Dang It!

The Become a Smart and Effective Freelancer course was due for launch on July 1st… But time ran out for me this month! It’s been a hectic mêlée of juggling several projects on the go so I decided to push the launch of this course out so that I can make sure I don’t rush it and deliver top quality content.

Become a Smart and Effective Freelancer will now launch on August 1st 2009!

The Become a Smart and Effective Freelancer Course Outline

When you complete the objectives of this course, you will have mastered…

• How To Use Learning to Enhance Your Freelance Business and Boost Profits
• How To Enjoy Quality Feedback
• How To Use Feedback to Optimize Your Business for Customer Satisfaction and Increase Profits
• How To Assess New Opportunities and Destroy Threats to Your Freelance Business
• How To Build a Customer-Centric Business Change Strategy

SPECIAL OFFER!

Receive a 50% Discount off Become a Smart and Effective Freelancer by pre-registering your request for the Free Course Overview! Just fill out the form below:

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

One of the hotly debated topics between freelancer and customer is the issue of rate escalation. Customers don’t want to pay more; they’re savvy enough to know that if you provide services year-on-year, you haven’t been subjected to marketing costs to land the gig. Nevertheless, your costs go up with inflation. What do you do?

If you’re not in the fixed-price project game (rather, you offer your knowledge and expertise as a service) then you’ll know that it is a tough game to increase your price in accordance with your costs. You want to achieve the same profit margin. You may also want to re-price the gig if you low-balled to start with (possibly to prove your capability and lower the risk to your customer). You inevitably have to raise the subject with your customer, and it’s often a nervous occasion that can also be explosive. It’s amazing, though, that 88% of freelancers I surveyed don’t include escalation rates into the pricing of the deal. In other words, the expectation that rates will increase, year-on-year, is never set. So no wonder it goes down like a sack of shit.

Firstly, it’s a Reasonable Request!

Customers should be used to paying escalating fuel bills. Wages go up most years (I say MOST, perhaps not during recession) and business rates (premises tax) go up too. So why should your customer expect you to provide services at the same rate every year? Fascinatingly, they often do. But who can blame them? If they can deter your rate increases, it saves their organization money. So it’s in their interest to use whatever levers they can to deter it (although not always resist it – they still need to buy your services, after all). Such levers might be a play on your relationship, or perhaps a reminder of ‘the prevailing economic conditions’, or maybe even quote some fictitious company policy (I’ve seen it done!) It is a negotiation, through and through. And often a heavy one.

You Might Avoid Such Heavy Negotiations…

The solution is to create that expectation, right up front. This may cause a stir in your customer, and may even put them off somewhat, but it’s much better to be totally transparent about it rather than wait until you stick another contract in front of your customer. Your relationship (I would expect) is to be based on trust, and with trust comes transparency.

And when it’s time to renew a contract, make it clear beforehand that your price is going up. I advise you to make this very explicit when conversations about your contract are under way, perhaps not to the point of obsession, but don’t leave any doubt that rates will be changing. The ‘Business Planning’ process in most companies involves lengthy discussions on budgets, and this process often happens annually around the same time. For one customer, the process begins in July where business plans and budget are set for the following calendar year (the fiscal year). Now, if I was to leave the conversation about rate increases once July is through, then my customer (if they were to accept my increase) will already be set to overspend before the fiscal year even begins!

So to avoid an angry (or reluctant) customer, make sure you a) find out the annual business planning cycle, and b) warn of your (agreed) rate escalation before the process begins.

What escalation rate should you use?

This largely depends on  your industry. The most common rate is the  inflation rate of your currency, but this doesn’t always work. Some industries are very sensitive to price fluctuations in raw materials such as metals and the cost of oil.

Alternatives to inflation may be suitable. Consider, instead, using your country’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) which is the average price increase of retail items such as food, clothing, household fuel bills, etc, which is probably the most appropriate if you work from home.

It’s really something to discuss with your client as your choice has implications for both of you. Inflation and CPI vary at different rates and at different values. In 2009, inflation went to below 1%, although negative inflation (‘deflation’) rarely happens due to government intervention. CPI, however, is a more ‘truthful’ view of how costs change, particularly for a freelancer, and can dip below 0% into negative – as indeed it has in 2009. So an escalation rate that mirrors or tracks CPI could mean that you actually lower your rates instead of increasing them.

What if your customer doesn’t like, or agree to, the increase?

Put simply, you have gained a choice. You can choose to not increase your rate and accept lower profit for the next year, or walk away. And your choice is at the right time – not moments before renewal. At least this way you have an opportunity to close the gig off on the right terms and not burn all your bridges. Besides, in about 50% of cases, customers eventually accept your increase before the gig is over because they can’t replace you.

The disasterous alternative is to leave it to last minute to attempt an increase in your rate – and I’ve seen it dozens of times – customers think you’re trying to ‘have them over a barrel’ and respond irrationally… they tell you to piss off.

In Summary…

One thing for sure is if you don’t set the expectation that rates will change as the economic conditions change, it will be a surprise to your customers (whether it’s genuine or an act of pretense). If you avoid the conversation because you fear a backlash, then you’re consigned to the said surprise, or instead you’ll be impacting your profit margin year-on-year as you keep your rates the same.

Only when you’re clear and upfront will you be able to negotiate and engage on the subject. If you don’t know your customer sufficiently well to gauge how they will react, then it really is time you found out!

In recognition of this quandry, I will soon be launching a course designed for freelancers that gives you the method and tools for obtaining and responding to customer conflict and feedback:

Become A Smart and Effective Freelancer

All I can say right now is that this course gives you all you need to engage your customers smarter and build transparency and trust. It will launch in August 2009 to a limited number of freelancers – only 50 places will be available at launch.

Pre-registration will be available soon, so subscribe to my RSS feed and find out when!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

All organizations have culture. Culture is intangible, and a description of the default behaviors, tendencies and styles of its workforce. Your freelance organization is no different, but what is your ‘culture’?

Many organizations have ‘strong’ cultures that set them apart from others. We can look to Dr. Fathi El-Nadi (who writes his article ‘Examples Of Strong Corporate Cultures’ ) for some examples:

• Wal-Mart. Founder Sam Walton’s concern and respect for staff from the foundation of the company creates an environment of trust that persists to this day. Walton met staff, calling them by their first name and encouraged change to maintain the competitive edge. To this day, staff think about “how Sam would have done it”.
• Southwest Airlines. Its relaxed culture can be traced back to unconventional CEO Herb Kelleher, who encourages informality and wants staff to have fun at their jobs. Employees are valued, with Kelleher acknowledging births, marriages and deaths by notes and cards. Staff are encouraged to pitch in and help out, especially at check-in, giving Southwest turnaround times less than half the industry average.
• Hewlett Packard. Problems several years ago encouraged HP to change its culture; staff are required to formulate three personal and three professional goals each year, and are encouraged to cheer those that meet them, such as getting away early to be with family. Two years into the program, HP reports no loss in productivity despite staff working shorter hours and there is an increased staff retention rate. The program has been marked by the extent to which managers bought in, and modeled it in their personal lives.

The first two are examples where the founders have a heavy influence on the culture. Their organizations are created in their image, if you like. The organizations’ cultures reflect the principles, behaviours and style of their leaders. This is true for your ‘organization’ too – your freelance business.

Let’s face it – it’s unlikely that you’re going to create a business that isn’t akin to how you like to behave, and work. Why would you intentionally create a workplace that doesn’t fit you? If you did, you’d be crazy! But have you considered that this is a truism? Does your organization reflect your personality as you see it? More importantly, what do your customers think about your business… and what (in turn) does this say about you?

Laura Spencer (who I think is a great writer at the excellent blog FreelanceFolder.com ) tells us that in her long experience as a freelancer, she has seen 10 different freelancer types that have a strong effect on how business is done.

Laura says:

It can be fun and helpful to examine these freelancing personality types. Often times your freelancing personality type can show what makes you act the way you do as a freelancer.

Laura takes a light-hearted view – this analysis gives us a general view of the effect of personality rather than being a rule – although consider the point I made above: what do your customers see, and then infer about you as a person?

