Displaying All Posts from July, 2010

What Are You Doing to Impress Your Customers?

What do you do to show your current clients the difference between you and your competition?

There seem to be two schools of thought on this topic:

Do an excellent job on exactly what the client is looking for;
Do a good job on the project, and provide additional value as a bonus.

I got to thinking about this after reading about optimizing your freelance career, especially the reference to “undepromise and overdeliver.”

Do people try and compensate for a perceived shortcoming – maybe they are concerned about their grammar or the originality of their concepts – by adding in additional value? Does a client look at the job and think, “Well, the concept is ok, but we’ve got three pages of web copy that we weren’t expecting – hooray!” or “Wow – brilliant concept, I know we didn’t ask for more, but it would have been nice to get a few more pages of copy”?

Have you found that it is better to deliver “excellence” to your customers and nothing else, or provide” acceptable” with bonus material?

Click Here to Read Article …

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Introducing The Netsetter 2.0

Mike Vardy 20th July General Leave a Comment

And then there were three.

Today marks the relaunch of our sister site, The Netsetter. Along with this site and FreelanceSwitch, the new Netsetter creates a “triple threat” in terms of getting better at what moves you. All three sites offer practical tips that cover topics that can help those who want to get better at what they love doing.

The Netsetter was a blog started by Envato’s CEO, Collis Ta’eed in 2009 as a place to discuss start ups. The second iteration of the site doesn’t stray too far from the initial concept, but has been retooled by the Netsetter team to appeal to a wider audience.

If you’re a true netsetter then you’re already on your way to doing something that you truly love doing. With The Netsetter, FreelanceSwitch and WorkAwesome, you have an arsenal of resources available to you that can enable you to do what you love at a whole new level.

Are you a netsetter? Then head on over to the newly-revamped Netsetter today! Click Here to Read Article …

The Complete Guide to Going Paperless

Abhijeet Mukherjee 20th July General Leave a Comment

No, I won’t start with the hackneyed remarks like “you need to save environment”, “go green” and all. Let’s just forget the environment for a moment and think about ourselves. Going paperless actually makes you more productive.

Just think about the times when you spent hours trying to find that one super-important note in the huge pile of documents, notes, files and what not. Had that note been stored somewhere on your computer, it would have taken seconds to locate it, isn’t it.

This article explores various aspects of going paperless; why you need to do it, what tools could help you do that and the process to follow. People working at big corporations might not be able to go paperless completely, because companies have their own rules on use of resources. But, I suggest them to read it nevertheless. Click Here to Read Article …

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Dealing with Coworkers: Are They Colleagues or Competitors?

Peter North 19th July Office Life Leave a Comment

In a typical organization, employees are separated (or self-separate) into groups with similar skills. Whether you’re crunching numbers, reaching out to customers, or designing the next big product, you’re likely working alongside people with similar skills to your own.

Businesses seek a good bit of overlap in skills. Shared proficiencies increase collaboration and help us communicate with our peers. In areas ripe with arcane terminology like marketing or I.T., shared backgrounds are an absolute necessity for proper teamwork.

Similar skills and experiences are great for camaraderie, communication, and getting things done in general. But, they can also blur the line between colleagues and competitors, especially when someone asks you this:

“Hey, you’re the only one who knows how to run that system, right? Would you mind showing me how to use it? You know… just in case you get hit by the proverbial bus…”

Some don’t give a comment like this another thought, but others might wonder if the “proverbial bus” is really a “proverbial pink slip.”

Are you dealing with coworkers who are colleagues or competitors? Click Here to Read Article …

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What Motivates You?

Sara Hodon 19th July General Leave a Comment

What gets you out of bed and into your workplace every day? Do you feel stimulated or challenged by your job? Are you in a field that you’re passionate about, and that passion means more than your salary? Do you feel that you’re making a difference to your customers, members, or clients?

Boredom and not feeling challenged by job duties is a popular gripe among employees, but very few of us have the option of leaving to find something more stimulating or that would be a better use of our skills. Every job – no matter how unconventional it may be – has its own patterns and routines, whether it’s certain follow-up procedures for particular duties or other day-to-day tasks that must be done. Without new problems to solve or challenges to rise to, it’s very easy to have this routine turn into more of a rut.

So what motivates you? What keeps you showing up fresh every day? Click Here to Read Article …

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What is Coworking?

Georgiana Cohen 19th July Office Life Leave a Comment

Many of us yearn to have the flexibility to work from wherever we choose, but what options do we have? After all, not all of us want to spend the day loitering around the coffee shop. And if we work from home, we face distractions (like laundry) and a lack of office amenities.

To address this issue, coworking facilities are popping up in many cities. These are spaces where freelancers, remote workers and other independent professionals can come to work in a shared office space and take advantage of resources such as internet access, conference rooms, fax machines and, of course, coffee makers. One coworking center may cater to professionals in a specific field, such as designers. Another may double as startup incubator. Most are set up to accommodate a general range of professionals. Click Here to Read Article …

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Awesome Links #6: Simplicity, Blog Writing, Time Management

Abhijeet Mukherjee 18th July General Leave a Comment

The Clean-Slate Guide to Simplicity

Zen Habits explores what it calls the “Clean Slate Method” to simplify your life by getting rid of things you don’t need.

7 Deadly Blog Writing Sins

A must-read for bloggers, this article talks about the common mistakes bloggers make that causes a decline in their readership.

How Google Works – Infographic

A detailed infographic on the steps Google’s spiders go through before returning you those accurate results for your search queries.

20 Quick Tips For Better Time Management

Use Stepcase Lifehack’s quick tips on time management to make more effective use of your time.

7 Social Marketing Strategy Mistakes That Cripple Your Reputation

And lastly, our sister site Freelance Switch asks you to avoid these social marketing mistakes while finding work online.

Cubicle Hell: Dealing with Distractions in an Open-Office Environment

Janet Martin 18th July Office Life Leave a Comment

Are you in a cube farm or other open-office environment? If so, you know that no amount of snack machines, sofas, or fancy Herman Miller furniture can make up for the constant noise and interruptions.

For many years I worked on a team of introverts sandwiched between two of my company’s most extroverted teams. Sitting out in the open with lots going on around me made it tough to be productive. Click Here to Read Article …

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