The Freelance Farmer

An Alternative to Traditional Freelance Work

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:27:00 +0000

(This guy might be happier working from home.)

I know that many of you freelancers are doing very well with your business, and that's great! If you're looking for a little extra cash, however, you may consider doing something a bit different. The good news is that there are plenty of work-at-home call center jobs available for companies within the U.S.

Global Response (out of Florida) is one such company, and while I haven't worked for them personally, they represent brands like David's Bridal, Urban Outfitters, National Geographic, and many more. They provide live chat support for customers just like you and me -- and you don't need to make an extensive commute to work for them!

Have you ever done work-at-home customer support? Is this something you would be interested in doing?

*Sponsored post. Photo by dam via Flickr.

The Snow is But a Memory

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:14:00 +0000

Can you believe we might not have a white Christmas this year? We did have a little snow last week, and my kids went crazy:

Here's hoping for just a small amount of the cold stuff -- it's our children's wish!

SPIDERS!

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:49:00 +0000

If you hate spiders (like me), this post will either delight or disgust you.

We awoke a week or so ago to find the entire world was covered in spider webs. My children discovered that their trikes and sandbox and our cars and even the garden was coated with a milky white webbing that seemed surreal and unlikely. On top of these webs were hundreds of the tiniest baby spiders I had ever seen. They were everywhere!

Convinced that we were living in some kind of spider apocalypse, I reminded the children to keep the doors to the house shut tight. I did NOT want those baby spiders to get into the house where they could grow up into big spiders.

And now for the delightful part (in my opinion): It rained.

A light sprinkle came up from nowhere, and -- with the sun still shining -- took out all the spiders and webs.

"Down came the rain and washed the spider out."

It's almost Halloween. Do you have any autumn spider stories to share?

5 Tips to Help You Freelance through Floods, Tornadoes and Other Natural Disasters

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 05:01:00 +0000

The following is a guest post from a good colleague, Thursday Bram.

I’ve freelanced through blizzards, brush fires, the first five seconds of an earthquake and a few other natural disasters. I haven’t worked through a hurricane yet, but it’s just a matter of time.

Getting the work done at those times is generally surprisingly easy — but the mechanics of actually handling clients and other details can be a big problem. Losing power means something very different when you live in the heart of a big city and when you live out where a county is the main authority. At a minimum, it can mean a couple of days difference in how quickly your power is restored. Internet access can be similarly problematic right after a natural disaster.

Clients can be fairly easy to deal with when there’s such problems, provided you can keep them updated. That means that setting up plans ahead of time can be crucial. These tips have helped me keep my client list intact through everything Mother Nature has thrown at me so far — and when that hurricane comes, I’ll be ready for it.

Keep a current client list, complete with contact information: It’s easy to keep everything in your head when you’re a one-person shop, which means that few enough of us actually have any sort of list in place that we could send along to someone else. But in an emergency, that’s one of the easiest things to do — have a shared document through a site like Google Docs with someone well outside of your geographic area. Then it can be a matter of a text to ask that person to email everyone on that list that you’re without power or internet access and will be in touch as soon as possible.
Get ahead and stay ahead. We all swear that we’re going to do it. We’re going to get a week ahead on all our client work so that minor emergencies (or major ones) can’t throw us off. It’s not all that common to find a freelancer who actually has managed to do so, though. Do whatever it takes to stay ahead, though, and nothing will phase you.
Set up an off site back up, preferably far away. I have a hard drive sitting in the house of a friend of mine two states away. He’s got one in my house. All our files back up automatically (with the help of a little software). It’s certainly possible that certain types of natural disasters could impact both of us, but the odds of both our houses and hard drives being wiped out are pretty slim.
Put together an emergency plan for your business. Lots of people have lists of what they need to do in the event of an evacuation or a similar level of emergency — which medications get packed, where there are print copies of emergency contact information. Put together the same sort of list for your freelance business. What do you absolutely need for your business if you had to evacuate? How do you get in touch with the clients and contractors you work with in the event of an emergency? It’s impossible to remember everything in the middle of a stressful situation, so having it written down is a must.
Print out everything you need in the event of an emergency. If the power goes out, what’s the use of a great emergency plan saved on your computer? Even if you’ve got a generator, having hard copy of all vital information is a must.

Thursday Bram has been freelancing for more than eight years — the last four full-time. She’s the co-founder of EnhancedFreelance.com, a membership site for freelancers ready to up their game.

