Tweet There’s lots to keep you busy in December. Need I list them? Christmas, Hanukkah, gearing up for your Resolutions list come January. But there are a handful of things you won’t want to forget while you’re busy making a list and checking it twice. Here are 5 things you don’t want to miss if you’re a freelance writer: 1. Say, “Thanks!” We often forget what it was like when we had no clients. When there were no deadline, no phone calls, no projects in the near future. Or worse, when we had nightmare clients who were worse to…
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Tweet Freelance writer Laura Spencer wrote another brilliant post on Freelance Folder entitled 30 Spooky Freelancing Practices. Her list included everything from bad mouthing clients to internet surfing instead of working. Anyone guilty of that? I’ll admit to the latter in the past. Oops. But while I have looked fear in its face (sometimes in the eyes of a scary scary client), none of the 30 items (though good) can match the scariest of them all. It’s this: The fear that I’m not good enough that I’ll never make it as a professional writer. If you have never felt this…
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Tweet Did you know in Paris, the city of love, there are bridges devoted to lovers? Our tour guide Berthon said couples come to the bridge to pledge their affection for each other. We strolled down the bridge to take a glance at their “objects” of affection and were surprised by what we saw. At first glance, you see a stream of metal locks bolted together to signify a solid commitment. But our guide beckoned us to look further. As we got closer, we saw knots tied together with strips of a plastic bag, ribbon or paper. Berthon said those…
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Tweet This weekend I did something most introverts and writers wouldn’t dare do-man a booth for 8 hours at a festival filled with several hundred people. Without meaning to, I learned a ton of lessons, not just on life, but on business too. Here are the Five Secrets of Successful Sales I Learned from the Festival
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Tweet I’m not a magician, but over time I’ve learned the magic of transforming nothing into everything. Here’s what I mean. When you have a dream to work at home as a freelance writer, you basically start from nothing. You may have a handful of clients to begin with (and if you do kudos to you!), but in general you’re starting from scratch. When you blog, for example, all you have is a blinking white screen staring at you. You’ve got no fans on Facebook, zero tweeps following you on Twitter and no one reading your blogs. If you’re on a…
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Tweet This post will cover the five things you shouldn’t do (not including the basics like failing to do any work for a client or refusing to pay a freelancer) if you want a healthy, happy long-term and profitable business relationship. Whether you’re a freelancer or a start-up looking to hire a freelancer, there are a few things you should know before you start something new. You wouldn’t marry the first person that you meet, so why jump blindly into a partnership with a client/freelancer you hardly know? To prevent lots of time wasted, money lost and bridges burned, read what not…
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Tweet photo by: Express Monorail Have you ever been stunned like a deer-caught-in-the headlights when someone asks you, “What you do for a living?” Well I have and I can’t plea ignorance on this one! All over the web, articles on creating an elevator speech have been popping up. I’ve seen them, read them, but failed to do anything about it.
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Tweet Remember Gavin de Becker’s 1997 book, “The Gift of Fear?” A potential employer gave it to me during one of their intensive interviews. Strange gift for most jobs, but this one fit the bill. I was interviewing for work as a private investigator. Surprisingly, I got the job. My one year stint as a PI was more than I bargained for. But one thing I learned from the book and the job was to follow my instincts. Or so I thought. Like Jesaka I’ve had to relearn the lesson time and time again. As a P.I., not trusting my…
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Tweet Photo by: roberthuffstutter My husband and I hobbled on over to a used car lot recently. The reason for our less than enthusiastic attitude was our fear of encountering the dreaded stereotypical used car salesman. The man with a big persona (a.k.a. desperate man who talks too much). You know the guy. The one who hunts you down and seems to pick up your scent even before he sees you. A swarm of salesman suddenly encircles you all in business suits, all waiting until fatigue and desperation gives way to a sale. Okay it might not be THAT bad!…
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Tweet Photo by striatic Have you ever had a bad haircut? I’m sure we’ve all had them. As for me, I’m like TLC’s Duggarts, I’m on my fifth and counting. The thing my husband always says after I get back from another disappointing hairdo is, “I don’t get it. You tell them exactly what you want and they never do it the way you want.” “Hmm,” I thought. There’s a bit of wisdom in there somewhere. The more I pondered, the more I saw that there was a similarity between bad haircuts and bad business.