Well I hope to help you answer that question soon so you can understand how your customers view you and your business with the principle benefits being:

• Increased Customer Satisfaction and Engagement
• Increased Profits
• Lower Operating Costs
• Lower Business Risk
• Your Satisfaction and Increased Confidence
• Services Tuned and Optimized for Your Market
• Less Work, More Play

As a freelancer, it’s YOUR personality and behaviors that define, to what extent, how you achieve the above. They’re in YOUR hands! If you don’t know how your customers or associates perceive you, then how will you be effective in realizing them? Only by understanding how the world sees you will you know, and have choices how to respond. In this case, ignorance is NOT bliss…

As I said, it’s in your hands. However, sometimes we don’t know where to start! In recognition of this dilimma, I will soon be launching a course designed for freelancers that gives you the method and tools for obtaining and responding to customer feedback:

Become A Smart and Effective Freelancer

All I can say right now is that this course gives you all you need to realize the benefits above by engaging your customers smarter. It will launch in August 2009 to a limited number of freelancers – only 50 places will be available at launch.

Pre-registration will be available soon, so subscribe to my RSS feed and find out when!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Creating a successful IT freelancer business is not an easy prospect, at least to start with, and the stress of keeping the business moving forward (and doing all the admin tasks) is compounded when you’re not sure when your next invoice will be paid or where your next gig comes from. Does it need to be a brown-trouser moment?

Heck, you got out of corporate-ville for a reason – you want to be in control and probably earn stacks of cash whilst you do, but your penalty is the uncertainty and effort you need to put in, often during unsociable hours.

However, it doesn’t need to be difficult if you follow some basic steps and your common sense which will keep you sane and your head level as a successful IT freelancer.

Be Upfront With Everyone Right From The Start – Be upfront with everyone you associate with (friends, family, customers and associates) that you’re a freelancer and your job is to earn revenue to keep the business moving. Spend as much time as you need to explain that you will focusing on your business, especially when you’re launching it, and that you will be devoting a lot of time to building it up. You’re making a commitment, and you need their support.

It’s important to be crystal clear that your intentions are to build a successful business – not line your pockets or act as a charity. Share your view of timeframes and key events which you are working to, and make sure that people understand that during those key events you won’t have time for anything else.

Keep Your Expenses As Low As You Can – Your income is going to be unpredictable! Some months will be bear with very little coming in, and then some will also feel like bumper months. It’s important to avoid spending too much during those bumper months, as your next one maybe arid! So don’t go and blow cash on a new iPod because your bank balance increased by more than the usual monthly amount.

It take discipline to view income as a long-term benefit and keep your costs low whilst you can predict how the money will be spent or pay your taxes.

Plan To Make Considerably More Than Your Target Income – You’ve got to aim high as in reality it’s rare to earn more money than you expected to. If you need $4,000 per month to cover business expenses and your personal income, then aim much higher – say $10,000. So your sales and prospecting activities need to target $10,000 in order to ensure that when reality bites, you can cover the bills and your income.

When you predict revenues that barely cover your expenses you will inevitably have to lower your expenses or take less income during bare months.

Look For ‘Cross-Sells’– Getting a foot in the door is a prized outcome for salespeople. Making an initial sale often leads to more sales of complimentary or higher value products. Why should you be any different? One you have built a stable relationship with a customer, begin to look for opportunities to cross-sell other services to your client. This could be anything from simply more of what you are currently contracted to delivery (OK, not strictly a cross-sell) to selling in the services of an associate, which you could take a small cut or fee from. Use the fact that you have already sold to your advantage.

Be A Savage Invoicer – As a permie, you wouldn’t take crap from your boss if your salary was late. Would you? So why accept excuses and breaking of your payment terms from your customers? As a freelancer, cashflow is king. You must be totally ruthless in holding your customers to their payment terms and chasing every invoice, even if you have to pay someone to help you do it for a while. Once a customer is allowed to slip once, then they’re much more likely to slip again. [See my other article on chasing invoices here.]

Plan Your Week, Ahead – There is an old proverb ‘He who fails to plan, plans to fail.’ Just because you’re an independent freelancer, it doesn’t mean this won’t apply to you! I’ve found it easier, in fact, to slip on projects if you don’t have a boss supervising you. The result: a disappointed customer, and no repeat business.

It’s a simple remedy: create a weekly schedule of activities where you’ll track your projects, report to customers, create and send invoices, etc. And stick to it! Without the discipline to stay on plan, you’re putting your business at risk.

Another side-effect of being more rigorous in your planning is that you have greater visibility of how much time administration activities take, giving you a choice to a) stay as you are, b) make them more efficient by improving your process or finding tools to help you, or c) outsource them entirely. Having the knowledge gives you the option.

Minimize Loafing – Permies have some leeway in how much non-productive time they can spend. You must have done it, or seen it: it’s the browsing the web during the lunch, or chatting about the game last night to your colleagues. Not all time in the work place is productive. As a freelancer, this time – loafing – is at your cost. Because you won’t be getting paid for it. The occasional ‘five minutes’ can add up to many hours during a week, and it’s these hours that are burnt income. This isn’t the same as taking a break – it’s important to factor in down-time during your day to recharge batteries – this is the wasted time you lose due to being distracted.

It’s much easier to be distracted at home due to your home comforts, TV, and the trappings of hobbies. Just as Drew Douglass says in ‘Mistakes I Made as a Freelance Web Developer and How To Avoid Them’ :

just because we work from home doesn’t mean that we should act like we are at home all the time

You have to monitor what distracts you – is it the TV? The Radio? Your favorite porn-site? Tweet alerts from TweetDeck? Whatever it is, if it’s causing you to loaf then quit it before it costs you dearly!

Important: make sure you record all the time you spend on projects so you can accurately bill your customers; you need to know how much time you’re really spending on different projects to manage your time properly. If this is a current nightmare for you, consider using a physical device which makes the whole things easier, like these from AlliedTime.com.

Choose The Right Projects at the Right Time – Once your business gets off the ground and, with good tidings, customers are coming to you (rather than you chasing work), you will have choices in which projects you do, and when. Often, you will be delivering more than one project at the same time. It’s real important to focus on the right project at the right time. It’s tempting to keep switching between projects on a whim, but the process of switching mode absorbs a lot more time than you might realize and the outcome is reduced productivity. So it’s an absolute must to choose projects that are ‘congruent’, that is, have common aspects that enable you to optimize your delivery. For example, two concurrent projects where one is based on the West Coast, and the other on the East Coast won’t allow you to travel between customer sites often and easily.

Complete and Finish – I am not a natural Completer-Finisher. This puts me at a disadvantage. As a Freelancer, you don’t get paid until the job is done (generally speaking). So not pushing a project to completion and starting another means that you won’t get your invoice honored. I have to really push myself to complete a project so I can get the bill out. Finish… and get paid!

Be Courageous in Calling Out a Bad Project, as a Bad Project – Sometimes, a project doesn’t go to plan. Maybe your customer has changed their minds too often, or you’re not equipped to deliver like you thought you were. Your heart might not be in it. For whatever reason, some projects just don’t happen in the way you expected, and it’s a courageous freelancer who puts a project on hold to rectify the problem.

Here’s the thing – not calling this out hurts you more in the long-run. Why? Well these projects tend to cost you more, they don’t deliver to customer’s requirements, they damage your reputation, they damage your confidence, and they’re NOT FUN. Mustering the courage to call this out in order to correct it is the best thing you can do. Sometimes, you just have to drop the project all together. Or a crisis talk with your customer is an opportunity to make essential changes. Better late, than never.

Do YOU Have Any More Tips?

Have you discovered an essential tip that enabled you to build your freelance business? Share it by telling us YOUR story…

“For the very best employee time clocks to help increase your business productivity, look to AlliedTime“

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Here is a book that tells you all you need to get set up as a freelancer…

Recession and economic turblulence is forcing many IT professionals to reconsider their future. Many are turning to freelancing as a way of regaining control of their future and putting some certainty back into their lives. It’s a simple principle of being ones own boss, and being in control of decisions and destiny.

