This is the fifth part of this series which goes on discussing the Sins that many freelancers commit which often ends up hurting the business badly. This part will deal with the importance of branding yourself properly. Often if you are too well-versed at something, people tends to take you as the de-facto standard on that field and finds it hard to believe that you are actually can do others things equally well. The initial task was not actually what you have intended for yourself, consequently, you really have to work extra hard to break away from this scenario. This article will show why this kind of ‘Accidental Branding’ happens and ways to prevent it.

This phenomenon starts its root when you are very good at doing what you indented do even just for a short while or just for the sake of capturing the market. Client likes your work and thus your name spreads as an expert particularly in that kind of work. Sometimes, you will keep the good work for showcase so that you can get more clients, thus contributing more to the natural growth of this accidental branding.

So what should you do to avoid this kind of unpleasant circumstances which makes it quite difficult for you when you want to switch area of expertise? You take matters on your own hand, that is, you should be from the beginning very clear about your branding and should proclaim it wherever you deem possible. You write it down into your vision statement and describe what can be expected from this brand of yours.

Aside from this, you should try using different techniques to give your brand a concrete existence:-

• Blog about your work.
• Include your brand in every email you send to clients.
• Use the brand in your work that is stored in the Showcase for demonstration
• Stick it on your service page.
• Put this brand in every forum you contribute.

With careful planning and discipline, you can have a grip on this issue

With this we end our fourth part of the series, in the next part we will discuss about the Lack of Diversification. Just Sign up with our Auto-Feed Manager to deliver the next part to your Inbox automatically.

This post is summarized from the FreelanceFolder. Photo by LeadingEdgeAlliance.

This is the fourth part of this series which goes on discussing the Sins that many freelancers commit resulting in a total disadvantage of their business. This part will deal with the importance of Sales and marketing, and we will see that both Sales and marketing are as equally important as the main objective of any freelance business.

The difference between a successful freelancer and failed one, taking into consideration that they both are equally talented in what they do, is only the understanding and application of sales and marketing. One may be well versed about the importance of it and the other may be in complete oblivion.

Therefore, to get rid of this situation, there is no alternative of studying Sales and Marketing. You have to read about some expert Sales and marketer gurus, also always have to explore new online articles that are coming out each week about Sales and Marketing strategies. You have to understand that Sales and Marketing actually are two different things:

Marketing relates to you announcement of your presence in the field with your product brand and its advantages.
Sales relates to the process of direct customer handling till you sell off your product.

Many Freelancers truly “Hate” the idea of Sales and marketing, but as you can see it can be seriously fatal for their business, and as a freelancer you have to develop this art of Sales and marketing. You have to truly believe that it is not any difficult task that uses various deceptions to sell off even a faulty product. You should remain honest with your service and truly believe that your product is worth selling. May be at the start you will not be perfect, but with time surely you will have the feel.

Remember howsoever good your product may be, without an effective marketing strategy, no one will ever know about it, and without proper sales techniques, you will not be able to convince the customer to buy you product.

With this we end our fourth part of the series. In the next part we will discuss about the importance of proper branding of your product. Just Sign up with our Auto-Feed Manager to deliver the next part to your Inbox automatically.

This is the third part of this series which continues with the Sins that many freelancers commit resulting in a total bankruptcy of their business. This part will deal with the importance of planning ahead. As planning is more or less important in every sphere of our lives, when the situation is in a freelance business environment, failure to properly ‘Plan’ can bring about unwanted consequences.

You may be severely busy with the main tasks, contacting the clients and managing other stuffs. But, you have to remember the big picture and final destination to which your business is progressing. Without a clear objective and a blueprint about how to reach there, the business will eventually fall flat.

Be Careful About Tax Issues

This situation is simple and straightforward to estimate when the income is from 9-5 regular job. However, when it is not, then the calculation of the taxes become difficult and prone to errors. Consequently many freelancers decided to just finish it up somehow and in many cases, later have to face difficulty. Thus, develop a proper plan about the Tax related issues with the local government authority and follow it to keep your business in a proper state.

Be Prepared For The Difficulty

You will have competitor in the business and not all will be likely to follow a business ethics. Thus there may be unpleasant issues initiated by them to hinder your progress. So in that case you have to do your best to fight off the allegations and progress normally. Thus, you need to prepare liability insurance and other insurances to keep your chance a refulgent one inside the court. Little careful planning in these can save you business from an abrupt ending.

