that you should be writing about your field of work. Write with authority and establish yourself as an expert on what you do.

Post sketches and doodles of what you’re working on (or the equivalent in whatever you do) to show off your work.

As an example, I tend to use mine to post material that my current roster of cl