When people ask me how I became a writer, it eventually goes back to laying in my bunk bed with my father learning to read using J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings (yes, that’s really what he used to teach me to read).

However being a professional writer comes down to our ability to exchange words on a page for dollars in our bank accounts. Or, in the words of A. A. Milne, “Almost anyone can be an author; the business is to collect money and fame from this state of being.”

There’s nothing like moving three times in 8 months to make you super aware of how important that bottom line is.

Before leaving my job in August I had amassed a solid savings—enough to cover the first six months, as all the freelancing books out there tell you. Then I moved from NYC to the Suburbs for a brief stay with my parents. From there, I hauled myself and a minimal amount of my stuff to my grandmother’s house in North Carolina so that I could apartment hunt four hours away in Charleston, S.C. I stayed there six months before my latest move to Raleigh, NC (where I’ll hopefully be for the next 2 years).

Not only is moving expensive, it makes it really hard to get into a regular schedule and keep all of my financial ducks in a row. Moving meant changing banks, changing bills, changing the address on my invoices… each of which held up various payments and added hoops I had to jump through if I wanted to make ends meet.

There have been a few close calls, but there are three things that have kept me sane:

1) Letting clients know my new address
Each time I’ve moved, I make sure to send any clients whose projects I’m currently working on a note letting them know; then I include another note with their invoice, reminding them that I have a new address AND list that new address on the invoice itself. Despite this, I’ve still had checks go to the wrong address, which is why I set up mail forwarding with the post office. The checks took a bit longer to get to me, but they eventually made it.

2) Keeping a list of what bills I have at any given point
Just knowing what I owe, to whom and when it’s due gives me what I need to have in my account by when. I wish I could say nothing has ever slipped through the cracks, but because I was moving sometimes my paper bills wouldn’t catch up with me until after they were due.

It wasn’t until I completely forgot about one of my credit card bills that I realized how important it really was to keep a list and make sure everything was on it—even the bills I didn’t think I’d forget, because I’d been paying them every month for years.

Creating the list has another benefit: it forces you to go through your bills, and you can decide if there’s anything that you could really do without.

3) Knowing the minimum I have to make each month
It’s nice to have goals—most of us probably have a figure we want to make in a given month, even if it’s only in our heads—but it’s just as important to know what you absolutely have to make just to stay solvent.

It’s also good to know which bills you have some leeway on (ex. I have the option of putting my student loans in forbearance, so that I don’t have to make payments for a month or two) and which have to be paid, on time, every time.

4) Tracking expected pay dates
I keep a excel document of invoices and when I reasonable expect to receive each payment. I try to assume payments will take longer than they actually will, so the figures are mostly a ballpark idea of what I’ll be making in any given month.

I try to keep each month’s income enough to pay the next month’s bills—so the money I’m making in May will pay for my bills in June. Looking this over a few times during the month also lets me know if I need to send out a reminder email to a client who is over due and I can see at a glance exactly how much money each person owes me.

Melissa Breau

Melissa Breau spent the last three years as an editor at a magazine but in 2011 decided to launch full speed ahead into the freelance life. She currently offers copywriting for small businesses and professional editing for authors, as well as blog posts on each of the above, over at melissabreau.com.

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Obviously, I’m not still eating bones so I must have taken her instruction “Stop eating these bones, you crazy, crazy girl before you choke and die and I have to give all your toys to your brothers” to heart. In fact, I don’t even like chicken that much these days. I feel like it’s the only meat that holds a grudge. (Why I feel this way is entirely too long to talk about here. If you really would like to discuss why chickens are such grudge holders, we can tweet about it if you want.)

There’s this idea that when Native American cultures kill an animal for meat, they also use the entire animal for other things, like tools and shelter. I’ve heard some people refer to it as “using the whole pig.” I have no idea how true that is but I like the idea of it. Maybe it’s a throwback to my old chicken bone eating days. Being efficient and using every bit of what I have appeals to me in many ways.