Fall Happenings on the Knerl Farm

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:41:00 +0000

It's fall! We are finally back to (somewhat) normal after our flooding scare. While we are still without a few items (like bedroom furniture and a few larger farm equipment pieces), we have settled back into a normal routine.

This autumn, some things are just like every year. But some things are not.

The kids are enjoying the outdoors. This is typical.

Having to share the toys with a new baby goat, however, isn't typical.

The falling leaves are par for the course.

Picking late harvests from our garden full of dead leaves, however, isn't.

A lemon cucumber hanging out with a pepper.

What will we do with all these green tomatoes?

How is your fall shaping up? Do you find that it's a standard autumn? Or are there some quirks that you are trying to deal with?

A Carrot-Pickin' Injury

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:55:00 +0000

Can you pick out the perp from the line up?

I (nearly) passed out on my bathroom floor yesterday. The farmer was holding my hand above my head, examining the chunk of flesh or foreign matter that was protruding from my finger and causing the blood to drip down my hand.

I had been in the garden, enjoying a beautiful day, when the carrot I was attempting to pull out of the ground snapped. I heard a crunch, felt some pain, and saw blood. I cried out for my husband and slumped onto the ground.

As he helped me into the bathroom and washed up my finger, I imagined all the horrible kinds of injuries I may have sustained: severed finger tip, large rock or glass wedged through my finger, or worse yet, some kind of fingernail incident.

Laying on the bathroom floor, I couldn't stand the sight of my own blood, the nausea was intense, and my fears of a hospital visit, stitches, and a lapse in my freelance writing career swirled around in my head. As my husband leaned over with a pair of tweezers, I protested and squirmed.

"I'm done," he declared.

"What was it?" I shuddered. "My finger? Is there a piece missing?"

He struggled to find the source of the blood, as there was now none. My finger looked whole. Nothing was out of place.

"It must have been a piece of carrot."

"Oh," I sheepishly mouthed. "I guess it got wedged under my nail. I feel stupid."

My husband-turned-hero laughed, helped me up, and went on his way. You always hear about those tragic farm-related accidents, but you never think they will happen to you.....

Should You Be Guest Posting?

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 19:36:00 +0000

As a freelancer, I get quite a few requests to write guest posts. Whether I do it under my own name, or whether I ghostwrite for someone else, I can usually provide these posts for 80% of my regular fee for writing a 400-word article. When times are lean, I will do them.

But what is the benefit for these companies who hire me to write a guest post? Especially when the sites they are posting at don't pay them any money? Well, there is, of course, the SEO value. (Posting at XYZ site with a Page Rank of 6 will definitely juice up your backlink.) But is there a value beyond that? Why would a company want backlinks from a site with a Page Rank of 2 or 3?

Build a resume. Maybe, they are just looking for clips. To even be considered at a big online news site, you will need to have a pretty decent list of previously published articles (and your own blog doesn't count.) Writing anywhere -- even for a small site with no money -- is better than nothing.

Build a brand. If you want to be known as the expert in all things cheese, you will want to submit articles to any site that will run your post on a cheese-related article. Guest post at a frugality site to explain how to make your own cheese for less. Get a gig on a travel blog to discuss the best artisan cheese destinations in France. You get the idea.

Provide a service. Maybe, you don't have any interest in building your brand or links, at all. Perhaps you have cleverly created a businesses solely out of securing, writing, and placing guest posts. There is big money for a freelancer who is well-connected and who can promise XYZ company that they can have 10 articles out on the web with reputable sites -- all with links in the bio back to their new product. If you can capitalize on this trend, you now have another reason to guest post.

What about you? Do you guest post? Would you? Is it worth your time?

Like this topic? Check out some other reading from Blog GoDown and We Blog Better.

*For the record, I have done only a handful of guest posts, and most of them were ghostwritten for someone else. I have also handled the guest posting program at several blogs, so I'm keen on what the editors are looking for. Do you have a question about how to pitch a guest post or where to look for opportunities? Speak up! I'll try to answer.

Photo by stockicide via Flickr

Mixing Business with Peas...

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:08:00 +0000

Getting our lives back together after the partial flood evacuation hasn't been easy. In fact, we've had our stuff all over the place, and many things are where they don't belong. One example? Our new orphan baby goat, who has had to stay in our garage while we built her a suitable and safe home.

The discussion surrounding the goat/garage issue over cocktails at BlogHer 11 prompted a storage products company to feature me in a promotional video they did. You have to see it to believe it!

Can't Compete? Be Unique!

