Posts filed under 'This freelance life'
Still chugging away on writing my new book. Meantime, some links you might like:
Inkthinker skewers 7 heinous freelance writing practices. Kudos to Kristen King for reminding us why acting like a selfish, immature, vindictive freelancer is unbecoming. Best blog post I’ve read in ages.
Getcher top 100 freelancer blogs here. The listmaker (Bootstrapper) does it again. Everything from The Golden Pencil to DIY Photography to The Anti 9-to-5 Guide. (Aw, thanks, Bootstrapper.)
The readers speak: Your on-spec design contest sucks. Sounds like this guy was trying to be helpful to newbie designers, but he should know better than to announce an on-spec design contest to a community of professional freelancers (given that he writes about freelancing). I’m glad he pulled the plug when the peanut gallery threw tomatoes.
Red Herring deflates Helium.com. Personally I wish freelance “marketplaces” like Helium’s would shrivel up and die. Once those new freelancers using the site get tired of competing against each other, on spec, for $.10/word gigs, they’ll still have to learn how to go out and look for decent-paying work.
Freelance Switch launches a Client Analyser tool. Is your client bleeding you dry? Now you have a digital algorithm to help you make the call. You have to enter eight clients into the tool for it to work.
Want to know what editors want? Check out Editors Unleashed: Magazine editors growl about their writer peeves, a much-needed e-book from The Renegade Writer. Short, sweet, and endlessly informative.
Seattleites, want to know how to sell your writing without checking your soul at the door? Check out this one-day marketing workshop in April taught by my buddy Diane Mapes. (For full class description, click here. Then scroll down for description or search on “Mapes.”)
Are you Not An Employee? You might like this fun new freelance site/swag seller/blog. I’ll be curious to see where it goes.
March 13th, 2008
While I haven’t had many problems getting paid by clients over the years, the occasional accounting snafu does arise. This week I’m dealing with a client who’s been all thumbs in the accounts payable department. (In their defense, a personnel change has led a few check-cutting hiccups.)
Fortunately I’ve had enough money in my account to cover the boo-boos. Still, I thought I’d share my Not Getting Paid Properly Hall of Fame with you. Curiously all these goofs happened during the December holiday season.
- Client who normally sends checks within 14 days of receiving invoice takes almost three months to cut me a check. This requires some prodding on my part. Check arrives unsigned by client. I fail to notice and race to deposit it. Bank returns check to me, unable to cash it. I’m left waiting for client to reissue a valid check. (Duh all around.)
- Long-time client accidentally pays me double the invoice. All on one check. Not wanting to embark on a life of crime, I let the client know. I tear up the check and wait for client to issue a new one. (Merry Chrismukkah. Not.)
- Another December, another long-time client insists that I bill them in advance for work I’m slated to do the coming January. Something about having to pre-bill their client. When the project scope shrinks, I wind up having to reimburse my client a couple thou. (Don’t try this at home. Just as stupid and painful as it sounds.)
- My personal fave: My check arrives in an envelope stuck to the adhesive of another envelope addressed to and containing a check for another freelancer. Clearly an automation goof. Rather than send the poor guy’s check back to the client, I Google him, let him know, and drop it in the mail to him. (A Christmas miracle!)
This probably goes without saying, but impeccable accounting records (via Excel, QuickBooks, or the program of your choice) are a must if you’re even going to catch this stuff (save for the sig-less check).
So what about you? Any stupid payment tricks/accidents on the part of your clients you care to share? Please don’t name names, unless you want to pay my legal fees.
March 5th, 2008
If you’ve visited this blog before, you know I have a love-hate relationship with the web. In the interest of attempting to overcome some of my Luddite fears, I recently put these web productivity questions to Anne Zelenka, web technologist, former editor of Web Worker Daily, and author of Connect! A Guide to a New Way of Working.
Q. Some days, I feel like email is the bane of my existence, tempting me away from deadlines and productivity. How do you recommend self-employed types stay on top of email without letting it rule their life?
A. There are numerous schemes for managing your inbox, but what’s worked best for me is a post-email era approach. I don’t get all my information through email. For example, I use Twitter to stay in touch with my online professional network, instant messaging for quick discussions with colleagues or clients, del.icio.us bookmarks to share things I find interesting, and blogging to think out loud with feedback. That lightens the load on my email inbox and it makes me feel more hooked in throughout my workday. Email on its own can feel a bit disconnected, I’ve found.
Q. At the expense of sounding like I’m writing a white paper for one of my software clients, I have to ask: What are three things even a Luddite like me can do to use the web more effectively and boost productivity?
