A few weeks back during tax time, I was cleaning up some old files and came across the check stub from my first opportunity to do paid freelance work.

I was just a lowly assistant editor at a golf magazine when I received a call from someone at Boardroom Reports, publisher of the Bottom Line Personal newsletter, which I’m pleasantly surprised to see still exists 23 years later. The assignment was to put together a quick article about golf gadgets, and I remember being stunned that someone was willing to pay $0.50 a word for writing. (Yes, even way back in 1990, there was no need to take pennies a word — yet at the time, I was pumping out thousands of words a month for just over $18,000 a year. It was a revelation.)

With so little experience, however, it would have arguably been foolhardy to attempt it full time. So, I did occasional freelance work on the side for “fun money” while working at a series of magazines through the ’90s. If I had to define my first “real” freelance job, it was the first project I received after starting my freelance business in 1999. That one was important, because I’d quit my corporate job cold turkey. It was the first check that helped pay the mortgage and keep my family fed, and immensely satisfying because of that.

I’d say the third most important check was the one from a project I’d secured through cold calling, sometime in the summer of 2001, thanks to coming across Peter Bowerman’s The Well-Fed Writer. Psychologically, that one was meaningful because it was the first freelance work I’d done that wasn’t from a person I’d known through my previous contacts or their referrals. It was a job I’d gotten on my own, selling my skills and experience to a prospect who had no clue who I was. At that point, I knew I was in business for real.

Do you remember your first piece of freelance work — how you acquired it, what you did, and how much you got paid? Share your story in the comments!

This week’s Friday freelancing link roundup has a theme of sorts, spun out of the thinking that went into my post on Freelance-Zone today, “Simultaneously Penniless and Rich,” as well as a lunch discussion with one of my longtime creative partners yesterday, who ditched the ad agency world at about the same time I went solo.

Without further ado…

My Main Goal in Six Words. Simply and elegantly put. Sure you need goals and action plans, but what’s the deeper reason you do what you do?

America: A Nation of Permanent Freelancers and Temps. What caught my eye here is a little down the page, where the author talks about self employment having once had a stigma—which is now being removed. I’d like to think that’s the case; it probably is, as long as you act like a business, not something you’re doing in between corporate jobs.

Do You Have a Love/Hate Relationship with Freelancing? Quite honestly you couldn’t pay me enough to go back into a corporate environment. But are there times when I find freelancing frustrating, confusing, or tedious? Sure. As those deep thinkers from my home state put it, “Love Stinks.”

The Challenges of Working as a Solo PR Consultant. I don’t agree with the author on everything he’s said (particularly about vacations or isolation, both of which *are* under our control!), but it’s a solid reality check on the highs, lows, and goals of independence. The comments are interesting, too. H/T to my buddy Nat Handler for the link.

I’ve been a fan of Ann Wylie since my corporate days, when I hired her to conduct a seminar for our magazine publishing company’s entire writing and editing staff. So, naturally I was pleased to hear that our local Phoenix IABC chapter is hosting a half-day seminar and luncheon with Ann on May 15.

Whether you’re new to the writing game or a seasoned vet — and whether you’re a freelancer writing features and white papers or a corporate one writing the company newsletter and press releases — Ann will spark creativity with her hands-on exercises.

All the details can be found at this link, but here’s the quick scoop:

• Seminar Part I — Think Like a Reader: Move audience members to act
• Seminar Part II — Cut Through the Clutter: Make every piece you write easier to read & understand
• Luncheon — Rev Up Readership: Lift your ideas off the page or screen with display copy

Ann Wylie Workshop/Luncheon Details:
Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Seminar: 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. (Registration begins at 8 a.m.)
Luncheon: Program from noon to 1 p.m.; food served at 11:30 a.m.
Location: Arizona Bridge to Independent Living (ABIL) Conference Center, 5025 E. Washington St., Phoenix
IABC/PRSA Member Pricing (before May 10): Seminar and Luncheon, $125; seminar only, $105; luncheon only, $40

In “4 basic questions a freelancer always needs to answer,” I talked about the importance of preparation in advance of a client meeting. Since every meeting, client, and freelance job is different — and your business is also unique — these aren’t “teacher’s guide” answers, but rather pointers toward formulating your own individual answers.