Manage Your Work

Without planning, you may miss the big picture of how to handle a sufficiently large project. May be the project has many side-work apart from the main substance. So you need to have people to do those tasks along with you as you go along with the main side. However, if you fail to gauge the project properly, or do not plan ahead of time to arrange your workforce, you going to be definitely have a tough time ahead.

With this we end our third part of the series. In the next part we will discuss about the importance of sales and marketing practices in the world of freelance business. Just Sign up with our Auto-Feed Manager to deliver the next part to your Inbox automatically.

This post is summarized from the FreelanceFolder. Photo by PlanOnline.

Continuing from the previous part - UnderEstimating The Job , this part will explain how one can call upon downfall if he overestimates his abilities too much. Being too good sometimes can bring the negative.

OVERESTIMATING YOUR ABILITIES

May be you are a great writer of a superb designer. This is good and probably you will do better in the freelancers’ field. However, sometimes it may come as an obstacle that can hinder the potential benefit. It can become an obstacle in delivering the optimum performance. Sometimes probably you will proceed with a job that seems easy on the surface in a half-hearted manner, resulting in a poor performance. So following are few ways which can show you the ways to overcome the ego issues and become more professional.

Requirements Gathering

One trait of a successful project is, how well it corresponds to the client’s specification. However, when the clients give the specification, they may not be able to provide with the clear accurate picture, or may be too vague or even sometimes can be faulty as well. In that case it is your duty to rectify the client and suggest him the best possible ways to proceed with the idea. However, if client forcefully sticks to this point, then follow that.

Basic Comes First

It is highly important that when you work as a freelance writer, you follow the basics of writing in a very strict way. Do not infuse your own style and punctuation rules, as it will end up offending the client for sure. Though you may get over-excited and continue to write in your own style and characteristics but at the end this may bring up frustration. So fix yourself to the basics and it will make you even better.

Do Not Be Over-Sure

Always remember that there is someone out there who will do better than what you can do; and the client is not restricted to give the job to you. It is your duty to always deliver the best so that the client sticks to you. Else he can always look for someone else and there are plenty out there to fill the gap created by you.

With this we end our second part of the series and in the next part we will see how you should plan your business as a lack of proper planning can end up badly hurting your business interest. Just Sign up with our Auto-Feed Manager to deliver the next part to your Inbox automatically.

This post is summarized from the FreelanceFolder. Photo by TemPestCompany.

Freelancing may be a dream job to many people worldwide. But the fact is, that the failure rate in this business is also quite high. However, the surprising thing is, this high failure rate is not due to the fact that the freelancers are not competent at what they do, but for the lack of discipline and knowledge about the business itself. This article will explain all this misconceptions in a series of seven parts. This first part will focus on the issue of: UNDERESTIMATING THE JOB.

There are many people out there who think or spread the word that freelancers can a six-figure income yearly with just two to three hours of work everyday. Well that is a compete fabrication and it is absolutely impossible with this little amount of work. Even if you are able to earn that much yearly, before that you have to go through a lot of things and have to be clear about certain things such as:

Business Skill

Freelancers has to have some good skills in different business activities such as basic accounting, marketing and sales. You need these skills to manage your earnings, negotiate and handle clients successfully as not all the clients will be same. Also, skills in especially ‘Sales’ is important when you want to promote your work.

Feel free to read up Guerilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson. It is a very good book to learn up the cost-effective ways of marketing for your freelance business.

Relation with Client

You have to understand that when one client has been served properly, it is not the end of everything. As this client will come back to you if he later wants another job to be done, but to let that happen, you have to be nice with the client by employing some very basic ‘People Skill’, alongside being professional. This will help you to develop a relationship with client based on reliability and respect; and gradually small clients will become big ones and the big ones will become bigger in no time.

Value of Friendship

Do not hesitant to be good friends of people whom you know, in your workplace (if you are part-time freelancer), your neighbourhood or your relatives. Because you never know when they can become helpful, some of them may become your clients, some of them may be freelancing as well or some of them may bring you contracts. So, always be in good touch with people as it will not only help you in business but also will make your life more enjoyable.

So with this I’ll end the first part of this series, in the next part we will see the second failure - Overestimating Your Abilities. Just Sign up with our Auto-Feed Manager to deliver the next part to your Inbox automatically.

This post is summarized from the FreelanceFolder. Photo by Standord University.