Nevertheless, it is essential for success, and as a successful freelancer I have learnt a few tips along the way that I’d like to share with you.

Dress accordingly. They say designers can get away with wearing t-shirts and jeans, but this is just not appropriate to all situations. Be sure to look the part when you attend networking events – shirt, trousers, and shoes and maybe even a suit jacket. That’s to say -if you are a man.

As a woman, I refuse to wear a tailleur just because if I didn’t I would not be considered capable enough. I got some of my best jobs wearing a Desigual jeans waistcoat pretty similar to the one in the picture (taken straight from Desigual’s site). And I’m no head turning beauty like that model!

Take plenty of business cards. Better yet design your own business card in Photoshop and make it a personal, creative piece of art. You will need to pass your business card onto each person you meet so carry lots of them with you. It’s better to take too many than not enough.

Talk to as many people as possible. There are endless reasons for this – talking to lots of people spreads your business further but it also aids in meeting new faces for the next event. There is nothing better than turning up to an event and seeing familiar, friendly faces.

Don’t do the hard-sell. Remember these functions are to meet people, not sell to them. The moment you start banging on about your product or service, people will switch off. Talk about them and their business, not you and your business.

The opportunities are endless. Even if you have no direct success from a networking event, there’s a good chance your card or contact details will be passed onto a friend of somebody you meet. This is referral networking, and it’s arguably the best form of marketing.

Follow up your meetings by email (or even a friendly telephone call if suitable) after the event. You’ve met them so don’t fall off their radar. Nowadays I find tweeting is gaining popularity for lo-fi business relationship, and a job or two can land from a well placed tweet.

Remember the most important thing about business networking is to actually network. And do it with NEW people. If you know people from previous events, say hello but don’t hang around because ultimately, you’re there to make new contacts -just like them. Exchange pleasantries and business cards and with any luck you’ll leave a lasting impression.

The path to success will always see obstructions and for me personally, business networking was one of them. It took me some time to attend my first event but I don’t regret it for a second – I met some good people, got some work out of it and overcame that shy side of myself that makes me feel good at home, working on a wordpress theme.

Nearly everybody uses Facebook, and those who don’t at least have an account. Webmasters are harnessing bookmarking technologies such as Digg.com which allow people to post links to their favourite pages.

Tools such as Squidoo and HubPages allow for the creation of micro sites that can be tied into larger sites or used as standalone portals. These have the added benefit of improving off-site SEO for their owners.

But where are social platforms going? There is only so much that can be done, surely? I think the future holds some very interesting developments for social tools.

We’ve already seen the publics’ obsession with Twitter – a tool that requires minimal effort, can be used for both good and evil and also goes a long way to polish the ego of whoever uses it. With developing technologies such as jQuery and to a lesser extent, AJAX, web applications are becoming super fluid and easy to use.

After taking a look at the demo of Google Wave I think the browser will become the new desktop. We will interact with everything from fewer places in the future.

For example, taking a look at Google Wave reveals a shocking number of collaborative tools including a revolution in email and some insanely good blogging features. You can physically edit your Blogspot blog from Wave, which may make redundant the admin panel within Blogspot. As Wave is open source, similar tools may be developed for Wordpress also.

This is the tip of the iceberg. Looking into this decade and mobile phones are going to become central to everything we do – that is if they aren’t already. The main stopping point at the moment is the lack of support for web technologies that most phones have, but the next generation of phones will support all the bells and whistles of the modern web application -like the iPhone.

Now, as of this writing if you try to login to Google Wave it warns you that iPhone’s Safari is not supported, so I proceeded at my own risk as they say. But it is only a matter of time, months probably, before we’ll have an entire office in a pocket. If only there was a foldable bluetooth keyboard to be used with the iPhone…

This is an exciting time for the development of the social web; a pioneering time.

Things are becoming unified which is late coming but ultimately beneficial to all web users from businesses to teenagers on their social networking sites.

Content will be shared, served and generated in a fast and intelligent way, which is a far cry from the bulletin boards of the late 90’s.

