1. Don’t Provide Quality Work

Clients will always have a certain expectation in terms of quality of work. It might seem that these expectations will correspond to their budget (high budget = high quality, low budget = low quality), but this is not always the case. Failing to live up to the quality expectations of a client can lead to a lack of repeat business, no referral business, and even the loss of a client before a project is completed.

2. Don’t Provide the Services that They Need

Most clients will need a variety of different services. Maybe they need web design, WordPress theme development, SEO, and copywriting. If you don’t provide these services yourself, outsource them, or have someone that you can refer to handle the services that you don’t provide, you could lose the client.

Most freelancers offer some variety in the services that they provide, but there will always be some clients that need services that are outside your area of expertise. For these situations, it is good to have an established network of contacts so that you can outsource the work or help the client to find someone for a particular aspect. Doing so can help you to meet the needs of the client, which is necessary for client retention.

3. Overpromise, Underdeliver

Making promises to clients that you cannot keep or failing to deliver on the commitments and promises that you have made will cause your clients to look for a new designer. Making that big promise may help you to land a certain client, but being able to live up to it is equally important if you hope to keep the client happy.

Underpromise and overdeliver is often used as a key to keeping clients happy. That way the clients don’t have unrealistic expectations and they are not disappointed or let down, instead they are pleasantly surprised when you overdeliver.

4. Don’t Meet Deadlines

Almost all projects will have deadlines of some sort. While there may be situations where it is ok, or even necessary to push back a deadline, in general it is a good way to upset clients and to cause them to lose trust in you. Deadlines are there for a reason, and when clients really need something to be done by a specific date it can have a significant negative impact on their business if the designer does not come through.

If you want to keep clients happy and avoid losing them to other designers, meeting deadlines is a great start. Always be sure that the deadlines you are agreeing to are realistic and set your schedule so that you will exceed them with some time to spare. That way if you run into complications you will still have time to work through them without missing the deadline.

5. Don’t Dedicate Time to Planning

If you want to produce poor quality work that will not be effective for your clients, don’t allow adequate time for planning. Getting to know the client, their business, and their customers is an essential part of the design process. Taking the time to understand their needs and to develop a plan that will work for them is necessary for quality results. Rushing into the project without proper planning is a great way to ensure that you are not doing your best work and not creating something that is truly effective for their business.

6. Don’t Handle Your Business Professionally

Clients expect to have a professional relationship with their designer, so if you want to lose them, treat your business like it’s a hobby and don’t provide them with the appropriate amount of respect.

If you’re aiming to keep your clients satisfied with the work that you are doing for them, demonstrate professionalism in your work and they will have a great deal of confidence in your ability to get the job done.

7. Don’t Respond to Calls or Emails

Customer service is a major concern for clients, so a lack of response will often lead clients to look for a new designer. This applies to the initial period of the design project as well as any on-going requests for maintenance, updates or support.

If you’d like to keep your clients happy with your services, always make an effort to get back to them as quickly as possible. In situations when you are busy and unable to help them right away, they usually appreciate a quick message to let them know that you will be able to help them and an estimate in regards to when that will happen.

8. Don’t Allow Clients to See the True Value of Your Services

Many clients will at some point evaluate the services that you are providing to determine if it is worth the cost for them. They may even be comparing you to a less-expensive option or someone else that they are considering hiring. By not letting them see everything that you are doing for them and demonstrating the true value of your services, you will be making it easy for them to feel like your services are overpriced.

Most clients don’t really understand everything that is involved with the work you are providing, and unless you break it down for them they may not appreciate everything that you are doing. If you’d like to show the value of your services to your clients, be complete and thorough in your estimates, proposals and invoices. Show them all of the phases involved, how much time is spent on each, on why each is critical to creating a successful end result. If you can help them to see everything that you are doing and the need for each step, they will not be as likely to choose to go with a lower-cost option.

9. Don’t Treat Them as a Unique Business

Each business has its own unique situation and requires an approach that is dedicated to creating something that meets the needs of that business. Treating each client as the same or taking a cookie cutter approach will lead to poor results and unhappy clients.

If you want your clients to get the most out of your services and to retain them long-term, remember that they are not exactly like any of your other clients and take the time to find out what is best for their specific situation.

10. Don’t Take Time to Answer Their Questions

Clients will frequently have questions about the design process, about their specific project, or just general concerns that they would like the designer to address. When they don’t get their questions answered or their concerns addressed they will often lose some confidence that the designer is doing a good job for them.

For designers who want to retain their clients and keep them happy, taking time to answer questions and get on the same page with clients is a good practice. It helps to show clients that you value the designer/client relationship, that you know what you are talking about, and that they are in good hands with you.

What’s Your Experience?

Want to share anything that you have learned about retaining or losing clients? If so, please leave a comment.

For more freelancing-related content please see:

• 9 Ways Freelancers Disrespect Their Own Time
• 10 Keys to Growth as a Designer
• 13 Principles of Effective Time Management for Freelancers
• 15 Tips for Breaking in as a Part-Time Freelancer
• 16 Business Lessons for Freelancers

1. Establish Reasonable Working Hours

One of the most obvious contributors to burnout is simply working too much. Most freelancers, myself included, struggle with setting working hours and sticking with them. It’s easy to work more hours than you plan when things don’t go as you expected, or when you have a lot that needs to get done. Certainly there are times when upcoming deadlines may force you to work longer hours, but that should be the exception not the norm.

The first step towards avoiding burnout is to have some sort of a set schedule that involves only working a reasonable number of hours each week. Most freelancers cherish the freedom that they have to work whatever hours they choose, and this often leads to a hesitance to establish a normal schedule. Setting working hours doesn’t require that you have a boring schedule with no room for flexibility. You can work varied hours that change from one week to the next, but the important part is that you set a schedule for yourself that will help you to avoid working ridiculously long hours on a regular basis.

2. Separate Your Work Space from Your Living Space

Equally as important as the number of hours that you work is the ability to truly get away from work during your off hours. One of the difficulties for freelancers is that the work space and living space are often the same or they may overlap. Ideally, you should have a separate space in your house (or even an office outside of the home) that is used only for work. If you can close off this space when you are not working and not let it interfere with your personal life, you will have an easier time relaxing and getting away from work during those off hours.

3. Charge What You are Worth

If you are trying to limit the number of hours that you work each week, you should evaluate the rates that you are charging to make sure that you are not underpricing your services. Many freelancers charge less than they are worth, whether intentionally or unintentionally. By pricing your services too low you will be forcing yourself to work more hours in order to earn a living. If you’re able to increase your rates and still retain the same interest level from clients, you can reduce the number of hours that you’ll need to work.

4. Work with Clients on a Selective Basis

Not every client that will contact you about doing work for them will be a good fit. Take some time to think about what types of clients are ideal for you, and what types of clients you tend to do the best work for. As you are in communication with potential clients, evaluate them to see if they are the type of client that you are looking for. Make sure that you are not missing out on good opportunities because you are too busy working with clients that are not ideal for you.

Hopefully you will have enough inquiries and potential clients that you won’t feel like you have to convert every lead into a client. Don’t be afraid to tell a client that you are not the best fit for a project or to refer them to another designer. For more see How to Determine if You Should Accept a Freelance Project.

