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Time Management for Freelancers

One of the icings in a cake of being a freelancer is that you own your time. You can make
a decision whether you will accept a project, or rest to bond with your family or load
yourself with jobs to make as much as you want to earn. Considering these benefits of
freelancing, time management is of essence in order to make the best out of this business.
Here are some tips:


1. De-clutter your Work Space. A clean and organized workplace especially your
work desk helps you to think better and clear.

2. Make a To-do-list. Before jumping into your work chair, jot down a list of the
things that you have to accomplish within the day. Make a priority list and cross
items out one by one after accomplishing. Seeing your list all crossed out at the
end of your work day gives you a sense of fulfillment.

3. Set a Time Frame or Target Deadline to Complete a Task or a Project. This will
set on you a professional mindset of sticking to your goals and accomplishing it
in time. It will also give your clients finite expectation on the completion of the
project thus, creating trust.

4. Managing Interruptions. It’s a fact that no matter how you want to just nail
your focus on the tasks at hand that you want to finish, there will always
be interruptions that will break it up. It will be helpful to categorize your
interruptions into 4 types: 1st important and urgent tasks (deadline works); 2nd
important but not urgent (relationships, bonding); 3rd not important but urgent
(emails, calls etc.); 4th not important and not urgent – time wasters. Within the
four, you must learn to focus more on the 1st and 2nd and avoid 3rd and fourth as
much as possible.

5. Coordinating Task. As a freelancer, it is a compliment that you are offered many
projects that most often you could no longer handle. But turning them off is not
a practical solution; instead, look for it as an opportunity to help others. You can
carry the task out for a fellow to do it for you – and being an indirect employer,
you can earn from it without working hard, just being a middle person.

image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

The Three Secrets of Successful Freelance Writers

Perhaps, you’ve been doing a lot of things just to make money from your article or blog posts and it seems that you also fail as many times as you tried to write those contents. Before getting into your next try, why not relax and have some time to read these three secrets that I would like to share to you.

Invest and Learn

The first thing you need to do is to check the grammar of every article that you wrote. If you think that it needs to be polished, and then have some time to buy a grammar book which will improve your writing ability. There is no such thing as being the best writer in a one day of work. Success in writing will be attained as you continue to learn new things – styles and grammar and apply them to your work.

Know the Writer’s Guidelines

If you want to earn a living from writing articles or stories, you need to discipline yourself. Even if you feel you don’t want anymore the job but articles need to be submitted within the day, you need to proofread your work until you create a high quality craft.

Decide on the Topic and Do your Research

Before writing, the very important thing you need to decide on what topic you want to write about. If you are a freelancer, clients will give you specific topics and do research afterwards. But in the case of blogging or personal writing, follow these steps. Grab a paper and pen. Brainstorm and list down ideas from your mind. Choose one topic from your list based on your interest. Look for websites that have relevant information with your topic. Make a unique and friendly tone content.

Success is not an overnight activity; this statement is perhaps very popular to everyone. This is applicable to freelance writing. If you want to be a successful freelance writer, you need to exert time and effort to improve your work. 

Freelancer’s Winning Attitude

Caring for a Client

Know and understand what your clients need. Take time to listen for how they want the project’s outcome to be. This will assure them that you have their needs as your top of the list, along with incorporating ideas that will execute the project best.

Never Afraid to Ask Questions

Best freelancers know what to ask and when to ask them. Asking questions would make the deliberation of every step in making the project more precise, it prevents more errors or revision; thus faster completion of the project.

Keep Up

Study more to enhance and develop your craft. There is always new to learn from with the fast pace of information and technology. This will give you edge over other competitors in your field.

Stop Wasting Time

Being exposed to lots of sources and information in the internet can lead you in doing things that is already out of the things that you should be doing. Be cautious. And whenever you are working, see to it that you stick with your priority for the time being.

Do What You Say

Building your credibility is probably the most important aspect to market yourself. Most of the clients assess you based on your past performance records. Credibility is your client magnet – the thing that makes you attract or repel prospective clients.

