While listening to her tales about her two nights away from home, I realized that business owners can learn a lot from the camping experience. Here’s a run down for those of you who wouldn’t be caught dead sleeping in a tent, not showering, or using a not-so-pleasant latrine:

1. Get back to basics. Being 7 years old and always having lights, computers, cell phones and television available (and flushable toilets), my daughter wasn’t quite used to using flashlights to see at nighttime or having to cook her food over the campfire. But she now has a new appreciation for all these things that we take for granted every day.

Those of us who depend on electricity and computers to make a living can’t just turn off the power and hope to make money but we can certainly explore ways to get back to business basics. Do you really need to be on all those mailing lists? Do you really need that $600 software? Are you paying monthly membership fees for programs that you’re not using? What is the bare minimum you NEED to run your business?

2. Know when to ask for help. A continuing theme throughout Girl Scouts is learning how to work together as a team. My daughter had a work team where she was paired with two other girls to do their camping chores and she also had her tent team, essentially her bunk mates. Even though the leaders are present to supervise and keep the girls safe, the girls are expected to do the work themselves, with the help of their teams. If one girls didn’t remember how to place the logs in the campfire, the other two could help teach her.

In business, we can only do so much in a 24 hour day. To reach that next level of success, we very often need to find a teammate or two who can help manage either the client work or the marketing of our own businesses. Spreading yourself too thin across your business will ultimately decrease your productivity and/or cause harm to your customer service. Knowing how and when to delegate to that teammate will help you stay focused on money-making activities.

3. Stay calm when faced with problems. The northeast has been plagued with rain and thunderstorms this last month so it was no surprise to see the dark clouds roll in during my daughter’s second night away. But those dark clouds soon led to rain, thunder, lightening AND hail, none of which make the camping experience fun. But they made the most of it by putting on plays for each other under the pavillion shelter and singing songs.

Not all businesses run smoothly. You can experience setbacks from the moment you open your doors or maybe a few months into your business when clients don’t have as much work to delegate. How you react to these circumstances will ultimately tell you if you’ll be successful or not. Someone who is flexible and keeps their cool can ride the rough waters but others who stress at the first bad thing to come along might be more likely to give up.

And here’s the last lesson for today: HAVE FUN! Enjoy these summer months with your family and friends. If you find that you’re working too much, figure out what changes you can make so YOU run your business rather than your BUSINESS running you.

Exactly 3 months ago, on April 1, 2009, I started my freelance writing, editing, and consulting business. It’s hard to believe how much has happened in that very short period of time. I started a blog (The Breadwinner Mom), launched my business website (http://tracifeitlove.com), became a Sparkplugging intern, and began offering a free e-course (”How to Get More High-Paying Clients“).

At the same time, my monthly revenue from freelancing has grown substantially. I’m now earning more from my freelance business than I earned in my first full-time job after college, and next month is looking even better. It’s truly amazing. I’ve always enjoyed writing, and I’ve always wanted to start my own business, so getting to this point is a dream come true.

What I’ve learned through my internship at Sparkplugging is how much I enjoy connecting with, learning from, and helping other freelancers and solopreneurs - which is why I’m so excited to become a part of the Freelance Parent blog.

As a parent, I know how meaningful it is to be able to spend time with your kids while helping to support your family.

The best part of my day is after lunch, when my husband (a stay-at-home dad) brings my daughter upstairs for her nap. She reaches out for me, and I take her into her bedroom to rock her to sleep. There’s absolutely nothing like it, and I treasure those moments.

So I understand how scary it can be when things aren’t going well - when you’re afraid you might have to go back to a 9-5 job and spend most of your waking time away from your family. I know what it’s like to have others question your ability to work from home and still earn a decent income, because they just can’t imagine that it’s possible.

I want to help you get through those scary times and make your business work for you. I want to remind you that it is possible to support your family while working from home, and to provide you with useful resources and information you’ll need along the way. And when your business is booming, I’d love for you to share what you’ve learned in the comments so others can benefit from your experience!

I look forward to getting to know you better, and would love to find out what kinds of posts would be most helpful to you. What are the biggest challenges you’re facing? What do you need to know? What do you want to achieve with your business? What questions do you have?

Please share in the comments!

So, you may have already seen Tamara’s post letting you all know that we are saying “goodbye” to Freelance Parent. It’s been an incredible two years here at Sparkplugging, and we really do credit this blog with much of our business success. I remember the early days when we had to go out and learn stuff just so we’d have something to write about! Freelance Parent and its readers really kept us motivated to learn and grow as entrepreneurs.

Of course it is hard to let our baby blog go. We’ve found ourselves looking at it as a friend, a support network, a source of talented writers to hire, and—to some degree—as one of the things that most defined us as a team. It is sad to say goodbye to that.

