CatalystBlogger

Types of Beginnings

2010-11-30T09:40:00.002-05:00

I was recently asked by a friend of mine how to get started in freelancing. This is such a common question--and, to be honest, frustrating to answer--because there are so many ways people get started. However, thinking about it, I realized that most people I know who are currently full-time freelancers got a start in one of four ways: The formerly-worked-for-an-advertising-company freelancer. To a lot of people, those who start off in advertising seem to have the advantage. It's assumed they...

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Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-22T22:41:00.002-05:00

I'm taking a break from work--and everything else--for the week of Thanksgiving. I'll be back next Monday. Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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Things You Can't Buy for $5 An Article

2010-11-19T16:59:00.003-05:00

No matter how long you've been a freelance writer, you will continually run into the client whose frame of reference for hiring freelance writers is the $5-an-article market. These clients expect you to charge less than nothing. They think it should take you mere seconds to crank out 500 words. And part of them doesn't really understand why they should pay for writing at all: after all, YOU should be grateful that someone is paying you to write anything--and giving you all that free exposure on...

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When Should You Stand Your Ground?

2010-11-17T22:24:00.002-05:00

As a freelancer, it can be tough to stand up to a client who wants something unreasonable. And when you're starting out, you may not have the confidence to say when things are and aren't OK to expect. When I started out, I thought being "professional" meant saying yes to everything. Now I know it has more to do with knowing what battles to fight--and when to stand up for yourself, even if it means losing the job. Such as: When the pay is too low. Once I was really excited to partner with an...

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When Expectations are Unrealistic

2010-11-15T14:17:00.002-05:00

I've been running up against unrealistic client expectations lately. It can be a frustrating thing--especially when you don't realize how unrealistic those expectations really are until you turn in the first draft. When I first started freelancing, I believed that I should try to do whatever I could to satisfy client expectations. Now I know that some are just not possible. Here are a few of my favorites: This copy will get a specific result. Whether it's supposed to out-pull the current copy...

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Back After a Loooonggg Hiatus

2010-11-12T17:36:00.002-05:00

So, I haven't been around for a while. A lot's happened in my life. I met a fabulous guy. I traveled all over Europe with him--and went to Kenya. My brother got married. I finished a second novel. I started performing slam poetry in New York. And amidst all that, my freelance writing work suddenly tripled. It was a great run...and things are finally starting to slow down. If I'd realized this was coming, I would have prepared better. But it was a case of not realizing I'd be too busy to post...

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Palm Readings and Popcorn

2010-07-07T08:05:00.001-04:00

I just have to share this experience. So I was walking down the street in the East Village the other day. I was on my way to see a movie with a friend, and I was late. And as I was walking, a guy comes up to me and starts walking alongside me. He says something, very fast, to the effect of: “I’m a professional palm reader. I give Daoist, Taoist, Confucian palm reads in the ancient Chinese tradition. And I’d really like to give you my spiel today. Let me pitch you, miss!” (He really did say...

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Email Marketing: What Not to Do

2010-07-05T08:52:00.000-04:00

This has happened to me twice in the past few weeks. Someone sends me an email marketing message asking me to buy into something, promote something on my site, something like that. It’s not something I’m interested in. Since I get a lot of these emails, I don’t respond with a “not interested.” I just don’t respond at all. Then, a few days later, I get another email. “Hey, I didn’t hear back from you about the email I sent earlier. Just wanted to see if you’d be interested in…” Is this a new...

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In Freelancing, Can You Trust Anyone?

2010-06-21T18:46:00.001-04:00

Once, when I had been in business for only a little over a year, I had a client I had worked with several times hire me for a small writing assignment. “No need for a contract,” the client said before we started, “I’ll just send over a check right now.” Ordinarily, I’d never work with anyone without a contract. But this client was someone I knew—she had been referred to me by a friend. And we’d worked together several times before without a hitch. So I did the project, the client was happy,...

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Reasons Why You Lost The Project—That Have Everything To Do With You.

2010-06-18T08:47:00.001-04:00

On Wednesday I wrote about reasons why you might not hear back about a quote or proposal you’ve submitted to a possible client—reasons that aren’t your fault. But there are reasons you might not hear back that do have to do with you—and might be fixable. You’re too expensive. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do about this. Your prices are professional but fair, and the prospect is just not used to professional prices. But if you get this feedback all the time—and from prospects you’d think...

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Reasons You Never Heard Back About That Proposal--That Have Nothing To Do With You

2010-06-16T08:29:00.001-04:00

t happens to all of us. You get really excited about a lead for a new project. You talk to the client at length, get to know their needs, spend all day crafting a proposal. Then you send it over and…nothing. For days. Weeks, even. Maybe you never hear back. It can be easy to take it personally when you don’t hear back about a proposal. But there are plenty of reasons why that have nothing to do with you personally. Here are a few common reasons. You’re too expensive. Yes, a lot of the time...

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When The Price is Too High: How to Get The Job Anyway

2010-06-14T08:27:00.000-04:00

“We’d love to hire you, but your price is too high.” It’s not an uncommon response from prospective clients. And I’ve let many exchanges end at that—even though I could have ultimately landed the job, if I’d known what to say next. When someone says your price is too high, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t work with them. You will have to adjust your price down—but you can do it without compromising your overall rate. Here are a few things to try when a prospect tells you you’re too...

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On the Intersection Between Business Writing...and Poetry

2010-06-11T08:39:00.002-04:00

This week I went to a poetry slam competition in New York City…and I won. Not exactly a professional success, but a writing-related one—and a lot of fun. I struck up a conversation with someone in the crowd before the event and told her about the business writing I do as a day job—and she kind of rolled her eyes. As if to say “it can’t possibly be good if it’s commercial.” I disagree with that. I think commercial writing can be genius. I think there’s a lot of non-commercial writing out there...

