Advice

Unfair dismissal reforms clarified – some good news for employees!

| Legal

From April 2012 the qualification period for taking a case for unfair dismissal to an Employment Tribunal will be increased from one to two years – however the Government confirmed in the week of 16th January that this change will not be retrospective

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Small Business owners – how to attract and work well with freelancers

| Resources

With the ongoing shift towards employers using freelancers / contractors instead of employing PAYE workers and employees in the current uncertain climate, we look at how small business owners can get the best out of their relationship with freelancers, for the benefit of both parties.

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What employment law changes are coming in 2012?

| Legal

There’s always new legislation flying around in the run-up to the Budget, and this year is no different. We’ve put together a round-up of the employment law changes we know are happening and those that are anticipated in 2012.

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1

Pensions auto-enrolment – some good news for small businesses!

| News

Pensions auto-enrolment – some good news for small Businesses! From October 2012 most workers will have to be auto-enrolled into a pension plan by their Employer (under the Pensions Bill that also abolished the Default Retirement Age during 2011). At the end of November 2011 however the Government announced the welcome news that business with less than 50 workers will not have to auto-enrol their staff into such a pension scheme until May 2015.

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1

Startup advice from those in the know

| Resources

If you were to take on board all the advice online on things you should avoid while starting a business, you’d most likely end up sat in a dark room clutching a blank piece of paper, quietly weeping. Obviously, this is a terrible business model. Sometimes it’s more helpful to focus on the positives.

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How Freelancers can plan their way out of trouble

| Resources

Risk management. Sounds terrifying. It also sounds like something that only big business does, or maybe people who plan really big events, like the Olympics, wars or taking a class of 9-year-olds on a school trip. Surely it’s not something that freelancers need to worry about, is it?

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Win a business makeover with Karren Brady

| News

Start up business owners could be in with a chance of winning a one-to-one session with successful entrepreneur and star of The Apprentice, Karren Brady. The Business Makeover competition has been launched by Nectar to help offer start-ups an opportunity for a business boost from the experts.

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Is Employment Law putting you off expanding your Business? What’s the solution?

| Legal,Resources

A recent survey by the British Chambers of Commerce of 1,000 sole traders looked into their attitudes to hiring staff. Here we disect the report and see if there are any solutions to encourage sole-traders to take on staff.

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HMRC cold-calling startups to offer advice, friendly warning

| Money,News

HMRC staff are to begin calling new businesses to offer advice on how to correctly take care of their bookkeeping and tax obligations. HMRC is referring to this new practise as “telephone education”, and businesses will be contacted “at key stages in their lifecycles”.

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Large Scale Dismissals – are they legal?

| Legal,Resources

With dismissal notices being given out by Shropshire Council to all their staff earlier this month, we thought we’d take a closer look at what this means and if it could happen more frequently in the current climate.

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1

Freelance Five – Bite-sized freelancer interviews

| Lifestyle & Time out,Resources

If you follow us on Twitter (and really, why don’t you?) you may have noticed us chatting with Freelance Five. This new site, set up by freelance designer Mark Bowley aims to take all it is to be a freelancer – all the lost weekends, invoice chasing, personal successes and wonderful freedom, and boil it down into five concise questions.

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Guest Post: With Great Freedom Comes Great Responsibility

| Working From Home

It’s not hard to see why the freelancing bug has caught on for so many. Being able to work from home and work to your own schedule (with no boss telling you what to do) sounds like heaven to most of us. However, if you are going to succeed in the world of freelancing then you must be able to balance the freedom and flexibility with discipline and ground rules.

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How to get LinkedIn as a freelancer

| Guides,Technology

As the biggest social networking site for professionals LinkedIn is a no-brainer for all freelancers looking to broaden their horizons. With over 6o million members, it is a great starting place for finding and connecting with potential new clients and also for being found.

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Retirement law shake-ups – now we’ll never afford that Conservatory

| Getting a Job,Guides

Until 2011 your employment could end legally at 65 with your retirement – this was called the default retirement age (DRA). This is to be abolished during 2011 – see full details of what this change means in our new guide here.

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Working Time Directive and the Royal Wedding Bank Holiday

| Getting a Job,Guides

With the additional Royal Wedding Bank Holiday in April 2011 and the additional Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Bank Holiday in June 2012 things are bound to get complicated. Here’s what you need to know.