On the other hand, this means good things, too. Tamara and I don’t need a public forum to tell each other how much we appreciate one another, as we can do it quite easily in our office or during one of our business meetings. Heck, sometimes I walk Baby Brewer up to Tamara’s house in the stroller.

It also means that our business has really grown. Where we used to have so much time to research and write the informative posts that got us on the Top Ten Blogs for Writers list (twice!), we now have far less time to take a deep breath, let alone get down to the nitty-gritty. The fact of the matter is that we’re now so busy living our freelance business that we have far less time to talk about it.

We really want to thank those of you who have helped to make this blog a community. You have offered us great advice, wonderful encouragement, and the occasional wake-up call. I am not exaggerating at all when I say that we would not be where we are today without you. So, thanks, and we’ll be working with many of you in the future, I suspect.

I know that Tamara told you about her latest exciting news (and I am SO proud of her), but I also have some fun stuff to share. First of all, I will still be blogging. I was flabbergasted to discover that I beat out more than 500 other applicants for a blogging job on Freelance Writing Jobs. I’ll be starting on the Other Stuff blog later this week, and I plan for it to be a fun place for freelance writers to hang out, get a chuckle, and feel less guilty about wasting their time online. My other big project is still in its early stages, but you’re welcome to check out the skeleton of www.buncobunco.com. Again, it’ll be focusing on the fun!

I can’t believe that two years after we started our little freelance agency, we’re at this point. I hope that the fact that we documented the beginning of our business will be helpful to others who stumble upon these words on the Internet. I imagine we’ll look back on them fondly ourselves. Thanks again to all who have read, subscribed, commented, and emailed. We’re always looking to hire quality writers at the Berry|Brewer Freelance Agency, and we’d sure love to see you hanging around our new online homes!

The End.

But all good things must come to an end, and we’ve made the decision to hand over Freelance Parent to the incredible Sparkplugging team.

It was a difficult decision for us to make. After all, Freelance Parent is kind of our baby (our award-winning and oftentimes self-serving baby), and it’s hard to say goodbye to all our readers. You guys have contributed to our success by being supportive, offering advice, and even slapping us in the face every now and then. We can only hope we’ve contributed to your success in the same way.

The good news is, we aren’t disappearing for good. The Berry-Brewer Freelance Agency is still going strong, and you’ll find us all over the web, spreading our writing net and wreaking word-savvy havoc. In fact, we both have some exciting new projects you’re invited to share.

I’ll let Lorna tell you all about hers, but from here on out, you can find me at www.TamaraMorgan.com. (My apologies: The website isn’t up just yet, but I invite you to pop every now and then to see how things are coming along.)

But what’s that you say? Tamara Morgan isn’t my name?

Oh, but it is. World, meet Tamara Morgan, Tamara Berry’s alter ego and romance novelist extraordinaire.

For those of you that remember, I threw freelancing work to the wind last November and put to paper the romance novel I’ve always wanted to write. I attempted a blog to track my progress, but life got in the way. TamaraMorgan.com will pick up where that blog left off.

It should be an exciting ride – I recently signed with an agent, and will be pursuing that ever-elusive publication deal with her in the next few months. I’m also continuing to work on my freelance writing in addition to my second novel.

So please, please feel free to visit me there or to send an email to berrybreweradmin (at) gmail (dot) com any time you have questions about freelancing (or just to pop in and say hello). We will miss everyone and hope you’ll continue to follow the new writers at Freelance Parent!

However, that doesn’t mean that my client calendar is empty and as I remember well from last summer, this 11 week break is tough when it comes to balancing work and family. That’s why I’ve decided to try out some new time management tips to keep both my clients and my kids happy.

Let me just say that time management is not easy for me. While both girls were at school I had 7 full hours of uninterrupted time to work but do you think I actually billed 7 hours a day? No way. As any WAHM will tell you the distractions of working from home are many. Add to that the appeal of social media (Twitter is my fave!) and you’ve got a multitude of things all vying for your attention.

But my husband suggested that I break up my days into sessions, such as 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon/evening. Brilliant man! It sounds so easy but as I know from experience, putting time management into practice is challenging enough when school is in session, never mind when the kids are at home all day. However, self imposed breaks actually help to regain your focus and it will make the kids happy that you have time to spend with them.

For some reason I work better under deadline pressure so this short-session strategy might actually work. Knowing that a deadline is looming helps me to focus and complete the project more quickly. I’ve also told the kids that television viewing will be significantly decreased this summer so maybe my morning work session will be their chance to watch tv.

