You and your Elance buyer seem to be a perfect match, and your project bid is on the verge of being accepted. But it’s not smooth sailing yet. What’s the easiest way to spoil what could otherwise be a great working relationship? Poor communication. While using a PMB is the perfect way to share ideas, clarify points, and create a history of your discussions with your client, the most successful freelancers also rely on a handful of documents to ensure...

Urban legends stick. A sticky idea is one that’s understood, remembered, and changes something—behavior, opinions, or beliefs. Legends like the “kidney thieves” tale seem to stick effortlessly. But it’s not just sleazy ideas that stick naturally, it’s also lots of valuable ideas: proverbs, fables, and scientific ideas, to name just a few. Unfortunately, most ideas don’t stick. Case in point: the last PowerPoint presentation you saw. So how do you make sure that your ideas stick? In our book Made to...

Analyst firm NelsonHall recently forecast that business process outsourcing (BPO) will grow to a $450 billion market by the year 2021. I’ve been noticing that small businesses are doing an increasing volume of outsourcing of project work and even certain parts of their business processes. It’s a strategy that helps you grow your business flexibly. You can increase your capacity and throughput, without adding fixed expenses that would be difficult to scale back. But being smart about outsourcing is crucial....