Seven Must-Read Articles for Freelancers

by Brian Clark

Fourth of July

It’s July 4th in the Unites States, and you know what that means—hot dogs, fireworks, sunburns… and one or two people might drink a bit. But let’s not forget what else this day signifies.

That’s right… The Fourth of July is the day President Bill Pullman declared the world’s independence day from those pesky alien invaders from outer space, thereby rallying the troops and horrifying international film critics.

Apparently, a guy named John Quincy Adams said something similar with regard to Great Britain a bit further back. Sorry chaps, no hard feelings I hope.

But since the underlying meaning of this day is really about freedom, let’s focus on freelance. Here are seven articles that will help freelancers and those who hope to go freelance themselves.

20 Must-Read Blogs For Freelance Writers

To become a freelance writer, you gotta love writing. But you should also consistently work on sharpening your skills. And how do you do that? Reading well-written articles and blogs is a very good start.

Pricing Your Design and Writing Services

Are you charging too little? Are you overpriced? Are you using the wrong method to calculate your rates? Cutting yourself short? Still on the per-hour method? Stuck on the per-piece? What about charging what you’re worth?

5 Things Freelancers Should Know About Sales

For many non-sales professionals, the mention of salesperson is synonymous with manipulative money-grubber to be resisted at all costs. This attitude is a quick way to end up with a job again.

How to Deal With Writer’s Block

Terry Starbucker shares his method for dealing with writer’s block from a blogging standpoint. His technique may surprise you.

80 How-To Sites Worth Bookmarking

These eighty sites are the places the author turns to when she’s trying to figure out how to accomplish a new project. She basically starts searching for how-tos that help her figure out how other people did similar things.

Writing Content In A Web 2.0 World

Here’s a nice white paper on content for the social web. If you’ve been reading Copyblogger for awhile, this may not be new to you, but it’s a good clarifying summary.

Are Freelancers Really Independent?

Ah, here’s the inevitable fly in your beer. Are freelancers truly free? This post weighs the pros and cons for existing freelancers and those thinking of giving it a go.

If your answer comes out in the negative, you could always read the Teaching Sells report and decide to use your skills to develop online training programs and membership sites. Or, just have another beer… you’ll feel better (until tomorrow). :-)

About the Author: Brian Clark is the founding editor of Copyblogger, and co-founder of Teaching Sells and Lateral Action. Get more from Brian on Twitter.

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{ 7 trackbacks }

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{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Abhijeet Mukherjee July 4, 2008 at 11:40 am

Thanks Brian for featuring my article- 20 Must-Read Blogs For Freelance Writers.

I really enjoyed writing that piece for Freelance Folder. :)

2 James Chartrand - Men with Pens July 4, 2008 at 11:51 am

Ha, I have reason to celebrate now! Thanks for the link, Brian. This is a nice little collection for writers. There are a few I haven’t read, so I’ll go have a peek now.

Enjoy your celebrations today. We’re still recovering from ours from the 1st ;)

3 Hiten Vyas July 4, 2008 at 11:53 am

Brian, thanks for putting up this list. On a side note I’m also going through the teaching sells course at present and it is excellent.

4 Aaron - WPQuestions July 4, 2008 at 12:38 pm

Good reads, thanks. I really enjoyed the “Are Freelancers Really Independent” article.

5 Terry Starbucker July 4, 2008 at 1:00 pm

Thanks Brian and happy 4th! I’m going to need my musicology fix pretty soon – are you available for say an hour or two of “why the 70’s was a better music decade than the 90’s”?

In the meantime, keep teaching us and all the best!

6 Rosh July 4, 2008 at 1:01 pm

Great lists and valuable tools.

I’d never want a “safe job”. It’s the scariest thing in the world, to me. I have lots of friends losing their safe jobs and unable to find new ones. I can lose a client or two, but I’m never unemployed.

Rosh
http://www.newmediaphotographer.com

7 Mark McGuinness July 4, 2008 at 1:25 pm

No hard feelings at all. Water under the bridge, old bean.

8 Karen Swim July 4, 2008 at 1:48 pm

Thanks for the link Brian! As a long time Copyblogger subscriber it was so cool to pull up today’s post and find that I was part of it. Have a very Happy 4th of July and thanks for adding to my celebration!

Karen

9 Jan Richards July 4, 2008 at 1:56 pm

Excellent ideas, resources. Thanks once again!

10 elmo033057 July 4, 2008 at 11:55 pm

Happy 4th to you as well. I really liked Google’s logo and image for the 4th of July. I have noticed that Google is starting some very complex tactics in its ranking system. Yahoo better follow quickly because it will be left behind in the dust.

God Bless!

ELMO

11 super blogger July 5, 2008 at 2:46 am

Good tips to become a good writer…

12 Gamerz July 5, 2008 at 3:37 am

Thanks alot for all this information, it was a good read!

13 Marisa July 6, 2008 at 10:02 am

What’s great in writing content for the social web is that it could be globally collaborative. Freelancing or not, that is something thoroughly amazing.

Happy Independence Day to everyone at Copyblogger!

14 Business Writing July 6, 2008 at 11:16 am

Thank you for the list. As a teacher of business writing, I frequently get asked by students about freelancing. I will refer them to this page.

15 Trixie July 7, 2008 at 12:32 am

Everything you said is a great help for me. I really want to be an effective writer like you. I love reading all the these articles, I actually bookmark these as my reference.
http://fresh-web-content.com

16 Amir Ahmad | MindValley Labs July 7, 2008 at 6:21 am

That’s a pretty nice list Brian.

17 Stanium July 9, 2008 at 6:16 am

Thanks for the leads! These 7 articles are just a beginning of a whole new ocean of information a freelancer should know.

18 ravi September 29, 2009 at 9:24 am

Brian, thanks for putting up this list. On a side note I’m also going through the teaching sells course at present and it is excellent

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