Including my freelance career.

As small business owners, our tools are limited. That’s not a bad thing actually. You don’t need a bunch of gadgets or money to do well in freelancing. But you do have to do more with what you have. Sometimes that means using the whole pig chicken.

What does that mean? Well, one really easy example is the referral and testimonial process. When I was done with my client projects, I used to just get paid and do a fist pump. I wasn’t using everything I had. It was years later that I started sending one final email asking if they knew of any other businesses or people who might need my services and could they describe the experience for my testimonial page.

Lately, I’ve taken to contacting businesses that follow me on Twitter for work. I’m assuming a lot of them are following me because they’re using some follow back app or my tweets included a keyword they were interested in. It not a cold email because I start off with “Hey I noticed you followed me on Twitter so. . .”

Another new way I’m using all the resources available to me is paying attention to all the indie publications I’m running into around New York. There are tons of little monthly or twice a year publications that people give out free on the street or sell for a couple of bucks in stores. So I email them and offer my services. I also take those flyers and postcards for events that you see lying in stacks in public spaces and pay attention to what they’re advertising. Often they’re events and businesses who could use a good marketing writer.

Once you start thinking about it, the list goes on and on. If you do the research for one article in one magazine, you can use leftover information or quotes to find a new angle and pitch it to another publication. Or maybe you can use a regular newsletter or email campaign to keep up with existing and past clients so you’re mining your current resources. Or the next time you write something that doesn’t seem right for your own blog, send it out for a possible guest post on a site that does have the right audience.

I don’t want to lie to you guys. Sometimes, this stuff doesn’t work. Sometimes I’m just eating the bones again. But, sometimes it does and the effort isn’t much more than an email here or there. I just remember that freelancing isn’t easy. And if I’m going to take the trouble of going out there to kill chicken or pig or wolf or whatever–I’ve gotten a little lost in my metaphors at this point–I might as well use as much as I can.

Princess Jones

Princess Jones is the evil genius behind Diary of a Mad Freelancer and P.S. Jones Communications. She blogs about freelance life, copywriting and being self-employed. She can usually be found tweeting away or rambling over on Google Plus.

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Sometimes I randomly blurt out that I’m in my late 30s for no other reason than that I like the sound of 37. Then I have to backtrack and explain that I am obviously crazy because I am lying about how old I am. I’ve always been an old soul and I can’t wait until the outside matches the inside. Also, I really, really want silver or white hair because it looks cool.

Let me tell you some of perks I expect to have when I get old enough to be old:

• I will be able to sit down or walk slow all the time without people complaining. And if all the seats are taken, people will give them to me. And if they don’t, I can stand over them and look old until they get up.
• I will never, ever hear “When are you going to have some kids?” They will assume I do have kids who are grown and living on their own or that if I don’t that I had some terrible accident where my vagina fell off. Either way they won’t ask me about it.
• I can get discounts anywhere even if there is no senior citizen discount because I plan to be one of those old people that will complain until you give them 10 percent off anyway.
• No one will interrupt my stories because they never know when I might die so whatever I’m saying is important.
• Most people will be too polite to disagree with me.
• No one will expect me to carry anything.
• White hair is cool. Hopefully mine will be long so I can look like Storm and pretend to be one of the X-Men.
• I can get in one of those motorized chair things in Target and no one will ask questions. I might even drive one down the street like I see these old guys doing all the time. I’ll pretend I’m a car and make illegal left hand turns. If I get a ticket, I’ll be too old to go to jail for not paying it.
• I will be old enough to know better…about everything.

Let me tell you something I almost never think about when I’m daydreaming of being old:

How I’m going to pay my bills when I’m too old to work the way I work right now.

