What is digital marketing

Source: Toshost

Essentially, computerized promoting alludes to any web-based advertising endeavors or resources.

Here are probably the most widely recognized computerized advertising resources and procedures organizations use to contact individuals on the web:

Advanced Marketing Assets

Nearly anything can be a computerized promoting resource. It essentially should be a promoting device you utilize on the web. That being stated, numerous individuals don’t understand the number of advanced showcasing resources they have available to them. Here are only a couple of models:

• Your site
• Marked resources (logos, symbols, abbreviations, and so on)
• Video content (video promotions, thing demos, etc)
• Pictures (infographics, thing shots, association photos, etc)
• Made substance (blog passages, eBooks, thing depictions, recognitions, etc)
• Online things or instruments (SaaS, smaller than usual PCs, instinctive substance, etc)
• Surveys

Online media pages:

As you can presumably envision, this rundown just starts to expose what’s underneath. Most advanced showcasing resources will be categorized as one of these classes, however sharp advertisers are continually concocting better approaches to arrive at clients on the web, so the rundown continues developing!

Modernized Marketing Strategies:

The summary of automated promoting strategies is moreover persistently growing, yet here are a part of the procedures most associations are using:

Pay-Per-Click Advertising:

Pay-per-click (PPC) advancing is actually a wide term that covers any sort of modernized displaying where you pay for every customer who taps on a commercial. For example, Google AdWords is a sort of PPC publicizing called “paid request advancing” (which we’ll go over in a second). Facebook Ads are another kind of PPC publicizing called “paid online media advancing” (again, we’ll get into that in the blink of an eye).

Paid Search Advertising: Google, Bing, and Yahoo all grant you to run text commercials on their Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Paid chase advancing is maybe the best way to deal with targeting potential customers who are successfully searching for a thing or organization like yours.

Site smoothing out (SEO):

If you would incline not to pay to show up in the SERPs, you can similarly use webpage improvement (SEO) to endeavor to rank pages or blog passages on your site normally. You don’t have to pay clearly for each snap, yet getting a page to rank typically takes a lot of time and effort (for a more thorough and thorough assessment of paid chase and SEO, see this article).

Paid Social Media Advertising:

Most electronic media stages like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Snapchat will allow you to run commercials on their site. Paid online media advancing is uncommon for building care with swarms that likely won’t realize that your business, thing, or organization exists.

Online Media Marketing:

Source: Marketingland

Online Media Marketing:

Like SEO, online media advancing is the free, common way to deal with using electronic media stages like Facebook or Twitter to publicize your business. Likewise, many equivalents to SEO, normally promoting your business through online media takes essentially extra time and effort, yet as time goes on, it can pass on significantly more affordable results.

Change Rate Optimization (CRO):

Change rate improvement (CRO) is the craftsmanship and investigation of improving your online customer experience. As a general rule, associations use CRO to get more changes (drives, visits, calls, bargains, etc.) out of their present site traffic.

Content Marketing:

Content advancing is another truly broad progressed promoting term. Content promoting covers any serious displaying effort that usages content assets (blog passages, infographics, eBooks, accounts, etc) to build brand care or drive snaps, leads, or arrangements.

Email Marketing:

Email publicizing is the most settled kind of web advancing it’s really going strong. Most developed sponsors use email exhibiting to expose phenomenal plans, highlight content (regularly as a part of substance advancing) or advance a capacity.

B2C Companies

When in doubt, B2C associations have a great deal of lower esteem centers than their B2B accomplices. In light of everything, it will in general be fairly hard to sell a $150,000 exhausting instrument (trust me, they exist) to a harried mother. However, a $10 pair of kids pants? That is a truly clear sell.

The elevating news is because B2C associations aren’t endeavoring to sell incomprehensibly exorbitant things or organizations, they don’t need huge arrangements gatherings or jumbled promoting channels. They ought to just get their things or organizations before the right group with the right illuminating and the rest should manage itself.

Accordingly, the fundamental goal of most B2C associations is to get people into and through their displaying pipe. For example, if you can get that harried mother onto your kid’s clothing site and offer her a stimulating game plan, there’s a fair chance that she’ll buy today. You don’t need to build a gigantic heap of brand care or trust before you can wrap an arrangement up.

Considering that, B2C associations routinely watch exceptional results from higher-pipe exhibiting channels like electronic media advancing or paid social publicizing. These channels work commendably of getting your business before potential customers who may for no situation understand that you exist.

