There is a lot of great freelancing advice out there, both on this site and on many others. Anyone who wants to make it as a freelancer has many resources available to help them with what they need to know — everything from dealing with problem clients, to finding them in the first place, to organizing taxes and so on.

In fact, there is so much good advice about what you should be doing that I think it’s helpful to look in the opposite direction — at things that might be holding you back.

In this post, I’ve created a list of 5 big mistakes that could be holding you back from freelance success. Make a little progress with these, and your freelancing will see some definite improvement.

Let’s get started…

Mistake #1 — Not Making The Most Of Your Time

If you find yourself with plenty of spare hours each week and certainly aren’t stretched to get your freelancing tasks done, you’re one of few. For the rest of us however, we only get so much time here and there to ‘do what we do’ and we have to make the most of it.

I’ve been victim to the idea of leaving projects until the last minute and rushing around to get things done, but those days are long gone. You never know when a new project or opportunity is going to come up that will take up your time and if you’re still sitting on a backlog of other work (or other typical life surprises), you may not be able to seize the chance.

Set yourself a schedule for when you will work on your tasks and stick to it. It’s far better to get things out of the way early on then leave them till your last possible opportunity.

Mistake #2 — Holding Limiting Beliefs About Potential

This may sound stupid, but I’m sure some people can relate to my own situation. When I was 17 I was contacted by a large phone manufacturer to help promote their new website blog. They offered me a ton of money (especially for my age) to do the job and whilst I knew I was very capable for the task in hand, I started doubting my own abilities and whether or not I could keep them happy as a client.

Thankfully, things worked out well for me, but that situation still touched upon an important concept: know your worth, and don’t doubt your potential. Limiting beliefs about how much money you can make, how great your finished projects can be and how many clients you can keep a hold of serve you no positive benefits whatsoever.

Limiting beliefs are called limiting for a reason.

Mistake #3 — Casting Your Net Too Wide

I’ve already wrote about this in full detail on another post, but I still think it deserves to be mentioned here. Too many people suffer from the idea that the more they do of this and the more they have of that, the more money and success they can achieve.

Logically, it might make sense, but in theory, it’s not always the best route to take. I had a lot more success in getting clients and making money when I narrowed the services I offered but became a known expert on what I did offer. I narrowed my audience when doing this, but took a bigger share of the market that is out there. Before you start going ‘gung-ho’ for every possible client and service out there, scale back and see how things work out.

Mistake #4 — Always Looking for Shortcuts

I have a friend who runs a very popular blog (where he outsources the writing) which makes him thousands of dollars and a very liveable income each month. The thing is, in looking to grow the blog, he spends absolutely zero time following the fundamentals he used to build the blog in the first place, and spends a lot of his time reading autobiographies of successful people and looking for some ‘trick’ he’s missing.

I’m not saying reading about the success of others’ is bad, but sometimes to take your client base or income to the next level, you just need to keep doing what you’ve been doing. If there are shortcuts which won’t falter the quality of your work then sure, try them, but if you’re looking for ‘tricks’ and ’secrets’ out of laziness, you’re going to find yourself taking an even longer journey than before.

Mistake #5 — Not Measuring What is Working

Just like it’s possible you may be casting your net too wide and still missing all the fish, there’s also a good chance you’re spending time on things which don’t benefit you at all. Possible examples of this could be writing blog posts, commenting on other sites, participating in forums and battling for jobs on freelance marketplaces.

Some of these might be working and the first three will be great if you’re trying to get your name or brand out there, but how many are really converting into clients? Take some time aside one day to look at the people who are paying for your services and see if you can work out where they found you. If you can’t, it doesn’t hurt to ask. It’s possible that only one or two main areas are sending you clients but you’re spending equal time in five.

If that is the case, now you know where to change.

These are just some of the common factors I know have held me back in the past, what others do you know?

Article from: freelancefolder.com

About the author: Glen Allsopp writes on the subject of Personal Development at PluginID. His aim is to help you ‘Plug into your Identity’ and reach your full potential.

Earlier this week, we heard rumblings that Bryan Singer may be closing in on a deal to direct a BATTLESTAR GALACTICA feature film.

This would not be an adaptation of the recently concluded SyFy series, but an alternate interpretation of Glen A. Larson’s source material.

Variety has now confirmed Singer’s attachment, offering a touch more detail:

Universal Pictures has set Bryan Singer to direct and produce a feature version of “Battlestar Galactica,” confirming a report on the Hitfix website.

The development is something of a surprise because the most prevailing rumor had Singer flirting with the idea of returning to the X-Men series by taking the reins of “X-Men: First Class,” which focuses on the younger mutant characters seen fleetingly at the Xavier Institute of Higher Learning. “Gossip Girl” creator Josh Schwartz wrote the first draft of that script.

“Battlestar Galactica” appears to be on a fast track and sources said that Singer could be looking at a $10 million paycheck to sign on to the film.

