lwidmer | Words on the Page

Success and Your Path To It

Posted on October 24, 2012 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Into the Dark Unknown by Holcombe Waller There’s still time to register! The 8 Top Tax Strategies for Freelancers webinar, being held Thursday, November 8th at 3 PM ET, is just $69.95. For that, you’ll get close to $375 worth of goodies, plus a month’s membership in the 5 Buck Forum! Register…

Writerly Misinformation

Posted on October 23, 2012 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Unbelievable by Diamond Rio Rough day yesterday. It wasn’t that the work was difficult. It was that everything transpired to get in the way. Simple Math: Two client phone calls withing one and a half hours = nothing getting done until noon. Impromptu call from a client = another 30 minutes…

Recovery from Weekends

Posted on October 22, 2012 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Demons by Imagine Dragons Did you ever have a weekend where you were exhausted and happy to sit back down at the computer on Monday? It was a great weekend –I ran a ton of errands on Saturday, cleaned, decorated, weeded the front path and garden, and wore myself out physically….

Serenity Now!

Posted on October 19, 2012 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: I Met Him on a Sunday by Labelle and Laura Nyro There’s still time to register! The 8 Top Tax Strategies for Freelancers webinar, being held Thursday, November 8th at 3 PM ET, is just $69.95. For that, you’ll get close to $375 worth of goodies, plus a month’s membership in…

How Poetry Makes Us Better Business Writers

Posted on October 18, 2012 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Lonely Boy by The Black Keys Is it even possible that I’m digging out from under this pile of work? Really? I’m afraid to say anything for fear one more thing comes in that threatens to stretch today into another 10-hour day. For now, I’m not exhaling – optimism is for…

Business Planning

Posted on October 17, 2012 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Steady, As She Goes by The Raconteurs Done. One project down, two to go. The big one is finished, the next smaller big one (how’s that for adjective overload?) is this morning’s job, and the two smaller ones will come this afternoon. I doubt I’ll finish the bigger of the projects,…

Redistribution & Your Client: What Would You Do?

Posted on October 16, 2012 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: All at Once by The Airborne Toxic Event What a busy day! I worked on one project –one that isn’t quite finished — and I have two waiting in the wings. How bad was it? I was sitting here at 8 pm taking my online courses. Today will be full-on work. I…

Tears, Smiles, and Money

Posted on October 15, 2012 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Ten Thousand Words by The Avett Brothers Sometimes the busy weekends can be busy in good ways. After a slightly rocky beginning, my weekend ended on a high note. Friday night I barely remember. I stepped away from this computer exhausted, having had a week that started before 9 am and…

Friday Randomness

Posted on October 12, 2012 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Hypocritical Kiss by Jack White Last day to save! Sign up for the 8 Top Tax-Saving Strategies for Freelancers webinar and get $25 off the price! Just $49.95 gets you money-saving tax advice, and over $374 worth of goodies! Sign up here. Just $49.95 — less than you pay for cable! A…

Entrecard, Exitcard

Posted on October 11, 2012 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Hardliners by Holcombe Waller Ready for tax season? It’s not too early to learn how to save big on your taxes with some smart deductions and simple record-keeping. Join guest presenter Julian Block for a special webinar – 8 Top Tax-Saving Strategies for Freelancers sponsored by Anne Wayman and me. Julian’s the guy to…

Kimberly Ben

October 11, 2012

Last week I was Skyping with a potential client in Canada about marketing strategies and the conversation quickly turned to social media. She worries she's not spending enough time on her Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. With all the talk about the wonder of Pinterest right now, she' wondering whether or not to sign up and is literally panicking at the thought of parsing out even more time from an already stretched-to-the-limit work day to promote her business there as well.

I told her to just relax and stick with what she's doing right now. You only get 24 hours in a day so you have to prioritize and do what you can. I know some people manage to pull quite a few clients utilizing social media as their primary marketing platform, but for me it's another tool in my overall marketing arsenal. I do use it more to generate traffic and visibility for one of my other blogs, but unlike some people, I just can't afford to spend all day updating. It's an excellent tool and produces great results, but at some point I have to actually get some writing and other marketing tasks done as well.

I try to update on Twitter at least a couple of times a day because as with most marketing strategies you get more out of it if you're consistent.

Lori

October 11, 2012

Kim, AMEN. It's one tool — not the entire foundation of a marketing plan. Those who don't get that won't survive once our fickle natures switch to other forms of communication.

I've ignored Twitter lately, and it shows in my traffic. Consistency — you're so right!

Paula

October 11, 2012

I joined Pinterest a while back, but only for the crafty side of my life. My cousins will spend hours on it looking for ideas. One is a teacher and finds great classroom projects. I swear, half the recipes and new decorations at our family gatherings last Thanksgiving and Christmas were from Pinterest.

But for business? The value of Pinterest probably lies in what you do. Unless you're a designer or run a company making products people pin (or use to make things that are pinned), I don't see the value. Yet.

Of course, I use Pinterest mostly to pin ideas for future reference, not to seek out new things I want to make but never will. (Last year, one cousin had pinned about 800 projects, but had only made two.)

When my new blog posts go up, I "publicize" them on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Ravelry (for yarny posts). Not Pinterest. Not yet.

Anne Wayman

October 11, 2012

I do what Paula does… and send a newsletter. That seems to do it for me.

btw, I'm impressed that your politician bothered to let you know. I still wouldn't vote for him, but I'm impressed.

tutorsville

February 25, 2013

The tips you presented are great. As a freelancer, myself, I am always looking for innovative ways to stay afloat without sacrificing my reputation with the IRS.