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How to finish completed freelance projects the right way

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 08:12:05 -0400

How to finish completed freelance projects the right way:

We put a lot of effort into starting projects; from nurturing prospects through to agreeing terms and requirements. But what about when projects are completed – how do you wrap up and complete projects?

In order to keep a good relationship and possibly win future business with the customer, doing a project hand over is just as important as the project start.

What to include in the hand over….

Why you might be loosing sales, and not even know it

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 05:52:33 -0400

Why you might be loosing sales, and not even know it:

So you have a web site, and the web site has a nice Contact Us page, and maybe you have even done some extensive A/B version testing to see what layout will get the most enquiries. That’s all great, but….

Freelancer, why you need to eat your own cat food

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 05:03:05 -0400

Freelancer, why you need to eat your own cat food:

I am sure that in the last 12 months, you will have received many emails offering web design or SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) services. I am sure that like me, you deleted the majority of them as soon as you spotted the term SEO in the header or text. But did you ever see one or two that made you stop and think if you should be doing more on with your web site?

Are you planning for your freelance future? Why you must act now, before its too late!

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 05:48:39 -0400

Are you planning for your freelance future? Why you must act now, before its too late!:

PostHeaderIcon Are you planning for your freelance future? Why you must act now, before its too late!
PostDateIcon June 19th, 2012 | PostEditIcon Edit

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attended a freelancing workshop with about 120 other freelancers. This workshop covered all kinds of subjects, from legal issues, to finding work, to working with agents and also finance. It was an ‘advanced’ workshop – all the subjects were based around the assumption you had been freelancing for a while, so the presentations and discussions covered the more advanced aspects (such as better haggling with agents/clients/bank managers, dealing with difficult legal issues, expansions, overseas markets, etc).

As part of the freelancing discussions around finance, there was a general question asked – who in the group was planning for the ‘end game’? The definition of an end game was left open – it could be retirement, or selling the business or emigration or even returning back to the (shud

A seriously useful tool for grabbing data from the web

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 05:42:28 -0400

A seriously useful tool for grabbing data from the web:

A lot of the tools I use today are web/cloud based. This is great in terms of functionality/flexibility, but can prove problematic when I want to transfer or quickly capture data.

Why is ok if your business is not growing!

Tue, 29 May 2012 06:14:12 -0400

Why is ok if your business is not growing!:

Over the weekend I met up with another small business owner and we got chatting over a few beers. He was slightly depressed about the state of his business, and that fact in the last two years he had seen no growth. Nothing. Zilch. Zip. His turnover and profits for 2011 and 2010 were almost identical to 2009.This made him nervous, because everybody was talking about growth. New customers, new was of selling, new products, new price structures grow, grow, grow was the key messages he was seeing. To stay static was to stagnate and die.

How a freelancer can stay productive in a noisy office

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:52:57 -0400

How a freelancer can stay productive in a noisy office:

Whilst it can be good to rub shoulders with other people (saves going stir crazy at home), one of the problems that a busy freelancer can face is the distraction of office talk. Who is going out with whom, what happened at last nights party, and what happened in the program that was on TV last night.All of this can be very distracting when you are desperate to complete a project and get the invoices raised.

How a freelancer can stay productive in a noisy office

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:49:13 -0400

How a freelancer can stay productive in a noisy office:

Why its good that my freelance business is struggling to make ends meet

Mon, 21 May 2012 05:49:27 -0400

Why its good that my freelance business is struggling to make ends meet:

I have a confession for you: for the last couple of months, I have been having a real struggle to make both my company current account and my own personal account balance. At the end of both March and April, I have really come close to running out of money. For instance in April, I only had 12 left over in my personal account from the start of the month to the receipt of the April pay cheque.But you know what. I love it. These two months have caused worry, caused stress, and at times it has caused panic. But it has been really useful.

How long are your quotations valid for? Why 30 days IS BAD!

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 04:41:45 -0400

How long are your quotations valid for? Why 30 days IS BAD!:

A question for you: When you look back at your historical quotations, estimates and proposals, is it clear on the documents how long the figures are valid for?

Put it another way, what happens if a prospect from a few years ago knocks on your door and expects you to honour the quotation you produced which is based on your 2006 prices? Do you honour it, or do you expect that you can refresh the quotation with the current prices and everybody will be happy?

How I made extra free freelance money from a late paying customer

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 05:28:26 -0400

How I made extra free freelance money from a late paying customer:

Last week, my business made £1,180 from a customer without doing any work. All it took was for this particular customer to pay their invoices late. This one customer was over 80 days late in their payment, and the amount was large.

Making a freelance or small business decision? A product Launch? Who is checking your numbers?

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:53:11 -0400

Making a freelance or small business decision? A product Launch? Who is checking your numbers?:

When working with my customers, most of the products I deliver are based around Business Intelligence. I provide tools for them to perform quick analysis by dragging selection criteria (in the form of column names) into windows, and selecting which information they want to report – the tools then crunch large amounts of data and produce answers in the form of tables, graphs and trend plots. Using such tools, they can quickly report on anything from yearly turnover, number of patients seen in a hospital, or breakdown of budget verses actual figures.