Flipping burgers, probably. I’ve spent years mastering the tool of my trade, and even today I’m still discovering cool new things in Photoshop.

Something that I love doing is creating interfaces, and this includes creating buttons. There has been a buzz in recent years with the whole “Web 2.0” thing, and user interfaces often looked shiny and modern. This was achieved, in part, with stunning graphics such as nice push buttons adorning the pages…

Now for a simple tip

Use gradients effectively. Gradients, when used subtly can look great. Try adding a small, light gradient to the top of your button to create that shine effect. Don’t go overboard and make sure you select the right colour – a lighter tone of the button colour is perfect.

In this tutorial I will explain how to design a simple business card in Adobe Photoshop. The tutorial is structured in bite sized steps and with a ton of  images. It should be easy enough even for absolute beginners.

Below is the final image of business card that we will design in this tutorial -it wont’ win any design prize, but is a great start for beginners to explore many Photoshop functionalities.

Step 1:

Create a new document (File -> New)
width: 600px
height: 400px
Background contents: white

Fill the shape with a light grey color #d8d8d8. I have changed background color to show business card details more visible.

Step 2:

Select “Rounded Rectangle Tool”.

Now set  radius to 5px

Set style to none.

And finally set color to #3d3d3c.

and set fixed size of:
width: 540px
height: 300px

Now just click once on the new document and a rounded rectangular shape will be create as shown in below image.

Step 3:

In this step we will try to make the background a little more interesting.
Go to: Filter >> ‘Sketch > > >Halftone Pattern

And enter these values:
size: 1
contrast: 10
pattern type: dot

Now the background will immediatly turn into something more interesting, like this:

Step 4:

Select “Rectangle Tool”.

Set color to #d85302 and draw a shape as shown in below image.

Go to Edit >> Free Transform (CTRL or CMD T).

And rotate the shape little upward as shown in below image. Keep note of the rotation amount, as we’ll rotate some text the same way later.

Apply the rotation. Now we will add shadow effect to this shape. Right click on this layer and selecting blending options. Or you can also select blending options from layer >> Layer Style >> Blending Options .
Now Apply the following layer style to this shape.

The layout now looks like this. Note the subtle drop shadow that puts some distance between the background and the rectangular badge.

Step 5:

Again Select “Rectangle Tool” and use same color that we have used in last step  i.e. # d85302 and draw a shape over the first shape as shown in below image.

Apply following layer style to this shape from blending options.

Now our business card looks like this, with the two badges clearly positioned at different depths due to the overlapping shadows.

Step 6:

In this step we will add company name on the card. Create a new layer (Layer >> New >> Layer) just above the layer we created in step 4, i.e. above the first orange rectangle shape layer.

Select “text Tool”.

Type the first word of company with following text style:
Font style: Whatever you like, I used Cracked
Size: 24
Color: #ffffff

And apply following layer styles from blending options to this text.

Now the text will have a subtle gradient, and since this is the rotated layer we’ll have to transform the text just like we did for the box. Use the same rotation angle to keep everything neat and tidy.

Step 7:

In this step we will add second word of company on second orange shape that we create in step 5. Create a new layer (Layer >> New >> Layer) above the layer we created in step 5, i.e. above the second orange rectangle shape layer.

Again select  “text Tool” and type second word of company with following text style.
Font style: Same as before
Size: 30
Color: #ffffff

And apply same layer style from blending options to this text as we have applied for first company word in step 6.

Step 8:

In this step we will add a name. Select “text Tool” and write your name (of course Blogger is my maiden name) with following text style.
Font style: A different font, I used a cleaner Lucida Grande
Size: 40
Color: #c0c0c0

Then type your company website address, your email address and your phone number with following text style. Make sure to leave an equal magin between each line. This is a simple tutorial, but the single most important rule about design is to respect margins and symmetry. We’ll talk more about this in some more technical tutorials.
Font style: Lucida Grande
Size: 18
Color: #c0c0c0

Step 9:

In this step we will add icons for web address, email address and phone number. Select “Custom Tool” and add these custom shapes. All shapes should be of same size, and use same color that we have used for text i.e. #c0c0c0

Step 10:

Select “Rounded Rectangular Tool” with radius 10px and color #000000. Draw a shape at bottom of card as show in the opening image.