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 22:38:00 +0000

I used to play a game in my freelance blogging career called "beat the keyword." I would find out what keywords were driving traffic to competitor's blogs, and write better articles then they did based on those words. I thought, "Hey, if I have a better Google Page Rank, use clear titles, and actually answer people's questions, I can't lose!"

Turns out, I did lose.

I never got traffic from those terms, even though I ranked rather high on the list. No one wanted to hear ME talk about popular terms like credit cards, payday loans, or fantasy football. I decided to research a little on what terms were already bringing people to my blogs, and the results surprised me...

They were coming to my blog when they couldn't find reputable info anywhere else. You see, I couldn't compete with black-hat SEO, well-paid consultants, and those with major blog network deals (not on common search terms, anyway.) But I could compete with the entire blogosphere on topics like "improve the photos quality of pictures on blogger blogs", "does Tide Stain Release really work?" and "best uses for instant mashed potatoes."

I was unique. My topics were unique. My search traffic was equally unique. This is what caused my blogs to grow in readership and my Page Rank to climb rapidly. (Not by trying to directly compete.)

So what does your freelancing or blogging have to offer the world? It's likely not perfect conjugation or a masterful understanding of SEO. It's your story of the time you made DIY dried cherries or all of your cheap and simple sunburn remedies.

Remember, in the end, it's your personal brand that sells... (almost) any Native English speaker can string together a relatively understandable written sentence. What unique topics and wisdom do YOU have to share through your blogging?

Friend or Foe? How Competitors can Earn you Cash

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:50:00 +0000

(Photo by MartinEric via Flickr)

It's been awhile since we blogged about freelancing. This is because the farming part of our operation has taken up so much time! We'll be catching you up on our garden and the birth of a new goat kid soon. In the meantime, here is a quick tip on how to use your competitors to earn you MORE money!

Most freelancers work with other freelancers for major companies. If you write, for example, there are probably more than a handful of other writers that contribute articles to major websites. It's always great to think of these folks as competitors. They are, after all, being considered for some of the same assignments as you, and many of them will come up against you in other projects down the road. If you can forge a relationship with these fellow freelancers, however, it will just sweeten the pot.

I recently worked with another writer at an online media site for over 2 years. I often got passed over for new assignments, which were then assigned to him. I'm not sure why he got the jobs he did; I didn't think I was inferior in any way. (In all honestly, he could have just charged less than I did.) To make a long story short, I maintained ties with this writer, even though I was constantly watching his blogs and newsletters for nuggets of info on how he was getting hooked up with new jobs. Then, my hard work at maintaining a friendly relationship paid off. He took some time off and needed someone to fill in for him on some of his client work.

I jumped.

After doing a handful of assignments that were outsourced to me (with his client's permission, of course), I was able to boost my monthly income by about 20% that month. But it didn't stop there.

Two month later, that "competitor's" client came directly to me and asked if I would be interested in contributing regularly to the client's site. I now had one new client, and I owe it to my competition. (See our Competition vs. Collaboration notes for more details on working with your competitors.)

Friend or foe? Does it really matter?

Keep your dealings honest and classy, keep the doors open for new opportunities, and you will be surprised at where your new work will come from.

Do you have a story of how you used a relationship with a competitor to gain new business?

Lil' Farmers (and Freelancers) In Training

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:52:00 +0000

What do I do with my kids while I'm writing in the mornings?

If' it's nice outside, I send them out with only their imaginations and some (kid-safe) farm tools to keep them busy. Even the youngest gets in on the action:

It's amazing how many thousands of words you can get down this time of year!

Slow Jams

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 22:53:00 +0000

The freelance business has been a bit slow here, and that's been a blessing (considering all the flood nonsense that's been happening.) We have decided to move most things back onto the homestead, and are back into full swing with the garden, yard, and animals.

While we seem busy, nature has seemed to show us signs of taking it easy. The cherries, which were picked by June 11th of last year, are still a bit tart, and will need about a week or so before we harvest.

And then there are the animals. These two moths startled my sons today while they were observing the tiny apples on our tree.

Yes, they are having some alone time, as you can see. (Beautiful, aren't they?)

As busy as I am, it reminds me to stop once in a while. It's good for me, and I don't know how much longer I'll have this break in business.

It's Not Too Late for a Garden!