5. Accept Projects that Interest You

As you are evaluating clients to determine who you should work with, consider the types of projects and how they match up with your own interests. It’s inevitable that certain projects will interest you more or less than others, and each designer has things that they are passionate about. Finding work that allows you to focus on things that interest you will go a long way towards avoiding burnout. Spending all of your time on projects that have no meaning or significance to you is a good way to lead to burnout.

Your interests and passion could be related to doing work for a particular type of company or organization (such as non-profts or start ups), working withing a specific industry, or specializing in a particular type of design or development (e-commerce, working with a specific CMS, etc.)

6. Prioritize Long-Term Relationships with Clients

The stress of finding new clients can cause a lot of stress and burnout for many freelancers. If you’re able to establish long-term relationships with some of your clients you will reduce the need to always have new clients coming in, and hopefully it will result in lower stress levels. In addition, you can reduce the amount of time that you need to spend getting familiar with new clients, their customers, and their industries because you will already know a lot about the clients that you are working with.

Finding long-term clients is not always easy, but it’s also not impossible. Chris Coyier wrote an interesting article, The Heating Company Analogy, that discusses a method of attracting long-term clients by offering a set monthly fee for site maintenance and on-going services. It’s a pretty interesting concept if you’re not currently doing much to build long-term relationships with your clients.

7. Don’t Agree to Unrealistic Deadlines

Another major source of stress for freelancers is the constant deadlines that surround our work. Deadlines and milestone dates are an inevitability of the job (although not on every project) and they’re actually a good thing for keeping projects on track and moving through to completion. But when deadlines are quickly approaching, they will cause stress and longer working hours.

While you cannot eliminate deadlines altogether, you can be more conscious to only accept deadlines that are reasonable and realistic. If you have a potential client that wants to hire you but with an unrealistic deadline, don’t just accept the job so that you can get some work. You’ll probably regret it later. Instead, take the time to explain to them why it is not realistic and how it can hurt the quality of your work, and suggest a reasonable compromise that will allow you to get everything done without working around the clock.

Another point to mention here is that before accepting a deadline you should communicate what you will need from the client in order to meet the deadline, and even place a deadline on the information that you need to get from them. This way if you are held up because a client is slow to get you what you need, when the deadline for your work is approaching, you can easily justify why you are running behind schedule.

8. Take Vacations to Re-Charge

Time away from work is necessary in order to re-charge and re-energize yourself. Freelancers often deprive themselves of adequate vacation time because they don’t want to miss out on potential work or because they don’t want their income to drop temporarily. Taking vacations is important, and with the proper planning and preparation a vacation does not have to hurt your business (see 9 Tips to Help Freelancers Prepare for a Vacation).

9. Outsource

If you feel like you don’t have enough time in the day to get all of your work done, consider outsourcing to other freelancers. There are plenty of opportunities for designers to outsource, although it needs to be done carefully since your reputation is on the line for their work. A popular option is to outsource PSD to HTML coding, which can help to speed up your development time and leave you with more time to do other things, or just less time for work.

There are plenty of other ways that you could incorporate outsourcing into your processes. Finding others who are interested in doing the work for you is not difficult, although you will need to be very selective of who you hire. Ideally, you’ll be able establish long-term relationships with other service providers that you know and trust to do quality work and to be reliable.

10. Prioritize Your Tasks

Efficiency in your daily work is really just as important as setting limited working hours. Without efficiency you will always find that you’re not getting everything done, and you’ll have more stress and you’ll wind up working longer hours on a regular basis. Focus on achieving efficiency in your daily tasks and waste less time. An important step is to create a prioritized to-do list each day that shows you exactly what you need to be working on and what is most important.

I find that when I do not have prioritized tasks that I need to get done each day, I wind up spending way too much time on insignificant work, and the important stuff that I need to get done winds up taking more time. Make it a habit to never go into a day without knowing exactly what you should be working on and what you need to get accomplished. This will lead to much less wasted time and you should be able to get your work done in less time.

11. Dedicate a Portion of Your Time to Personal Projects

One good way to fight off burnout is to have some time separated for working on your own projects that will provide a nice break from client work. This could be time that you use to update your portfolio, work on a blog, start some other type of website of your own, work on following tutorials that interest you, or just about anything else you choose.

Personal projects have been a big part of my own development as it gives me an opportunity to choose new things that I want to learn or areas for improvement. It’s also possible to use these personal projects to produce income that will reduce your reliance on client work, which can go a long way towards lowering the amount of stress in your daily life. But even if you are not pursuing personal projects that will bring in income, simply having some time to work on things of your choice rather than that of clients will help to re-fresh you and avoid burnout.

12. Take Care of Your Body

Stress and burnout are also effective by how you take care of yourself and your level of health. Make an effort to eat healthy foods and to get regular exercise and you should find that the stress of work can be reduced. Not only will stress be more manageable, but you should also do a better job of avoiding sickness that can result in lost work time, more difficulty meeting deadlines, and lost income.

Suggestions?

Is burnout an issue that you face, and if so, how do you deal with it? If you have any suggestions for our readers please leave a comment.

For more freelance-related content please see:

• 10 Passive Marketing Opportunities for Freelancers
• 9 Ways Freelancers Disrespect Their Own Time
• 11 Tips for Making Your Home Office More Comfortable
• Financial Management Tips for Freelancers
• 10 Keys to Growth as a Designer

Whatever your situation, you could probably stand to make some extra cash. We all could, right? Luckily, skills in design and development are in demand, and due to the downturn, companies are more likely to hire freelancers to do their web design and development work. And, even better, you can make extra money with the work you’re already doing! Here are 11 ways, then, that you can make some extra income as a freelance designer by adding some value to your existing services, or by leveraging your expertise in a more piecemeal fashion.

Become a Hosting Affiliate

When a client hires you to design their site, sometimes they have a hard time understanding that not only do they need a domain, but they need to host that site somewhere. And, usually, they leave it up to you to decide who will host it. You probably already host the majority of sites you design with the same company, so why not profit from that loyalty? Most hosting companies offer a commission for hosting account referrals, so give them a call and ask how that might work for you. Most hosting companies will also allow you to add an affiliate link to your own site, and that will pay off anytime someone clicks through the link and purchases hosting. Both scenarios will earn you some extra money with very little extra effort on your part.

Advertise On Your Site

One great thing about being a designer is that you’re part of a strong community with the same interests. You’ve probably noticed that you see the same kinds of ads over and over on your favorite design blogs, and that’s for good reason – people who read design blogs are interested in the same types of things. Well, you can help those companies AND yourself out by advertising their products and services on your site. You can either seek these advertisers out yourself, or you can use a service like Google AdSense, BuySellAds or The Deck Network, which will take the work out of managing your advertisers. If you can get traffic, you can make some money.

Add Value To Sites You Design

You probably know how to do some stuff besides web design that your clients need – stuff like content production, SEO services, debugging, and site maintenance. Chances are you know more about what works on the Web than your clients, and if you have examples of your past efforts in these departments, that’s better still. These are valuable services, and you should account for the fact that you’re doing them when you quote a price.

