There is a time when your choice to be a freelancer and work from home could impact your right to live in your house. It seems so simple nowadays. You can use the internet to connect with clients, and from there you can earn a wage without commuting. One in four people in the UK agrees with you, as the gig economy continues to grow in influence. However, with the increased numbers comes increased scrutiny from the Government and the taxman. Therefore, it is not so simple as just getting started and seeing how it goes. Let’s guide you through some of the essentials. [Read more…]
12 Productivity Tips For Small Business Owners
There’s a lot to juggle as a small business owner and you have to make the most of every minute to move your business forward.
Unfortunately, many fail to optimize their productivity. Some ignore self-care to the detriment of their mental clarity and ability to focus while others spend their time on low-value busywork that doesn’t yield high-impact results.
Here are 12 tips to help you stay productive throughout the day: [Read more…]
Cover Letters That Stand Out: This is What They Have in Common
In 2012, there were more than three million job openings. If you think about how many people will have applied for those jobs, then the number of job applications is off the charts. Throw the world of freelance writing and design, and outsourced projects into the mix and this number likely doubles.
With so many freelancers and professionals applying for jobs, it’s easy for your application to get lost in the crowd. You might be the perfect candidate for the job, but if you don’t make the interviews, they’ll never get the chance to find out.
Before they even get to your resume, recruiters will look at your cover letter. Creating cover letters that stand out is vital if you want your resume to make it to the right pile.
Read on as we look at the characteristics of the best cover letters.
Create a Strong Opening
Imagine you’re hiring for a position. Then imagine how bored you’re going to get from reading the following line: I am writing to apply for the position of blah, blah, blah.
As a freelancer, you are already fighting for posititon amongst millions of other freelancers. This is why it’s impotant to make your cover letter stand out by opening strongly. They already know what job you’re applying for, so get straight in there and tell them why you’re the person they should be hiring.
Tell Them Why You Want the Job
You would be amazed at how many people never mention this in their cover letter. And also keep in mind, this isn’t just for your benefit, but also for anyone who is looking to hire as well. The easier you can make the hiring and decision process for the end user, the more likely you are to get the job.
They fill it with information about their experience and skills and why it makes them the ideal candidate. But they never actually say why it is that they want the job they’re applying for.
Tell them why you want the job and you’re in a much stronger position.
Be Specific About Experience
It’s all too easy when writing your cover letter to get bogged down in generalizations.
Saying you have “four years of experience in IT” doesn’t really say anything at all. Four years doing what, exactly? What kind of IT?
Be specific about your experience, but also make sure that the specifics that you focus on are the ones most relevant to the role. Telling them about your excellent Word skills is not much use if the job requires you to work in Google Docs.
Cover Letters That Stand Out Are Brief
We’ve already looked at the sheer number of applications that get submitted every year.
Pity the person that has to read them all. They will honestly thank you for your brevity if you keep your cover letter to just the important information, and nothing more. Make sure you use a lot of empty space rather than cramping all your text together making it harder to read.
You should also try to make it look as appealing as possible. There are plenty of cover letter for resume templates out there that you can use.
Build Your Presence and Brand on Social Media
Having a website is now standard practice for freelancers and anyone who might be looking for new work. However, it would also be a huge mistake to not take advantage of social media as well. This is especially true if you want to use social media for business.
Just some quick reasons to include your social information within your cover letter are:
- To make it easy for employers to find your social profiles online
- The benefit of seeing a strong knowledge of online branding and social media
- Some employers prefer social media contact methods over email
In short, unless you have a bad history or content on social media, there is really no reason for you to not list your social profiles amongst your general contact information on your cover letters.
Your Cover Letter is Like Your Presentation to the World
For freelancers in content writing or design, it’s extremely important to make sure you have a cover letter than stands out and grabs the attention of the user’s eye. With hundreds or thousands of potential hires submitting resumes for new work, you need to take advantage of every opportunity available.