A major caveat here: Your goal in a first client meeting is not to tell all about yourself and your freelance writing, design, or other services. It’s about figuring out how to help the client and making the sale, right? Ultimately, that’s about *asking* questions, which I’ll address in a future post.

What areas/industries/niches do you specialize in?/Tell me about your business/background. The key here is to be brief, not much more than an elevator pitch. It’s OK to talk about your breadth of experience as a freelancer, but no one wants to hear everything you’ve done. There are two ways to segue out of this segment: 1) Ask the client about themselves, or 2) Ask some specifics about the company or trends in their industry that show you’ve done your homework.

What’s your experience in my area/industry/niche (i.e., relevant portfolio samples)? It’s time to tell a story, illustrated by a portfolio sample if it’s appropriate. A professional speaker I recently interviewed, Bill Whitley, uses a fantastic concept called “client attraction stories” that provides a framework for a freelancer to accomplish that. If you don’t have something that’s an exact fit, that’s OK. Use the closest analogous sample and explain why it had a similar challenge/outcome to what they’re seeking, and why you think it could work for them.

What’s your usual process/how do you work? I’ll be honest, I hate this question. The little devil on my shoulder wants to answer, “How would you like me to work? That’s what I’ll do!” More prudently, I’ll talk briefly in general about brainstorming, outlines, approval processes, etc. — and then steer toward asking about their own expectations for the project.

How much do you charge/what’s your hourly rate/how do you charge? For me, the best positioning is to say that project pricing makes sense most of the time, and that I generally use a not-to-exceed estimated range. Inevitably, some ask about hourly rate. I prefer to answer directly, although I know some freelancers prefer to deflect back to talking about project fees. Whatever you answer, do it with confidence like you’ve said it a million times before.

These aren’t the only client questions you’ll get, but even with out-of-the-blue ones, the key is to always:

• Be brief.
• Illustrate with an anecdote about a successful client, and how you can do the same for your prospect; i.e., Whitley’s client attraction story.
• Politely steer the conversation back to asking the client questions.

Photo courtesy of Avolore.

Busy day today, but wanted to share a few links for your consideration.

• This headline caught my eye on a Facebook post: “Crappy Vs Snappy: Photog Uses Side-by-Side Comparisons to Market His Skill.” There’s always a risk in slamming someone else’s work in order to make yours look better. In this case, I think the photographer pulls it off because it’s an interactive session with a client. Handled correctly, freelancers who write, edit or do graphic design could use a similar tactic.
• Jane Goodall’s book being held back after accusations of plagiarism put her in the news, but for a bit of a contrarian view (not on Goodall specifically), check out the Poynter Institute’s “Why we should stop criminalizing practices that are confused with plagiarism.”
• A think piece from Charles Hugh Smith, “The Ten Best Employers To Work For.” (I don’t want to steal the punchline, but will say that his premise — “The insecurity of self-employment can generate a far more resilient life and mindset” — ought to resonate with many freelancers.)
• And last but not least, here’s my post from Freelance-Zone this morning: Taxes Don’t Lie. It’s not a caveat about lying on your taxes, but rather what freelancers can learn from them.

Over the course of a prospective client meeting, there might be a dozen random questions a freelancer might need to be prepared to answer — but there are basic ones that you should be able to handle seamlessly even on your worst day.

This post was sparked by a few serendipitous items over the past week: Lori Widmer’s thoughts in “6 Ways to Get More from Your Marketing,” Jared Tendler’s upcoming Mental Game of Poker 2 (which I helped edit and found to be highly applicable for a freelancer), and the client meeting I mentioned in my Tuesday post, “The thicker the folder, the thicker the applicant.”

When I went to that meeting, I’d just gotten over a cold, and had taken a couple of Benadryl to keep from sniffling, and chugged 2 extra cups of coffee to keep from falling asleep. I’d researched the company, but in Tendler’s poker terms, I was likely to be playing my “C-game”: i.e., the worst level of performance. There wasn’t anything to do but put on my best sales face and plow through.