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Would a Virtual Sex Change Help Your Career?

2010-06-09T08:09:00.001-04:00

I think I was about as surprised as everyone else when I read that James Chartrand is actually a woman--and started using a male pseudonym to get freelance writing work. There's a tradition of this in writing--witness George Elliot--women pretending to be men so their writing will get the respect it deserves--and they'll get the pay they're entitled to. And it's led me to think about how I present myself. I've occasionally had clients question my rates. Not often, and I usually take it as a...

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Setting Business Boundaries

2010-06-08T12:59:00.000-04:00

I saw a post on Words on the Page the other day about setting work boundaries. The post covers the line freelancers have to draw in the sand when they decide which projects to take and which to skip. I’ve been thinking of another sort of boundary lately—the kind you need to draw with existing clients. Some clients need a little more hand-holding and “nurturing” than others. Sometimes you need to set boundaries clearly on what you will be happy to do, as long as you’re getting paid, and what...

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On the "Theatre" of Freelance Writing

2010-06-04T12:20:00.001-04:00

I had a long phone conversation with a client the other day. We were discussing our approach for an upcoming project and some revisions from a previous project. At the end of the conversation, the client said something that made me think. He owned his own business and had clients of his own. He said the conversation we were having was priming him to love the writing I sent—it was the same way he operated with his own clients. And we had an interesting discussion about the “theatre” of...

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Is There Such Thing as Too Much Expansion?

2010-06-02T12:13:00.003-04:00

I’ve written about this before—about the way most businesspeople want to expand, and I don’t. Oh, sure, I’d love to earn more. But I’m not wild about working 80-hour weeks—and when it comes right down to it, really what I’d like is to keep doing what I’m doing. I occasionally get offers and ideas from others who feel they know what’s best for my business—and what I should want as a businessowner. Usually, they don’t work for what I’m trying to do. Here are a few ways I have no intention of...

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Maintaining Good Habits

2010-05-21T09:09:00.001-04:00

I’ve never been good with developing positive habits. I could never get into exercise, for example. I had a few years’ worth of traumatic experiences with team sports as a kid, and I guess exercise is too closely associated in my mind with gym class. I just have no positive associations with the actual act of exercise to go on. I have, however, started going to yoga. And, against all likelihood, I’ve started going at six in the morning. (I’m not a morning person either—did I forget to mention...

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Plugging the Time Leaks

2010-05-20T13:59:00.000-04:00

I often find myself glancing at my clock, realizing it’s the end of the day, and noticing that I got about half the things on my list done. Sometimes it’s not just that my list is too long. Procrastination is a problem for freelancers—we live and die by our own efforts alone. Procrastinating can keep you from working on your own business, marketing your services, and even doing as good a job as you could have on a client project. I’ve been thinking lately about the types of things I do to...

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Suppressing That “Nice” Reflex

2010-05-14T12:29:00.001-04:00

I was negotiating a contract with a client the other day. The client sent me their contract, I looked it over, and found a term I wasn’t too comfortable with. The job was interesting and paid well, and I wanted it—but not with that term. This was someone I’d done business with before, and was on great terms with. But that one thing in the contract bothered me. So I wrote a note mentioning it and asking if we could change the contract to eliminate that one thing. And immediately regretted it....

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Bad Business Advice

2010-05-12T12:25:00.002-04:00

I've gotten plenty of bad business advice--advice that would up holding me back, going down roads that didn't ultimately lead where I wanted to go, and feeling required to do more work on my business than might be absolutely necessary. Here are a few pieces of advice I've gotten over the years that sounded like they made sense--but didn't make sense for me. You have to have six months worth of savings before you can quit your job to freelance. The conventional wisdom is that, before you can...

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Promises, Promises

2010-05-11T09:08:00.002-04:00

Over at the Well Fed Writer blog, I saw a post about an ad for a copywriting program that offers, well, let's just say pie-in-the-sky promises if only you'll pay for their class. This got me thinking about the copywriting career as a whole--and how we're prey to a lot of over-hyped marketing. People with experience just roll their eyes at this stuff. But some beginners may actually buy it. Which is why I feel it's my duty as an elder-sister-in-freelancing to some of you (even though I may not...

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When You Lose Your Savings—How to Deal

2010-05-09T08:58:00.001-04:00

I saw a post at Words on the Page about how veteran freelancers handle the "feast or famine" cycle that comes as part of the job. One of the ways I get through that cycle is by having a nice cushion of savings to use in case of emergencies. Most people I know don't save to the extent that I do--but I've found it really necessary, and sometimes this close to life-saving, to have that cushion. Of course, you can't have it all the time. My first full year in business, I didn't save correctly for...

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Get More Done. Get Offline.

2010-05-07T11:41:00.005-04:00

Sometimes when I’m really feeling like I’m just not getting anything done, I leave the house and go to a coffee shop, park or library to work. Anywhere, really, where I CAN’T get online. It’s not that easy nowadays—especially in a big city like New York, even hotel lobbies and sandwich shops have wireless access. Sometimes I run around the city to find a place with no access as desperately as I do to find it when I’m on vacation somewhere else. Getting offline is a very important part of my...

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Accepting Who You Are

2010-05-05T09:00:00.001-04:00

Before I left on my trip, I was thinking about how to market myself—and I was trying a lot of different things, from cold calling to networking events. Trying different marketing and sales tactics didn’t gain me a lot of business right off the bat—although it did make me some contacts that seem like they’ll turn out to be useful. But it did teach me about what I like, what I’m good at, and the tactics I’d prefer to avoid. When I started copywriting, I didn’t think there was any type of writing...

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