‘Advice’
Gifts that keep on giving: the Born Freelancer’s tips on testimonials
This series of posts by the Born Freelancer shares personal experiences and thoughts on issues relevant to freelancers. Have something to add to the conversation? Your input is welcome in the comments. I was looking at some impressive freelancer websites the other day and noticed a common element on the sites that were the most […]
PWAC Toronto’s Alternate Revenue Streams panel, Storified
What you missed at last night’s professional development event.
On fear and hunger: the Born Freelancer’s open letter to employers
I was having coffee recently with a colleague. Okay, actually, in my case, it was hot chocolate. Hey, it was cold outside and I needed a sugar hit. But we freelancers haven’t yet come up with a better expression than “having coffee” to denote a casual meeting. “Having tea” sounds too lightweight. “Having hot chocolate” […]
The secret to drastically increasing your income
Work more. That’s the advice Krystal Yee shared in a recent Moneyville.ca post. Over the course of 2011, she has boosted her income by 50 per cent by adding 20-30 hours per week of part-time and freelance work on top of her full-time job. She took on two part-time writing gigs, freelance graphic design work, […]
To blog, or not to blog, that is the Born Freelancer’s question
This series of posts by the Born Freelancer will share personal experiences and thoughts on issues relevant to freelancers. Have something to add to the conversation? Your input is welcome in the comments. I’m told that blogging is dead in this era of tweets and retweets. I must respectfully disagree. It may be long dead […]
The Born Freelancer makes a case for business cards
I was at a professional development seminar the other day and doing the usual networking thing with fellow freelancers. When it came time to exchange contact info, I began to frantically look for a pen and paper. (As an economy measure I’m currently still operating cellphone-less.) One of my new-found colleagues calmly took out his […]
Freelancer beware: 11 pitfalls of spec “pitches” and how to handle them from the Born Freelancer
Here is a fantastic cartoon that illustrates some of the dilemmas we freelancers face [LINK]. Could anybody who is not a freelancer get it? It is so funny because it is all so sadly true — I’ve seen them all at some point in my career. I guess the freelancing experience is universal. Go over […]
Fitting in face time: The Born Freelancer on the benefits of meeting IRL
This series of posts by the Born Freelancer will share personal experiences and thoughts on issues relevant to freelancers. Have something to add to the conversation? Your input is welcome in the comments. In a previous post, I wrote about the creative and health benefits of solitary walking. Today I want to talk about the […]
Show me the money: Invoicing tips from the Born Freelancer
Gather a bunch of freelance writers together and it’s almost always the number-one topic of conversation. The general public may expect us to be dissecting esoteric topics like the influence of Faustian legend on contemporary media, but for most of us it’s: “Got any new tips for getting paid faster?” Several posts ago Story Board […]
F*ck you. Pay me. Mike Monteiro’s advice for getting paid as a freelancer
If you’ve ever had trouble collecting payment from a client, this video is for you. Mike Monteiro, co-founder of Mule Design Studio gives his provocative (and sometimes profane) tips for protecting yourself as an independent contractor.