Charge For Consulting

Has this ever happened? You’re in the running for a pretty good gig, so you meet with the potential client at your local coffee shop for a few hours. You lay out, in detail, your plans for their site. They hire someone else. Of course you’re disappointed that you didn’t get the job, but you’re livid when you see that the finished product uses your ideas! Guess what? You were a consultant, and you didn’t charge for it. Lesson learned, so next time, be up front that you charge for consultations. Doing business this way will weed out the less-than serious prospects and, if do land the job, you can wipe the charge off the client’s bill.

Teach Your Skills

This can refer not only to more traditional, classroom-based teaching (like teaching design at a learning annex or community college), but also teaching your clients how to run, update, and maintain the sites you build for them. You can offer online webinars or tutorials in SEO, social media, database management, site updating — the possibilities are effectively limitless. And, with services like video chat, Skype, and GoToMeeting, you can do it from home. Pretty sweet, eh?

Write Articles

I bet you’ve wondered – how do my favorite design blogs keep pumping out such quality content, day in and day out? Here’s the truth – designers like you submit tutorials, review tools and software, and showcase brush sets. And sometimes, they even get paid for it, whether in publicity or actual money. Whether it’s about CSS3, jQuery, or WordPress, harness your expertise, put in in “Top 10” format, add some killer graphics, and submit it. A site like Smashing Magazine will offer some money for articles they accept for publication, and a site like CatsWhoCode will publish your link. Either way, if you can write a compelling, useful article, you can get some credit, some money, or both. That’s what we call a “win-win-win” situation.

Sell Your Cast-Offs

You could be the best designer in the world, but it’s a fact that no client is going to like everything you do. You’re going to go through different versions of designs, scrapping some altogether in favor of others and tweaking the best even further. So what do you do with the stuff a client passes on? Here’s a tip – you can likely sell some of it, especially things like social media icon designs, WordPress themes, and the like. You won’t make a ton of money, but you’ll certainly make more than if you just left them on your hard drive.

Sell Merchandise

In this era of Web 2.0, crowdsourcing, and niche communities, you don’t have to mass-produce things to make a little bit of money. Threadless and Design by Humans are two companies that combine the old (silk-screening T-shirts) with the new (Digg-like social voting) by allowing designers to submit designs for T-shirts and then vote on their favorites to see which get printed. If your design is selected, you can earn some decent money. And Zazzle.com allows you to create smaller batches of shirts, posters, gifts, and other merchandise that an intrepid and entrepreneur-minded designer could sell on his or her own. Either method is an opportunity to make some merch for sale or get your designs out there in the wild.

Enter Contests

Got a flair for logo design? Then truck on over to DesignContest and check out some of the logo design contests running. Besides a way to earn between $200 and $500, it’s a good way to keep busy between website projects and other major undertakings. It’s also a good way to hone your logo design skills and see what other designers like you are putting out there. Similar sites include 99designs, CrowdSpring, and Guru.

Buddy Up

If you’ve got a programmer friend who can make great iPhone apps or desktop programs but has no eye for design or content creation, maybe you two can help each other out. Adding value to your services is something that can set you apart from others with your skill set, and if that means partnering up with someone who can do something you can’t, then you should consider it. It could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Leverage Your Expertise

Who knows more about website usability than a website designer? As I’m sure you know, big design firms and corporations sometimes pay to have people test the usability and design of their new sites. Why not get in on that? You can go to UserTesting.com and sign up to test out new sites. Just like the offline equivalent of participating in focus groups or marketing surveys, your web experience is valuable, and some companies will pay to pick your brain.

About the Author:

Blue Derkin writes for Web Hosting Help Guy, InMotion Hosting’s blog dedicated to all things web design, web development, and webhosting. You can follow him on Twitter @WHHG_InMotion.

Editor’s Note: DesignM.ag does not support the practice of design contests or spec work (see Spec Work Can Damage Your Business by David Airey for a good explanation).

In this post we’ll look at 10 things you can do if you’re looking to improve the strength of your network. This may be helpful for those who are just getting started in their careers or for people who simply want to make more of an effort to build a better network.

1. Know What You Have to Offer

One of the most common mistakes made in networking is only focusing on what you can get out of the relationship. Networking is a two-way street and must be beneficial for both people in order for it to have any long-term success. If you are focused only on what other people can do for you and on getting connected to people that can help you, you’ll be missing out on great opportunities to build strong relationships by helping others.

As you work to get to know other professionals and build your network, be sure that you know specifically what it is that you have to offer other people. As a web designer you have valuable skills and experience that many professionals would like to have as a part of their network, and your existing connections may also be very valuable to the people that you meet.

2. Look for Opportunities to Help Others

Once you know specifically what you have to offer, as you meet people you will come across some opportunities to help others in one way or another. This could include providing your services, simply offering some guidance or advice from your expertise, providing referrals, etc. Helping others is a great way to ensure that they will remember you, and it will help you to quickly become a valued part of their network.

3. Know What You are Looking for

When you are networking, whether it is online or offline, you should have some idea of the types of people that you are ideally looking to meet. This doesn’t mean that you won’t network with others that don’t fit with exactly the type of people that you are looking to meet, but it will help you to not miss valuable opportunities and it will help you to determine where you should be networking in order to meet people like this.

4. Be at the Right Places

There are plenty of places that you can network online or offline, but like everyone else I’m sure your time is limited. Since you can’t be everywhere, you’ll want to make an effort to network in places where it will have the most impact. If you’re looking to build relationships with other designers and developers you may want to focus on online networking at niche-specific sites. If you’re looking to get some new local clients you may want to focus on local networking events that will allow you to meet with people face-to-face.

Based on what you have to offer and what you are looking for, you should be able to determine some appropriate places to network. Active communities (whether online or offline) that include the type of people that you are looking to meet should be the focus.

5. Introduce People When You See Opportunities

Networking becomes very powerful and effective when you’re able to help others or benefit from the connections of others. Those people that you are building relationships with will know people that you don’t know, and you’ll know people that they don’t know. LinkedIn does a good job of showing how this can work by not only showing you the number of connections that you have, but also how people in your network are connected to others.

If you’re always looking for ways to help those who are in your network you’re bound to come across some situations where you have two contacts that you think would really benefit from being introduced. If you can help others in this way they’ll likely keep you in mind and return the favor when the opportunity arises.

6. Pursue Collaborations

One of the best ways to build a stronger network is to work on projects with others. Working together will help you to get to know each other better and to allow each person to focus on his/her strengths. The most successful collaborations will typically involve two or more people who share a common goal or vision for a project but have different strengths and weaknesses.

7. Be Proactive

If you really want to have a stronger network the most important thing you can do is take action. Get out and meet other people, introduce yourself, send an email, make a phone call. Some people are intimidated by networking (especially when just getting started) but taking action is far better than sitting around and waiting for others to approach you.

8. Focus on Depth of Relationships

The strength of your network is not dependant upon the number of people that you know or how many friends you have on any social network. What is far more important is the quality of relationships that you have developed and the type of people that are in your network. The people that you build relationships with (for networking purposes) should be a good fit with what you have to offer and what you are looking for from others.