So for today, I’m testing out the 2 hour work session theory. I started at 7am and will work til 9am. After lunch I’ll work from 1pm to 3pm and if necessary I’ll work from 8pm to 10pm tonight. Sounds easy enough, right? As they say, it takes 3 weeks to form a new habit so if this works (fingers crossed) maybe this can carry over to when school starts.

Hold on a second…I need to take this one day at a time…

Working from home during the summer months requires some flexibility because not every day will be the same. Kids will have different needs, camp schedules might be different, surprise playdates might be scheduled. But it IS possible to keep your family and your clients happy with some planning, flexibility, and communication.

What’s YOUR strategy for working at home this summer?

We are pleased to welcome a new Freelance Parent to the blog this week.  Christina Lemmey has been freelancing as a home based Virtual Assistant for a couple of years now and will bring us a look into life as a internet based VA.

I’ve often been asked, “How did you decide to start your own business?” and for me it was a fairly easy decision. After being a stay at home mom for 10 years and cringing at the idea of having to go on interviews again, commuting, and putting my girls in after school care, I just knew that working from home would be the best solution.

The bigger question for me was, “What kind of business should I start?”

My husband and I had always talked about my going back to work when my youngest was in school full time. On the one hand I thought maybe this would be the perfect opportunity to start a career I really wanted rather than one dictated by my college degree but for someone who puts family high above career, I just couldn’t see myself devoting 8+ hours a day to work and missing bringing my kids to their activities.

Despite the cost of gas, I really like being the mom taxi and seeing how much they enjoy their various after school classes.

So I started researching work at home opportunities while my youngest daughter was in preschool. Luckily I had found the Internet Based Moms website and religiously read the forum questions and advice given by Alice Seba, Kelly McCausey, and Mila Sidman as well as the other more experienced forum visitors.

The idea of working in a service industry intrigued me because of the innate motherly gene in me - you know, the one that wants to take care of and help everybody. I didn’t have any products to create or promote and my corporate background was in advertising print production (which I hated) so I knew that helping other people was the way to go for me. The only question now was, “How to get started?”

When you want something badly enough, you need to listen when opportunity knocks, even if it means stepping out of your comfort zone.

By this point I was on numerous work at home mom mailing lists and received a mailing one day that Kelly McCausey was looking for a podcasting intern. Quite frankly, I barely knew what a podcast was but it was my “aha” moment - I needed to learn a new skill after being out of the workforce for 10 years and here was my chance.

Yes, I was definitely reaching outside of my comfort zone because Kelly was (and is) so well known and I felt intimidated sending in my letter and resume. But considering that I had all of 15 minutes to get this done before preschool pickup, I just bit the bullet and hit the send button. After all, to be an intern you’re not expected to know much or anything about the chosen subject. So I figured I was the perfect candidate!

Luckily for me, Kelly and I hit it off in my phone interview and I was chosen as her podcasting intern. While some people might have thought I was crazy for accepting an unpaid position, for me it was a non-issue. The experience of learning how to record, edit, publish, and promote podcasts was worth its weight in gold. And thus I decided on my type of business: multimedia production.

So internships are very powerful and if you learn from the right mentor, they can provide the basis for a new business or long term freelance opportunity.  Pay attention to what opportunities are available to you and go for the gold, even if you don’t think you’re qualified enough.

You don’t want to miss your “aha” moment.

The good news is that there are clients out there with interesting projects and substantial budgets, and they are looking for freelancers. The bad news, of course, is that there are a lot of freelancers who want these jobs. To get high-paying work, you’re going to have to learn how to compete more effectively.

Here are the top 5 things you can do to attract more high-paying clients to your business:

1. Improve your skills. It turns out that there are no shortcuts to excellence. If you want to get high-paying work, you have to be worthy of it. But that doesn’t mean you’re stuck if you’re not currently the best writer on the block. Take a class. Participate in a workshop. Practice. Get feedback from a mentor if you can. Read about writing. Practice some more. Most importantly, you have to keep pushing yourself to get better. Don’t feel like it? Maybe this high-paying clients thing isn’t for you (I tried to warn you there are no shortcuts).

2. Specialize. As in any profession, writers with a specialty tend to make more than generalists. Clients (especially those with larger budgets) aren’t looking for well-rounded writers; they’re looking for particular people to handle particular projects. For any given project, they’re looking for the best person for the job. The best person is almost always going to be someone who specializes in that type of work. If a client with plenty of money is looking for someone to write a sales letter, is s/he going to hire a “good writer,” or the well-known expert on sales letters? That’s an easy decision. So it’s important to pick a specialty and become an expert in that type of work - just make sure it’s something you enjoy doing, and something that your target market really needs.