As of now, upgrading with other mechanized displaying methods like paid chase or SEO is reliably a keen idea, yet if you have to pick one channel regardless, paid social advancing or electronic media publicizing are fantastic decisions for B2C.

B2B Companies

Alternately, paid chase is an unprecedented decision for B2B associations. Most B2B associations have very certain forte groups that can be hard to target using electronic media. Regardless, if you sell $150,000 bores and someone searches for “valuable stone-tipped oil infiltrating peacemaker”, you should be the essential result they see. Undoubtedly, you may pay more for your snap than you would with paid social advancing, anyway with a $150,000 retail cost, it’s money particularly spent.

In like manner, most B2B associations have an any more and more included arrangements cycle than B2C associations. On the off chance that you’re selling a $150,000 exhausting contraption, a considerable number of individuals probably don’t go to your site, call you, and state “I need one.” likewise, longer-term techniques like substance publicizing or email elevating are habitually critical to settle an exchange. Clearly, the right blend of cutting edge publicizing procedures will move from industry-to-industry and business-to-business, anyway essentially standing out B2C from B2B should help give you a sense of how different strategies can be better for explicit associations. Just one out of each odd procedure is ideal for every business, yet with a little experimentation, you should have the choice to recognize the most beneficial system for your association.

Difference between Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator

Source: creative market

In case you’re an accomplished visual fashioner or industry faculty, you may overlook this article. Since we’re enumerating a portion of the principle contrasts among Photoshop and Illustrator, the two programmings you probably utilize more than your cooler. Nonetheless, in case you’re a few seconds ago showing up at the domain of visual communication, or are essentially inquisitive about a portion of the devices we creators use consistently, you’ve gone to the correct spot. The contrasts between these two may appear to be muddled from the outset, yet with a little persistence, we can have you aware of everything in a jiffy. In this way, right away, how about we bounce into the primary significant contrast between these fundamental applications.

It’s straightforward to refer to that Adobe is that the chief organization for any advanced creative craftsmen. Their bundle has spearheaded in territories of cutting, sound designing, activity, print style, smart plan, and truth be told net style. In this article, I might want to work on the net and designs feature of this solid enterprise’s bundle library.

Photoshop and Illustrator: When and Why to Use Them?

Photoshop’s essential use is for the remedy, control, and compositing of photographic pictures while Illustrator’s essential use is for making, controlling, and compositing vector representations.

Both are amazingly valuable and work well for their motivations.

Which you need relies upon the kind of work you mean on doing. Here’s a short rundown that may support you.

In Photoshop and Illustrator, the two of them have a pen instrument. Furthermore, that additionally doing likewise, which way. Yet, Photoshop way is for determination, and Illustrator’s way is for creation.

The two of them have layer offices. Photoshop layer base work is essential and generally significant. In any case, in Illustrator, the layer isn’t a lot essential.

They incorporate some fundamental devices probably Pen device, Selection instrument, Move apparatus, Magic wand device, Lasso device, Text device, Eyedropper device, Brush device, Eraser device, Hand device, Zoom device.

In any case, a portion of the instruments works various things.

Photoshop is Best for

• Photo correcting
• Photo altering
• Photo shading adjustment
• Composting photographs
• Key craftsmanship (book covers, banners, game spreads—plans that spin around a solitary bit of workmanship)
• Matte painting
• Web plan
•  

Artist is Best for

• Logo plan
• Icon plan
• Typographic workmanship
• vector representation
• Digital painting

Of the three essential visual depiction programs in the Adobe Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign), Illustrator was the last one clients embraced. The purpose behind this is that the vast majority of the plans we could deal with Photoshop and InDesign. However, after receiving Illustrator a great deal of what we had recently done in InDesign. Presently we do in Illustrator (single-page formats, website architecture, and so forth)

In Photoshop, an architect can accomplish extremely liquid and common looking outlines, in any event, venturing to such an extreme as to imitate genuine world media or brushes. Since it’s a computerized simple for painting or drawing on paper, the look is significantly more pertinent to regular day to day existence. Then again, Illustrator can accomplish a degree of accuracy that looks less common however is extraordinary for components that must be awesome. For example, a logo should be vectored, that way it tends to be exploded or contracted to address the issues of the customer. A gig banner, then again, is doubtlessly best made in Photoshop, that way it can accomplish more regular and liquid elements. Of course, we know fashioners who disrupt these norms, which means the finishes are truly in your grasp to meet.

