What you think is who you are. Beware of negative people or environments. There is truth to the old adage of “it only takes one rotten apple”. If you are exposed to negativity, either change the subject or remove yourself from that environment.

Always try to maintain a positive attitude. Focus on success. If you catch yourself dwelling on the negatives, move past that, and draw on positive thoughts. What happens to you is a product of your thoughts, and nothing more.

Tips on how to become a top earning freelancer

First :  Set a good market strategy

• By owning a web site or portfolio that presents all your best achievements in reverse chorological order
• By introducing yourself as a company rather than an individual
• By posting helping information into forums, and inserting links to your web site company
• By linking to blogs, so that others who link to your blog.

Second:  Subscribe to  paying freelance job sites

• By subscribing to paying freelance sites, you may avoid too much competition and ask as much as possible to your clients to complete the job.

Third : Do excellent freelance work

• By doing excellent work you can be sure that your customers will come back again.  Some will even hire you for long projects, because they will trust you, and promote your services to their friends.

Freelancing is a very rewarding career path – your time is yours, you choose your projects and you have no boss to tell you what you should and shouldn’t do. There are many benefits of being a freelancer; and with the economic down turn in the recent months, taking the reigns on your own career is a wise move in this time of pink slips and downsizing.

I have been freelancing since I graduated college. In fact, I have been taking small writing assignments and projects when I was in college to help me augment my allowance. I found freelancing very convenient and rewarding, and it’s just the path I want to take. It has been five years since I took my career in my own hands, and I would like to share with you a few things to help you get started as a freelancer.

Define Your Area of Expertise

Before marketing yourself in the freelancing and outsourcing niche, ask youself, “What do I do best?”  It is very important for you to define your area of expertise. Are you an excellent writer? An efficient link builder? An innovative graphic designer?

Carve a niche for your skill set. Don’t try to market yourself as an all-around freelancer, because let’s face it, everybody knows no one is great at everything. It is simply quite impossible to be able to perform every imaginable service or task for a client. That is, if you want to produce mediocre output for your clients.

I remember making that mistake a couple of years ago. I presented myself as an all-around, go-to gal. I wrote original articles, rewrote articles, designed blog templates, coded HTML and CSS. Yes, I was able to produce a good enough outcome, but not so great that I can be proud of my work. It was mediocrity at its finest, and my client was none too pleased with the output.

So don’t learn it the hard way. Pick certain areas that you can specialize in and perfect the skill set. Make it so that every client will always want to work with you again and again and again. Remember, when you specialize in a specific field, you can command more for your service.

Build Your Portfolio

There is nothing more of a turn-off to prospective clients than a freelancer bidding on a project and presenting no proof of his skills.  Sure, you are new at freelancing, but that does not excuse you for not having a portfolio. If you have yet to land your first project, you need to work hard and build your portfolio. Create sample articles or even mock designs and templates that showcase your talents and skills. Give it all you’ve got and make sure your samples will impress your prospective clients.

Have a Website or Blog

A website or blog works side-by-side with your portfolio.  I personally find it quite baffling when a freelancer, virtual assistant or graphic designer does not have a website or blog, especially if majority of his or her projects come from freelancing sites.

If you are a writer or a virtual assistant, a simple website showcasing your portfolio, your profile, your objectives and your contact information will do. If you are a graphic or website designer, it is imperative that you put your best foot forward and create the best possible design or website to present your skill and expertise.  Not having a website defeats the purpose of marketing your services online.

Join a Freelancing Website

Offshoring and outsourcing has boomed in the last decade. Along with this came freelancing websites and networks that connect businesses that are in need of help in some way and freelancers who are able to provide their services.

I am sure that you will find it very easy to join freelancing networks. After all, it’s only one Google search away. Once you have joined a network or two, make sure to fill your service provider profile and to showcase your best works to attract prospective clients.  Finding clients and landing projects is easy when you join a freelancing website, because everyone who would need your service is already there. You would only need to put your best foot forward.

These are just a few tips to help you jumpstart your freelancing career. But don’t forget, the most important qualities of a great freelancer – hardworking, patient, and able to manage time wisely. Add the tips you have just learned and you’re on your way to success.

article written by guest blogger:  thebloggermom

This is where we would like to reach out to you for help.

We know that many of you are tech savvy and have influential blogs. I would like to encourage you to blog about surefirehire.com and our services. By promoting surefhirehire.com, employers and freelancers have the potential to benefit by either reducing employer costs or increasing income.

Thanks in advance for your support,

David Naumann
Founder
surefirehire LLC

site: https://www.surefirehire.com
blog: http://www.surefirehire.org
twitter: http://twitter.com/surefirehire (follow us on twitter, to get automated job updates)

• First, if a freelancer wants to be rehired, they will not burn their bridges.  In fact, a common goal of freelancing is to find repeat clients.
• Second, surefirehire has a rating system in place, similar to Ebay.  Check the freelancer’s previous comments and rating.
• Lastly, draw up a contract, or leverage from an existing contract that states what exactly you are trusting the freelancer with and the terms.

I hope this helps to ease your concerns.  Get started today.

I also ask, if you are a freelancer, please comment.

I created an opportunity on surefirehire.  The requirements were simple:

• Job listings from surefirehire.com, sent to twitter
• Automated
• With frequency
• shortened urls

The freelancer who completed the work is 49DollarLogo (don’t let the name fool you).  The product was flawless; furthermore, I have a foundation for sending any data that I want to Twitter (I wish I could send my dry cleaning to Twitter).

If you are looking to hire a freelancer with twitter skills, create an account today.

http://twitter.com/surefirehire

Tweelancers are cool

The author argues that to combat an economic down-turn, instead of laying off an employee, consider dropping their hours and allowing the employee to work for another employer at the same time.

If I were the employer and employee, I would take this approach one step further.  I would augment my staff by hiring freelancers too.  In this example, the employee who is working only ten hours for the given employer, now has the time to take on freelancing opportunities.

Create your own economic stimulus package Today by hiring freelances on surefirehire.com!

• If possible, always attach a sample to your bid.
• Two, the freelancer should include the number of years of expertise for the freelance opportunity
• A quick summary of why you should be awarded the freelance opportunity
• Lastly, and my favorite, add a suggestion to enhance the project.  This will help you stand out in a crowd of freelancers (be careful not to be critical, but helpful)

All of these tips on how to get awarded more freelancing projects, demonstrates your ability to anticipate the need of the freelance employer; furthermore, a great freelance bid will prevent the exchange of many messages, that can be accomplished if the bid is well structured.

Get started today!

Building on a previous blog where I wrote about how to set yourself apart as a freelancer, here is another tip to help employers find a freelancer with soft-skills that can’t be measured by monetary valuation.

When you consider hiring a freelancer, several thoughts probably enter your mind.  In fact, according to several employers we have polled on “How to Hire a Freelancer”, reliability is a top consideration for hiring a freelancer.

When hiring through surefirehire, where talented experts can be hired, verify their feedback or testimonials if any, to ascertain how reliable they may turn out to be, before hiring a freelancer.

If you have not created an account with surefirehire, consider hiring freelancers on the surefirehire platform!

Remember that 87.5% of an iceberg is below water. Look below the surface, to see candidates that you might have overlooked

This allows the employer to keep the knowledge within the company once the project is complete; furthermore, during the project, you can hire freelance experts and reap the benefits of freelancers.

Staff your project with surefhirehires

Hiring a freelancer is a reflection of success

Posting a job on Surefirehire is FREE, with no risk!