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Casual Articles - The 3 Most Common Mistakes Freelancers Make (& How to Remedy Them)
You can have first-rate products and services, but if you can't establish the need, communicate the benefits and differentiate yourself from the competition in ways that make people want to do business with you, you’ll forever be selling up hill.As Robert Krumroy, Identity Branding, Inc. says: “Branding is about the customer--who has never met you--being able to answer the question: ‘Why you?’"Your “Value Proposition”Your brand can be based in large part on your “value proposition,” which is what differentiates you from your direct and indirect competition—and, if it’s good enou
So, choose a niche market and focus all of your marketing dollars on it. Feel free to take other things as they fall in your lap, but give your chosen market your "laser focus," eg, ad dollars, promotional efforts, etc.
2. Not Creating a Business Plan: Don't shut down! Come back. Focus. Pay attention. This is not more corporate
When you take a look at what is up and coming when it comes to careers among the younger generation fashion designer seems to be a frequent choice. This comes from the freedom that younger generations have gained in being able to set what they want to wear. Because of this, setting trends instead of following them has become a norm.The life of a fashion designer is also one that is full of excitement. You get the ability to meet famous people and if you are lucky, enough get the opportunity to have those people wear your designs. For those that do not want to be in the spot light there are other opt
1. Not Targeting a Market: I call this lack of freelancer focus. Do you drive without a destination? Probably not. Most of us know where we're going when we get in our cars, on the train, on the bus. We have a specific destination in mind.
Because editorial and creative freelancing encompass such broad categories, it can be difficult to focus. Eg, writing. Huh? For what - magazines, e-zines, newspapers, websites, newsletters, brochures, direct mail, etc., etc., etc.
What type of writing for what sector? Legal, medical, technical, scientific, real estate, financial, general (what does that mean?), etc., etc., etc.
What type of client? B2B, B2C.
As you can see, your choices are endless. And, you may be talented enough to write in many sectors. However, you will have a hard time selling this to potential clients, and you will almost always be beaten out for assignments by those who specialize and have the body of work to prove it.
I know this first-hand. I owned Inkwell Editorial, an editorial staffing agency in New York City, from 1996-2004. When I was recruiting for clients, I ALWAYS chose freelancers who had a background in the discipline for the assignment. Why? Because clients demanded it and they made me look good. I mean, when you think about it, why would I choose someone who was a generalist when I had 15 or 20 just as qualified candidates who had years of experience in what I was looking for? It was a no brainer.
That's why I'm adamant that freelancers should specialize. It's not that you can't go outside your speciality, but if you target a specific market, you build your client list that much faster and can service them better. Once you have your bread and butter clients, you can choose a secondary market - if you feel it necessary.
So, choose a niche market and focus all of your marketing dollars on it. Feel free to take other things as they fall in your lap, but give your chosen market your "laser focus," eg, ad dollars, promotional efforts, etc.
2. Not Creating a Business Plan: Don't shut down! Come back. Focus. Pay attention. This is not more corporate
Accounts receivable factoring refers to a process in which you can sell your invoices to a financing company for a rate, less than the face value of the invoice sold.The responsibility of collecting cash against the outstanding receivables lies with the financing company, who then makes a profit by collecting the funds at the face value of the invoice. The advantage of this arrangement is that a firm can receive instant cash, which was otherwise tied up in inventory, to further expand the business.Again, the responsibility of collecting the cash against the invoices lies with the financing c
Because editorial and creative freelancing encompass such broad categories, it can be difficult to focus. Eg, writing. Huh? For what - magazines, e-zines, newspapers, websites, newsletters, brochures, direct mail, etc., etc., etc.
What type of writing for what sector? Legal, medical, technical, scientific, real estate, financial, general (what does that mean?), etc., etc., etc.
What type of client? B2B, B2C.
As you can see, your choices are endless. And, you may be talented enough to write in many sectors. However, you will have a hard time selling this to potential clients, and you will almost always be beaten out for assignments by those who specialize and have the body of work to prove it.
I know this first-hand. I owned Inkwell Editorial, an editorial staffing agency in New York City, from 1996-2004. When I was recruiting for clients, I ALWAYS chose freelancers who had a background in the discipline for the assignment. Why? Because clients demanded it and they made me look good. I mean, when you think about it, why would I choose someone who was a generalist when I had 15 or 20 just as qualified candidates who had years of experience in what I was looking for? It was a no brainer.
That's why I'm adamant that freelancers should specialize. It's not that you can't go outside your speciality, but if you target a specific market, you build your client list that much faster and can service them better. Once you have your bread and butter clients, you can choose a secondary market - if you feel it necessary.
So, choose a niche market and focus all of your marketing dollars on it. Feel free to take other things as they fall in your lap, but give your chosen market your "laser focus," eg, ad dollars, promotional efforts, etc.