Most importantly, the delineation procedures utilized in these projects square measure intrinsically absolutely in an unexpected way. Photoshop is what’s known as a raster-editorial manager. This infers that the program practically transmits shaded pixels that can’t be changed while not some way or another mutilating this underlying picture. For instance, if you somehow managed to expand an image made in Photoshop, it’ll in the long run start to pixelate, as it’s set at a set size. The differences are given below-

Categories	Illustrator	Photoshop
Graphics Type	Vector	Raster
Primary Purpose	To “Make” pictures/delineations.	To “Change/Edit” pictures.
Beginner -Friendly	Not exactly Photoshop	More than Illustrator
Plugin Support	Indeed, began in 1997	Truly, began in 1991
Selections	Complete Entity without a moment’s delay	Permits halfway determination also
Resolution	Same while zooming in or out	Changes while zooming in or out
Layers	A Layer can contain numerous articles	A Layer Contains duplicates of a solitary item
Used mostly in	Logos, Vector Art, Comic Art, and so forth	Photography, Videography controls

Thank you,

Gourab Das Protik

How to Learn Graphics Design Easily?

As an inventive business person, you will never run out of plan needs. From online media illustrations, blog entries, content overhauls, item bundling… configuration is a need for every new business. Employing an originator for every component can get costly, quick.

Wouldn’t it be simpler if you could make a couple of these plan components all alone? In this blog entry, I will reveal to you all you require to know to show yourself visual communication. From exploring plan history to learning the phrasing to bouncing in and planning your first undertaking, you’ll leave with the ideal strategy to kick off your new inventive endeavor.

RESEARCH DESIGN TERMS

Before you start figuring out how to make illustrations that convert watchers into faithful perusers, you’ll have to gain proficiency with a couple of fundamental plan terms. The visual computerization world has its wording, much the same as any field of study. Knowing and understanding those terms is an essential initial phase in instructing yourself plan. When you start watching instructional exercises or understanding online journals, a ton of essential plan terms will be utilized that you may not comprehend, which will make it significantly harder to finish the instructional exercise.  

TYPOGRAPHY RELATED TERMS

Typography: is the plan or choice of letterforms to be composed into words and sentences.

Body Copy: alludes to the primary gathering of text in your plan.

Kerning: is the change between two individual letterforms to improve readability.

Following: is the change between all letterforms in a book to improve intelligibility.

Decipherability: references that it is so normal to perceive the individual letterforms.

Arrangement: alludes to how you compose components on the page.

Shading RELATED TERMS

•  Shading Palette: an assortment of tones that is utilized in a delineation, brand, or configuration venture.

•  Hue: A degree or assortment of a tone

•  Color: is the way toward adding white to a tone to make the tone more splendid.

•  Shade: is the way toward adding dark to a tone to make the tone hazier.

•  Monochromatic: A shading plan worked out of just one tone, including colors and shades of that tone.

•  Reciprocal: A shading plan worked out of two tones that sit inverse with each other on the shading wheel.

•  Triadic: A shading plan worked out of three tones similarly dispersed around the shading wheel.

•  CMYK: Or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black, is a shading model that is utilized for print purposes.

•  RGB: Or Red, Green, and Blue is a shading model that is utilized for on-screen purposes

•  Pantone (PMS): Pantone Matching System is a normalized arrangement of shadings for printing.

N.B.: Each Pantone conceal is numbered, making it a lot simpler for individuals to reference and recognize accurate shades of shading.

Photograph RELATED TERMS

Darkness: The level of straightforwardness a component has. The lower the obscurity, the more straightforward a component is.

Goal: The measure of detail a picture has. As a rule, the higher your goal, the better your pictures show up.

Stock Photo: An expertly shot photo accessible online for permitting. Stock photographs are normally utilized when you can’t recruit an expert picture taker.

Rule of Thirds: The plan hypothesis that on the off chance that you partition your picture with two vertical and two flat lines, the zones where your lines converge will become central focuses.

“No masterpiece was ever created by a lazy artist.”

Salvador Dalí, Spanish Artist.