All of us are going to get old and die. But before we die, we will get to the point where we can’t work the way we work right now. If you’re like me, you think of retirement as something that rich people do when they’re tired of working. I don’t have any real life examples of retirement. My parents are only in their 50s. My grandparents are all dead except one and he still works. I used to watch Golden Girls. Oh and I knew Miss Lil.

Let me tell you about Miss Lil:

When I was a 20 year old college student one of my jobs was at a failing Shoneys in Baton Rouge, LA. One of my coworkers was a lovely woman by the name of Lillian (or “Miss Lil” as we called her). She was in her late sixties, early 70s and she worked 45 hours a week as server. She had a bad back, swollen feet, and a hack that you could hear across the restaurant. And she walked so slow that the last thing you wanted to do was get stuck behind Miss Lil with a tray full of food.

If you’re ever waitressed, you know that you’re not really allowed to sit down on the clock, but the manager never said anything when Miss Lil sat down. The rest of us did our best to run her food, help her bus tables, and finish her side work. As nice as she was, we weren’t going the extra mile because we liked her. We just felt like we should because we knew that she needed the help. As much as she needed (and deserved) a good rest, she was just in no financial position to do so. She needed those tips to pay her rent as much as I needed them for college books. Whenever a well meaning customer asked her when she was going to retire, she was smile and say “When money grows on trees or when I die. Whichever comes first.” She said it with a smile and a laugh, but I know she was serious.

Let me tell you why I’m writing this post.

Waitressing can be back breaking work sometimes. And while writing isn’t the same physical work, I still work very hard at what I do. During busy times, I have worked 18 hour days at this, hunched over a computer trying to make my mind spit out brilliance. (Yeah, that was stupid.) Writing is also a mental job so while my hands aren’t calloused and my feet aren’t aching, my mind can sometimes hurt like hell after a long day. I was a writer before I was a worker and I hope to be always writing in some form or fashion. But I also hope I don’t have to write when I’d rather be enjoying my senior citizen discount at Dennys and telling the neighborhood kids to get off my lawn.

So I’m doing something scary. I have an appointment with a financial advisor who is going to take a look at my finances and then tell me what I can do to prepare for the future. I’m a little scared because I’m imagining her saying “Well, it’s too late. You’re going to have die at 65 because you can’t afford to live past that.” Or maybe she’ll just give me some ideas on what to do with my money. I’m going to listen to her and I’m going to try to stick to the plan.

Because, I plan on getting really, really old. Like the people on The Today Show are going to wish me a happy birthday every year because I’m so old. I’m going to be so old that I’m going to be older than everybody I know…because everybody I know will be dead. I’m going to be so old that I’m going to buy support hose, Bengay, and Geritol in bulk. And it’s not going to be free.

Princess Jones

Princess Jones is the evil genius behind Diary of a Mad Freelancer and P.S. Jones Communications. She blogs about freelance life, copywriting and being self-employed. She can usually be found tweeting away or rambling over on Google Plus.

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Anyway, we’re just going to roll this month’s topics over to May’s chat, which will happen on May 16th at 2pm EST. I hope you all can make it.

Princess Jones

Princess Jones is the evil genius behind Diary of a Mad Freelancer and P.S. Jones Communications. She blogs about freelance life, copywriting and being self-employed. She can usually be found tweeting away or rambling over on Google Plus.

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The introductions read like I was still writing research papers, and my conclusions were simply non-existent. They lacked coherent transitions. Even though I’d gotten A’s in all my English and journalism classes, when I started working at the magazine no one had taught me how to write astory. I was still writing reports when I should have been writing articles. Maybe you’ve been there—putting your all into a story but knowing it was missing that little bit of extra something.

Fortunately for me, my boss took the time to tell me where I needed work. And since I didn’t want to be stuck writing profiles for the rest of my career (which is what he had me doing), I took his critiques seriously—and began working on the writing techniques where I was the weakest. I’ve come a long way since then (I freelance cover stories for him now). Still, I know there’s room for improvement and I spend time every week (if not every day) trying to improve. Here’s how:

Examining What Works: I started by looking at stories that were successful and asking “what are they doing that I’m not?” I read and re-read introductions, looked at transitions between one idea and the next and circling, highlighting and saving articles with strong conclusions. Then I’d try and adapt the techniques I saw in my own work.

