It was my first semester at college that I realized if I wanted to continue getting freelance jobs, I’d have to hone my web design skills. Up until that point, I was working in FrontPage, and hand coding some HTML to get the hang of it. I was also offering some awful (really bad) graphic work. It was at my work study job that I met my friend Stephen Mekosh, who introduced me to CSS, PHP, and a whole mess of resources to keep myself afloat in an always changing industry.

Tags: beginning, blog, links, skills, tips | Posted in Advice, Stories | 1 Comment »

CNN has a story posted today about how more and more people are starting to freelance and how businesses are using freelancers.

Down said that as employment numbers shrink, so will the use of independent contractors — especially in such a broad and deep recession — but that freelancers are likely to be the first to find work when the recovery begins.

(link to post)Visit CNN: More Business Using Freelancers

I wrote a few days ago about my first freelance gig. It was a parish- church with school, on a fairly low budget. They weren’t looking for anything spectacular, which was great because I was just learning the ropes. So I set out to find my first niche.

Tags: beginning, niche, referrals, tips | Posted in Advice, Stories | Comments Off

You didn’t think all my resources would be other people’s stuff, did you? I wouldn’t be a very good freelancer if I didn’t give some stuff away for free. Today I’m providing a template I use when coming up with proposals for clients. I’ve generalized it and it’s ready for you to adapt and make your own. I’ve also provided a sample proposal so you can see how I use it (all company names, specs, prices are fictitious).

For furture reference, all documents I upload and make public will go in this folder. You’re free to use any of them free of charge. Though if someone asks, a reference would be nice

This (and most documents) are in a .doc format. If you need it in another format (Open Office, for example), let me know and I’ll convert it for you.

Finally, you might want to take some time to read the Read  Me file in the folder.

(link to post)Visit Freelance Proposal Template

One of the most troubling issues continually facing freelancers is coming up with rates. You can go to any freelance forum and find several dozen threads dedicated to pricing, estimates, rates, and the like. Especially when first starting out, I was worried that my rates would be too high and I would lose jobs because of it. But when pricing my first job, I had no idea what I was doing, because I had no frame of reference.

Tags: beginning, price, rates, tips | Posted in Advice, Stories | Comments Off

I know I’m well on my way to giving Freelance Switch a lot of link love, but of the forums I use, this is the best one for freelancers.

(link to post)Visit Freelance Switch Forums