There must be at least 3,298 articles around the web on “How to Launch Your Freelance Career” or “How to Start a Freelance Design/Copywriting/Photography Business.” Have you seen them? The advice is remarkably consistent and utterly sensible. Have six months of living expenses in the bank. Assess your skills and strengths. Survey the competition. Identify [...]
Seek, and get found.
This is a spooky phenomenon that I cannot explain. Don’t ask me what’s behind it, or how it works. But you can apparently invoke this to your advantage, almost at will. Let’s say your workload starts to slow down. Or you want to expand your stable of true fans. Or maybe you’re just itching for [...]
What your client wants. Really.
Sometimes the assignment isn’t what we think it is. In fact it’s often something else entirely. For me, things tend to go a lot smoother when I remember that. I get more work, more referrals, too.
Ten True Fans
The more you think about the freelance model, the simpler and simpler it gets. Example. If you are a musician or a sculptor or a fine artist, the thought is, you need about 1,000 true fans to make a living at your chosen craft. To live large, you need maybe 10,000. If you aspire to [...]
Typo in your quote: What would you do?
You’ve been talking to a new client about a project. The client has been disappointed with other freelancers, seems to like you. Has lots of work. The client asks for a quote. You want this project, you want this client. So you think very carefully about the fee. After a lot of head-scratching and figuring, [...]