I still do this. I’ve bookmarked articles just because I liked their structure, or because they had killer intros. I’ve printed things out and highlighted transitions and conclusions and then posted them on my bulletin board. Looking at what works gives me a template of sorts to follow; while I can’t use someone else’s words, looking at how they wade into a story or what makes there lede particularly strong allows me to wade into the next story I write in a similar way.

Reading How-to Pieces: Next, I subscribed to Writer’s Digest and began following a writing blogs that talked about the how-to of writing. I don’t like change, so I tend to learn as much as I can about something before going ahead with it—that skill worked well for me here. I read everything I could get my hands on about writing well.

Today I find that a lot of the content on areas of writing where I used to struggle is full of things I’ve seen before; however there are new areas of writing where I’m still learning. For example, I follow Copyblogger to improve my copywriting and Renegade Writer to improve my queries. And I still read books by legends like Bob Bly, to keep myself sharp and pick up on things I might have missed the first time around.

Working to Write Well: Study Hacks—a blog explores why some people lead successful, enjoyable, meaningful lives, while so many others do not—frequently talks about the idea of deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is the idea of spending time not in the flow and actively pushing yourself to improve. It’s tackling a project you’re a bit uncomfortable with, so you’re forced to learn the skills you need and become better at what you do in order to deliver. Deliberate practice has been shown again and again as the differentiating factor between those who thrive and those who merely survive.

And so in order to improve my writing, I write. I take on things that I know will be difficult (though I’m careful not to over promise on client work) and then I spend the extra time it takes to study and practice and work on my writing the same way a pianist might try pieces slightly outside her skill level in order to eventually become a better musician.

Melissa Breau

Melissa Breau spent the last three years as an editor at a magazine but in 2011 decided to launch full speed ahead into the freelance life. She currently offers copywriting for small businesses and professional editing for authors, as well as blog posts on each of the above, over at melissabreau.com.

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Toughening Up

I almost feel like this year was a re-do of my first year as a freelancer. For the most part, my freelance career has been a smooth one. I won’t say it was easy, because there was a lot of hard work behind it. But when I took the freelance leap, I didn’t have many clients lined up and I certainly didn’t have enough work to get me through each month. But within a week, I had a big, long term gig. Then I’d get a ton of referrals. Then something else would come up. Every time a gig or project would end, there were a few more options in the pipeline. It was fluid process.

So when I lost a big client this year and was suddenly had to replace about a third of my income, it felt like something I should have gone through in my first year. Honestly, it hit me hard. I’d never had to work that hard for new clients under such time constraints. But I love a challenge and now that I’m on the other side of it, I’m grateful I experienced it. (Although, if I’m being honest, I’m hoping it never happens again. And if it I’m being even more honest, I know it probably will.)

Connecting

Another way this year was kinda like a first year re-do is that I feel like I’ve gotten more involved with the freelancer community. I don’t think you have to connect with other freelancers to be successful, but I think it helps on days you don’t feel so successful. When I first started freelancing, I read some books and frequented some blogs, but that was it. I didn’t know any other freelancers on a first name basis, in person, or through social networks.

This year was my year of making a big effort to connect. I’ve been going to Freelancer Union meetings and setting up little face to faces with local freelancers as a part of my Meet Princess Tour. I’m also running Group Therapy, which I feel like is a good way to meet other freelancers through Twitter. Each time I find someone new to share inspiration and frustrations with.

Grateful

It’s been a long year with more lessons than I can count in this blog post. But if I had to boil it down to one small concept, it’s that I’m still here. I know that not everyone is cut out for freelancing. I know that there are far more talented writers and far more intelligent business women out there who have had to pack it up and go home. And I’m still here, plugging away and learning lessons. I’m grateful for that.

