Freelancer’s Guide
to Awesomeness
By James Tryon, Creative Director
Easily Amused, Inc.

Making the jump
BYOB
Lose one Client you get a new client, Lose a
job - Good luck with that.
This is not for every one.
Get Incorporated

Online Presence
Web Site
Social Networks
Blogs
Forums
Mailing Lists

Offline Presence
Events
BarCamps, TweetUps,
Local Business Events
Volunteering
Portfolios Reviews, Judge Contests,
Board of Advisors

Money Flow
Know Your Worth
Charge What Your Worth
Put Hour Caps In The Contract
Set Up Billing Cycles
Extra Income

If you do not charge
what your worth,
YOU ARE HURTING US
ALL!

Project Management
Software
BaseCamp, Unfuddle, Etc.
Do What You’re Good At
Share The Wealth
Outsource The Rest
SCRUM

Source Control / Assets
Source Control
svn, git, etc.
Create an “assets” folder and store it in
Source Control (and on the server)
Back ups
Save Early. Save often.

Accounting
Don’t Do Your Own Accounting
Use Paypal (and Get The Debit Card)
Use FreshBooks, Avoid Quickbooks
Get a Book Keeper
Have an Accountant Review Your Finances
Quarterly (Tax Estimates)

Time Management
Set Times to Talk and Meet with Clients
Turn Twitter / IM / E-mail OFF
WHEN WORKING
Use a Chat Room to communicate with
Co-Workers (Campfire / IRC)

Contractors
VS
Employees
You Need to Work With People That Have
Skin in the Game.
Ad-Hoc Teams

Where to Work?
Coworking Coworking Coworking
No Need to Rent an Office
Jelly Groups (Informal Coworking)

Life Management
Try not to pull all nighters.
There is nothing that you have to do now
that you can’t do in the morning.
Spend Time with your Friends and Family
Eat, Sleep and be merry!
Work / Life Balance is key

Learning Never Stops
Keep up to date with trends
Subscribe to Podcasts
Read Books. Yes, Books.
Read Blogs that write about your field
Magazines and other resources

Contact Info
James Tryon
Creative Director
Easily Amused, Inc.
http://www.EasilyAmusedInc.com
Twitter @easilyamused
James@EasilyAmusedInc.com
P: 407-733-6473