How much you feel you should pay remote workers is one thing; what your payment is worth to them — and how its value changes over time — is another.

Recent global financial strife continues to cause some economies to suffer, including that of the U.S. Many digital freelancers earning U.S. dollars are now receiving substantially less for the same work, as their own nations’ currencies gain strength against the U.S. dollar.

The rates that U.S. companies offer to remote workers may no longer compete with firms that are more local to the freelance web worker. For U.S.-based organizations, this may make sourcing good remote workers much more challenging. It may also be a challenge they haven’t had to face before.

Of course, currency fluctuations don’t just affect pay rates. In theory, web workers buying goods from the U.S. should enjoy exchange rate benefits as the U.S. dollar weakens, but this is rarely the case.

Late last year,  for example, I bought a $35 piece of software from the States on a day when the U.S. dollar was worth 1.015 Australian dollars. The software should have cost $35.53 AUD, but my receipt shows that I was actually charged $1.40 AUD more. The effects of a stronger currency aren’t usually reflected across the board.

And of course, your remote freelancer’s local costs don’t fluctuate with your currency’s value. So what could be a great rate for them this month might be a very lackluster rate in a month or two. You may need to consider offering other perks or advantages to procure the remote talent you really want, rather than accepting that which you can get cheaply.

Freedom and fun stuff

If your remote freelancer has some ideas they’d like to trial on your project, or extra suggestions that they feel are worthwhile, can you give them the freedom to implement those ideas?

The extra work may take extra time, but if you can see real value for your project, the extension of scope could be beneficial to the remote worker as well as to your business. It could also ensure you get a top-notch job on the key parts of the project, rather than settling for second-best.

Software and systems

Can you reduce the cost to the freelancer of taking on your project by giving them a license to use necessary software, or providing access to specific systems?

Finding ways to make their lives easier — and more cost-effective — could help you to win the remote worker.

Team involvement

Some remote workers really value the opportunity to work with a team — particularly if they’re solo operators, or work from home. Showing them how you’ll involve them in the project team, making them feel welcome, and communicating their value to their new colleagues are a few ways to help cement good relationships with valuable remote workers.

The promise of close working relationships with like-minded pros is likely to appeal to more than a few web workers — especially those who are interested in collaborative, on-the-job learning, and in building networks.

Credits or kudos

Kudos matters. Can you give credit to the freelancer you’re pursuing, perhaps through social media, LinkedIn references, linking to their site through your organization’s blog, or some other method?

Most freelancers will appreciate being publicly named for their contributions — especially if that recognition can help them win further work, or gain them exposure among peers who matter to them.

These ideas may not win you the remote web worker you want, but they might help sweeten a deal embattled by global financial tumult. Are you finding it harder to land good remote talent in places where your currency has weakened?

Image courtesy stock.xchng user OmirOnia.

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Think about the following questions in relation to past jobs that you loved or hated. They will help you figure out what kind of projects you really want to work on now.

1. Teamwork. Do you prefer to work as part of a team where you can collaborate closely with other people on regular basis? Or are you happiest when people leave you alone and you can just get things done with minimal interaction? If you prefer to work alone and you end up in a job where you have to work very closely with other people, the chances of being happy are slim. Likewise, if you want to work as part of a team, you will likely feel alone, isolated and unhappy on solo projects. Finding a project or job that matches your team style can make a big difference in your job satisfaction.
2. Leadership. Are you happiest when leading a team of people on a project, where you can be in the driver’s seat? Or would you rather stay out of the limelight and work in the background? Just because you want to be in a leadership position doesn’t mean you can jump right into one right away, but you can look for opportunities to lead smaller portions of a project, to prove your leadership capabilities and set yourself up to move into leadership. On the other hand, if you aren’t happy leading, don’t get suckered into taking a lead job, even if it comes with a little more money. If you hate your job, a few extra dollars a month probably won’t make up for it.
3. Innovation. Do you like to come up with ideas that are revolutionary and new? Or do you prefer to take an evolutionary approach to make existing ideas and projects better? If you enjoy the latter, then you should be careful not to get into positions where you are responsible for coming up with groundbreaking ideas. It can also be a good idea to pair up with team members of the other type so that people are coming up with new ideas and others are working to make them better over time.
4. Employment. Do you crave stability and the benefits that come with being a full-time employee? Or are you happiest when you are working as an independent consultant with flexibility and the ability to control your work? There are many advantages and disadvantages of both, so it helps to know what you prefer.
5. Technology. Do you have specific technologies that you can’t live without? Or do you use whatever your employer or client prefers? If you are a diehard Apple  fan, the chances of being happy in a job where you have to use a Windows  laptop and BlackBerry  phone are slim. Some companies run on email while others use more collaborative technologies, so make sure you ask about technology usage if you have any strong preferences.

A few other things that are important to keep in mind:

• Is the project interesting to you?
• Do you get to work with people whom you want to spend time with?
• Do you like working for your manager or client?

Finding a project or job that plays into your preferences can mean the difference between a miserable experience and a happy one. Think about how you really want to work, then work toward a position that matches your preferences and makes you enjoy your work.

How do you stay happy on the job?

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Lars Plougmann.

