Freelancer Tips: The Ultimate Freelance Guide

July 3, 2008 · Filed Under Building Relationships, Customer Service, General Freelancing, Helpful Tips, Project Management, Providing Support · 3 Comments 

Freelancing online today is harder than it use to be. The field is saturated with freelancers whose only goal is to rape and pillage their customers for every dollar they can squeeze while providing low quality services and virtually no support on their work. It’s hard for webmasters and customers to distinguish a good freelancer from a freelancer who just wants to take them on their money.

Following this list of tips and using these tools can help you become more successful, earn repeat and referral business, as well as great reviews and a good customer base. I have been freelancing for years but just recently started making it a full time stay at home job, and let me tell you what: I love it. Freelancing allows me to be at home with the family, spend more time with my fiance and less time driving to and from work. It allows me to work when I want to, rather than what hours I am given.

Now I thought that when I would start doing this from home full time that there would be a lot of distractions, and that I wouldn’t be able to put full focus into it but I was wrong. When you live with a big family this can be hard, especially when they don’t understand that you aren’t sitting at your computer all day browsing the web and reading funny jokes, but you’re actually sitting there making money, talking to clients, and getting things accomplished.

If however, you do live with a large family, be sure to have your own office in the house if at all possible. This will certainly help with the distractions of the family being around you all the time while you are working. If it’s just you and your fiance for instance, then this should not be a problem.

All right, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. What do we do and how do we do it.

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The Freelance Referral Business

June 22, 2008 · Filed Under Customer Service, General Freelancing, Helpful Tips · Comment 

Getting referrals in the freelance world is cake-work. All you need to do is satisfy your current clients to the fullest. Once you have provided the highest level of quality work to your client, ask them if they know anyone who needs help with their website. If they feel they have received the best service, they will not hesitate to either give you some names and numbers to call, or have those people call you.

I am a very strong believer that referral business is the best type of clientele for anyone running a business, easpecially when trying to make money freelancing. It helps that the person knows they have a friend who has already been treated good by you or your company. This makes the person less skeptical about your skills or quality as a freelancer or company. They know that they will be taken care of to the fullest, just as their friend or acquitance did. No hassle, no giving references, no bull.

Hello *client_name*,

I recently completed a project for you and was hoping that I had given the appropriate attention to detail and the highest quality of service that you deserved. If you feel that I have provided you with this quality service, it would be very helpful if you could point me in the direction to anyone you may know that needs something done, or if you could help get my name out there to a few of your acquitances. Thanks for your help in this matter and I greatly appreciate your business.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Regards,
*your_name*

If you have some clients that you have previously worked with that you think you did really well for, and you are a little slow on business at the moment, get in contact with them and ask them if they know anyone. Someone has to know someone somewhere that needs something done.

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Making Money Online as a Freelancer: Part 1 of 4

June 18, 2008 · Filed Under General Freelancing, Helpful Tips · 1 Comment 

Yes, this is my first post, but let me introduce myself. My name is Casey, and I am an online freelancer. I develop websites and customize wordpress themes for people all over the world. Being a freelancer allows me to do what I love, without the fuss of an office, or being to work on time. Many many years ago I wanted to only do freelance work, but sometimes its not always that easy to make money freelancing. Now that I have been successful in my venture of being an online freelancer, I wanted to share some things that helped me along the way, and can help many others in their journey as well.

Lets Prepare Ourselves

Here is a list of physical tools I’ve used along the way that have helped me stay focused, and manage my time and projects so that I can handle all of my customers in an effecient manner:

  1. A powerful computer
  2. Dual monitor display
  3. Huge pack of yellow note paper
  4. Lots of pens
  5. Phone charger plugged in next to your computer
  6. Window near your desk
  7. A comfortable computer chair
  8. A reference book on HTML, PHP, or whatever you are freelancing

Here is a list of online or software tools that have helped me along the way as well:

  1. A PayPal account
  2. Something to manage your time/projects, I like Intervals
  3. A good email management program (Outlook works if your using windows)
  4. A Support Ticket solution, OSTicket works well
  5. Your OWN dedicated server or VPS solution, Pagematic does wonders
  6. Something better than a standard Notepad, Notepad++ is nice, make sure it has character and line count capabilities
  7. A high speed internet connection, no joke, I ran off of Sprint Mobile Broadband for a while and it was horrible - Cable is much more effecient
  8. An instant messaging client with multiple messengers built in (to reduce CPU load running 5 different messenger softwares)

If you haven’t already acquired all of the items listed above to being your freelacing journey, go ahead and get them to prepare yourself for part two: Where Do We Begin

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