The collective tightening of the belt can be felt in every sector of our economy. All across the world, we are battening down the hatches and preparing to ride out the storm. But we still have to do business in order to stay afloat. We just need to do it smarter. Read on for three reasons I think Freelancers represent the smartest choice for getting important work done for your company.

1. Flexibility and Agility – It’s no secret that the larger an organization, the slower it responds to immediate change. Many creative services companies are experiencing financial pinches due to large overhead, payroll expenses, and marketing costs. Some are in the process of letting their best designers and developers go, which means more work for the remaining designers to accomplish in the same amount of time. This does not bode well for a successful client relationship. Freelancers don’t have the same overhead and marketing costs. Most of our business comes from referrals or web traffic, and so we can be incredibly responsive to our client base. We only focus on one thing: productivity and serving our clients. My new clients – especially those just coming from a larger creative services company -  are always surprised at how quickly I return phone calls and turn requested work around.
2. Stability and Longevity – It’s a common misconception that Freelancers become freelancers when they cannot find any other form of gainful employment. While it’s true that many of us got into freelancing on the side, or as a result of losing a job, most of us love what we do, and strive to do it better every day. Choosing a freelancer over a larger company as a business partner is no less of a secure choice. Don’t believe me? Consider that your freelancer might well have once worked for a company that no longer exists. It is not in the interest of anyone to enter lightly into a long-term relationship. Most self-employed creatives are more worried about the longevity of YOUR company than their own stability.
3. Creativity and Productivity – We don’t spend hours in internal corporate meetings or sending out memos to employees (unless you count time spent building our followings on Twitter!). We only get paid when we turn in exceptional, creative work that hits the specified target. We are easier to work with, more creative (or more willing to try creative new approaches to very familiar challenges) and, if given the chance to prove ourselves, will be a valuable member of your business team, providing more than just products and designs and copy and lines of code; ultimately, a Freelancer provides insight, perspective and experience rarely found inside corporate walls.

What counts as creativity? And is it a uniquely Human activity or ability?

Pardon my reductionist tendencies for a moment while I boil down the whole of humanity to two gross generalizations:

• We are the only species on the planet capable of truly creative thought. Ants and termites and birds have been building homes for billions of years, but they have always instinctively done it the same way. Primates are resourceful, using materials at hand to fashion tools, but I would argue this isn’t true creativity. Feel free to disagree. I have seen elephants who can paint, and this has definitely rattled my cage on my main point, but I am still unwilling to cede any ground here.

• Humans alone have the capacity to act upon creative thought to produce what was conceived. For the astute reader, yes, this covers my bet in the first assertion, in case I might be wrong. I have no idea what the elephant is thinking when he paints, but I know he cannot set up a manufacturing plant to design and make jumbo-sized paintbrushes.

So what counts as creative thought? Is it purely intellectual, or inextricably joined with action? If I have a creative thought but do nothing more about it, have I truly been creative? (I know this line of questioning smacks of old rhetoric about trees dropping in forests, but bear with me, I am creating something here. For some masterpeices, the canvas must first be primed.)

Today, there are more creative tools available to the average human than at any other time in history. Audio and Video production is accesible to nearly anyone with an audiovisual itch to scratch, but this is only a decade after it was still solely in the purview of well-financed movie studios and record labels. Much has changed, but just because the tools are prevalent doesn’t necessarily mean that those using them are creative or inspired. Does it?

And where does creativity leave off, and training and experience take its place? A classically trained pianist can perform masterpeices, but if he has never composed a note of his own, is he creative, or merely well-trained?

These are just a few of the thoughts and questions I have had during a life spent pursuing creativity and experiencing and discovering my own creative processes. And if you will indulge me, I’ll continue this ponderous rant in the weeks to come.

Dave Winer claims he has earned over $2M from his blog, and not an ad in sight. Ever. Wow.

Dave clearly gets what the value of his blog is to his business: It proves his expertise to his market with every post.

I have talked before about how online content models are notoriously poor performers if the goal is to make money directly from the content via advertising or selling premium content. There are exceptions, sure, but on the whole, unless your blog is grabbing 2,000 sets of eyeballs a day or better (fraction of % of all blog sites on the web, by the way), advertising really isn’t going to make you rich.

