If you run your own business, this line will sound familiar: “I heard of an entrepreneur who used [insert social media platform here: Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn] and got a heap of new business. You should try doing that!”

Indeed, social networking applications are widely celebrated and deemed full of promise to be powerful, even essential business tools. But that doesn’t help you justify the time you spent on it if it doesn’t perform well for you. Busy freelancers need to know: can you really get new clients through social media, or is it just a timesuck?

After chatting with numerous folks who run their own biz, it seems to depend on multiple factors. Many entrepreneurs have reported being successful in finding new clients through social media platforms. The bad news is that these results are not instantaneous, may never happen and may not even be easily measurable even if it does happen. Here are some of the findings:

Getting results

Most results are anecdotal, and finding entrepreneurs who can definitely say they’ve acquired new business because of their social media marketing efforts are difficult to find, says Greg Weatherdon, small business advisor and president of MRG Media. Greg uses social media not to attract new business but to reinforce his own website.

“What my experience has shown me is that it, depending how you use it, it can be an effective tool in creating and sustaining credibility and awareness,” Weatherdon says. It’s one (free) tool to use in marketing a business and making it successful. According to Weatherdon, the biggest advantage [of social media] is in the speed of communication and the ability to tailor marketing messages to the audience.
Freelance graphic designer Jason Das uses social media for similar reasons: to keep himself out there and engaged in conversations with others in the industry. “When you rely on close-knit sources that you’ve pulled together, you make your decisions easier” explains Das.

Being found with social media

Internet marketing strategist Sue Sutcliffe is a social media power user who signs deals every week that she wouldn’t have otherwise found without a social media strategy. “I have no doubt that it is doable because it works for me,” says Sutcliffe. Much of her business gained through social media comes through LinkedIn, but Sutcliffe finds that she signs one deal a week because of Facebook. Sutcliffe even helps other entrepreneurs learn to use social media marketing for their own businesses.

One of those people who learned from Sutcliffe is Heather M. O’Connor, a writer who used Twitter to build a social media network of about 2,000 people. O’Connor has connected and networked with agents, authors and publishers, and she succeeded in getting new business as a journalist.

Michelle Warren, a leadership coach and president of MW Research & Consulting, uses both Twitter and LinkedIn for business (and to a lesser extent Facebook). She views it mostly as marketing, but new clients have found her by way of LinkedIn. “I look at Twitter as an awareness piece. Social media’s a conversation. It’s having an online conversation with prospective clients, existing clients, colleagues, anybody within your network,” Warren said.

Finding new business

Although most examples of success in social media marketing is in driving site traffic or in entrepreneurs positioning themselves as experts, there are cases where freelancers have come into new business directly because of sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (although LinkedIn is the most likely place to find new business).

John Kewley, a freelance creative director and writer, was found by a business who searched LinkedIn using the keyword phrase “freelance web writer.” The business found a writer that suited their needs, and Kewley found a new client.

Paul Lima, a freelance writer and business writing trainer, has a website, a blog and profiles on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Most requests for proposals or quotes come from his static website, but how potential clients got there varies; and many of them came from one of his social media profiles.

“I have landed a couple of writing gigs and a training gig in part because of social media. People have, of course, gone to my website to check me out and they’ve asked for proposals from me, but that’s standard business practice. Also I’ve tweeted and posted messages on Facebook about blog posts related to my books and have sold books that way,” Lima said.

Whether it’s a static website or a blog, there seems to be a consensus that you need a web presence of some sort to direct people to if you want them to find you quickly and stay top of mind. If you’re going to focus on one particular social media tool, LinkedIn seems to be it, which makes sense. That’s where the professionals are, and they’re there to make business contacts and network.

Measure success by asking new (or potential) clients how they found you. When someone finally says “through your social media profile,” then you’ll finally have the proof that all your efforts are generating new business.

It’s a common situation with no easy resolution: your original quote for a project was woefully low compared with the amount of work that ended up being involved. What went wrong? Perhaps the client’s needs changed or the second draft bombed or maybe you ran into some tech glitches that caused delays. Regardless the reason, you now have a heap of revisions on your plate and need to change the terms to ensure you get paid for your extra time.

