TheArtOfFreelance.com | Freelancing | PHP | Tips

“Difficult” Clients: A True History
July 25, 2009 by admin
Chances are that if you have been working long enough as freelancer/designer/developer you had heard some of this phrases or very similar ones from one of your customers:

I will have lots more work but the reason Im addamant its goota be right is one of my old sites got over 1 million visitors in one year

…once you get to understand my thinnking behind the designs you will be able to do future sites a lot faster(This was said on day 2 after I just delivered 3 different design mockups)

I have 60 domains registered for people just to give you an idead of the scope of ehat I hope to achieve in the near future. I am looking for a permanent designer this will not be a one off project

The text is present as it was original written by the customer.

Saying “Difficult ” is minimizing the whole thing, these type of clients are a royal pain in the ass there is no real way to please them or work with them on the long run, if you are working with them is probably because
1. You don’t have experience identifying the type of personality and actitude of your clients before accepting the project
2. … Or you got caught with them, usually they don’t show as assholes difficult from the very beginning ; I believe they can smell fear and inexperience but is just a theory.
Once you are involved in a project with one of this clients your options are pretty limited you can either cancel the project or continue working with them(which involves a long and painfull suffering) with the hope that some day someone will erect a statue in your honor.

Having a strong work ethic and being kind of an egomaniac I usually go for option number two and keep working with them; but this last client was really determined to not only put my pacience to test but also to humillate me with rude and degrading comments like:

So far I am very unhappy with the design concept as it is basic at best there is nothing that stands out which I cant download off a free magento template and the logo is just the company name typed which I could have done if its just the concept and layout then its fine but design wise it requitres a lot of improvement.

…but a logo costs $25 at most for a basic one on elance and the templete can be a lot simpler its just the banner enhancement etc Im looking at it, there hardly any coding involved

but a logo costs $25 at most for a basic one on elance and the templete can be a lot simpler its just the banner enhancement etc Im looking at

[7/18/2009 2:43:43 AM] Buzzing (UK): there hardly any coding involved

The buttons are very very templetey…..The basic colour change to orange I could have done myself.

….when you loook at all of the succesful guys in my industry nobodys site looks as dull as mine. I would not buy off my site never mind anyone else

One of the advantages of working remotly—- at least for me —- is that you have to think twice what you are going to say and you cannot act in your first impulse, — that in this case was jump over the table and kick him in the nuts until he cried like a little girl—- critical thinking and a cold head is the key to succesfully handling all types of clients.

The basic rule to survive is to not pay attention to the stupid comments — that are about 90% of the converstation — take the requirements and try to finish everything as fast as possible.

On the next article I will share some tips and secrets on how to stop this cruel and evil customers.
Category: Business, Featured, Rant Comments (0)
Freelancing? That’s nice, when are you getting a real job?
June 20, 2009 by admin
I have heard that phrase or similar comments from friends, family and former colleagues a couple hundred of times. Many people still think that because you work from home or you are not tied down to a 9 to 5 job you are not really working or making a real living.

People tend to feel that working in an office and having a “guaranteed” paycheck every month is the safest way to make a living, but if you are like me then you probably don’t feel safe when your economic future depends on the desicions of another person.

This is one of the reasons I started freelancing, if something goes wrong or extremely well then is my fault or my success; but people still see freelancer’s and think of them as lazzy people; people assume that working from home is not really working at all.

Almost 4 years ago, I decided to take the freelancing road so far it has been a very rewarding and fulfilling road, but it’s not a easy one you might found a lot of obstacles along the road I’m still struggling to be better, to improve my skills, to offer better services and to keep up to date with the new technologies.

Freelancing is unique, it will give you a lot of rewarding moments and a lot of difficult test, but if you are willing to take the sweet and the bitter I can guarantee you that you are not going to regret not one single moment.

Category: Business, Featured, Headline, Home Business Comments (5)
Started writing for Thinkabouttech.com
June 4, 2009 by admin
I just got started writing for Thinkabouttech.com, TAT is an online community oriented toward tech specialist and enthusiasts, on my first discussion I wanted to start talking about something that I really feel passionate and excited about and that is Google Wave, here is part of the post:

…Actually Google Wave is much more, if it works as demoed by the Google gang the potential that this has is huge, Google Wave is not only an app but also a set of Api’s and a damn Protocol, this means than as anyone can run their own email server now you are going to be able to run your own Wave server.

