In the corporate world, it’s easy to track positive mobility in your career. You could get a promotion (a move upward to a position of higher rank or pay), or laterally to a position of similar rank, but with different tasks or projects. Advancement in a freelancing career is not so easy to track, possibly because we each have different definitions of what a freelance “promotion” consists of.
Here are some ways you can climb the freelance career ladder: Read the rest of this entry »
There are many symptoms of a stagnant freelancing career. They include boredom, complacency, apathy and the inability to picture what your work should be like a year from now. If you can relate to these symptoms, then it’s time to face facts: you’re stuck. Additionally, you need to do something to get unstuck.
So how can you get a stagnant career moving again?
Know where you want to be. Sometimes, the reason behind a stagnant career is that you don’t know what you want. This doesn’t mean that you’re indecisive, but maybe you didn’t give ourselves the chance to plan. Read the rest of this entry »
Ever heard the phrase “Spend less than you earn?” Personally, I like to take it a notch higher and spend much, much less than I earn. I can’t help it. I think I’m frugal by nature and that contributes a lot to my feeling of security with online work.
Frugality and web working go hand in hand, especially in a tough economy. Even if you find your business thriving, the cost of commodities tends to go up and some clients might unexpectedly close up shop. I also find that frugality comes with freedom — any extra money I can set aside goes to fund new opportunities or allows me to take some time off.
So whether the economy is struggling or thriving, it’s still a good idea to keep your expenses as low as possible, without sacrificing the quality of your work or your life. Here are some things you can do to keep the cost of web working as low as possible:
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Many freelancers I know, including myself, have outsourced tasks to subcontractors at least once. From a virtual assistant to the odd “extra hand” you hire from time to time, it’s common to have someone else help you with a project. Doing so makes you more productive, and it allows you to take on large projects that you can’t handle yourself.
Still, it’s tough to keep an effective relationship between the primary contractor (you) and the subcontractor (your hired help). Subcontractors can make mistakes that interrupt your workflow, hurt the project, or altogether defeat the purpose of hiring them.
So, what are these subcontractor mistakes you need to watch out for? Read the rest of this entry »
When we took our first steps in this world, our feet were unsure and our legs were struggling. The same could be said for freelancers who are venturing onto the web working path for the first time. There are bound to be mistakes and struggles on the way, making us feel that we aren’t ready to go pro yet.
It’s good to remember that everyone has felt like that at least once in their career. Almost all freelancers have a story to tell about the mistakes they made and what they could have done to avoid them. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s only a couple of weeks before 2009 arrives, but are you ready for it? While it’s true that December is an arbitrary choice to plan for the incoming year, it’s still a good time to be mindful of what might lie ahead for web workers come January. What changes will there be and what can we do to adapt?
Learn how to collaborate with people who are less tech savvy than we are. As online collaboration becomes more commonplace, we’ll be working with some people who aren’t up to speed with the most practical Web 2.0 tools for their needs. Knowing how to communicate with them effectively while bridging the tech gap will be a priceless skill.
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When I was a freshman art student, there came a day when I realized that my favorite paint colors were running out. The problem was that I didn’t have the money to replace them. No ultramarine blue, cadmium yellows, or alizarin crimson. I was stuck with greens and opaque browns. I didn’t like these colors and I dreaded using them.
For a couple of days, I was like a parasite in art class, going from classmate to classmate, asking them if I could have a drop of this color or that. After all, I didn’t want to use the colors that remained in my toolbox. I’d rather deal with the embarrassment of begging.
Then came the turning point: I realized that the reason why I didn’t like those colors was not because I hated the way they looked. I hated them because I didn’t know how to use them. With those colors, my paintings sucked. Knowing this now, should I keep begging for the colors that fit in my comfort zone, or should I dare to use the more difficult colors?
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During my creative writing classes in college, many of my classmates dreaded the workshops. These workshops required us to send each other a copy of our work, then, the following week, we’d tear each other apart. We used to spend hours spotting mixed metaphors, grammatical errors, and lack of characterization. One of my professors would even bring in two established authors to help facilitate in the literary carnage. Many people cried.
I, on the other hand, looked forward to these workshops. I believe that this was the activity that gave me the best preparation for web working. Like those workshops, online freelance work tends to be a public affair. Your blog posts, design work, marketing efforts, and most of your business output is done where the public can see them. In a way, you’re putting your work in front of a firing squad.
Believe it or not, this is a great thing.
Criticism is the best way to see the flaws you’ve overlooked in your work, especially when you’re not expecting it (through an email from a random site visitor, for example). It’s very easy to overlook your own mistakes since your mind is so familiar with what you’re doing. But, as web workers, the platform we use for our work isn’t just in our minds – it’s on the computer screen. Sometimes, there’s a discrepancy between what we’re trying to do and what we actually did.
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Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