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:59:00 +0000

We thought we were really behind the 8-ball this year. We hadn't planted anything when we returned back from our family vacation the last week of May. With the flooding upon us, however, I'm glad we had waited. Just 11 days after planting most things from seed, we have this:

Beans in top row; Radishes on bottom

The key to the sudden success was the plot that the farmer "discovered." We had a small trailer in our side yard that the chickens had been napping under and dusting themselves on for over 2 years! After we moved the trailer, we found that there were virtually no weeds, and the dirt was fluffy and light. We seized the opportunity to till it and plant. Needless to say, this has been the best place to plant carrots, radishes, peas, and beans from seed. The tomatoes, cukes, peppers, and eggplant have been put in as small plants.

Green onions standing tall in the back!

This might be the year we conquer and win in the garden!

The Big Flood of 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 23:36:00 +0000

While we at the farm are safe, for now, many of our friends and family have left their homes in anticipation of the big flood. With many more increases to the flow of the dams to be expected in the coming months, it is a waiting game. Here are some photos of the road just a mile east of our home. It is breathtaking to see the river choosing to go wherever it wants...

Tree Blossoms for a Beautiful Bouquet

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Sat, 07 May 2011 16:33:00 +0000

Yes, your trees needs those blossoms, especially if they are fruit bearing. Taking a few sprigs from a decorative flowering tree (like our crabapple), however is just as delicious to smell as it is to look at. (I found a few Siberian Iris blooms that likely won't last another day, and added them to the mix. Iris is my favorite flower.) Those of you with lilacs have my undying jealousy...

I'm no florist, and as the farmer will tell you, I don't even try to be. My kitchen was smelling a bit musty, however, and this works much better than your standard air freshener or candle!

Happy Spring!

Publishing Notes for April 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Fri, 06 May 2011 01:52:00 +0000

It's been a while since we've updated you on our publishing notes. It's not that we haven't been busy writing, it's just that telling you about it takes more time than we've had to spare, lately. Between the farm, the kids, and the conferences the farmer and I are starting to attend in 2011, there's no getting near the bottom of our to-do list. Here is a rundown of some of our more notable published pieces from April. Enjoy!

Should You Buy Groceries Online? - SF Gate
6 Ways Getting Hitched can Improve Your Finances - Today.com Money
How to Raise BackYard Chickens - Wise Bread
Traveling with Tykes: 5 Money-Saving Strategies - Finances.. Your Way
6 Career-Saving Tools for the Breastfeeding, Work-at-home Mom - 1099 Mom
6 Budget-friendly Baby Shower Idea s - Financial Highway

Up to No Good

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Tue, 03 May 2011 18:49:00 +0000

My 11-month old son is loud, so when we didn't hear much from him this afternoon, we looked around the corner into the entryway, where we saw this...

Only on the farm, where the eggs are fresh.

A Showjumping Cow?!?

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 05:48:00 +0000

The Farmer thought this was cute. Maybe an idea for our little Maggie?

Two Yolks are Better Than One

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 03:39:00 +0000

Today I was sorting the eggs for cartoning, when I came across a rather long one (see the warped looking one at the top). Sometimes, this can mean there are actually TWO yolks within the one egg. We took bets on whether there would be.
Here are the results:

One egg.. lots of white.

It was delicious, nonetheless.

Introducing... Peanut!

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 20:34:00 +0000

My kids were blessed to see baby goats born at my parents' house yesterday, but after we had gone home, a surprise little birth from another expecting Mama goat was revealed to the world. This little "Peanut" as my mom calls her, was born so tiny, they weren't sure she would survive. And while she still has a fight ahead of her, she has already won the battle for my kids' hearts.

Do You AeroGrow?

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 04:08:00 +0000

In theory, the AeroGarden is brilliant. This little grow-light is actually a self-contained growing station. It provides water, a small amount of soil, nutrients, and perfectly oxygenated water. It also looks cool.

I got one for my daughter for Christmas, hoping to grow a small tomato plant before tomato season. Setup was a breeze, and the thing turns itself on and off according to schedule. It even alerts you to things like the water level getting low, the time to add nutrients, and when the bulbs need changing. It makes a low humming sounds at all times, which is strangely soothing. The light is super bright (not appropriate for a bedroom), but it takes up little space.

Here is our tomato after just 2 weeks from the time we planted it from a seed. The seed kit actually produced 4 tomato seedlings from the one pod, so we had to cut 3 of them. Germination took a striking 2 days.

Anyone want to hedge a bet as to whether this thing will actually produce fruit? Check back in 4-6 weeks for the update.

Following in My Footsteps

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 05:06:00 +0000

It was a beautiful day for a walk today. While breezy, the air was crisp and the sun was warm. We heard jets overhead, geese calling in the distance, and the giggles from the kids as they skipped along our gravel road to a visit to Grandma's house (who lives next door.)