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The quarterly survey of job postings and online contractors revealed that more than a dozen cities that are still struggling with an unemployment rate higher than ten percent rank among the highest-earning locales on Elance. So while job seekers in Los Angeles may still be fighting 12 percent unemployment, web workers based there are among the highest paid on the platform.

What else did the Elance data reveal? Unsurprisingly, it’s still good to have tech skills, with the increased use of smartphones upping the demand for developers. Also less than shocking was an increased demand for tax preparers as April 15^th looms.

Less expected was the city given the crown of America’s geekiest metropolis. Move over Mountain View and San Jose, geek is now being spoken with a southern drawl as Austin, Texas took the title of top city for tech nerds. The home of SXSW now boasts the highest contractor earnings for IT skills on Elance’s platform. Amarillo continued its (also unlikely) reign as the top spot for creative talent, with the most contractor earnings in the “Creative” category.

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The availability of a growing independent workforce lets companies easily reach large talent pools of specialists and contractors. And while this strategy is hyped as a cost-saving measure, numerous other benefits ripple through small and large businesses alike. By hiring outside talent, companies are able to quickly staff up or down as needed to meet the dynamics of the marketplace. Companies are able to easily access particular talents or areas of expertise to fill niche requirements. And by shifting more and more work to offsite contractors, companies can lower the costs spent on facilities and office space.

However, this hiring trend brings its own set of challenges, as companies need to contend with effectively managing a geographically dispersed workforce that’s now tied to multiple employers. Conference room meetings and office visits are
replaced with emails, remote collaboration sites, networking, and electronic billing and funds transfers. Without the right tools and mindset in place, the benefits of contractors can quickly erode from the inefficiencies of clashing software systems, complex reporting and payments, and poor oversight of projects.

If you’re currently hiring independent specialists, or are anticipating moving toward this direction, here are seven tips to make sure you get solid ROI on your new workforce, ensure that the savings generated from hiring independent specialists are maintained, and can scale no matter what project size and scope you have:

1. Set rules for projects, timelines and budget. Whether you’re dealing with in-house or freelance employees, clear communication of project deadlines, expectations, budgets and responsibilities is crucial. Define the rules and roles upfront. When every milestone, task, and deliverable is clear from the onset, you’ll always know where you stand and so will your team.
2. Create a collaborative online work environment. When you’ve got multiple people across the country or globe involved on a given project, you’ve got to make it easy for everyone to work together, share documents, make comments, and view project status. A cloud-based workspace is the new and improved conference room. You want to create a one-stop-shop for all project-related documents, conversations, tasks, milestones, and financial information.
3. Manage documents and conversations in a single place. A simple project can generate an astonishing volume of email. Eliminate the back and forth by communicating in a secure, shared workspace. This centralized area creates an instant audit trail for any project that’s readily accessible to all involved. It also helps to minimize those pesky emails that eat away at everyone’s productivity: What’s the latest version of the document? When do you expect to have the first draft? Where are we in the review cycle?
4. Stay on top of hours throughout the project lifecycle. On a weekly, if not daily, basis, you should be tracking the actual hours spent by each contractor on a given project, and then compare those numbers to the project’s status and budget. There’s simply no excuse for budget surprises. By continually monitoring a project’s status, you’ll identify potential risks early and be better equipped to make necessary changes to ensure the desired outcome. Of course, this is all easier said than done. It’s critical to first instill a culture where project reporting and hours are given a high priority (and not just deemed busy paperwork). Then give your contractors the right technology tools to make daily or real-time reporting as pain-free as possible.
5. Accept changes. Even the best-managed projects can run into unforeseen roadblocks, or changes in strategy. Make sure you have a workflow in place that can easily handle change, making it as simple as possible for all parties to quickly analyze and approve any changes in price or schedule.
6. Link invoicing to actual project management. Invoicing and payment may be the final step in a project, but they shouldn’t be an afterthought. Each invoice item should be directly linked to actual tasks and deliverables, so that anyone (and not just the specific contractor and project manager) can instantly understand the output purchased. Contractors should be able to instantly create invoices right from inside their project workspace as a logical extension of the project activity. This not only saves everyone time, but ensures seamless continuity from initial contract to project deliverables to final payment.
7. Offer career development and other services. Just because workers are not your full-time employees doesn’t mean human resources and career development services aren’t important. Consider providing access to preferred health insurance rates, offering help on setting up retirement accounts, and other resources. By providing a good set of personal and professional development tools, you’ll benefit from having a pool of happy, effective and loyal contractors.

Fortunately the convergence of new cloud technology with mobile and social computing is enhancing collaboration and the virtual workflow. As the world continues to move faster, it’s critical that your selected online environment improves everyone’s effectiveness, rather than constrains it. These cloud-based solutions must include simple transactional and collaboration tools, along with a heavy dose of business acumen sensibilities and a clear management platform.

Of course, technology alone can’t address management issues. Effective management requires a two-pronged solution of new technology tools and well-defined processes. You need to set the priorities and work culture from the top-down, and then deploy the right tools and processes to make those goals happen.

Ray Grainger is founder and CEO of Mavenlink, a comprehensive web-based project management platform that manages the
entire scope of business for consultants, freelancers, and other independent service professionals from a single application.