9. Be Realistic

When approaching people and working to make connections, keep in mind that some people who are well known and very well connected will have limited time available and they are probably approached by several people each day. If you’re just getting started in your career get to know other people who are at a similar stage, and network with more established professionals as you have the opportunity. Your network doesn’t have to consist of a lot of people who are well known in the industry in order for it to be effective.

10. Use Twitter

Twitter’s popularity has obviously grown significantly over the past year or two, but it is especially popular within the design community. Almost every designer is on Twitter, which means you are missing out on opportunities if you’re not using it.

What’s Your Advice?

If you have any networking tips that you would like to share with readers please leave a comment.

For more business and freelance-related content please see:

• Financial Management Tips for Freelancers
• How to Increase the Value of Your Design Services for Clients
• How to Determine if You Should Accept a Freelance Project
• 13 Tips for Effective Communication with Clients
• How to Make a Positive First Impression with Potential Clients

With the amount of competition that exists from other freelancers and design agencies, one way of standing out and potentially increasing your workload is to specifically target clients in your local area. This can be effective both in terms of offline marketing as well as search engine optimization.

If you would like to pick up more clients in your local area here are some tips.

1. Make it Evident on Your Portfolio Site

Having an effective portfolio site is an essential contributing factor to the success of almost any designer or design business. If you are targeting local clients, in order for your portfolio site to be effective it must address the needs of this audience. One of the first steps towards attracting more work from local clients is helping them to feel comfortable with you and showing them that you are interested in working with them.

For targeting local clients your portfolio site should clearly state where you are located and what services you can provide to clients in the area. Some clients will not care where you are located, but others will feel more comfortable with a designer that they know lives and works nearby. When these people arrive at your portfolio site they should clearly see that you are interested in working with local businesses.

2. Optimize Your Page Titles for Searches with a Locality

Clients who are looking for a designer in their area will often include the locality in a search, such as “New York web designer”. Since page titles are one of the most important factors in determining search engine rankings, make sure that your page titles are optimized for the words and phrases that are likely to be used by potential clients. You can use the Google AdWords Keyword Tool to get an idea of what phrases are most commonly used in searches.

In addition to simply including localities in your page titles, you could also create a page specifically for the purpose of targeting local clients, and of course optimize it to rank well for those searches. The page could include basic information about your services as well as examples of work that you have done for other local clients and your typical process of working with them.

3. Build Links with Localized Anchor Text

Another factor that will help to improve your chances of ranking well for localized searches is the anchor text of the links that point to your site, or to the particular page that you are optimizing. This includes links from within your own site as well as links from other sites. If you’re targeting a phrase like “Philadelphia web designer”, try to get links with anchor text that will match.

4. Run Pay-Per-Click Ads Targeting Your Local Area

Pay-Per-Click ads, such as Google AdWords, are great for targeting local clients. You can choose to show your ads on searches that include the name of your city, state or local area, and you can set up the ads to include copy that will appeal to these people. Additionally, most of the major PPC programs allow you to choose to show your ads only to visitors within certain geographical areas. With a well-planned and executed PPC strategy you can target local clients without spending a fortune on advertising.

5. Promote the Work You Have Done for Local Clients

One of the best ways to attract new local clients is to show the work that you have done for others in your area. Showcasing the work is the basis of any portfolio site, but this is always most effective when the potential clients viewing the portfolio feel that the work being shown is somehow relevant to them and their situation. Those potential clients may see some work that you have done for a business that they know, or maybe even for one of their competitors. They are more likely to be able to relate to this than they are to a random business that they have no association with.

6. Partner with Local Businesses that Offer Complimentary Services

Most likely there are other businesses around you that are targeting local clients for services that are complimentary to yours, especially if you live in or near a major city. By building a relationship with this person or company you may be able to work together for mutual benefit. For example, it may be a company that provides SEO services but does not have an in house designer. Or it could be a local printing company that sometimes has clients who need a brochure or business card design.

7. Attend Local Networking Events

Almost every locality has a chamber of commerce or some type of professional group that provides opportunities for face-to-face networking. Many times, building a stronger connection to other professionals is easier with face-to-face interaction as opposed to just emails or even phone calls. You may find new clients this way, or you may find others that offer related services who you could partner with. Many designers choose not to do this type of networking because it can easily be more time consuming than online networking, but if you are specifically working to land more local clients it may prove to be a good use of your time.

8. Get Quality Business Cards

If you’re meeting with potential clients or fellow professionals face-to-face, it is important that you present a positive impression by having a quality business card to distribute.

9. Provide Services for a Well-Known Local Organization

Working with local clients is a lot like working with any other type of client, a good job for one will usually lead to more. If you’re able to work with a business or organization that is well-known within your local area, it could provide exposure and connections to a lot of other local projects. In an interview I did with Dan Noe I asked him how he had landed a number of local clients and he said that it all started with some work he did for a local non-profit organization. Non-profits often touch a lot of local people and businesses in one way or another, so doing a good job with one can often lead to more work.

10. Contribute to Local Publications

Many designers are using blogging as a means to market their services, including writing guest posts for blogs other than their own. This approach can be adapted to target a local audience. Instead of writing for other blogs, you could pursue local newspapers or publications, or websites that target your local area, to see if there are opportunities to contribute articles. Instead of writing for other designers as you would likely do as a guest blogger, you could write an article or a series related to small businesses and online marketing, or any other topic that would be relevant to businesses in the area. If you’re able to get some work published it could provide excellent exposure and credibility for you and your services.

11. Advertise Locally Offline

In addition to using online advertising, such as PPC, to target local clients, you can also conduct an offline advertising campaign. Local classifieds, yellow pages, radio, or any other type of advertising is possible. In general, most designers find that online advertising works better for them, but if you are looking to increase your local profile it is something that could be considered.

What’s Your Experience?

Have you attempted to target local clients? If so, what have you found to be most effective?

For more business and freelance related content please see:

• 11 Tips for Making Your Home Office More Comfortable
• Financial Management Tips for Freelancers
• 10 Keys to Growth as a Designer
• Tips for Dealing with Competition as a Designer
• 10 Passive Marketing Opportunities for Freelancers

In this post, I’d like to cover how different types of freelancers can build their businesses around this great piece of open-source software. And I’m not just focusing on programmers! There’s something for everyone here, thanks to the flexibility and versatility of WordPress.

WordPress for the Freelance Designer

Are you a designer who loves to push pixels in photoshop, obsess over typography, rate color schemes on colourlovers, and endlessly search design inspiration? Not into coding PHP and working with a MySQL database? Don’t know what a MySQL database is?

Worry not. WordPress enables you to focus on perfecting and implementing a design, while also being able to deliver a package of built-in functionality, including features that you normally wouldn’t be able to program yourself.

You can go with one of the popular theme frameworks to provide all of the functional templates you’ll need to create your custom theme design. A few of those theme frameworks are:

• Theme Hybrid
• Thematic
• Genesis

WordPress for the Freelance Web Developer

Maybe PHP functions, callbacks, database queries, and validated code is your thing. Your expertise is not so much in how things look, but how they function. As a web developer, you’re interested (and paid) to take basic applications and extend their capabilities without limit.