But if you blog to prove your expertise, to provide value to your intended audience, to extend your brand and increase your visibility, then even a modest few hundred monthly visitors can turn into a valuable increase in your business.

Content proves expertise. Use your blog to engage your market and demonstrate what you know, and you’ll stay flush with paid work.

(NOTE: I was asked by a friend how I could afford to give away so much knowledge on my blog for free, if I hoped that people would pay me for my expertise? My answer is simple: General expertise is free. Applied expertise isn’t.)

Like many of you, I have the Google search bar installed in Firefox, and I use it a LOT during the course of a day. And like many of you, I have come to take Google for granted as an integral part of my existence, the Keeper and Dispenser of all Relevant and Timely Information.  But did you know Google has a few specific types of common searches available right from the query line?  A few of them are particularly useful for freelancers. Check these out, and then head over for a more comprehensive overview from – wait for it – Google (who else?).

• Math – Just enter your formula (ex. 120*16) hit enter and get the magic result. Note to students: do not try entering things like “A train leaving Boston at 5:30am and  another in New York leaving at 6:59 pass each other outside of Piscataway at 7:38. How many words per minute was each train conductor texting on average during the trip?”
• Definitions – Need to check the definition of a word before you embarrass yourself in a blog post? Just type define: the word or phrase. Google spits out a full page of definition results immediately. (ex. define: video production)
• Weather – You’re about to head out to make that big proposal, and you want to know if you really need to take along a heavy rain coat, because your girlfriend kindly told you last week how dorky you looked in it, and you’d rather not make that kind of impression on the company who stands to make your year, if things go well. Google to the rescue. Just type weather proceeded by the location you want to inquire about, and you’ve got a pretty good chance of getting the answer on the first line, complete with pretty little graphic aids. (ex: weather Nashville) Note: despite Google’s legendary algorithms, it is no better at making accurate weather predictions than that guy on channel 5. Remember, Google only shows you what it thinks you WANT to see…
• Shipment tracking – I just tried this one out by accident, only to find out it’s a real feature! Half-slain by sleep deprivation, but still eager to find out where TigerDirect was in the process of getting me some new toy I’d ordered, I copied and pasted a “onezie” (all UPS ground tracking numbers start with a 1Z) into the google search bar. Two clicks later, I was looking at my package online!  Try it!
• Area Code Lookup - Couldn’t be simpler. Just type the 3-digit area code into the search bar, and you’ll immediately know what part of the country it belongs to. Now you can know where that mysterious number is calling you from before you even send it to voicemail!
  
• Time – I frequently need to talk to people overseas (India, Sweden, France, Spain, Uzbekistan, to name a few) and trying to remember the time differences at any given point in the year is an embarrassing nightmare. Good client relations are not served well by accidental 3am calls. No problem, just enter time followed by the location in question, and you’ll have your answer, including the date, in case the time zone is over the International date line. (ex. time sweden)

So there’s six quick ones, and I have not even touched on the search modifiers like site: or link:, which are incredibly useful as well.  Let me know what other ones you regularly use!

Step one: Manufacture your own minutes. Then tell us all how you did it. Please.

Seriously, we all feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day sometimes. But since we all get the same set of 24 issued every day, what we do with them and how we make the most of them is entirely up to us. I’ve always marveled at how long-time freelancers have certain tasks down to a science. I’ll get there too, 24 hrs at a time.

After I decided to write this post, I suddenly stumbled across two other, equally worthy posts at The Renegade Writer, and Freelance Switch, and a third was brought to my attention with the author’s permission to borrow his idea (see below). Yeah, I’m not ashamed to admit it. I borrow heavily from those that are getting time management right. And I hope there’s a take away or two here for you as well:

1. Group similar tasks. (Responding to email, returning calls, writing, designing, research, etc.) Henry Ford got it right. Doing a lot of the same thing over and over saves time and makes for better productivity. Your brain takes a few minutes to adjust to a “new hat”, so once you have it on and get in the groove, just knock all the same type items off your list. It takes my production box almost 40 seconds to initialize After Effects. Takes me almost 20 minutes to get in the groove sometimes. Now, I have never needed any additional excuses to stay locked to my mouse when designing motion graphics, but the charade of saving time and being more productive has eased my conscience a bit, I’d say. (I hope my lovely wife is reading this, too!)
2. Set aside a specific time every day for a break. Freelancers can work any time, and for many of us, the flexibility to work at odd hours (me, I love the graveyard shift) means that we don’t always keep to a schedule. But routine (gasp! did he just use the “R” word?!) is central to productivity. Being intentional about having a few hour’s personal time away from the cares of work is a way of recharging your batteries for efficient mental torque. Whatever floats your boat and can be done at roughly the same time every day, do it. Bonus points if you can figure out how to combine Yoga, a fat stogie (I call it aromatherapy), and a pint. Really. Call me.
3. Do simple, short tasks while waiting. While uploading the newest video production proof for clients, I take the time to slash and burn through my inbox, or Google the solution to that pesky cross-browser CSS issue that’s plagued me all week. Nothing big, but it turns an otherwise wasted hour into productive time. Short tasks do not include a call to mother (most mothers, at any rate) or doing your taxes.  If you’re the kind of person who can figure out your deductions on the back of a napkin while waiting for a client to get through the line at Starbucks, then I hate you. And your mother.
4. Do some grunt work first, then reward yourself with a fun creative task. Delayed gratification: the hallmark of maturity.  My mother used to preach this, and it drove me crazy. It works, though, especially if you are a procrastinator like me. Speaking of Mom, I should probably give her a call soon…been meaning to do it for weeks now. Maybe when I have a minute.
5. Spend a little time every night setting an agenda for the following day. I go to bed at night knowing what the plan is for the following day. Yes, it always changes, and no, I haven’t slept well in years, but my point is that this process of prioritizing and revising and doing ensures nothing slips through the cracks that I don’t intentionally stuff, pack and cram into the cracks, and it keeps multiple simultaneous projects moving forward. This exercise can keep multiple simultaneous personalities moving forward as well. No I am NOT schizophrenic (when I take my meds), I just mean we freelancers wear many hats throughout any given day.
6. Have a client that procrastinates? Put choices in concrete terms instead of abstractions as much as possible.  Don’t ask “what color do you like for this?” Ask “Do you like this blue or the green for the logo?”   Don’t ask “What’s your time frame on this?” Instead, ask “Will next Friday be soon enough?” Don’t ask “What would you like for dinner tonight, Sweetie?” Instead, say “We had Chinese last night, remember, and besides it’s MY turn to pick!” (Sorry, my personal life sometimes spills over into work…) Many times helping a client narrow down the creative direction by offering fewer choices makes everyone happier.
7. Exercise. Time away from the computer doing something physical is the best way to get your brain pumping with fresh, clear ideas. Other activities that can get your blood pumping and your heart racing, but do NOT count as healthy exercise: Being retweeted by Guy Kawasaki, and After Effects renders on Vista boxes.
8. Get enough sleep. They say sleep deprivation has the same effects as being drunk. Hopefully you aren’t coding any jQuery on the tail end of a six pack, but what about on two nights totalling three hour’s sleep? I realize “enough” is a relative term, and what might be a barely sufficient 9.5 hours for me is akin to a century’s enchanted slumber to some people. Hey, creativity is an intensely draining process, so lay off. Show me your Mona Lisa and then we’ll talk. (Thanks to DEF Graphics for the inspiration on this one, and for the recent Twitter follow!)
9. Find your “Time Sinks” and eliminate them. Get ninja-like with those clients that eat up 40% of your time, and equate to 10% of your yearly revenue. Set boundaries, or fire them. Look for and work hard to attract the 10/40s , those “ideal” dream clients we have all mind-mapped in the lean years. Vorda_Vasku, a recent Twitter follower of mine, tells me his dream client is “A combo of Lara Croft and WoW Belf chick in need of Front-end redesign paying 1 mil $ in cash – in advance. :D”. I’m betting Croft is high maintenance, though. You can have her, Vorda.
10. Get in the zone. Whatever it is for you, find it, and once you are there, keep yourself focused on the task for an hour before breaking or allowing yourself to get distracted.  For me the zone is 2am, an 80s Hair Band playlist blaring on headphones, coffee and dual 24″ monitors. Give me that, and I can put the hurt on some deadlines. (feel free to describe your own personal zone in the comments, but let’s keep it PG, people. My wife reads this…)
11. Keep a production or code folder with detailed notes on tricks and hacks you plan to use often on other projects. I’ve been using Snippely, and like it a lot. This takes a little time to set up and maintain, but will pay off in the long run. It’s fun to pull off a stellar camera move in 3 minutes for a new client! (The original setup took me 7 hours a year ago, but I use it all the time). I have a folder of “go-to” WordPress plugins I wouldn’t start a new site without. If you have no trick or hacks, you need to go get a coder drunk and steal his laptop while he tries out his binary pickup lines on the bar maid.
12. Create effects presets for After Effects and actions for Photoshop. Not only will it save you time doing repetitive steps in your own work, but you can then make wild claims to godhood in online forums where throngs of eager but less god-like creatives will willingly lick your boots and download your CC-Attrib-NonComs all day long.
13. Set up typical project proposal and invoice templates. Just a text file with items you have to bid or invoice regularly can save time (and save your butt by keeping your details straight and thorough!). Creating standardized proposals and bids is perhaps not as creative as spitballing figures at random, but trust me, the day you network two clients together for business opportunities, and they have the bright idea of pulling out the winning proposals you sent to each of them and seeing how the deck is stacked, you’ll thank me. And nothing hurts worse than an accounting department that calls up to question the vague but accurate line-item description you thought was so brilliant at 3am the week before: “Tuesday. Spoke with B. Made changes per his request. Then spoke with S. and changed it back again. Finally got through to R. who scrapped the whole idea and sent me a new RFP. Billing 7 hours of my life I will never get back.”
14. Use professional services when you can. No one likes to bill clients, keep track of monthly expenses or optimize your web sites for inbound marketing. That’s what small business accountants and SEO people do for a living, so let them. Free up your time and lower your stress. (NOTE: There is a certain liability that often materializes when highly creative people attempt to keep books. Accounting is not a creative task. Becoming creative with numbers is never a good idea. You know who you are…)
15. Don’t read long winded posts from self-styled humorists claiming to save you time! Now, get out there and have a productive weekend!