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I wouldn’t want to learn from a teacher who never experiences and only theorizes, nor would I want to learn from one who never reflects on his experiences and, therefore, never gains wisdom.

When you’re trying to run your own business, I think you need time to experiment and try new methods and approaches to your systems and your work. But you also need time to reflect on what’s working and what’s not so that you can modify your direction as you go.

I’ve talked with several business owners in the past few months who have recently become known as experts in their respective niches, and they all have said that even though they know that they’ve been at it for, in some cases, 10 years or more, it’s still hard to feel like an “expert” at what they do (or maybe it’s just strange hearing themselves called that). The truth is, though, they have been doing their work, learning their trade, figuring out how to be successful for years and have earned that title, even if it is strange to hear it themselves.

No, they still don’t get it right all of the time. They still flounder and figure things out as they go, just like the rest of us, but I still personally value their insight very much. By learning from their wisdom, even as they continue to practice, I save myself some steps here and there, and sometimes I even save myself a lot of headache and heartache from side-stepping mistakes they’ve made and that they’ve been so kind as to help me avoid.

Certainly, you want to figure out how to get it right so that (sooner rather than later) you can do the things that will help you succeed in your business, but you also have to save room for experimentation and for failure. It’s how we learn, it’s how we grow, and ultimately, it’s how we succeed.

What have been the greatest experiments of your business, whether they ultimately failed or succeeded?

Photo by Flickr user mikebaird, licensed under CC BY 2.0.

The trick with time tracking is arriving upon a degree of detail that’s both useful and efficient. It doesn’t help you if keeping track of things is all you end up doing because it’s such a time and attention-intensive process. Conversely, a general account of “Peformed project-related work” for a time block of eight hours isn’t particularly illuminating, either for the client or yourself. So how granular should your time tracking and reporting be?

I worked with one company that insisted on providing time reporting for all project staff in 15-minute increments to all of its clients. It might seem impossible, and in practice, it was, though that didn’t change the wording of the guidelines. What ended up happening was that either the client would demand simpler reporting, or company assets on assignment would “go native” and refuse to submit such ridiculously extensive accounting of their time.

Over time, the most sensible way of going about time tracking for the company became apparent. Generally speaking, project staff would report changes in activity throughout the day in blocks of time of no less than half an hour, and no more than three. Then before passing on said info to the client, administrative staff would edit it, depending on the needs and wants of the particular client stakeholder receiving the report.

As a web worker working on a contract basis from home, your process should be similar. The easy part is knowing to what degree of detail you need for your own purposes of professional development: experience will tell you that. Determining what a client wants is trickier, but should follow a similar logic. Arrive at a standard first through trial and error with some early projects, and then use that as the template for all future engagements. Solicit and pay attention to client feedback after that to determine what’s right for the person you’re currently working with.

As with most things, the best way to go about it is to avoid extremes. Report too much or too little, and you’re likely to either over- or underwhelm a client. The perfect balance is hard to achieve, but a good balance shouldn’t be too hard to arrive at.

How do you determine how granular to make your time tracking?

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1. Lance Armstrong: Be disciplined. No business will succeed without a lot of hard work and discipline. Commit to it. Stick with it. Eventually, you’ll reach your destination.
2. Paula Deen: Be yourself (and be bold about it). You will naturally succeed if you build a base of followers who are naturally attracted to your personality. Don’t worry about being liked by everybody. Just let your own unique personality shine through.
3. Mr. Rogers: Be positive. I can’t imagine making it in business without a whole lot of optimism.
4. Ellen Degeneres: Have fun. The daily grind, even when you work for yourself, can be dull at times. Doing something you love, surrounding yourself with clients and connections that energize you, and taking time to appreciate the good things in life make it all worthwhile, and who doesn’t enjoy a good laugh every once in a while?
5. Bill Cosby: Keep learning. I used to be so intimidated by what I didn’t know. But I’ve come to realize that such a list is endless, so I just continue to work at it, and I learn more and more each day about how to build a successful business.
6. Carol Burnett: Be creative. Sometimes you have to improvise. You figure it out, and you come to enjoy the journey.
7. Oprah: Build a platform. To succeed in business, you have to have a group of people who believe in you, who want to hear what you have to say, and who want to support you in everything you do.
8. Jim Carrey & Steve Carell: Don’t take it all so seriously. You’re going to mess up, and you will look silly on occasion. Learn to be OK with that.
9. Maya Angelou: Be resilient. Things will not always be easy, but if you refuse to give up and keep bouncing back, they manage to work themselves out.

Just like certain words bring to mind certain products or companies, certain celebrities make me think of lessons or traits I hope to apply within my business.

Do any lessons or traits come to mind when you think of certain celebrities?

Image from Flickr by j a r r o d

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For a blue-eyed girl in my homeroom class

Trying to find the courage to ask her out

Was like trying to get oil from a waterspout

What she would’ve said I can’t say

I never did ask and she moved away

But I learned something from my blue-eyed girl

Sink or swim you gotta give it a whirl.