WordPress is a beautiful system in this regard. This open-source software provides the perfect balance between built-in base functionality and tools to build new features on top of it. I’m talking about programming WordPress plugins and advanced theme development. Clients and designers alike will pay for an expert developer to bring these enhancements to life.

Most developers are in need an elegant design for the front-end. That’s where the market for professionally designed WordPress themes come in. There are loads of great theme designs out there, both in the free directory and in the commercial themes market. Here are a few notable theme design companies:

• ThemeForest – A theme marketplace from Envato
• Woo Themes
• Press75
• Obox Design
• ThemeJam (full disclosure: I am the owner and designer of ThemeJam)

WordPress for the Freelance Copywriter

Copywriters can benefit from getting to know the WordPress system. Every freelancer should have their own website. I’d argue that most if not all freelancers should have their own blog too. If you’re a copywriter, you really should have your own blog because after all, you are a writer!

By following any of the links above, you can find the perfect WordPress theme to fit your personality and your business. Once you have your site up and running, take the time learn about all of the great editing features that are built into WordPress. This familiarity with the software can come in handy when you’re hired to work on a client’s WordPress-driven website. Here are a few unique features and plugins you might be interested in:

• Writing and managing posts
• Moderating reader comments
• After the Deadline – A powerful spell checking plugin
• Scribe – A plugin to help you create SEO-friendly copy

WordPress for the Freelance Photographer

Do you frame, point, and shoot for a living? WordPress can work wonders for your online portfolio. In case you weren’t aware, a WordPress blog doesn’t have to be typed. Photo blogs and portfolios are among the most popular uses of the WordPress system.

Built right into WordPress are a host of image and gallery features. You can upload, resize, and crop your images. You can align them around text, add captions and links. You can have a page of thumbnails which link to a larger version of the shot. All of this is part of the core WordPress software.

But there are several plugins available to take your photography website to the next level:

• NextGEN Gallery – This is one of the most popular gallery plugins, offering tons of great features.
• Flickr RSS – Easily embed Flickr photos on your site.
• Shadowbox – My personal favorite plugin for implementing a unique lightbox effect for enlarged images.

WordPress for the Freelance Journalist

Whether you do your own personal reporting, or you work (or own) a larger news site, WordPress can be a powerful solution for your needs.

From publishing extended articles with media features like photos and video, to managing extended archives, categories, multiple authors, RSS feeds, and more. WordPress has built-in features that handle all of these things with ease and elegance.

As we all know, the biggest way to monetize a blog or online magazine is to sell advertising space. WordPress Advertising Manager is a feature-packed plugin which helps you manage and serve up advertising on your site. Many of the themes mentioned above also include nice advertising widgets to make ad management easier.

Additional Resources

The WordPress scene is growing at an extremely rapid pace and as WordPress version 3.0 is almost here, the popularity will likely skyrocket even further. Here are a few more WordPress-related things you might find helpful:

• WordPress.org – The official site for the WordPress platform.
• Installing WordPress – Helpful information. Your web host may have a 1-click install for WordPress, which would be even easier.
• WordPress Codex – The official (and exhaustive) documentation for WordPress.
• WordCamp Central – The official hub for WordCamp events, which are held in cities all over the world.
• WP Tavern – Some call it the “WordPress Media”. Excellent source of WordPress news, great podcast, and lively forums.
• WP Questions – A paid service to give and receive technical support for WordPress questions.
• WordPress Resources – A nice list of WordPress resources separated by category.

How Do You Use WordPress?

Share you thoughts in the comments about how WordPress has helped your freelance business!

About the Author:

Brian Casel is a web designer and WordPress enthusiast. He runs ThemeJam, which offers professionally designed WordPress themes, site and email templates. CasJam Media is Brian’s freelance web design business. Brian loves to talk shop about freelancing and business through his blog, briancasel.com and on Twitter.

This post is intended for those who are fairly new to design and not so much for designers that have been employed by an agency for several years before beginning to freelance.

1. Start with Personal Projects

This first point isn’t about finding new clients, but rather about preparing yourself for when you do find those clients. If you haven’t done any freelance work before, it can be pretty frustrating when a client wants something that you don’t know how to do. Having some personal projects to work on will allow you to gain some experience in an environment where it’s ok to experiment and maybe make some mistakes. With some projects under your belt you’ll feel a lot more prepared when you begin working with clients.

Personal projects can also help you to have some work to show potential clients if they want to see what you are capable of. Some designers have gained loads of exposure by having a personal project featured in design galleries, although this isn’t easy to do for new designers.

2. Put Together a Small Portfolio

As you pick up more clients your portfolio will become increasingly important, but even your first clients are likely to want to see some samples of your work. If you plan to do much freelance work you’ll also want your own domain name, so you may want to get it right away and start with a temporary portfolio that you can update and improve as you complete client projects. At a minimum, portfolio sites usually consist of work samples, descriptions of services offered, brief biographical info, and a method of allowing visitors to contact you.

3. Reach Out to Your Family, Friends and Contacts

Most designers get their very first clients through family, friends or people they already know. These people are often the ones who will be most likely to work with a new or inexperienced designer. However, working with family and friends is not always an ideal situation (see Freelance Folder’s posts Working with Friends and Family – What You Need to Know and Working with Friends and Family – Can it Ever Work?).

If you have some connections with other designers or people in related fields, they would be good people to contact, but most new freelancers aren’t that well connected yet. Taking a few small projects with people you know may give you enough work to showcase in your portfolio and to start attracting other clients.

4. Approach Organizations that You are Involved with

Most people are involved with a few organizations or associations of some kind. These organizations, especially smaller ones, can also be a good place to start because many of them desperately need someone to provide these services. In some cases they may not have any money to dedicate to a web design project, so that is something that you will have to weigh depending on your situation. If getting the experience and the work for your portfolio is the priority, you may want to consider working for a small (or no) fee. However, before doing any free or highly discounted work I would recommend that you make sure that someone from the organization is responsible for working with you throughout the project, or else you find that there isn’t a priority placed on getting information and feedback to you on a timely basis.

5. Check with Local Organizations

In addition to any organizations and associations that you are already involved with, there are probably a number of others in your area that would be interested in your services if you reach out to them. Again, if you’re a new designer and working with a non-profit you may get little or no pay, but it may help you to get the experience that you are after.

6. Use Social Networking

If you have existing social networking profiles and if you’re active on those sites, you might be able to find some work by simply mentioning what you’re doing and what you are looking for. If you’re not already using social media and social networking, now would be a good time to start. Sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn can be excellent resources if they’re used properly. Don’t use social networks only to promote your own services, be an active user and get involved with the community.

If you’re a LinkedIn user you may want to join some groups for web designers, graphic designers, or web developers. There are a lot of groups like this that exist (just do a search in the groups section for a keyword like “web design”) and they provide opportunities to network with other designers and in some cases to promote yourself. If you are posting any type of self promotion check to make sure that it is not prohibited by the group. Each group also has a job board section where companies and individuals can post opportunities, so you may be able to find some work here. Keep in mind that most people posting opportunities in a group for designers will be looking for someone with experience, but if you keep your eyes open (you can get email notifications of new discussions and job posting) you may find something.

