Each of the main online freelance job sites – Elance, oDesk, PeoplePerHour and Freelancer.com – have guides detailing what they think it takes to be a successful freelancer, communicate well with clients and run effective freelance projects. While undertaking freelance work in these online marketplaces is an art in itself, there’s loads of useful information … Read more
Videos can be a powerful communications tool which can convey the messages of your organisation in a dynamic, genuine and engaging way. Social causes can benefit from video in many ways, including volunteer recruitment. demonstrating social impact by showing happy volunteers and clients, and as a promotional tool to raise money. With the rise of … Read more
Watsi, “an online peer-to-peer crowdfunding platform that allows users to fund life-changing medical treatments for underserved people in developing countries”, has become the first nonprofit that the start-up incubator Y Combinator has chosen to invest in. Perhaps one of the reasons that Watsi are the first non-profit to become part of Y Combinator is because … Read more
I’ve just finished the Revive Your Inbox programme from Baydin, “a 21 Day course to help you restore email sanity”. “Invest 20 minutes a day for 21 days. Revive Your Inbox is designed to reduce the amount of email you receive and learn to deal better with the ones that matter.” The benefits of good … Read more
Negotiating freelance rates with clients can be notoriously difficult. There have been several times recently where I’ve had to discuss my day rate against the project the client is offering, trying to find ground where we’re both happy with the rate. So when I received this email from Laura, we got into a great discussion … Read more
I’ve been thinking recently that a lot of the success that I’ve had as a freelancer to date is that I’ve position myself as more of a consultant and less of a freelancer. Freelance work tends to be transactional, where you’re delivering directly on a service that a client had asked you to provide – … Read more
The good people at Time Doctor have given me access to an account, so I can try out their time tracking software for Freelancers. This is a sponsored post, but the Time Doctor team have given me complete editorial freedom, so I can write what I like.
Just to add to the fun, I’ve used Time Doctor to track how long it took me to write this post. Scroll to the end to find out how long it took.
London coworking spaces are popping up everywhere, as shown by this map from coworkinglondon.com. But the nature of coworking itself is changing, as shown by rising prices, the "niche-ing" of spaces, the increase in established companies opting for coworking spaces, and the bigger office retail companies opening up coworking spaces – either under a sub-brand or … Read more
Calin from Freelance Business Guide invited me to contribute to his Freelance Inspiration Infographic and I was more than happy to help inspire other freelancers on their journey. Being called a "leading freelancer" was a great compliment, given the other names appearing alongside me on the infographic. The likes of Sara Horowitz, Justin Jackson and Paul … Read more
Travel Selfie by Seth Eckert As a freelancer and small business owner, I find it vitally important to take a regular step back and look at what I’ve been working on for the past year, to help shape the year ahead. I’ve had my head so buried in work in recent months that it’s taken … Read more