Sometimes, the cause of freelancing mistakes lies in forgetting to ask the right questions. I know this because it has often happened to me, whether I’m applying as a contractor for a project or I’m the one hiring others to work with me. Asking these questions, […] Read more »
It’s only a couple of weeks before 2009 arrives, but are you ready for it? While it’s true that December is an arbitrary choice to plan for the incoming year, it’s still a good time to be mindful of what might lie ahead for web workers come January. What changes will there be and what can we do to adapt? Read more »
Competing with other web workers might not be as cut-throat as corporate competition, but the spirit of competition in web working be dismissed as nonexistent. In fact, it’s a big mistake to ignore your competitors completely. So how should we use our competitors to our advantage without getting dirty? Read more »
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Before the recent boxing match between Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao, De La Hoya’s trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr., decided not to train De La Hoya for the fight. He had this to say: Oscar doesn’t need me to beat Pacquiao. He really doesn’t. For […] Read more »
When I was a freshman art student, there came a day when I realized that my favorite paint colors were running out. The problem was that I didn’t have the money to replace them. No ultramarine blue, cadmium yellows, or alizarin crimson. I was stuck with […] Read more »
During my creative writing classes in college, many of my classmates dreaded the workshops. These workshops required us to send each other a copy of our work, then, the following week, we’d tear each other apart. We used to spend hours spotting mixed metaphors, grammatical errors, […] Read more »
One of the downsides of web working is that you’re prone to distractions at home, whether it’s the snacks calling to you from the fridge or a toddler throwing tantrums. I experience these distractions everyday and have found ways around most of them. My most important “weapon against mass distractions”, so to speak, was to wake up at 2:00am and work while the rest of the neighborhood sleeps.
Except for my new neighbors, of course. They moved in last week and, since then, it’s been one loud evening after another. Read more »
One of the things I love about online freelancing is the flexibility. I can choose the projects I want to work on and have a customized schedule. It’s this kind of freedom that entice many traditional employees to become freelancers, or at least to work from […] Read more »
According to a survey in 2005, only 12% of internet users know what RSS feeds are. Despite these low numbers, most of the netizens I know seem to be active subscribers. While RSS feeds give us the latest news, blog posts, and site updates through a […] Read more »
You can’t please everybody. There’s a reason why that line is a cliché. I’ve yet to hear of a freelancer who never encountered a client who was disappointed in their work. Some clients keep their frustrations to themselves or simply stop working with you. Others, however, […] Read more »
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It’s hard work to set up and supervise a teleworking team for some projects. In the web content service I run, I need to gather work-from-home writers together and help them work as a team. This is especially important for projects that require group cooperation and […] Read more »
December is fast approaching – this is the perfect time to tighten up portfolios for the incoming year. In the coming weeks, I know that I’ll be preoccupied with this, especially since I’ve gained some new clients this year. Here are some things we should consider […] Read more »
When I started freelancing, I worked with every potential client who contacted me. This is normal for someone who is starting out. After all, you want to get all the experience you can get your hands on. But after a while, you’ll realize, like I did, […] Read more »
Stealing on the internet is easy. It takes very little effort for someone to copy your work and slap their name on it. Almost every month I hear of a photographer, blogger, or designer I know whose work gets used without their permission. With all this copyright infringement going around, I’d be surprised if a majority of WWD readers claim that this has never happened to them. Read more »
When our grandparents said that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, they were referring to the fruit, not the computer. But it’s not far-fetched that the same thing could be said about teleworking. By opting to telework, employees and freelancers have a better chance […] Read more »
As I’m writing this post, I’m in a small hut in the jungles of Bohol, a small island in the Philippines. The past week has been part of an experiment for me, trying to see how far I can take this digital nomad thing. Here’s the […] Read more »
When clients call you and hear a baby cooing or a kitten meowing in the background, they can’t help but remember that you’re human. You’re not just an invisible web working slave that does their bidding. You have a life, a family, and pets. Your clients […] Read more »
In these tough economic times, it’s never a bad thing to trim our spending. Last month, Aliza Sherman asked us how much we spend on web apps, and while some claimed to spend nothing at all, there were others who paid more than $100 each month. […] Read more »
In a previous post here at WWD, I gave a list of four essential contacts for web workers. The list included a mentor, a newbie, the walking social network, and the non-techie. While those contacts will help you enrich your career, there are other contacts you’ll […] Read more »