- John Michael Montgomery, “Life’s a Dance”

I’m surprised sometimes by business owners who turn down opportunities for promotion. We can all feel intimidated by the thought of putting ourselves or our ideas out there, but whenever that happens to me, I stop and ask myself, “Are you serious about this?”

If there’s one thing I’m figuring out, especially lately, it’s that you have to be willing to make the approach. You have to be willing to ask for what you want. Ask the person to be a guest for your blog or podcast. Ask to be covered on another person’s site or radio show. Ask someone to join you for lunch or coffee. Just ask.

Maybe they’ll say yes. Maybe they’ll say no, but who cares? There are a million other people to ask.

It’s nerve-racking, spine-numbing and absolutely intimidating to get out there and tell the world about yourself and your business, but at some point, you have to ask yourself just how serious you are and how willing you are to let go of your fears and inhibitions and just do it.

The point is, you’re not going to get anywhere by staying holed up behind your computer screen tweaking, thinking, lurking or waiting. You have to take the initiative. Marketing, promotion and publicity – it’s all intimidating, and very few people are comfortable with it. That’s OK, though. If you admit that you’re nervous, people will be quick to support you and will actually see you as a real person who messes up and has feelings and is just like them, and that’s what you want — to make a connection with others.

What’s the best thing you ever accomplished by putting yourself out there?

Image from Flickr by geeknerd99

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Instead, take this opportunity to review your pitching strategy and shape your portfolio accordingly.

How’s Your Portfolio Performing?

Has your portfolio landed you any jobs recently? If not, why not? If so, which seem to be the most compelling pieces or areas of work?

Discussing your portfolio with the clients or prospects who have reviewed it recently is a good starting point for working out which bits work best. But the success of different parts of your portfolio might already be obvious if you continue to secure projects in a particular area (e.g. web design) even though you regularly pitch for projects in print design as well.

Once you’ve identified which parts of your portfolio are the most compelling and successful, you’ll have some decisions to make.

Does Your Portfolio Fit Your Strategy?

Your portfolio is a tool to help you secure work, but will it help you secure the kind of work you want?

As you think about the kinds of projects or clients you’d like to do more work with in the coming year, you’ll formulate an idea of the work examples you’ll need to have in your folio.

If you can’t demonstrate your capabilities in the area you want to work in, you’ll find it hard to land jobs. If you can, then why include extraneous work examples from areas you’re not so interested in?

Consider who you want to work with (big clients? clients who pay over a certain hourly rate? clients with longer-term contracts?) and the kinds of work you want to do with them first. Then, it’s time to turn to your portfolio and make some changes.

Should You Remove Pieces That Aren’t Doing You Any Favors?

Of course, you should only include the pieces that you believe are truly outstanding, and display your abilities at their fullest. But reducing the size of a really great portfolio of work can help to more clearly communicate the types of jobs or clients you want to work with.

It might also make your body of work easier for prospects to digest. Larger online portfolios are often difficult to navigate, can overwhelm potential clients, and may dilute the strength of your offering. If your portfolio’s offline, you’ll have to consider the order and flow of pieces, and you’ll probably want to keep the number of pieces to around 10.

Should You Boost the Representation of Work In a Given Area?

If you want to shift your professional focus, or simply do more work in an area you particularly enjoy, you might want to put more examples of this type of work in your folio. Perhaps you’ll remove some older pieces to accommodate the new ones. Perhaps you’ll experiment by including your workings on a key project to illustrate your creative process. Maybe you’ll prepare some executions specifically for your portfolio, to show off your creativity and flare on a client-free exercise.

As you think about these issues, keep the strategy you want to pursue in the coming year top of mind. It will likely dictate the kinds of people who will be reviewing your portfolio, and what they’ll be looking for.

Should You Reorder or Re-categorize Your Work?

In a hardcopy, offline portfolio, the order of pieces is crucial, so each time you change the composition of your portfolio, you should reassess the order of pieces for flow.

Of course, a prospect’s movement through your online folio is usually determined by them, so you may not get to ensure they see pieces in a certain order. However, it may be handy as you review your portfolio’s contents to reassess your categorization.

What categories will make the greatest sense to your key prospect groups? Should you categorize your pieces by work type, industry, medium, audience or objective? There are plenty of options, so it’s worth giving some thought to categorization of your pieces, to ensure the folio you create really suits the target prospects you want to work with.

These are the main issues I’ll consider as I revise my portfolio to suit my strategy for the year ahead. What secrets do you use to prepare a truly stunning folio?

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To some freelancers, keeping track of these leads is just as easy as remembering them. But for those freelancers — like me — who are on the forgetful side, we need to have a system in place. Because of this, I’ve created a spreadsheet to manage my leads. After all, I don’t want to leave potential clients hanging.

Here’s how you can make a similar spreadsheet yourself.