Did I miss anything?

There is a dynamic that has developed within the social web over the years which I find disturbing yet pervasive, and about as hard to eradicate as an infestation of cockroaches. But the future of the Social Web depends on a close examination and realignment of thought regarding ingrained user expectations. Facebook is drawing fire from users for recent (some say misinformed, inaccurate?) news about plans to sell user data to market researchers, and I think this illustrates my point beautifully.

After one of my own social startup experiments failed to gain traction with its intended audience, I had some time to reflect on my interactions with social web users, and here is a list of some of the expectations and (often contradictory) attitudes I encountered regularly (I have shared these views at times myself):

• I should be able to sign up and use Social Web apps and services for free.   If you cannot figure out how to monetize the service without bothering me, I will leave.
• Ads bother me. So do requests for donations.
• The publicly available personal information posted on my pages is mine, mine alone, and should not be used in any way I did not intend for it to be used. I don’t care if it’s public, and your commercial use of it is actually anonymous.
• I should not have to look at a lot of on-page advertising in “my” pages. They are mine, and I do not want them cluttered up.
• The free services I use should remain free, remain up, available, and working as expected 99.9% of the time. Service interruptions should be scheduled for the hours I am not online.
• Delays, slowdowns, and interruptions to service are intolerable. Figure out your infrastructure and scalability issues before you bother to launch.
• My features wish list is reasonable, and should be implemented, even though I do not plan on using the features regularly; they should be there because I think the ideas are cool.
• Web apps should not have too many unnecessary features.
• I think there should only be one or two Social Web apps and we should ignore all the others, so that it is easier for me to manage my digital life and connect with the world in the context of my favorite social app.
• There should be a mobile version that does exactly what the full web version does, and works in exactly the same way. Screen size, operating systems, phone model and carrier contracts be damned. Make it work. Now.
• Once my favorite app gets so big and successful as to a be an obvious target of criticism, I will openly blast them for their successes and work to destroy any attempt they make to monetize the service or use my anonymous data.
• When a dumb service I loved at first, then wanted to change, then criticized for changing, doesn’t succeed in meeting all my above expectations, I will place them in the deadpool, and tell the world I knew they wouldn’t make it all along.

There is another side to the user experience; it’s the side of the brave people who dream up and actualize cool Social Web technologies. This is the environment in which they have been asked to launch, develop and prove commercially viable their free services. Perhaps we need to tame down certain unrealistic expectations, mmm? How else will the Social Web find its path to sustainability?