Jovan Cicmil's Blog - Freelancing
How to Write Follow-up Messages That Generate Clients and Close Deals
August 18, 2021
Following up with prospective clients is tricky business. There’s a fine line between a confident, entrepreneurial message and a spammy ping notification that serves no purpose other than to irritate the person on the other end.
During my decade of freelance experience, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to experiment with different approaches to communication.
I’ve also had the ...
Why You Should Hire Freelance Workers for Your Startup
July 16, 2021
Those of you who have been reading my work know that I’m a freelancer, entrepreneur, and writer. But did you know that I’ve also hired over 20 freelancers on various platforms over the course of the last decade?
Hiring remote talent can be a daunting prospect. Many still shy away from it because a simple Google search can reveal a hundred hellish experiences suffered by other would-be ...
Why So Many Freelancers Fail To Achieve Independence
July 8, 2021
Many people go into freelancing with great expectations. They envision themselves sitting on a tropical beach, laptop and all, with an exotic cocktail in one hand and a coconut in the other, while an endless stream of money flows relentlessly into their bank account. Half of their laptop screen is devoted to the job, and the other half to an itinerary for their upcoming trip to Machu ...
The Best Ways To Find Freelance Clients in 2021
June 9, 2021
The freelance landscape is a constantly shifting one. This is a wonderful thing for adaptable, entrepreneurial people — and freelancers are nothing if not adaptable and entrepreneurial.
Still, some dangers lurk in the mists of this landscape. For instance, it is not beyond imagination that you might find yourself looking for freelance work in an ecosystem that clients have migrated away ...
Pricing Freelance Projects: Everything You Need To Know
April 11, 2021
Building a freelance career is unique in that each year can require new skills and new adaptations. One thing that remains constant is the necessity of good pricing.
During almost a decade of freelance work, I have encountered every kind of project — from shifting a website menu item slightly to the left to ...
How I Used Outsourcing To Increase My Freelance Income
February 27, 2021
When you begin working as a freelancer, you can find yourself increasing your earnings steadily every month. However, growth inevitably slows down after some time and, eventually, earnings plateau.
How can a freelancer keep increasing their earnings after they’ve filled up their entire schedule and raised their hourly rate as far as it will go? There are several possibilities, including ...
Should Freelancers Charge Fixed-Price or Hourly?
February 24, 2021
Have you ever undercharged a client? Have you ever had a client complain that you’re overcharging them?
These sorts of disputes are common in the freelance world. Many come down to one simple mistake: charging a fixed price when you should be charging an hourly rate, or vice-versa. The choice should be made for each individual project and based on several variables.
With this in mind, I ...
How I Went From ‘Hello World’ to My First Freelance Client in 1 Month
January 7, 2021
Back in 2011, I was a university graduate with a very foggy look at the future. The field of study that I had chosen at age 18 now seemed like a foolish choice. Even though it was an engineering degree, in my country it resigned me to office work in one of maybe a dozen telecommunications companies.
This is not what I had envisioned when I left high school.
I was lucky enough, however, to ...
The 4 Most Important Lessons I Learned Growing My Business in 2020
December 31, 2020
This was an eventful year for the world, to say the least. For me, it was an echo of the immortal words of Charles Dickens: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the year I started creating content in addition to my regular freelancing work. I wrote close to 40 articles and published my first course on Udemy.
It was also the year of lockdowns, Covid-19, and frustrating ...
Money Management Tips for Freelancers
December 21, 2020
I owe a lot to freelancing. As my readers know, it has provided me with reliable income and <a href="/blog/the-evolution-of-my-productivity-as-a-freelancer" target="_blank">ample opportunity for self-improvement</a>.
However, freelancing isn’t without its challenges. Being independent also means being self-reliant. There is ...
The Evolution of My Productivity as a Freelancer
December 13, 2020
Those of you who have been following my work know that I have been freelancing for 9 years . During that time, my productivity has improved dramatically. How?
Through trial-and-error, as well as by reading many books on the subject, I have evolved a series of rules and principles that I adhere to on a daily basis. I am sharing ...
How a Single Freelancer Outperforms a Whole Team
December 7, 2020
Companies that want to hire you will often use an argument consisting of two logical fallacies, wrapped in a veneer of condescension. Specifically, they will tell you that you have to choose between security and freedom (false dichotomy fallacy). They will base their pitch on the presupposition that working in a team is more productive and more secure, and then proceed to ask you whether ...
How to Find Meaningful Work
November 3, 2020
What is meaningful work? The answer to this question changes from age to age and from society to society, but only on the surface. The essence remains the same because it comes from the very core of our humanity.
“Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence; they go stark, raving mad.”
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
Philosophy is no match for evolution
For ...
What Web Development Agencies Get Wrong
October 2, 2020
If somebody wants to pay you to build a wooden cottage for them, what do you do? Do you:
Name a price for building a wooden cottage.
Offer to build them a mansion with a swimming pool, solar panels, garage, alarm system, and an exotic garden, then try to bill them for that.
Common sense says that everyone should choose the former option. Yet, web development agencies routinely choose ...
How to Choose a 21st Century Career
September 17, 2020
How many times have you heard a sentence that started with the words “I wish I had…”? College graduates wish they had understood how the world works before they chose their majors (or, indeed, whether to attend university at all). Middle-aged men and women wish they had chosen this industry over that.
Everybody has 20/20 hindsight, but peering into the future is a completely different ...
Six Ways to Monetize Your Upwork Profile
July 30, 2020
I’ve been a freelancer for 9 years. Upwork has provided me with the sort of work that I never thought possible before that. The sort of work that you can enjoy doing and make good money while you’re at it — all on your own schedule. But, that’s not the whole story.
Contrary to popular belief, there is great value to be found in a ...
How To Upsell to Clients as a Freelancer
April 30, 2020
If I have learned something in ten years of freelancing, it is that the best kind of client is a repeat client. The overhead of searching for new projects, applying, interviewing, vetting clients and acquainting yourself with the project is immense. This is why it’s very important to regularly search for opportunities to extend your relationship with your existing clients. The trick is doing it ...
How I Made Over $150k on Upwork
February 4, 2020
Just so we’re all clear that I’m not making this up, you can visit my Upwork profile here. Once there, you will find out two things:
I am not making anything up.
I did not make that money by writing.
Most of the earnings came from software development projects, with a bit of consulting here and there. But, I do invite writers and marketers to go through the points below — most of ...
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