The Columns on the Spreadsheet

The image above shows an example of the spreadsheet I use, but with fictional entries. You can create additional columns if necessary, since we all have different needs. Add whatever factors are important to you. Some freelancers might want columns for expected pay, expected total work hours, etc. As for me, I just included the ones that I’ve found essential to keep track of, such as:

• Organization. This column contains the name of the organization, business, or company that’s planning on working with me. If an individual is hiring me, I simply put his or her name in this field.
• Job type. Since most freelancers wear different hats, we tend to be interested in a variety of projects. In the example above, a freelance writer’s job types may include writing e-books, blog posts, sales letters or site copy. On the other hand, a graphic designer may have the following items: logo, web site, or product packaging. For automatic input, I made a drop-down menu listing all the job types, which means that I don’t need to type in the text.
• Contact person. When communicating with an organization, I only find myself coordinating the details with one contact person. So that I don’t get names mixed up, I make sure to include the contact person for each lead. That way, if I need to know more about a job I know who to talk to. On a separate column is the contact information such as their email address or phone number.
• Submission date. This is the date that the query was submitted — whether I’m the one who applied for the job or the lead came to me.
• Last contact date. Knowing the last date of contact allows me to follow up on the lead appropriately. If it’s been a week since I last heard from the organization, I may need to follow up on the lead. Instead of searching my email or social networking inboxes for the last contact date, I can easily refer to the sheet.
• Status. Like the “Job Type” field, I made a drop-down menu for the status of the lead. This tells me if I got the job, if it was rejected, or if the decision is still pending. For easy reference, I applied conditional formatting to the different status items. For “Rejected” I used a dark blue font color, green for “Accepted”, and bright red for “Pending”. This is so that my attention is drawn to the pending projects whenever I’m looking at the sheet.
• Notes. Any miscellaneous notes, comments, and other remarks go to this field. Filling this in is optional.

Tips and Resources

I use OpenOffice Calc for all my spreadsheets, but you might be more at ease with another program altogether (Excel or Google Spreadsheets, for example). Here’s a list of relevant tutorials that can help you compose your own lead tracking spreadsheet on your favorite program:

• Google Spreadsheets. Here’s the official tutorial on how to apply formatting rules. Unfortunately,  users can’t create drop-down selection lists with Google Spreadsheets so you’ll have to input the job type and status items manually.
• Microsoft Excel. For Excel, this tutorial shows you how to do conditional formatting and here’s how you can make a drop-down list.
• OpenOffice Calc. Applying the necessary formatting rules in OpenOffice Calc requires similar steps to those of Excel. To be specific, though, there are two tutorials from the OpenOffice Training blog on how to do conditional formatting and creating a drop-down selection list in Calc.

How do you keep track of job leads during busy months? Are you able to remember them all or do you need a more thorough system?

Photo credit: stock.xchng user michu633

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But this week, I began to wonder: what had happened to those past clients I’d loved so much? For various reasons, I’d lost touch with some of these guys, but now, in the search for work, getting back in touch with them seemed like a sterling idea.

There was just one problem: some of these contacts were really old. I hadn’t been in contact with the first one on my list in four years. Four years! How was I going to overcome four years of distance to reestablish contact with this client?

It’s Business, Not Pleasure

Small business pundits are always stressing the importance of maintaining relationships over time, no matter what. Most of us agree that staying in touch with past clients is very important. For these reasons, it’s easy to feel a sense of guilt as you approach your neglected client.

Don’t! Unlike a neglected friend, my past client is hardly likely to ask me where I’ve been for the last four years or why I never call her anymore.

Client relationships aren’t like friendships: both you and your clients are busy, and most of us understand that our business focuses shift over time as new projects and challenges crop up in work and in life. If a past client that you contact has no need for your services, that’s fine — at least you gave it a try. But if you both felt your work together was good, that person will likely be happy to hear from you regardless.

Taking the Plunge

Whether you email or call your long lost contact, you’ll need to sound your usual, confident self. I decided to email first and follow up with a call later, so the opening lines of my email were crucial. “Hi Brenda, Sorry I’ve been busy for the last four years,” didn’t seem like a great way to begin to rebuild a relationship. What are our options for opening up a dialog with a past client?

The thing to remember here is that you’re not trying to create an excuse for making contact with your client: you need to catch that person’s attention in a way that prompts them to contact you, or request a meeting when you speak to them.

Match Your Skills to Their Current Area of Work

First I checked my client’s web site and blog to see what her company had been doing recently, and whether I could identify any obvious opportunities for me to promote my offering. This way, I could start my email with something like:

“I noticed that you’ve been working on XYZ recently, which is an area I’ve been focusing on over the last few years.”

This opening gives me a nice segue into an explanation of my expertise in that area, any experience or training I’ve had, and so on.

Use Your Recent Projects to Pique Their Interest

I also considered my folio and the work samples I was about to send her. If a piece is of particular relevance to the client, I can use that as my starting point for the message:

“I’ve just finished a project that I thought would be of interest to you, so I thought I’d get in touch.”

Here, highlighting a particular folio piece or project would be the obvious next step.

Outline Your Expanded Offering

Of course, in the four years since I’d worked with my client, I’d expanded my capabilities and service offering. In some cases, this might provide a good way to grab the client’s attention:

“Since I last worked with you, I’ve gained considerable experience in Topic  A, which is fast becoming essential to the ongoing success of organizations like yours.”

From here, it’s an easy segue to invite a meeting so that you can explain to the client how Topic A will benefit them, and, of course, what you can offer in that field.

