Ready to Travel While Freelancing? Do These Things Before You Leave
If you’ve ever done a quick survey of the search term “freelancer” in Google images, you’ll quickly come across the deeply romanticized version of the “consulting life” we know as a culture. Being able to travel while freelancing sounds like a surreal dream to many...
Embracing the “Free” in Freelance Work
Last year, over 700,000 people in the U.S. added their names to the growing list of people who earn part or all of their income through self-employed or freelance work, according to a recent report by Spera. We freelancers tend to work from home or remotely in some...
Be Great at Selling What You Do: A Marketing Specialist On Standing Out in Today’s Gig Economy
For many of us finding our place in today’s gig economy, there was some set of circumstances that pushed us in an unexpected — but ultimately wonderful — direction. In her article, How a Really Dumb Promise Turned Into a Company, Brittany Bullen expresses how chance...
Health Insurance for Freelancers — The No-Nonsense Primer
Health insurance for freelancers is one of the most common concerns in surveys of independent workers and their career satisfaction. The solo life is great except for the anxiety about financial security, and health insurance is huge part of that. In this primer we’ll give you the info you need to make a smart choice.
Scale Your Business: Lessons in Growth from a Virtual Assistant
Gina Horkey is a full-time business writer and virtual assistant who, like many of us, made a significant career shift in the last couple of years toward a work arrangement and lifestyle that better suited her personal needs and interests. Horkey describes herself as...
Clean Up Your Skype Etiquette – Tips For a Professional Video Conferencing Persona
What’s better than conferencing in from a pair of fuzzy cartoon trousers? Not saying I do that or anything, but you know what I mean . . . Personal freedom and flexibility are the kinds of perks consultants and freelancers often tote but there are of course days when...
Hire a Contractor or an Employee? Convince Recruiters You’re the Better Option
You would be a perfect fit, according to the recruiting ad’s job description, but they want a new employee. You work for yourself, so you want them to hire a contractor instead. So how to approach this? There are many reasons independent contractors eschew an employee...
The Path To Higher Paying Clients – Insights From the Marketing Mentor
Ilise Benun is the “Marketing Mentor” -- a fitting title for someone who has carved out a bustling consulting career helping creative professionals find higher paying clients across gig economy. In addition to being an active author and speaker who has held marketing...
Do Freelancers Need Errors and Omissions Insurance?
It’s a fact of life that mistakes happen, even to the most experienced consultants. Sometimes the repercussions can be devastating. Things can get bad pretty fast if a disgruntled client sues you. Errors and omissions insurance covers you if a client is unsatisfied...
How To Write A Business Plan For Your Consulting Career
When you sit down to write a business plan for your freelance work, does your mind freeze? In this explainer we’ll explore 5 tips that will help you get unstuck and figure out what your solo business needs.
6 Fearless Steps You Can Take to Grow Your Consulting Business
There’s something quite romantic about the solopreneur — so much so that entrepreneur and founder of Alphametic SEO agency Matt Capala wrote an entire book based on the parallels between the modern day solopreneur and the ronin — the lordless samurai of feudal Japan....
Freelancing Is A Two Way Street — You Need to Qualify Leads!
Being approached by a new client can be very exciting. The prospect of new work and a sizable project fee is always alluring but before you send back the contract, take some time to assess the situation. The gig economy is not a one way street — clients have to earn...
Advice for My Younger Self: Independent Contractors Share What They Wish They Knew Starting Out
You’re sick of 9 to 5, so you take a few contracts as an independent contractor. Suddenly you have a business. What do you do now? Veteran consultants and freelancers share here what they’ve learned and what they would have done differently at the start of their freelance careers.
How Smart Consultants Network Less and Make More With Current Clients
Let’s say you want to double your income. There are two ways you can go about it. The first way is to double your client list. So you cold call. You attend networking events. You place more ads on Facebook and Google AdWords. You fill out dozens of new applications...
A Solopreneur Partnership: Joining Forces One Hour at a Time
Freelancers often think about teaming up with colleagues or other businesses. When they do, these solopreneurs may think their choice is to find someone to join in a formal partnership or to continue on their own without the benefits and problems formal partnership...
When a Prospect Says “No” — Can it Mean “Not Yet”?
When it comes to approaching a prospective client, are you more like the sales dynamo Zig Ziglar or the Greek mythological figure King Sisyphus? Zig Ziglar, you probably know, was famous for his successful sales and motivational techniques. King Sisyphus was punished...
Can Freelancers Really Work from Anywhere? A Reality Check.
You’ve heard it often: “Become a freelancer. You can work from the beach, on the road -- anywhere!” Is it really true? Are you truly untethered? Are there no limitations when it comes to remote freelance work? To find the answers to these questions, let’s look to a...
Expand Your Sphere of Influence, Expand Your Business
As an entrepreneur, you’re always on the lookout for ways to expand your business. Often, rather than investing more time and money into traditional marketing efforts, you can achieve growth by investing in yourself. Expand your sphere of influence, the philosophy...
3 Innovative Ways to Market Your Consulting Business
Being good isn’t enough. Whether you’re trying to land your first paying gig or grow a successful consulting business, you need to find clients, and clients need to find you. This takes time and effort, resources you cannot afford to squander when your livelihood...
Pro Bono Freelance Work: When Does It Make Sense to Work for Free?
If independent contractors' most valuable asset is time, then their most pressing objective must be turning time into money. So, does it ever make sense to work for free? Actually, yes. There are several compelling reasons -- some strategic, some philosophical -- to...
