Deliberate Freelancer

On today’s show I am going to go over several networking tips that will be particularly helpful to introverts. But I also know extroverts who don’t love networking, so I think you extroverts out there will find these tactics useful as well. Let’s be clear: I am an introvert. In this episode, I tell you about my solo adventures in Europe, where I enjoyed being alone with my thoughts and experiences and reactions. Several things that I like are common among introverts: I am comfortable doing things alone. I enjoy being alone with my thoughts and my inner monologue. I don’t have trouble filling alone time. I like being with other people but usually one-on-one or in small groups and only for a short time. All of this seems counterintuitive to everything we think about networking. How many of you would say you hate networking? Many people think of networking as those happy hour/reception-type events with strangers. But that’s only one small part of networking. First, let’s reframe networking in our minds. I have r

On today’s show I want to help you go through a series of 5 questions so you can evaluate the services you offer clients and think about focusing on the services you LOVE the most—and also think about diversifying your services. You know I believe you need to think like, act like and BE a business owner. And that includes evaluating the services you provide now and figuring out how to diversify your services and your clients. Parts of my business look very different now than they did when I started almost six years ago. And that’s because I evaluated my services several times through the year and I’ve pivoted as needed. And you need to do the same. I want you to ask yourself a series of 5 questions: 1:What services do you offer your clients? List them out and be specific.  2: How many services did you just come up with that you offer your clients? 3: Let’s break down the services that you just listed out. Which ones do you love to do? Are there any that you dislike? Any that are just OK? If you love to do som

Today’s guest is Laura Poole, a freelance editor from Durham, N.C. Laura has been a freelancer for about 22 years, almost her entire career. She provides copyediting for scholarly nonfiction publishers and training for editors and freelancers. She is also a trained, certified life coach. In this episode, Laura talks about creating work-life balance while running a freelance business. Laura explains that work-life balance is about creating the life you want, which is a personal definition for everyone. It’s not about time and task management. It’s about having the things that you want in life. Laura had two key moments in her life and career when she realized she needed to improve her work-life balance. The first is when she and her husband started talking about having a child and she realized she had to let go of some things to make room for a baby. The second realization came when she asked herself why she was working evenings and weekends. The point of freelancing was so she could work when she wanted. “I w

Today’s show is a micro-mini, teeny-tiny episode because I’m on vacation and decided I had to give myself a break. And that meant I didn’t have time to finish the guest episode I was planning for this week. I am the first one to preach that we need breaks and vacations. I especially need a complete break from email. But I did that thing that most of us do at some point as freelancers. I underestimated how much time all this work was going to take, and I didn’t finish everything I wanted to before vacation. Can you relate? So, I finally declared this an actual vacation and stepped away from the computer. I’ll be back next week with a new full-length episode. Biz Bite: Create an alternative workspace

Today’s guest is Phaedra Brotherton, a career branding and job search coach in the Washington, D.C., area. She helps mid-career and executive professionals who work at nonprofits transition into more satisfying jobs or new careers. She offers career coaching, resume writing, LinkedIn profile writing, and job search coaching services. Phaedra is certified as both a career coach and a professional resume writer. In this episode Phaedra shares tactical tips on how we, as freelance business owners, can optimize our LinkedIn profiles, find potential clients, and learn how to better network on LinkedIn. Learn how going to a conference led Phaedra down a new career path. Phaedra shares why it’s important for freelancers and solopreneurs to be active on LinkedIn. For one thing, potential clients find us often through a Google search, and your LinkedIn profile is often one of the top search results. You need to start by optimizing your LinkedIn profile. This means being clear on what services you provide and who your