In certain cases it might make the most sense to simply take the financial hit and finish the job for the original price. But sometimes – like when the project threatens to eat up too much time you’ve already set aside for other clients – freelancers face difficult conversations with the customer: a negotiation for more money. We asked a handful of pro negotiators (freelancers, writers, web designers and consultants) for their perspective on how to get through that tough talk :

1. Establish clear parameters

Try to establish parameters around revisions and redevelopments from the get-go. Put plenty of effort into developing the contract and the scope of work at the beginning of the project and you’ll find yourself in a better position to request more money should it come to that. Ask yourself: how many major rewrites are you willing to offer the client for the price quoted? How many times would you be able to redevelop the customer’s website given the pay involved? Your goal is to come to an agreement with the customer for a certain amount of work for a certain price. And if you and the customer agree to the terms of the project – and if the scope of work does change – the original contract will help reinforce your request.

2. Know when to speak up

Patrick Côté, head of web design company Transformer Studio, said it’s no good waiting until the end of the project to mention that the customer could be dinged for 20 per cent more than expected. That’s no way to impress a client. If the job is sliding away from the original quote, it’s best to bring it up with the customer as soon as possible, to avoid confronting the client with a nasty surprise (read: your invoice) when all is said and done.

3. Expect feedback

Your client will almost definitely come back to you with feedback after reviewing your new price. That said, your client might also place complete trust in you that your final invoice will accurately reflect your work. Web consultant Chris Wightman told us that the team he was supporting on a particular project decided to tack an extra 15 per cent onto the invoice – without talking to the customer first – because the scope of the project grew over time. The client paid the full amount with no questions asked but Wightman said he was surprised that the customer didn’t balk. This is hardly the norm, so in general it’s best to keep communication open and flowing.

4. Trust your judgment

Freelance writer Sherry McPhail said she always charges by the hour, making it easier to charge according to the exact amount of time involved. But she also said that sometimes she knocks an hour or two off the invoice, particularly for returning customers when the project takes a bit longer than expected.

Côté said that he’s heard of others using estimates instead of locking in the price of the project at the beginning to give designers some flexibility if the project balloons out of scope. He pointed out that it could be difficult to get clients to agree to a flexible pay structure, and even if you have that flexibility, are you really free to explore it? A bill that’s some 50 per cent above the estimate probably wouldn’t make the client all that happy.

All in all, it seems best to work with the customer in the beginning on a contract or scope of work that both sides are comfortable signing. Then if the project changes or the amount of work required increases significantly, you’ll have a common starting point for a conversation about the changes happening with the project and the fair compensation required for moving forward.

Invoicing is one of those elements of running a business that freelancers either like or hate. It’s either a task that one can take some delight in (knowing payment will soon be on its way) or it can feel like a chore that is subject to procrastination (not that we’d ever admit to such a thing).

Invoicing doesn’t have to be painful, though, and even if you enjoy your time invoicing, there are a few things you can do to make your life easier.

1. Set aside the time

If you find yourself doing laundry or playing Farmville when you should be generating and sending out invoices to clients, then your procrastination is affecting a basic operation of your business. We’re all guilty of it. I’ve found several times at the end of the month that I have several invoices to prepare, some of which should have been sent out weeks prior, but Mario Kart comes a-callin’. Avoid the temptation to put invoicing off for another day. Instead, work invoicing into your regular business schedule and keep to that schedule. Set aside time once a week, every other week or once a month (whatever makes sense for your business) to do invoicing – and then do it.

2. Know your tax laws

Tax laws vary by country, state/province and municipality. If you’re new to being a small business owner, then find out what taxes you need to charge, what registrations you need in order to charge tax, and make sure you don’t forget to put the tax and any required information (like a business registration number) on your invoice. If you’re required to collect tax, you’re required to pay it (whether you’ve remembered to charge your clients or not). If charging tax is not necessary but still an option, doing so will make you look more professional (and maybe more legitimate) in the eyes of your clients.

3. Use a numbering system

Adopt a simple numbering system to keep track of your invoices, and then be consistent with it. This will make it easier to track and organize your invoices for accounting purposes at a later date. This will also be helpful if you ever face an audit, as you can account for all your invoices. I keep my numbering system simple, starting with the year and followed by a three-digit number that counts up with each successive invoice (i.e. 2011-001, 2011-002, and so on). If you prefer not to let your clients know how many invoices you’ve sent out, then feel free to start your numbering scheme at something besides 001 (say, 042, the answer to life, the universe and everything).

4. Don’t fire and forget

Successful payment lifecycle management requires attention to detail and, no matter how much you may dislike doing it, following up on unpaid invoices at regular intervals is necessary to ensure you get paid on a timely basis. As with a lot of freelance writers, my forte is in creating compelling content, not in bookkeeping, new business generation or accounting, but every job has things you don’t like. Following up on unpaid invoices (at appropriate times, of course; don’t start bugging your client the day after – at least, not if you want to keep that client) is necessary to being an entrepreneur.