7. Message Boards, Forums and Classifieds

Sites like Craigslist can also provide an opportunity to find people who are looking for design services or to post your own availability. While it is possible to find work this way, you need to be careful because you can easily waste loads of time on sites like these. If you have plenty of time available it may not be an issue, but in most cases you’d be better off only spending a small amount of time on these sites and use the rest of your time for something else.

One of the reasons I like personal projects so much is that you’ll be working on improving your skills and you’ll have something to show for your time. With classified sites or forums it’s possible that you won’t find any leads that turn into work, and if you’ve spent a lot of time on it you have missed out on the chance to gain some experience during that time. Use this approach with moderation and it can be effective while not taking up too much of your time.

8. Offer a Referral Incentive

Regardless of how much experience you have, one of the best ways to find clients is through word-of-mouth. If you want to encourage your friends, family and contacts to spread the word about you, offer them some kind of incentive. You could offer a percentage of any fee that you charge, a gift card to their store of choice, or even a discount on your services if the person making the referral is interested.

9. Be Sure That You Have Adequate Time in Your Schedule

Your first client projects are really important for your own learning and for the development of your portfolio, so make sure that you have enough time to do your best work with any projects that you accept. Don’t try to work with several different clients at once if it is going to hurt the quality of your work. Trying to do too much is a great way to add unwanted stress to your life, and it will make the work much less enjoyable and usually less productive.

10. Don’t Take on More than You are Ready for

In addition to just making sure that you have enough time, also be sure that you’re ready for the challenges that will be presented with each project. If a potential client wants something that you’re not sure how to accomplish, it’s good to know that there is a resource (book, online tutorial, person who is will to advise) that will make it possible for you to accomplish, and it’s also a good idea to communicate with the client that it will be a learning experience for you. Trying to jump in too quickly can lead to bad client experiences and can hurt your chances of getting more work as a result of the project.

11. Focus on the Experience More than the Price

During the early days of client work it’s helpful to remember that the experience is more important to your long-term success than any money that you’ll earn from it. Ideally, if you’re starting to freelance on the side while you have a full-time job you may not need the money as much as you need the experience. Once you’ve got some projects in your portfolio and have began to establish yourself, you may not have to make the sacrifice of working for next to nothing.

What’s Your Advice?

If you’re an experienced designer, how did you land your first clients? What is your advice to those who are just getting started? Stay tuned, next week we’ll have a group interview that asks designers how they got their first client.

For more freelance-related content please see:

• 13 Principles of Effective Time Management for Freelancers
• 9 Ways Freelancers Disrespect Their Own Time
• Financial Management Tips for Freelancers
• 10 Keys to Growth as a Designer

In this article we will look at 9 different things that freelancers often do that is disrespectful to their own time. If you find that your own time management skills are sometimes lacking, evaluate yourself in these areas to see if you have some room for improvement. Respecting your own time will lead to more profitable and efficient work, and more time away from work with your family or friends.

This post is supported by Ronin, the online invoicing and time tracking app designed for freelance designers. Ronin offers unique features like invoice customization with HTML/CSS and is perfect for designers. Visit them at www.roninapp.com or friend them on Facebook.

1. Under Charging

Pricing design services is a challenge for most of us. Because there are all kinds of variables (skill level, experience, specific type of work, location, etc.) there is no set price that you should be charging, but it should be similar to what others at your level and in your area are charging. It’s not uncommon for freelancers to under price their services because it is what they feel is necessary in order to compete. Doing so can actually be a disservice to yourself as it will require you to work more hours in order to earn a living.

One problem with under pricing your services is that not only can it be disrespectful to your own time, but it can also lead clients to do the same. When clients are paying a higher rate for a service they will be more careful about the work that they ask you to do when it is affecting how much they will be charged. Additionally, there is a perception issue that goes along with pricing. If a client sees a very low price for services they may assume that the price is low because the quality is also low, so be sure that your rates are reflective of your work and vice versa.

Another issue to consider is that lower rates will often lead you to rush through jobs because you’ll need to move on to the next one in order to keep money coming in. This will typically result in a quality of work that is less than your best.

Freelance Switch has a helpful hourly rate calculator. It will ask you a number of questions about your expenses and the hours that you can work, and it will assist you by showing an ideal hourly rate as well as a break even hourly rate.

2. Not Charging for Excessive Revisions

Most design contracts will address the issue of revisions or changes that are requested by the client. Very rarely will clients not want anything to be changed, but sometimes you may come across clients that are requesting excessive changes, or maybe they keep changing their mind about what they want. The price that you agreed to with the client for the service should not require that you make any and every change that is being requested without being compensated additionally for your time.

In situations where clients are requesting more than the agreed upon changes or revisions, it’s a good practice to tell them that you can make the changes but you will need to charge an addition fee. This will help you to get compensated for your time and it will force clients to respect your time as well.

3. Lack of Contracts or Policies

If you’ve been freelancing for a while I am sure you have realized the importance of getting signed contracts and having established policies for payment. Unfortunately, it’s almost certain that at some point you will have a project that doesn’t go according to plan or a client that doesn’t want to pay on time. With a contract you have a legal agreement and some protection.

Establishing some basic policies for how you operate is also important. An example would be to charge clients 50% (or some other set amount) up front before you begin working on the project. You may also have a policy of requiring the final payment before delivering the files to the client or uploading the site to their server. Policies are important because they establish your way of doing business, and it can save you time and headaches down the road as you won’t have to make all of these decisions on a case-by-case basis.

4. Poor Client Intake Process

Each client is different and they will all have specific needs for their own projects. Getting to know and understand your client is critical to the success of the project. Many designers want to jump in to the design process without dedicating enough time to get familiar with the client. While this may seem like it would save time, it will actually usually wind up costing more time because more changes and revisions will be required down the road.

By investing time up front to get to know to the client, their business, as well as their customers and website visitors, you will be more prepared to create an effective site for them, and you’ll have a better idea of what they are looking for. An efficient client intake process can lead to a higher quality of work, better results for your clients, and less wasted time.

5. Poor Organization

Organization is a big part of being able to work efficiently. Without proper organization you could be wasting a lot of time that you are not being compensated for. Organization is important in a number of different areas, including management of your clients and contacts, management of your finances, and project management. If you find yourself wasting time searching for emails from clients or trying to find out what invoices have not been paid, you could probably be working less hours if you’re able to improve your organization.

For more on organization see Critical Resources to Help Designers Get Organized.

6. Accepting Any Project That Comes Your Way

One common mistake that many freelancers make is that they accept just about any client who wants to use their services. Regardless of who you are and what skills you have, you’re bound to come across some projects that would be a better fit than others. By taking any project that comes your way you could be missing out on better opportunities that are right around the corner, and you could be working on projects that you don’t really enjoy anyway.

Being selective about the projects that you accept will generally be a better use of your time as you’ll be able to avoid those projects that require more time than they are worth. Rather than simply feeling like you have to convince the potential client to hire you, look at it as a situation where both of you need to feel that there is a good fit in order to work together.

