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SHOWING NEWS 391–400 OUT OF 687

BEST BOOKS OF 2021

Our top 3 books of the year:

• Genius Foods by Max Lugavere with Paul Grewal, MD
• How Innovation Works by Matt Ridley
• Factfulness by Hans, Ola & Anna Rosling

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KILLING IT WITH GOOGLE SHEETS

You use Google Sheets and cool features in there, right? Well if not, that’s another story. But if you do, browsing The Ultimate Google Sheets Toolkit will increase your knowledge quite a bit.

A growing collection of free tutorials includes many gems, such as 10 Google Sheets Tips You DON’T Want to Miss from our favorite Viennese expert Leila Gharani.

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GENIUS FOODS

If you are a creative or knowledge worker, Genius Foods is one of the most useful books out there to support your mental strength and performance.

Max Lugavere (with Paul Grewal, MD) did a superb job collecting the best science-based advice on long-term brain health. The subtitle says it all: Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive While Protecting Your Brain for Life.

Genius Foods is a true must-read for all life-hackers and hard-working freelancers out there, which also makes it the newest addition to our list of Great books for freelancers.

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TOP 10 HIGHLIGHTS OF 2021

It’s been a fantastic year for Freelancing.eu — the first complete one after our inception in May 2020. We have never looked back since, so here are the highlights:

1. Traffic from Google and other search engines soared by 375% year-on-year and continues to grow rapidly. We are already coming up in the 1st position on many relevant queries such as freelance europe, freelance eu, europe freelance jobs, etc.
2. The number of members in our open directory of European freelancers has increased from 26 to the current 100 year-on-year, with a membership renewal rate of 99%. Categories have been added and tags will be added over time.
3. Our website is visited by people from all over the world. The top 20 countries include the USA, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, China, India, Ireland and Portugal.
4. We have new members from all over Europe. Hardly a week goes by when we don't have a longer conversation with someone who has heard of us for the first time and is interested in joining. Building a community takes time; but the response to our work has already been great.
5. The number of subscribers to our newsletter has jumped 500% year-on-year. We are also reaching over 200,000 European freelancers each month on social media.
6. Our list of European platforms and resources for freelancers has grown to 371 entries. Most of the suggestions are sent to us by the founders or local freelancers.
7. As media partners, we have once again supported two of the biggest events for freelancers in Europe — European Freelancers Week and Freelance Business Month. We also hosted our first two Freelance Friends online events, and began releasing the edited talks on YouTube.
8. We closely monitor and analyse the development of the European freelance economy and new trends. You can find an up-to-date summary in Robert’s talk European Freelancers & Where to Find Them which has also been covered by NextConomy in Belgium and ZiPconomy (in Dutch). Across all channels, the 41-minute talk has gained over 100,000 views and counting.
9. Biggest aha-moment: Thanks to the response to our news and events, we realized that Freelancing.eu and the business of European freelancers is quite interesting for the rest of the world. One third of our newsletter subscribers are not from Europe and we had 333 freelancers from 37 countries (50 from the USA, 11 from Canada, 7 from Australia, etc.) signed up for our last Freelance Friends online event. Most people have an idea of how US freelancers do business, and content from the US turns up everywhere, right? European freelancers, on the other hand, are way harder to pin down and find due to language barriers. At the same time, however, they have an outstanding reputation globally as educated, top-notch experts with a very professional approach to their work. This makes them interesting for other freelancers, as well as for companies from all over the world, looking for partners for their European or global activities.
10. To sum up, we have moved from the idea of a community oriented solely to Europeans to building a European freelance community with a global reach. This is already reflected, for example, in the way we think about setting up member profiles, timing events, selecting news items or writing this newsletter. In short, we are exporting the European approach to freelancing, and presenting European freelancers to the whole world. Thank you for sharing the journey with us!

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WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE

If you want to watch something truly inspirational for the end of the year, Where'd You Go, Bernadette would be our top pick.

Based on a best-selling novel by Maria Semple, starring Cate Blanchett, and directed by the great Richard Linklater (Boyhood), the movie goes straight into the depth of what it means to be an original creator under the pressure of everyday life. Never mind the average rating of 6.5 on IMDb — this movie is a jewel and a must-watch for all ambitious freelancers out there!

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CREATIVE ASSETS VS. CAREER LADDER

“You are at a family gathering of some kind, and at a certain point, the conversation turns to you and your cousin George who’s a big success in the big city,” jokes Mark McGuinness about a situation familiar to many freelancers in a newly released clip Creative assets as an alternative to a career ladder from his talk.

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YEARCOMPASS

Yearly planning is quite important for many freelancers in terms of business strategy, healthy finance, and work-life balance. YearCompass is one the most popular tools for such outlooks. Available for free in 50 languages, with more than a million downloads since 2012, the YearCompass booklet has become a sort-of standard for individual yearly planning.

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FREELANCE BUSINESS BOOK

Get the new Freelance Business Book — for free! The 128-page publication, produced by Elina Jutelyte and co-written by 80 experts, covers the most important insights from Freelance Business Month online events as well as new exclusive materials for freelancers.

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VINTED

You don’t have to be a decluttering maniac à la Marie Kondo to appreciate getting rid of things. Selling some dusted stuff like worn clothes, shoes, toys, or books can generate pretty decent household income, not only for freelancers.

But where to sell? Here, the Vinted app (made in Europe) comes to the rescue — a very active marketplace for (mostly) second-hand items enables users to build their little piece or circular economy. We’ve been using the app for years, and it’s flawless! However, each country market within Vinted is different, so you need to try it yourself.

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10,000 VIEWS IN A WEEK

Our first-ever YouTube video Forget the career ladder, start creating assets released only a week ago has already gathered 10,000 views! Mark McGuinness has also featured it on his website.

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