Even through my antihistamine haze, I knew that I needed to be ready for 4 basic questions, and the rest would need to be handled on the fly:

• What areas/industries/niches do you specialize in?/Tell me about your business/background.
• What’s your experience in my area/industry/niche (i.e., relevant portfolio samples)?
• What’s your usual process/how do you work?
• How much do you charge/what’s your hourly rate/how do you charge?

Sure enough, variations of all of those came up. The meeting went OK, though I rambled more than usual and I felt like my voice was echoing in my head. It was a middling C.

But here’s where Lori’s admonitions about the value of preparation for the freelancer and Jared’s poker theory come back into play: Your A-, B-, and C-games are not static, and there’s work involved in moving them up. On A-game days, when the answers come easily and there’s great rapport with the client, it seems like you can do no wrong. But working on your C-game — making sure you’re rock solid on the basics, and identifying and eliminating your most common mistakes — is arguably the more important part of success.

In a future post, I’ll dig into my thoughts on the best ways to answer those questions.

As I prepare for an in-person new client meeting this morning, I’m reminded of an old college admissions officer’s saying: “The thicker the folder, the thicker the applicant.”

It’s always tempting to bombard a prospective client (or employer, or college, or girlfriend/boyfriend, etc., etc.) with a mega-compilation of just how wonderful and accomplished you are. But if you’ve ever sat in the recipient’s chair — as a stack of unprioritized samples lands with a thud — you’ll know why that tactic doesn’t work.

Show me only your best samples. Respect my time. Better yet, show me that you did your homework, and that you understand what my business does and how we operate. If a magazine writer’s guideline says to send 3 pdfs or links of published works, don’t send 2 or 4.

All that said, I’m trying an experiment this morning. Over the course of the years, I’ve downsized from a large artist-style portfolio (which unhelpfully dwarfed my smaller samples) to a more compact 9″x12″ version. Today, I’ve loaded my iPad with a couple of key samples and links that can be clicked through and then files sent to the client post-meeting.

Interestingly enough, many of the best meetings I’ve ever had did not include a show-and-tell portion. My rule is to only open my portfolio if asked to do so, or if there’s something specific that will underscore my expertise in some respect.

Otherwise, my time is best spent by asking questions that reveal the client’s pain points and needs — and discussing how I can address them. And if the iPad remains shut, that’s just fine with me.

Photo courtesy of MamPrint.

Super busy day ahead, but wanted to take a few minutes to share a some interesting links I came across in the past few days:

Here’s How Daniel Pink Writes: Absolutely fantastic interview at Copyblogger with the author of Free Agent Nation, Drive, and, most recently, To Sell Is Human. Free Agent Nation made a huge impact on me when I was early in my freelancing career, confirming that I was on the right track going solo. I simply love the way he thinks, and am gratified that he thinks writer’s block is bunk, just like I do.

101 Resources to Rock Your Freelance Writing World: Caution—do not visit this link at Lori Widmer’s Words on a Page unless you have some time on your hands. You *will* be investigating a ton of interesting sites, many of which will have you asking, “How did I not know about this before?” And, when you add in all the reader contributions in the comments, it’s more like “202 resources to rock your freelance writing world.”

Why Calling Yourself a Freelance Writer Hurts Your Business: Mind you, I don’t agree 100% with Susan Rich on her thesis about this ages-old debate. For me, there are times when using the word “freelance” is useful and other times when, no, I would not use it because it wouldn’t be as influential. Nevertheless, it’s a worthwhile exercise to consider what you call yourself as well as related issues such as how you position your elevator pitch.

You Don’t Need a Niche to Start a Successful Freelance Writing Career: When people ask me what topics I like to write on, I generally say, “I’m an omnivore.” So, maybe Anne Wayman is preaching to my own personal choir on this one, but truth is truth: Finding a niche is not a magic wand, and it’s no way to start a serious freelancing business.

Happy Friday, and have a great weekend!

Freelancing can often seem like the cult TV show Wipeout, with unexpected obstacles popping out of nowhere, and even visible obstacles being squirrellier than you realize…till you plunge into the drink.