The great thing about becoming a freelancer is that YOU choose what work you undertake, generally. Notwithstanding periods where work dries up, a freelancer has a choice of which projects they undertake. Sometimes this choice is driven purely by financial benefits, but it’s also commonly driven by location, technology and (emerging as a important factor) the philosophies of customers.

(I will soon be publishing an article on factoring, and why it is becoming even more important in customer engagement and pricing – subscribe to my RSS Feed to be alerted when…)

Your First Big Challenge: Getting Started

The benefits of freelancing are tremendous, but how do you get to the point to actually begin realizing those benefits?

Most freelancers that ‘fail’ do so because they don’t get started properly. Thing is – you gotta walk before you can run. The nature of freelancing is that it’s you – just you – so who is going to support you in getting started? It’s rare you find a freelancer who bought an operating business off the shelf. Freelancers must go through the pain of starting up.

Getting started is a multi-dimensional problem…

• You have to create a business
• You have to get a place to work
• You need equipment
• You need to have a proposition that potential customers buy in to
• You need to market yourself
• You have admin to do
• You need to deliver
• You need to get paid to generate cashflow
• You need to build relationships with customers and suppliers

The list goes on! And you have to do these things quickly, or your business won’t get off the ground.

Many freelancers just start and learn how to do these things. But this type of freelancer is most likely to end up in the ‘failure’ bracket. To be frank, a freelancer needs all the help and guidance they need to avoid failure, missed opportunities and wasted effort.

This is where ‘How To Be A Rockstar Freelancer’ comes in…

I have chosen to promote this book for one big reason – it is the best example of a guide book to get started in the market.

This book takes a would-be freelancer on a journey from concept to benefit realization. It shares all the steps you need to take to create a profitable operation, and better still, alerts you to the pitfalls to avoid.

The book tells the would-be freelancer how to choose the most effective freelancing path (part-time, home-based, full-time etc). Most people have a set image of a freelancer, and this book offers you alternatives to suit your situation. It also discusses finances, accounting, company creation and business planning.

Further chapters take you right through branding, your working day, finding projects, pitching to clients, referrals, project management, pricing, project delivery, client management, invoicing/receipting, marketing and business growth.

Everything you need. No gaps!

I wish this book was available when I started out. I could have saved so much time, money and effort (and a few embarrassments too!)

Best of all, this book costs just $29. That’s 29 bucks against the costs of failure and lost opportunity. That’s 29 bucks that buys you confidence and assurance. With that perspective, all would-be freelancers must buy this book. Heck, your competition has.

And get this – if you don’t like it, ask for your money back. It comes with a cast-iron guarantee that if it doesn’t add value, then you don’t pay for it. I’ll bet the 29 bucks is repaid a thousand times over, if not more.

If you’re a would-be freelancer chomping at the bit to get going, Buy This Book Today!

Click here to make this wise purchase.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Creating the right impression with a customer is something all freelancers worry about, especially if business is done long-distance. So much information is lost when we transact over the ether, which makes our communication skills that much more important and (even more nowadays) which tools we use to communicate with.

I recently wrote a piece on how to create a high impact on your customers by managing their expectations properly when doing business with them over a distance. If you didn’t see it, then you can read it right here: Freelancers: Get Client Wow-Factor By Managing Expectations.

Perfecting a *sustainable* and *repeatable* way of communicating with all your clients takes time, practice, and learning. It’s a long road, but well worth the effort. Once you’ve perfected it, it becomes easy and feels effortless, allowing you to be smug whilst all your freelancer friends still struggle to keep their clients uptodate!

Let me point you to a great article on the FreelanceFolder.com website – How To Successfully Work With People Long Distance, which discusses the intricacies of non-verbal communication as it relates to business at distance. Some great tips there!

It is because of these intricacies that I strongly believe in choosing the right tools to reduce the effect of lost communication. Choose the right tool for the right job! This is why web-based project-management tools work very well as they enable you to be very clear and specific about your project-based communication. Need to provide support to your client once you’ve gone live? Then choose a support ticket systems to automate your communication processes where appropriate!

There is always a tool out there to help you communicating with your customer, and manage their expectations effectively.

The challenge for freelancers is to find the best tool for the job. There are often countless options, so how do you know which to choose from? In my experience, trials are the most effective. Good news: A trial if often free (the software vendors want you to take a trial)! What I do is be explicit with my customers that I am trialing a new piece of kit – I bring them in on it. They’re often glad of it because they’re learning about new software too. Why I like to do this is if the tool doesn’t work out, we can agree to can it quickly with no loss of face. The aim is to improve our business relationship, and they know that, so being realistic and nipping it in the bud quickly only demonstrates that I have our mutual interests in mind. So don’t be afraid to try something, and then bin it if you and your customer both feel it’s adding no value.

Do you want to share your experiences of using tools to manage long-distance customers? Do you know of any new or unusual tools? Then please share them by leaving a comment!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Want to know a secret of how to make your clients say Wow!?

Is it about bells and whistles?

Do you do it by providing comb-bound booklets?

Or is it about *really cool* slide masters when you do a powerpoint presentation?

Like Hell it is!

It’s something so simple to describe, you won’t believe it. I know because it works for me. I’ve also used this, and made my clients say Wow! too. If you want to make your clients say Wow! then all you have to do is…

….Get the Job Done, when you said it would be done, at cost, and at quality. And Manage Their Expectations.

So do I have a degree in the obvious?

Well not really. I’ll divulge another secret: most clients don’t really believe they will get all those things, but do say they expect them. So when they get it, they really do say Wow!

It’s about organization, and demonstrating it. It’s about creating confidence, and honoring it.

Being an organized IT freelancer goes hand in hand with being a successful freelancer. If you work for several clients or if you have many projects on the go, tools that help you manage your client communications and projects are as essential as your computer.

Not only do you need organization for your own sanity but for transparency to your customers and team members (if applicable) as well. There are some great tools that can help you whether it’s your job to manage large projects or whether your job is a specific piece in a freelance project.

First Things First: Your To Do List

Do you use a to-do list? If you don’t you might find that the busier you get the more you’re scrambling to get things done at the last minute. A day planner is an essential tool to help you and many technical people do suggest that even if you have an electronic handheld planner or use an online calendar that you still keep a paper record of what you need to do because sadly, technology is flawed and systems do go down. You need to know what has to get done on a daily basis and that can be as simple as a checklist. If you have a lot on the go, you’ll need more than that but a basic checklist is an essential tool for keeping you on target.

Why You Need Project Management Tools

Managing your own to do list is challenging at times but whether you’re a project manager, a key player in a big project or someone who finds that project management just happens to be a big portion of what they do, effective management of your freelance jobs will make a big impact on your stress levels and your success levels, too. Various tools can help you stay on top of your tasks and communicate with your customers and remote workgroups. It can also help you ensure you get paid properly and keep everything on target and on budget. Effective tools can help you both proactively and reactively so that you can handle any crisis that comes your way and circumvent crises before they threaten the success of your project.

Transparency

Showing a client that you’re organized and giving them the ability to track the progress of your project themselves works wonders for your relationship and reputation. Transparency can be very valuable with a freelance gig, especially when you are a remote freelancer and not working on site with a client. Some clients like to micromanage projects so their ability to quickly look up the status of something or have a quick web conference with you can save you time and hassle.

The Benefits of Web Based Project Management Tools

As much as you need tools for your client’s satisfaction you need tools to help you do your job more effectively as well. If you work as part of a team, web based tools offer a great deal of collaborative options and helpful features including offering you the ability to access the tools from anywhere. You can use web based tools for your own project management as well as for collaboration with clients and team members.

Another benefit of online tools is the ability to access them any time and anywhere. A lot of people don’t back up their work. Despite being IT professionals who know how catastrophic it can be to lose all your hard work, we get busy and we often forget or disasters happen suddenly. This is another reason why web-based tools work so well. While you should do your best to keep backup copies of everything it’s comforting to know that you can quickly access projects online from an internet café if some horrible fate suddenly befalls your desktop or laptop or Blackberry.

Managing Multiple Projects: The Basics

Whether you work for one client or for many, those managing several projects concurrently you should be able to give a precise status update to any of those clients at any given time. Your ability to do that largely rests on the types of tools you use in your everyday work. Even if you’re just managing a fraction of a larger project, knowing the basics of project management can help you deliver your portion in a way that demonstrates you are a key contributor and offer value to your clients. In essence, if you manage only a portion of a larger project your portion of that project should be managed like a project itself.