Leverage Industry News, Reports or Whitepapers

Though it may seem comparatively impersonal to mention or point your contact to a whitepaper, news report or other piece of publicly available information, in some cases this may be the most effective way to reestablish communication with your client.

For example, if the piece or research or news directly relates to their business type or industry, and/or makes a clear case for your offering to their organization, your client may well view it as compelling objective evidence for them to speak with you — and soon.

The key is to tie the crucial message of the report to an essential aspect of your client’s business, or an element of their operation that you know is very important to them.

The All-important Follow-up

If you’re emailing your client as a first step, be sure to follow up with a call a few days later. I usually let my long lost client know in my email that I’ll be calling them, so that they’re not sitting on the other end of the phone trying to remember who I am, which would be an embarrassing moment for all concerned.

It’s important not to be daunted by the passage of time and shifts in your focus or lifestyle that have allowed you to drift apart from past clients. How do you overcome these hurdles to re-ignite working relationships with long lost clients?

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Most of us also try to take a few days off around the holidays, which can create additional time and budget constraints. For freelancers, no one actually pays you for those days off, and you still need to meet client expectations. Telecommuters and other workers still have about the same amount of work to complete with fewer days to accomplish it. Regardless of your work situation, this still means more stress during the holidays. I have a few suggestions to help you manage your stress and come out of the holidays at least as healthy and happy as you were before the holiday season.

Get Ahead

When I get stressed, my natural instinct is to procrastinate, but that will only make the situation worse. I force myself to do what I can to get ahead on any tasks that can be accomplished early to avoid a mad rush during the holidays.

For one client, I knew that holiday schedules would derail the normal approval process for my weekly writing tasks, so instead of doing a week’s worth of writing, I did a week and a half. This gets me through the first half of the week after the Thanksgiving holiday, and I can pick back up on the writing after everyone gets back from vacation.

I also finished about 90 percent of my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving. My family lives in Ohio, so I took advantage of online shopping to buy almost everything and have it shipped directly to my Mom’s house. This saves me the hassles of last-minute shopping and store crowds, and it also makes travel less stressful, since it reduces the amount of luggage required for the trip home.

Exercise

When we have the least amount of time available, it is too easy to cut out exercise and use the time to do more work, run errands, or complete other tasks. Do not be tempted to skip your workouts during the holiday season. Exercise naturally reduces stress and will help you avoid the increased stress associated with the weight gain that comes out of eating too many holiday cookies.

If you can’t find the time for your regular workouts, make sure you do something physical every day. Here are a couple of suggestions:

• Knead the bread by hand instead of using the bread maker.
• Dance in the kitchen to your favorite holiday tunes while you cook.
• Park in the last row of the shopping mall and walk, or for urban dwellers like me, do your shopping in a neighborhood where you can walk to every store.
• Take a walk with a family member and use the time to talk (also a good way to relieve stress).

Take Time Off

Take advantage of the times when your clients are on vacation to take a few days off yourself. Seriously. Take some actual time off with no client work. This works best in conjunction with the suggestion about getting ahead. I’ve been working like a mad woman for the past few days, and I plan to take Wednesday through Sunday off. OK, I’m lying a little bit. I plan to take Wednesday, Thursday and Friday completely off, but I’m secretly hoping to have time to work on some neglected non-client personal projects for at least a few hours over the weekend. These are those fun projects that I never quite have time to do, so it won’t feel like work.

Sleep

Make sure that you get plenty of sleep. While sleeping a few less hours every night might seem like a great way to get a few extra hours to finish the activities that are leaving you stressed, it will only make the problem worse. When I’m not getting enough sleep, I’m grouchy and less productive, which only increases my stress levels. Get the sleep that you need to increase the chances that you’ll be productive and accomplish more work in less time.

These are my top four tips for reducing stress during the holidays. How do you reduce holiday stress?

Image by Rick Turoczy used under Creative Commons.

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Although freelancers and corporate employees both have stages of moving on in their careers, it tends to happen more often in freelancing. Clients sometimes lose funding or focus. Other times we’re called in for short-term projects and aren’t hired again. But there are other times when you initiate the change yourself.

Here are some common reasons why we sometimes feel the need to move on:

• Rates. This is especially true for new freelancers who started out with low rates and eventually had to raise them. While clients are mostly understanding of you raising your rates over time, you might encounter the rare few who’ll insist on paying you low rates even after working with them consistently for several years. If the money is no longer worth your time, it’s understandable to want to move on.
• Culture. Sometimes, our attitude towards business changes and becomes different from what our client’s attitudes are. We “grow apart”, so to speak.
• Client. Although it rarely happens, it’s possible that your client changes and treats you differently. When it’s a negative change such as delayed or skipped payments, it’s a clear sign to at least change your strategy.
• Time. Since we can’t create more time, we might drop certain projects if we need extra hours in our workday. Your reasons for needing extra time may include family emergencies, the need for more leisure, or if there are other projects you want to pursue.
• Interest. Whether it’s the project itself or the particular field you’re working in, it’s possible that you just want to try something different.
• Results. It’s also possible you get different results from what you were expecting. A venture might not have been profitable, or you did not meet any of your objectives.

