How
to Convert Prospects into Paying Customers
Getting lots of enquiries from potential customers is great.
It means that you are well known in your chosen market.
But all this popularity won’t do you much good if
it doesn’t generate sales.
====================
Create
a Blueprint for Success Having a strong foundation
enables you to build a thriving, profitable life and business.
A simple method to create this foundation is with Discovery,
Vision, Planning and Benchmarking, the four cornerstones
of your life as well as your business.
====================
14
Ways To Boost Customer Response In A Tough Economy
Today,
you must step up your tactics to keep your customers buying
and away from the competition next door on the cyberspace
highway.
====================
Communicate
The Problem...Get The Client
Positioning
revolves around your core marketing message that clearly
states who you work with, what problems you solve, what
solutions you provide, what benefits you offer, what results
you produce, what guarantee you give and what is unique
and special about your particular service.
====================
8
Steps to Creating a Simple Business Plan for 2004
It
gives you a clear direction where your business is heading.
Many business owners just jump into creating a business
without researching and making a concrete plan.
====================
Freelance
Pricing Part 3 - Quoting To Win! -
Some people call it a bid and others call it a quote or
proposal. But no matter what you call this process, make
sure that the document is concise, powerful, and easy to
understand.
====================
Pricing
Your Projects Part 2- Determining how much
to charge for your services is often one of the biggest
challenges for a new freelancer. If you charge too much
you won't get hired and if you charge too little you'll
starve. Take the time to read this article and you will
figure out what you need to charge to thrive.
====================
How to Get Your Customers to Respond to Your E-Campaign
If
you've ever done an e-campaign and received no response,
maybe you overlooked one of the top four elements: timeliness,
consistency, benefits and a call to action.
=============
Bridging
the Chasm from Lead to Loyal Customer It is
as ludicrous to expect a potential customer to reach a purchase
decision in one step as it would be to expect a Mount Everest
adventurer to cross a chasm in one step. So how can you
begin to move your potential customers across the purchase
chasm?
=============
Advice
from Successful Freelancers: Starting & Maintaining
a Freelancer Career
From the e-book, Advice from Successful Freelancers: How
They Built Their Careers & How You Can Too!, I asked
ten questions of freelancers who were living their dream
life. Following are some of their answers.
=============
Eight
Questions to Ask a Potential Client: Closing B2B Sales
When someone interested in your product or service
contacts you, closing the sale should be easy, right? They’re
interested. They took the initiative. But all too often,
for some reason, the sale falls through.
=============
Assessing
the Unknown Factor on Freelance Projects When
working on a new freelance project you will frequently find
yourself in the situation that you already have experience
developing part of it, and that there is other part that
you have never worked with.
=============
How
To Recover Your *Almost Customers* Use these
four simple procedures to convert those "almost customers"
into paying customers.
=============
How
to Start a Biz While Working Full-Time Oftentimes,
the only way to realize your dreams as an entrepreneur is
to begin while working full-time.
=============
Dealing
with Disgruntled Customers Unhappy customers
who receive satisfaction can become your biggest allies.
The trick, of course, is discovering how to satisfy their
needs so efficiently that they'll forget whatever caused
their disappointment in the first place.
==============
Why
Every Small Biz Should Have a Web Site Outlined
in this article are four ways a web site can contribute
to the bottom line success of your business.
==============
Is
A Home Business For You? - Part Two Part 2
of the successful article published last week about whether
or not you should start a home business.
==============
Understanding
the Corporate Buyer If you don't grasp the
realities of the corporate environment, you may sabotage
even a hot lead. Here are five important keys to working
with the corporate buyer.
==============
Is
A Home Business For You? - Part One You better
apply the brakes and proceed with caution. Running a home-based
business might not be all you think it is.
==============
Editorial
Freelancing: Five Steps to Getting Your Foot in the Door
Publishers,
editorial directors, human resource managers and editors,
among others were a vocal lot regarding freelancers and
what they should/should not do to get their foot in the
door.
==============
How
to Make Money from Internet Auctions
If
your business is not using eBay and other Internet auctions,
you could be missing out. Here are just a few ways of generating
additional income, profits and cash flow from online auctions.
==============
Brand
Your Consulting Brilliance
Brand
your consulting brilliance because the future of your business
depends on it.
==============
He
Who Dies With The Most "Niches" Wins
Niche marketing is the opposite of mass (general) marketing.
It targets specific people with special needs.
==============
Knowing
Your Customers; Closing the Sale Just because
your business is based in your home that doesn't mean you
can afford to ignore the most important element of your
success: sales.
==============
How
To Find A (Kick Butt) Niche -And Grow Rich
Niche marketing is the opposite of mass (general) marketing.
It targets specific people with specialized needs.
==============
How
To Calculate the Lifetime Value of A Client
The
concept of client value requires a bit of guessing and new
thinking. Especially for people who are running a new business.
==============
How
to choose a Website Designer
Now
that you have decided that it is time to create a website
for your business there are many questions you must answer.
One of the most important questions is "Who should
create my website?"
==============
Working
to Stay-At-Home!
