šŸŖ Death of the cookie

Happy Friday! Welcome to 2024. This is the Freelance Gig, where we share news, tools, tips, and tricks to help grow your freelance business.

Mentioned in todayā€™s email: Google, XĀ Hiring, NYT, OpenAI, Microsoft, Windows, LinkedIn, and the cheapest places to live in 2024. Plus 3 client red flags to avoid, and how to unlock higher productivity with this paradigm shift.

Read time: 2 minutes and 19 seconds

Together with 5-Bullet Friday

Get 5 Cool Things From Tim Ferriss Every Friday

Tim Ferriss is one of our heroes.

His first book, The 4-Hour Work Week, introduced us to digital nomadism.

And weā€™ve been dedicated listeners of his podcast since it launched almost 10 years ago back in 2014.

But what you may not know is that he also writes a free newsletter called 5-Bullet Friday.

Every Friday, Tim shares his 5 favorite:

  • Quotes

  • Books

  • Articles

  • Products

  • Documentaries

  • YouTube videos

  • Etc

All in a short and punchy email you can read in just a few minutes.

Itā€™s a fun way to cap off the weekā€¦

With no risk of a hangover the next day.

If youā€™re into health, wealth, and self-improvement, then we think youā€™ll dig it.

Sign up for free below:

Making the Rounds

Working With Clients

Avoid These 3 Client Red Flags

One bad freelance client can make your life hell.

Here are 3 red flags to watch out for:

1) Previous bad experiences
2) Unrealistic demands about availability
3) They donā€™t pay on time

Donā€™t be afraid to enforce your boundaries.

No one else will do it for you.

POLL: Are you currently a digital nomad?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Working For Yourself

Unlock Higher Productivity With This Paradigm Shift

Forget time management.

Energy is the true constraint to productivity.

Here's how to manage your energy better:

- Write your to-do list the night before
- Put your phone on Do Not disturb
- Work in short bursts
- Go for a walk as soon as you hit a wall

All the free time in the world wonā€™t help you if you canā€™t focus.

Tool of the Week

Build a beautiful one-page portfolio site for free with Carrd

Studies show there are over 1.5 billion freelancers in the world.

Thereā€™s no shortage of competition.

This means youā€™ve got to seize every opportunity you can to stand out.

One easy way is to set up a portfolio website.

In the past, this meant signing up for hosting and learning how to use WordPress.

But not anymore.

Now you can use Carrd to create a beautiful one-page portfolio site for free.

Theyā€™ve got dozens of templates you can useā€¦

Or you can start with a blank slate to build your own.

Plus theyā€™re fast to load and highly responsive, so they look great across desktops, tablets, and mobile.

Hit the link below to learn more:

Bonus Points

šŸ¤Ā Networking: Build better relationships with the ā€œAdvice Triangleā€ (link)

šŸ’² Sales: Simple trick to turn ā€˜noā€™s into ā€˜yesā€™s (link)

šŸ’ÆĀ Retention: 7 rules for lifelong client relationships (link)

šŸš€ Careers: 3 mindset shifts to create the career of your dreams (link)Ā 

šŸ’ŖĀ Confidence: The importance of little moments in building confidence (link)