Deb Bassett - Urbanwide

Going Solo - Conference for Freelancers

Update: watch Steph’s fabulous Going Solo vid here!

Going Solo looks like a fab conference to go to if you’re a freelancer or small business. It’s the first of it’s kind, and anything that helps fast-track your learning on the practical skills I certainly overlooked when first starting out as a freelancer has to be worth it’s salt.

So get yourself over to Lausanne in Switzerland (it’s near Geneva) on 16th May - there’s even a 10% discount for GeekUp members - enter GEEKUPSPC on registration! Also of note is the bring a friend discount which gives groups 10% off for 2 people, 15% for 3 people and so-on until you reach 25%.

Read on for a quick overview of what Going Solo offers you (lifted from the site):

skills a freelancer needs (doing the work, marketing and networking, contracts and cash flow)

fixing prices, closing deals, negotiating contracts (the hardcore businessy stuff)

what kind of work freelancers in the 2.0 world do (some jobs are more suitable for soloists than others)

marketing and taking care of one’s social capital (blogging… and being a good online citizen)

tools of the trade (what software/tools/methods can assist you as a freelancer?)

coworking and staying in touch with “colleagues” (compensating for “working alone” — we remain social animals)

challenges in making a passion into a job, dealing with the blurring of the life/work distinction

international clients, travel, different laws and tax rules, accounting

soloist or small business?

adapting to different kinds of clients (in particular, how do you deal with big corporations that you approach or who have approached you)

is there a market for what I’m doing?