When managing a project you need to manage several factors:

• Schedule
• Delegation
• Budget

If you’re on a strict timeline you need to know if you’re on schedule at all times so you can act fast if you fall behind. Many factors can impact the timing and some of these are out of your control but your scope of the project has to be managed effectively otherwise you can impact other projects. If you have several people working on the project with you and everyone has various tasks they’re responsible for it’s important for the PM (project manager) and the end user to be able to get a bird’s eye view of where everyone is at, at all times.

While it’s useful to get text updates from everyone that tells you they’re on target sometimes you actually need to see this for yourself because the project can be like a house of cards so if just one small factor is out of alignment everything can come tumbling down. This will affect the schedule and the budget and potentially your reputation and ability to get future business from that client.

Project Management Tools

There are some fancy project management systems on the market that allow teams to collaborate and work with one another but if you’re freelancing you might not have the resources to use a high end expensive tool like some large corporations do. This doesn’t mean you can’t be organized. There are a lot of tools you can use to help you whether you pay for them or use them for free.

Let’s have a look at some options that are available individually for collaboration and for using on your own. You might find a great solution that encompasses many different areas or you could use a few different systems together to help you keep your project flowing well. Some options include forums, document collaboration tools, web conferencing and chat rooms.

Elance

Elance is the ultimate freelance job site that offers a great system that helps put customers and freelancers together. Not only does it match buyers and sellers but the tools in the system help you manage the process from start to finish.

If you’ve ever used Elance, various aspects of projects are tracked through the systems which are useful both for the provider and the buyer. If you’re managing a customer project the Elance system setup allows for conversations about the project to be saved in one place, for both parties to track the involved funds, for a chat room, status reports and more. While this tool doesn’t easily manage a large project with many providers, it can be very useful and does have team capabilities.

Skype

Skype is a chat tool that also allows video conferencing, voice conversations, instant messaging and document sharing. It also saves text discussions which can help you with organization.

This is a service that has a free service or a fee based service. If you have a headset and a webcam you can have regular meetings with clients and project team members. Using Skype can also save you substantially on long distance calling because you can call for free from computer to computer or pay a flat fee to call other mobile or land lines.

As a freelancer it’s a good idea to invest in tools that help you grow your business but a lot of the free tools can be very effective as well. Whether you pay for a project management tool for your computer, subscribe to a web based collaboration tool, have your client supply one or use one of the many free online tools that are available it’s important to find something that works well for you because it’ll help you effectively manage the projects you handle so that balls do not get dropped and so that you have back-up and documentation if you need to handle any client disputes.

Forums

Community forums offer a great way to collaborate online. They can be set up so that people can talk and discussions can be organized. You can even assign tasks in some robust forum solutions. This can work well too because login names and passwords and permissions are assigned so it can be set up as completely private. Also, various sub folders in the forum can exist and people can set up permissions so you can have one forum for executive discussions and various other folders set for workgroups within the project team. Many forum systems are free for basic use and then offer add-on modules that allow additional features (such as a support ticket system.) Email alerts can be set up to notify forum members when something new has been posted or when something has been delegated and group announcements can go out as well.

Support Ticket Systems

Some web based project management applications have a ticket system feature to allow you to delegate and assign and track tasks. You can set up a forum that works with this type of system as well. These systems often have great reporting capabilities that can aid in the management of a project. The ticket system can notify someone on the project of various things like: new tasks, problems, items delegated to them or issues that are resolved. Reporting can also be pulled from these systems to analyze the project as well as individual team member response and performance.

Google Documents

Google Documents offers a free web based document sharing solution. If you have a Google account, you can collaborate with clients through document sharing tools. This allows you to share documents with clients and track conversations related to those discussions.

Microsoft Office’s Word

Microsoft Word allows you to track changes to any document. This can be very helpful in a collaborative effort because you can request revisions, see document changes and share with others.

Adobe Acrobat

Adobe Acrobat is a very collaborative tool as well. While this isn’t free it does offer some great features for document sharing.

Project Management Tools: Find The Right Tools

It may take time to find the right tools to help you do projects effectively. The more projects you manage the more you’ll put together a bag of tricks to help you shine as a great contributor in the future.

For freelancers who work on their own, especially, collaborative project management tools can make a big difference because various individuals working on a project might not ever meet in a boardroom together yet everyone needs to communicate. For this reason, web based solutions can be the most suitable because you can meet live, leave messages for one another and have sub groups within a larger group.

Here is a short list of ten project management solutions you might also consider:

1. WebEx Weboffice
2. DeskShare ProjectDesk
3. Easyprojects.net
4. AceProject
5. Clarizen
6. Genius Project
7. Basecamp
8. Zoho Projects
9. ProjectsCenter
10. Liquid Planner

Most of these tools offer free trials for their software so you can test drive it before you buy. You can also read product reviews to find out what others are using and how it’s working out for them.

It’s a great idea to get involved with online groups when you do freelance work because this can help you stay abreast of news and information in your specialty where you’ll find out about great tools that can help you do your job better.

If your job is in project management, it’s big responsibility to let a whole project rest on your shoulders. Beyond having the right people in place, you need to have solid tools in place as well that enable you to effectively manage things and circumvent little snags before they become giant problems.

If your freelance career feels fragile because you are regularly running in multiple directions it’s time to take your personal organization more seriously. And if you’re someone who is already ultra organized you probably thrive on tools to help you so it’s a good idea to peruse some of the great online collaborative tools to enhance your productivity, too.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Society looks at No as a dirty word. It is construed as negative and not in the spirit of getting of getting things done. Get this – No isn’t the dirty word. It isn’t the killer of deals, or the destroyer of business. There is a different word which is entirely more stifling than No.

This word is Maybe .

Maybe is the boon of any salesperson or freelancer. Maybe lacks commitment and sets no boundaries for further discussion. You don’t know where you are with Maybe. If you hear Maybe, then where do you go from there?

The word Yes is also negative when used in the context of a negotiation. If you hear Yes, without hearing No first, how far do you think your client would have gone? If you haven’t established first what your client won’t accept, you could have missed out on extra revenue.

No, therefore, is the most positive word you can hear in a negotiation. When you hear No, you will have learned the boundary in which you can negotiate from.

If price is the sticking point of a deal, then in most cases your client doesn’t want your product enough. This is important as they’ve already decided that your product is a solution to their problem.

When you hear No, do you immediately jump to cutting price? Most people do.

Price isn’t the only negotiable factor. Can you do deliver the goods to the client for the price they dislike faster, or to greater volume, or with some added extras that sweeten the deal and break down your client’s objections to your price?

For example, you could offer support, or maintenance, or consulting time.

So when you’re negotiating, then my advice is to start at a high price (this is often what is known as a list price.) And then prepare to concede on something until you get to a price or other concession where No turns to Yes (not Maybe.)

If Maybe is always your answer, then chances are that there are other factors at play. Could be that your client isn’t serious about the deal. Or perhaps they don’t have the authority to shake hands with you and seal the deal. Sometimes, clients will say Myabe when they mean No Deal at all, because they are too scared to give you the bad news. They could just be wasting your time by using your price as a leverage with other providers. If Maybe is a brick-wall that you can’t climb over, and it seems an irrational response from your client, then you only have one option. Walk away . Get out of there. If they’re serious, they will ask you back.

Next time, I’ll tell you about advanced negotiation techniques, and why the ‘Win-Win’ is a foolhardy proposition! To learn when I publish this article, subscribe to my RSS feed .

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Who said "The only things certain in life are death and taxes?" Yes I remember – it was the taxman. It’s not to late to start planning for this year’s drain on your bank account by getting your finances in order. No one enjoys dealing with taxes, especially freelancers by nature. We do this job to get away from the corporate scene and have some freedom. This freedom does not apply to finances or taxes, unluckily for us. Today, we will review some excellent tax tips to help you out when money is tight and help you better organize your financial situation.

1.If you don’t have a tax pro, get one!