A. You’re a great example of the most effective way to use the web to succeed in your work life: get yourself a professional presence online with a blog or other website. Don’t focus on making advertising dollars from it — use it to make connections and promote your work. Most of all, be authentic online so that when opportunities come to you because of your online profile they will be opportunities you’re really excited about pursuing.
Q. What are some of your favorite online tools for freelancers?
A. The tool I rely on most for managing my work life is Google Docs. I use spreadsheets to track income and expenses and documents to plan projects and collaboratively edit papers. Gmail, Adium (an instant messaging aggregator), and Twitter keep me hooked in with my professional network — and I couldn’t succeed without that.
Q. You have an entire chapter on online money management, including tips for freelancers. Can you share one or two of those web banking tips for freelancers?
A. If you’d like a good and secure way to manage your various financial accounts, check out Wesabe. It offers a downloadable tool into which you input your login and password information, then you can regularly update your transaction information and see where you’re spending your money and what your balances are. It includes a social network where you can swap tips and share financial goals — so it’s like the Web 2.0 version of Quicken.
If you have a lot of clients and need to manage a bunch of invoices, check out FreshBooks. That site makes it really easy to create and send invoices then track payments.
Q. Despite the fact that this will be outdated next month, what are your favorite social networks for freelancers who want to mingle and market online? Or do you think social networks are one big fat timesuck?
A. Three sites I like for freelancers and in particular freelance writers are Freelance Switch, Freelance Writing Jobs, and mediabistro. These aren’t specifically social networking sites, but Freelance Switch and mediabistro include forums and Freelance Writing Jobs gets good discussions going in the comments.
I tend to network with other web technology geeks, since that’s my main area of expertise. For that, I like Twitter and also networking via blogging. I’ve tried Facebook and it hasn’t been all that useful to me professionally.
Q. As a freelance writer, when I’m in the thick of trying to bang out a draft, email and an open browser is the kiss of death. Do you work on deadline with your inbox and browser open? Just wondering.
A. When I was working on the book, I regularly closed my browser, including my inbox (I use Gmail), and set my instant messaging status to “writing.” I write blog posts on deadline with my browser open because I need it to do research and I’ve trained myself to work while I’m connected. This kind of group-oriented productivity is something you can learn to do, and it’s a mode that we see teenagers of today often using. They stay in constant contact with their friends and use multiple electronic tools, switching back and forth as necessary.
Q. You mention a preference for pen and paper when it comes to writing to-do lists. Why is this? Any other parts of the workday we should be reserving for paper?
A. I personally love the physical experience of writing and rewriting my to-do list, then crossing off items when I’ve finished a task. I also like to be able to take my to-do list away from the computer to work on it, where I feel like I gain some perspective on my priorities. Paper is generally useful for you want to slow yourself down and take a broader perspective. If I want to really think about something — a blog post I’ve written in draft, a project plan, a list of goals — I do it on paper.
Q. In the book, you talk about this brave new way of working called “bursty work.” Can you explain what that is and why we should be doing it?
A. I came up with the idea of bursty work when I realized that many career achievements arrive in discontinuous leaps rather than through step-by-step action.
I observed that many people working online had different habits than [those in] the typical 9-to-5 gig. Instead of working standard hours, they would work when they felt like it, according to their energy, sometimes in bursts. Instead of shutting themselves off from other people in order to get solo work done, they would stay connected via instant messaging or social networking or other electronic tools and get information and inspiration from colleagues and associates throughout the work day. Instead of building things totally from scratch (or just on top of what their coworkers built), they would use what they found online — whether open source software or research that someone had already done or photos that someone else took — to get where they needed to in leaps and bounds rather than step by step.
The reason the web promotes a bursty style of work is because of the network of people and ideas it makes available to us. Instead of just having ourselves and our office coworkers available to us, we have a whole wide world of resources just a hyperlink away. This means you can navigate shortcuts instead of always working step by step.
In practice, bursty work often builds on busy work — there will always be projects where you have to spend lots of dedicated, focused time working step by step towards a goal. Building a network of professional connections, for example, takes effort over time. But once you’ve done a lot of the busy work, bursts of innovation or achievement may happen almost as though by magic. It’s not magic, though; it’s navigating a network.
You can read more about busy vs. bursty in the Web Worker Daily article I wrote on the topic.
Want more web tips? Visit Web Worker Daily and get your copy of Connect! A Guide to a New Way of Working.
February 25th, 2008
Student X writes: I was in your class last summer on “Everything you Wanted to Know About Getting Published.” I am in the process of starting a proposal for a non-fiction work, but I want to start a little buzz about it and start a blog. How do you suggest blogging regarding this so that the publisher has something to look at? I’m not sure how to start. I’m not much of a blogger anyway, but I write reviews of books on goodreads.com all the time.