UTILIZE DESIGN BLOGS

There are endless visual depiction sites and video blogs that detail the essentials and past. Online journals are an incredible asset for amateurs because not exclusively is substance-free. In any case, dependable online journals are kept refreshed for their perusers to show new patterns, programming, and strategies.

I think visual computerization books are an astonishing asset, however, writes are an excellent asset that can be neglected. The issue is finding believable sources. Fortunately for you, I’ve gathered together a couple of incredible assets to get you out.

Visual depiction:

•  99designs

•  Adobe’s Blog

• Imaginative Market’s Blog

BRAND DESIGN:

•  This blog, howdy!

•  Melissa Yeager’s Blog

•  The Brand Stylist’s Blog Try not to squander these extraordinary free assets. You’ll gain proficiency with a ton of the rudiments in a manner that won’t feel like school and won’t cost you a penny.

Thank you

Gourab Das Protik

Learn SEO Gradually

What is SEO?

Photo Credit: S K

Website design enhancement implies Search Engine Optimization is the way toward upgrading site pages and their substance to be effectively discoverable by clients looking for terms applicable to your site. In straightforward terms, which implies the way toward developing your site to expand its permeability for applicable ventures. The better permeability your pages have in list items, the almost certain you are to collect consideration and pull in planned and existing clients to your business.

What is the difference between organic traffic/visitor and paid traffic? 

 Organic Tool:

• At whatever point you type an inquiry into Google or some other web index, the rundown of connections that show up underneath the advertisements is known as “natural outcomes.”
• These show up simply dependent on the quality and substance of the page.
• Traffic that originates from individuals finding your connections among these outcomes is named “natural inquiry” traffic or simply natural traffic.
• Natural traffic is generally viewed as the most VA

 Paid Tool:

• Hence, a paid inquiry has been more famous as of late as natural hunt has gotten more serious.
• Instead of standing by persistently for your SEO to develop, you can pay for the opportunity to get seen on page one of Google right away.
• To give you a thought of exactly how much cash is being spent on the paid hunt, investigate Google. Google’s AdWords program is the most utilized compensation per-click (PPC) publicizing program accessible today.
• While the tech monster claims YouTube and Android, among many other beneficial brands, AdWords represents generally 70% of their income – which talks ponder for its viability.

Why is SEO important for a website? 

• While paid publicizing, web-based media, and other online stages can produce traffic to sites, most of the online traffic is driven via web crawlers.
• Natural indexed lists spread more advanced land, show up more sound to sharp searchers, and get much a greater number of snaps than paid notices. For instance, of all US look, just ~2.8% of individuals click on paid promotions.
• Website optimization is likewise one of the main web-based advertising channels that, when set up accurately, can keep on delivering profits after some time. In case you give a solid piece of substance that has the privilege to rank for the right expressions, your traffic can snowball after some time while publicizing needs steady financing to send traffic to your site.
• Web records are getting sharper, nonetheless, they need our help.
• Streamlining your site will help convey better data to web crawlers so your substance can be appropriately listed and shown inside list items.

Why is SEO important for your online marketplaces?

Web architecture improvement is included in different parts and acknowledging what they are and how they work is basic to understanding why SEO is so critical. Thus, SEO is vital because it makes your site more perceptible, and that suggests more traffic and more events change over prospects into customers.

Is SEO hard to learn? How to learn SEO easily?

• You ought to just be anxious to assign the imperative time and effort to pick up capability with the distinctive SEO thoughts.
• On the off chance that you are simply beginning with SEO and con*sidering the stuff to go from amateur to master, at that point this post is for you.
• You’ll figure out how to move toward the SEO learning measure and the way to follow to make it not so troublesome.

How does Google rank your website?

According to Phil Frost–

“Successful SEO is not about tricking Google. It’s about PARTNERING with Google to provide the best search results for Google’s users.” 

Photo Credit: Photo Mix

Exactly when Google po appearances your site, it looks for two things – authority and congruity. Google will make situating for a website, considering the delayed consequences of the count and information gathered through web list ‘8-legged creature’. These locales are appeared on thing pages in a solicitation reflecting their position. Being at the top of the page bestows how fitting the page is concerning the interest request. Regardless, these plans, known as figurings, are persistently chan manufacturing as the web records try to achieve improved results.

What do People search for on the website or what are the search types?

