Author: Dr. Mike
Mikko J. Rissanen, Ph.D., a.k.a. Dr. Mike, is an accomplished solopreneur living in a tropical paradise, inventing cool tech and coding from his beach office... and eating coconuts all day, every day. He has been running his one-man show in Penang, Malaysia, since 2014 until he moved the business to the United States as I2 Network in 2021. He is one of the most highly paid freelancers on Upwork and he has been supporting hundreds of starting freelancers since 2017. Follow his latest tips on LinkedIn or seek his personal guidance by participating in the Freelance Like a Boss webinar course or become a member of the CoachLancer community!
Starting your own business is always hard. Everybody starts from the bottom. There has to be an idea of what to sell, to whom to sell, how to find them, and how much can they …
Over the years I’ve made a couple of mistakes, I’ve experimented with different styles, and I’ve seen other freelancers do things differently when communicating with clients online. Most often the initial communications are done by …
80% of small businesses survive the first year, but only 50% see their fifth anniversary, according to this article in Forbes. The article lists five common reasons why any kind of small business might not …
Many freelance developers seem to think the numerous freelance platforms you can find online are becoming something to avoid. Many of them complain, for instance, that: There are too many freelancers in the market. Clients …
Previous of this article series showed you how to write and how not to write proposals on freelance platforms and websites. Usually, for small projects, all you need is an eye-catching proposal that leads to …
Part 1: How NOT to Write a Winning Proposal demonstrated all the tragicomic approaches for writing proposals to projects on freelance platforms such as Fiverr, Freelancer, PeoplePerHour, Upwork, etc. The article gave plenty of tips …
Writing a proposal or quotation that brings paying customers to your freelance business is the art part of freelancing. Well, there’s much science in it too. Many starting freelancers keep hitting their heads against the …
We software developers are a strange breed of man. We, the instantiations of homo technologicus, love technology. Sometimes all too much! I remember when I started as a 22-year old software engineer at Sysart in …
What’s the coolest thing about being a software guy and doing freelance gigs online for high-end customers? You can always write your own code! All of it! No project managers, no SCRUM masters, no clients …
Continuing this articles series, I’m attempting to shed some light on the client’s side of freelancing. I’ve hired a number of web developers, app developers, animators, 3D artists, and 2D graphic designers for getting small …