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1

How To Manage Unhappy Clients [Video]

| Resources

Clients can be hard to please, for a gazillion reasons. Sometimes it’s your own fault, and sometimes you just know you’ve got a difficult client.

Either way, you will eventually encounter a client who is unhappy with your work. They may be reasonable about it, and give you plenty of chances to get it right, or they may react negatively, and try cancel your contract.

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Am I an Employee, a Freelancer or a Worker?

| Resources

There are three different types of working individuals but deciding someone’s employment status can be complicated as there is no single legal definition. Our advice is updated for 2011.

Here is a quick guide to help you establish your status – if you are an Employee, Worker or Freelance.

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8

Show me the money! Our guide to chasing payments

| Guides

When raising your invoices, create a template with prompts so that you can ensure you provide as much information as possible on the invoice. Do not assume that the Accounts department will know what your invoice is for, who it is from, what your payment terms are or how to pay you if you don’t tell them.

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1

Winter is here – everybody panic!

| Lifestyle & Time out,Working From Home

Have you been outside recently? Cold, isn’t it. Apparently we’re seeing the coldest November since 1985, and various parts of England are now blanketed with snow. Incidentally, if you’ve not seen it, some clever clogs has put together a crowd-sourced map of UK snowfall using Twitter. Make sure to geo-tag your tweets and include the hashtag #uksnow to be included!

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1

Twitter – keep it simple, keep it social!

| Technology

Social media isn’t going to be around forever, but it’s going to get a lot bigger before it goes away – it’s a pretty big deal at the moment. If you don’t have a Twitter presence for your brand then you’re a sucker, and if you don’t have a Facebook fan page then you’re a chump.

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Review – Persuasion: The Art of Influencing People by James Borg

| Resources,Review

In a nutshell this is a book about communication and how not to do it. As a particularly blunt and tactless individual I thought this might help me temper my natural desire to be right all the time…. but it has not (apparently). Persuasion is a generally interesting book but it is purely for those people who like the self help genre and does not stray from the core readership market or attempt to engage the business reader.

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1

[Money Monday] Restrictions of higher rate tax relief on pensions

| Money

Last week the government came clean on their future plans for pension tax relief. Now we’ve had time to digest the news, we’ve called in our resident financial planner – Paul Cleworth of Wealth Matters – to give you a rundown of the changes and how they’ll affect you and your business. Here comes the science…

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How to start a design business — expert advice [video]

| Getting a Job,Resources

The Design Council has uploaded a couple of very interesting expert advice videos.

Part of their excellent resources section the videos feature interviews with top UK design talent and their advice on starting up a design business and how to deal with client relationships. Mostly relevant to newbie designers but a lot of the advice is relevant to anyone creative thinking of starting up in business.

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Equal Opportunties and Discrimination (Equality Act 2010)

| Guides,Resources

The new Equality Act came into force on 1st October 2010 and replaces all previous equality legislation. The Equality Act covers the same groups that are protected by existing equality legislation, however, these groups will now be called “protected characteristics” (PCs). The new Act also extends protections to some other characteristics and introduces other changes. Updated for 2011.

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Save Money by Switching to Open Source Software

| Guides,Resources,Technology

Software comes in many different flavours these days. The majority, from Microsoft, Apple and the like, is closed source – meaning the developers don’t release the source code their software is based on, which helps them protect both their intellectual property and bottom line. A growing percentage of software, however, is Open Source, meaning the developer releases the source code for anybody to poke around in and change as they see fit, and, most importantly for you and I, the software is almost always free.

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3

Freelance Stories – Web Designer & Developer, Jim Callender

| Lifestyle & Time out

As part of our Freelance Stories series Leif Kendall talks with former Freelancer of the Year winner and founder of Callender Creates, Jim Callender. We find out how Jim juggles work in London and Brighton and hear how he found a work/life balance that works for him and his family.

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How to Use Twitter for Marketing and PR

| Lifestyle & Time out

At Freelance Advisor we’ve spent a lot of time sharing advice on how you can effectively use Twitter and social. As a tool for finding more friends, colleagues clients and work. We’ve discussed how to use it for Marketing your personal brand and for PR for your own company.

