Paul D. Jacobs – Freelance Web Programmer

I was talking with another freelancer yesterday, and he mentioned how professional he thought my proposal for an upcoming project was. I didn’t see anything to it…it’s just my standard outline of what I’m going to do for a project. So I started investigating what made it ‘professional.’ I had all the terms outlined, what I was going to do and when, what the client was responsible for, what the project consisted of, even an expiration date for the estimate.

And then it hit me….what made my proposal look professional to him was how everything was thoroughly communicated. The proposal was laid out in specific detail with no room for misinterpretation. And that got me to thinking about how important communication is for a freelancer.

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As you begin your freelance career, one the biggest dilemmas you will likely face is whether to charge a flat-rate or an hourly fee. This issue plagues nearly every freelancer because solid arguments exist in favor of both options. However, more entrepreneurs are turning to flat-rate pricing structures instead of hourly rates because of the advantages that this option offers. Here are the main arguments in favor of flat-rate pricing to assist in your decision of which option to choose.

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It’s surprisingly easy to be a remarkable freelancer, to stand head and shoulders above the increasingly growing number of the self-employed. All you have to do is to behave professionally and produce outstanding work.

Sadly, many freelancers have bad habits, which prevent prospects from hiring them, and send existing clients away to other freelancers.

What’s worse, these freelancers give freelancing a bad name.

Below is a list of 10 bad habits that cost freelancers clients. Are you guilty of any of them?

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Maintaining good relationships is extremely important in business as well as in personal life. People who work from home, especially freelancers, need to maintain healthy relationships with people who can be beneficial for them in the future.

The Internet has provided a lot of new platforms to people to interact on–but still, emails are of great benefit. Some freelancers (especially the new ones) think that maintaining relationships by email is an old method of staying connected to the clients. They think that using live chats and social networking websites is a much better way to stay in touch, but that is not true.

Even today, people who are more professional and who outsource their work to freelancers prefer to contact freelancers through email. Freelancers who maintain effective relationships on email have a greater chance of finding freelance work. In this post, I’ll discuss the importance of continuing to use email in your online relationships.

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