Maybe for some of you this doesn’t sound like much, but if you work from home like me and you lose half of your day responding emails and IM, the more efficient, faster and ordered form of communication that Google Wave promises can be priceless…

You can read the full discussion and participate here

Category: Blog, Featured, Google, Headline, Internet, Social Media, Web DevelopmentTags: Google Wave, Thinking about tech | Comments (0)

Create 3D Cubes using only CSS

May 12, 2009 by admin

I just found out that Paul Hayes has been working with CSS transformations to create 3D cubes; the technology and implementation is just incredible, the only issue is that is not supported by all the browsers; none the less I’m starting to think on some interesting usages for this technique:

The impression of a three dimensional cube can be created using modern CSS techniques, without the need for JavaScript, imagery, canvas or SVG. Using the proprietary transform property to skew and rotate shaded rectangles, individual cube faces can combine to form a 3D object. Currently only supported in recent WebKit and Gecko based browsers, most importantly Firefox 3.5+ (documentation) and Safari 3.2+ (documentation).

This resulted in:

A 3D cube created with CSS
Supported browsers: Safari 3.2+, Google Chrome, Firefox 3.5+

Experiment with multiple cubes and CSS transitions, still no JavaScript
Supported browsers: Safari 4+, Google Chrome

The full CSS for the simple example is below:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45

.cube {
position: relative;
top: 200px;
}

.rightFace,
.leftFace,
.topFace div {
padding: 10px;
width: 180px;
height: 180px;
}

.rightFace,
.leftFace,
.topFace {
position: absolute;
}

.leftFace {
-webkit-transform: skewY(30deg);
-moz-transform: skewY(30deg);
background-color: #ccc;
}

.rightFace {
-webkit-transform: skewY(-30deg);
-moz-transform: skewY(-30deg);
background-color: #ddd;
left: 200px;
}

.topFace div {
-webkit-transform: skewY(-30deg) scaleY(1.16);
-moz-transform: skewY(-30deg) scaleY(1.16);
background-color: #eee;
font-size: 0.862em;
}

.topFace {
-webkit-transform: rotate(60deg);
-moz-transform: rotate(60deg);
top: -158px;
left: 100px;
}

Category: Featured, Headline, Internet, Web Design, Web DevelopmentTags: Add new tag, CSS, Innovation, Web Design | Comments (0)

Quick look at Thunderbird 3 Beta
May 11, 2009 by admin
The new release of Thunderbird is just around the corner and I couldn’t wait to give a try so I got myself a beta copy . These release come with a bunch of bug fixes, and some new nice features.

What’s New in Thunderbird 3 Beta 2

Thunderbird 3 Beta 2 is based on the Gecko 1.9.1 platform including some major re-architecting to provide improved performance, stability, web compatibility, and code simplification and sustainability. There are over 340 changes in this release, many laying the groundwork for future changes.

User Experience Improvements
- Message Archive : You can now file messages from your Inbox or other folders into the new Archive folder system.
- Activity Manager : The Activity Manager records all the interactions between Thunderbird and your email provider in one place.
Performance improvements
- Faster Message Loading for IMAP : Thunderbird will now download IMAP messages by default in the background to allow for faster message loading, and better offline operation. This feature can be enabled on an individual folder basis (via folder properties), or for all folders in an account, via Account Settings / Sync & Disk Space.
I have been testing Thunderbird 3 for about 3 days now, and it’s working wonderfully, the new tab features is really useful, my only complain is why didn’t they added tabs to Thunderbird earlier.

Overall this new release of Thunderbird looks very promising, I’m very anxious to get my hands on the official release.
Category: Business, Headline, Home Business, Software Comments (2)
Magento: The Ecommerce Revolution
April 29, 2009 by admin
If you are like me and have been working on the web market for a couple of years as developer or designer, there is a good change you have worked with Oscommerce, Zencart or any of their variants.

Working with any of those solutions was hard and very unpleasant, Oscommerce was specially hard to customize and integrate, MVC was a concept completely unknown for Oscommerce developers and they embedded they code inside the templates; trying to edit and make oscommerce themes was bit like trying to defuse a bomb and translating Moby Dick to Chinese at the same time, and the results where pretty much the same and indecipherable mess.

I lost many days and nights working on with oscommerce, the last store that I ever develop on oscommerce was www.diamondboutiqueonline.com and although results where pretty decent is nothing compared with now I can do with Magento.

About a year ago I found Magento and boy if it was going to change my life, Magento has changed drastically the quality of ecommerce stores, as platform is very strong, flexible and stable and in the question of design and internationalization is pretty easy to update and customize.

But what makes Magento so different and so good, well first of all it has a very strong core developed aroung some very strong methodologies and procedures, for example they use the MVC model so writting direct SQL queries is very rare and only used on special cases.

