Freelance Graphic Designer: How Self-Disciplined Are You?

One popular reason for an office employee-turned-freelancer is because he wants flexibility in terms of employment. But flexibility does not mean no discipline. In any situation, whether as an office employee or a freelancer, discipline is one of the keys to success.

When I was working in an office, a boss or a leader, however, had 'forced' me to stay disciplined in the office routine. What about when I have decided to work as a freelance? Disciplining myself is an absolute thing. So, if you think that you can succeed as a freelancer without self-discipline, think again. well now the question is: what your level of self-discipline is?

Here are 5 marks of a Self-Disciplined Freelancer,

Signs You Have Discipline About Your Self

You've managed to avoid excessive shopping habits

Yes, a freelance also means an uncertain income. It was very different from office work that in fact you receive your salary in a timely manner. If you already have 2 bank accounts (one for day-to-day needs and the other for saving) this means that you are disciplined enough. Set a monthly budget for your everyday needs. When you receive payment from the client, get a separate fund for savings and spending. That way you can 'unload' accounts to be transferred to the account of expenditure when you have lack of orders or clients.

Your mood doesn't influence your work

You're not in the mood? You make an excuse to delay your work? Your clients going to hit the ceiling! Remember, your performance is closely correlated with your reputation. Being a freelancer means you have to work in a professional and responsible way. It is important not to miss the deadline that has been set.

You're not in the mood even to the idea yet? Do not wait for a better mood but be proactive to get rid of a bad mood. Maybe you'll want a refresher moment, perhaps by playing your favorite music, or maybe a nice lunch with friends? Do what's best for you until you return good mood, and your work will eventually be resolved.

You love to learn new things

You may some times be required to follow some specific training while working in an office. What is the purpose of all this training? Surely to increase your skills and mastery in a particular field.

When you become a freelancer means no HR department which will set your training schedules. You will determine for certain training courses or to add your own expertise. Get familiar yourself in self-development!

Pouting your clients-No More

Well, okay, maybe that annoying clients are wandering out there, but that does not mean a good reason to vilify them publicly (on forums, twitter, or facebook), instead of making you considered being defame a person's reputation. If there is a fellow freelance client asked about a certain reputation which in fact turned out to have worked with you, you should consider talking about using private line.

You put a lot of effort into maintaining healthy

Staying up late, eating late, eating potluck without considering nutrition, lack of rest, rarely exercise. With this kind of lifestyle, sooner or later, you will get sick.

Health is a major concern for freelancers, the completion / failure of a job only depend on yourself. Therefore adjust your lifestyle, maintaining healthy.

Now it's your turn, freelancers. how do you discipline your self?

Freelance Graphic Designer: How Digital Marketing Can Help Your Business

As entrepreneurs both in the real and virtual world, the success we have today can not be separated from how the marketing efforts we have done so far. As freelance graphic designers, marketing is needed to capture the target market or potential clients. Marketing is nothing but a form of our efforts in promoting products or services that we sell.

Digital Marketing is where you conduct business promotion and market reach through digital media online.

Marketing today has been greatly developed, modern and it is directly proportional to follow the development of technology which also has entered the era of cyberspace. The virtual world is no longer just linking people to the device as a source of information, but it connects people all over the world through the devices, and a variety of technologies such as social networking therein.

So, What Are the Benefits of Digital Marketing?

Type of marketing is called as digital marketing, where you do a promotion, search market through digital media online. By utilizing a variety of resources such as social networking sites, be it friend networking such as facebook, or specifically to build a professional network like the one being offered by the Linkedin. We can also market our product / service by displaying our portfolio through a blog, or through a personal website, there are several sites that offer free website builders.



It became public news that almost everyone uses the internet and do a search on what they are looking for through search engines like Google and Bing. Nielsen / NetRating has done research in 2008, that 73% of internet users use search engines to find products and services they need around them on regular basis. This is a tremendous opportunity for us to utilize the virtual world as the land to reap a potential buyer or user of our service. So the activities that you do in the virtual world can be recorded as a path that can give good feedback for all of our efforts as Graphic Designers.

9 Android Apps for Freelancers

Android. Yes! surely you must have been familiar with this new trend of the smart phone world. Either denied or accepted, Android 'virus' has managed to 'infect' the human world since it first launch in 2007.

For those freelancers, Android has become one super tool to help us work on the project. There have been many useful applications that can be utilized on Android.

And, those Android Apps for Freelancers are :

10 Android Apps for Freelancers

1. Swype and Swiftkey

Swype is a faster and easier way to input text on any screen. With one continuous finger or stylus motion across the screen keyboard, the patented technology enables users to input words faster and easier than other data input methods - at over 40 words per minute.