This cheeky little site has a different view…

HowtoUseTwitterforMarketing&PR

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Security: Keeping safe with One Password

| Technology

Online security is a pain. If you have more than one bank account, multiple email addresses and numerous subscriptions to online services like Amazon, eBay and the rest, keeping track of your passwords becomes a real chore. We’re told not to write them down, and we’re told not to have anything too obvious that can be found in a dictionary.

Security experts recommend we have unique, strong, passwords of at least 12 characters including lowercase, uppercase and numbers. Generating random complicated passwords isn’t too hard… but remembering them is.

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Plugging the RSS time-sink

| Lifestyle & Time out

Information overload is not a problem — we’ve been surrounded by too much information for centuries.

The real problem is ‘filter failure’.

Here Wordpress & Mobile Developer Mark Kirby outlines a very simple method for filtering website feeds and making the most of your time online.

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2

Should I sell advertising on my website?

| Technology

If your website IS your business and it’s offering products, services or information then it might be something that you might seriously consider.

However, if your business website is just ABOUT your company then it’s probably not such a good idea. There is of course a thin line between the two, so another way of judging whether you should take advertising is by looking at some of your competitors and seeing what they do.

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1

Five things to think about when starting out as a freelancer or small business owner

| Getting a Job

What advice can you act on when starting out as a freelancer?

Internet Consultant and Developer Alick Mighall shares his advice on the circumstances, principles and practices you’ll need to help you manage big clients.

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The only way to stay on top of Twitter

| Technology

A few years ago getting heard on Twitter was easy. When I first joined there were less than a million users and it was easy to find friends with common interests and it was even possible for a couple of friend to create a trending topic.

Now with 70m+ users (sending 50m tweets a day) the story is a little different…

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Calling all freelance PR gurus

| Resources

If you’re a razor-sharp freelancing PR professional then you may want to take advantage of a recent partnership between the Professional Contractors Group (the ‘Voice of Freelancing’) and the Public Relations Consultants Association.

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Flexible freelancing – Have you bean to a Jelly yet?

| Lifestyle & Time out

Co-working offers freelancers both flexibility of where to work and also the chance to meet with like-minded co-workers and collaborators. Working from home expert Judy Heminsley recommends the Jelly approach.

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Freelancer Survival Guide [Video]

| Getting a Job

A wonderful talk on Surviving as a Freelancer from Brighton-based freelancer Anna Debenham

Well worth a watch if you’re starting out in freelancing.

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2

Relationships in a freelancer’s world

| Lifestyle & Time out

Relationships are more important for a freelancer than for any other individual.

That’s a pretty bold statement and I’m bracing myself for a wave of incredulity articulated by examples of people going through any sort of emotional or physical trauma. Ok, leaving that probably overwhelming group aside… here’s why

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6

Book review: Working 5 to 9

| Getting a Job

Freelance Advisor and Enterprise Nation founder Emma Jones has returned with a new book which works as an indispensable guide to starting a business in your spare time.

Working 5 to 9 is the follow up to Emma’s best-selling debut Spare Room Start Up and taps in to the modern day phenomenon of people starting businesses at the end of their ‘employed’ working day.

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Guide to working with freelancers

| Guides

The PCG have just launched a rather useful, comprehensive and interactive guide on how to work with and get best value from freelance workers.

Aimed at clients the guide provides easy to follow advice on wide ranging tips — helping them to ensure success when working with freelance professionals. There are video interviews with company bosses and freelancers outlining their personal first-hand experiences and it highlights potential pitfalls and blunders when planning a project.

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Freelance Video: Paul Silver on Going Freelance, Networking & Clients

| Getting a Job

The Farm‘s Paul Silver talks freelancing; getting started, working for clients, finding work and staying alive.

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1

Winning new business! 6 Simple Rules for Success

| Getting a Job

Winning new business the easy and fun way. By following 6 simple rules you can build the freelance life you always dreamed of. Lucky you! You could be getting yourself shed-loads of new business starting from today.

You may to want to earn good money, have long holidays and be your own boss….but all you have to do is win new business. That’s the bit where most freelancers get the heebie-geebies. But I promise you can do it and you’ll get good at it!