7. Not Setting Work/Life Boundaries

Respecting your own time is not just an issue that affects your work, it also has an impact on your personal life and your time away from work. Everyone needs to get adequate time away from work, and poor time management with your work can easily carry over to your personal life. If an employer required employees to work long hours with evenings and weekends at the office, we would say that the employer does not respect the personal life of the employees. The same thing applies to those of us who are self employed. Working excessive hours shows a lack of respect for our time away from work.

Part of the allure to freelancing for many people is the potential to have a flexible schedule and to avoid working 9 to 5. While you don’t need to have rigid hours that cannot be flexible, it is important to have a clear distinction of what time is designated for work and what time is personal. Each person handles it differently. You may want to set a schedule that you’ll work each day or each week, or you may want to set hours that will be different each week according to your schedule. Whatever the case may be, for most of us it’s necessary to set hours ahead of time, otherwise the tendency is to work too much.

8. Spec Work

Spec work is very common, especially among younger or inexperienced designers, and it’s a very heated topic within the industry. Personally, I don’t dedicate any time to design contests or spec work because I have no interest in spending time on projects with a very low likelihood of being compensated. I, and many other designers, feel that doing spec work is disrespectful to your own time because you are working simply with the hope of being paid. The vast majority of participants will not receive any compensation for their time.

If you’re trying to get started as a freelancer and you’re not able to find other work aside from spec work, I would suggest contacting your friends and family. See if any of them have a need for your services or if they know of anyone who is in need of work. You can also reach out to non-profit organizations and offer a discounted service to them. Another option is to work on your own projects, which can be a great experience because it can be anything you want it to be. All of these options will allow you to gain experience and make some money without the need to do spec work.

For more on spec work, see Spec Work Can Damage Your Business.

9. Not Investing in the Essentials for Running Your Business

Running a profitable business obviously requires you to bring in more revenue than you spend on expenses. However, this does not mean that you shouldn’t spend anything on your business. There are plenty of legitimate expenses that are necessary for running a business or that will allow you to do your job more effectively or efficiently. For example, if you’re spending a significant amount of time on finances and tracking which invoices have been paid, you would be well served to invest in financial software or an online invoicing app. This would be a relatively small expense, but it will help you to make better use of your time.

Always looking for freebies is a habit that many freelancers have, and in some cases it can do more harm than good. Getting something of quality for free is always good, but there will be times when paying for a better option will actually help you to be more profitable in the end.

What’s Your Advice?

What have you learned in your work about respecting your own time that you would like to share with readers?

This post is supported by Ronin:

Ronin is a leading online invoicing and time tracking app designed for freelance designers. Their application works well for both solo designers as well as teams. If you want to impress your clients with gorgeous invoices and client-facing logins with account history, give them a try. Visit them at www.roninapp.com or friend them on Facebook.

For related content please see:

• 13 Principles of Effective Time Management
• How to Determine if You Should Accept a Freelance Project
• 10 Tips to Help Freelancers Prioritize Tasks
• 27 Places to Find Web Design Jobs

In this post we’ll look at some things that you can do to make your home office more comfortable and more enjoyable to spend those working hours. Obviously, some home offices come with certain limitations (such as the area of the house or the size of the space), but every situation could be improved in some way by the things in this list.

1. Get a Comfortable Desk Chair

Having a comfortable desk chair really is a necessity since you will be spending so much time in it. If you have an uncomfortable chair, you’re probably not enjoying your work as much as you could be. A good chair can cost a lot more than a cheap chair, but your health and comfort are worth the expense. For some tips, see How to Buy an Ergonomic Desk Chair.

Photo credit: Cameron

2. Have a Separate Sitting Area

If the size of your home office allows for it, set up another area where you can sit comfortable away from the desk, such as a small sofa or some other type of comfortable chair. For times when you are not working on the computer this will give you a break from the desk and the small change in environment may help with creativity. I did this a while ago in my home office and I’ve found that for times when I am brainstorming or working away from the computer it is a nice change of pace.

Photo credit: TranceMist

3. Get Plenty of Light

An office needs to be well lit, and preferably with plenty of natural lighting. Many home offices are in basements or tucked away in corners where there is not much natural lighting, but if possible try to maximize it. It can also help to have multiple options for lighting, like a desk lamp, aside from just overhead lighting. Depending on the time of day and how much natural light is coming in, it may be more comfortable with various types of lighting.

Photo credit: mkosut

4. Keep it Clean

Avoid having a desk that is full of crumbs from your lunch or other things that keep it messy. Maintaining a clean office doesn’t require much more than just straightening up at the end of each day.

Photo credit: carlos seo

5. Get (and stay) Organized

In addition to just keeping it clean, it’s equally important to have an organized office. If your surroundings are unorganized it is likely that you’ll feel like your thoughts are unorganized and more stress can come as a result. Take the time to get organized, and make an effort to keep it that way.

Photo credit: Aktiv Phil

6. Get Rid of Excess

Once you have organized the office you should be able to identify some things that you really don’t need. Get rid of all of this excess stuff that is cluttering up the office, and give yourself a more peaceful working environment with fewer distractions.

Photo credit: r0sss

7. Keep it Single-Purpose

With a home office it can be very tempting to make it a home office/storage space or to use it for some other purpose. If you’re spending a considerable amount of time in the office it is best to use that space only for work. Having a clear separation of work and personal space is helpful for a healthy work-life balance, plus having a dedicated office will allow you to set it up in a way that makes it most comfortable for your working hours.

Photo credit: Josh Bancroft

8. Keep Wires Under Control

Chances are you have a lot of items and gadgets in the office with wires. Try to keep wires together and hidden, as this can help with creating a more peaceful working space. In some cases you may be able to get wireless devices, and in other cases you’ll just have to as hidden and unexposed as possible.

Photo credit: rintakumpu

9. Decorate the Walls

Part of making a home office comfortable involves decorating it in a way that inspires you and encourages creativity. Wall art and decorations are a great way to improve a home office.

Photo credit: Fernanda Mancini

10. Add Some Plants

Having a plant in the office can help to make it feel more natural and inviting. Plants can be bought inexpensively and there are all kinds of plants available for various amounts of natural light.

Photo credit: TylerIngram

11. Keep a Comfortable Temperature

Trying to work in an environment that is too hot or too cold is not a good idea. Being comfortable with the temperature will help you to be able to stay productive for longer periods of time, and it can even help with creativity.

Photo credit: tomas carrillo

What is Your Advice?

How do you make your home office comfortable?

1. Have Emergency Savings

If you haven’t started full-time freelancing yet, the best thing you can do for yourself financially is to build up an emergency fund that will allow you to pay all of your bills for at least a few months. Hopefully you won’t need this money, but if things don’t go as expected at least it will be there for you and you won’t have to go scrambling back to a job as soon as things slow down.

If you are already freelancing full-time with no emergency savings, it’s not too late to address the issue. This money will help to reduce the stress that you may be feeling to earn enough each month.

