It’s that time of year again – time to celebrate the value and skills you bring to your clients and the writing world. The Third Annual Writer’s Worth Day is next week – May 14th. All next week we’ll be celebrating by encouraging each other through worth-inducing tips, advice, and sharing of experiences. Please make…
Tag: writers’ worth
Worthy Tip: Take No Prisoners
Maybe because I’m busy I have less patience, but I suspect it’s more because I’m tired of shoddy service. I found myself being forceful with someone on the phone yesterday. On April 19, I transferred money to my daughter’s account using POPMoney. (My bank has dropped the ability to send funds between that bank’s accounts,…
Worthy Tip: Say No
Oh, that’s the word we don’t use enough, isn’t it? We say yes to nearly every client who graces our email or jingles our phones. So why do we do that? My theory – it’s because we love acceptance, or, more likely, we hate rejection. If the client spells out the terms, even if we…
Worthy Tip: Know No Limits
Avid Writer Kimberly Ben blogged about taking on low-paying work and then never letting go of it. Urban Muse Susan Johnston blogged this past week about the steady freelance gig. Both ladies came to the same conclusion: the steady paycheck is not always the mother lode we think it is. I agree totally. I had…
Worthy Tip: Time for Service
The message came onto the display panel of my Saab yesterday – “Time for Service.” Since cars have somehow become smarter than people, I took it seriously enough to look it up online. Seems the car has been pre-programmed to give service notices at particular mileage or date points. Since we just turned over 56K,…
Quelling the Beast
What sends fears, chills, and anxiety right into your bones? For me, it’s when a client wants to talk about my project results, but not the same day. It’s not even that they say it’s bad – it’s that they say nothing. That’s when the voices in my head scream “They hate you! You suck!”…
Worthy Tip: Man Up
Ladies, this post is for you. I’m about to give you a novel piece of advice that could save your business reputation – man up. Here’s what I mean. We women tend to be – how shall I say it? – a bit weak in several business areas. Negotiations get us clammy and worried. Client…
Worthy Tip: Staying Professional
There are days when I wish like mad I could drop the professional demeanor and really speak my mind. It’s on days when clients change contract terms randomly, promise “royalty” payments, expect 50-percent drops in fees, or make you jump through a dozen hoops just to find out the job pays a whopping penny an…
Worthwhile Tip: Stop Apologizing
This week’s worth-inducing tip attempts to undo what could be a genetic flaw, but that’s never stopped me from trying. Too often writers, mostly those at the beginning of their careers, will insert an apology alongside a proposal. Raise your hand if you’ve said or typed any of the following paraphrased lines: – “I’m sorry,…
Worthy Tip: Finding Value
If you haven’t gone over to Screw You! and read Kathy Kehrli’s account of her Demand Studio experience, please do so. It’s insightful. It’s also a balanced report, one in which Kathy herself is upfront and makes no judgments based on anything but her personal experience. It’s a good read for new writers faced with…