freelance

Hi all,

today we released a small membership account, called the “Starter” membership!

With this release we have added an additional, flexible membership option to projektwerk.

As a “Starter” you can use projektwerk for only 8€ a month, enabling a more extensive use compared with the “Basic” membership. The “Starter” membership probably suits you if you wish to proactively contact other users now and then and want to publish projects or profiles on a small scale.

Your benefits as a “Starter” user:

• Contact up to 3 project partners proactively each month – instead of having to wait for requests as a Basic member
• View complete project descriptions and profiles
• Receive detailed matching information on suitable project partners
• Bookmark interesting projects or profiles

More:

• Publish one profile or project at a time
• Receive daily updates for interesting new matches
• Refine your matches with location and relevance filters

Many freelancers operate as just another anonymous resource in the crowded market. Their services lack an identifying mark that stands for something. It is therefore not surprising that, at times, it can be very difficult to prevail in a highly competitive freelance environment. In that sense, building a distinctive image and lasting reputation for your freelancing business can be very beneficial.

Many people make the mistake of thinking that having business cards, a logo, a website, a social media presence, or a slogan for their business means that they have a brand. But they are wrong. Those things, in and of themselves, are not a brand, but they can help build a brand. They serve as a reminder of what your freelancing business stands for. In a nutshell, a brand is what your clients think of when they think of you and your work. Simply being known as a good designer or good programmer is no longer enough. You should rather be known as a designer who provides elegant yet simple work or a programmer who is known for his/her exceptional ability to solve tough problems. Developing a strong brand takes time and effort. Besides exceptional work, building a brand usually requires significant and consistent marketing and PR.

Having a strong freelancing brand can mean the difference when pitching for a project or job. What do you think?

“This interesting post, published by TechCrunch on February 4^th 2012, does not only remind us of how one of the greatest inventions of our generation has already changed the way we communicate, share information, or shop but also gives us a taste of what is still to come: The Internet is changing the way we work – the web is disrupting labor and transforming the definition of employment as we know it!

The post discusses the rise of the “independent worker”, who is one that operates independently and flexibly in today’s work environment – unattached to any particular company. The author, Nick Cronin, summarizes what he believes are the main factors contributing to this development, how these changes are affecting companies’ hiring processes, and the increasing importance of labor efficiency for maintaining a competitive edge.

“The era of the lean, flexible workforce is here and guess where both companies and independents are increasingly locating each other. Yep: The Internet.”

Read the full post “Labor Efficiency: The next great Internet Disruption” on TechCrunch

In that sense, check out the leading online project marketplace for freelancers and businesses in Germany:

projektwerk

According to an article on fins.com (2011), the job market for freelance technologists is continuously growing. Research company Forrester Research estimates the total U.S. business and government spending on IT goods and services to grow to $876 billion in 2012, up 8.8% from 2011 and a 16.2% increase over 2010 levels. Read the full post here:

Freelancing is all about making positive connections and building relationships. The more a freelancer is viewed as someone who has comprehensive and authoritative knowledge, the easier it becomes for him or her to connect with potential customers. Question & Answer sites offer just another way to connect online and establish oneself as an expert in a certain field. Depending on the site, freelancers may get the following benefits from participating in a Q&A site:

• Branding – probably one of the biggest benefits that a Q&A site offers is that it gives freelancers the opportunity to brand themselves as experts in a particular field by creating well-written and informative answers.

• SEO – some Q&A sites are indexed by search engines and provide SEO benefits to the users.

• Traffic – well-written and informative answers can attract other users to a freelancer’s profile, which should include a link to their own freelance website.

• Connections – participating in a Q&A site gives freelancers the chance to interact and build connections with others.

