Freelance Confidential - Amanda Hackwith [1]
This book is not a how-to guide on freelancing; for that, you'll want to check out the How to Be A Rockstar Freelancer, written by Collis Ta'eed, also by Rockable Press. (http://rockablepress.com/books/rockstar-freelancer/) This book will not tell you how to file your taxes or build your portfolio. However, if you're a freelancer and want to know how others like you are doing and how to take your business to the next level, we'll get you there. Find out where your colleagues are finding their clients, how they're estimating projects, or billing their hours. If you want to know how freelancing has changed (or stayed the same) in the last three years, we'll show you the numbers.
But numbers will only take us so far! To get the whole picture on freelancing, we need to put faces to the numbers. Ten of the most prolific and successful freelance experts in our community sat down with us to share their experiences and advice they would give to fellow freelancers. You'll hear from the likes of Ed Gandia, founder of International Freelancers Day and Freelance Academy, James Chartrand from Men With Pens, Collis Ta'eed, founder of FreelanceSwitch and co-founder of Envato, and many more.
We've aimed to pack this book full of all the useful numbers and experiences that you'll will need to assess your business. Find it helpful? Make sure you visit us back at FreelanceSwitch to let us know about it!
Let's get started!
Meet the Experts
Ten experts from our freelance community took time out of their very busy schedules to talk with us. Successful designers, writers, bloggers, well-known entrepreneurs, they all at some point were one man shops working their way up. Whatever your experience or industry, you've likely heard from one of these experts before.
James Chartrand is the owner and founder of Men with Pens, the world-class web design and web copy team that also produces one of the top leading blogs for freelancers, writers and online entrepreneurs today.
Ed Gandia is a founding partner of International Freelancers Academy and co-founder of International Freelancers Day (www.InternationalFreelancersDay.com) the world's biggest online educational conference for solo professionals. He's also a successful freelance copywriter, speaker and trainer, as well as the co-author of the bestselling book The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle (Penguin/Alpha).
Linda Formichelli has written for more than 130 magazines, from Pizza Today to Redbook, and is the co-author of The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success. Linda teaches an e-course on breaking into magazines and offers phone mentoring for freelance writers. She lives in Concord, NH, with her freelancer husband and toddler son. Her website is http://www.lindaformichelli.com and her blog is http://www.therenegadewriter.com.
Travis King is a long time freelancer who has a strange obsession for most things Asian. When he's not running his web design business Green Tea Design (www.greenteadesign.ca) you'll either find him writing for his Japan travel site I Heart Japan (www.iheartjapan.ca) or doing work for his favorite client Envato (www.envato.com) (which just so happens to be one of the clients he pestered until they hired him).
Benek Lisefski is a popular face in the FreelanceSwitch community, and an experienced web designer with a passion for creative design, typography, clean hand-coded HTML/CSS/JavaScript, and great user experiences. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, he works for local and international clients both large and small to create tailored web solutions that are beautiful and easy to use on both the front and the back-end. Professionalism, reliability, and great communication keep each and every one of his clients satisfied and coming back for more. His portfolio is at www.benekdesign.com.
Chris McConnell is the co-founder and co-editor