When is your freelancaversary? How do you celebrate?

Princess Jones

Princess Jones is the evil genius behind Diary of a Mad Freelancer and P.S. Jones Communications. She blogs about freelance life, copywriting and being self-employed. She can usually be found tweeting away or rambling over on Google Plus.

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Q2: When did you realize you would write for a living or that you seriously wanted to make a living writing?

Q3: How do you know that you’re a good writer? Not how would someone know they’re a good writer, but how you specifically know you’re a good writer.

Princess Jones

Princess Jones is the evil genius behind Diary of a Mad Freelancer and P.S. Jones Communications. She blogs about freelance life, copywriting and being self-employed. She can usually be found tweeting away or rambling over on Google Plus.

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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:

Go on Interviews or Fill Out Applications. I still do these things but I just call them client meetings and introduction emails now. People still ask me for my resume sometimes. If they don’t, they ask for my client list, references, and portfolio–which might as well be a resume. Some send me a list of questions they need answered before we can begin working together. The point is that I still sell myself everyday. However, I don’t have to answer questions about my greatest weakness or how I’d handle a difficult situation anymore, though..

Work with People I Don’t Like. This is the biggest misconception my friends and family have about my work. If I’m having a bad day or dealing with a difficult person, my husband sometimes says “Just don’t work with them.” And I guess I could do that if I wanted to be the type of person who flew off the handle every time something rubbed the wrong way. But I’m running a business here. Sometimes I just smile and bear it because I’m looking at the big picture. I’m not saying that I don’t decline to work with certain clients because their personality is detestable. I do. I just don’t let small things like wackadoo political views, aggressive religious overtures, or a tendency to call me “baby” to get in the way of what I want…which is money. So if it’s something that won’t keep me up at night, I just ignore it.

Worry about Office Politics. I hated office politics when I worked in an actual office. I couldn’t understand why we couldn’t just do what we came to do and leave each other alone. From lunch cliques to holiday party confessions to office romances, it’s stressful. Now while I don’t have to worry about my dog and my rabbit carrying on a torrid home office affair, freelance life is not without its politics. Within the freelance community there is often scandal, back biting, and bullying. Blog wars are not uncommon. Twitter feuds are everywhere. Sometimes it’s just as tiring to navigate these waters as it was back in my cubicle.

Work Myself to Death. I like to work. I thought I’d suddenly take more breaks and work better hours than when I didn’t have a boss on my back pushing me. But now that I’m the one calling the shots, I find that I push myself even harder than a boss ever could. The difference is that every dime I bring in goes to benefit me and I take that far more seriously than when I was just getting a paycheck. It was only just recently that I stopped riding myself so hard and allowing myself to work a legal workday. (But that’s for another post coming soon.)

Have a Boss. I still have a boss. Her name is Princess and she’s is a wackjob that spends a lot of time talking about herself. Geez I can’t wait until she goes back into her office and leaves me alone to get some work done.

Princess Jones

Princess Jones is the evil genius behind Diary of a Mad Freelancer and P.S. Jones Communications. She blogs about freelance life, copywriting and being self-employed. She can usually be found tweeting away or rambling over on Google Plus.

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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.

Those first few months were kind of rough—I did a lot of freelance work for my old employer and a handful of jobs for other clients, as I could find them. I landed a 2 article assignment for a local NY magazine where one of my friends knew the editor; then social media connected me with an author who was in need of a editor for a book series she was self publishing. Slowly I began to develop regular clients and one-off projects began to fill in the gaps.

Looking back I can’t believe how far I’ve come since then. I know I still have a long way to go but here are a few of the things I’ve picked up in the last half a year or am struggling with. Please share your tips and experiences in the comments.

