Including free or “freemium” elements in online software and products has become the norm. There are several existing discussions about this business model, some questioning its effects on the industry, others touting its success. Whatever opinion you may have, freemium is the model commonly adopted by web app software startups. In fact, most of their users probably expect it.
This trend is not exclusive to web app startups, however. Even freelancers seem to apply some aspects of this model to their services. Let’s take a look at how it’s done and how to make it pay off. Read the rest of this entry »
In a previous post, I explored the differences between freelancers who monetize just one professional skill and those who sell multiple skills. If you’re the latter kind, and market yourself as a copywriter/designer/consultant/etc., then you’ve probably faced this dilemma: Should you sell all your services through one storefront or have several? Is just one blog or web site enough, or should you create separate sites for each service you offer?
I found myself contemplating these questions recently, and I’ve realized that there are advantages and disadvantages to both options. Read the rest of this entry »
Online freelancers are forced to wear many hats. From the actual work you do, to administrative and support skills, you’re responsible for everything.
It doesn’t stop there. You need to learn how to write well, so you can communicate better with our clients and have more persuasive copy on our web sites. You need to have some SEO skills, too. Learning these skills is much easier now than it was 10 years ago. There are hundreds of online tutorials, e-books and other resources that we can turn to.
As you use these new skills, you’ll eventually become good at them. In fact, sometimes you become good enough to ask yourself, “Should I try to do this professionally?” Read the rest of this entry »
I was recently shocked to discover that a friend of mine who is quite a few years (and jobs) into a successful career in engineering sales not only doesn’t use any kind of customer relationship management (CRM) system or application, but actually had never heard the term! When I described what a CRM system does, he said, “You mean like the padfolio where I write stuff down and keep business cards?”
It’s hard to say he’s going about things the wrong way, because he’s never been fired, but I strongly believe that some kind of CRM software would help him a lot in his work, and single him out as a progressively-minded individual with his employers. There are so many easy-to-use, free options out there, you’d have trouble not finding a good solution. Recently, I tried out Funnela, and I think it has something to offer people like my friend.
Like Relenta, another CRM app I recently covered, Funnela makes simplicity its main selling point. It offers the basics, and little else, which is great for a beginner. There are some minor language issues, since Funnela comes from a Polish developer, but these minor quirks don’t interfere with the app’s usability. Read the rest of this entry »
All this time that I’ve been a freelancer, I always blindly accepted real-time customer support as a fact of freelancing life. I just have to be accessible to clients whenever they have any questions, want clarifications, or need an explanation about the things I’m doing. Even if I’m not the one who’s always handling customer support, someone’s time is wasted by answering the same questions and explaining the same things over and over. And that is never a good thing.
But if something is repetitive, then it can be automated. How can we make our clients better informed so that they don’t ask us the same questions repeatedly? I believe that the following 5 documents can help:
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First time freelancers make the mistake of accepting every single job that comes their way. I made this mistake, and there’s a good chance that you did too. Who can blame us? Freelance income isn’t stable, especially when you’re starting out. We tend to think that we should accept all the job offers we can get today – because there might be none tomorrow.
Sometimes, however, the jobs we take end up costing us instead of giving us profits. What we intended as another step in our career only becomes a lesson we shouldn’t have learned the hard way. How do we identify these problematic jobs and what can we do about them?
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Can the internet public know more about you than you would like? According to an article at New Scientist, there’s a company that uses software to analyze blogs and forum posts to find out a blogger’s age, gender, and interests. Web workers who are avid users of Twitter also let the public know what they’re up to most of the day. Here at WWD, we also discussed the lack of privacy of the average web user when it comes to their browsing activity.
How do we maintain privacy when we work on such a public platform?
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Before the recent boxing match between Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao, De La Hoya’s trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr., decided not to train De La Hoya for the fight. He had this to say:
Oscar doesn’t need me to beat Pacquiao. He really doesn’t. For this fight, Oscar can beat Pacquiao with just about anyone training him… Ain’t no way Pacquiao can beat Oscar. No way.
At that time, it seemed like Mayweather had every reason to say that. Pacquiao was much shorter and usually competed at lower weight divisions. He didn’t have the experience that Oscar had.
Which was why the outcome of the match was a shock to almost everyone, with Pacquiao beating Oscar with a technical knock out before the ninth round. Oscar just didn’t have the physical disposition to finish the match.
I bet Mayweather is eating his words now.
What does this have to do with web working? Did you ever enter a contest, submit a proposal, or take on a challenge thinking that there was no way you could lose – and yet you did? It happens to many freelancers I know, including myself. We can be so confident with our own skills that we fail to see our faults, and they inevitably trip us up in the end.
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Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