But what if they (or the system) gets the answer wrong?

How to create a regular and useful freelancers/contractors newsletter that works

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:06:20 -0400

How to create a regular and useful freelancers/contractors newsletter that works:

One of the things that has been playing on my mind for the last couple of years has been newsletters. I have read many books, read many blogs and heard many presenters talk about how a newsletter can keep you in a customers/prospects mind. Yes, it all sounds great, but why would anybody want to read a newsletter about my small insignificant company? I mean, ‘breaking news – we have a new pot plant’ just seemed so ridiculous. Yet people go on and on about having a newsletter.

Last week I had a breakthrough, thanks to a fellow freelancer who I met at a technical seminar. Over lunch we got chatting about freelancing, about the time drain that is ‘social media’ and then about newsletters. He said that newsletters had generated a lot of business for him – so I asked what he did.

The best way to land the business – use the right question

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:44:11 -0400

The best way to land the business – use the right question:

In my house, we have a wooden plaque with our coat of arms – a merged coat of arms created from my wife’s family crest and my own (with a few whimsical touches thrown in for good measure to make it “us”). On this plaque there are two phrases included which are our family mottos (me and my wife – not our historical family’s).

Every so often, my 10 year old daughter looks at the plaque, runs her fingers over the crest and words, and repeats the phrases to herself – fascinated by their meaning (which we explained when she was very little).

Freelancers – What is your minimum duration for work and why its CRITICAL you know

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 04:58:49 -0500

Freelancers – What is your minimum duration for work and why its CRITICAL you know:

Time is a strange thing. Its said that it’s the only thing that cannot be bought, that we all have the same quantity of, and that is only valued when we run out of it. For freelancers, it may also be the one thing that we can easy forget to control.

I am sure as a freelancer and/or small business owner, you have everything buttoned down in terms of your rates, your price lists and your product prices. But what about time? Have you set your limits regarding time?

That greener grass may be plastic – Top 10 things to check when you take over a freelance project

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 04:52:48 -0500

That greener grass may be plastic – Top 10 things to check when you take over a freelance project:

Something strange is going on this year. I have been asked to provide either guidance or estimations for taking over more ‘failed’ projects from other freelancers or companies than any other year. This week alone, I have been contacted by no less than six companies asking for estimations for taking over projects.

Now don’t get me wrong, gaining work from other peoples mistakes or failed efforts is just as good as winning new work. But what makes any of us believe that we can do a better job than the last freelancer or company?

Almost painless late payment chasing with FreeAgent – how to set it up

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 04:56:50 -0500

Almost painless late payment chasing with FreeAgent – how to set it up:

A few months ago I talked about the different emails I use for chasing late payers. Judging by the interest this post received, it seems that late payers are becoming more and more of a problem for freelancers and small business owners.

As regular readers will know, I am an advocate of using cloud based accounting software – and my choice for this type of service is FreeAgent.

As I received so much interest in the late payment email templates, and a few questions on how I set up automatic chasing of late payers, I thought I would today share how I set up Freeagent to do the escalation for me.

How to move forward in freelancing by cutting the chains that hold you back

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 04:27:38 -0500

How to move forward in freelancing by cutting the chains that hold you back:

One of the things I find most annoying about the Internet is that it’s constantly changing. Resources come, resources go, Google changes its rules, new social media appears, web services are created, and just as fast – things disappear. I have lost count of the number of blogs, feeds, twitter uses I have subscribed to which have just…. faded away.

They don’t end, or stop, or conclude – they just…. fade.

Three questions you MUST ask at the end of every freelance or contract job

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 06:50:15 -0500

Three questions you MUST ask at the end of every freelance or contract job:

Whenever I come to the end of a freelance job or contract role, there are two things I do. The first is to create a summary report of work performed and suggested next actions (which can really help to land more work with the same customer). The second thing I do is to ask by email, three simple questions.

I prefer to ask the questions of the most senior person involved on the project by email. Being able to answer by email means they have time to think about the answers , and also means you will get more honest answers than having to tell you to your face.

The answers to the first two questions help shape my working practices and style for future work. The last one is there to scope out any more work with other companies.

The three questions I always ask (and the email I send out) are as follows:

Let’s be honest about Late Paying customers. What is a Freelancer REALLY to do?

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 04:57:37 -0500

Let’s be honest about Late Paying customers. What is a Freelancer REALLY to do?:

Late payers can kill your company. There is nothing worse than having completed work, and having to nag, chase and threaten a client in order for them to pay their bills. Whilst they sit back withholding your money, your own bank balance reduces and panic can set in.

There is lots of advice available on the web about what to do about late payers for Freelancers, Contractors and Small Business. I myself have talked before about various ways of dealing with late payers. But a lot of this advice is not being honest about the real world, and how business really happens. So let’s all put aside the make believe situations, and talk about what you can REALLY do about late payers.