freelancer

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JILLS SPOTLIGHT: Designer, Jess Parvin & Her Freelance Lifestyle

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JILLS SPOTLIGHT: Designer, Jess Parvin & Her Freelance Lifestyle

Jess Parvin fully embraces all the flexibility and fun that carving a freelance career has to offer.  After a successful experience as a museum curator at the Smithsonian, Jess now builds on her love of art and design by continuously educating herself and developing the latest skills to keep her on the cutting edge of graphic design, website development, branding and social media marketing. 

Jess loves music and she loves to travel making a freelance lifestyle a perfect fit for her talents and her passions. Jess is exciting to be part of THE JILLS OF ALL TRADES™ because she recognizes the importance of self-promotion and is eager to put a spotlight on her talent to continue to grow her business and build her connections. 

Here's Jess tells her story of jumping into the freelance lifestyle and the joys she experiences in forging forward in this new workstyle: 

"When I graduated with a degree fine arts & art history from the College of Charleston (in lovely Charleston, SC), I thought I wanted to be a museum curator. So after college I moved to Washington, DC and interned for a year at one of the Smithsonian museums. I loved being surrounded by world-class art but realized that the slow-pace of museum life was not for me! Soon after moving to Wisconsin I went back to school for graphic design and web design. After 3 years working full-time as a designer, photographer and web maintenance guru at a high-end clothing retailer, I decided to strike out on my own as a freelancer. Since then I have taught myself Wordpress, SEO, digital marketing (Facebook advertising and Google Adwords) and more. I love being self-employed mainly because it gives me flexibility to pursue other interests- especially travel. My partner, Josh, is a musician and I have been fortunate to travel extensively with him as he performs around the world (including 6 trips to Europe). Because of him I am actively involved in the independent music world and have worked with dozens of artists on their branding, websites, album art, posters, etc. I also love working with small businesses who are trying to make their footprint on the web. Past clients include musicians, visual artists, non profits, acupuncturists, massage therapists, restaurants, construction companies, online retailers. . . every project is unique!"

Wake Up to The Future of Work

Wake Up to The Future of Work

The future of work is radically and rapidly changing. There will soon be more independent contractors and freelancers than employees in the workforce. Are you ready for the new normal? Are you aware of how to access the tools and resources that will set you up for success? 

Recently, THE JILLS OF ALL TRADES™ Cofounders, Megan A.C. Boswell and Corinne Neil, caught up with the folks at BUNKER to chat about insurance, the modern independent contractor, and changing workforce trends.

Read more…

Do the Hustle

Do the Hustle

Our JILLS Bursts & Boosts help to lift your mood, maintain your momentum and feed your mojo. Entrepreneurship is exhilarating, exciting and yet often, challenging to stay motivated. Find out what inspiration works best for you. Just. Keep. Going.

#lifegoals

#lifegoals

Our JILLS Bursts & Boosts help to lift your mood, maintain your momentum and feed your mojo. Entrepreneurship is exhilarating, exciting and yet often, challenging to stay motivated. Find out what inspiration works best for you. Just. Keep. Going.

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Spend Money to Make Money

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Our JILLS have great things to say and we're so happy to share it! 

Belinda Wasser is the founder of Rocket Girl Solutions and a guest contributor to THE JILLS NEWS. With over 25 years of experience in business workflow and logistics, Belinda offers up practical advice on running your business so it isn't running you. We're proud to have Belinda as one of our JILLS OF ALL TRADES and welcome her expertise in working with solo professionals and small business owners as their part-time business managers. Belinda loves taking care of the daily details and minutiae so business owners can get back to the work they love doing!  Our JILLS have great things to say and we're so happy to share it in THE JILLS NEWS. 

Our JILLS offer up some of our best tips and in this post, Belinda reminds us that we need to rely on the skills and talents of others to truly build our businesses. 

Belinda Wasser, founder of Rocket Girl Solutions

Belinda Wasser, founder of Rocket Girl Solutions

Authored by Belinda Wasser

I was in Rosie’s on Elm Street last Thursday, enjoying a few quiet minutes at the end of the day with my friend Jennifer. We were talking about the usual things – business, kids, weather and more business.

And then she said, “It seems like you have no problem spending money to make money.”

I don’t, but I was definitely surprised to hear her say that. To me, this isn’t just a good approach; it’s the only approach that really works if you want to grow your business.

Here are some of the things I had mentioned during our conversation which prompted her to say what she said:

“Debbie Faye is working with me on improving my speaking presentation.”

“I hired a business coach, Jane Pollak, to help me reach my goals for the year.”

“I’m working with Scarlett DeBease to update my wardrobe.”

“I’m interviewing new accountants to help me organize my business.”

Later, as I was driving home, I realized how happy I am about what has now become my standard approach: Paying wonderful, capable people to help me work better, faster and smarter.

In other words, instead of doing everything myself (the way I did for years), I surround myself with experts. That’s real leverage.

Unfortunately, lots of solo professionals don’t see the world this way. To them, spending money (especially if things are feeling financially tight) feels like an extravagance. What I’ve found, though, is that you have to spend it to make it!

When is it time to get help?

In almost all cases, the answer is: Sooner than you think! In my experience, people wait way too long to bring in support, often putting it off until things have gotten really bad with missed deadlines and worse.

So, here are two questions to get you started:

  1. Are you doing work you’re not really qualified for?

    Tinkering with your website, doing your own taxes, setting up an email newsletter are all business essentials best handled by experts. Maybe you’re good at some of these things, but many people aren’t, resulting in poor quality work that takes a lot of time to complete.

  2. Are you doing work that’s below your pay grade?

    There’s nothing shameful about putting together your own client gifts or running down to Kinkos to make a bunch of copies for tonight’s presentation. But much of this work can be done less expensively by somebody else. If you’re spending time on this, you’re not spending time doing higher value tasks.

Simply put, you can’t build much of a business if you’re not willing to rely on other people. Find others to support the high quality – high paying! – work you do best and pretty soon you’ll also be spending money to make money.

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Freelancers Union SPARK Monthly Meet-ups

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Say... did you know that on the first Wednesday of every month the Freelancers Union hosts SPARK events in different cities across the nation?

A perfect mix of education and community, these events create opportunities for freelancers, consultants, solo professionals, and entrepreneurs to connect, share stories, and spark ideas. 

THE JILLS OF ALL TRADES™ sponsors the Madison SPARK events along with 100State, Grow Madison and the Freelancers Union. 

 

 

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