5. Thank people for their business

It seems like such a minor detail, but writing “thank you for your business” at the bottom of your invoice is a nice personal touch that demonstrates to clients that you really do care for their business. At the very least, it shows that you’re a nice, polite person they’ve been doing business with, and it’s no secret that people like to do business with people they like. So be likeable.

6. Check for errors

If you’re using invoicing software, then you shouldn’t have to worry about any foul-ups in the math, but it doesn’t hurt to make sure all the math adds up and that all the decimal points are in the right place. I heard one story recently where a small business owner slipped up on his math and ended up neglecting to charge a client tax on services provided. That uncharged tax ended up coming out of his pocket. Don’t let it happen to you. Invoicing software can all but eliminate accounting headaches, but there’s no cure for data entry user error.

7. Payment options

There are a plethora of payment options available. Although a lot of freelancers still deal exclusively in checks, technological evolution now allows us to take PayPal (with or without credit cards), debit payments via email and other payment options. I’m old-fashioned, in that I prefer to deal in checks, but as more clients demand electronic means to make payment, I’ve bowed to pressure and started using PayPal (and quietly grumbling to myself about having to fork out PayPal fees). Outline what payment options you can (or are willing) to accept on your invoices so clients know what their options are (at least it saves a phone call and time if the options are obvious).

A few simple invoicing tips when I first started my freelance business would have saved me a lot of time and stress. Thankfully the days of tracking my invoices using a black book of lined paper and a ballpoint pen are over.

Enjoy the results of being organized

Freelancers can get caught up in the operation of their businesses and put off strategic goal setting. But even when business is looking up or you’re just starting out, the experts advise this isn’t actually something that can wait. Every freelancer should have a list of clearly defined business goals, even if it’s just making enough money to pay the bills.

Why are business goals important?

As Michelle Warren, a leadership coach who works with several entrepreneurs and freelancers, puts it, “If you don’t set goals, how do you know what you’re doing?”

Many small business owners have articulated a business plan of some kind for legal or technical purposes (such as for business loans etc.). For others, however, no such complex goal setting seems required. Yet according to Warren, having a list of goals from the outset actually provides important focus and a reason for self-employed individuals to rise and shine every morning. Indeed, entrepreneur Eartha Haines writes that business goals are critical for entrepreneurs to know what they have to focus on in order to succeed.

What kinds of goals should you set?

Every entrepreneur has (or should have) a goal related to income, even if it’s solely to help create a personal budget. As time progresses, additional goals may get added but even if the only goal a freelancer ever has is related to income, that’s okay according to Warren. Her advice: “Goals can be the big picture look of what you’d like to achieve and why you’re doing what you’re doing. I recommend brainstorming a list out first for the individual and then working with somebody, be it a mentor, be it a coach, be it a trusted friend or advisor, be it a spouse, somebody you can trust and somebody’s opinion you value and somebody who will really challenge you on your goals.” Too true: the third party can ask specific questions to make sure the goals you’ve written down are really the goals you’re trying to accomplish.

Setting goals with MARC

The world is full of acronyms, and here’s another one to help with setting goals: MARC. MARC refers to a technique that stands for Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Controllable. Basically, when setting a goal, it should match the MARC set of principles.
Here’s how it works: The goal should be clear so it can’t be misinterpreted down the road (measurable). It should be possible to complete the goal at some point (achievable). It should be doable based on your skills and talents (realistic). And it should be something you have influence over (controllable).
Goals can be simple or complex, few or plentiful in number, but they should always match up with the MARC principle. Some typical goals for freelancers might be:
• Earn $100000 per year in revenue
• Become the trusted advisor in my chosen field
• Expand my business into a new vertical market

Keep your goals handy

Putting your goals down in writing will allow you to pull them out and reread them when you need to remind yourself of your focus. Tack your list to your corkboard, your fridge, type into a document and store it on your laptop, make it your PC’s desktop background – whatever you do, write them down and store them somewhere that’s easily accessible (and then access them).

Every so often, revisit your goals to see how you’re progressing and to remind yourself of where you’re headed. And don’t forget that you can generate new business goals for yourself or modify the ones you have. What goals have helped you stay focused along the way?

I wanted to share this story with everyone as to why you shouldn’t be doing your own marketing.

Recently a client hired us to do some email marketing…and suddenly they fell off the face of the earth…that’s not a true story.