If your doing freelancing as a serious full time profession, you really need the advice of an expert to turn to in times when you have questions or are confused. At the very least you should know someone you can turn to should you have a tax of financial issue. The last thing you want in your life is to get audited or investigated by your government’s tax office (e.g. the IRS in the US, Revenue Agency in Canada, HMRC in the UK) – that would not be "a good thing". An investigation drags you down and puts you on a blacklist for future tax submissions.

2.What to ask/give your accountant.

Before meeting with your accountant to go over the year, you need to have some things on hand. Most of these are obvious but you may not know of a few of these would be helpful.

• Overall net profit/loss statement: You need to bring in an overall analysis of how you are doing now compared to last time this year for your accountant to analyze.
• Your budget and expenses: your accountant will want to see exactly where all this money is going.
• A list of your clients will be extremely helpful, as this will make tax preparation easier and faster.
• Your business balance sheet. That’s the one which tells you how rich (or poor) you could be should you cash in.

3. Have some Legal Resources on Hand

What if your accountant is busy or for some reason you don’t wish to go to a standard accountant? There are other options. Below are some legal resources for your forms, legal questions, and documents.

• Contract Pal
• Elance free legal and contract forms.
• Creative Public
• Law Guru

4.Deduct from your rent.

If you live from home, there is a very good chance you can deduct some of your rent from your taxes. There are caps and exceptions to this, but it is a great way to save a little cash. Do some research or ask your accountant and you’ll be surprised how much you can save.

5.Deduct from your internet service.

This one is almost a for sure thing. As always, check with your accountant but internet usage for people that use it to work from home is usually deductible!

6. Remember and expect at least 30%

Now this all depends on how much you pull in per year. If you are making much more than the average freelancer you may pay around 40% but it is usually safe to assume to pay at least ~30 percent. Deducts can really drive this up or down so be sure to talk with your accountant to save the most (see why you need a tax pro).

7. Remember you may need a business license.

Like so many law and tax issues, this is a state/location dependent law. There are states however, that require you to have a business license, such as one for freelance writing. Dont worry, these are usually very cheap and is just a small form to fill out. They are mostly so the government can know where the money is coming from.

8. Report all legitimate payments.

This one seems obvious, but you need to be careful nonetheless. Freelancers receive small payments here and there all the time, and it is easy to forget to note and report the very small ones. I’m not suggesting the IRS will be kick down your door for not reporting a very small payment, but they want to know where the money is coming from and their fair share. Do yourself a favor and report and pay all legitimate taxes and avoid the headache or possible legal trouble.

9. Reimbursements for expenses are usually not taxable!

If a client has to reimburse you for expenses occurred, this is not taxable income in most cases. Great news but you also can’t write these off either. The IRS wouldn’t appreciate that and would want to talk to you, rather sternly I expect. Consult your tax pro to understand the rules and to discover if there are any legal loopholes you can exploit.

10. Stay Organized!

Lastly, the best way to prepare for tax time or financial troubles is to be organized. Set up a system that works for you and stick with it often. Take a few minutes at the end of each week to go over all your files and folders and organize everything. Use sticky notes or dividers to clearly divide sections. Be sure to mark the date and any other important information on all folders. Staying organized will allow you to be more productive and experience less stress.

Have you used any of these techniques in the past? Do you have some tax tips for us? Let us know in the comments section!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Freelance Marketplaces, like Elance and Rentacoder, have grown very popular with freelancers and their clients because they are a ‘platform solution’ to many freelancer business problems. For a small(ish) fee, freelancers enjoy many benefits. What are they, and why use these platforms?

You might already be familiar with these platforms, and use them regularly. If that isn’t the case, then are you not wondering yet why you don’t get as much work as you would like?

The Power of the Freelancer Marketplaces

Freelancer Marketplaces connect buyers of work with providers of work. Simple really. What they do is provide an exchange where buyers post jobs with a specification of the work, and then providers bid for that work, followed by the buyer’s selection of the provider who has offered the best price or deliverable but also with credibility. These platforms provide a commercial process that manages the flow of information, requests, proposals, bids, payments and feedback, making it really easy to do business.

Here are the 10 big reasons why you should use a Freelancer Marketplace as a freelancer:

1. Access to a massive project portfolio- the number of leads available are considerably larger than any single freelancer could generate on their own. At the time of writing, there have been almost 22,000 jobs posted on Elance in the last 30 days.
2. Buyer vetting – if you’re providing services based on a relationship and trust alone, how do you know you’re not going to be ripped off? With these platforms, you can learn about your buyers before bidding for jobs. This means you can check out buyer’s credibility (just like buyers check you out). I think the most important things to look at is the buyer’s project award rate (how many projects they actually award against posting), their purchase value (the higher the value, the greater the commitment by the buyer) and most of all, feedback left by other providers. This is a two-way street.
3. Connectivity- buyers and providers are connected to each other just like people are in Facebook or LinkedIn. No need for phone books, search engines, or anything like that. The whole market is brought together in one place.
4. Quickly Paid Bills- one of the best features of these platforms is their ‘escrow’ services, which means you should never be ripped off again by buyers who don’t pay. Why? Well, using the escrow service means that the buyer must already pre-fund your work before you start. The money is held by the platform, and then released to you once you complete the work. So, you’ll always know that your client has the funds before you get working.
5. Free Marketing- these platforms offer you free marketing through your profile. Your profile typically shows your track record, customer ratings, number of repeat customers, etc. and the best thing of all is that the data is provided by a 3rd party – Elance, Rentacoder, etc – so it is trustworthy. You only pay for marketing at the point you are paid for the work you provide.
6. Project Tracking – the platforms typically provide project tracking through the use of ‘milestones’ (major events in the project, such as start and end), and they support the sharing an storage of documents relevant to the project.
7. Payment Collection & Processing- payment is collected through the platform through your PayPal account (or credit card). And all payments are in $USD, no matter where the work gets done
8. Terms of business – freelancers working outside of these platforms need to ensure they are protected by a terms of business. The platforms provide these automatically and also manage the process of finalization and acceptance.
9. Feedback – buyers can (and should be encouraged to) leave feedback for their providers. It’s a satisfaction rating that is recorded against the provider’s profile and forms part of the free marketing benefits of the platforms.
10. Standardization – the commercial process of ‘provision’ is fully managed to the platform’s standard, so that means you use the same process for every client you work with in the marketplace. This allows you to optimize your own ‘workflow’, saving you bags of time which means more cash in the bank.

Elance

Elance is the platform of choice for me as it offers the widest variety and volume of jobs, from programming to admin, and it is the slickest site of all. Fees vary from 4% – 6% of job value(so make sure you incorporate this into your pricing and commercial considerations) and there is an additional 2.75% feeif you use their payment processing. These costs are likely to be clawed back by a reduction in marketing costs, efficiencies and no lost interest due to late payments. There is an easy admissions test, yet the sign up process is straightforward and quick to complete. So far, Elance has enabled over $135m USD of work since 2005!

Rentacoder

Rentacoder comes from a more IT developer stable and has over 100,000 registered buyers and over 230,000 registered coders. The kind of jobs that appear on Rentacoder are wider than just programming jobs (such as writing) although it’s branding is still on the geeky side.
 

Other Uses of Freelancer Marketplaces

There are other uses of Freelancer Marketplaces other than what’s stated above. Because they are platforms for conducting business through a repeatable commercial process, I strongly suggest that you conduct all your business through them, even on jobs you have found and agreed outside of the platform. Why? Well here are two good reasons:

1. You can exploit the escrow services for your work to ensure your supplier can pay you, and that their are arbitration processes should their be a dispute.
2. You will gain recognition and build your profile for this work, even if you and your customer didn’t find each other through the platform. This way, you’re building up your portfolio as a basis of credibility when you bid for work with other buyers.

In addition, you can use these platforms to benchmark your rates and services against other providers in the market, even if you don’t do business through the platform. Chances are, your customers will be looking there too, so don’t bury your head in the sand.

These platforms can support fixed-cost projects, as well as jobs based on time and materials. Whatever job you do, see if these platforms can be used to manage the commercial process.