SwiftKey gives much more accurate corrections and predictions than other keyboards, because it’s powered by natural language technology. It understands how words work together, meaning very sloppy typing just works and the word you’ll probably want next is magically predicted.

2. Astrid and Wunderlist

Astrid is a perfect personal to-do list, even better when shared with friends. As millions of users have discovered, Astrid is more than just the perfect to-do list -- it's the personal assistant you've always wanted. Get your life organized and never miss a deadline with fun reminders, subtasks, lists, and widgets. Then access your tasks anywhere with automatic syncing across your phone, tablet, and Astrid.com.

We can also all use a little help to be extra productive -- use Astrid to collaborate on projects with your friends and loved ones. Divide up tasks for that trip you're trying to plan with your best friends… Astrid reminds them so you don't have to. And when your sweetheart picks up the dry cleaning, Astrid notifies you!

Wunderlist makes it downright simple to organize your daily life. Just create a list and start filling it with things that need to be completed. Keep track of your more important tasks with reminders and notifications. You can even create a new task for Wunderlist straight from your email inbox. Oh, and did I forget to tell you? Its free!

3. Timr

Timr is a comprehensive time tracking tool which easily adopts based on your needs. With timr you can track your Work- and Projecttimes easily, instantaneous and anywhere.

5. Concur

Concur is free mobile app complements our Web-based solution, allowing travelers to manage their entire business trip. From booking travel, to managing itineraries, to capturing receipts and submitting expense reports - employees can do it all at their fingertips.

6. TweetDeck

TweetDeck is your personal browser for staying in touch with what's happening now, connecting you with your contacts across Twitter, Facebook and more.

7. DropBox

Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. Never email yourself a file again!

8. Doodle

Doodle: You don’t have to stop using Doodle when you’re on the run. By using your mobile device, you can respond to a meeting poll, initiate a poll, and see all of your polls at a glance. That’s what the different mobile versions of Doodle are all about.

9. Zxing

ZXing (pronounced "zebra crossing") is an open-source, multi-format 1D/2D barcode image processing library implemented in Java, with ports to other languages. Our focus is on using the built-in camera on mobile phones to scan and decode barcodes on the device, without communicating with a server. However the project can be used to encode and decode barcodes on desktops and servers as well.

How to handle clients who don't like the work you've produced | Video Tips

Sure, the customer is king but let's face it, some of them are just irrational, difficult and downright horrible. Fortunately, they don't make up the majority. So, what do you do when you're faced clients who don't like the work
you've produced.

This video covers a few useful tips to help better how to handle clients who don't like the work you've produced. Demonstrates a few strategies for freelancers to deal with unhappy clients. This is for you Freelancers. Enjoy

What Inspires Freelancers at Work?

Working on a writing project requires commitment, consistency and also the ability to manage self-motivation. Not infrequently, the 'ghost writer' and a variety of other freelancer's professions will condition their environment in order to keep a good mood at work. What sort of things that could spur the creativity of the freelancer while working?

What Inspires Freelancers at Work?

Someone

Who's the person? The answer may vary depends on freelancer marital status. For those which are single, the 'someone' could be parents, brothers or sisters, boy/girlfriend or even their friends. As for freelancers which are married, the creativity trigger generally come from family members, spouses and children.

A Place

If you're an online freelancer and dreamed of traveling to a place, for example, to the holy city of Mecca, will certainly try it out so that the dream can be achieved. By imagining a situation as if it had been there, it is expected that spirit we will be encouraged in order to make it as a reality.

Time to Write

Writing at night, and during the day has its own impression of the 'ghost writer'. As with other areas of freelancers, most freelancer writer prefers to write at night. This is understandable because at night is a preferable condition where the atmosphere was fairly quiet, the brain can be relaxed with minimal interference from the environment.

Music

Some of copywriter admitted that their creative ideas can arise when working while listening to soft music. Some were excited when listening to rock music.

Appreciate Other People's Work

It is true that the freelancers world are not far from visual arts and literary arts. I personally feel more 'excited' while enjoying the photowork of freelancer photographer.

Last Month's Bill

I am sure this last way will be able to increase the creativity of the freelancer while working. By the time they're analyzing last month's bill (either telephone bill, electricity or credit card accounts) indirectly they would think something like: "oh, this month I have to get more jobs".

Staying Healthy as Designers and Freelancers

Good afternoon, readers! May we the designers and freelancers are always happy and well off no matter where we are. Are you feeling well today? Yeah? Sure? Just because now you do not see a visible disease symptoms, it does not mean our bodies healthy.