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4

Create a publishing empire from your home

| Guides

Do you have content you would like to share with an interested audience of existing and potential customers? It’s never been so easy to package your content in a stylish way, and distribute it in a cost-effective way.

Enter the age of home publishing with Emma Jones.

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5

Freelance Review: Pretty pink Pogoplug powers unprecedented personal productivity

| Technology

The guys and girls at Cloud Engines are my new best friends! As a roaming freelancer (working on contracts in other people’s offices, working from home and, sometimes, working from bed) the problem of where to keep my data has always been a difficult one to solve. Not any more.

Pogoplug is a great solution. It’s got 4 USB slots and it connects to a home WiFi router and, yes it really is that simple, now I have access to my portable hard drives wherever I am in the world.

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4

Go Freelance - 2011 Edition

| Guides

‘The ultimate guide’ to going freelance is now even bigger and better. The 2010 edition comes with 32 packed pages of advice for anyone who freelances or who is considering making a move to freelancing.

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18

VAT is moving online

| Money

From 1 April 2010, if you have an annual VAT exclusive turnover of £100,000 or more you will have to submit your VAT returns online and pay your VAT electronically. Also, if you register for VAT from 1 April 2010 onwards, you’ll have to file online from the start, whatever your turnover.

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Family friendly freelancing – tips and advice from a working mum

| Lifestyle & Time out

Agency director and mum of twins Linda Jones shares some expert tips on how to successfully balance the demands of a freelance career with those of a growing family.

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18

Long term investing for Freelancers

| Money

Successful long term investment is not just about buying low and selling high. Stock markets rise and fall, and share prices are vulnerable to everything from political news to the weather. Trying to find your way around – particularly during times of high volatility and uncertainty – can feel like negotiating a minefield.

So how can we make sense of such a confusing world? It is probably time to go back to basics – stock markets may rise and fall, but the rules of sensible investment remain constant. Wealth Matters’ Paul Cleworth gives us the low down.

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1

Go Freelance! Making a living doing the things you love

| Getting a Job,Lifestyle & Time out

As Confucius said… “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

As part of our new series on Making a Living Without a Job, productivity guru and professional blogger Leo Babauta explains that everyone can go freelance and earn a good living by doing the things they love to do.

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5

Freelance Contracts: Are notice periods a good idea?

| Legal

One of the things guaranteed to provoke debate is the whole question of notice periods in freelance contracts. On the face of it, an equal right for you and the client to step out of a contract looks like a good thing to have.

But are they really worth anything?

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1

How do I set up a Limited Company?

| Guides,Money

Setting up a Limited Company is one of the smartest way to get paid for your work. With a Ltd you get to define your brand, own everything you do, run your business in the most tax-efficient way and pitch for work you wouldn’t be able to get as a sole-trader.

Some people, usually the folks at Umbrella companies, will tell you that setting up a company is costly and complicated but with low-cost solutions out there it’s a no-brainer.

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1

Is Your CV Fit for Purpose?

| Getting a Job

Marketing yourself with an excellent CV or resume is not easy. Malvolio has found that there are not only technical issues to deal with but often several layers of audience from recruitment agencies, to human resources, departmental heads and senior management.

Can you help Malvolio unpick this particular puzzle?

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Freelance Filmmakers: How to be an Appealing Media Freelancer

| Getting a Job

How to get ahead in film-making. Brighton-based film-maker Tom Hickmore from Nice Media gives his top tips for getting noticed and getting a job in the film and media industries.

Find out what you need to do to impress, from CVs and portfolios to selling yourself and outright flattery!

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2

Put a fire in your belly: overcome inertia, forget fear and get things done

| Lifestyle & Time out

Is something holding you back? Are you contemplating change, but struggling to make the leap? I can’t tell you how to motivate yourself. But I can write about the things that help me get going…

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5

Freelance Training: How to improve your Sales hit rate

| Training

It is competitive out there, the freelancing market is growing every day and now more than ever it is important that we make the most out of every opportunity. So how can we improve the quality of our client interaction?

Let’s look at a simple sales formula for calls/meetings to get us started…

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1

Freelance Finance: Are you ready for retirement?

| Money

You may not be thinking of retirement just yet, but it’s always worth being aware of rule changes that could impact on your pension. Paul Cleworth, Financial Planner and Director of Wealth Matters shows us freelancers and contractors how we can tee up our options…

Are you ready for retirement?