My most challenging client and I weren’t seeing eye to eye on Friday. (He’d be proud of the “most challenging” descriptor, so I’m at peace writing this openly under the assumption that he might read it.) It was the most serious disagreement that we’ve had in 3 years of working together.

In Wipeout terms, this was an obstacle I already knew about. He really, really would like me to expand beyond the 3 hours a day I spend during production crunches to manage his other writers. I’ve always been clear with him that I’m not interested in taking a full-time job. I never say, “I have other clients,” because that’s a counterproductive comment—but he’ll occasionally try to get a rise out of me, saying things like, “I guess your other clients must be more important.” (I ignore it when he says that.)

Things came to a head along those fault lines: Him, believing that I wasn’t working fast enough on the upcoming project; me, believing that I had been very clear about the amount of time I could commit. Keeping in mind that this is simultaneously a client who pays great…and also costs me a few bucks a month in aspirin…I had a couple of options available to me at this point:

1. Say “to heck with it,” sever the relationship, and find better things to do with my time. That would be foolish, because on balance the projects meet my pay-to-hassle ratio requirements.
2. Say “OK, I’ll commit more time.” Unacceptable, even though it would guarantee me more income. Diversity is absolutely paramount to my business, not to mention my sanity.
3. Restate my position, “I can give you XX hours a day during production peaks, which is what I’ve been doing for the past 3 years, and which has been a good partnership.” This stood a not-insignificant chance of resulting in termination.

I chose 3. Obviously, I’ve painted an oversimplified picture here. But the first of two deeper points is that you need to come at these types of situations from a position of strength and self knowledge. No one can tell you what your own parameters are—there are successful, happy freelancers who would have chosen option 1 or 2.

The second point is that, while negotiating the Wipeout of the freelancing world, you need to be persistent with whatever choices you make. I knew my client wasn’t going to like my decision to resist his offer. Yet, based on the work I’ve done for him and the strength of the relationship we’ve built, I believed it was the proper course of action.

First thing Monday morning, I received a conciliatory email from him: He respected my position, though he couldn’t quite understand why I would forgo such a great opportunity. We’ll continue working with each other, same as it ever was, until the next obstacle.

While so many posts revolve around pricing and estimating or finding freelance jobs, today I want to step back and discuss something that can help freelancers maintain a sense of perspective and purpose: working on charitable or non profit projects. For the new freelancer, it can be a way of building a portfolio; even for us oldsters, it’s a way to give back—and remind us of how our talents can be applied beyond the usual bounds of the page.

One of the organizations I’ve worked with over the years is the Annual Baby Diaper Drive. The short story is that they help families served by Homeward Bound, which assists homeless and domestic violence families with children throughout the greater Phoenix area. They’re in the last few days of their annual fund drive, shooting for a goal of 200,000 diapers (!) and $75,000 for their Emergency Fund Drive. (You may not know—I didn’t—that food stamps don’t cover most baby necessities, such as diapers, baby wipes, and formula.) It’s a great cause, and I’m proud to call them my friends.

Which brings me to my second point: an overdue thank you to author, speaker, coach and internet radio show host Susan Rich. I connected to her through a Facebook connection with a longtime colleague, and she was kind enough to feature the Baby Diaper Drive on one of her radio segments, as well as putting together this PSA video on YouTube.

Do You Have a Charitable Organization You Want Featured?

What’s really neat, and way above and beyond the charitable norm, is that Susan and her co-host Annemarie Schuetz are telling listeners about smaller, under-funded non profit agencies—one a day, five days a week, for all of 2013! Download their PSA Project Press Release (pdf) for all the details on how you can spread the good word about a charity on behalf of clients or friends.

You can hear Susan Rich Talks! live weekdays, 9 am PT/Noon ET on All Women’s Radio—they’ve always got interesting, diverse guests. You can also connect to her through her Facebook page.

While we’re in the giving-back mode…In the comments, please feel free to share a plug, link or story about your favorite non profit or charitable organization that you’ve worked with as a freelancer!