2. Set a Budget and Cut Out Extras

One of the difficulties of freelancing is knowing how to live on an income that changes frequently. In this situation it’s critical that you have an idea of where your money is going (this includes personal expenses as well as business expenses) so that you can cut out things that may be unnecessary. If you’re just getting started as a freelancer it’s a good idea to minimize your expenses wherever possible until you’re comfortable with how much money you will be making and the type of lifestyle that you’ll be able to support.

Budgeting is a key element in any type of financial management. Cutting out extra expenses doesn’t mean that you’ll have to do so forever, but focus on lowering your expenses so that you can concentrate on building your business without the stress of needing a large income.

3. Set Up Separate Bank Accounts

Another common struggle for freelancers is keeping personal and business money separate. My solution to this is to have separate accounts for business income and expenses, as well as an account specifically for money that will be used to pay taxes. As I have money come in I put it in the business account minus a set amount that I put in the tax account. I overestimate the taxes a little bit so I don’t wind up owing anything unexpectedly.

If you’re keeping all of your money in one account, do yourself a favor and set your business money aside. This will help to prevent unpleasant surprises from taxes and business expenses, because the money will already be set aside. Additionally, if you pay yourself from your business account (which I’ll get to in a minute) it can help you to live as if you have a steady, consistent income.

4. Hire an Accountant

Most freelancers aren’t experts at taxes, so it’s usually a good investment to hire an accountant. There are a lot of programs that will help you to do your own taxes, but dealing with business income and expenses can be more complicated than filing taxes as an employee. You’ll definitely save yourself a lot of time by hiring an accountant, and you’ll probably owe less money if you have an accountant that is experienced at working with clients who are self employed, plus you’ll have some help should you get audited.

5. Find a Good System for Time Tracking and Invoicing

Keeping track of time and invoices is not a strength of most freelancers, so it’s especially necessary to have a good system in place. There are a number of web apps and software options for this purpose, and most are reasonably priced. I have been using Fanurio and it helps me to know how much time I’ve spent on clients, how much I’m owed, what is overdue, etc. Other good options that I have personally used include FreshBooks and Time59.

Having an effective system will help you to minimize the amount of time that you spend on these activities and to easily identify situations where you are owed money. You’ll be able to easily and quickly see your financial situation at any given point in time, which will not be as easy if you are managing invoices manually.

6. Seek Guidance from a Financial Advisor About Retirement Savings

One of the major benefits of working as an employee is that you would most likely have access to a 401(k) or some other type of retirement account. Saving for retirement is easier when it’s something that you don’t have to think about, and when there are tax benefits. Many freelancers don’t save anything for retirement because it’s not as convenient as it would be for an employee. Although you won’t have a company 401(k) as a freelancer, there are options, including a SEP IRA. You’re options will vary depending on your situation and what country you live in, but a financial advisor should be able to help you find the right choice for you.

7. Pay Yourself a Set Amount

Living with a variable income can be a challenge for most people because you don’t know exactly how much money will be available to you at any point in time. Each person will have their own preferences here, but the most significant way I have found to face this challenge is to pay myself as if I were an employee. I pay myself (a transfer from the business account to the personal account) a set amount every two weeks. This helps me to have an income that is more like a set salary that I can use to develop a budget for my personal expenses. Of course, the key is to pay yourself less than you are actually making through your work so that the business account never gets completely depleted and so you’re able to continue to pay yourself. I’ve found that this helps me to make sure that I have enough in my personal account to pay bills, but it also challenges me to reduce unnecessary expenses so I can keep my “salary” down and have more money in the business account.

8. Set Income Goals for Each Month

Most freelancers are at least somewhat goal oriented. Designers are used to working constantly with deadlines and meeting goals on client projects. I’ve found that I get a little bit of extra motivation when I have a monthly income goal that I am reaching for. The goals don’t need to be monthly, they could be quarterly or yearly if that works better for you. However, I think you’ll find your income increase a little bit if you set an aggressive but reasonable goal.

9. Plan Your Budget Based on a Conservative Income

Because your income is likely to fluctuate, it’s best to plan your budget based on the lower end of what you are likely to make. If you budget this way and your income is higher than expected, you’ll just have extra money. However, if you plan your budget based on what you’d like to make rather than a more conservative amount, you may find that you have trouble paying bills during slower times of business.

10. Get Signed Contracts

Signing contracts with your clients is a good idea for several reasons, and it also impacts your financial management. Having a signed contract doesn’t guarantee that you will get paid on time, or at all, but it does give you some recourse and it causes most clients to be more concerned with paying you on time. It can lead to less time wasted chasing down money that you are owed, less lost income due to clients not paying, and more time to spend on income-generating services.

11. Organize Your Time/Schedule

The most valuable asset to a freelancer is time. If you are wasting time because of a lack of organization you are essentially wasting money. Getting organized will help you to have more time to do work for clients, which will increase your income or possibly reduce the number of hours that you work. Respecting your time is a great start to managing your business and your money more effectively.

12. Buy Health Insurance

Like retirement savings, health insurance is another benefit to being an employee. Many self-employed people go without health insurance, but that leads to risks that may not be worth it. The ideal situation is to have a spouse who works as an employee so that you can be on their insurance plan, but that is not possible in all situations. There are insurance plans available that may not give you the best coverage in terms of co-pays, deductibles, etc., but they can at least protect you in case of an emergency that could be very expensive without insurance.

13. Live a Healthy Lifestyle

While we’re on the topic of health, staying healthy also plays a role in your income because there are no paid sick days as a freelancer. When you are not able to work you are not getting paid. Taking care of yourself will lead to less missed time for sickness, and time to produce income throughout the year. Eating right and exercising are struggles for most of us that work from home, but they should be a priority if your income is tied to your ability to stay healthy.

14. Have Savings Goals

Because of the challenges involved with earning a living as a freelancer and being able to live with an inconsistent income, it’s easy to get caught up in being able to pay the bills and forget about the need to save. When you’re developing your budget be sure to plan to save at least a little bit each month. Saving is a habit that needs to be developed even when it is with small amounts. One option is to use automatic withdrawals to take money from a checking account and put it in a savings account.

15. Evaluate Your Rates

One other factor, which we have not covered, that plays in to your financial situation is your rates. Knowing what to charge can be a major challenge for designers and it’s a big topic that I’m not going to cover in detail here, but you should make it a priority to evaluate your rates from time-to-time. If you haven’t increased your rates in a while you may find that you could stay just as busy and make more money by doing so.

If you have existing clients that are used to paying a certain rate for your services, the best thing to do is to test out your increases on new potential clients. That way you can get a better idea of the impact it will have, and you’ll know if it’s a rate that some clients are willing to pay. Then once you are confident that the new rates are fair and reasonable you can notify your existing clients of an upcoming increase. This will help to avoid situations where you’re rates aren’t realistic and you lose clients.

What Advice Do You Have?

As I said at the beginning of this article, these tips are based on my own personal experience. I’m interested in getting feedback from others with some tips of their own, so please leave a comment if you have something to share.

For more business and freelance-related content please see:

• 13 Principles of Effective Time Management for Freelancers
• 15 Tips for Breaking in as a Part-Time Freelancer
• 17 Tips for Designers on Starting a Freelance Business
• Foundations of Customer Service for Freelance Designers