The urge to move on grows stronger when your reasons start adding up. For example, I rarely leave a project because of rates alone. But if unsatisfactory pay is coupled with an extremely needy client who’s suddenly using shady tricks to win new customers, then I move on as early as possible.

Also, you might value some reasons over others. I know of at least two freelancers whose quality time with their children is non-negotiable. Personally I value personal interest and passion over rates, while a friend of mine has it the other way around. Know which aspects of your work you value the most so that you can make decisions based on your own needs.

Once you’ve identified your reasons, there are some things you need to keep in mind before dropping a project completely.

• Explore alternatives first. If you’re hesitant to completely move on from a project, explore your options first. Sometimes your reasons for wanting to move on are just symptoms of fixable problems. Is it possible for you to hire extra help? Can you change the project scope to something more suitable? Find other solutions first before you decide that it’s really time to take the leap.
• Be part of the transition. Unless you were treated unfairly, leaving your client in an instant is never a good idea. You were part of their business and to leave them suddenly is unprofessional. If you can’t recommend a replacement outright, offer to be part of the hiring and training process until your replacement is completely ready. This will save your client from unnecessary expenses and from making any hiring mistakes. Also, you won’t be burning bridges that may be essential to your career later on.
• Know how to say goodbye. Doing this properly depends on your relationship with the client. There’s no cookie-cutter solution. Just be as honest and as fair as you can be. If your reasons for moving on are negative (such as poor working conditions), then it helps to make a mental note of how you can avoid this in the future.

Leaving a client or a project need not be dramatic. As long as you find the right balance between your own needs and theirs, the process is usually clean and straightforward.

What are your usual reasons for outgrowing clients and projects?

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As a freelancer, I get the chance to work with startup companies that are still too new or too small to have a lot of in-house staff. Because of this, I’ve become familiar with the common characteristics that many startups share. As I come to expect these characteristics with new clients, I become more efficient at avoiding problems and maximizing opportunities.

But first, a definition: What exactly is a startup? Although the term “startup” is usually associated with tech companies, it’s not necessarily that specific. As long as the business is young, usually still in development, then it can be considered a startup.

The first common trait that most startups have is their tight or unpredictable income. Usually they are bootstrapping (working without external funding) which leads them to minimize their expenses. Even if they have the benefit of external funding, startup founders still tend to keep a close eye at their cashflow. Some of them might be looking for low freelancer rates, or perhaps some prep work to justify your cost. You shouldn’t be selling your services as an added expense: talk about your fees as an investment.

To minimize any negative effects a startup client may have on my own finances, I tend to bill early and send reminders before the due date indicated on the invoice. This sometimes isn’t necessary, but it can be useful, especially if the people in charge of paying you are wearing too many hats or paying attention to several other aspects of the business –  a common situation in startups.

Also, if you’re working with a startup, you’ll be dealing with their growing pains firsthand. This means you’ll be part of an exciting and interesting stage in the development of their business. While this stage is typically filled with new ideas and innovation, there will also be a lot of mistakes, which will often affect your work. They might even be a bit disorganized, since they don’t have standard processes in place.

There might even be major changes when the founders get a better (or simply different) idea of what they want to do. One of my earliest freelancing jobs was writing web site copy for a tech startup. When they hired me they were developing a simple chat application. By the time I left them six months later, they had plans to turn their app into a full-featured social networking tool. Because of possible changes like this, it’s important to keep communication lines open so that you’re updated with the latest developments. Startups are flexible organizations, and you should also be equally flexible as you work for them — as long as you are treated and paid fairly.

There may be some exceptions, but I usually find that working with a startup is also like working with a small, close-knit family. They often don’t have a large staff since they’re just starting out. With few, if any, bureaucratic hoops and hierarchies to deal with, getting feedback and disseminating information is usually faster. In fact, you may be working directly with the founders.

Although working closely with the big bosses has its advantages, there are a few challenges you should expect. Sometimes, founders can be micromanagers. They tend to think of their startup as a baby whose every tiny step they should monitor and approve. While I appreciate this devotion to one’s business, too much of it can prevent growth through other people’s ideas, experience and perspective.

Working with a startup certainly has its own opportunities and disadvantages. We need to be expect both these things if we want the working relationship to go as smoothly as possible.

Have you ever worked with startups? What was your experience like?

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How do you know if a project has failed? Although you can have specific quantifiers such as revenue or number of users, the simple way is to ask yourself this: “Did it meet any of its objectives?” If the answer is no, then that means you’ve got a failed project in your hands. Some of these projects can remain buried and forgotten, but there are others that you can’t stop thinking about even years down the road.

What do you do if there’s an old failed project that you want to bring back to life?

Why Try Again?

The first thing I do when I try to resurrect an old project, whether it’s mine or a client’s, is to evaluate why it should be done. The reason is sometimes simple. It could be that when the project started, the people working on it weren’t mature or skilled enough to give it the proper follow-through. Now that they know better, they think it’s time to try again.

This was the case with one of my new clients. When he started his blog, he bought into get-rich-quick schemes and short-term tips on how to boost traffic. As his blog’s advertising income diminished and he saw few returning visitors, he called the project a failure. After looking into his mistakes, he’s determined to try again. It’s the classic case of being passionate about a project but not knowing enough to execute it well.