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1

Freelance Event: Design Portfolio Clinic

| Events

How do you present your work? What do agencies look for in a portfolio? Wouldn’t it be great if you could sit with a few digital media agencies and ask them what they thought of your work and what you could do to improve?

What you need is the i-design 09 Portfolio Clinic!

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1

Avoiding Accountancy Hell: Two steps to Accounting Heaven!

| Guides,Money

Got a great accountant but lousy software?

Or great software but an accountant who wants everything in Excel spreadsheets?

Crunch Managing Director Darren Fell explains why choosing an all in one accounting solution can save you a lot of time and hassle when it comes to your year-end.

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4

Freelance Productivity: Focusing on what is most important

| Lifestyle & Time out

Purpose Your Day: Most Important Task (MIT)

Leo Babauta, creator of the highly successful Zen Habits blog shares a few tips on prioritising your freelance tasks and streamlining your workflow.

Getting things done… zen style.

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6

Freelance Advice: Commercial coach, professional nagger, mentor

| Resources

Whatever you decide to call them, having someone to act as a commercial reality check in your business is invaluable. Finding someone with business experience who is prepared to meet and make you accountable could make the difference between meeting or missing your targets. Benefits So how can a commercial coach/Non-Exec type person help your [...]

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4

Freelance Advisor reviews: Bluetooth headsets

| Technology

If you wanna get ahead, get a headset Bluetooth headsets get a lot of stick from a lot of people, largely because the general public seems to have taken issue with the idea of somebody going about their business with a hi-tech gadget so visibly attached to the side of their head. I wonder if [...]

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6

Freelance Event: Have a chat and join the debate…

| Events

If you want to find out more about Freelance and Contracting then the Freelance Advisor team will be at the Digital Media Job’s Fair in Brighton today. We’ll be there From 12am – 8pm if you want to pop in for a chat and from 2-4pm we’ll be hosting a session especially dedicated to current [...]

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6

Great tips for good networking

| Getting a Job

You’ve made a break for it and decided to head out into the business world as a freelancer. Now, you’ve just got to do a bit of schmoozing and bring in new work, sounds simple? In reality, networking is often a daunting task. Carey McIlvenny shares some tips. You might find yourself at a fab [...]

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24

Freelance Awards: Why Freelancers Need To Be Celebrated

| Getting a Job

Freelancer and contractors are unsung heroes and Xchangeteam’s Emma Brierley has made it her mission to get freelancers the recognition they deserve. This month’s Freelancer of the Year Awards are only the beginning… Why Freelancers Need To Be Celebrated At some point in their career no less than one in seven British workers will be [...]

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4

Working from home: creating the perfect home office

| Technology,Working From Home

If you’re freelancing from home on a regular basis a well-lit, well kitted-out office is essential – not just a luxury. Freelance Advisor’s resident gadget guru Jim Hatley takes a look at some home office must-haves. Home office heaven: Screens, scanners, DAB and desk-lamps Last year I have covered a few bits of kit to [...]

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8

Marketing yourself: 7 steps to creating the right impression

| Getting a Job

Whether it is networking, meetings, clients or conferences, marketing yourself is an essential skill for any freelancer or contractor. Freelance Advisor and author Emma Jones offers seven quick tips to help you shine Starting on the right foot: 7 steps to creating the right impression You only get one chance to create a first impression. [...]

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9

Going freelance: Four ways to get your family to support your freelancing career

| Getting a Job

Choosing to switch from full-time to freelancing can be a tough decision and the change will go a lot smoother if you have the help and support of those closest to you. Freelance Advisor, Coach and Consultant Dianne Bown-Wilson continues her series of articles on freelance career development issues for freelancers and contractors. Nearest and [...]

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2

Working from home: top five freelance home-business opportunities in 2009

| Getting a Job

The top 5 home-business occupations in 2009 Whether it is a second income to make ends meet, a result of reduncancy or a decision to make a fresh start as a freelancer, the home business and startup sector looks like it will continue to grow in 2009. Freelance Advisor and home business startup supremo Emma [...]