Flip the model – use these platforms to outsource work if you can personally apply your time to higher value work. For example, outsource admin, submissions, writing, etc.

Conclusion

Freelancer marketplaces offer great benefits for a small fee. If you can make the price you pay work for you (by saving you time, lost revenue or increased efficiency) then they come highly recommended. They’re free to sign up – what have you got to lose?

• See what’s happening at Elance here.

• Check out Rentacoder here.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

You may have noticed that SimonStapleton.com has been focusing a lot lately on landing that top job. It’s no surprise these posts have received a lot of feedback, as in this global economy, landing a well paying job is something that is highly desired. But how do you perceive your worth? Do your perceptions on your competitors success or failures factor into your overall rate as a freelancer? If not, it should. Today, we will go over some tips for setting your rate based on how you perceive your competition and financial well being.

Thinking about the competition.

Are you in a freelancing niche that has a lot of competition? For example, you could be a premium WordPress theme designer (any out there that want to pitch for the next theme of SimonStapleton.com?), in which case, you certainly know your competition is vast and spread worldwide. How you perceive and react to this competition, however, is vital. Have a look at your competitors, are they undercutting you with your rates? Perhaps they charge much more but offer more services? Freelancers must take this information in and put it to an advantage and to gain more success/leads. Some tips for gaining information on and keeping up with your competition are:

• Keep an eye on what your competition is up to and how you perceive their success level.
• Contact your competitors and ask questions, they will be more friendly than you think and you might just meet some vital contacts.
• Use your competitors pricing to your advantage. You cant always keep up with rates, so if they don’t charge very much, offer more quality instead.

Your perception of success.

Check out nearly any freelancer article/blog and you will find all kinds of advice for pricing. Most of these articles advise you to price for your overall yearly or quarterly budget. This is sound advice but there is a flaw in this logic. By setting your pricing by looking at your current budget, you neglect to take into account the future and your goals for the future. Instead of setting your rate per your budget, ask yourself, "What level of income would I be comfortable with in 3 years from now? ", "If I charged more, are there more things I can do/enjoy in my life? ". Questions like these will open your eyes and force you to look at your goals for the future, not just your budget of the present. Next time you sit down budget, consider your life goals (you do have some don’t you?) and you will find your level of happiness is likely to increase.

Quality, Speed, Price.

Three factors vital to any freelancer and to anyone who is going to hire a freelance designer/developer are: quality, speed, and price. These three items will play a huge role in the final price you charge. Freelance switch recently had a great article , in which the "Fast, Good, Cheap" pricing method was discussed. It would be nice if our clients (and ourselves as well) could have our cake and eat it too. However, in the real world, Great quality, extremely fast service, and a bottom end price are not very practical. So how does one balance the three factors mention and at the same time achieve success in todays market? The answer I believe, is a elegant balance of managing your competition and your goals for success. So we can use the techniques mentioned in the previous paragraphs to optimize out quality, speed, and price. For example, you know your competition can offer a very low price and fast work. This is where you come in, and offer quality and speed with your work, allowing you to successfully compete in the marker. In other words, pick the two you can focus on greatly and that you find your competition is lacking in, you’ll be sure to get a boost in your overall sales. Resources for pricing yourself:

• Hourly Rate Calculator
• Setting your rates without going broke
• Mistakes I’ve Made as a Freelancer

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

As a freelancer, you are likely to be in a disadvantaged position as far as personal development and feedback goes. Why? Well permanent employees, as a rule, are nurtured by their employers. You don’t receive the benefit of the development opportunities presented to permies, unless you create them yourself, and out of your own pocket. Worse still, you often don’t know that you’re not meeting the expectation of your clients until your contract renewal, well, isn’t.

It is typical for employees at most levels of an organization to undergo Personal Performance Management, where they are set personal development objectives (generally on an annual basis) and each objective is reviewed regularly (often quarterly). Objectives, ideally, are S.M.A.R.T. – an acronym that stands for

1. Specific – Objectives should specify what they want to achieve.
2. Measurable – You should be able to measure whether you are meeting the objectives or not.
3. Achievable – Are the objectives you set, achievable and attainable?
4. Realistic – Can you realistically achieve the objectives with the resources you have?
5. Time – When do you want to achieve the set objectives?

For example, a manager may set an employee an objective of reducing the turnaround time of all support calls in their function by 25% within 6 months.

At each review interval, an employee’s manager, or a performance manager, reviews the progress on the set objectives and provides feedback to the employee. The feedback is structured in a way so that the employee can learn from it and make adjustments during the next review period. It is also common for managers to request that employees undergo 360 degree feedback , which gathers the opinions from the employees subordinates (should they have any), peers and superiors (other managers). This process should result in more rounded and usable feedback for the employee.

But, I guess, you don’t experience this as a freelancer, do you? How do you know if you’re achieving the objectives your clients set you? OK, objectives are often what you’ve agreed in your contract or in the specification of the role you’re filling, but other objectives are not always specifically given, but they are expected. The kind of objectives I am talking about are the softer, less tangible ones like your behavior – the way you act and engage with your client and their organization. This is how it is.

So as I said, you’re at a disadvantage because there are no formal mechanisms for knowing whether your behaviors fit with your client. You might be winding them up, or acting eccentrically in their eyes, but how do you know? The time you find out is when they’ve had enough and you receive your marching orders! So your feedback is the refusal to renew your contract. Great – what a way to find out.

But it really doesn’t need to be that way. You can avoid this situation, and achieve a lot more – by using 360 degree feedback yourself with your clients.

But wait, it’s not just about preventing contract termination! It’s also about your personal development and growth . If you can learn something about how others perceive you so you can provide a better service, you’d want that, right? Better still, by continually improving your service to meet your client’s needs, you’re much more likely to enjoy referred business to you, from clients. This is the best kind of business to land, as it costs you nothing to market your services.

There are other benefits to using 360 degree feedback with your clients:

• It is an excellent way of demonstrating your professionalism as a freelancer
• It’s likely your competitors don’t do this, so it becomes a Unique Selling Point (USP)
• You show you care about your relationships with your customers
• You will flush out many of the pent-up issues that would normally go by without discussion
• By adjusting your services to add more value to your clients, you will be creating options to increase your rate

We’ve discovered the benefits of 360 degree feedback as a freelancer. Independent IT professionals can use it to gain the power and the tools to learn about their customer’s satisfaction.

Do you want to get going with 360 degree feedback today? I offer a short course at only $150 which shows you exactly how. The difference between my course and others is that I show you how to create a repeatable process that you can use over and over again at no extra cost , and it’s so simple that your customer’s will be happy to participate. Take a look in my Courses & Services page for more details.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Being a freelance web developer, I rely very heavily on my personal and business connections and relationships, and odds are that you do too. Having a lot of connections and/or references and friends “in the business” can be extremely helpful to anyone, but it’s really what and how you interact with these people that makes all the difference. Today, we’ll have a look at some of the strategies one may use to increase the success of their company and/or business as well as their productivity.

Making a Great First Impression

Oh how cliche it is, “first impressions are everything”. We all know its true, our first impressions we make with a perspective client will make all the difference down the road? But in todays world, where people don’t always meet face to face, how does one ensure a great first impression? There are a few tools and tricks to ensure your success.

The First 30 Seconds

You’ve got about 30 seconds (maybe less) to make a great impression on this person. How do you look? Is it appropriate? A pin-stripe suit might be overkill for a simple discussion over lunch. What is the first thing you do? A confident smile and firm greeting say a lot about yourself. Now, do you take the time to ask them some questions about themselves? People want to feel as if what they have to say is important, take some time and have some good ol’ small talk with them. Ask if they’ve eaten or how their day has been. It is the small things like this that make all the difference later.

The Next Five Minutes

So you’ve had a nice little talk and ordered a iced mocha latte or your other favorite over priced drink, and now what? Do you have a plan? A great thing to do before meeting with any potential client/customer/connection is to draw out key points you would like to discuss that day. Make a flow chart of which topics you would like to discuss, and how you will react if it does (or doesn’t) go as planned. Having points and topics in your head before meeting gives speaks highly of your confidence and vision, as you will come off with a person with a plan.

