Freelancing 101
Using the Whole Chicken
For a short time when I was a kid, I used to eat chicken bones. Look, I took my membership in the Happy Plate Club seriously. I finished what was on my plate, including the bones. For a while, my mother could not figure out what was going on with my food and why there were never any bones on the plates. She thought I was giving them to the dog and told me to stop because it wasn’t good for him. I nodded sagely and said “Oh, don’t worry. Sam’s safe. I’m eating them.”
Read More5 Surprising Things I Do All The Time As A Freelancer
But, I have to admit that even freelancing part-time for many years didn’t prepare me for everything this life would be. I mistakenly believed that some parts of my work-for-someone-else life wouldn’t carry over to my freelance life. Don’t get me wrong: my freelance life is still better than my work-for-someone-else life. But some things have just taken on other incarnations. Here are a few examples:
Read MoreHalf A Year Playing with the Big Kids
I walked out of my full time job for the last time on August 15th, 2011. That means, as off later this month, I’ll have been freelancing full time for 6 months.
When I put in my notice at the magazine where I’d worked for the last 3 years as an associate editor, I didn’t have a single gig lined up—just a sparse handful of prospects and some experience from freelancing part time over the previous year. While resigning I managed to convince my old boss that he should let me continue contributing to the magazine as a columnist and by the time I left I was officially a contributing editor AND had gained a subcontracting job through him.
Read MoreStruggling with Specializing
I’m going to assume that this isn’t your first day freelancing and that you’ve read so many books and blogs and whatever about the subject that you could write your own book about what you already know. So I’m also assuming that you have been told at some point that you need to specialize.
Specializing positions you as an expert in that industry. It’s how you command the biggest rates. It’s how you get to the point where you’re doing less prospecting and more answering incoming inquiries from prospective clients. Once you’ve done some writing, you can get clients, and you have a feel of this business, it seems that the key to the next level is to specialize.
Read MoreMembership is Everything
Last night, I spent a few hours over at the Freelancers Union. I’ve been a member for what seems like forever but I recently started paying more attention to the events newsletters I get now that I’m back in NYC. Last night was one of the monthly member meetings and we worked on helping each other develop some branding phrases for our businesses. I felt like I had that covered when I walked in but when I walked out I had brainstormed some really great ideas for my website copy and the way I market myself to clients.
Read MoreSell Like a Pro or Fail Like a … Pro
Selling is fun. I could never actually understand why so many freelancers resent it so much. It allows you to see your business growing. It helps you to be busy. It brings cash to your bank (and who doesn’t like that?). Let’s face it, not matter what you might think, it is also the most important part of running a business. Without selling your freelance career will end with a bang louder than 4th of July fireworks.
Read More