When the benefits of teleworking are discussed, one of the major points raised is that teleworking is better for the environment. One of the more obvious causes of this is that if more people work from home, lesser people drive to work, reducing petrol consumption and […] Read more »
Are you trustworthy? This is something we have to ask ourselves as web workers. In fact, our clients are probably asking us this very question through subtext, we just aren’t aware of it. Important as this question may be, there is another question that should be […] Read more »
Apart from being a blogger, I also dabble in comics and illustration. My friends from college where I was majoring in Fine Arts want to band together and start an illustration studio early next year. This leads me to wonder whether I’m ready to start another […] Read more »
How do you separate the great clients from the nightmares? Read our post and find out. Read more »
In today’s turbulent economic times, it’s important to have lower expenses and increased income – especially for teleworkers. While many independent contractors are getting more business, it’s still wise to make deliberate efforts to thrive. Here are some ways we will be able to do that. Read more »
Whether it’s vacuuming your keyboard, taking a long walk, or making a pot of coffee, you probably have a routine that you do before you get started with work. This routine seems so mundane and simple, yet, without it, you can’t get started. Many artists and […] Read more »
I’ve often mentioned that I live in the Philippines, a country that has seen more than its fair share of political and economic turmoil. Because of this, many of our citizens feel that the only way to escape poverty in this country is by working in […] Read more »
Working from home allows me to be a more involved pet owner, since I get to be around my pets all day. Right now, I have two dogs, two cats, and a rooster. (I also have a snail but it hardly gets in the way of […] Read more »
A web worker’s office is her most important tool. Arranging it should be given more care and importance than setting up one’s LinkedIn profile. In my four years of web work, I can’t say that I’ve achieved the perfect office yet, but I already know what […] Read more »
There are so many available tools and resources on productivity that it’s bound to make one crazy. I confess that I was one of those productivity addicts who subscribed to all the GTD and lifehacking blogs out there, downloaded all the tools I could find, and […] Read more »
How can we reconcile instant messenger apps’ usefulness as a communication tool with the fact that it can be downright annoying? Read more »
I’ve noticed that web workers tend to be particular about their communication tools. Twitter is usually for mass sharing, wikis or collab apps are for project discussions, while email is for almost everything else. We all have our own preferences when it comes to communicating with […] Read more »
Writer’s block. Creative constipation. Mental block. These phrases are just fancy ways of saying something simple: you’re stuck. There’s nothing wrong with being stuck, since it happens to the best of us. But there are several reasons to get yourself moving again, especially if it’s unreasonable […] Read more »
If you’re really determined, you can survive as a freelancing web worker. It takes a few months of trial and error, learning all you can, and finding the tools and processes that work for you. After that, most people are glad to find that they’ve survived […] Read more »
Not everyone who teleworks does it for life. An online writer I know just went back to his old job as an on-site project manager. A quick surf to articles or blogs on telecommuting shows that not all people are happy with their experiences. Some analysts […] Read more »
Just because some freelancers work independently, it doesn’t mean they always work alone. There will always be big projects that require them to be part of a group, to be a team player, and to work on a small part of a big product. But if […] Read more »
People who are new to web working often have certain expectations on how working from home can improve the way they work. While these expectations can be met, it’s usually not as easy as it looks on reports and surveys. Read more »
It’s not surprising that many people, especially web workers, experience email fatigue. After all, spending hours each day reading and replying to emails can prevent you from spending more time on the work that you actually have to do (unless sending and receiving emails is your […] Read more »
In my four years of web working, it is rare that people ask for my resume, and even rarer for them to ask about my educational background. Usually, all they want to see is my portfolio or a list of URLs where they can see my previous work.
This raises the question: what does formal education have to do with web working? Read more »
There are many ways for web workers to experience the act of ‘letting go’. It could be separating from a client you’ve worked with for so long, an old website of yours that requires a major face lift, or a blog you need to sell. What drives us to stop working on a project we’ve been involved with for so long? How is this different from giving up? Read more »
People can criticize an opinion you shared, a new WordPress template you designed, or even a simple question you asked on your blog. Since we spend most of our working hours online, we’re especially prone to public displays of criticism, some of which are inflammatory. How […] Read more »
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