If you aren’t a graphic design, adding some color and excitement to your cover page can be as simple as loading your Word Doc of files into PowerPoint or Google Slides, and then creating a presentation, but then also saving it as a PDF file.
Lastly, if you are taking the time to critique your resume for each different job or opportunity you are applying for, you may want to look over the job training specs listed on their site. That way, if they are listing Microsoft Word or Excel program training, and this is something you are already specialized in, then this is something you would want to highlight or point out.
You can then submit this more attractive cover sheet or resume the same way you would submit any other PDF files.
Are You Looking for More Great Business Advice?
As a freelancer, creating cover letters that stand out is only the first step on your journey to your dream job. If you’re looking for more tips and advice then you’re in the right place.
For more great content on all aspects of business and the world of freelancing, be sure to check out the latest job openings and articles posted on Freelance Writing Gigs.
Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter: Which is Better for Freelancers?
Social media is a marketing powerhouse, and no matter what platform you want to use, there are benefits all the way around. Put simply, the short answer to “which is better for business?” is that you should be using all three; but for the sake of this article, we’re going to compare Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter in terms of marketing benefits, company growth, and the ability to help brands reach a wider audience. [Read more…]
5 Reasons So Many Freelancers Are Behind On Their Taxes
Depending on your field, freelancing doesn’t need to have a lot of expenses. All you really need is a computer, internet access, and plenty of coffee. One cost you can’t avoid as a freelancer, though, are your tax bills. Unlike typical W-2 employees, freelancers have to pay quarterly taxes at a rate of just over 15%, and that’s a big bill, especially if you’re not being paid on a regular basis. This leads many freelancers to fall behind on their taxes. [Read more…]
Tips On How Freelance Writers Can Start Day Trading While Traveling
Over the last couple of years, the freelance and digital nomad movement have proven to be some of the hardest working, innovative, and inventive group of people out there. Most of them are driven by an urge to explore and live life to the fullest, while also running successful freelance careers and even start-ups.
However, and as we all know, the life of a freelancer and especially a traveling freelancer is far from perfect, and all too often the lack of income is the biggest hurdle. Therefore, this lifestyle often makes people creative in the ways they make money. [Read more…]
Design Tips for Your Freelance Writing Portfolio
The best freelance writers (and pretty much every other freelancer: designers, developers, photographers, content marketers, etc.) have creative portfolios where they showcase their work. This is their business card that potential customers will carefully check before sending them an email.
A great portfolio will quickly demonstrate to potential clients and/or employers what kind of work you can do, and keep in mind that your portfolio itself is a project that you can use to showcase your skills. [Read more…]
Top Tips to Ensure Your Freelance Contracts Secure Your Financial Freedom – UK Edition
As of 2016, there are 2 million freelancers in the UK. With this in mind, we want to make sure that those living in the UK who have taken the self-employed route are making the best choices for their income and mental wellbeing, particularly when it comes to contracts between freelancer and client.
After all, you aren’t working as a freelancer because it’s easy. Most freelancers do what they do for: passion, a level of flexibility that can’t be experienced in an office or the possibility of great disposable income and financial freedom. [Read more…]
How Freelancers Can Utilize Expired Domains
In this era of super-fast internet, information is available all around, and every piece of data is competing to make itself visible to a broader audience. SEO or search engine optimization is widely used by freelancers to make their content stand out and gain organic traffic.
But sometimes, good content is not enough to get a high search engine ranking. The latest method of perfecting SEO is by using expired domains, and it is being used by freelancers very commonly. [Read more…]
How to Earn Repeat Freelance Copywriting Work from an SEO Agency
Freelance writers need to earn repeat work. Of course, finding new clients is vital too, but to give yourself as much job security as possible and to actually earn a decent wage, you need to get clients coming back to you with more assignments, time after time.
Repeat work from SEO and digital agencies can be a great earner for freelancers, because they’re likely to have multiple clients in need of quality copy, potentially month after month. And if they’re any good at their job – and you’re any good at yours – their need for copy will increase, and you will get first refusal of that work. [Read more…]
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