According to Quora, “The term freelance (noun) was coined by Sir Walter Scott in Ivanhoe (1820). It literally stands for a free lance, signifying a medieval mercenary whose lance is currently not engaged in war and therefore free for being dispatched.” So if you are a freelancer, you are sort of a hired gun, like Richard Boone was as Paladin in the 1957-1963 TV series Have Gun – Will Travel. If you are a freelancer, this post is for you.
I occasionally attend meetings of the MSP WordPress Users Group. I developed this site using WordPress, and very occasionally develop WordPress sites for others. I also have a strong specialization in WordPress security. So now and again if the topic is appealing, I will go to a meeting. I wish I had gone to the last one.
Toby Cryns was the presenter and the topic was “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up Your Freelancing Biz.” He was generous enough to share his notes with the group, and I took a look. Then I read the entire post top to bottom, including a couple of side trips to other linked articles.
Here are a handful of his ideas:
- Get clear about why you work.
- Use email intentionally
- Don’t respond to RFPs (That’s right – No more RFPs)
- Convert an existing service into a product
- Get clear about whether you are an artist, architect, or craftsperson
- Outsource something significant
- Be brave. Take risks, Get fired.
- What makes you unique?
If you are running or contemplating starting an independent freelance business as an IT support professional, cybersecurity practitioner, web designer, web developer, or SEO or social media marketing guru, this should be a must read for you. I hope you enjoy it and get as much out of it as I did.
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JUL
About the Author:
I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com