Freelancing – Tips and Tools To Get You Started
by Yolandi on 01/02/10 at 11:35 am
4 comments
Charles Hugh Smith recently posted an article on Freelancing and why permantent jobs may not come back in the US. He says that “not only are many of the jobs that have been lost unlikely to come back, but those that do are increasingly likely to be freelance, temporary or contract positions rather than permanent jobs with benefits.” Offices which once required a dozen file clerks, for instance, now need fewer workers to input digital records. So, what are we to do about this? Well, here are a few links to freelance resources to help you take on freelancing and make a success out of it.Digital technologies are replacing old industries. For example, with digital downloads replacing CD sales, there are fewer record stores and thus fewer employees in record stores. Regardless of how much sales rise, according to Charles, the certain positions for workers will not come back. Whether you need a freelancing job or want to appoint freelancers, here are a few links to help you with both:
Freelancing jobs:
1. South African Freelancers Association
3. Elance.com
Freelance Recruitment:
1. Guru.com
Tools to help you time and track your work:
1. SlimTimer – A Start/Stop little timer that tracks jobs on a main web interface
2. Time Assistant – Professional timesheet software
3. Harvest – Simple and efficient time tracking
4. FourteenDayz – Online time tracking for teams
5. PunchyTime – A simple time tracking tool for creatives
Administration and payment systems:
1. SBA – Small Business Administration, help and advice
2. Paypal – Online payment system
3. Moneybookers – Online payment system
4. Freelance Switch – for calculating your business and personal costs.
Yolandi Janse van Rensburg writes about social media, marketing, life and, of course, cars. We say “of course” because Yolandi is nuts about anything on 4 wheels. Besides moonlighting as the Heavy Chef girl at World Wide Creative, Yolandi runs Autofemme, a blog about cars, as a business on the side. View more articles by Yolandi.
FeistyFemale
Feb 1st, 2010
Then there is also freelancecentral.co.za.
Jude
Feb 2nd, 2010
Thanks Yolandi – really find your blog posts and the variety of advice that they cover useful and information.
Jo Duxbury
Feb 3rd, 2010
Thanks for the mention. Bev
Freelancentral (www.freelancentral.co.za) is the biggest directory of creative/marketing freelancers in South Africa, with over 4,500 members on our database.
We’ve been providing a reputable, credible platform for freelancers to promote their portfolios on for 4 years. We’re not a brief-and-bid site, as we believe that model encourages undercutting, devalues creative and makes hiring decisions entirely based on price. Rather, we provide a centralised place for freelancers to showcase their work – making it easy for clients to find the right freelancer for their needs.
We do have a Placements division and post freelance placement briefs on our site from time to time. We also provide lots of useful information and advice for people who are already freelancing, or who are thinking about it.
This month we are celebrating our 4th birthday, and are offering a whopping 40% discount on 3-month portfolios until the end of February 2010. So if you are thinking of doing a little marketing for your freelance business, don’t miss out!
We have also just launched a new division which offers clients a full outsourced marketing service – http://www.peppermintsource.com.
FeistyFemale
Feb 3rd, 2010
Go Jo!