Business Credit Cards

If you’re even a semi-regular reader of Bootstrapper, you’ve probably figured out that we don’t cover Freelancing here all that much. We recently published The 100 Tools Freelancers Can’t Live Without, and it forced me to the realization that there really is a connection between freelancing and entrepreneurship.

I’m a long time freelancer and also an entrepreneur. Freelancing is often a gateway towards entrepreneurship. Freelancers are used to working for themselves, and they’re familiar with the ebb and flow of income. So it can be a great stepping stone towards entrepreneurship. It teaches you a lot of facets about doing business but without the same kind of commitments or even hassles. (It has for me, but I’ve still got a lot to learn about entrepreneurship.)

If you’re a freelancer, or you find it a little less scary than treading into the entrepreneurship realm, check out Codswallop’s Freelancer’s Hyper-Drive: 131 Productivity Boosters for Email, Instant Messaging, Word, Excel and More. The article offers an enormous list of tools that can increase productivity for the areas of documents and communication.

There are also two great freelancing blogs to check out: FreelanceFolder and FreelanceSwitch. And if you’re looking for freelance writing and editing work, check out Freelance Writing Gigs.

If you’re wondering where the actual transition between freelancer and entrepreneur is, I have to say I’m not entirely sure. They could potentially involve other people in the equation, so hiring doesn’t define either. However, freelancers are perceived to “work for” clients and  entrepreneurs tend to have customers, along with shorter-term interactions. A freelancer is not an entrepreneur but might become one. On the other hand, I’m now hovering between both states.

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