25
votes
How can I be successful as a digital nomad?
I am currently in the process of becoming a digital nomad myself. I have been investigating this for a few months now.
You must sort out a few things
Earn money: Ideally, you want several income ...
- 351
13
votes
Accepted
How can I edit my cover letter to get more clients?
[Bit of background, I've done contract work exclusively through oDesk since 2006.]
As far as I see it, the single most important thing you can do in your cover letter is tell them how you'll solve ...
- 2,030
12
votes
Accepted
How to combat the isolation which can become prevalent when freelancing?
The first few years I was freelancing, I was so happy to not leave the house every day and be around people because I really prefer to be alone.
Then I realized that after a while I was TOO isolated. ...
- 3,815
11
votes
Accepted
Working from home while dealing with significant other
I am in the totally same situation. Instead of 8 hours I need to focus for 15+ hours a day recently in order to improve my skill in short period. Got complained? Yes for sure.
But finally I made some ...
- 301
11
votes
Is it good to leave a job to start freelancing?
Plain and simple....
If you don't have 6 months to 1 year of savings to live off of, you aren't adequately prepared to start freelancing full time. You can do it part time and keep your job. However,...
- 17.3k
10
votes
How to combat the isolation which can become prevalent when freelancing?
I live in a city with half a million people and there are startups and small companies who want to share their office. That should exist even in smaller places.
I am mainly a software developer and I ...
- 273
9
votes
How can I edit my cover letter to get more clients?
I see you have a ton of experience which is good, but it's not enough to convince a client. I have been working for almost 8 months now and I'm starting to get more work than I can handle. Here are ...
- 506
9
votes
Should I charge for idle services as a freelancer?
I do contract work and also charge by the hour. What I charge for is my time to complete the job given the tools that I have, and if that includes waiting on a file to up load then so be it, it gets ...
- 293
9
votes
Accepted
How to effectively handle obsessive personal client calls during regular office hours
Bill him for the hours you spend on the phone. Those are consulting hours. No further work will proceed until the account is brought current. All future phone conversations will also be billed. I went ...
- 114
7
votes
How do I know my freelance team working at home?
You cannot control if they work, nor you should. You should control their result!
Make a good system of tasks and milestones and make work-hour calculations for each task. If they are beginners, add ...
- 14.2k
7
votes
Could I theoretically make money by creating software Linux distro needs?
First off, remember that Linux is marketed as very robust, open source, and free (with a few exceptions). Can you keep that philosophy?
The reason distributions become popular are for different ...
- 6,793
7
votes
Hiring freelancers who are a couple?
I hate to say it but I don't think you should hire her at all.
If you hire her it seems you have only 2 options:
Talk to her about her husband and your concerns. By the sounds of it the husband ...
- 451
6
votes
How to combat the isolation which can become prevalent when freelancing?
It is imperative that even while freelancing that you keep your network of people you know growing. It is also important to keep in touch with prior relationships.
I tell my freelancers that they ...
- 71
6
votes
Accepted
On a web site gig, who pays for the domain and hosting services?
That's completely up to you, and what risks you're willing to take.
I'm a huge advocate for hourly billing and that (along with a few other key concepts) defines more than just what I charge for.
...
- 2,030
6
votes
Is it unacceptable or not wise to email clients during the weekend?
Here's my opinion and practice....
I never respond or contact clients during any time I want to myself, ever.
That is to say.. I don't respond to or contact clients before 9am, after 5pm, on ...
- 17.3k
6
votes
Freelancing as Physicist / Mathematician
A third area, in addition to @MichaelLai's first two, might be financial services. But, alas, that would also be lots (and lots) of programming. However, you'd also be developing models requiring lots ...
- 171
5
votes
Working from home while dealing with significant other
I have gone through the same situation something like 10 years ago, the girl could not understand that even if I was working from home I had a work schedule and hours, the fact that I was not in an ...
- 2,044
5
votes
Where, other than home, can freelancers do their work?
From my experience,
Coffee shops - I try all the coffee places in the area. There are some good small restaurants I discover too. I love it when I get to check out places other than Starbucks. Try ...
- 444
5
votes
Where, other than home, can freelancers do their work?
As a freelance, sometimes I work also at my clients's company offices, when I do a project for that specific client, if they have a free office or desk usually I can stay with them from a few hours up ...
- 2,044
5
votes
Handling a client that doesn't pay after services are delivered
Friend, you have screwed yourself on this one, unfortunately.
The best you're going to be able to do to mitigate this situation is hiring an attorney in Arizona to represent you. You will have to ...
- 5,304
5
votes
How much money should one save up before freelancing full-time?
As others have said .. all answers are opinions to some degree. For myself, I have dipped in and out of contract/freelance work over a 40 year career. I've built up about 15 years of freelancing in ...
- 424
5
votes
How to avoid 'Pretending' to work?
does anyone know the causes or potential solutions that have worked?
Maybe you feel guilty for making money more easily than your partner. Perhaps you know she would be jealous or disturbed by ...
- 701
4
votes
Accepted
A solid structured learning path and approach to go from PHP 'Novice' to PHP 'Cutting-Edge Master'?
You should start by learning the basics of PHP and MySQL. For all available resources go on Google: the basics of php.
It is about learning the basics. What PHP and MySQL are, how they work, a bit of ...
- 1,131
4
votes
Is there a freelance / contracting website that mostly focuses on the United Kingdom market and caters mostly for UK remote-based IT workers?
Whilst impossible to state that 'no that site does not exist', I can say that no such site exists that has significant market share and thus would not suffer from the same problem as the PeoplePerHour ...
- 442
4
votes
Finding partners for development startup (preferable Germany)
You should try to find someone with a lot of experience on LinkedIn. People who use freelance websites are usually not looking for a business commitment. That being said it does not mean you cannot ...
- 141
4
votes
UK company hired me, threatened to file charges against me
He is just trying to scare you. Demand the missing $100 he owes you, by registered mail.
- 1,032
4
votes
UK company hired me, threatened to file charges against me
It's a bluff. If he sues, he has to do it where you live or work. That's not happening over $100!
- 5,304
4
votes
Accepted
How do I prove my source of income as a freelancer?
Tax returns.
Neither Fiverr nor istockphoto are your employers so they aren't obligated to track your earnings or send you records. It's up to you to maintain income records.
Since these sites are ...
- 17.3k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible