Month: August 2019

What Freelance Writing Has Taught Me

Posted on August 23, 2019 by lwidmer

It’s Friday, and I’m traveling. So let’s keep it lighter. I was witnessing an acquaintance’s meltdown recently over a minor (seriously minor) issue. Instead of just getting it together (there was a slight snafu in their presentation), they became flustered. Then more flustered. Then they declared it was “such a disaster.” It wasn’t. It was […]

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The Art of Not Putting All Your Freelance Eggs in One Basket

Posted on August 21, 2019 by lwidmer

Sometimes life hands you lessons that, thankfully, you don’t have to learn firsthand. It was December 28, 2001 or 2002. I was at my desk at the magazine. I’d just finished an article that quoted heavily this firebrand company that had opened its doors a few years prior and had risen to household-name status (well, […]

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Marketing to Other Freelancers: You’re Doing it Wrong

Posted on August 16, 2019 by lwidmer

“Hey.” “Hey yourself,” said Jem pleasantly. “I’m Charles Baker Harris,” he said. “I can read. ” “So what?” I said. “I just thought you’d like to know I can read. You got anything needs’ readin’ I can do it….” “How old are you,” asked Jem, “four-and-a-half?” “Goin’ on seven.” “Shoot no wonder, then,” said Jem, jerking […]

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How Freelance Writers Get Sucked into Low-paying Work (and how to stop it)

Posted on August 9, 2019 by lwidmer

Imagine getting this email: Hi (your name): Just wanted to let you know I’ve moved to a new company, and we’re looking for writers. I recommended you since we’d worked together when I was at the last company. Do you have time to chat on the phone? So you call. The conversation goes something like […]

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The Cynical Side of Freelance Writing

Posted on August 5, 2019 by lwidmer

Call me cynical. Actually, don’t. I’m not cynical, not when it comes to my job. I love my freelance writing career. Sure, there are shitty parts, like content mills disguised as actual clients, job boards that cause freelancers to fight for the lowest possible rate, scary-bad job postings that are either completely clueless (and low-paying) […]

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6 Easy Marketing Hacks for Freelancers

Posted on August 1, 2019 by lwidmer

On Twitter, I’ve been following the #MarketingStrategy hashtag for about a year. There’s good advice there, but generally, the marketing tweets are often framed in the jargon that scares off most people trying to build a marketing strategy. Algorithms. Conversion rates. Digital transformations. Crowd funding. Can you learn this jargon? Sure. They’re not difficult concepts. […]

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