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5

Freelancing on the move: 3 essential tools for roaming freelancers

| Technology

Off on his travels again… tech-loving freelancer and electronic evangelist Jim Hatley grabs some essential items for work on the move (and gives us some novel uses for a digital camera). Essential items for your briefcase Continuing on from my briefcase fillers piece of last month, Id like to run through a few of the [...]

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6

Freelance Advisor Reviews: Top 5 technology applications of 2008

| Technology

Freelance Advisor and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up’ Emma Jones gives us her review of the best applications for freelancers. Top 5 technology apps of 2008 As we enter the month of December, I can’t help but look back at the year that was. The thousands of new businesses started, the people we’ve profiled, [...]

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4

Tis the week before Christmas…

| Getting a Job

Freelance Advisor and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up’ Emma Jones give us a timely reminder of the things we could be doing in the run up to Christmas. What can freelancers do when things get quiet over the holiday season and what plans can we make for 2009. When the phones hush and emails [...]

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1

Freelance Advice: Marketing yourself for free

| Getting a Job

Freelance Advisor founder Darren Fell is a successful entrepreneur and all over the first page of results when you Google his name. We asked him to share the secrets of his success and he responded with this guide to marketing yourself. Marketing yourself for free, a guide. The big question running through everybody’s mind when [...]

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4

Freelance Designer’s Guide: Choosing the right printing method for your clients

| Getting a Job

Whether it is business cards, promotional posters or flyers for a club night there are many printing options and quality and colours will vary greatly. Print adviser and consultant Andrew Walker guides can help you decide where to get your printing done. Choosing the right printing method for your client Digital vs Litho Printing The [...]

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3

Freelance Advice: Portfolio Working and how to go about it

| Lifestyle & Time out

In part one of this series consultant, coach and trainer Dianne Bown-Wilson explored the advantages of portfolio working. Today she helps us identify the tools we’ll need to put it into practice. Portfolio career: How to Designing a Portfolio Career comes down to achieving an appropriate and desirable balance in your life between need and [...]

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4

Freelance Advice: is Portfolio Working the right choice for you?

| Getting a Job

If you’ve recently retired or are thinking ahead to your remaining working years now could be a good time to consider developing a portfolio career. In this two part series consultant, coach, trainer and writer Dianne Bown-Wilson tells us why it is a good idea and how to go about it… Portfolio careers: the perfect [...]

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Create a professional welcome while working from home

| Working From Home

Freelance Advisor and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up’ Emma Jones offers us the first in a new series of pieces for our Working from Home section. Here she takes a looks at what freelancers with a home office can do to create a professional image for clients and a great first impression for customers [...]

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Freelancing on the move: 3 essential briefcase fillers you can’t afford to be without

| Technology

Off on his travels again… our tech-loving freelancer and electronic evangelist Jim Hatley grabs some essential items for work on the move. Essential items for your mobile office Today I am going to look at a few more items that are essential for life on the road. Working from home is fantastic, and is certainly [...]

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7

Working from home: 17 secrets for success

| Lifestyle & Time out

Ah… the life of a freelancer… feet up, TV on, sitting around in your dressing gown and your clients are none the wiser. But is this really the best way to approach your freelance and contracting work? Freelance Advisor and Web Marketing Consultant Leif Kendall asked the freelancers on the Brighton New Media list what [...]

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27

3 tips for disaster recovery: Backup, backup, backup

| Technology

Resident gadget guru and reviewer for The Times Jim Hatley shares some invaluable advice on disaster recovery for freelancers. If you have a home office and don’t have an IT helpdesk… Who you gonna call? If your entire operating system went belly-up on the first day of an important contract, how would you deal with [...]

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4

Freelance Advisor Reviews: Two great new mobile phones for freelancers on the move

| Technology

Free-roaming freelancer and technology evangelist Jim Hatley has been out and about putting a few mobiles phones through their paces finding out which work best for freelancers and contractors who need to stay connected on the road. Time to upgrade? Two great mobile phones for freelancers Mobile phones are big business, both for those who [...]

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8

Marketing yourself as a freelance designer: Six simple tips for your CV and portfolio

| Getting a Job

The death of the CV? Are curriculum vitae a thing of the past? Guest blogger Greg Coley, Creative Director of the integrated agency VGroup, gives an insider’s view on what freelance designers can do to get noticed. Marketing yourself as a freelance designer So you’re a budding young designer straight out of university, a middleweight, [...]

