Archive for July, 2006
Monday, July 31st, 2006
Pricing and Finances for Freelancers
Pricing, estimates and finances are some of the most important — and some of the most difficult — aspects of running a freelance business. Lack of knowledge in these three areas can break even the best business. Fortunately, good suggestions and sage advice are plentiful on the web.
For example, “The Secret to Small […]
Comments Off - Posted in Freelancing by Chad
Friday, July 28th, 2006
When Good Recommendations Go Bad
Several times a year people will ask me to recommend an attorney for a case. I keep a list of attorneys I’ve worked with and trust, and when asked I will recommend one or two names off that list. Typically I don’t hear back about the recommendation, but sometimes I’ll receive a note […]
Comments Off - Posted in General by Chad
Thursday, July 27th, 2006
Brain Benchmarking
Lately I’ve been curious about an online certification service called Brainbench. The Brainbench.com site provides a number of certification exams (over 600, by last count) in areas ranging from Excel Spreadsheets to Legal Research to Web Development Concepts. Exams cost around $50 apiece, or users can opt to sign up for a subscription […]
Comments Off - Posted in Freelancing by Chad
Wednesday, July 26th, 2006
Just Do It
Seth Godin has a great post today where he says, in a nutshell, “trust your instincts, then act on them.”
Let’s say you’ve got a really good idea. And you’ve had good ideas before.
You show it to your colleagues. They analyze it. They tell you why it’s not a good idea.
* * *
The challenge is not […]
Comments Off - Posted in General by Chad
Tuesday, July 25th, 2006
Law Firms and Outsourcing
A Seattle newspaper recently reported that area law firms are looking into outsourcing various legal services functions in an effort to save money and keep clients’ costs down. Although some are skeptical about the quality of outsourced legal services, the reduced costs (a savings of up to 75%) might just entice some firms and […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Outsourcing by Todd
Monday, July 24th, 2006
Offshore Outsourcing of Litigation Services
Ask most US lawyers about the downside of legal outsourcing and you’re likely to get an earful of concerns ranging from potential waiver of privilege, unauthorized practice of law, information security and quality control.
Mealey’s Litigation Report recently published an article called Erasing the Hurdles: Offshore Outsourcing of Litigation Services that addresses these concerns head-on, and […]
Comments Off - Posted in Outsourcing by Chad
Friday, July 21st, 2006
Get Paid Faster
Neil Dixon is a freelance designer that occasionally has trouble collecting payment from his clients. His solution: a nice, informal note asking the client to bring the account current. He sent the note right after the official 30 day payment term had run:
Last month . . . just after the official 30 days’ […]
Comments Off - Posted in Freelancing by Chad
Friday, July 21st, 2006
Great Advice from a Freelancer
Shaun Andrews embarked on his freelance career three months ago, and posted a short article about the lessons he’s learned in the process. (Shaun is a web engineer, but his comments apply to nearly all types of freelancers.)
Here are his top three observations together with a portion of his comments:
1. Never turn down […]
Comments Off - Posted in Freelancing by Chad
Thursday, July 20th, 2006
How to Get Freelance Jobs
Freelancers sometimes complain that they work hard to respond to job postings, but they never get selected. Josiah Mackenzie has some good suggestions on how freelancers can win more jobs. Among the suggestions:
Customize Your Proposal
This shows you’ve taken the time to read it. If it is a larger job, consider tailoring your resume […]
Comments Off - Posted in Freelancing by Chad
Wednesday, July 19th, 2006
The Economics of Ghostblogging
Ed Poll of LawBiz makes a good case that lawyers should use “ghostbloggers,” that is, ghost writers for blogs. From an economic perspective, this approach makes sense. For instance, a lawyer can pay a good ghostblogger $30 per hour to draft each blog entry, or the lawyer can draft each entry herself, foregoing […]