On today’s show I help you visualize your absolute perfect work day and then help you figure out how to make that happen—providing tips and tactics. I believe you need to visualize your perfect work day step by step so you can start to implement systems, processes, habits and goals to create that type of day. Let’s daydream to start: How would you wake up on your perfect work day? What would you do before work? How would your actual work day begin? Would you exercise? Meditate? Relax a bit with coffee or tea? My perfect morning routine would look like this: Get up naturally or easily at 5:30 or 6 a.m. without using a snooze alarm. Go for a walk in my neighborhood for 15 or 30 minutes, either listening to a podcast or brainstorming on a work problem. Come home, shower and get ready while listening to an inspiring podcast. Fix my healthy breakfast and indulge in my fancy hot tea. Start my day. My perfect work day would end around 3 p.m. To make this happen, I need to be more efficient. To do that, focus on your

Setting higher rates, better rates, and asking for more money takes confidence. There’s so much emotion and self-esteem wrapped up in what we charge. It’s often fear that keeps us from charging more. So I’m here to give you a pep talk and then explain why you should start creating project rates and stop offering an hourly rate. But, every freelancer should have their own SECRET minimum hourly rate they are aiming for, which will help you develop higher-paying project rates. When I started freelancing, my business coach called me out on the “low” rate she thought I was offering per hour. And I learned what I was afraid of: people telling me “no.”        You can always negotiate down; you can’t negotiate up. So aim high. Hourly rates penalize you if you have more experience and you’re fast. They can also scare off potential clients because they don’t want to get a huge bill. And some clients will easily say yes to a flat project rate but balk at what they see as a high hourly rate. So, stop telling people your

It’s July Fourth—a great time for a little diversion from our regularly scheduled programming. This week I recommend my favorite books I’ve read so far this year. I’ve read 20 books as we hit the year’s halfway point, but my goal is 52, so I need to get a move on! Turns out, my personal favorite book genre is literary fiction in which I completely fall in love with the characters and want to hug them and help them and wish the best for them. Not sure what you call that, but that’s what I love. I also love memoirs, and five of the 20 books I’ve read are memoirs; I include one recommendation here. Happy reading! Biz Bite: Use your library’s hold system. Resources: My Goodreads profile and reviews The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai The One-in-A-Million Boy by Monica Wood Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng Celeste Ng on Twitter “Celeste Ng Is More than a Novelist” A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza A Place for Us—“Sarah Jessica Parker Has a Book She Wants You to Read” Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

Daniel and I talk about our love of reading and books, including a mutual love for V.C. Andrews. Learn how Daniel and his friend Sean Tuohy started the Writer’s Bone podcast in 2014 and how their original idea changed and grew to what it is today, which is primarily interviews with both well-known and lesser-known authors. Next, Writer’s Bone grew into a podcast network, adding the podcasts Novel Class, Film Freaks Forever and Pop Literacy. Daniel talks about juggling all his interests and responsibilities with his day job. It comes down to scheduling everything. He also uses his lunch hour to work on his podcast network. Daniel has written a novel and a collection of short stories—both through an independent publishing house. Learn how that differs from the traditional and the self-publishing routes. Daniel explains how he landed with an independent publisher and what he gains from that type of publisher. Daniel is a marketer, so it’s natural for him to do some of his own marketing. Learn what marketing tech

Summer is here, summer is here! It’s my favorite time of the year, but for many people it’s the slowest time for their freelance business. It depends on the industry, but oftentimes your clients and potential clients are taking time off in the summer. The summer slowdown has begun for some of you. But even if summer isn’t your slowest time, you probably do have slow times throughout the year. These are the ideal times for a marketing and networking push—all those things you’ve been meaning to do but never seem to have time for. Now is the time. In this episode, I go through six tips of things you can do to find more work when times are slow. DELIBERATE FREELANCER SHOW NOTES 6 Tips to Get More Work during Slow Periods: Contact your previous and current clients. I make a list of the clients I’ve worked with in the past year. You can even go back 2–3 years to pull out those clients you loved working with and/or who paid really well. Plan for the year in seasons. At the beginning of the fall, winter, spring a

