The Jelly Reading List

  Jelly is the new iPhone and Android app from Twitter co-founder, Biz Stone. The basic premise is of "loosely distributed networks of people coordinating via Jelly to help each other." Here’s their video to explain more: I’ve been playing around with the app this morning and found the experience a mix of Instagram and … Read more

Tweetbot, Pocket and Reading It All Later

I love being productive and the feeling that comes from getting the right work done at the right time. A recent productivity hack I’ve been following is to save all reading – including articles, newsletter and books – to outside of work hours, when I have downtime and can concentrate on the material. There have … Read more

Find Freelance Work in the Summer Slump

Finding freelance work can be difficult during the summer months. When school is out and the kids are at home many clients take time off for their holidays, meaning new projects and work is put on hold until the autumn. There’s a reason why freelancers call it the "summer slump". But finding freelance work while … Read more

How to build long-term client relationships as a freelancer

How to build long-term client relationships is a follow up to yesterday’s post on finding freelance work in the summer slump, and a longer term goal to write more about freelancing in general. I’ve written quite a bit about what I’ve learned from freelancing, but if there’s any topics you want to cover just let … Read more

Personal and Professional Development for Freelancers: Learn More to Earn More

When you first go freelance, you’re likely going to build your business on your existing skill set and knowledge. Whether you’re a freelance photographer, web designer or writer, you will have built up the confidence to go freelance as you know you are good – no, excellent – in a particular field. But after a … Read more

Freelance Consultant Rates: How To Work Out Your Hourly, Daily or Project Rate

One of the main things people ask before they go freelance is how to work out their freelance consultant rate. Setting your freelance consultant rates is difficult. Set your day rate too low and you have to work longer and harder to make a decent income. Set your day rate too high and you risk putting … Read more

Self-publishing a book on freelancing in 100 days

"Self-publishing

Freelance in 30 Days is the first book I’ve written. It’s self-published and I wrote and published the 200-page book in around 100 days, starting late August and finishing in early December.

Along the way I’ve learnt a lot about the self-publishing process and gathered lots of information about how to make it work for you.

Here’s my experience on what worked and what didn’t go so well in the self-publishing journey.

Read more

How social media has changed and how you can benefit

"how

Social media has changed a lot over the past few years and continues to changes at a rapid pace.

As a freelance social media consultant, it’s my job to keep up to date with those developments – from a trend and strategic view, right down to a macro and tactical level.

So when an old friend who I worked with at a digital agency got in touch to find out what has changed in social media over the past few years, as he was looking to get back into social media consulting, I was happy to help him and answer his questions.

Read more

2015 Year in Review

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