2. Not Creating a Business Plan: Don't shut down! Come back. Focus. Pay attention. This is not more corporate
Free barcode labels are barcode labels offered free of charge by certain barcode label manufacturing firms. Offering free barcode labels is a promotional technique adopted by barcode label manufacturers in order to increase their sales.Free barcode labels enable users to try out the labels and make a quick decision before bringing them to a specific application. Free barcode labels are available in a wide range of barcode symbologies and colors. Sometimes, custom-made barcode labels are also offered free of charge. Generally, these barcode labels are produced by high-quality printing and control che
I know this first-hand. I owned Inkwell Editorial, an editorial staffing agency in New York City, from 1996-2004. When I was recruiting for clients, I ALWAYS chose freelancers who had a background in the discipline for the assignment. Why? Because clients demanded it and they made me look good. I mean, when you think about it, why would I choose someone who was a generalist when I had 15 or 20 just as qualified candidates who had years of experience in what I was looking for? It was a no brainer.
That's why I'm adamant that freelancers should specialize. It's not that you can't go outside your speciality, but if you target a specific market, you build your client list that much faster and can service them better. Once you have your bread and butter clients, you can choose a secondary market - if you feel it necessary.
So, choose a niche market and focus all of your marketing dollars on it. Feel free to take other things as they fall in your lap, but give your chosen market your "laser focus," eg, ad dollars, promotional efforts, etc.
2. Not Creating a Business Plan: Don't shut down! Come back. Focus. Pay attention. This is not more corporate
Could logo controversy be good for the Games? The saga over the new London 2012 Olympic brand continues with media attention over the controversy spreading worldwide and generating over 1 million visitors to the London 2012 website.The popularity of the new design is universally low, with the ‘scrap the logo’ petition closed after receiving nearly 50,000 votes for fear that it might damage the reputation of the games, and a CNN poll showing that 89% of people do not title the new logo. This clearly conflicts with the spirit of the Olympic games and with the brand vision of 'Everyone's Games'.
That's why I'm adamant that freelancers should specialize. It's not that you can't go outside your speciality, but if you target a specific market, you build your client list that much faster and can service them better. Once you have your bread and butter clients, you can choose a secondary market - if you feel it necessary.
So, choose a niche market and focus all of your marketing dollars on it. Feel free to take other things as they fall in your lap, but give your chosen market your "laser focus," eg, ad dollars, promotional efforts, etc.
2. Not Creating a Business Plan: Don't shut down! Come back. Focus. Pay attention. This is not more corporate
No one really knows when youth ends officially. But if you are over 50 and looking for a job, you probably feel that the rules have all changed. These are the times of downsizing, ‘right-sizing’ (whatever that means) and cost-cutting. If you have ever lost a potential job to a much younger, lower-paid candidate, you might have asked yourself if you’ve reached your expiration date.Yes, age bias still exists – let’s not be in denial about that. But there are all kinds of biases that exist in the workplace and the matter of age is now less of an issue. Today, many companies are realizing the fac
So, choose a niche market and focus all of your marketing dollars on it. Feel free to take other things as they fall in your lap, but give your chosen market your "laser focus," eg, ad dollars, promotional efforts, etc.
2. Not Creating a Business Plan: Don't shut down! Come back. Focus. Pay attention. This is not more corporate mumbo jumbo - I promise. I'm not saying spend 6 months to a year writing a 30-page document that has to be presented to a venture capitalist.
BUT, I am saying that you need the bones of a business plan in front of you. Eg, who's your target market; how will you reach them; via which advertising medium; what servies will you offer; how much will you charge; how much will it cost you to provide the service (remember, as an editorial/creative worker, your "product" is time); what is your ad budget; how much will you need to reach your goals (eg, quit your job, bring in an extra $x/month)? All of these questions - and some more - should be answered.
Many freelancers fail at freelancing because they don't do this type of detailed thinking before starting out. You can take one weekend and flesh all of this out and be done with it. Just be sure to write it down and REFER TO IT OFTEN.
3. Not creating a marketing plan. If you are building your business on the cheap, as many do just starting out, it will take much more time than you realize.
So, you will need to map out a plan of what you're going to do on a daily, weekly, monthly basis to reach your financial goals. Trust, trust, trust me that if you don't, you will make less money and become frustrated with what could be a wonderful career. It ALWAYS takes longer than what you think.
Doing even a scractch marketing plan will make you feel accomplished - especially if you are doing something every day to market your business. It could be as simple as writing one article a day, pitching 10 potential clients whose info you found on the web, submitting one press release a week.
Imagine if you did just the above, that would be five new articles, 50 client pitches and one press release - all in one week. Now, multiply this by four (a month); 12 (a quarter); 52 (yearly) and you can see how just garnering even a 2% response rate would net you 52 new clients a
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