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18

Freelancing the easy way… and the successful way

| Getting a Job

Freelancing: The Choice of Champions If you’re thinking of starting contracting or going freelance then you need to take a serious look at the opportunites and options available to you. Freelance Advisor and Web Marketing Consultant Leif Kendall tells us that freelancing is not the easy option… but it is the most rewarding option. Want [...]

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Compelling Content: Brainstorming your ideal reader or customer

| Getting a Job

Compelling Content – Part 2 Brainstorming: Your ideal reader or customer A two-part series from freelance copywriter Kath Burke. In part one, Kath explained how you can understand why people buy you. Part two explores how to use brainstorming as an exercise in focusing on the content that really matters before you put pen to [...]

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2

Write web copy your customers will love reading

| Getting a Job

Create compelling content your clients will crave In this 2-part series freelance copywriter and content consultant Kath Burke says the secret of writing great web marketing copy is in the preparation. Before you put pen to paper, you need to explore your clients’ deeper concerns and needs. Ah. If only you could magic up the [...]

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4

Freelance Advisor Reviews: Super Sony Laptop

| Technology

Gorgeous gadget: the Sony VAIO AW11XU/Q Life on the road can be tough. The contents of a suitcase are certainly no match for the comforts of home, but if you pick and choose your gear with a little care it doesn’t have to be all bad. We all need cutting-edge technology for the work that [...]

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17

Tools for Time boxing

| Lifestyle & Time out

Mark Kirby’s piece on Time-Boxing for Freelancers this week got me thinking about all the time I could waste trying to find the perfect tools for the job. The irony of this is not lost on anyone I’m sure so, rather than waste unnecessary time on “productivity p0rn”, I thought I’d take Mark’s advice to [...]

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9

Five tips for surviving as a freelancer during a recession

| Money

Continuing our series on how an economic crisis might affect freelancers and contractors, Freelance Advisor and Web Marketing Consultant Leif Kendall gives us five freelancing tips for surviving in a recession. Before I tell you how to literally work your way through a recession, or a credit crunch, or whatever we’re experiencing, I would like [...]

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16

Three reasons why freelancers are safer during a recession

| Money

With gloomy forecasts and images of screens full of flashing red numbers dominating the newspages we’ve been keeping a eye on what the state of the economy means to freelancers and contractors. And it’s not all bad news! Today Freelance Advisor and Web Marketing Consultant Leif Kendal gives us three reasons why freelancing might actually be a very good option during a recession.

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Thinking inside the box: A method for focusing on freelance tasks

| Lifestyle & Time out

Getting things done throughout the day is what keeps the contracts and cash coming in. But how do we know which tasks we should be working on? And for how long? Freelance Advisor’s life-hacks guru Mark Kirby offers a smart solution to planning freelance work. In this post I’m going to focus on a simple [...]

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Podcast #10: The growth in the Freelancer Marketplace – Fact or Fiction

| Podcast

Andy talks to John Brazier of the Professional Contractors Group, Nathan Pope of the Brighton Farm and Darren Fell of Freelance Advisor, about their views of how the freelancing and contracting market is evolving over the next few years. Whether you are a consultant or contractor, contracting or freelancing, the future could look bright for [...]

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Pension plans for freelancers and contractors

| Money

“I’m busy earning as a freelancer, but what about all those Pension plans?” It’s a common freelance problem. You’re hard at work earning money from contracts, but you also know you need to keep an eye out for when you’ll be less busy earning. In this new Financial Management series, Senior Pensions & Retirement Consultant [...]

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What are my main Employment rights as an Employee, Worker or Freelancer?

| Getting a Job

Whatever your employment status, whether you are an employee, worker or freelancer, you have rights at work that are protected by law. Below is a comprehensive summary of what you are entitled to plus links to articles that cover each in detail.

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How your Employment can come to an end – for Employees

| Getting a Job

There are various ways your Employment can come to and – but if you are an Employee you have the right not to be unfairly dismissed. Read this article for comprehensive information – updated for 2012.

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As a freelancer I’ve completed work for an Employer but they’re ignoring my invoice. What can I do?

| Getting a Job

See this advice on chasing late payments.