The module system allows to easily develop and add features to the system, Magento is also supported by a Company called Varien and although Magento is open source Variend does charge (and very well charged I might add) for their services and support, so for them is still profitable to develop and promote Magento.

The community is another strong point that Magento has to its favor, it’s one of the friendliest and bigger communities for any Open source solution.

Magento is changing the face of ecommerce and its doing it fast, but is far from perfect until version 1.3.0 that was recently released Magento speeds where far from ideal, but know they have improved they caching system so a properly magento store should run pretty smoothly.

In conclusion I think this is only the start for Magento and Varien, if they keep the good work and mantain this level of quality and innovation I can only see great things in their future.

Allan MacGregor

Category: Ecommerce, Featured, Headline, Internet, Web Design, Web Development Comments (4)
5 ways to Blow Off Steam for Freelancers
November 21, 2008 by admin
Managing clients, projects and deadlines can be a very stressful task and sometimes we don’t know how to handle that type of stress. after five years of working as a freelance developer and designer I have learned that releasing stress from time to time is not only good for your health but also will help you to be more productive and work faster.

I use several techniques and activities to help me relax and blow off some stress; from walking down the park to reading a book, these are some techniques that I use to help you relax:

1.- Start the Xbox360: That’s right boys, contrary to what your Mom always told you Video Games don’t rot the brain. Video Games can improve concentration, creativity and coordination; also fragging some n00bs is a really fun way of releasing some stress.

2.- Play with my dog: Yes, playing some fetch or walking with your dog can help you clear your mind and your body of stress and tension. Why this work? because you are focusing your mind and attention in something other than work (specially if you have a dog like mine).

3.- Paint, Draw or Do any Artistic Hobby: Normally when working we are mostly using our left side of the brain so taking some time to work on the right side can help us greatly to relax and free some stress, in my case I start drawing cartoon characters for several web strips and sites that I’m planning to start.

4.- Talk with a friend. Yeah, believe it or not simple and non specific talk can stimulate your brain, relax your body and distract your mind from work; this works better when is person to person talk so shutdown the Messenger, get up of that chair and call a friend.

5.- Go to the Gym: The right amount of exercise can produce endorphins in your brain that not only will help you to be in a better mood but also to have a better focus and concentration.

Well Hope this 5 quick tips for blowing of some steam are help full for you. And please if you have any other methods or suggestion leave me a comment and share your ideas.

Category: Blog, Featured, Life, Tips Comments (0)
Suicidal Projects: Saving a project in trouble
November 4, 2008 by admin

Friday 24 October 2008

I just did something I normally don’t do; I accepted a project with suicidal deadline; this projects are more common than you might think, projects come into trouble for a number reason but mostly by poor planning and an experience or incapable developer. The project that I just accepted was caused by the lack of a good developer and the remaining days to the final deadline are few (3 days).

The project requires to install magento, configure it, create a custom design and finally integrate it with a current wordpress installation…. on just 3 days, so you can imagine this projects is going to be like going to hell and back, 3 days of little sleep and hard work.

But why will someone on his right mind take a job like this? The reason is pretty simple, yeah its a lot of work but is a good opportunity to win a recurring and good client. A project like this indeed a risk but a calculated one; although there are a lot of things that could go wrong you must know when you have enough skill and experience to deal with this emergency projects.

There are some basic rules to know when to take and how to deal with this type of projects.

#1 Analyze and take your time before accepting.

Before accepting to do any project and specially the emergency ones you must always analyze and check the tech specs, previous work from the last developer, code you have and that you can re-utilize, search for components that can help your or simply the tasks that you have to do.

(more…)

Category: Blog, Featured, Freelancing, Management, TipsTags: deadlines, Freelancing, project management, projects, schedule | Comments (0)
Freelance Jobs 101: the Freelance Provider & Buyer Guide
November 1, 2008 by admin
Being a freelancer simply mean you work for yourself and provide a service or talent which can be outsourced. There are a number of services which can be outsourced, such services include programming, writing, web design, search engine optimization, etc. Services such as these usually can be accomplished from a remote location without the need of a local onsite presence. This being the case makes freelancing very appealing as a provider and as a buyer.

It’s almost obvious how providers benefit from freelancing and opportunities of freelance jobs. Without having the need to arrive onsite this mean freelance providers can work from home or remote and save on travel expenses. It also means the freelance provider is not restricted to only local opportunities. With the ability to reach the globe through the Internet it would seem being a freelance provider is a wise career move. If a freelance provider is able to make a name for themselves then the opportunities can become endless. Making a name in your target market takes time and dedication.