I answer: Congrats on working on that book proposal. Cool! Here are my recommendations for starting a blog. I’m sure others will chime in with their suggestions too.
- Sign up for a free blog account with Blogger, TypePad, or WordPress.
- Pick a template for your blog. These are also free.
- If I’ve already lost you, read a book on blogging. Or take a class. Or have a blog-savvy friend walk you through the setup.
- Pick a topic for your blog, a niche you’ll stick with. Don’t be a generalist. Since you’re trying to build what’s known as a “platform” for your nonfiction book, your blog topic should be the same as that of your book: wrench-wielding women, mimes who love too much, recovering Republicans, etc.
- Pick a relevant, catchy name for your blog.
- If you need inspiration, check out some other blogs by authors to see how their blog complements their book topic, or at least showcases their crafty writing. Some blogs by authors I know: Offbeat Bride, Single State of the Union, Bad Advice, Totally Wired, Watercooler Wisdom, The Renegade Writer, Lusty Lady, Felicia Sullivan, Marci Alboher, Boss Lady.
- Also check out blogs by people who went from blogging to book deal: Escape from Cubicle Nation, Breakup Babe, Happily Even After, Lifehacker, and Web Worker Daily are a few examples. Here are some more — these “blookers” were even nominated for an award.
- Read Galley Cat to learn more about who’s getting book deals from blogs these days. Sign up for Publishers Lunch. Skim Publishers Weekly. And google “blog to book.”
- Make sure your About Me page gives your real name, your email address, and your writing/subject matter credentials. Be sure to include a photo of yourself, and make sure you brush your hair and teeth.
- Start blogging! Preferably posts that are 300 to 600 words (give or take) in length.
- Use photos whenever you can. And links. Especially to other blogs.
- Proofread your posts and check your links.
- Send out a blanket email to everyone you’ve ever met in your life telling them about your blog. Do this after you’ve made a few posts you’re proud of. Only do this once.
- Add your blog URL to the signature of your email address.
- Join some writing listservs or online communities and contribute to the conversation, keeping that signature in all your posts. Ditto for online communities revolving around the topic of your book.
- Post to your blog at least three times a week. Stay on topic, and don’t be afraid to be opinionated, funny, and/or controversial.
- Never apologize for not posting for the past two weeks. No one cares. If you have a lot of readers, a better idea is to do a post like this in advance.
- If you feel compelled to blog about your cat, try to find the tie-in to your overall blog’s topic. Otherwise, maybe skip the cute pet posts.
- Read and comment on other people’s blogs. It’s the best way to get new readers to come to your blog — and to raise your Google rank.
- Read articles on how to blog. Here’s one that people seem to like, though I tend to shy away from all those Best/Richest/Smartest Blogger Ever types. Here’s an even better tip list by my friend Amanda; it includes some suggestions for books on blogging too.
- Get a free tool to measure your site traffic so you can see what posts people like the best and how many readers you have. Here are a few: Site Meter, Google Analytics, MyBlogLog. This is not my forte, so I’m sure others will chime in.
- Speaking of, know that blogging means putting yourself out there. Sometimes rude, nasty people with nothing better to do make obnoxious comments on your site, often anonymously. That’s the way of the web unfortunately. You have the option to hit Delete. More often than not, though, the comments will be supportive, encouraging, helpful. You may even make a new friend or two. Maybe even a book agent friend. And wouldn’t that be nice?
- Above all, have fun. If blogging sounds like a chore, maybe you’re better off publishing a couple of well-placed articles on your pet topic instead (think Huffington Post, Salon, Slate).
February 19th, 2008
Who would answer this (sadly, quite real) Craiglist ad? WHO?
I need a ghost writer, someone to help me finish some stories and make them presentable to be published, I can’t pay for the time and effort, but an willing to give credit where credit is due. I currently have 5 stories, and you can choose which one(s) you want to work on. These are typed out COPIES, I have the originals and will keep them, looking for someone that will not tamper with the original idea, but add to the story to make publishable. I have all the ideas, just no time or patients for details, but it’s all in my head. Please let me know if your interested.
In other words, “Hi, I want to be a published writer, but I don’t want to write. Or learn how to spell. But trust me, I have the chops. It’s all in my head. I just don’t have time to type, or use my brain, or open a dictionary. And you should help me. For free. Because I said so.”
What this person doesn’t realize is that if a writer needs to do a couple freebies to beef up her skimpy portfolio, she’s going to write and publish her own dang articles (say for a cool indie women’s mag, or the newsletter of the women’s shelter down the street), not waste her time with this nonsense. Ads like this do a huge disservice to paid ghostwriting gigs offered by credible authors, business executives, and book publishers.
