Featured Freelancer: Wendy Hughes

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This month our Featured Freelancer is Wendy Hughes. I had the great pleasure to learn about what her life as a freelancer is like on a daily basis and some great tips for aspiring freelancers.

What originally peaked your interest in Freelance writing?

I’d been working in marketing and communications for many years, and once my children were born I wanted to find part-time work which I could fit around the family, but which also allowed me to use my skills and experience, as well as giving me a sense of fulfillment.

It was a bit of a big task! But the freelancing world has been great as it’s enabled me to build the right balance for me, my career, and my family.

I’ve been told that there is no such thing as a typical day for a freelancer. Would you agree with that and if not, what is a typical day for you? What different kinds of work have you done since you started as a freelancer?

One of the things I love about being a freelancer is the variety of work. It’s amazing to be working with so many different clients every week.

A typical day for me at the moment includes copywriting for a new website which I’m helping an Australian tourism business with, then a bit of maintenance and analysis for a client’s Google Adwords account, followed by some social media posts for a restaurant and a tour company who I regularly work with. I’m also working on developing a marketing plan for the launch of a new fashion outlet.

Do you currently look for new clients or do you have a solid base of work? If you are looking for new clients, what tools do you use to locate new clients?

Right now I have a solid base of work, but I always keep an eye and ear out for interesting projects as well. A lot of my new work comes from pre-existing business contacts and word of mouth, but I also use freelancing websites such as freelancer.com and Elance.

I’ve heard many freelancers talk about how hard it can be to find work. What are some other issues that you have encountered working as a freelance writer?

My specializations are marketing and writing, and I am very fortunate to have several long-term marketing contracts at the moment for clients who I really enjoy working with.

I know starting out as a freelancer can be pretty rough due to lack of work. Was there ever a point when work became sparse for you? If so, how did you make ends meet?

Starting out was quite difficult at times, but it definitely gets easier as time goes on and you start to build a reputation. Perseverance is a great virtue!

Having 14 years of solid industry experience before I started freelancing helped enormously, as did studying for professional marketing qualifications. This meant I had developed all the right skills to get me started.

What would you say your greatest success has been as a freelance writer?

I mentioned before that the reason I became interested in freelancing was my goal of balancing a fulfilling family and professional life. As my husband often tells me, I want to “have my cake and eat it too”! I feel very fortunate that I’ve been able to achieve this.

Do you have any tips for people who are looking to get into freelance writing, as well as people who have worked as a freelancer for years?

I’ve found that with any type of work, you get out what you put in.

I always choose which projects I bid on very carefully, so that I know my skills match what is needed and I make sure it’s a company or product which I will feel very passionate about and want to be involved in. If you target your projects carefully you’ll always do a great job for your clients – and you’ll always feel very fulfilled in your work.

Check out the links below to learn more about Wendy Hughes.

 
Creative Commons Licensephoto credit: Raoul Luoar

Featured Freelancer: Anthony Hewson

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Our featured freelancer of the month is none other than Mr. Anthony Hewson. Anthony’s interest in writing started during childhood. He was always naturally talented when it came to English and any other writing based subjects. Although he did originally decide to study drama in college, he eventually came to the conclusion that this would be a rather unrealistic career path. With the world in recession at the time, he was forced to drop out of university. Anthony began working at his parents’ technical recruitment company and eventually got a step in the door of writing for a living by taking a job in PR and corporate communications at one of UK’s leading construction and engineering firms. He describes this as a stepping stone which taught him a lot about big business and gave him a wide and detailed understanding of all manner of employee communications, writing for and dealing with the media, and helping to structure his writing skills which until that point had only been exercised in a creative way. Click here to read more »

Featured Freelancer: Jake Poinier

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Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing a very dedicated & ambitious freelancer, Jake Poinier. Some of you may have been to his website Dear Dr. Freelance or read one of his yearly Freelance Forecasts. According to Jake, his adventure in freelance writing began 12 years ago (or as Jake stated ‘back in the 1900’s) and business has been excellent ever since!

Click here to read more »

Featured Freelancer: Fletcher Martin

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A Writer's Friends

I would like to share a talk I recently had with one of our freelancer colleagues, Fletcher Martin. Fletcher is a freelance copywriter who struck out on his own last year.

What Kind of Freelance Writer are you? I am fairly eclectic, I write almost anything. I currently write mostly for blogs and website content. Click here to read more »

Web Developer, Ivan Novak

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Today I am going to take a break from some of the news to share an interview I recently did with Ivan Novak, a freelance web developer from sunny California.

So what exactly do you do? I’m technically a Front-End Engineer.  I work with HTML, Javascript, CSS, Ajax, php, and ruby.  I like using jQuery with javascript, CodeIgniter with PHP, and Rails with Ruby.

What kind of services do you provide? I work with talented graphic designers who do the visual design and I execute the vision provided in the visual design and make the program fun and easy to use.  I develop custom web applications and WordPress themes. Graphic Designers use artistic programs to design (like photoshop, illustrator and the like) and I use code to design.

Click here to read more »

Putting the Sizzle in Your Branding Logo- Part Four

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Fine Art … Fine Design

Well, here we are folks, at the conclusion of my conversation with Professional Graphic Designer Ali Rowan. In parts two and three I shared her insight on color usage, design strategy and copyright risks.

To sum everything up, we will conclude with Ali’s recommendations of the top three things to do and not to do when utilizing her provided knowledge. Click here to read more »

Putting the Sizzle in your Branding Logo- Part Three

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Creative Commons License photo credit: opensourceway


Welcome back to part three of my interesting conversation with Ali Rowan, professional graphic designer.

Last week in part Two, I shared with you the importance of choosing the right colors for your brand. This week we will take a closer look at what Ali has to say about fine tuning your design. Click here to read more »

Putting the Sizzle in your Branding Logo- Part Two

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Creative Commons License photo credit: Team Dalog

Last week I gave you a little intro into the process of designing your personal visual mark. Your logo. Your brand. A unique tool for individualized marketing.

Now, as promised, I have the highlights of my conversation with a professional graphic designer, Ali Rowan. Ali stays up to date with the latest trends and market analysis pertaining to the graphic design field. The advice and insight she shared is invaluable information for anyone looking to make their mark in the freelancing world. Click here to read more »

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