Change opacity of the layer to 30%. The shape will become slightly transparent. Now select “Text Tool” and type the services your company is offering on the rounded rectangular shape.  I have selected three services; Graphics design, Web Design and Multimedia, using the badge’s  font. Text should be center aligned with respect to the rounded rectangular shape.

Use following text style.
Font style: Same as Badges
Size: 18
Color: #979797

And now our freelance web designer business card is ready for a run in the printer. Don’t print a thousand of them, as your Photoshop skills will increase, this business card will seem too basic.

But for an absolute beginner it is a rewarding project and something to be proud of.

Happy Holidays to you all from your friendly foxy blogger!

First of all: structure your workload for a happy life!

You will find yourself buried if you don’t plan your work. Think about working in a full-time job – your workloads are delegated by the boss. If your boss didn’t plan, there would be no structure to your work and that’s bad news all round.

Stay firm on your rates. It’s so tempting to lower your rates to clinch a job, but don’t do it.

If you absolutely must drop your rates to be competitive, consider dropping by no more than 10% or arranging a bonus scheme. This is important, because there is a reason why you are being hired – because your skills are desired.

More often than not, when quality work is important, the client needs the provider just as much as the provider needs the client; always remember that and you will be able to stand firm on your payment terms.

Which brings me onto the next tip – keep an eye on payments. This should be common sense, but I have seen many beginners so in love with their work that they forgot good work deserves praise and money. On the other hand some clients may need more than a friendly reminder before they actually sign your check.

Don’t let this happen! Take control – with a clear cut project schedule, and firm terms both for the advance payment and the ending one.

That’s it for this article. I’ve covered no xhtml nor advanced css, but I think those are some pretty important lessons that I learnt, sometimes the hard way.

It’s all about finding the work-life balance and standing firm on your rates and payment terms. Once you have resolved these issues, you can finally get on with doing the work you went freelance for in the first place.

You did so because it was actually way cheaper than purchasing just Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash. But never spent time installing or trying out the other applications

Then you’re missing out remarkable tools such as After Effects for web video production. Adobe Premiere’s recently added ability to convert speech to text, that makes videos searchable for search engine placement and improved accessibility.

And also Encore, for producing a DVD or even a Blue Ray to give out as a promo of your services, or to be bundled with the website so that the client can provide the DVD to its own clients.

So have a deep look at what you may own, and yet understimate because it’s not in your area of expertise. There’s plenty of education (and I mean free education) on those apps out there. And it can let you leverage something your competitors have not yet discovered.

The experience in both industry and life that I have gained has been absolutely invaluable and this has helped me develop into the person I am now. In effect, freelancing has shaped both my personal and professional outlook. I’m putting this article together to give advice to those thinking of starting a career in freelance; whether as a designer, developer, consultant or whatever. This advice will hopefully transcend sub-sectors.

Do quality work, but don’t be obsessed by Quality

Working with clients can be bitter-sweet. You will either click immediately or your relationship with them may be more turbulent. This can cause issues – you should make all necessary steps to achieve a good professional relationship. You will find that compromising is the best way to achieve this. Even if you know the client is wrong, their demands may result in your producing work that you may deem as sub-par.

Usually this will not hurt you directly, so let it be. It’s next to impossible to educate a client, nor this is our mission. I recall something I was told many years ago in a print agency: whatever the client sends to the press, has to be printed. This included mispellings, obvious mistakes and the like. Of course they would warn the client, but never, ever, would modify anything. A lesson learned.

Of course if the client is not willing to compromise on something that MAY hurt you, or your reputation, you should consider firing them. Which may seem backwards, but really it is not: a freelance is, first and foremost, free. I’ll talk about this aspect later on, as it really does not mean you should not respect your clients or leave them in the cold. But their success is your success, and you should try to keep an high profile.