Building a Sales Funnel

It wasn’t really until the tale end of December (just about the 3 month mark) that I began to really get a sales funnel into place. After several months of finding clients as they came, I finally realized that unless I made a much more serious effort at prospecting there was no way I was ever going to really be successful at this. So I choose a few markets where I thought my services and knowledge would serve me well, and I began cold emailing prospects.

I still spend way too long finding companies to contact initially but I’m working on that. I also still haven’t perfected follow up, but I’m thrilled to say I now have companies at each of the levels in my sales funnel—people with whom I’ve made contact, some who have expressed interest in my services, companies that I am currently negotiating projects with and those who I have a signed contract and deposit from whose assignments I’m working on now.

Scheduling My Day

One of the most difficult things that any freelancer has to deal with (in my opinion) is figuring out how to be productive day after day when there isn’t a boss breathing down your neck. As a classic procrastinator (I used to do papers for college mere hours before they were due and dash to class at the last possible minute because I had been waiting for the printer to spit out the last page), this is something I still struggle with.

So far I’ve tried everything from time blocking (from 9-930 blog posts, 930-1030 email, etc) to the pomodoro technique (working in 30 minute chunks where you can work or stare at a page and do nothing) to trying to tackle each day as it comes. I’ve found different things work best on different days—fortunately, the nice thing about freelancing is it allows me the freedom to experiment and use whatever works that day.

Networking

When I was only freelancing on the side one of the best ways to land new gigs and find new prospects was through networking events. And yet I haven’t attended a single networking event since going freelance full time. Part of this is due to moving out of NYC–where networking events are as common as skyscrapers–and part of it is due to moving every few months since I became self employed. Aug: from NYC to NC, Dec: from NC to SC and this May I’ll move again—from SC back to NC. When I know I’m going to move in just a few months it’s hard to motivate myself to spend a lot of time and effort meeting folks I’ll likely never see again. I really need to get over that and get back to putting myself out there.

Taking Down Time

I like to believe I’m Superwoman and try to work seven days a week. Sadly I am not the heroine of legend and when I don’t take time off I wind up feeling like I’ve been hit by a bus. I know this but sometimes it’s still hard to remember. One of the first things I did to make myself take time out each day was adding a workout schedule into my daily routine. I do them at home but it’s surprising how much getting up and moving around a bit can help start the creative juices flowing again. Now I also try really hard to either take one full day off a week (most often Saturday) or to work no more than 4 hours each weekend day. I know it doesn’t seem like much (baby steps people) but even after a day I find I come back much more able to tackle everything in front of me and be truly productive.

That all said, there are so many things I still have to learn and figure out. I need to really sit down and work on a marketing strategy, for example. I need to make more time to regularly to post to my business blog. And I really need to stop being distracted so easily by my cat.

Photo Credit: mikebaird

Melissa Breau

Melissa Breau spent the last three years as an editor at a magazine but in 2011 decided to launch full speed ahead into the freelance life. She currently offers copywriting for small businesses and professional editing for authors, as well as blog posts on each of the above, over at melissabreau.com.

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This month, it’s on Wednesday, March 28th at 2pm EST via Twitter. That hashtag is #DMF. After we introduce ourselves, we’ll focus on these three discussion questions:

Q1: How do you juggle personal emergencies and work? We’d love to hear tips if you have them.

Q2: Do you have a unicorn (favorite client) like Melissa Breau does? Tell us a little about them. (You don’t have to use names if you don’t want to. Or you can, if you do.)

Q3: What do you think of specialization? Do you specialize and if so, in what? What effect has it had on your business? What advice would you give others?

Any questions? Email me at princess@diaryofamadfreelancer.com or just send me a tweet to @iampsjones.

Princess Jones

Princess Jones is the evil genius behind Diary of a Mad Freelancer and P.S. Jones Communications. She blogs about freelance life, copywriting and being self-employed. She can usually be found tweeting away or rambling over on Google Plus.

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