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It May Hurt, But Asking for Client Feedback is Essential
This guest post is brought to you by WePay – the easiest way to accept credit cards online. You like to think your business is pitch perfect – after all, who wants to think that the mighty ship they’re steering has a few leaks in it? You need to believe that the job you’re doing is the best you can possibly do, or you’ll start to doubt yourself.
However, there does come a point where believing you’re perfect can hurt your business. If a problem does come up, it can seem like it’s from nowhere, when really it’s been building up for quite some time. This can cause you to panic and do something rash.
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Freelancaversary 2013–What I Learned
So it’s my freelancaversary and I have to admit that feels good to be still here pounding the pavement and collecting checks about 12 years after I sold my first freelance piece. (Whoa, don’t get too excited there. I’ve only been freelancing full-time for something like six years.)
This year has been tough. (Seriously, I say that every year. But it’s always true. I guess the life of a freelancer is just tough, huh?) But as usual, I learned some stuff about myself and my career.
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7 Warning Signs a Client Won’t Pay
This guest post is brought to you by WePay – the easiest way to accept credit cards online. I’ve been stiffed by exactly three clients in my five years of freelancing, but the sad thing is that I probably could have avoided all three incidences if I’d listened to my instincts. Before you’re tempted to do what I did and let a client walk away with the money they owe you, look for these warning signs:
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The Cure for Self Doubt: Satisfaction Guaranteed
It seems like there is one thing all creative people have in common: that nagging feeling of self-loathing and doubt.
I’m sure you’ve felt it.
You send out a finished project to a client and wait to get a reply email with a raving review… only to get radio silence.
You start to wonder if that project you poured your heart and soul into wasn’t as good as you thought. Then maybe you have second thoughts about why you became a freelancer in the first place. That little voice in the back of your head tells you the reason for the silence is that your work just wasn’t good enough. The client hated it, but they didn’t want to hurt your feelings so they just found another freelancer for next time.
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Deja Vu
Recently, I started writing fiction again. (I know. I know. As if I need yet another thing to do.) Before I considered freelancing at all, I used to write fiction all the time in my spare time. Now I’m working on it again and it feels great. But it also feels like deja vu in a way. As I get more involved in the fiction writing process and the community, I see so many parallels to other experiences I’ve had when trying something new.
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Not What I Expected
Every year around this time, I start thinking about what I want the next year to be like. I’m a big believer in visualization. Some people think that means I sit around with my crystals fantasizing about the future. The truth is that I just believe that the first step to making anything happen is to be able to see it clearly in my head.
Last year I had big plans for 2012.
Most of them fell through.
When I tell people that, they get sad for me. Or they make that “Awwww” sound. (By the way, I hate that sound. It sounds like pity to me.) What they don’t understand is that I’m not all that disappointed about it. You can’t win them all. (more…)
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Freelancers Can Now Accept Payments Over the Phone
This guest post is brought to you by WePay, the easiest way to accept payments online. Sign up today for a free account and start accepting payments via phone right now! One of my former clients is dodging me right now. The l last I heard from him, a few months ago, he had every excuse in the book not to pay me. He’d closed his business checking account when the business failed, so he’d have to pay me from personal funds. Sure, he could use his sister’s PayPal, but he’d have to get the password. He couldn’t meet me to run a credit card through my Square reader because he’d moved when the business failed. Could I maybe take a credit card payment over the phone?
Of course not! That’s impossible. Why would I want to open a merchant account, pay an application fee, monthly fees and even – eventually – a termination fee, all for one client with a slew of excuses?
Except, wait. I totally could have if WePay Virtual Terminal had been around. (more…)
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Breaking Free of Mental Gridlock
A few weeks ago I took a three-day trip to Mississippi. While I was gone I left my pets with a local pet boarding facility (where they had a great time and barely missed me). When I picked them up the Monday I got back I was totally surprised by the number of cars on the road. It was about around 5:30 — I’d totally forgotten that rush hour even existed. (more…)
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Freelance and Zen of Marketing Karma
I don’t talk about it much but I’m not much of religion-y person. It may be that I just can’t find a place to fit in. I’m too much of a capitalist (and clothes wearer) to be a pagan most days. I’m often uninterested in what would Jesus (or Mohammed) would do. I’m not versed enough in guilt to try Judaism. And my temper is far too swift to try Buddhism and meat is still too tasty for me. So I guess if I had to say what I believe in, I’d say that I believe in the religion of Kindness–being as kind to the world as possible, starting with yourself and branching outward as far you can from there.
Oh, wait. I believe in Marketing Karma.
I’m not sure where I first heard of Marketing Karma. (I think it was somewhere in Peter Bowerman’s Well-Fed Writer but I’m not entirely sure.) Essentially, it’s the idea that if you market yourself or your business, you will get leads on new opportunities. The leads will not necessarily be a direct result of the marketing. You often will see no cause and effect. But by putting out into the universe that you want something and expending energy with that request, you will see a return in it.
I wrote about my belief in Marketing Karma for The Renegade Writer and if you’d like to hear more about it, click here.
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New Pen Drama
Reading the title of this post may make you think I’m a lunatic with no life. You’re wrong. I most definitely have a life. It’s just that I’m a writer.
If you get a group of writers in any room, dollars to donuts the conversation will turn to writing utensils at any moment. It’s in our blood. Chefs have their knives. Hunters have their guns. Writers have their pens. That’s not to say that the quickest way to a writer’s heart with a handful of pens. However, any writer you know has a pen preference. Just go ahead and ask a writer about their favorite pens. I’ll wait here. (more…)
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