Health (both physical, mind, and mental) is the most valuable asset for anyone. Sick is expensive, but healthy is much more expensive. The proof, being healthy is more difficult than to be sick.

Now, let's look at the list of sins which is mostly done by the designers and freelancers related to their own health.

Sin # 1. Stayed up late and sleep deprivation

Lately, for some reason, 'insomnia' became a very popular word used as a status news feed on Facebook or Twitter timeline. Maybe they are status-makers really are suffering from insomnia or just stay up. In essence, staying up late (or even early morning) now seemed to be a part of urban lifestyle. Did you know, at 9:00 p.m. to 3:00 is when the liver detoxification which can only be done when we sleep? Did you know, sleep less or more than 6-8 hours a day can shorten your life?

Sin #2. Caffeine addict

Sin # 1 usually dragged further sin, that is addicted to caffeine. Coffee and a variety of energy drinks is an example. Caffeine increases the heart rate thus delaying drowsiness. In excessive doses and continuous, mmm .. just be ready for heart disease and high blood pressure. Always remember that anything that is too much is not good.

Sin #3. Heavy smokers

It seemed that this sin was not necessary to explain again, right?. : p On the packaging is clearly written, "smoking Causes cancer, emphysema, and heart disease".

Sin #4. Consumption of low nutrient, junk food

A health study says that the majority of Asian people, from children to adults, excess intake of carbohydrates, fats, and sugars but the lack of protein, vitamins, and fiber. No wonder that obesity, heart disease, cholesterol, stroke, and diabetes became a popular disease. What else can be blamed other than ignorance of the nutritional intake and eating junk food?

Sin #5. Rarely exercise

Remember that the main purpose of sports is a healthy life. Skinny or fat, sports is a must.

Sin #6. Almost always sitting in front of a computer

Always remember that humans are social beings. Although any sophisticated technology, human beings still need time to socialize with other humans and their environment to avoid stress.

f the above reasons still not enough, imagine 20-30 years from now when we are already well established in the material. It's fun! But without good health, it would be useless. Look at Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc.., that would tell if he is willing to exchange his position as CEO as long as it can be cured of pancreatic cancer that is currently often kept him out for months from Apple HQ.

so, let's keep our health before it's too late.

Brian G. Dyson the CEO of Coca-Cola (from 1988 until 1994)

“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them Work – Family – Health – Friends – Spirit, and you’re keeping all of these in the air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls – family, health, friends and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered.

They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.”

About.me:Your Virtual Business Card

One more service that can be maximized by the freelancer to manage their online presence, called: About.me. Lately online presence becomes increasingly important, not as a lifestyle but it is due to technological advances and the rapid growth of Internet users. For the local level, literacy use of the Internet to support productivity, or to support the work also increased.



If the first email is used as the address of the virtual world's most obliged to communicate, now business cards online can also be an option as a place to introduce yourself to the relationship. For most freelancers, especially those involved in web development, this service may become a less attractive option, because they can even make special pages with their own design as a business card online.

But for the freelancers in other segments, About.me can be very helpful, even my friend who is a web development look forward to the invitation from About.me (before the service is open to the public) to make her profile page at About.me.

Let's see what facilities are provided by About.me.

In simple terms it provides a personal profile page which can contain personal photos or images you want to upload, we can also add a brief profile and links to various other applications, such as: Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Blogger, WordPress, YouTube, LinkedIn, FormSpring, TypePad , or can also add your blog URL or RSS manually.

Before using their services, you must be willing to wait for an invitation, because their services are still in private beta version, but some time ago this service has been opened to the public, so anyone can use it.

On the home page you will be asked to fill out the registration from and write the name of the desired profile of the account, the account name will be added behind the URL:
'About.me / account name'.
You can add your profile background to beautify the appearance of your account. Some examples of these accounts using close-ups, because it serves as identification, then it's good to show your own face.

They also provide some background for those who do not want to upload a personal picture. In addition, About.me indeed serves as identification, so you can add a brief biographical description, as well as your own name, like business cards.
This biography text can be used to provide an explanation for what you do, such as the scope of work you do, your portfolio or other information that supports your work.



For those of you who already have a personal site is also still able to put the above address, or if you have a site contains a portfolio can also be added here.

To beautify the appearance of your profile page, About.me provides the facility to change the font and set the color of the design elements of the display profile. Some of the additional facilities provided by About.me is a facility to adjust the layout description name.




Another very useful additional facilities provided is Dashboard. This feature allows you to get statistical data about requests from others, if you add a service Twitter and LinkedIn in your profile in this feature then you can view data Tweet, number of followers or your LinkedIn relationships.