As we returned from our visit, the sun was setting, and the kids cheeks were rosy from the cold.

Can you guess what kind of tracks were left here?

Hint: It's our goat, Cissy. She was walked over from our parent's house earlier in the day. You'll often see dog, deer, raccoon, and stroller tracks on our road!

Late Night Supper of Muffins and Eggs

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 03:16:00 +0000

Sometimes, our best laid plans get really messed up. With a crying baby, another sleepless night, and our number one helper (our daughter) gone for the weekend, things were rather unstructured today. We did get quite a bit done INSIDE the house, including washing and boxing up over 6 dozen eggs from the past two days. I also cleaned out the fridge and found a portion of a box of blueberries that needed to be used TODAY. Both treats inspired a late night supper fit for a king (or queen).

Our fresh eggs waiting to be cooked up next to our steaming hot fresh muffins:

My plate.. with yolk broken and ready to be soaked up into the muffin bread:

A cup of decaf, and this day turned into a rather pleasant evening. What late night treats do you crave on the farm?

Is Writing For Search (Alone) Without Value?

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 06:10:00 +0000

UPDATE: See the leaked AOL business plan at Business Insider for some very revealing (and disturbing) information on how freelancers are being dealt with.

It's been a quickly changing world for freelancers. Sites like AOL, Yahoo, and others have consolidated with previously high-paying media outlets and have turned to their existing pool of freelancers to keep them in content. For someone like me, who has happily worked for freelance site AOL Seed and similar others, I thought that this could be a good opportunity to pad my earnings with some straightforward SEO pieces that could be fun to write. What I didn't expect is the new trend of offering practically nothing to the reader and writer in exchange to many words and click-throughs.

Let me start by saying that some freelancers may not mind being put to work for what are essential content mills (or content farms, as they are more recently being dubbed.) You have to start somewhere, and it can be a great way to get some practice and experience. I would not look forward to making a living wage with the new SEO project however. Here is why:

Many of the new SEO projects are vary rigorous. They are not your usual run-of-the-mill SEO fluff. Some require 3x the writing, product testing, recipe preparation, photos, and/or videos in place of the articles that used to just require 400-600 well-written words and some carefully placed links.
Some of the articles developed for search aren't articles, at all (in my opinion.) They are templates, dictated by the editor, filled in with terms specific to the search key words, and allowing very little deviation from the skeleton. Some words are repeated with every article in a batch. It's like Mad Libs, but with full sentences being (inserted here.)
The pay is weak. Yes, some of these projects are abysmal excuses for real work. I'm not talking $20 - 40 for a 500 word piece with research. I'm talking $5.
The benefit is to the media site, alone. The reader learns nothing, the writer receives little to nothing, and sites like Google have to sift through the hundreds of thousands of pieces of online content to rank them.

Is there a place for content like this to live? Maybe. But I'm getting a bit burnt out by having the first 3-4 results of any search term bring back what are essentially landing pages for keyword ads, not useful information. I've even started to skip over the top half of the page whenever I do a search, as I know that it will be a waste of time in many instances.

While there may be little we can do to jack up the quality of articles being written by those that vomit thousands of new pieces a day onto the interwebs, there is a short list of things you can do to keep from contributing to the plague that is mass content production:

1. Write for search, but give the searches something that will make them say "Wow! I'm so glad I found this." Make them remember that sites written by real, authentic humans with only a healthy concern for SEO are superior in many cases to the spam sites that are ruining content search (and many freelancers lives.)

2. Don't feed the bears. By all means, don't link to sites that are pushing the trend away from decent pay and content that is worth reading. Instead, be diligent in linking to at least 2 or 3 sites besides your own that represent good, old-fashioned informative posting. If we all did this regularly, our small efforts can go a long way.

3. Ask Google to skip the content farms. Fast Company recently announced a new Chrome extension that allows users to submit or blacklist sites that they deem to be spammy in their search results. Google will use this info in their battle to keep content farms from creeping up the rankings.

What are your thoughts? Do you write for sites like Demand Media, Ehow, or Seed? If so, do you have any moral or ethical issues with contributing to the massive amounts of content clogging up the search engines? How would you address the problem -- if there even is one?

Down to the Swimming Hole, i.e. the Front Yard

noreply@blogger.com (Linsey) — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 17:56:00 +0000

Brutal cold one week.. swimming in the melted snow the next. Isn't Nebraska weather crazy? (Music credit: http://www.danosongs.com/) Sorry it's not in hi-def this time.. I grabbed the first video camera I could when I saw the action!