Promote Yourself

All kinds of businesses need promotion and as a freelancer, you are not exempted to it. You can do it by giving out business cards and promotion through social media.

Induce Loyal Customers

Always goal on satisfying your customers. They are one of your priceless assets. How? By feeding you with high performance rates that will make you attract more clients and of course regular income by employing for your product and services continually.

Types of Freelance Personalities

Have you ever noticed the personality of your co-worker which is same with your personality? In this case, it seems that there are many personality types of a freelancer that can be determined on their attitude and the way they handle the task given by the clients. Let me give you some of the freelance personalities for you to examine what type of freelancer are you. You may find one or more types that fit your personality.

Loner

A freelancing loner is a person who likes to look or work alone rather than be part of freelance team. However, he or she is efficient in the work for he or she ensures that the work is of high quality.

Social Butterfly

This type of freelancer is the one who is always present in every social media discussion or forums. They are very popular in actively participating in social media.

Empire Builder

Often, an empire builder is the one who owns an online business that is growing rapidly. They like to hire and outsource the excess tasks to other freelancers benefiting them to do more work and earn money.

Controller

Freelancers who have this type of personality do not like to be overpowered by their bosses or clients. They are effective in work when they are directed with general instructions and are given with opportunity to make their decisions on their own.

Experimental

Experimental freelancer is a person who loves to explore things in the different fields of freelancing. If he is a writer, he tries to learn new things like SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and web design.

Consummate Professional

A person with this type of personality loves to be recognized for his or her work. Five start ratings, excellent feedbacks and rewards like bonuses are highly appreciated by consummate professional freelancer.

The above personality types are not based on scientific facts but rather on observation. The way you work as a freelancer is the basis for your personality type.

Google’s Project Glass

James Bond gadget soon on the look as Google launched a state of the art hi-technology invention – a pair of augmented reality glasses that lets you see information right in front of your eye as you wear it.

Google’s Project Glass is made of a solid metal band streaming across the brow-line, on the right mounts a small head-up small display. People behind the Google Project Glass are making this preview of their project to make it open for people’s comments for improvement. The prototype model is just one of the potential designs that are currently in test. There is possible shift for other optional designs while it is still under improvement and study. There are suggestions to make Project Glass be attached in person’s eyeglasses instead to make it more wearable without getting much of attention from others.

 

Some of the features of Google Project Glass are providing real time information like weather and transit; it has the ability to send messages and take a picture just using your voice, and do location display of the whereabouts of a family member or friend. In a note, this glass is also seen to be capable of a 3G and 4G wireless connection.

Google however is admitted that Project Glass would definitely take long time to be perfected and released for public consumption. As for the present, it is just more of a concept than an actual product. On the other hand, it would sure take a hit as soon as it is made available in the market– a run down for Apple and Microsoft.

 

The Pros of Freelancing

To better understand the advantages (pros) of freelancing, let me first define freelancing. Freelancing is a job wherein the worker called “freelancer” contracts task, small or large from different clients. He or she receives the money when the task is done. In addition, freelancers get some of the benefits of freelancing. Whether you are working full time or part time, there are still benefits that are considered as accepted truths in this industry.

Being your own boss

As soon as you are applying for a job in freelancing, you can choose your client or boss. Also, you have a control over your work which includes the schedule, workload and career. This advantage is attainable through freelancing.

The money is better

Many people choose to work as a freelancer for them to make more money. Compared to a full time office worker, a freelancer can generate more money as his or her rate also increases. This is a significant advantage in freelancing. Hourly or fixed rate will increase as you gain more experience in your field of interest.

You can choose project you’d like to work on

With the variety of projects available in freelancing, this will be an exciting challenge for a freelancer. Some contracts are uncertain with the payment or sometimes the client is unreasonable with the price. At first, you will accept projects that are less interesting and rewarding on your part. But as you further freelance more tasks, you have now the guts to choose which project you would like to work on.

 

If the benefits mentioned above make you think of deciding to go freelance. Then you need to set your own schedule for this. All of the pros of freelancing are attainable. Like starting a new company, freelancing needs some investment both financial and personal and seriousness on your work.