Posts Tagged Freelancing
Time Management Tips for the Self-Employed
Posted by Matt Brown in Freelancing, Insights on October 22, 2009
I work from home. Home also happens to be my apartment, in which I have 2 other roommates. Needless to say, when you combine working from home with being a college student, it’s easy to get distracted. Almost everywhere I look, something is screaming for my attention – my TV with the DVR that has shows recorded for me to catch up on, my ridiculously comfortable bed, sitting out on the porch and much more. Having worked both from home and many office environments, I can easily say that staying focused at home is much harder than staying focused in an office setting.
I’ve come up with a list for people to take into consideration when looking at time management for their home-based business. Whether you are a freelance web-designer like me or a tax consultant, these tips hopefully can help you manage your time:
1. Treat your home based business like a job. Establish a work schedule and stick to it as best you can. Having the flexibility to change your schedule is one of the perks of being self-employed, but establish a schedule that works for you and your family on most days, and do you best to stick to it. I’ve heard multiple people say that getting fully dressed for business at the start of each workday (that means shoes, too) really is almost a necessary, but I don’t tend to do it! I can imagine that you really will get more done, and that you may or may not sound more professional on the phone, too.
15 Benefits To Working As A Freelancer
Posted by Matt Brown in Freelancing on September 22, 2009
This is the First Post in a Two Post Series looking at the positives and negative of freelancing.
I love freelancing. Yes, I can take the negative’s from freelancing and outweigh them with the good – and I do, on a regular basis. Things will get rough, but life is rough – work through it 
. I only felt that it would be right to share the positive side of freelancing before telling you some of the challenges that are involved with it. Read the rest of this entry »
First Impressions: Outright
Posted by Matt Brown in Freelancing, Reviews on September 14, 2009
Last week I wrote about my review of my new invoicing system, Freshbooks. As a follow up to this review, I tried out a service that integrates directly with Freshbooks – Outright.
Outright is a simple, online bookkeeping service. Key in on the term “simple.” I’ve never seen an easier financial tool for a business owner. That’s not me gushing over this product, but stating the obvious. If you have a bookkeeper now, this tool lets you see daily progress instead of waiting for that in-person meeting at the end of every month or quarter. Read the rest of this entry »
First Impressions: Freshbooks
Posted by Matt Brown in Freelancing, Reviews on September 8, 2009
Recently I started evaluating the tools I use in my freelancing business. I was looking around at tools I could use to help streamline processes. I already used 37Signals products for project management and client relations management, but I needed something that could invoice clients, send more professional proposals, and keep track of them all. I’ve heard a lot of buzz about FreshBooks, so I decided to give it a try and see what all the hype was about.
I had previously been using Quickbooks 2009 for Mac to handle all of my accounting needs. Quickbooks is a great Small Business Accounting program, but it is not customizable at all. It’s a decent All-In-One program, but it wasn’t developed for a freelancer’s accounting/financial tracking style, so I decided to move on to Freshbooks.
I read a post a while back about the 10 Bad Habits of Designers over at The Outlaw Design Blog. One of the habits that they discussed in this post was not paying for premium services that weren’t worth the cost. I have found some alternatives to Freshbooks that are free, such as LessAccounting, BlinkSale, SimplyInvoices etc. It’s great that these apps are free, but none of them work as well as Freshbooks. They are all lacking serious features and cant even come close to comparing with Freshbooks. Read the rest of this entry »
10 Resources to Help You Decide What To Charge for Design Work
Posted by Matt Brown in Freelancing, Insights, Web Design on April 10, 2009
How much should I charge for design? It is one of the common questions asked by designers, and it is also one of the most difficult to answer.
There are so many factors involved in this issue, that no one answer will be able to cover all the bases. So I have come up with some resources available online that might help you determine how much to charge your client. But, of course, these are only guidelines and resources to help. In reality, designers will need to research carefully and develop a pricing structure most suited to their own business.
1) Design Talkboard: ‘How much to charge for Graphic Design’
in reality, freelance designers will need to research carefully and develop a pricing structure most suited to their own business.
2) About: Graphic Design – Hourly Rate vs. Flat Rate
A common decision to be made when starting a graphic design project is whether to charge a flat or an hourly rate. Each method has pros and cons, as well as ways to work towards a fair deal for both you and your client.
3) Sitepoint.com: ‘Pricing Web Work’
You’ve used every trick in the book to get visitors to your site, encourage enquiries from prospects, and land that sale… but it’s no good if you sell your services for next to nothing. If you’re a freelance Web designer, or you own a Web design shop, your business survival may rest on the development of an appropriate pricing model. Here’s how.
4) Creative Pro: ‘Setting Rates for Your Small Design Firm’
When you’re a freelancer, setting rates is relatively simple; you fill in a few cost numbers, find a comfortable profit margin (if you can), and divide the cost of business by the number of hours you want or need to work. As a result, most freelancers have a single rate card.
5) Advertising About: ‘Freelance Rates’
There’s no cookie-cutter method to magically set your rates. One copywriter may charge $350 for a direct mail piece and another may charge into the thousands. However, there are several factors you can consider to help you build a strong rate schedule that won’t scare off any potential clients.
6) All Freelance Work: ‘Small Design Business Pricing’
Now that you have all the information related to the project, it’s time to start the estimation process. It takes time and discipline to calculate the figures accurately. The most effective way to prepare an accurate estimate is to map out the entire project and all of its components in a Flow Chart.
7) Graphic Design.com ‘Advice on Pricing’
Many people price from the hip and really haven’t gotten a handle of what it’s actually costing them. Read my lips:
You will never know how much to charge for your work, until you know how much it costs you to do the work!
Freelancing, like any other business, should have standard accounting practices applied. This helps you establish how much it costs you — leading to how much you should charge. It’s simple math.
8.) Creative Public: Graphic and Web Design Pricing
Determining how much to charge for your services is often one of the biggest challenges for a new freelancer. If you charge too much you won’t get hired and if you charge too little you’ll starve. Take the time to read this article and you will figure out what you need to charge to thrive.
9) All Freelance.com – : Pricing Amongst Other Freelancer’s
When running a business, there will be many factors you will have to consider on a daily basis. One such concern which needs to be addressed from time to time relates to pricing and positioning amongst others. Since there are often a great deal of competitors on the consumer market in a variety of business fields, it is important to ensure that your prices and offerings are fair when compared with others yet still fair enough to yourself as a business owner. There are a few factors you should consider when contemplating pricing and positioning amongst others.
10) Vandelay Design – 12 Realities of Pricing Design Services
Unfortunately, there’s no right or wrong way to price your services. Every designer needs to develop his or her own method for pricing, and even then, you probably won’t be able to follow the same formula on every project. Because each job will be different, it’s difficult to develop a method that will work well every time.
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