Deliberate Freelancer

Three requests for the podcast right now: I want to do an Ask Me Anything episode. Please email or DM via Twitter your questions about the business of freelancing and I’ll answer them on a future episode. You can share your name or be anonymous. melanie@meledits.com or DM @MelEdits on Twitter I’m considering a series interviewing freelancers who make six figures. So, if you have earned $100,000 or more as a freelance business owner, let me know. I’d love to talk with you more about how you got there so we can provide tactics and inspiration to other freelancers. melanie@meledits.com or DM @MelEdits on Twitter I am looking for diverse guests, so please reach out and pitch me your podcast episode idea or recommend guests who are from marginalized groups. I’m doing my own research and outreach, but I’m open to pitches and recommendations too. melanie@meledits.com or DM @MelEdits on Twitter In this week’s episode, let’s talk money again. First, let’s talk about setting an income goal, then about how to trac

Today’s guest is Amy Ragland, a freelance marketing writer and content strategist in Wichita, Kansas. She writes mostly for financial services clients. Amy and her husband have two daughters, ages 13 and 11. Amy began freelancing in 2002, before she was married. She began freelancing on the side when someone asked her to do a particular project. For a long time, it was only a side hustle and sporadic “play money.” After she had her children, she stayed home full-time with them for three years. Freelancing helped her keep her brain sharp, bring in a bit of extra income and feel like she was contributing financially to the household. Later, she began full-time freelancing to have a more flexible schedule as a parent. Freelancing allows her to structure her days so that she’s most focused and productive when her children are in school. She can also make more money in less time than when she was an employee. The flexibility also allows her to volunteer and get involved in her kids’ school activities and events th

First, Black Lives Matter. Let’s talk … On today’s show I am going to go over how you can relook, reimagine and reexamine your goals in the midst of a crisis, like this global pandemic. But first, I want to talk about the protests happening this week in our country after the murder of George Floyd by police and the “weaponization” of race by a white woman, Amy Cooper, in Central Park. As if the pandemic wasn’t stressful and heartbreaking enough, racism—which has long been a cancer in our society—has really come to a head in recent weeks. I am a privileged white woman, but I try to be an ally and to listen and learn. I believe that Black Lives Matter. And if we are upset and angry about buildings on fire and broken glass, then we should be 1000% angrier about black men and women and boys and girls being abused, beaten and even murdered by police and other people in our society. You may not have tuned into this podcast for politics, but we cannot simply talk about our freelance businesses without recognizing wh

This week is a mini episode because I’m doing what I’m preaching: Taking a break. I apologize for the brevity, but I will be back next week with regular episodes. This past weekend was the three-day Memorial Day weekend. And while it looked very different during this pandemic, I still focused on taking most of the weekend off, completely unplugged from work. And I encourage you to take a break too. Even if you aren’t that busy with your business right now, don’t feel guilty about taking a break. Everyone—no matter what our workload is right now—needs a physical and mental break from work. So, consider what a break looks like to you and take a few hours, a full day or a weekend off. My wish for you this week is to go easier on yourself, to not feel guilty for taking some time off from work and family, and to put yourself first by taking a break. I promise I’ll be back next week with regular episodes. Be well and take care.

Today’s guest is Jessica Thiefels, an organic content marketer, which means she focuses on creating content and content strategies for clients—but doesn’t work with paid marketing and sales. Jessica now lives in Burlington, Vermont, after traveling for eight months last year with her husband. Jessica also has a new podcast called Mindset Reset Radio, which helps millennials get intentional in their life, business and career. Instagram has 1 billion users, and users tend to be very active. The primary age range is about 25–35. People are looking for content that showcases the most authentic part of your brand or business. It’s not about sharing other people’s content as much as on Twitter or Facebook. That personal touch allows people to forge deeper connections with potential clients, which builds brand loyalty. While Instagram was built for beautiful images and lends itself well to businesses like fashion and travel, other businesses and freelancers can do well on Instagram by creating their own graphics. Ho

Today’s guest is Julia Bocchese, an SEO consultant and Pinterest strategist for creative small businesses. Her goal is to make SEO and Pinterest strategies approachable and easy to implement for all small businesses so they can reach their ideal clients organically. She lives in Philadelphia with her Siberian Husky sidekick and her husband. And on the side, she runs a travel photography site and goes to grad school for history to study Vikings.   In this episode, Julia provides a lot of strategy and tips on how to use Pinterest for your freelance business, whether you’re brand-new to Pinterest or you need to ramp up your efforts. I was concerned that Pinterest was only for businesses that are heavy into images like photographers or fashion bloggers, but Julia assured me that most businesses can benefit from Pinterest. Please know that Julia is hosting a virtual workshop on Pinterest on Tuesday, May 26, so check out the link under Resources below for more information. Pinterest is a visual search engine, not a

