Sorry for the screw-up, I accidentally created this issue so it wasn’t part of the RSS feed.
Something interesting that happens this time every year for me. I start to rush to complete my own projects before the year ends. In the past week I’ve wrapped up my last Run Your Consulting Business training for 2014 and am now about halfway through a productized consulting rebuild of my core services.
I don’t know what it is. Maybe I’m trying to get everything done “this year”. Or maybe I just keep happening to have extra time to devote projects. Whatever it is, it’s great to start the new year with some room for my next new thing.
Listen to the Freelance Chi podcast #9
– – – – – – – –
The problem with pricing calculators (curtismchale.ca)
Figuring out your rates is one of the most frequent questions I’m asked. But I’d much rather be asked, than to have freelancers use a pricing calculator. Curtis McHale outlines the problem with pricing calculators and I concur. (If you have questions about your pricing and rates, feel free to email me about it)
How Smart Agencies Improve Lead Generation (bidsketch.com)
On the Bidsketch blog Christina Gillick writes about how to improve your lead generation. It’s not just for agencies though, I use these tactics and I’m not an agency.
Want to start freelancing in a month? (theadmin.org) SPONSOR
If you’re just getting started or you need to restart your freelance business, having a day-by-day guide can get started on the right path. Don’t waste your time doing the things that don’t matter.
What is bookkeeping for a freelance front end developer? (css-tricks.com)
Allan Branch runs Less Accounting and he’s written a great article that outlines a lot of basic bookkeeping for freelancers. Did you know that you can’t write off your jetpack as a business expense?
Feast (or famine) (studiofellow.com)
Preventing the feast and famine cycle takes work. Jarrod Drysdale collected the advice from several experienced consultants about how they prevent the famine. It’s interesting to see the different strategies they used and where the limitations are.
10 practical ways to create work-life balance (freelancersunion.org)
I don’t agree with how work/life balance is presented online, but this article has some good ideas if you are feeling overwhelmed or (like me) you just love tweaking your processes for more efficiency.
The Non-Scuzzy and Totally True Story of How I Earned 6 Figures in 12 Months by Mastering the “Hidden Elance Economy” (copyhackers.com)
Danny Margulies makes a pretty compelling case for freelancers to work on Elance but not as part of the regular, “visible” market. It’s an interesting way of reframing a tactic that I don’t agree with (Elance) so that many of the weaknesses are removed. I could see this working as a backup source of clients.
Cold Emails and the art of the follow up (guerrillafreelancing.com)
I’ve sent more cold emails this year as I’ve built my sales “process” into… well, an actual sales process. A big component was to create a compelling follow up email. Like I said during a training yesterday, probably 80-90% of my clients have needed a follow up during the sales process.
The Freelancers’ Show: #140 Productized Consulting with Kai Davis (devchat.tv)
Kai Davis (no relation) was a guest on this Freelancers’ Show where he talked about productized consulting. An entire range of topics were covered including deciding on your service, marketing, and improving it over time.
Thanks, I’ll see you next week.
Eric Davis (@edavis10)