Honesty is Key

Our story continues, and your now in the very thick of the meeting, and its your time to shine, your time to prove that your up to the task. So how do you prove it? Most importantly, be realistic. Do not make promises you cant keep. People like it when they feel others are on the same field as them and are being honest with them, tell your client any reservations you may have. Let them know of any possible pitfalls, and more importantly, let them know your plan to handle the situation should it arise. In addition, its OK to be the expert! You’ve worked damn hard and spent years (most likely) doing what you do, so let them know! Theres absolutely nothing wrong with sharing your expertise, just try not to come off as boasting or egocentric.

Get Out That Card!

Odds are you have a business card. Who doesn’t? However, the odds that your client will remember and hold on to your card is not as high. Quite frankly, a piece of paper with your name and number on it just isn’t enough anymore. Get creative! Make them remember you by your card, after all, that card represents your entire business and reputation. There are plenty of resources for getting creative with your cards, check out some of these if you need some ideas:

• Creative Business Cards
• Even more examples of making creative business cards.

Communicating Online

As I noted in my previous post, Mistakes I’ve Made as a Freelancer , email is fantastic but also impersonable. Just because email, skype, and similar styles of communication are convenient, doesnt mean your client wishes to sent in front of the computer checking email all day. Do you ask your clients/acquaintances how they prefer to be contacted? It might be worth the extra phone call or lunch meeting, if it means you land the job.

Networking Online

Ah yes, the one you all knew would be on the list. Online Social Networking. The phrase itself is almost cliche even now. For the sake of this article, I will only cover a few of what I believe to be the most important factors when it comes to social networking and communicating with you clients socially online.

Do NOT get on every social networking site that exists

I can’t tell you the amount of times I have heard a businessman or woman talk about their myspace page in relations to business. It’s really hard not to laugh. Dont get me wrong, there are some fantastic sites out there for social networking, such as LinkedIn.com , but you have to be careful. Nothing screams unprofessionalism like a 45 year old respected businessman with his own myspace, facebook, and friendster accounts trying to promote his business.

Be Available

Can your clients get in touch with you quickly if they need to? If they send you an email, can they expect a prompt response? Clients and future customers feel secure in knowing that if they need help, its right around the corner. Join Skype and let them know your skype idea so they can immediatley contact you. Skype is fantastic for businesses and people that work from home, I highly encourage checking it out if you do not use it already. Let them know your email, and even more importantly, check it often and reply quickly!

What do you do?

What are some of your tips? How do you use your relationships and connections to increase your success? Do you find yourself using any of the techniques above (or do you disagree with any)? Let us know what you think!

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

Hindsight is always 20/20, and this is especially true when it comes to the world of freelancing. If I had a few cents for every mistake and/or error I made during my time as a freelancer, then quite frankly, I wouldn’t be developing websites. Luckily for me, I have been able to persevere and learn from these mistakes. So, don’t be like me (I’m over rated anyway). Take a look at some of the things I did wrong and turn it into an opportunity for yourself to do things the “right” way.

1. Not Charging Enough

I take solace in the fact that so many freelancers make this mistake, especially when first starting out. Lets be honest, in our line of work its very hard to know exactly how much you and your time are worth. Times that by market forces, the current economy and people’s budget, and setting an hourly rate just might make your head spin. When I first started out, I would write down everything the client wanted done on a piece of paper, and then I would try to “guesstimate” how long each part of the project would take me and then charge that by my hourly rate. There was one huge problem, I always estimated under and ending up cheating myself out of well deserved money.

My Solution

I decided to stick with charging an hourly fee, and the first thing I did was increase my rate per hour. Next, I decided that many more factors were going to need to go into my final quote price, factors like: my cost of living and rent, spending money, money needed for my business, length of conference calls (in the case of clients that liked to talk for an hour or more) etc. I was worried I may have lost some potential customers with my rate increase and came to the conclusion that this risk was one worth taking. Theoretically, if I double my rate per hour and lose half of my customers, I still make the same amount and for half the work. In addition, start quoting your customers over how much you think it will really cost. This may sound counter- intuitive, but its not. If worst comes to worse, and it ends up costing all of what you quoted, then no worries, you quoted them that price anyway. If however, you come in under-budget (which should happen more often than not if you are over quoting slightly) then you have a happy client on your hand that is more likely to become a return and/or loyal customer. If you are looking for a resource to help you develop a rate, check out the freelance rate calculator .

• DO increase your rate if you feel you are being cheated.
• DO over quote slightly to allow yourself some wiggle room.
• DO NOT only take in project specific factors, keep in mind all of your life expenses and cost of living.

2. Application Hesitation

I have given my second mistake a fancy name, which is really translates into simple confidence issues that many of us have. In fact, I still find myself struggling with what I call “application hesitation.” This is where you find yourself not applying to a job or freelance opportunity because your not sure if you can handle it. If you are a chronic narcissist you can move on to number 3. Do NOT confuse this with being under-qualified, which is a good reason for not applying. For example, recently there was a job posted for a freelance designer for a website/forum. I was very interested in the job, but noted at the bottom the forum they were designing for was a forum I had only designed for once (note that I have designed for many other forums, and they are all similar in layout). In the end, I didn’t apply, using the excuse “they probably want someone who has worked with that forum many, many times.” Looking back, I should have taken that job. I should have applied, told them about what I have worked with in the past and my credentials, and told them I was willing to learn their forum system as well. I really had nothing to lose anyway. So don’t let your moments of insecurity stop you from landing a great job. Fake the confidence if you need to until you have it.

• DO apply to jobs you feel you are qualified for, even if you are not familiar with every single system they are using. Be sure they know you are eager to learn
• DO NOT apply to jobs that you are not qualified for. If a company is looking for a star designer (which you are), who is great with flash (and you have never even used it), then an application probably is not necessary.

3. Making Phone Calls

E-mail is a great way to communicate with your clients. It’s fast, convenient, but very impersonal. There are just some things that you can pick up on when actually talking to that person. Meeting in person is even better if you can. Starting out as a freelance designer, I rarely, if ever, gave out my telephone number to my clients. After all, I started freelancing to get out of the corporate environment and do things on my own time. I quickly realized, though possible, it was much more difficult to get the customers “visions” and desires for their future website via email. This is because some people have a hard time putting their thoughts into written words. When I finally got over my “phone phobia”, I noticed that I had a much easier time understanding the clients goals and wants. In addition, a phone call really adds a personal touch to your services. Your client will be more inclined to think of you as a reliable and friendly person, and know if there is an emergency they can contact you. Of course, no one wants to be contacted all the time by a worried client, so make sure you layout some ground rules about how contact and customer support will work throughout the project and after the said project is finished. Be warned if you offer hosting to your clients and hand out your number to them, you might have to increase your monthly minutes on your cell phone plan.

• DO offer your phone number to clients (if you host clients websites, you might want to rethink this), it adds a very personal touch to your services and gives the client a feeling of security.
• DO call your clients once a job is agreed upon to get a better understanding of what they envision, this will make it more likely that your client becomes a satisfied customer.
• DONT blame me if you have a client that wont stop calling you because they cant get “that one code thingy to work”.
• DO voice any and all concerns/disagreements you have about the clients project. Try to be as clear and objective as possible.
• DO be open to criticism and disagreements from clients and peers. Constructive criticism is the only way to truly improve your skills and realize where your weaknesses are.
• DONT take it personally! Odds are the client just wants what is best for their project, and wants to see it succeed (even if you disagree with their tactics).
• DO take note of what clients dislike about your projects, if they don’t have anything negative to say, then ask them what you could improve on. Write these down every time you have a new client and compare them to improve yourself and your skills

4. Taking too Many Breaks

Guilty as charged. Not that we would ever bill a client for time spent surfing Digg or watching daytime television, but this is really one of my worst habits. Perhaps this would be better demonstrated through a timeline:

• 12:00pm-Start all programs needed for clients website (ftp, photoshop, textmate etc)
• 12:01pm-While waiting for programs to load, click the stumble “just one more time”
• 1:00pm-Realize what time it is and start work on clients project
• 1:30pm-Snack time
• 1:40pm-Get more snacks
• 2:00pm-Back to work
• 4:00pm-I think Oprah comes on, but I would have no idea. Really, I don’t….(channel 7).
• 5:00pm-I think Oprah ends. Time for a break.
• 8:00pm-Continue working, whoops forgot to check my email, check that. While I am at it check every possible email, forum, blog and anything else I am socially a part of, you know, just in case.
• Midnight-Finish work for the day, check test site in IE 6, followed by string of unrepeatable obscenities.