If
you and your spouse decide that it would be better for you
to become a one income household, you can.
==============
Fourteen
Ways to Double Your Productivity
Increasing efficiency and productivity often bring forth
images of someone standing with a stopwatch timing every
activity with a watchful eye.
==============
Increased
Effectiveness on Projects An article detailing
how to increase your effectiveness on future gigs.
==============
Moving
From A Weekend Hobby To Career
In The Arts I’ve
heard people say that you’re a sell-out if you are
distracted by tasks unrelated to creating your art. That
may be true, but if you want to create your art, and put
food
on your table you will quickly understand that beautiful
art does not sell itself.
==============
Five
Myths and Five Tips for Breaking Into as a Fashion Designer
-
For many
women, becoming a fashion designer is a lifelong dream.
We all love to wear beautiful clothes and make ourselves
feel good from the inside out.
==============
Are
You Missing Your Chance to Work at Home?- Have
you missed the turnoff that leads to your dream of working
at home? Wouldn't that be disappointing? No one likes to
think that they have wasted their chance, missed their opportunity.
But that's exactly what happens to many.
==============
Before
You Jump Into The FreeAgent Pool With the
change in our economy and the survival mode that companies
have switched to, a vast number of people have entered the
arena of free agents.
==============
Maximizing
the Effect of Your Freelancer's Bio Your freelancer's
bio is a vital job-hunting tool. While traditional job hunters
have CVs and resumes, independent writers and other independent
professionals have biographies.
==============
Know
Your Business from Top to Bottom - Every business
environment has its own special technique of operating and
to know all aspects of the key elements is what makes it
successful or is what makes it more difficult to survive.
==============
Three
Steps to a Professional Image One of the biggest
reasons home-based business entrepreneurs often fail to
attract customers is that they also fail to create a professional
image.
==============
How
To Handle Criticism- The inevitable criticisms
that come with the prestige of being called an author could
very well be thought as an author's worse nightmare.
==============
Top
3 Secrets to More Billable Time - As self-employed
professionals, were in business to make money doing what
we love. And that means we need enough billable hours to
cover our expenses, our salary, upgrades in our skills and
technology, and our profit.
==============
Dealing
with Business Slowdowns When times are slow
for your home-based business, chances are you won't have
the luxury of waiting and seeing if things improve. You'll
need to take steps quickly to get back on track.
==============
Caring
for Your Customers - I have many philosophies
when dealing with customers, but I definitely do not believe
that the customer is always right. However, when the customer
is wrong, you must handle the situation delicately.
==============
The
Little Things You Need To Know If You're Self-Employed
There
are a million little things that you will learn as you progress
with your business, but let me bring you up to speed on
a few important ones.
==============
PORTFOLIO
SERIES - ARTICLE 10 - GATHER INFO AND WRITE YOUR RESUME
OR PROFILE This
is the tenth article in The AFWork Portfolio Series. This
article covers how to make the most of an online profile
or resume.
==============
HOW
TO FIRE A CUSTOMER It
must be Tax Season. How do I know? I'm swamped with work.
And I just fired a client. Again.
==============
100+
RESOURCES FOR YOUR BIZ There are so many facets to this business
and so many resources are needed
==============
WHO
ARE YOUR IDEAL CLIENTS? AND WHAT DO THEY WANT?
the
best way to get your new business off to a great start is
to create a service that supports a clearly defined and
reachable client base
=============
PORTFOLIO
SERIES - HOW TO PICK ONE IMAGE TO REPRESENT YOUR PORTFOLIO
AND YOUR BIZ (article 9) Ninth
article in series. This week we are going to discuss how
to choose one image to represent your professional identity,
more specifically how to design your logo.
==================
CHOOSING
RELIABLE BUSINESS PARTNERS A
clever way to find out if your new business associate is one
that you would like to deal with on a day to day basis is to
put them to a simple test
==================
PORTFOLIO
SERIES - DIGITIZE AND OPTIMIZE YOUR PORTFOLIO IMAGES FOR
WEB USE (article 8) Eighth
article in series. Learn how to get your images ready for the
web.
==================
WHEN
CLIENTS DON'T PAY, PAY LATE ... AND OTHER ANOMALIES OF FREELANCING
It's something that
freelance writers don't like to talk about or hear about, but
it happens more often than we like to admit.
==================
PORTFOLIO
SERIES - GET PREPARED TO PLACE YOUR FOLIO ONLINE (article
7) Seventh
article in series. It is important to have a portfolio online,
findout why.
==================
HOW
TO KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS IN AND OUT It
is common knowledge that customers are the lifeblood of businesses.
Let's face it, if you don't have customers, you don't have a
business.
=================
HOW
TO WRITE A PROPOSAL TO GET FREELANCE WORK Want
to get freelance work? Write a proposal.
=================
PORTFOLIO
SERIES - HOW TO PREPARE YOUR PORTFOLIO FOR DROP-OFF OR SHIPPING
(article 6) Sixth
article in series. Many employers will not have time to see
you in person, in this case many will ask for you to drop-off
or mail your portfolio.
==============
FINDING
YOUR NICHE AS A WEB DESIGNER To
make it in the web design world nowadays you have to have a
niche.