For ease in communicating with visitors on your profile page, About.me also provides links directly to your email, so visitors or others who want to contact you can simply click the 'email me' link, then they can directly send emails to you.

About.me also about relationships, on the home page there is a small button that allows you to see the other person's profile page, or you can also access it from the menu option "people"at the top.

About.me is not only a business card (I use this analogy to make it easier to give a picture of the service it provides). it could be more than that, besides being a aggregator of various other online services, it also has some pretty interesting design elements. A convenience that has been given in a personal profile page as well be another advantage.

There is also an other similar services, namely Flavors.me, but the name About.me more interesting and clearly demonstrate its services, especially with the details of your name behind it, makes it easy to know who you are.

It's quite a lot of facilities on the Internet that can be maximized to support the activities carried out a freelancer, as a means to facilitate an online presence as well as special personal profile page, About.me could be one option. Currently About.me been acquisition by AOL, a company that also has TechCrunch (one of the most popular technology blogs in America, maybe the world).

In About.me you can promote yourself and expertise you have, some facilities provided by it can also be found in other social networks, but by using About.me, others who want to see your profile page does not need to register or make friends with you, simply access a special URL that contains your name so they can get a little information about your services and expertise you offer, About.me also could be the media that make it easier for others to make contact with you.

To see an example, you can see my profile page (Yesta) in About.me/yesta.

4 Great Freelance Sites For Freelancers

So you want to be a freelance worker and wanted to try some in advance and understand the characteristics of the freelance market. It often appears on the minds of prospective freelancer and will instinctively wondered about where and how the online freelancers get a project and how to start a project respectively.



It is always better to ask prospective freelancers directly to the seniors who have been in this field or a direct dig it. If you decide to jump into this area is a good idea to try some of the sites under this project providers. I would recommend some sites such as:

Scriptlance

To start an online freelance activity is good that we try to outsource this site because a lot of simple projects that we can take from. Some examples of existing work such as repair of a site, the addition of these features, layout, and construct a site from scratch.

This online freelance sites addressed in http://www.scriptlance.com

The advantages

In addition, disbursement of money on scriplance can be done in various ways, and the size of liquefaction depends on the individual freelancer. The experience of the author disbursement of funds through wire transfer takes 2 business days. The following types of disbursement of funds supported by scriptlance.

* Check - Regular Mail ($ 3 fee)
* Check - FedEx Overnight ($ 38 fee)
* Paypal (No fee)
* E-Gold (No fee)
* Moneybookers (No fee)
* Payoneer Debit Card (No fee)
* Bank Wire ($ 25 fee)

On the scriptlance no minimum bid is made, so as to make the bid as much as possible adjusted to the level of difficulty of a project.

Disadvantages

Low price

This site has many project owners that provide a very cheap price, because many competitors from countries such as India, Nepal, Bangladesh which provides a relatively cheap price. So prices are falling.

The prohibition to publish personal data

In addition, we can not publish personal information such as phone, email, IM or link that leads to personal information either on the message board or in the bid message. Violating this rule may result in termination also get a warning or account.

Escrow

Escrow is not required on this site, because every buyer is free to determine whether to put money into an escrow account or after the project completed. Therefore there are many scams for new providers.

Rentacoder

For the beginner RentACoder is one good option to try without the need to pay. In addition, this site is very professional which is responsible for site owners and team management with the site possesses.

Disbursement of funds at this site using:

* Snail Mail Check
* Western Union (wire / telegraph)
* Payoneer Prepaid Mastercard ®-economical and Convenient recurring job options
* Pay Pal

This site is addressed to: http://rentacoder.com

The advantages

Transaction convenience

RentACoder is to provide comfort and security of transactions both hearty providers (freelancers) or to the buyer. Each log conversations will always be stored in the system and report system provider will always be asked once every 1 week.

If there are problems with the project either from the buyer and the provider to issue a report to the admin to help resolve the issue through to completion based on a conversation logs, reports and confirmation from both parties.

Escrow

On this site every buyer (project owner) must pay some money to the system before the project begins so that each project be paid by the owners of certain projects.

The proper and appropriate deadlines

Project deadlines will be made in accordance with the approval of buyers and providers so that each project will be on time and if the buyer does not give the news for a certain time we can report the buyer, and the proceeds of the transaction will go into the pockets of providers.

Disadvantages

No Instant Cash Disbursements

Unlike scriptlance site can withdraw funds at any time, this site offers the disbursement of funds every 2 months once a month, by mid-month and end of the month. So that we can not accept direct result of our transaction.

massive cost cutting

Every transaction conducted at this site would make cuts of 15% of project cost and in addition to disbursements will be charged for n $ depending on the service used.