Promise me you will never answer such an ad. I’d sooner advise you to answer a listing on Craig’s like this.
(This rant made possible by my dear friend Diane, who sent me the CL ad in question.)
February 17th, 2008
I admit it. I hate to cook. I eat out of boxes and cans and to-go containers more than I should, even though I prefer a healthy, homemade meal 10 to 1. That’s why I was excited when Ann Martin Rolke sent me a copy of her book, Hands-Off Cooking: Low Supervision, High-Flavor Meals for Busy People, which clearly was written for lazy and/or no-time-in-the-kitchen sorts like me. Yummy, healthy recipes (Tandoorish Chicken! Fridge Cleaning Frittata! Nutty Pumpkin Lasagna!) that I can’t burn if I have to dash off to my computer and get down one more sentence? What could be better!
As an extra treat, Ann answered a few questions for the blog. Read, drool, buy.
Q. What prompted you to write the book?
A. I was actually approached by an agent who I had spoken to previously about ghostwriting a book with a chef. She used to be a cookbook editor and thought this idea hadn’t been really explored yet in a cookbook.
Q. What 5 to 10 staple ingredients should busy self-employed people always have on hand in their cabinets and fridge so they can easily whip up dinner in 15 minutes or less?
A. Canned tomatoes, canned beans, rice, skinless chicken or fish, garlic.
Q. Any unexpected kitchen equipment hands-off cooks need to stock their cabinets with?
A. I don’t know if it’s unexpected, but a heavy-duty pot is a must for braising and soups (like Le Creuset) and I use my 9 x 13-inch casserole several times a week. I do think an oven thermometer and kitchen timer with multiple settings (so you can time more than one thing at once) are great to make sure everything goes well!
Q. What’s your favorite “I’m on a crunch deadline and need to burn the midnight oil” dinner or late-night snack recipe?
A. Baked pita chips and hummus.
Q. What’s your favorite comfort food recipe?
A. Indian food lately — something easy like my Aloo Cholay from the book or some naan that I buy frozen and reheat, smeared with some simple yellow split peas cooked with spices until they’re like refried beans. So comforting!
Q. How much cash do you think busy working women stand to save by making hands-off recipes instead of ordering take-out or buying a to-go meal at the local market?
A. Well, depending on where you grocery shop, you can really eat well for not much money. We don’t eat meat every night, for example, and that keeps the costs down and the vegetable intake up! So say you normally would spend $7 to 10 a person for to-go (not fast food); you can easily feed four people for $10 and make a great lasagna, soup, or vegetarian curry.
Q. Anything else you’d like to add?
A. The whole idea of this book was to make cooking flavorful, healthy meals less time-consuming and more accessible. We’re all so used to eating lots of different ethnic cuisines and constantly trying to balance health with convenience. So I really tried to make my recipes easy to put together but full of flavor, color, and texture, so that they’re really satisfying.
Want a taste? Order this fine cookbook now. Or visit Ann’s blog for recipes and other quick-cooking tips.
February 14th, 2008
In light of my most recent post, I thought it would be fun if people chimed in with the professional organizations, services, and resources they’ve found helpful in their freelance career, regardless of the industry they work in. I’ll go first.
Blogs:
Articles, classes, and parties:
Organizations:
My don’t-bother list:
Okay, now it’s your turn…
February 12th, 2008
MB asks: I was wondering if you’ve had much luck with Guru.com. I’m trying to save money, so I don’t want to join unless I think I will make money from it. What do you think?
I answer: MB, here are three things you probably did not know about Guru.com:
- Back in the late nineties dotcom startup heyday (the first time around), Guru.com was cool. I’m not saying Guru isn’t cool now, but back then it had personality, spunk, sass. It had articles, freelancer haiku*, and a bit more of a community feel. It had Free Agent Nation author Dan Pink as a columnist.
- I wrote several articles for Guru.com in its first year or two, and was paid handsomely, before the dotcom bubble burst and the site went on hiatus, then was sold, then re-emerged as the Guru.com you know now.
- While I loved writing those articles, I also had the worst editorial experience of my life on one such piece, where my editor introduced not only a rash of typos and inaccuracies into my story, but an embarrassing bit of outright plagiarism. It landed me some angry mail from readers. (Lessons learned: (a) Always ask to see the final article before it runs, especially when you’re not familiar with an editor or publication. (b) You can recover from even the most shameful of freelance experience.)