================
WHY
YOU MUST BUILD A CUSTOMER LIST TO PROSPER If
you run (or plan to run) an online business, it’s especially
important that you maintain and add to a customer/prospect list.
============
PORTFOLIO
SERIES - PHOTOGRAPHING YOUR WORK ... MAKING SLIDES (article
5) Fifth
article in the portfolio series. Find out how to photograph
your samples for slides and your portfolio.
=============
HOW
CAN A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT HELP YOUR BIZ? Virtual
Assistants are the right hands of on-line or home office business
owners. Find out more...
=============
SETTING
YOUR PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS & BOUNDARIES
Guidelines
help us keep our focus! Use these ideas to create your own professional
standards and boundaries.
=============
PORTFOLIO
SERIES - SHOP SMART FOR A PORTFOLIO CASE (article 4) Fourth
article in the portfolio series. Find out how to shop smart
for a portfolio case.
=============
PORTFOLIO
SERIES - II - HOW TO BUILD UP YOUR SAMPLES WITHOUT PROFESSIONAL
EXPERIENCE If
you are in a situation where you don't have any professional
samples to place into your portfolio, then you obviously have
a lot of work to do.
============
MANAGING
CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS MEANS MANAGING THE GAP
Your
opportunity to build a stellar client relationship starts with
managing the gap between your perception of how things are going
and your client's.
=============
PORTFOLIO
SERIES 1 - HOW TO PUBLISH AND MARKET YOUR ONLINE AND OFFLINE
PORTFOLIO NEW!!
First
article in a series of many that will show you how to properly
plan, layout, and market your portfolio.
=============
A
FREE AGENT ROADMAP FOR 2003 NEW!!
- As
you develop your strategic plan, consider the following items
to ensure that the upcoming year
will be a success.
==============
8
WAYS TO DEVELOP CONFIDENCE IN NEW SITUATIONS
- Very few people are at ease striking up a conversation
in a room full of strangers. Here are some simple ways to make
network meetings more productive and more fun.
==============
ESTIMATE
PROJECTS WITH A LITTLE LESS PRECISION
-
Always build in a cushion for yourself when giving
an estimate.
==============
HOW
FREE AGENTS HANDLE SLOW BUSINESS TIMES
- Here are 5 ways to cope with slow
business times.
==============
MAKING
SUPPLEMENTAL CASH WHILE FREELANCING - YOU CAN DO IT!-
While you're looking for freelancing
work, it may be difficult to find money to pay the bills. With
the information in this article, you may be able to find additional
sources of income!
==============
PRICING
YOUR SERVICES OR PRODUCT: Things to Ponder Part 2
-
Life
is all about making choices and growing. The same hold true
with pricing your product or service.
===============
Pricing
Your Service or Product : Things to Ponder - Part 1 of 2"
How
does someone price a product or service?"
================
PROPOSALS
101- Writing proposals
is both an art and a science. Contact
Paul Bednar directly at http://www.free-agent-information.com.
=================
HOW
TO FOLLOW UP A CONSULTING PROPOSAL -
Contacting the potential client more than once to ascertain
the proposal's status is counterproductive. Also, it forces
you to spend time and energy on what is now in the past. Contact
Paul Bednar directly at http://www.free-agent-information.com.
=================
10
KEYS TO POWERFUL FIRST IMPRESSIONS FOR FREELANCERS -
To create a Powerful First Impression, you must create
a positive visual impact. Contact
Dianne directly at ddaniels@imageandcolor.com.
=================
CREATING
A PROFESSIONAL IMAGE FOR YOUR HOME-BASED BUSINESS
- Nothing screams "PROFESSIONAL!"
to Potential Client as an honest-to- goodness corporate or business
name on your letterhead and business cards.
=================
HOW
TO SPOT A SCAM A MILE OFF
- In
this article we look at several main scams and how to recognize
them.
=================
FREED
TO SUCCEED AT HIGH SPEED-
Your
possibilities as a virtual contract writer or "e-lancer"
are limited only by the kind of professional work you can perform
=================
THE
MOONLIGHTING TIME CRUNCH AND HOW TO BEAT IT
- It's
tough being a moonlighter, as many of you reading this know
only too well. Here are some ideas to help you beat the time
crunch.
=================
HOW
TO WRITE A WINNING PROPOSAL
When
a potential client approaches you to see if you can handle their
projects, how do you prove yourself without resorting to creative
output? The answer is to write an informative and insightful
project proposal. Here's how...
=================
HOW
TO USE LEVERAGE TO NEGOTIATE
-
Learning
how to negotiate can help you to win projects and to get the
rates that you are qualified for.
=================
VIRTUAL
TEAMWORK - HOW FREELANCERS CAN GET TOGETHER TO OFFER MORE SERVICES
-
By joining forces with other freelancers who offer complementary
skills, you'll be able to offer a more complete service to your
clients.
===================
GO
OFFLINE AND INCREASE YOUR TRAFFIC -
Do
not forget to promote offline as well. There are many ways to
spread the word offline about your business.
===================
BUY
SERVICES 