Search requests – What do People search on the site or what are the hunt types?

words and articulations that people type into a chase encase solicitation to pull up an overview of results – come in different flavors. It is routinely recognized that there are three exceptional sorts of search requests:

• Navigational interest questions
• Edifying interest questions
• Contingent interest questions

In the interest displaying world, we will when all is said in done talk more about watchwords than search requests (news streak: they’re not something fundamentally the same as). Nevertheless, today we’re talking search questions. We ought to expound on what these three kinds of search requests are and how you can target them with your site content If you want to learn the basic component of SEO, click here.

Thank you,

Gourab Das Protik

Do you want to recognize On-site SEO, Off-site SEO, and Keyword Research

Photo Credit:742680

KEYWORD RESEARCH

(If you don’t know what is SEO, please read my latest Blog on SEO.) Watchword examination ought to be the premise of any web-based showcasing effort. The basic objective of watchword research is to discover what your intended interest group is looking for and what it will take to rank for those catchphrases.

Without knowing what catchphrases, you ought to target, by what method will you adequately streamline your site, target phrases for third party referencing, or realize what substance to create for your crowd?

This post is a three-section arrangement that will cover all you require to think about catchphrase research. In this first area, we’ll experience setting up a spreadsheet for your watchword explore and find the best catchphrases for both your primary site’s website improvement and subjects for the content turn of events.

In the accompanying section, we’ll talk about what data will help you with picking the best expressions to target. The last segment will be an accumulation of the top posts on catchphrase research.

ON-PAGE SEO

Source

On-page SEO (otherwise called nearby SEO) alludes to the act of advancing pages to improve a site’s web crawler rankings and acquire natural traffic.

Notwithstanding distributing pertinent, great substance, on-page SEO incorporates enhancing your features, HTML labels (title, meta, and header), and pictures. It similarly suggests guaranteeing your site has a raised degree of capacity, completion, and unwavering quality.

It considers different parts of the page that, when added together, will improve your site’s perceivability in the indexed lists.

OFF-PAGE SEO

Source

On-page SEO is something you have total and utter power over, while that is not generally the situation for off-page SEO.

For example, in case I interface and solicitation that someone associates with me, that is off-page SEO. Why? Since I didn’t change anything about my site during that cycle. On the other hand, in the event that I improve my page speed by advancing a few pictures, at that point that is on-page SEO in light of the certainty that I revealed that improvement truly on my site.

In case you’re ever confounded regarding which “container” an SEO strategy falls into, ask yourself whether it’s totally inside your control. On the off chance that the appropriate response is no, at that point it’s most probable an off-page SEO strategy.

Thank You

Gourab Das Protik

How to become a Successful Freelancer?

https://hbr.org/2016/07/how-to-become-a-successful-freelancer

Becoming a freelancer can be liberating — and also a little terrifying. Where do you even begin? What processes and structures do you need to have in place? How do you find clients? And how do you know how much to charge?

What the Experts Say
“Going out on your own isn’t always a deliberate choice,” says Sara Horowitz, head of the Freelancers Union and author of The Freelancer’s Bible. Some people do make the switch consciously in order to capitalize on their unique skills and networks, earn more money directly, escape the corporate grind, and have more work-life flexibility. Others end up as their own bosses because they’ve left jobs and are trying to figure out what’s next, or they start doing a few projects on the side and realize the work is enough to be their main gig. Sumeet Goel, who founded HighPoint Associates, a professional advisory firm that staffs independent consultants at companies ranging from midsize ones to the Fortune 500, agrees that many freelancers often happen into it: “I’d say 90% go down this path because of circumstance. It’s not so much that they decide to do it; it’s more that they wake up one day and they’re an independent consultant.” Whether you chose freelancing or it chose you, you’ll only be successful if you follow some important steps.

Reach out to your existing network
A robust network is a freelancer’s best friend. The goal is to start your business with “a group of people who really care about you” and who are ready to support you along the way, says Horowitz. Reach out to the people closest to you to let them know what you’re doing. This doesn’t have to feel like you’re begging for work though, says Horowitz. In fact, she advises taking people you like out to coffee or lunch “before you have an ‘ask’” and offering to help them out in any way you can. “It’s the equivalent of doing informational interviews. You’re just making clear the kind of work you’re doing now and that you’re available to help anyone who might need it,” she says. Being in touch with your network isn’t just important at the beginning. Goel says it’s crucial to build time into your schedule going forward to continue networking. “You never want to be so busy that you can’t reach out to the people who can help you,” he says.

