Tips and Tricks

HOW TO BECOME A KILLER FREELANCER (Part I of III)

Whether you’re a) already freelancing and looking for a more substantial knowledge base to back you up, b) entirely new to freelancing and wanting to get going or c) still thinking about beginning a freelance career, here’s something for nothing. Enjoy.

1.    JUST SO WE’RE ON THE SAME PAGE

Freelancing defined

As you know, a freelancer is a person who is self-employed. And in any given profession, freelancers sell or contract their work to clients. They’re often paid by the hour – although jobs with a fixed rate to complete a fixed project are both possible and common, depending on the freelancer’s field of expertise.

So, why freelance?

Posted on 10 May 10 (6 Views)
Members Only

Fact-checking policy: dealing with difficult interviewees

A discussion on the Safrea members-only Google group revealed that many journalists struggle with interviewees who want to make unreasonable changes to articles before they go to print. There is a fine line between accepting factual changes and being persuaded to rewrite an article into an advertorial by a forceful interviewee.

Georgina Guedes (Safrea member) responded to the emails by providing guidelines for a fact-checking policy and the rationale behind the various points.

Posted on 5 Apr 10 (1 Views)
Members Only

Keeping track of story submissions

Sonar free writer submission tracking software keeps short stories and freelance articles organised and submitted.

Note: Safrea hasn't tested this software so can't provide a recommendation - but it looks useful.

Posted on 5 Apr 10 (127 Views)
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Freelancers: heres how to get paid

Sometimes getting work isn't the hard part of freelancing - it's getting paid.

Tiffany Markman (Safrea executive council member) and Jo Duxbury (Freelancecentral and Peppermint Source) collaborate to give their valuable tips on how to get paid for your hard work.

Posted on 5 Apr 10 (165 Views)
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A freelancer's guide to setting up a blog or website

Simon Hartley, Safrea member, shares his knowledge with Safrea freelancers who are thinking about starting a blog or website. His article covers how to choose between hosting options and includes some basic information about SEO (search engine optimisation).

Posted on 27 Jan 10 (7 Views)
Members Only

How to write articles for your own business: a tutorial

By Tiffany Markman (Safrea Full Member)

One of the big trends in small-to-medium business marketing at the moment is content creation: writing articles, blog posts and newsletter articles on a regular basis and using these to boost website traffic, public interest or even sales. The idea is that, today, people like value in the form of free info on your area of expertise. (I guess that’s why I write these articles.) So here’s a 3-step tutorial, ideal for non-writers on how to write articles for your own business.

Posted on 28 Nov 09 (11 Views)
Members Only

Getting published: the options

Notes from a talk by three Safreans at a Safrea branch meeting in Cape Town.

Posted on 4 Nov 09 (10 Views)
Members Only

How to use the Small Claims Court to get your money

If you know the Small Claims Court procedure, the battle is more than half won

The process starts with a Letter of Demand simply stating that at the top and requesting for the amount owed to be paid within 14 days, OR ELSE... Very often this very first step is enough to prusuade a long overdue debtor to pay up...

Posted on 6 Jun 09 (12 Views)
Members Only

Recession? Freelancers, Do More Marketing! By Tiffany Markman

Posted on 5 Feb 09 (13 Views)
Members Only

Check, Check and Double-Check - By Tiffany Markman

Posted on 5 Feb 09 (926 Views)
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