Personal marketing is not something that most independent professionals claim to enjoy. I’ve heard everything from “it’s awkward” to “it’s hard” and I get it — it can take a lot of time, quite a bit of vulnerability and nonstop resilience.

Promoting yourself can be uncomfortable.

But it doesn’t have to be difficult.

With the right strategy and tools in place, your personal marketing can be amplified without having to spend extra time and effort to get the same results.

One powerful tool you can set up in just a few minutes is a landing page that calls for action.

Call it a website, call it a profile, a splash page— whatever you want. …

In today’s world, the word “online presence” gets thrown around in different contexts and can mean a variety of things — how active you are across social channels, how many profiles you have, what kind of reputation you have online, the list goes on.

At about.me, we like to think of your online presence as the way you present yourself online.

“How does someone perceive me based on what they find about me online?”

If a potential employer were to read through your tweets, would they have a good impression of you?

If a prospective client were to see your latest facebook post, would they have a good understanding of who you are and be compelled to work with you? …

Someone looking for the exact kind of thing you have to offer stumbles upon your page online. They’ve never heard of you, they’re not sure if you’re legit, or if they can trust you.

Then they see it — the words between two quotation marks, singing your praises. And that’s all they needed to be convinced that they want to work with you.

How do you get that kind of testimonial…the kind that is so well-written and persuasive, it could move mountains?

There’s more to it than a simple ask.

3 kinds of testimonial requests

There are 3 different ways to ask for a testimonial. I’m not talking about questions or direct phrases, I’m talking about three distinct strategies. …

We recently sent out an email to our users that contained a made-up testimonial.

It was purposefully generic and meant to be used as sample text when trying out a new Pro feature.

“[NAME] is a talented go-getter, always adding value. Throughout our lasting work relationship, [NAME] has brought professionalism, creativity, and optimism. Looking forward to continuing on a path of success with this stellar individual. A true team player! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐”

To our surprise, this email created quite a stir — some excitement, some anger, but mostly confusion.

The reason:

As we wrote it, we meant for it to be an over-the-top, buzzword-filled testimonial that no one would actually want to use. …

When you’re your own boss, number one employee, and right-hand-person, it’s sometimes hard to stay motivated.

It happens. It’s hard to self-motivate constantly, and as freeing as freelancing can be, keeping yourself on task (along with all of the other things you’re doing to run your own business) can be difficult in itself.

Happily, freelancing today is made much easier with apps to keep you on task, strengthen your focus, and keep you accountable. Here are a few apps that will keep that laser-like focus — okay, productive, human focused — while working on your own.

Try the Pomodoro Technique with Focus Keeper

If you haven’t heard of the Pomodoro technique, here’s quick overview: set a 25-minute timer for sprints of work, reward yourself with a quick 5-minute break, then go back to another sprint. Every few sprints, you reward yourself with a longer break. There are lots of ways to do this. You can set your own timer — the name for this technique comes from using a tomato-shaped oven timer — and keep the sprints yourself. You can also use the app Focus Keeper to track your sprints and just tell you when to take your breaks. It’s a good way to get into the groove of a project, especially if you’re having trouble just diving in. …

Taking the leap and working for yourself can be a daunting experience.

Where do you begin? What tools do you need (or not need) to get things going?

While my expertise as a business consultant is revenue growth and workflow science (basically how to increase income and decrease cost), my passion is to build tools for and to share best practices with those who want to work for themselves.

In the last year, I studied what successful, modern solo professionals — from insurance to beauty to design to IT to real estate and beyond — did to prepare for their first clients, and what they wish they didn’t spend as much time doing. …

Freelancing is much more than getting paid to do what you’re good at.

You’re also a marketer, business manager, and maybe even an accountant, all at the same time.

As a freelancer, you’re running the show. Knowing how to manage your time and money becomes even more important so that you can focus on what matters: your work.

But you can’t forget about all of the other (not-so-fun) stuff if you want to have a successful freelance business.

We want to help you get to the next level.

That’s why we’ve teamed up with AND CO, an invoicing, contracts, and payments app for freelancers and independent contractors to create a FREE all-encompassing guide for hacking your freelance business: Hacking Independence. …

Welcome to the glamourous life of being a founder — a life where you’re the first to be blamed and last to be paid, first in the office and last one out. It’s pretty amazing though isn’t it?

To help you out, here are three time management tips that can help you navigate the life of a first-time entrepreneur. Two of these tips are from hustle-gurus while the third is my own practice. Let’s get started!

Work Smarter Not Harder