Of course that doesn’t really answer your question. Truth is, I have never used Guru.com in its new incarnation, a freelance job bidding site. In fact, I have never used a job bidding site. Here’s why. Short answer is, I’d try getting work on your own first through your personal and professional face-to-face and online networks. Or go through a creative agency that doesn’t charge you a subscription (or make you bid) to get the work.
I just spent a few minutes on today’s Guru.com. Interesting business model. I’d be curious to hear if anyone reading this has had any luck with it (particularly the Basic membership, which appears to have no monthly subscription rate but allows them to skim 10 percent off your project payments). If you do go this route, be sure to pad your fees by 10 percent so you make up the difference.
Also interesting are the invoicing and arbitration services (which I presume cost extra; seasoned Guru.com users, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong). Cool that they offer these services, especially arbitration, which goes after clients who refuse to pay up and gets you your money. But ick to having to route your pay through this site. I’d rather deal directly with a brick-and-mortar creative agency I can call up. Sometimes it’s not the easiest getting customer support from a “faceless” online service provider (paging Amazon).
In sum, I supposed if you’re starved for work, others say they’ve had good experiences with the site, and you can get a good rate for your projects, Guru.com could be worth a trial run. But I’d put it in the “last ditch effort before I ask for my day job back” category.
*If I find the freelancer haiku of mine Guru.com ran (with commuting monkey illustration!), I’ll scan it and post it here.
February 10th, 2008
I was just reading this story in the Wall Street Journal on author Marci Alboher’s “slash” career concept (what some call “portfolio careers”). You know, successful, well-paid Fortune 500 CPA who scales back her hours by 40 percent a week so she can start an after-school arts program for disadvantaged kids or perhaps launch her own clothing line. The article is an inspiring read for anyone who’s thinking of scaling back on the day job to pursue an anti 9-to-5 gig on the side.
But I chuckled when I read this line:
Despite the benefits of workplace flexibility and increased job satisfaction, pursing a portfolio career can have drawbacks, including stalled earning power and trouble maintaining company-sponsored health insurance.
That’s like saying, You could go into non-profit work/the arts/teaching if you really wanted to, but you’d give up all that money that you could have made had you stayed in the corporate gig you found unrewarding.*
That’s why they call ‘em tradeoffs, WSJ! Get your life and happiness back, or get $20,000, $30,000, or however much more a year in benefits and/or pay.
People have been choosing quality of life over guaranteed cash for decades. And besides, if you’re working 80 hours a week at your corporate job (as one of the subjects of this article was), are you really making that $100K salary? I would argue that your salary shrinks to $50K, since once upon a less-overworked time, salaries were based on a 40-hour workweek.
I’ve interviewed a lot of people in the last two years who feel beholden to a 9-to-5 career they hate because it affords them health insurance. For those with kids, the choice is easy; they suck it up because they don’t want to worry about how they’ll pay for a pediatrician visit. I can certainly appreciate that.
But what about those with no humanoid dependents? Is a few thousand bucks a year (how much individual healthcare costs) really worth staying for? I’m not convinced.
Thanks to a milestone birthday and a new insurance law in Washington state, my health plan recently went up by 33 percent. To shave some money off the premium, I raised my deductible am now shopping around for a new plan, though from what I’ve learned so far, unless I want catastrophic insurance only, this is probably the best deal I’ll get. Still, it’s not enough to send me back to the cube working for an industry that doesn’t thrill me. And if I were to work on staff for an industry that does thrill me — say, social service or the media, as many of my 9-to-5 friends do — unless I landed a government gig, I probably wouldn’t fare much better in the insurance department. I would probably have a partially subsidized plan that costs me a little bit more out of pocket each year.
So what about you? Is the health insurance worth staying in a job you’ve grown to resent — yes or no? As always, inquiring minds want to know.
*Before you write in to say that you love your corporate gig and you’re deeply offended by this post, or that your boss doesn’t work you 80 hours a week at your corporate gig, let me be clear: I’m not saying all corporate gigs are unrewarding, OK? I’m well aware that many people like their jobs.
February 5th, 2008
It’s the most wonderful time of the year (that is, if you’re a CPA). That’s right, folks, tax season is upon us. And not surprisingly, I’ve had a couple requests recently for a round-up of this site’s past posts on paying your freelance taxes.
Before we get to the round-up, I’d like to take this opportunity to remind you that I’m a freelance writer, not a financial professional. Tax laws change every year, and no one knows their nuances better than your friendly tax professional. So although you can get some initial pointers from a freelance blog, I wouldn’t substitute them for the almighty input of someone who’s trained to fill out tax returns. Capiche?
OK, back to our regularly scheduled programming…
Additional resources:
January 24th, 2008
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