As you can see, there is room for improvement. The point is, just because we work from home doesn’t mean that we should act like we are at home all the time. After realizing that a lot of things around my apartment were serving as a distraction from my work, I used a spare room to setup a separate office containing only my work computer, client documents, and any web design/programming books. If you don’t have a room setup only for web design or development, I highly recommend doing so.

5. Taking Things too Personally

Every freelancer has experienced the client from hell. Or the client who just refused to like or appreciate any of the work you have done. Who doesn’t feel upset or even insulted when they have worked so hard on a project only for the client to say “I don’t know, its just ok.”? Other times, the client really wants something on their website that you know just wont fit or shouldn’t be there. Take for instance, the dreaded “marquee” tags. This is one of those moments for me, when I need to just step away and relax for awhile before replying and/or communicating with the client. It allows me to put my personal feelings and ego aside and see where the client is coming from. I eventually learned to voice any concerns I had about the clients idea, in a clear and respectful manner . If the client still wont budge, swallow your pride and do as they wish. Remind yourself that they are paying you , so its your job to provide them with what they want, even if you disagree. And if its that bad, rest easy knowing you don’t have to include that project in your portfolio. Why not share a mistake and/or experience you have had with us and what happened?

The Must-Have Resource for Freelancers…

Freelance like a Rock Star! ‘How To Be A Rockstar Freelancer ‘ is the essential resource for freelancers. It covers EVERYTHING you need to know to get set up and become a professional freelancer, written in straightforward, no-nonsense language.
It shows you how to set up your work environment, build a brand, market yourself, managing clients, seeking projects, communication with clients – THE LOT. It takes you through a journey of building your business from scratch, and leaves no stone un-turned.
When I read this book I thought “wow! this gives me everything I need to know to get started and earning bucks the freelancer-way “. Anyone considering becoming a freelancer today must read this book. In fact, I think any freelancer who doesn’t is starting from a seriously disadvantaged position: almost every freelancer I know has purchased this book and reaped the rewards. Join them! Available now for only $29 .

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

The majority of freelancers in IT have their head in the sand, as far as their personal performance goes.

IT leaders from across several industries have commented to me that freelancers tend to move from appointments without seeking feedback on their performance. It’s estimated that over 60% of freelancers do not receive regular feedback on their service and conduct, and over 90% do not formally obtain a performance review.

The issue for freelancers that don’t gather feedback and review their performance is that they often receive the ultimate in feedback – not being renewed.

Freelancers are workers, just like permanent staff, although they are generally employed under a terms and conditions specific to the freelancer or agency. But in every other sense, they are employees. So why should the career and personal development needs of freelancers be any different to permies? There is one key difference, and that is freelancers are brought into an organization because of a specialist skill and because that skill can be made effective immediately.

I stress the word immediately as it is an important point. To be effective immediately means that a freelancer must be savvy enough to fit into a wide variety of business situations and have the awareness of their impact to adjust behavior quickly. A freelancer therefore comes with great technical skills and also great interpersonal skills.

The prevailing view though is that freelancers bank and freeze their skills at the point they become freelance, and don’t make special efforts to improve and learn to enhance these skills. So it seems the value of a freelancer can diminish the longer they are in freelance employment! I am not saying this is true in every case – in fact I know of many freelancers who are aware of their performance and their impact. But there are many freelancers who don’t, and in my opinion these tend to be the more technical freelancers who provide niche and specialist services.

In blunt terms, it’s arrogance. Freelancers on the whole assume that their skills have lifetime value and that they are the finished article.

However, freelancers remedy this situation by taking some simple actions. Here are a few I’ve experienced:

• Use mult-rater/360-degree feedback as a formal way of gathering feedback – taking time to gather feedback and listen to their clients about their performance, using a formal method. This is a commonly found process used by permanent staff and is often regimented by their employer as preparation for formal performance reviews
• Join a ‘Better Business Bureau’ – Better Business Bureau’s are communities of business people who discuss and share information. They can involve participation in forums and one on one coaching sessions by experienced business people
• Join a professional contractor group – these groups help freelancers to understand and employ best-practice and high standards. They also involve forums but also provide support, such as legal counsel, and offer clubs for consuming services such as accountants
• Join a business network/referral community – Business networks are an excellent source of referrals for work, but they also provide freelancers with information on their performance and reputation. Obviously, a high number of referrals = good reputation. By joining a business network, a freelancer exposes their reputation to be challenged which makes for good learning

Human Resources in organization’s are also culpable for this situation too. HR departments don’t take enough responsibility for the development of long-term freelancers. If over a contract period the freelancers rate remains the same or increases, reducing productivity and effectiveness means that the freelancer becomes expensive – but this increase in cost is hidden. Some HR departments I’ve met get this, and they tend to:

• Conduct formal assessments of a freelancer’s performance for long-term contractors (12 months or over)
• Tie in bonuses to performance
• Set regular goals and objectives based on service improvement and improving quality
• Allocate a regular slot to review performance
• Encourage mult-rater/360-degree feedback, even if their organization doesn’t use it

In summary, feedback and reviewing performance is a key aspect of being a freelancer and the savvy freelancers take steps to gather feedback and review their performance in order to improve the service they provide.

Freelancers! Hurry and take One of Ten Nine free spaces on my Feedback course, normally $300.00!

Course Details: SS01f - How to Achieve Repeat Business, Referrals & Personal Excellence using 360 Degree Feedback. This is a 3 week course designed for freelancers to gain repeat business and referrals through the process of 360 feedback. The course comprises of a mixture of reading, discussion and practical engagement with your colleagues. ($300.00 USD pp)

The course starts in September and is run online with a small number of one on one discussions by telephone.

Hurry! Offer ends August 25 2008. Contact me using the details on the About page for more details.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.

The big benefits of being freelance is that you generally decide what work you take on, and when you take it on, and there are considerable financial benefits in the short term. IT freelancing is lucrative, compared with permanent positions: income can be three times or more!

The trouble with freelancing though is that reaping the income can be addictive and obsessive. Freelancers tend to take far few vacations and have much less time off. Freelancers also tend to work when sick. Freelancers like their time to be on the clock.

The downside of freelancing is the lack of self-investment, i.e. because of the situation I described above, freelancers don’t spend enough time in developing new skills or their career. Soft-skills, particularly, are neglected. E.g. management training, leadership training, obtaining feedback and building long lasting relationships. All these things, it seems, are in conflict with the freelancer ethos.

But does it need to be?

Well I think No. No it doesn’t. Freelancers can develop themselves and their careers if they discard the old perception of training and development (ie. classroom-based), and rather look at the development of Web 2.0 for an answer.

The savvy freelancers, such as Dwight Collins in New York City, think differently. Dwight says:

Freelancers really limit their future opportunities by being focused on the immediate opportunity. The problem is that skills must be developed in order to stay ahead and to maintain the raison d’être for organizations to use freelancers. Distance-learning courses and Web 2.0 are innovations which allow busy people to develop themselves in the time they have spare. Distance-learning is an excellent medium for collaboration and learning, and it can be done from anywhere. Web 2.0, similarly, allows me to collaborate with my peers from all over the world, where we exchange ideas, experience and knowledge. More to the point, the relationship-building is one of the biggest benefits of both of these mediums.

Dwight and many other freelancers are taking advantage of these connect anywhere anytime tools. The only gap I currently perceive is the extent of how tailored distance-learning courses are particularly to the needs of the freelancer, as many of the courses are contextual around being a ‘corporate citizen’, which freelancers are not.

So I’d like to get the opinion of any IT freelancers on this subject. I’d especially like to know what kind of courses are needed and how they should be delivered. I am currently working on my distance-learning course catalog (see Courses & Services) and I would like to consider the needs of freelancers.

©2012 SimonStapleton.com. All Rights Reserved.