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Why you should invest in your personal brand as a freelancer (and 6 steps to building a brand)

Building a personal brand is the process of defining and promoting who you are as an individual, what makes you unique based on your experience, skills and values to reach your target audience and ensure they choose you over your competition. It is how you mindfully present yourself and show up consistently to deliver meaningful value to your target audience that prompts them to take action.  Why you need a personal brand As an independent or small business owner in the creative and te...

6 easy-to-execute time management tips for creatives

But, whether you want to hear it or not, time management is actually one of the key foundations which contribute to our overall success as a creative. From meeting deadlines, to assigning the correct amount of time to a project, it’s about productivity and revenue - and ensuring we aren’t overworked and underpaid.  So here’s 6 quick-fire time management tips from Jason Tiller, Rocketspark’s Head of Partnerships (and overall guru when it comes to nailing the difficult stuff we often ...

Spotlight on Monica Shepherd

If anyone was to write a guidebook on how to become a successful freelancer - we think Monica Shepherd from Mark My Words would be a pretty good choice! Not only is she a superstar wordsmith, but she has also managed to nail the process of having clients come to her. So we decided it was time to put a few questions to Monica and uncover more about her journey to building a profitable freelance business. Why did you decide to become a freelancer? Where were you prior to going out on you...

Beating the freelancer blues

The freelancer blues. We’ve all had ‘em right? It can be a bloody rollercoaster living our independent lifestyles - free from the chains of corporate servitude and just doing what we want, when we want. Well, that’s not quite true. On a daily basis we can be juggling everything from marketing ourselves, to chasing up invoices, dealing with clients, meeting crazy deadlines and trying our best to be creative - even though some days it doesn’t come so easily. And while no one can argue that...

Spotlight on Sara-Jane Austen

Our villagers get to be involved in some amazing projects with awesome clients and this month we’re shining a spotlight on Sara-Jane Austen - a graphic designer from Wellington who specialises in visual branding and web design. As you can see from her work below - she's an absolute rockstar! And we're so happy that she is a part of our village of freelancers. ...

Spotlight on Bron Alexander

Our villagers get to be involved in some amazing projects with awesome clients and this month we’re shining a spotlight on Bron Alexander - a designer and illustrator based in Hamilton. As you’ll see from the work below, she is just incredible! And we’re so proud to have her here on The Freelance Village. ...

The only way is up as two Kiwi businesses join forces

For more than 10 years, Rocketspark has been dedicated to making sure New Zealand businesses had access to easier, more effective and affordable websites. Which is why Rocketspark knew acquiring The Freelance Village was going to be a great step forward for not only its internal design partners, but for the SME business community too.   Rocketspark’s CEO and co-founder Grant Johnson says that when the opportunity arose to purchase The Freelance Village, he was drawn to how well both ...

‘Freelancers are expensive!’ The truth behind the cost of professional freelancers - and why they are worth every cent

We’ve all gone to the doctor one time or another and forked out mega bucks to just be told we have a virus and there’s nothing that can be done - apart from rest and fluids. But I don’t think many of us have gone to the reception desk and said ‘look, I didn’t get a lot of value from my consult so I’m only giving you 50 per cent of the fee’. Doctor’s don’t work like that. Their time is their time. Same as lawyers, accountants, and about every other professional service...

The benefits of using a freelancer – sales went up more than 100%!

Here’s a story all about how, my life got flipped, turned upside-down… oh whoops no sorry, wrong story! What we actually have below is how a freelancer – a content marketer and expert in SEO – was able to help a business achieve more than double their previous years’ sales over a period of 12 months.The story from Cherie Hawkins at Project Market goes a bit like this:“Last year, in December 2017, I was put in touch with a local automotive business who wanted to increase their to...

Four steps to smart communication - by Hannah McCreery

Do you sometimes feel like you’ve got a ton of great things to say about your business, but none of it appears to get through to the people that matter? Or maybe you’ve got an amazing service that makes people’s lives easier, but when you try to communicate this, the messages seem to disappear into a black hole without making a scrap of difference.Simply having something to say, doesn’t mean it’ll be heard.I know planning can be a drag. Let’s be honest, there’s always something mor...

5 reasons to hire a freelancer in NZ - By Erin Harrison

One thing I struggle to understand is why so many businesses still focus heavily on having ‘bums on seats’ in a physical office. Yes, for some organisations there is no getting around it, but I want to appeal to more business owners to challenge their thinking. Is it absolutely critical that you see all your employees sitting at their desk all day? And if so, does that automatically mean that they are productive? Simply put, no it doesn’t.  Do you know what we should be measuring...

What is your business blogging personality type? - By Jess O'Connor

Understanding your blogging personality type is essential to consistently writing brilliant content that your readers love.So many business blogs sound exactly the same. They lack personality and originality. They play it safe and can be, let’s be honest, a tad boring.Identifying your blogging personality type will help you find your unique voice and add some spark to your content.So which one are you? (Just so you know, split personalities are totally okay – most of you will probably identi...

9 steps for your social media data analysis process - By Roxanne Jans

These last few weeks I have spoken a lot about the power of social media data analysis and how it is such an important process for your business to harness it’s data to further understand your customers. Without reviewing your data on a regular basis you are missing out on clearly identifying who your target audience is, where they are, and what their interests are.The problem I find is that many business owners battle to see the following as they:Struggled to get usable insight from social da...

What your website says about you and your business - By Jesse Evenblij

Your website can say a lot about your business, studies show you have literally 2 seconds to impress your audience/customer or lose ’em. That sounds insanely quick but just put yourself in the position of a customer on another website, how quickly are you going to stay? For those of you who own brick and mortar stores, your website is sometimes the first point of call for customers. For those of us with online businesses it is even more crucial for business success.So what does your business s...

8 money saving tips for freelancers - by Andrew Millington from The Accounting Hub

This blog post comes care of The Accounting Hub  - thanks for giving us permission to re-post here! 1. Have an Emergency FundSince you have little or no financial protection as a freelancer, maintaining an emergency fund is a good idea. You never know when the work will dry up, even though it will likely only be temporary. However, in order to have something to fall back on during these dry times, you should try to keep enough savings to cover essential things such as rental ...

The low-down on creating a great brief - By Abby Beswick

Great writing starts with a great brief. Regardless of the type of content you’re after, if you’re using a copywriter to get engaging, effective writing, the starting point is always the same. I’m not going to lie, writing a clear and detailed brief takes time. However, it’s worth the effort because doing so will save you time and money in the long-run. A good brief gives the writer an understanding of the business and what you want to achieve. It also means they’re more likely to give...

Freelancing for the win - By Ellie Brade

New Zealand is a country full of small businesses, many of which are developing some incredible innovations and exciting products, often on a shoe string budget. It’s not for nothing that New Zealand has a reputation for a culture that encourages creativity, and it’s sometimes hard to believe that some of the country’s coolest, best known brands had very humble beginnings.Unfortunately, with a small business can come very small budget for marketing, PR, communications or indeed anything be...