You should continue to grow your talent and skills as this will set the stage for your freelancing career path. When freelancing there are many ways to find freelance jobs. One of the best methods of finding and securing freelance opportunities is by being a member of freelance job boards, such as RemoteGurus.com, GetAFreelancer.com, and Elance.com. These freelance job boards are commonly frequented by those seeking outsourced talent, but the catch 22 is that these job boards are also frequented by competitors who are also competing for the same freelance jobs. These freelance job boards operate in a reverse auction style, buyers post jobs and projects while freelance providers bid on the jobs and projects in hopes to be selected as the winning bidder. Since its a competitive platform as a freelancer you must be competitive with your rates.

Using these job boards you will most likely have to shortchange yourself in order to win bids, but the trade-off is you will most likely continue to find and get new work. The freelance job boards are great for building your brand and visibility as a freelance. As you continue to build a name for yourself and your popularity on the boards grow your reputation will begin to precede itself. The freelance job boards are designed with a rating system which allow buyers who you perform work for to rate your talent and services, the more ratings and the higher the rating the more likely you will land new projects consistently. Having high number of positive ratings also mean you will more likely be able to bid higher (without shortchanging yourself) on the projects with a good chance of winning the project. The key is keep a reputable name and your business will continue to grow in time.

Buyers benefit in a number of ways by outsourcing their jobs and projects to talented professionals. For a small business owner or home-based worker, outsourcing to remote freelancers is an ideal solution. Outsourcing to remote and telecommuting professionals mean you do not need to have an onsite physical address or rent additional office space, you immediately save on overhead expenses. Using reverse auction-styled job boards such RemoteGurus.com, GetAFreelancer.com, and Elance.com you will be able to evaluate your freelance provider before accepting them as the winning bidder. You will have access to view their rating history and user profile, you should use such information to your advantage — it’s called doing your homework. These type of job boards help you find freelance providers in a controlled environment and helps lower the risk of getting ripped off. These type of job boards allow the buyer to place money into escrow before releasing the funds to the freelance provider. Escrow simply allow you and the freelance provider to have a fair and positive experience without being taken for a ride.

The buyer cannot cancel payment once in escrow, they can only send (approve) the payment to be released to the freelance provider. The provider has the option to cancel payment once in escrow (canceling payment will return the funds to the buyer — leaving the provider unpaid), but the freelance provider cannot send (approve) the payment. By both parties sharing this responsibility it puts control into each party hand. If the project is not completed to your satisfaction then as the buyer you simply do not release the funds to the provider out of escrow. This protects you from getting screwed out of money. In most cases if the provider did not complete the job to satisfaction they will cancel the payment and all funds return to you (the buyer). If for any reason there is a dispute then you can involve the project board owner to handle the dispute and return your funds to your account. It’s really a win-win situation.

In conclusion, as a freelance provider you will be well on your way to being a sought after freelancer if you use the freelance job boards as your springboard for growing your name and brand. My advice is to bid low and sell yourself short in the beginning just to get jobs, projects, and experience. Once you have built your name and rating then you can start increasing your bids and asking for the going rate. Work for reviews in the beginning and you will be on your way to working for money. As for buyers, as long as you do your homework and check provider reviews then use escrow for payments, you will increase buyer protection for yourself. Using freelance job boards you can find quality, professional, and affordable freelance providers who are competent and reliable. Best of luck to you.

Allan MacGregor:

Category: CareersTags: Dedication, Freelance Opportunities, Travel Expenses | Comments (0)
Offshore Outsourcing: Freelance the Past, Virtual Employees the Future:
October 31, 2008 by admin

The internet has enabled the freelance sector to grow exponentially in recent years. Freelance work over the internet has mainly grown in fields such as software development, website design, advertising, proofreading, law, accounts and copy editing. The work consists of short term projects that can generally be completed within a few weeks or months. The vast majority of freelance work done over the internet in these sectors is offshore outsourced to freelancers and freelance companies based in India.

The offshore outsourcing of freelance work to remote freelancers in countries such as India is undoubtedly a profitable practice. Companies and individuals can have their projects completed by freelancers from India, for a fraction of what the cost would be in the USA or UK. Furthermore, there is no compromise on the quality of work, for the freelancers have the same qualifications and skills as their equivalents in the USA. For these reasons it is not surprising that companies alone from the West have increased their freelance outsourcing by 22% over the internet in the past three years.

Although, a very productive strategy the limitations of freelancing are clearly evident. For companies or individuals that have on-going work they need to outsource, using the freelance “route” would not be appropriate. This is where VirtualEmployee.com and its Virtual Employees take over from the freelancer as the new future of the offshore outsourcing industry.