Innovative software and applications from services like Box.net and Huddle.com suggest new concepts for how to work and communicate in the knowledge age and apparently offer an alternative to long-established players like Microsoft or Oracle. Some of these companies seem to be taking collaboration technology past traditional conventions to reshape the way we approach the workday…

As we all have a full timetable a to-do-list is pretty practical not to forget which work needs to be done. But these lists are usually never ending. Sometimes it’s easier to avoid nonessential activities at work and keep the primary things in mind. For that a not-to-do-list can be the right choice. It helps to keep up a fluent workflow and boosts freelancers to reduce the workload effectively.

On a not-to-do-lists you would  find  tasks that are not absolutely necessary. Most of the time you just do them because you are so used to doing it:

checking your e-mails every five minutes

Freelancers adore e-mails and would love to check the in-box as often as possible. Potentially something interesting could have happened over the last five minutes. And checking your e-mails seems to be an extraordinary important part of your work, too. But in truth you check your mails to dodge the preparation of the next presentation, the work on a project or a required call. Therefore one should take certain times to look up the latest mails and answer them, e.g. before going to lunch or afterwards.

answering every telephone call

Is it really always necessary to pick up? If you don’t know the number calling or if you are working highly focussed on your actual project you can call back later. In this moments it might be better to let the answering machine pick up for you.

spending too much time with social media networks

We love our social media networks nearly as much as our e-mails. Nowhere else we can fritter away our time more easily than on facebook, xing, linkedIn or Twitter. Couldn’t resist to click on one of the links? Just turn your internet off for a couple of hours and bring you actual work into focus. After a few days it will be much easier for you to restrain from the 24-hour-networking and socializing. No one will be seriously mad at you if you didn’t like the new entry on your wall within 10 seconds after it was posted. And you will still be considered as a caring person if you reply to the mention on twitter after you returned back home from work.

always being available for your customers

Of course it is important to do your work properly. Nevertheless it is important to prioritize which customers are the most lucrative for you. Make an imaginary list which persons are allowed to disturb you while you are concentrated on your work. You simply can not be everybody’s darling and pick up the phone all the time. And keep your list in mind to avoid complications. Your customers do not need to know about this hierarchy.

not having a work-life-balance

Think about your timing at work and also don’t forget your leisure time. Business-contacts are important but should not be the only social contacts you have. So work efficiently and look forward to see your friends afterwards.

What’s your opinion: Would a not-to-do list help you to stay focussed?

“Work-life balance, says Nigel Marsh, is too important to be left in the hands of your employer. At TEDxSydney, Marsh lays out an ideal day balanced between family time, personal time and productivity — and offers some stirring encouragement to make it happen.”

Nigel Marsh is a renowned performance coach who has worked with a great variety of businesses during his career, including some of the world’s top companies. In this TED talk, Nigel speaks from direct personal experience, giving his views on how to get the best out of business, life and those around you.

Enjoy

Founding a company is not easy…but it seems to be that there are certain characteristics that conduce a positive outcome when founding.

Here are ten interesting results of studies concerning founders personalities.

1. Incorporators shouldn’t be too self-reliant:

No doubt it is good to be self-confident. But persons who are founding a business should be able to question themselves. Briony Pulford of the University of Leicester found out that test persons who overestimate their skills rather come to irrational decisions. Extremly self-confident persons would e.g. establish a restaurant in a city where the branch is already surfeited. This can have a negative aftermath. Here you can look up the survey: Market Entry Decisions

2. Being too optimistic can raise complications as well:

Keith Hmieleski of the Texas Christian University applied himself to find out which influences optimism has on the prosperity of a business. The conclusion of his survey is that too much optimism is not helpful. The reasons for that are not clear. One possible conclusion might be that overly optimistic people might be more unthought than people who are less optimistic.

3. Founders hold more testosterone:

Hormones play a decisive role in working life, especially for men. Roderick White of the Ivey School of Business in Canada alleges that businessmen have more testosterone than people who have no experiences in business life. He tested just under 100 Students in his study.

About this talk: “In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is to just ignore the ordinary stuff. Marketing guru Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes to getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more successful than boring ones.”