Today’s guest is Christy Batta, a freelance graphic designer I know in real life. Christy works primarily with nonprofits, creating or freshening up their brands, designing logos or print materials, and developing event materials. Christy was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, or MS, when she was just 23. A few years ago, when people were debating health care in this country, she remembers hearing a lot of rhetoric about “sick people costing more” and “sick people” driving up all our health care costs. The discussion of how people with chronic illnesses and diseases were being portrayed irritated her. She decided to start speaking out more about living with a chronic illness—and running a freelance business with a chronic illness—because she wants people to understand that so-called “sick people” are all around us and are contributing, valuable members of society. DELIBERATE FREELANCER SHOW NOTES Learn how working with a branding coach helped Christy’s freelance business. She was able to learn why her clients

Today’s guest is Andrena Sawyer, president of P.E.R.K. Consulting, an advisory firm for small to mid-sized nonprofits and businesses. Andrena works actively to mobilize and empower others—and that is exactly what she does in this episode. Andrena walks us through how to set better goals for our business, using the SMART formula. But she goes deeper than that, providing brilliant advice on how we should be setting a vision for our business. And she explains why we should focus more time on our business, not just providing services to clients nonstop. DELIBERATE FREELANCER SHOW NOTES Hear how Andrena went from law school to being an entrepreneur. When Andrena launched P.E.R.K. Consulting she still had a full-time job, but she quickly realized her energy was being split. She knew she had to commit full-time to consulting in order to make it work. If we learned anything at all about goal setting, we probably learned a linear approach. But Andrena recommends a circular approach, which starts first with an assessme

This is a “tough love” episode. Many of us are feeling overwhelmed, anxious, distracted and too busy. I think a lot of that can be alleviated by decreasing your smartphone usage and fighting against social media and digital addictions. It’s time to take back our lives. It’s time to take control of our schedules. In this episode, I lead you through several steps to cut back on digital distraction, partly inspired by Cal Newport’s new book,“Digital Minimalism.” DELIBERATE FREELANCER SHOW NOTES Let me take you back in time when baby boomers, Gen Xers and the Oregon Trail Generation can remember a time in our adult lives when smartphones and social media didn’t exist—and cellphones were just for calling people. As a kid in the 1980s, I would often whine, “I’m bored.” And I just had to figure out what to do about that boredom. Now, no one is ever allowed to be bored. Instead, we reach for our smartphones. Boredom is highly underrated. Over the Memorial Day weekend, I bought Cal Newport’s new book, “Digital Minimal

I like the term anchor client because an anchor on a boat keeps you steady and secure and is something you can rely on. We should all have a couple of anchor clients that provide just that—security and a steady income. I aim to find anchor clients on social media and via email referrals, but I also spend a lot of time meeting up with people in real life. I think many freelance business owners, especially introverts, don’t spend enough time building relationships and expanding their client work through face-to-face contact. In this episode, we’ll talk about using social media—especially Twitter and LinkedIn—to get anchor clients, but also how to get out there and meet people regularly. Deliberate Freelancer Show Notes You need to figure out—and actually write down—the type of work and clients you’re looking for. Ask yourself these three questions: WHO do I want to work for? WHAT types of projects do I want to work on? What OTHER services can I provide? Once you figure out all the services you can provide, it

Today’s guest, Megy Karydes, lives in Chicago and has owned her communications and marketing consultant practice for the past 12 years. Megy is all about systems and structure. She is very disciplined about sticking to a set schedule throughout her work day. Megy uses systems like time tracking and knowing her peak productivity time to create this discipline—and it’s a system to be admired. Hear how she does it and what tips you can pick up to try to build more structure into your routine. DELIBERATE FREELANCER SHOW NOTES Learn the system Megy uses to schedule her day. She is regimented about sticking to her schedule and minimizing distractions. Time tracking every 15 minutes showed Megy how to find more time in her day and how much time it took her to do certain types of projects. Megy’s a fan of Cal Newport’s book, “Deep Work,” which showed her the importance of setting aside uninterrupted two-hour blocks of time to do work that required concentration and deep thinking. Megy uses exercise as a good afternoo