Make new connections
It’s important to have a few fellow freelancers you can turn to for advice and support in your network. Sure, they may be “the competition,” says Horowitz, but they are also a great source of information. Look for professional associations in your field, search LinkedIn for people who are in the same business, and attend conferences in your areas of expertise. Horowitz’s organization hosts monthly meet-up events for independent workers in 18 cities across the U.S. “It’s a great way to get to know people in the context of building your business,” she says. If you’re concerned about the networking aspect of being out on your own, you’re not alone. The Freelancers Union has a host of resources, including an “Authentic Networking Guide” that, according to Horowitz, “outlines some best practices for new or nervous networkers.”

Determine your fee
Knowing how much to charge is one of the things your network can help you with right away. Horowitz suggests asking your fellow freelancers what the market is like for your skills and what their rates are. Don’t make the mistake of basing your fees on what you need to earn. “This isn’t about your expenses,” says Horowitz, “so don’t add up your mortgage payment and your other costs of livings to figure out your hourly rate.” If you’re moving from a full-time job, Goel suggests this calculation: Take your cash compensation and divide by 250 (which is the number of billable days after factoring in vacations, sick time, and typical downtime) and then add 25%–50%. Then take that figure, compare it with the rates you’ve gotten from your network, and find a middle-ground number you can float as an experiment and then adjust based on feedback from potential clients. You may have to quote a lower rate at the beginning, while you’re still figuring how much you’re worth and trying to win work. But plan to raise your prices sooner rather than later. Horowitz says you’ll know when you’ve hit the right level: “When you’re reliable and good and you charge a fair rate, people rehire you.”

Find a good accountant
Even before you have money coming in, hire a trustworthy accountant. “I always recommend getting someone who can help you set things up properly,” says Horowitz. “This might be a lawyer, but I find that the kind of support you need is more about economics than law.” A professional can advise you on whether it makes sense to incorporate, how to save in taxes, and how to manage all of your expenses. Goel suggests setting up an LLC or similar designation to separate your business assets from your personal ones. He also recommends signing up for a business credit card right away, which will “make taxes and tracking expenses easier” and “get you in the right mindset.”

Familiarize yourself with the legal issues
While you don’t necessarily need a lawyer to help you set up an LLC, it’s good to have someone you can turn to for legal advice, especially at the beginning. Goel says you should look for someone who is “business-minded, not legally-minded.” Have this person help you understand the basics of a nondisclosure agreement and an independent contractor agreement. He adds that “99% of the time they’re the same” thing, so once you are familiar with the language, you can sign without consulting a lawyer each time. One of the more worrisome legal risks that contractors face is nonpayment, which is why Horowitz suggests that you “insist on contracts” that will “protect you and your work” from trouble. “If you think you may be in a nonpayment situation, stop work immediately and contact your lawyer,” she says.

Have your paperwork in order
When you start fielding requests from potential clients, you want to be able to respond quickly. Goel recommends having business cards, your résumé, a basic letterhead, and possibly a logo (which you can hire a graphic designer to put together pretty easily) ready to go. You should also prepare a standard statement of work, invoice, and contract. Many clients will have their own contract template, but you should have one just in case. Horowitz suggests having a lawyer look over that as well to ensure it “includes clauses appropriate to your industry.” Templates for each of these are available online, including on the Freelancer Union’s website. “Pick a template and personalize it,” Goel recommends.

Get the word out
When you’ve got the above logistics sorted out, it’s time to “transition to the active marketing stage,” says Horowitz. Making yourself findable is important. At a minimum, you want to have an updated LinkedIn profile that makes clear you’re looking for opportunities and possibly a simple website. You also can look for opportunities to be seen as an expert in professional circles: Speak at an event, be active in online communities, etc. Continue to reach out to your network, too, including friends and family members, who “can often be a source of great referrals.”

Set your schedule
Freelancers sometimes make the mistake of taking on too much work and getting overbooked. From the beginning, make sure you have room in your schedule. Goel advises building in downtime to do business development and networking. “If you’re maxed out on a particular project, you won’t have time to find the next one,” he says. Aim to be busy about four days a week, leaving the fifth for figuring out what comes next. Definitely don’t fall into the trap of saying yes to every project that comes your way. It’s OK to say no to work, especially if it’s something you’re not suited to. “Clients will appreciate you being honest about what you can and can’t do,” says Goel.

