Raise your hand if you’ve ever been in a place where there’s no cash coming in, none on the horizon, and you’re looking desperately for something – anything – that pays now or sooner. Ooo, that many? Fact is we’ve all been there – some of us more than others. And what’s the first thing…
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You’re Looking at a Twit-iot
The Great (?) Social Networking Experiment, Chapter 5 How many weeks now into my Twitter experience – three? I still don’t get it. Maybe I’m truly not cool enough, as my son would say. Or maybe I’m not working it correctly, but so far it’s proving to be no more than another attention-stealing reason why…
Wow Me!
You’re a creative soul, right? You put yourself out there as a professional who can craft excellent prose, mind the grammatical details, and fine-tune existing copy. So why is there so little creativity in your attempts to secure work? Once I had to hire some subcontractor work for a massive project. I put out an…
Things I Won’t Do for Cash
Quick Twitter update – I’ve learned to be picky about following people who follow me. In a few cases, the followers were spewing out pitch-after-pitch on their businesses/websites, etc. In one case, the dude was begging, constantly, for people to republish his notes (or retweet, as it’s known) – so much so I quickly bored…
A Carrie Bradshaw Wanna-be
It takes just one rerun of Sex and the City to get my blood boiling. Loved the show. Hated the message that a writer living in one of the most expensive cities in the country and writing ONE COLUMN in a freakin’ newspaper could afford $800 shoes, a Manhattan apartment, and be blessed with designer…
Starvation as Motivation
If you’re not starving, are you really an artist? I say if you’re not starving or threatened with starvation, where’s your motivation? Jennifer at CatalystBlogger had a great post about contingency plans in the freelance world. Jen was inspired after reading Ben Stein’s musings in the New York Times about uncertain economies and freelance scriptwriters….
Why Proofreading Should Matter to You
I spent a lazy weekend (first in ages) lounging and napping and spending time outdoors on what was one of the nicest winter weekends. Also, I started (and finished) reading Carrie Fisher’s new book Wishful Drinking, one of the better autobiographies I’ve read. No, let me restate that – it was a compelling, funny, fast-and-furious…
Creating Value and Loyalty in a Sucky Market
Now that I’ve pounded it into the freelancing world’s collective brain that we deserve to be paid what we’re worth, maybe I should talk about how to give value and inspire client loyalty when everyone is bargain shopping. You’ve worked hard to build that list of clients. Why not help them increase their own brand…
Your Aching Image
I’m about to try proving a point about your rates by taking you through France to get to New Jersey. Bear with me – it’s relevant. Somehow. Image and brand – in some cases, they’re the same thing. Don’t think so? Ask Michael Phelps right about now. And Miley Cyrus? Both her image and her…
What’s Your BATNA?
Sometimes you’re going to have client issues that you’re just not going to be able to resolve. It sucks, but it’s life. I dealt with one recently that left me feeling unheard, unappreciated, and unwilling to continue with the status quo. Unfortunately, it was a situation that had been quite lucrative in the past. But…