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how to get new clients right now. I’ve also been thinking about how I will have to change my business and plan for the next several months or year or two, even though so many things are unknown during this pandemic. First, here are some reminders about how to be a rock star for your clients. This is about your personality, attitude and ability to be helpful. What you should always do, but especially right now: Respond quickly. I know this isn’t always possible. There are exceptions. But when a client emails you, especially if you’re already working on an assignment for them, get back to them quickly—as in that same day if possible. Don’t leave them hanging. Don’t ghost clients. This should be obvious, but I’ve had freelancers working for me who did not only respond quickly, they just didn’t respond at all. For days. On a deadline. And I never hired those people again. Meet your deadlines. If you are having trouble with your deadline, reach out to your client as

On today’s show I talk about how the pandemic is forcing some of us (me included) to pivot and how we need to find our own resilience to be able to pivot and work on our freelance business. I don’t actually want to pivot right now. I like what I was doing with my business and where it was going. But I don’t have a choice, as I’ve lost clients and projects and need to replace that income. I had an anchor client that was about 48% of my income. I knew that was risky; I knew that wasn’t recommended. You should aim instead to have several anchor clients, no more than about 30% of your income. Now, that anchor client is on hold, so I’m forced to pivot—and I don’t know for how long. Some days I am optimistic and know that if I work hard I can get new writing assignments from regular clients and past clients. But I still feel sad and upset and annoyed that I lost clients and have to do other things now. My husband reminded me that I’m in mourning, mourning for the type of business I had and the client I liked to wor

Today’s guest is acupuncturist Rachel Brumberger, here to talk about acupuncture and Chinese medicine and how you can use those principles to do some self-care at home right now. Rachel began studying acupuncture in 2009. She has earned a master in acupuncture, a master of Oriental medicine and a postgraduate certificate in women’s holistic health—all from the Maryland University of Integrative Health. She co-founded Third Space Wellness in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland, about five years ago. Then, in 2019 she started Rachel Brumberger LLC, which is the home of her clinic, writing projects and wellness for workplaces. She now has her own practice for clients in downtown Bethesda, Maryland. Rachel explains the concepts behind acupuncture. It’s whole body medicine, recognizing that the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual are all connected. Therefore, acupuncture can help with a wide variety of ailments, including migraines, menstrual disharmony, back pain, sleep issues, anxiety, depression and infertil

This is a slight diversion from the usual episode, but I know a lot of you are bookworms, like me. However, you might be finding it hard to read right now because you’re too stressed. Or you don’t want to read the same type of books. Or you’re having trouble getting books because you always relied on your local library, which is now shut down. So, I’m going to talk about all these things today, while also giving some book recommendations. I’m also going to talk about some non-fiction business books that have really helped me and my freelance business over the years. If you want to skip to just the business book recommendations, fast-forward to 29:00. I was in a bit of a book slump when the pandemic hit, so after reading one good book, I struggled to figure out what to read next. And while many of us might be struggling to read at times, turns out we’re buying a lot of books online. Let’s first talk about how you can access or buy books right now. First, audiobooks. The obvious place to start is Audible, which

Today’s guest is Omar Gallaga, a technology and culture freelance writer from the Austin, Texas, area. Omar has been writing about technology for years. He has written for NPR, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and Hispanic Magazine. He spent 21 years as a reporter and editor for the Austin American-Statesman—where he helped launch the Spanish-language newspaper ¡ahora sí!, as well as a personal tech section called Technopolis and two podcasts, called "Statesman Shots" and “I Love You So Much,” which he co-hosted. Omar helped create NPR’s “All Tech Considered” segments, and he can be heard every week on the radio program Texas Standard talking about technology news. Most of us are used to working from home and have figured out the technology to make it work. But during the coronavirus pandemic, you might have clients that are learning how to use new tech tools or wanting to try new things as they figure out working from home for the first time. And you may suddenly find yourself in a not

Today’s guest is Michelle Garrett, a public relations consultant, content creator, blogger, speaker and freelance writer. She is also the host of the weekly tweet chat #FreelanceChat, which you can join every Thursday at 12 p.m. Eastern time. Michelle is the first guest to return to the show. She first appeared on episode #7 to talk about blogging and tweeting to build your business. I invited Michelle back because I knew she would have great advice about how to do marketing, social media and PR for our clients right now during the coronavirus pandemic—while being thoughtful and not tone-deaf. And I knew she would have advice for freelance business owners on how we can continue to market ourselves, network and get new work. Michelle says her clients are all handling marketing and PR during this coronavirus in different ways. The most important thing is to be mindful and thoughtful. As she said, “It’s common sense a little bit. The things that didn’t work before are not going to work now—pushy, salesy.” Be car