VirtualEmployee.com enables employers from around the world to employ their very own full time dedicated employee from India. The advantage with this model is that you can reduce your costs significantly and unlike freelancing, continuously outsource your work. As a result, the Virtual Employee will serve a new offshore outsourcing market, one which will not eradicate but certainly reduce the dependency on the freelancer.

How Does it all Work?:

VirtualEmployee.com is a US company and is the crucial third party that makes it possible for employers not only to outsource but to also actually employ their very own employee from India. From start to finish VirtualEmployee.com is present to make it possible for you to employ your own employee.

To begin with, the VirtualEmployee.com recruitment department actively searches and then shortlists several candidates for the position you seek to fill. We then submit to you the shortlisted candidates resumes and you can then interview/employ any of the candidates. VirtualEmployee.com can provide you with an employee in any office field, from programming, law and accounts to data entry, admin assistants and call center agents.

The infrastructure and facilities a Virtual Employee will have at his/her disposal will be far superior to those available to freelancers working from home. This is because once you select a Virtual Employee to start working for you; your employee will work for you from our office. VirtualEmployee.com will provide your employee with fast broadband internet connection, a new PC, TFT monitor screens, fax, scanners and any software required, (including Microsoft office 2007)..etc. Furthermore our office is maintained to international standards with A/C, large work stations for the employees, our own generator for non-stop electricity supply…etc. We also provide your employee with a telephone which will have a local telephone number from your country, (a US/UK/Aus ..etc telephone number) thus making it very easy for you to call and speak with your employee. This in addition to instant messengers, email, Skype and video conferencing makes it possible for you to communicate, work with and collaborate with your employee. With sufficient technology employees can work remotely for you from anywhere in the world; working physically from the same office is no longer necessary. VirtualEmployee.com creates an office environment whereby your employee can work directly for you despite your employee not working directly from your office. When freelancing or working with a freelancer the same level of infrastructure and facilities cannot be matched or assured.

When freelancing although one can outsource in a vast number of office fields there is certain limitations. For instance, one could not hire a call center agent freelancer or a nuclear physicist freelancer. Unlike with freelancing, with VirtualEmployee.com there is no type of office employee you cannot hire. The reason for this is because firstly VirtualEmployee.com itself recruits the employees and so locating/providing any type of office employee is of no difficultly. Secondly your employees work from our office where they are provided with all office facilities they need to work, e.g. a telephone with local US number from a call center agent. Thirdly, because the VirtualEmployee.com business model is to provide full time employees a lot more employees in a lot more office fields are willing to work as Virtual Employees, (as opposed to freelancers) because of the job security. Hence, whilst hiring a freelancer to work as a call center agent is logistically unfeasible, VirtualEmployee.com has the infrastructure to make this possible. Furthermore, where a nuclear physicist would not work as a freelancer because of lack of job security, with VirtualEmployee.com such an employee can be provided.

Employer-Virtual Employee working relationship:

The VirtualEmployee.com business model is that your employee works for you and with you just like an employee who works from your office. The only difference of course is that your Virtual Employee works for you remotely as opposed to physically from the same office as you. Thus your Virtual Employee will take instructions from you, report/submit their work to you and interact/collaborate with you. VirtualEmployee.com simply manages your employee on your behalf. We pay your employee, provide all office space and equipment, monitor them whilst they work, provide any technical assistance if required and ensure they have everything necessary to work. VirtualEmployee.com is furthermore a source of support for both employer and employee; on call and present at all times to ensure the whole outsourcing process runs smoothly.

When freelancing, one does not have the same level and interaction/collaboration with a freelancer. This is because freelancers work for clients on a short term basis and often work for several clients at once. Furthermore freelancers may not have all the office equipment and office infrastructure, (e.g. fast broadband internet connection) necessary to interact and collaborate effectively with a client virtually.

Accordingly VirtualEmployee.com and Virtual Employees are the future of offshore outsourcing. The VirtualEmployee.com business model creates an offshore outsourcing first, by combining the ability to outsource whilst also being able employ your very own employee. Hence employers now have another option to freelancing, as with VirtualEmployee.com employers have the low cost that comes with outsourcing and the high effectiveness that comes through hiring your very own employee.

Allan MacGregor:

Category: OutsourcingTags: Design Advertising, Freelancer, Profitable Practice | Comments (0)

The Art of Freelance The daily adventures of being a freelancer.

What’s New in Thunderbird 3 Beta 2

User Experience Improvements

Performance improvements