A few freelance resources

In no particular order, those are a few useful freelancers sites where jobs can be found, negotiated and appraised.

• http://www.ifreelance.com/
• http://www.project4hire.com/
• http://www.elance.com/

However, thumbnails are an important decorating element, and for something like a web directory they are simply a must in 2009.

There are many free website thumbnail generators around, with ThumbShots being the most renowned (who hasn’t seen that red ball?) and ShrinkTheWeb being probably the second closest. They are both excellent services, yet my favourite is the one I was referred to by a seasoned php coder who was actively using it: WebThumb.Bluga.net.

After discovering this service I used it many times to create a quick capture of a web page, and it powers some sites I worked on as a thumbnail generation service. Just to clarify, I have no affiliation whatsoever with Bulga, being just a very satisfied user.

screenshot taken with webthumb

Bulga provides 100 free screenshots each month, and additional credit can be purchased at very low rates. It also has some advanced options, such as reflections and other effects that cost extra, but I have never used them. What I love about it is that it creates several different capture sizes, and this means it’s a snap to create both a thumb for listing and a larger image for main page.

My only concern is that I don’t know exactly for how long a “permanent” thumbnail is cached (this is probably something that could be found reading the docs). I tracked a few thumbs and will keep an eye over two thumbnails created today to see if and when they expire. I found that an older thumb has no images cached anymore even if the page is still up.

Of course this only concerns the casual users, as registered users are going to get the thumbnails thru the API and store them on their server anyway.

I also find fascinating to browse trough the user generated thumbnails, some have no meaning at all (at least to me: why would you want to grab a snapshot of a YouTube page?) but there are many beautiful designs to be discovered just by looking at Bulga’s sidebar.

It makes a prospect comfortable to see that previous people to read the book were not burned and were pretty impressed with the product they are considering.

Think about it. You may have been in this situation before but if you are considering buying a product but still not 100% sure wouldn’t it make you feel better to know that other people felt good about the same product. I can think of a few times when I have bought something because of the great reviews and positive testimonials that were offered.

But if your book is new and nobody has bought it before how do you get testimonials? You could just wait for a few sales and hope the customers give you testimonials, but even than you can only hope. Here are two ways to get testimonials early on.

1) Give your book away

I’m serious. It might sound ridiculous at first but it is a great way to get a few solicited testimonials. Find a group of people – online or off – that might be interested in your product (two or three is plenty). Tell them that you will give them your book for free in return for a testimonial of the product.

If you do this, give them a time limit to get back to you with the testimonial – just a few days. You want these as soon as possible so you can add them to your sales letter.

2) Solicit them from customers

Another easy way to get testimonials is to send a follow-up email to people who bought your book already. Do this about one week after they buy.

Simply send them an email and ask them if they would be kind enough to give you a testimonial. Many people will be willing to. Make sure your email is personalized and not a stock email you send to everyone. As you gain testimonials you can add them to your sales letter.

No matter how you do it, do it honestly. Don’t just make something up because if you are found out you will never be trusted. Besides, it is illegal in most places.

Add the testimonials in various places throughout the sales letter. Make sure the spots are appropriate but at the same time don’t clutter the page with them. If you have a lot of testimonials you may want to leave a link to a separate testimonial page along with the regular testimonials on your sales letter.

These signs are all over and they always stay around because they work. They don’t just work because they are there though, there are two main reasons they bring in customers.

1) They are posted in high car traffic areas – I have seen them on bridges, on street corners and light posts. Wherever they are, they are where a lot of cars and traffic jams happen. This is not the most targeted way to get customers, but it is free and you reach tens of thousands of people who drive by in their cars day after day and read the sign.

2) They are posted in high foot traffic areas – This should be more targeted. You can find areas where you think your market might be.

If there is a billboard area you can post a small flyer for them to see. By high foot traffic I mean a shopping area, restaurant etc. Just make sure you have permission to post.