28.07.10 Get-together reportback | Our winter get-together for freelancers was held last week at The Daddy Cool Bar on Long street. We got to meet some of the Cape Town freelancers, chat about what they're up to and get a sense of the challenges they are facing presently. Melissa James wrote a short summary of the event in case you missed it.
The main aim of Freelancentral events is to get freelancers to network and share experiences, provide moral support for one another, or even make connections or team up on a project. Events are also helpful to us, the team behind the scenes at Freelancentral, to find out what exactly freelancers' needs are and how we can make the site work better for freelancers.
The client-freelancer relationship
A common concern for many freelancers is the client-freelancer relationship. Freelancers at the event mentioned their struggles with clients particularly when it came to communication between the two parties. Freelancers also found they had particular clients that were difficult to work with, and weren't sure how to handle these clients.
We were thrilled to hear that freelancers enjoyed the freedom of freelancing, as opposed to being tied down to a permanent job. Freelancers feel they have the freedom and flexibility to pursue the type of work they are passionate about, on their own terms - something we are very passionate about ourselves here at the Freelancentral HQ.
A few freelancers mentioned the pros and cons of working from home - from being able to do the laundry to avoiding traffic. What are your thoughts on working from home? Pop over to our Facebook discussion page and let us know what you think.
From freelancer to entrepreneur
We were also pleased to hear that freelancers were running their own small businesses - taking the step from freelancer to entrepreneur. We often advocate that to be successful at freelancing you have to get your 'business hat' on, because as much as you're doing what you love, you are running a business.
If you keep an eye or ear open, there are plenty of sponsored programmes run specifically for small businesses, so freelancers: look out for these and sign up! You’ll learn some valuable business skills and get honest, objective feedback.
Allocate a marketing budget
Staying with the 'business hat' metaphor, we noted that freelancers seem to be particularly reluctant to pay for online promotion, or any sort of marketing in fact. Setting aside a marketing budget (even if only a small one at first) can result in great rewards – do think about this if you want to extend your client base or get your name out there. Even something as simple as decent business cards can make a really positive impression (surprisingly, only a handful of freelancers had these on them at the event!).
Check out Moo.com for affordable business cards - we highly recommend them, especially if your budget is tight. A few freelancers reported that Adwords had worked successfully for them as a direct lead to their sites (they kept costs manageable by capping this at e.g. R400 per month). It is good to know some of you are allocating a percentage of your income to marketing. :-)
Other topics that arose were what systems people were using for sending newsletters (MailChimp seems to be an all-round favourite!) to chatting about the benefits of CSS 2.
Thank you to The Daddy Cool Bar for being such accommodating hosts and for providing the delicious cheese boards. We would also like to thank everyone who attended the event – it was lovely to meet you all!
Stay in contact
What are your experiences currently as a freelancer? We’d really love to hear about your experiences as a freelancer, and how we can make the site work better for you.
or connect with Freelancentral via Twitter or Facebook.
Happy freelancing!
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About the author:
Melissa James is a marketing and web assistant at Freelancentral. Her passion for all things web-related was sparked by an undergraduate specialisation course in Interactive Media, part of the Film and Media Production degree at the University of Cape Town. She recently completed an Honours degree in Media at the same university, and is passionate about design and photography. She currently spends her free time dabbling with her camera’s settings, in search of the perfect shot.
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