Expert Guarantee

It is a service provided by RentACoder, this service will cause us to pay for n% project when the project is approved. This function is intended to give confidence to buyers that we can complete the project. When the project is not completed then we have deposited money will automatically disappear. In Indonesia, more familiar with bank guarantees.

Navigation confusing

Of all the sites I have ever visited, this site has a pretty bad navigation! If you are not familiar with the existing panels maybe you will find it hard to understand this site. It's good for a trade to be able to visit the help page that has been provided.

Elance

Elance is one of the favorite sites of the freelancer, this site is the site of professional freelancers. In addition to the unsightly appearance of this site also gives the division of labor in a specific category.

This is a site paid to follow a project where we have to give the connect that we have bought on this site. This site is addressed to: http://elance.com/

The advantages

Help page

Elance provides a comprehensive help page, either in the form of video or textbase. With text search capabilities will help facilitate our search for relief is expected.

Project Search

Elance provides a search page using ajax project, by providing a complete parameters you can find a suitable project. In addition there are projects by category.

Project Restrictions To Any Provider

Each provider will get a maximum of 60 the connect so that each provider will be limited to sending only 60 proposals in each month. Because it is the competition between providers can be more restricted. So the chance to win the project became larger.

Disadvantages

Paid Sites

This site is a paid freelancer sites, and has a diverse membership plan. The more expensive the membership will give excessive profits. Even so we still can try to use this site for free service by using 3 connects free every month.

Cutting Project Value

Although we have made the payment of membership, we will still be charged the project by 4% -6% depending on plan membership we have done on this site.

oDesk

ODesk is one of the freelance sites online where we can meet the buyers directly through a special application. The application will record all of our activities while working on a project and the buyer can directly supervise the computer screen that we use through the capture obtained through an application.

This site is perfect for people who want to earn income calculated hourly. This site will make cuts of 10% to providers who have a project, be it a project or project base hour time base.

Before you can become the provider must first take a test about how to work this site. So everyone will understand how it works.

Currently I can not give deficiency on this site. Here are some advantages that I think is good on the oDesk website.

* Free Test for all areas of ExpertRating
* Home Help that is accessible
* Changing the data provider-friendly
* Free registration
* Navigation friendly
* Search project that is easy and friendly

This site can be accessed through http://odesk.com

5 Mac Apps for Running a Freelance Business

To run your freelance business requires expertise in all fields of communications with clients, the complexity of the project schedule, and setting revenue expenditure. Doing all this manually would be very time consuming, and would be very easy to make mistakes - no one is perfect. Thankfully there are a few Mac applications that will help you every day to take over and to organize your freelance business.

we will focus on the following 2 areas:

• Billing or Invoicing, Accounting and scheduling / Time Tracking - Tool that can convince you to be positioned above in terms of finances and bills.
• Organizing and other equipment - Application to organize your work and speed up work using a Mac (will we write in the second part)

Billing, Accounting, and scheduling

Billings

Billings allow you to manage clients, projects and time with easy and well integrated. The timing is very good given by Billings, and the results of the report can be viewed in detail, such as how long the project can be resolved. This application also makes several claims that very variation templates with great performance and now this iPhone application is under construction.

Price: $ 39.99
Requires: Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later
Manufacturer: Market Circle

Money

Money allows you to take over the finances in terms of personal and business life. The application also offers you to create budgets, invoices and delivery reports. Cover Flow is used to produce a very attractive appearance and this is a good application.

Price: $ 39
Requires: Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or later
Creator: Jumsoft

OnTheJob

On The Job is the best application to manage clients and your time. The application offers a wide range of currencies, making bills automatically, customize your payment in time, fixed cost, quantity, and mileage. Very useful with a pleasant appearance.

Price: $ 39.99
Requires: OS X 10.5
Creator: Stunt Software

Billable

This application can keep you to know your client bills, and you can create and manage these bills with the application. Actually, this application has an appearance similar to other applications, but it has a cheaper price. I really liked the sign PAID after bills paid off:).

Price: $ 34.95
Requires: Mac OS X 10.4.4 or later
Creator: Clickable Bliss

iBiz

iBiz is the most expensive application in this category, but this application has many features. You can merge a document file with iBiz to track your time working on your client, this is very useful for freelancer writers. See how this application combines all your Mac-based business applications in 1 time. iBiz integrate the Spotlight, iCal, Address Book, and Automator.

Price: $ 49.99
Requires: Mac OS X 10.4 or higher
Creator: IGG Software