The case in point here is that we offered to help them get some traction with their Facebook Fan page as an added bonus.  We took the message from the email marketing we were doing and translated the message into a few Facebook Posts on their page.  This was designed to engage their fans (customers) and get some feedback and input on the posts.

After the client fell off the face of the earth (okay…they decided not to move ahead with the email marketing project) they denied us access to the Facebook page.  We completely understood this, however, the posts we had made on the Facebook page got a couple of fans to respond and ask additional questions.

A few days later these questions had not been responded to.

So being the type of company we are, we emailed the client just to give them a heads up that there was a post that needed responding to.  And a week later…nothing.  They haven’t even bothered to make a quick comment replying to their fan / potential customer.

How do you think this Facebook Fan is viewing the company?

The lesson here is not to start trying to use Facebook or other marketing tools if you can not manage them effectively.

So, why should you care?  Because, if you don’t care to manage your business, why would your customers care to spend their hard earned money there?

They pay far too much for deliverables such as website design, website hosting, logo and corporate identity etc

The problem is that these businesses just do not know where to source the right vendors or what is a reasonable price.

The example that got me thinking about this was the shoe store that spent over 3,000 for basically a 1 page website with a flash slider and an email sign up form that didn’t work.

The solution? Hire a good marketing adviser, spend money on a few hours consulting and get them to tell you what is market value for these items and where to get the most affordable rates.

Got questions or comments on this topic? Leave a comment below or LIKE us on Facebook to discuss.

Now of course this depends on what you are getting and the type of website you have and what other services are bundled with your hosting. For the majority of small businesses you should be able to get by with a hosting plan that costs less than $5 per month and will include a couple of free email addresses.

The mistake most small businesses make is paying the company that did their initial webs design to host the site as well. What these companies generally do is purchase the hosting at the $5 rate and mark it up to $35 to $50 per month.

If you have more questions on this topic leave us a comment below and one of our staff will reply

You may be asking the questions…what is social media? Why should I be using it? Do I really even need it?

Our answer is YES!  Even our dog Spot thinks so too! 

So, here’s the thing! You as a business owner jump on the social media band wagon and create your accounts, whether it be Twitter or Facebook.  And then….you do nothing.

Great job??? Not really…

Many Canadian companies have social media accounts but most of them are not using their accounts properly.  After creating the account, if you even created a proper account, you need to post information there.  Now here’s the kicker…you have to engage in conversation, monitor what people are saying, inform people of what you’ve go going on!

Still think this is a waste of time?

* In July 2011 Facebook reached more than 750 million active users
* 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
* The average Facebook user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events
* Twitter averages over 155,000,000 Tweets per day
* There are 200,000,000+ registered users of Twitter

Still not convinced?

* YOUR customers use social media
* YOUR competitors use social media
* Social media is accessible to your customers ALL day long

The smart companies are using social media, and they use it effectively.

Is your company smart?

Ever hear this statement from someone?

I wish I could win the lottery. (I confess, I am one of these whiners…)  Okay, now here is the reality check!  Have you bought the ticket you plan on winning from?  Have you ever bought a ticket?  Well….really…

You might as well walk home with your tail between your legs! Dream big or go home!  Stop wishing and start doing!  Go get that ticket, and go get it NOW!

How do you plan to succeed if you don’t do?

This above example relates back to your small business.  You wish your business would do better.  You wish you had more traffic.  You wish your sale numbers would increase.  You wish more people knew about your business. You wish, you wish, you wish…

Listen here and listen carefully.  Your small business won’t do, if you do not do!  Does that make sense?  It should!

You wish your business would do better! Really, what are you doing to get more business?  Sitting and waiting for your next client?  You should be bringing them to you!  Market to them, get your name out there!

You wish you had more traffic!! Are you doing anything to get more traffic?  Does anyone even know you exist?  To get more traffic, you need to market yourself, get your name out there.  Do more to get the traffic you need to get your business to do better.

You wish your sale numbers would increase!!! Are you promoting yourself?  What are you doing?  What do you expect from what you are doing?  Are your current goals unattainable just because of what you are doing?  OR…do you even know what you are doing?

You wish more people knew about your business!!!! Part of marketing is to just get your name out there.  What are you doing to get people to think of you?  If you tell us you are doing nothing, we’ll tell you no wonder you have no traffic, no wonder your sale numbers are poor!  You know your business, BUT…do you know marketing?

WE DO…http://www.facebook.com/redspotmarketing