There may be many reasons to revive a failed project, but there’s one you should avoid. Don’t bring it back to life just because you have nothing better to do. I have to admit that sometimes this is the justification I have, and every time I use it all I get is a new way to fail at an old project. “Well, I need something new to work on…” is not going to cut it if you want to rework an old mistake and turn it into something great.

Evaluate Your Past Efforts

The first things we need to look at are our mistakes. In “The Dip“, Seth Godin lists 7 different reasons why one might fail. This includes the lack of time, money, or enthusiasm. Other reasons include picking the wrong thing to try, getting scared, not being serious enough, or focusing too much on the short term. In the failed projects I’ve evaluated, I can see that all of them failed because of at least one of these reasons.

Many of my failed projects, and even some of my clients’ failed projects, were also the result of a lack of definition. Here are some of its common symptoms:

• Saying “Our target audience is everybody.”
• Adding all the possible features and widgets into the project, even when they are unnecessary.

Apart from looking at these past mistakes, we also need to celebrate our successes. In the midst of all the chaos, what worked for you? What went well before the project failed? By looking back at both our successes and our mistakes, we can be better prepared for our next attempt to make it work.

Starting Over

If you’ve realized that resurrecting your failed project is the best thing to do, there are some things you need to keep in mind:

• Remember to quantify. “What’s measured improves,” as Peter Drucker once wrote. If you can, quantify the hours, cost, and other resources used up by your project. Other necessary statistics such as sales, users, and bug reports should also be recorded. By keeping a close eye on the numbers, we can predict most incoming challenges and plan for them accordingly.
• Things to avoid. Instead of just writing a lengthy to-do list, why not factor in your previous mistakes and remind yourself what you shouldn’t do? It’s easy to fall back on bad habits, especially if new processes take longer to pay off.
• Keep it simple. Whether you’re relaunching an old product, service, community, or blog, start with the simplest version you can possibly think of. This allows your project to remain flexible when there are a lot of unpredictable and volatile factors that may affect your success.

The truth is that it takes a lot of planning, effort and passion to bring an old project back to life. If done right, the attempt is usually worth it.

Have you ever tried to revive a failed project such as a blog, online community or an app? What was your experience like?

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In the corporate world, it’s easy to track positive mobility in your career. You could get a promotion (a move upward to a position of higher rank or pay), or laterally to a position of similar rank, but with different tasks or projects. Advancement in a freelancing career is not so easy to track, possibly because we each have different definitions of what a freelance “promotion” consists of.

Here are some ways you can climb the freelance career ladder:

Rates. The most obvious way to climb your career ladder is to raise your rates as you gain more experience and skills. The quality of your work, client support, and even your online presence should reflect these changes. If you want some tips on how to raise your rates, check out the following resources:

• “How to Raise Your Rates Without Losing Clients” at Freelance Switch
• “How to Increase Your Rates for the New Year” from Men With Pens

Of course, just relying on increasing your rates has its limits. Just because you’re increasing your hourly rate by $5, it doesn’t mean that you’ll eventually get away with charging $1,000 per hour. The good news is that there are other ways to give yourself a “promotion.”

Projects and clients. One of the signs that you’re doing well as a freelancer is that you occasionally turn down projects. Still, it doesn’t necessarily follow that you should only take on projects with a bigger scope or work only with high-profile clients. What’s important is to look out for new projects that we’re passionate about. This could mean the following:

• Taking on projects that will allow you to learn and explore additional skills you’ve always wanted.
• Working with people in an industry or field that you’ve always wanted to get involved with.
• Choosing challenging projects that excite you and allow you to push your work quality a notch higher.
• Having the time and resources to work on passion projects that may not be financially rewarding, but are personally fulfilling.

Tasks. If you take a look at your daily tasks, which ones do you like the least? Out of these, which ones can you automate with an app, delegate to an assistant or subcontract to others? Sometimes, advancement in your career means focusing your time and energy on your preferred tasks.

Leisure. It seems like many freelancers work during the weekends or fail to take some time off. While we may be passionate about our work, it doesn’t mean we can’t professionally benefit from leisure time. In one of his TED talks, Stefan Sagmeister discussed the power of taking time off. The benefits include the following:

• We can pursue creative experiments that we don’t have the time or energy for during the regular work week.
• We get fresh ideas and innovate. This prevents repetition and keeps our work from becoming stagnant.

Learning opportunities. Career mobility should also involve learning new skills and becoming acquainted with developments in your field. You can do this via seminars, workshops, reading materials, and even attending conferences. On a smaller scale, you can subscribe to relevant blogs and sign up for online courses. By pushing ourselves to learn more, we improve the quality of our work, hear new ideas, and interact with other professionals.

Business building. For some people, being a lone freelancer isn’t enough. Sometimes we want our jobs to evolve into a business. This doesn’t necessarily mean renting an office or owning a building, but it can mean setting up our own teams, having dedicated staff for client support, or simply getting the right paperwork.

Getting a promotion as a freelancer may not be simple, but as I’ve illustrated with the points above, the freedom and options we have more than make up for that.

How are you climbing the freelance career ladder? Do you do this deliberately or do you find that your career path forges naturally with very little planning?

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