What kind of money personality do you have? This is important to know as you handle your finances for your freelance business. DELIBERATE FREELANCER SHOW NOTES My budgeting goes all the way back to childhood and my $2 allowance. Hear about my huge money confession and tax mistake. I immediately implemented two things to prevent that mistake in the future: I take 30% of my monthly income and place it into an online savings account that is earmarked only for taxes. You have to spend money to make money. If you are the only one in your business, two things are going to happen: You are eventually going to reach your capacity. There are only so many hours in the day, and if you are doing everything, eventually you’re going to come to the end of what you can do. Short of raising all your rates all the time, your business is not going to earn more money. Embrace the economic concept of opportunity cost: Opportunity cost is when you have a situation with more than one choice. You make a choice and go a particular rou

Working at a content marketing agency for two years and now hiring subcontractors has helped me learn what freelancers can do to make their clients’ jobs easier. I learned what I DON’T want to do and what I COULD do to make myself stand out from the crowd. In this episode, I dive into five areas where any freelance business owner could help make their clients’ jobs easier. DELIBERATE FREELANCER SHOW NOTES Learn why you shouldn’t share all the details of your schedule and your life with your client—but figure out the fine line of when you need to tell them something that interferes with your work, like a funeral or an unexpected flu bug. Learn why it’s necessary to create a backup list of other freelancers and how you can create that list. Quick tip: When you’re too busy to take on work, telling your client or potential client you don’t have the “capacity” right now shows that you’re in demand and talented. Figure out what little things you can do that go above and beyond for your client—within reason. Figure

Today’s guest, Michelle Garrett, has been a freelancer for 20 years. Michelle describes herself as being at the intersection of PR, content marketing and social media. She is a public relations consultant, content creator, blogger, speaker and freelance writer. She is also the host of the weekly tweet chat #FreelanceChat, which she launched in September 2018. Michelle has grown her freelance business through a strategic and effective use of blogging and social media, primarily Twitter. Learn how Michelle keeps up with blogging and interacts on Twitter and how she repurposes her content. You’ll also hear why she launched #FreelanceChat. Michelle mentions several great online tools; the links are in the resource list below. DELIBERATE FREELANCER SHOW NOTES 4:46—How working at an agency later helped Michelle with her freelance business. 6:57—Providing an array of services helps build stronger relationships with clients. 7:30—How Michelle’s blogging career took off. 12:50—Michelle collects links and tweets as a “

Soon after I started my freelance business I quickly realized how much I loved going to conferences. It has become an investment in my business—a way for me to learn new skills, find clients, bond with fellow creative types and get inspired to try new things. I’m always invigorated after conferences, buzzing with fresh new ideas and excitement about things I want to try with my freelance business. Learn how to find the right conference for you, what to do beforehand to prepare for the conference and what “must-haves” you should take to the conference.   DELIBERATE FREELANCER SHOW NOTES 1:50— How I discovered “my people” at ACES–the Society for Editing. 4:51— How to find your “people” in your industry and its conferences. 5:19— There are two types of conferences: the ones with your fellow creatives and the ones with potential clients. 7:10— Why I’m so involved in an organization called Association Media & Publishing.  8:08— The five things you should do before you go to a conference. 11:11— Nine things you

“Busyness is laziness.” Raise your hand if you reply “busy!” whenever someone asks how you are. Let’s get rid of that hectic, way too busy, frenzied feeling. Time tracking can help. Time tracking can show you how you’re spending your time and set you on a better course.        DELIBERATE FREELANCER SHOW NOTES   1:13 Learn about the research that shows how being “busy” has become a high status symbol in the U.S.   3:28 Hear Melanie’s confession about procrastinating.   4:04 Learn how time tracking can hold you accountable and help you discover where all your time is really going.   6:50 The struggle and the shame of checking Facebook nonstop.   9:08 Why Melanie is cautious about the word “productive.”   11:16 How to analyze your own time tracking data.   12:10 Biz Bite: Pick a Work Song     Resources: Busy Beings: Melanie’s interview with a Georgetown University professor about the professor’s research on the status of being busy.   Laura Vanderkam website—learn all about time tracking from the master.   “168