Issue #38
Editor’s Note
The biggest story this week isn’t technically about freelancing, but could definitely ruin our freelancing and personal lives. It’s a retelling by Mat Honan: how his digital life was destroyed in the span of an hour. If you don’t read anything else this week, read the articles under “Security and Two Factor Authentication” and protect yourself.
Security and Two Factor Authentication
If you’ve ever seen someone with an RSA tag, maybe you have something similar with your business bank account that generates a time/sequenced based number that has to be used in addition to your password; that’s two-factor authentication.
7 Simple Ways To Protect Your Digital Life
Seriously, enable Google’s 2-Factor authentication.
How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking
The story that brought this to a lot of people’s attention
Please turn on two-factor authentication
Debunking some myths about two-factor authentication
Articles
22 Top Blogging Tools Loved by the Pros
Content Strategy Generator looks pretty cool. Worth a scan, you might find something you haven’t heard of before.
Content Strategy Generator Tool – V2 Update
For the developers and geeks, this is how that Content Strategy Generator works. It’s a google doc that does a lot of queries to other sources.
10 Bad Habits Worth Losing
Don’t be a perfectionist.
5 Rules Every SEO Should Live By
If you’re an SEO.
How to Qualify Your Business Leads Like a Top Agency
Some good tips to make sure you take on only clients you want to work with.
3 Strategies that Brought Me 11,710 Subscribers in Six Months [Case Study]
If you already have a decent sized list (whatever that means to you, I guess) this will help you grow. Don’t think it’s that great for a brand new list.
How Delegating Routine Tasks Can Raise Your Freelance Income
It also forces you to figure out what you’re really doing so you can delegate said tasks.
Freelancer’s Guide to Building a Brand Identity from Scratch
From scratch, so assuming you don’t have one.
How to Onboard a New Customer With Seriously Profitable Flair
Some really clever ways to wow your new customers. These work because almost nobody has the persistence to keep doing them, some can’t even start.
7 items freelancers should back up but probably don’t
Email lists are interesting, especially if you’re relying on your provider to keep that backed up.
One Thousand Dollars an Hour
Interesting discussion by Sam Soffes, creator of Cheddar.
Stripe And A/B Testing Made Me A Small Fortune
Patrick puts out another epic level blog post, send this to Instapaper and come back to it with a cup of coffee and a nice chunk of time.
Project Setup: What’s Your Client Intake Process Procedure?
With some ideas of questions that need to be answered of every new client.
Managing Email Realistically
“Ruthlessness is a hell of a time-saver.” Huzzah!
Google Plus Hangouts On Air is a Killer App
More love for Google Plus Hangouts. And some tips how to use it well.
6 Questions To Ask Before You Install A WordPress Plugin
Performance and security are just two concerns.
The One Question Your Prospects Really Want You to Answer
Answering “What can you do for me?”
Resources
Use Eve to learn Mac OS X shortcuts
This looks like a cool little piece of OSS that tells you how to accomplish what you did with the mouse and menus with keyboard shortcuts.
Freelance Freedom 269: Educational Vortex
Been there, done that.
My Monthly Income Report – July 2012
Pat Flynn has been crushing it for quite a while now, but if you need a monthly spurt of inspiration, this might work. No, it’s not freelancing, but there are other ways than selling your time to make money.
Discussions
Freelancing for an design agency: do you make them sign your contract? : freelance
Reddit discussion on working with agencies and if they’re any different from your other clients.
Show or Tell
SPI 043 : How to Have Laser-Like Focus and Stress-Free Productivity – Summer Marketing Mashup 2012
We talked about productivity on Ruby Freelancers and this hit at just the right time.
Sponsor
This week’s newsletter is brought to you by me. I built Freelance Funnel, a service that takes the headaches out of finding new leads. If you’re a new freelancer, or don’t have a big enough referral network to keep your pipeline full, you’ll definitely want to check it out. There’s even a 30 day free trial, so there’s nothing to lose.