Be prepared for the dry spells
“Seasoned freelancers learn that income is very episodic,” says Horowitz. “They plan around the troughs instead of the peaks.” This means stashing away money so that you’re prepared for the inevitable valleys — “it’s not if, it’s when.” You can employ a few coping strategies to help make those spells less frequent. In particular, Horowitz suggests building a “a social safety net through your friends.” When you have too much work to do, pass on the gigs you can’t take to people in your network, and hopefully “when you’re in a dry spell you can ask them if they have any extra work.”

You might also consider signing up with a company like Goel’s, which matches clients with independent consultants. They can help you find work when you’re not able to. Goel suggests getting “directly introduced by a common connection” so that someone vouches for your skills and you know the company is a reputable one. And if you don’t have as much work as you want, don’t get despondent, especially at the beginning. “It takes time to get a consistent cash flow going. It could take six months to a year to get everything in place, to be comfortable with your rates, and to build a pipeline,” says Goel.

Principles to Remember

Do:

• Let your closest professional and personal contacts know what kind of work you’re looking for
• Make sure your network includes fellow freelancers
• Find an accountant who can help you set up your finances and make tax filing easier

Don’t:

• Base your rate on your expenses. Instead, figure out what the market offers and what would be equivalent to your most recent full-time salary.
• Wait until after you’ve got your first gig to get paperwork like contracts and invoices in order
• Get discouraged when it takes time to build up a regular flow of business

Case Study #1: Get your ducks in a row first
Jennifer Hawkins had been a nonprofit executive for over a decade when she decided to go out on her own as a community development consultant. She was dissatisfied with the long hours of her intense full-time job and was frustrated with her inability to make change from inside the organization. “Boards, long-standing staff, and funders seem to be much more comfortable hearing hard truths from a consultant than from an executive director,” she says.

Before securing her first client, she spoke to a few colleagues who worked for themselves, and they advised her to talk with an accountant and a lawyer. With help from those professionals, she established an S Corporation, got an employer identification number from the IRS, opened a business bank account, and set up payroll with Gusto. These logistics took her four weeks and cost her about $1,200. “I also put together a generic consulting agreement, cobbling together language from various agreements consultants had used with me while I was an executive director. I created a very simple Excel spreadsheet for tracking my time and expenses.”

And she geared up her marketing efforts: “I ordered business cards from Moo.com and developed a one-page “company profile” to send out to clients.” She admits that the one-pager wasn’t perfect — “it’s unattractive and verbose” — but it listed her skills and services and was enough to get her started.

She then made a list of everyone she knew who might be interested in her services (or might know someone who would be) and emailed them. In the first three months, she had 25 different coffee and lunch dates.

All of this preparation has paid off. Six months into her new career, she already has several gigs lined up and, perhaps most importantly, feels confident that she can respond to inquiries promptly and professionally.

Case Study #2: Build a reliable network and be comfortable with downtime
Karen Schwichtenberg was working at a global management consulting firm, and although she loved the work, she felt constricted. “At those big firms, you don’t always have control over the type of projects you get to do. I wanted to focus solely on retail and consumer goods — the industry where I had the greatest experience — and I couldn’t always do that,” she says. In 2010 she left her position to “look for that dream job.” But while starting that search, she got her first independent consulting gig — “A friend of a friend suggested I come in and do a project for a few weeks,” she says — and that was the beginning of her freelance career.

She says that most of her work early on came from her network, and she’s been quite busy since that first project. “I’m a one-woman show. I spend so much time doing the work that I don’t have a lot of time to source my next project,” she explains. That’s why she likes working with companies, like HighPoint Associates (Goel’s firm from above), that do matchmaking between consultants and companies looking to hire them. And while she doesn’t consider herself to be a master networker, she has built a group of fellow consultants who occasionally pull her in to help with their projects, and she does the same for them.

Her generosity with others has paid off in other ways, too. “I often give advice to people about becoming independent consultants, and they will sometimes come back when they have extra work or forward my name along to a potential client,” she says.

Still, she’s not busy 100% of the time, and that has taken some getting used to. “The biggest thing I had to learn was patience. When you work for a big firm, you don’t have any downtime. As an independent, the work ebbs and flows. It took me a while to embrace that,” she says.

Written by Amy Gallo