…says Mike Fleming over at Variety.

Also, a tip of the hat to Fleming/Variety for actually noting that an Internet movie site broke the news that is being confirmed (HitFix in this case). Hopefully this will be the dawn of a bold new age…

According to Aint It Cool News, this is the crippled human hanging out with the 12-foot-tall alien clone body his mind will inhabit and control.

Source:Variety

August 12, 2009

AMC is close to finalizing one of the richest development deals ever with Frank Darabont to write and direct a series adaptation of the Image Comics graphic novel series “The Walking Dead,” written by Robert Kirkman.

Variety says that Gale Anne Hurd of Valhalla Motion Pictures and David Alpert of Circle of Confusion are also on board to executive produce.

The story is set among a group of zombie survivors of an apocalypse who are led by a police officer, Rick Grimes, in search of a safe place to live.

AMC Senior Vice President of Programming Joel Stillerman said the series will stay faithful to the tone of the original novels. “This is not about zombies popping out of closets. This is a story about survival, and the dynamics of what happens when a group is forced to survive under these circumstances. The world (in ‘Walking Dead’) is portrayed in a smart, sophisticated way.”

James Vanderbilt to pen upcoming sequels

By MICHAEL FLEMING

As Sony Pictures Entertainment preps a fourth installment of “Spider-Man” to begin production early next year, the studio has quietly engaged screenwriter James Vanderbilt to pen “Spider-Man 5″ and “Spider-Man 6.”

Vanderbilt was the first writer on “Spider-Man 4.” Director Sam Raimi brought on “Rabbit Hole” playwright David Lindsay-Abaire to rewrite him, and Gary Ross is now rewriting that script. The studio is enthusiastic about where it stands as the picture begins prepping for an early 2010 production start for a May 2011 release.

Raimi didn’t embrace all of Vanderbilt’s ideas, but execs at Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios have. Vanderbilt has been hired to pen the fifth and sixth movies, which have an interconnected storyline. That’s what was originally discussed when Vanderbilt signed on to write “Spider-Man 4,” but the idea of shooting a fourth and fifth film back to back with the original cast was scrapped.

Sources said it was unclear whether Raimi, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst will be back. If they aren’t, Vanderbilt’s script would be the blueprint for a franchise reboot. After committing to his fourth “Spider-Man” film, Raimi signed on to direct a new franchise based on the massively multiplayer role-playing online computer game “World of Warcraft” for Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Maguire and Dunst were locked into the first three pictures and made a new deal for “Spider-Man 4.” It’s unclear how long they want to continue with the series.

Then again, Raimi was initially doubtful for “Spider-Man 4″ because he expected to direct “The Hobbit,” but returned after Guillermo del Toro got the job.

Why is Vanderbilt writing when so many variables are undecided?

The most important thing is for Sony to prime the “Spider-Man” pump more frequently. The lapse between films has grown with each blockbuster. The second film came only two years after the first, but it took three years for a third installment, and four years will have passed when “Spider-Man 4″ opens in summer 2011.

Sony Pictures toppers Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton may well have a new franchise following last weekend’s strong opening of “District 9.” And after “Angels and Demons” grossed some $500 million worldwide, they will certainly move forward and extend the “Da Vinci Code” franchise with an adaptation of Dan Brown’s fall publishing release, “The Lost Symbol.” But “Spider-Man” remains the studio’s most important film franchise, and Sony doesn’t want to wait half a decade for the next outing.

While the “Spider-Man” movie business is booming, Sony has widenedits footprint on the franchise and become one of the investors in the Broadway musical version of the webslinger; the “Spider-Man, Turn off the Dark” tuner recently experienced a funding hiccup on the way to a planned March premiere.

Although there’s been speculation that the show, which will cost upward of $35 million to produce, may not get off the ground, the project is too important to the “Spider-Man” partners to be tabled, sources said. The musical has “The Lion King” director Julie Taymor and songs by U2′s Bono and the Edge.

Vanderbilt’s most recent script credits are the Sylvain White-directed “The Losers” for Warner Bros. and David Fincher’s “Zodiac.”

He’s repped by WME and Fuse Entertainment.

Read this great article from sohtanaka.

I have been reading more and more about jQuery for the last 3 months. It’s insane all the things you can do with it. I’ll admit it’s kinda scaring me since I have no experience with javascript at all, but slowly but surely I am getting there. This article helped a ton and there are some great bits of info throughout this whole site.

Learn more here

After seeing this character perform at a karaoke bar last weekend, I did a little research and got a hot tip about him making an appearance in Whittier. I can’t believe I witnessed this! The guy is everywhere. Who is Doobie McDonald? So far I’ve seen him at the bars, the beach, and now at a City Council meeting.

We went to Li’s for karaoke night and check it out, it’s Doobie again.

Who is this guy? He’s all over the place.