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How do I negotiate a pay/rate increase?

| Getting a Job

Asking for a pay/rate rise is not a comfortable thing to do, and there is no ‘right’ way to do it. However, whatever your situation is, you must prepare for a conversation about your pay….. read on for more advice.

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Freelance Advisor Recommends: i-design 08 Portfolio Clinic

| Getting a Job

If you’re a freelance designer or programmer then attending the i-design 08 Portfolio Clinic Wednesday 17 September in London is a no brainer. First it’s FREE and secondly if you’re currently looking for work or to expand your future client base then you’ll be able to meet 15 of the capital’s most respected and successful [...]

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10 things to ask your prospective accountant

| Money

Accounts and Audit Manager Michael Riazi helps freelancers and contractors find the advice they need. Last month Michael gave some great advice on how to find an accountant that is right for our freelance business – this month he gives us ten things we should ask on our first meeting. Before you choose an accountant… [...]

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Staying in touch in the midst of mayhem

| Getting a Job

When you are busy, its easy to forget to keep in touch with friends and family who you don’t see on a day to day basis. Perhaps they live far away, or so close you feel you could get in touch with them at any moment, but always forget. Perhaps you see certain people a [...]

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Pitch Yourself into the Freelance Market – Part 3

| Resources

In part one and part two we looked at the marketing process and what you are actually employed for, e.g. the way you think respectively. Today we look at how to identify the unique features of product, you. Understanding the product – You, Your Abilities, Competencies & Transferable Assets Many of us realise that every [...]

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The ADVANTAGES of being a self-employed contractor or freelancer

| Getting a Job

In the last post we looked at the disadvantages of going solo. Now we turns to the ADVANTAGES of being freelance or self-employed… which is MUCH more fun! You are the boss You say what goes. If you want a lie-in or a day off, it’s up to you (but make sure you make the [...]

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The disadvantages of being a self-employed contractor or freelancer

| Getting a Job

In the spirit of getting stuck into the difficult jobs that you hate, but which still need doing, Ground Zero‘s Jack Forester talks about some of the disadvantages of being self employed. First, it can be very lonely starting out in business, especially if you are doing it alone. You tend to spend the majority [...]

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Find an accountant for your freelance or contracting business

| Money

today’s current climate it is essential to choose every aspect of your freelance business dealings carefully. This applies not just to your clients and suppliers but also to your professional advisors – especially a good accountant.

The right accountant will meet all your business accountancy needs, from the preparation of accounts and dealing with tax matters, but also helping your company or business grow in the future.

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Pitch yourself into the Freelance Market

| Resources

In this series, Bill Faust, author of Pitch Yourself, shares insights gained from over 30-years of industry experience. He discusses key factors for effective self-marketing, understanding what self-marketing means, reading your future employers’ desires and defining clearly what you, the product, have to offer.

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Marketing yourself as a freelancer or contractor

| Getting a Job

One of the joys of freelancing is that you get to do everything. But this omnipotence means you can’t hate the sales team for not bringing in new clients, because you are the sales team. Become CEO of YouCorp You can’t have a spat with Maureen in accounts because she hasn’t sorted your expenses, because [...]

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Freelancing – why do I do it?

| Getting a Job

What motivates someone to choose freelancing? I think the potential reasons are many and varied, but I’d like to discuss my reasons for choosing this way of working. You may find they resonate with your own motivations, or they may remind you of a benefit you had forgotten – they may even convince you that freelancing is right for you.

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Using exercise to unwind

| Lifestyle & Time out

Freelance Health: Using exercise to unwind. Taking time out from a busy work schedule to relax and unwind.

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One.. Two.. Three.. SELL!

| Getting a Job

I was asked by Phil Green of the MD Hub 100 to present to a MD Hub 250 group about how I took Pure360.com from no customers at all to hundreds. As I thought the following presentation may be useful to all at Freelance Advisor. It shows the early days and a few photo’s of [...]

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Freelance Tips: Start out streamlined

| Getting a Job

As a freelancer, you often have a lot of business admin to manage. It’s easy to get in a muddle. It may sound obvious and tedious, but getting organised from the outset can save you time and money. It’ll help your finances Think about the 10 minutes a day you spend hunting for your keys [...]

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