Relying on the UnreliableThere’s one huge obstacle that is a constant threat to your freelance success – your clients. Strange, but true. The very folks who give you work and who rave about you to others are also the ones who don’t pay you on time (and in a few rare cases, not at all)…
Author: lwidmer
Where is Fair?
Echoing yesterday’s theme, just where should you set your rate? How high is too high? How low is too low? Oddly, it’s not all that tough to figure out. Let me start with an example from personal experience. I had this client who needed a website revision. I gave him a price – a low…
Asking for the RaiseDoes anyone have an easy time asking the boss for a raise? As freelancers, we think we can avoid it because hey, we’re self employed! Ha. Self-employment is an illusion under which we work. No, dear writers. Whenever we want a raise, we are very much employees, but our boss is now…
Like Yesterday I was fine until a few moments ago, while listening to the radio, the station played U2’s “Peace on Earth” behind comments from people who were there that day. They described seeing the second plane hit, or they described seeing people jumping from either of the towers. They described all the emotion and…
But What About Her JOB?Warning – rant ahead. They’re bashing Katie Couric again. Awful. Boring. Dowdy. Oh no, they don’t mean her ability to perform in her new job. No, no. It would seem in that department, she did just fine. No, they’re talking about her wardrobe. That’s right, folks. The critics, who never opened…
Should I Pay or Should I Go?Raise of hands, please – how many of you have considered or even plunked down hard cash to “join” one of those job sites? Really? That many? I’d count, but my hand is up, too. It’s long been debated amongst us freelance types whether it’s worth it to pay…
Sometimes, You Just Can’t When do you know to let go of a deadline, or a project for that matter? When your stress level has hit the ceiling, or when despite your best efforts, you’re just not going to make the deadline. It happened to me. I’m still working on a huge project. It’s still…
The Sabotage That is Family I love my family. I really do. My kids are great. My stepkids are an extension of my own kids. My husband is the best man in the world. Yet while they are terrific, they are also the closest thing to saboteurs that a career could possibly come across. I…
The Hell That is My CheckbookWhy is it that every time taxes roll around, my checkbook springs a leak? I just shored it up after the April Fiasco (called Tax Day by some), squeaked through the June quarterly payments and now as September is closing in, damn if that thing isn’t back to low, scary…
How to Blow It with the ClientI had an experience today with a vendor that I just had to share. I have a monthly trade newsletter that publishes market analysis and articles from the top execs in the industry. If I named names, you’d know at least four out of five of these companies. In…