On today’s show I talk about how sometimes I’m just not feeling it. Sometimes I just feel blah and unmotivated. But, I have client work to do. But, I’m having a hard time kicking my butt into gear. Two interesting reasons I might be feeling blah that I learned about in recent years: One, I learned from my acupuncturist that some people feel blah or out of sorts when seasons change. The past two years, I’ve noticed this feeling as winter turns into spring—which is strange because I’m a much bigger fan of spring than I am of winter—but I feel out of sorts around April. And now, this week, my favorite season, summer, has slowly disappeared as October has arrived. That change of seasons might be causing some of my malaise. Another thing that women should be aware of: When your hormone levels go down, you might feel a little unmotivated and not like yourself. This can happen before or during your menstrual cycle, and for those of us in our 40s, it can happen as we head into menopause. A lot of women start experien

Today’s guest is Mira Dineen, a registered social worker and organizational consultant in Toronto, Canada. In her clinical counseling practice, Mira specializes in working with women with anxiety, worry and perfectionism. As a consultant, she designs and delivers wellness programming in post-secondary institutions, startups and nonprofits. While Mira is only allowed to offer clinical therapy to people living in Ontario, she is available to everyone else as a consultant—she offers wellness coaching and organizational consulting services. Her links are below under Resources I interrupted my previously announced March podcast hiatus because I wanted to bring you this episode during the coronavirus pandemic. I know I needed some reassurance and coping strategies to manage my anxiety, and Mira offers both of those in this episode. I know I’m not the only one dealing with the rollercoaster of anxiety—one day paralyzed by fear or on the verge of tears, and the next day feeling fine and ready to spend all day diving

Where do you want to go in the new year (metaphorically)? On today’s show, we’re going to set you up right for the new year. I’m going to talk about how you can reflect back on the past year, analyze the good and the bad, and then plan for next year. The end of the year is the perfect time to think about the big questions surrounding your freelance business. What does success and growth look like to you? To me, growing my business means continuing to earn more money in less time, so I can have a personal life, pursue new interests outside of work and travel a lot. This is the perfect time to schedule a solo business retreat—a time of reflection, analysis and evaluation of the INSIDE of your business. It’s a time to step away from client work and the busyness of our lives. First up, you need to look back to look forward. Evaluate your freelance business in 2019. What were five successes you had or five things you really loved about your work this year? Write them down. Next, write down five things you disliked

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

Stop hustling. Stop flying by the seat of your pants. Host your own solo business retreat and take a step back to analyze your business and where you want to go—and how you can get there.

On today’s show I want to stress the importance of getting a good night’s sleep—especially when you are a freelance business owner. I’m really good at sleeping. I need about eight or nine hours a night, and I prioritize my sleep. I’ve also purposefully developed several habits to master and create the perfect sleep environment. And I want to share them with you. As an employee, you might have been able to get through the day when you were tired, even if you weren’t your best self. But as a freelance business owner, everything is based on your own discipline. You have to make yourself get up, get into work mode, start projects, stick to a task, work when you might not feel like it. It can be way too easy to get distracted and browse social media or spend too much time on admin work, “pretending” to yourself that you’re really working. All of this is amplified when you are tired. If you do not get enough sleep, you are not likely to have much discipline that day. Or even if you are trying to do work, your brain

Today’s show is a bit shorter than usual because I’m tired. Not physically tired as much as mentally tired. I get enough sleep—I’m really good at prioritizing that—but you know as a freelance business owner that your brain is always on. It’s hard to stop thinking about your business. Plus, February is my busiest month. But what really got me off track last week was the infuriating and frustrating news that the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2474, a bill that, at first glance, doesn’t seem to have much to do with freelancing. It’s a pro-union bill heavily supported by Democrats (who control the House), which is how it passed easily. However, the bill defines independent contractors in such restrictive terms that it would require most of our clients to hire us as employees or not to use us at all. This would affect ALL independent contractors and freelancers in ANY industry, which is why we need to fight against his bill. If you’ve heard of AB5 in California, which became law this year, H.R. 2474 is

On today’s show I talk about boundaries, both in your business and your personal life. For the most part, I have figured out how to set boundaries. But I also admit I was quite lucky that when I started my freelance business, my family and friends understood that I was actually working throughout the day and that this wasn’t some hobby. I know some of you are not so lucky and have people occasionally bugging you to help them out with things or hang out with them during the day because you “of course you can’t be working.” Boundaries tell you and those around you what is acceptable, appropriate human behavior. They vary from person to person. Knowing what your boundaries are and setting them is critical to building healthy, respectful relationships in your life. This is important in both your personal life—setting boundaries with your partner, your family, your friends, even your neighbors—as well as in your freelance business—with clients, colleagues, subcontractors. I want to talk about setting boundaries in