3. Target the right market. No matter how good you are, if your target market is broke, you have a problem. That’s not to say you should only target the super-rich, but make sure your market has enough money to pay the rates you’re seeking. Your market also has to care (a lot) about quality. The only reason a client will pay more than the average rate for a freelancer is because the client wants better than average quality. The more your market cares about quality, the more you stand to make (assuming you’re really good at what you do).

4. Set rates appropriately. It’s hard to go after high-paying clients when you’re still accepting low-paying work. First, you end up so busy with the low-paying stuff that you don’t have time to go after better jobs. Second (and more importantly), when your going rates are low, prospective clients make certain assumptions about you and your work. They assume your rates are low because you aren’t good enough to charge more. They assume that you can only handle certain types of work. You have to be willing to ask for the rates you deserve (if you don’t deserve more than you’re currently charging, go back to #1). If you’re not willing to ask for higher rates, I can guarantee you that no one will be willing to pay those rates.

5. Market yourself effectively. It bears repeating that clients with a lot of money have a lot of choices. Why should they choose you? To compete for high-paying work, you’re going to need an impressive website and portfolio, testimonials from past clients, and a professional demeanor. You will probably want to start your own blog to establish your expertise, and use social media such as Twitter to raise your visibility. Learn as much as you can about marketing and learn how to close a sale once you have someone interested.

To learn more about how to get more high-paying clients, sign up for my free e-course. It’s a 10-lesson course delivered every few days to your e-mail inbox, it’s totally free, and it will help you make more money with your freelance business. What could be better than that?

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday’.  Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers.  We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog!  If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

Tamara and I have written about goal setting  several times on this blog. We’ve even talked about making (and not making) various goals that we’ve set for ourselves. While neither of us is necessarily a “law of attraction” type, we’ve both realized the power of truly stating our goals. Tamara once told me that she felt like all we had to do was say something out loud, and it would happen.

While things haven’t truly been that simple, I think they have been made easier by the mere fact that we do set goals.  For us, they’re important so that we can recognize our own progress. If we’ve set a goal for making a certain amount of money or acquiring a certain number of new clients, then when we get to the end of the month, it’s pretty easy to see if we’ve succeeded or not.

• Give yourself measurable goals. “I will acquire X number of new clients by July 31st.” This gives you a timeframe to work under and makes you more productive.
• Use positive wording instead of negative. For example, “I will work only on projects I enjoy” instead of “I won’t work on projects I hate.” It’s a little thing, but it changes your focus and outlook and actually makes you more likely to reach that goal.
• Break bigger goals down into objectives. Instead of creating a goal in July that says, “I will finish a 90,000 word manuscript by Dec. 31st,” look at how you can break that down. Maybe consider writing a certain number of words a week until you’ve gotten to 90,000 and add in time for rewrites and edits. By Dec. 31st, you’ll have reached your goal with several successes in between.
• Don’t be too easy (or hard) on yourself. If you set goals that are absolutely impossible, then you are setting yourself up for failure. On the other hand, if your goals are too easy, you’re selling yourself short and won’t get as much as you can out of your performance. Set goals that are a little outside your comfort zone but that aren’t unattainable, and then work toward them.

I have a lot of other thoughts on the subject, but I don’t want to get all new-age-y and make Tamara roll her eyes. (Use visualization…there, that’s all I’m saying.)

Anyway, we really, really have seen the benefit of setting goals in the past. In fact, this Spark and Idea Thursday has made me think that it’s really time for us to go back and revisit those we set at the beginning of the year. If I remember correctly, this is the month that we’re supposed to set ourselves up a 401(k) plan…

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday.  Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers.  We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog!  If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

Most freelancers know that making clients happy is just plain good business sense. Happier clients return for more business, they don’t baulk when you tell them your prices, and they recommend you to other professionals in need of similar services.

While this idea is something many of us incorporate into our business practices on a regular basis, I was a bit overwhelmed recently by just how productive word-of-mouth and recommendations can be. It started with a single client I picked up through Guru.com, of all places. He ordered a bundle of SEO articles – pretty standard stuff done at pretty standard prices. The work exceeded his expectations, and not only did he order more articles, but he also recommended me to a friend of his in need of web content.

Here’s where the “pyramid” came in. His friend then recommended me to two more people, who, in turn, recommended me to two more of their own. Needless to say, it was a pretty busy few weeks during that time, and many of them are now regular clients. Good stuff, all around.

This type of experience is one that we find to be the most effective type of marketing there is. It costs us nothing more than our standard good work, and takes no more time than a few extra minutes on the phone call to exchange pleasantries.

That’s why, when we work with particularly good clients or merchants, Lorna and I like to return the favor. We’ve been known to plug everyone from our VA to our web designer here on the blog, and we’ve also recommended those whose work we really enjoy. In fact, we sometimes consider ourselves “experts” when it comes to choosing another freelancer for any sort of business needs; because we have so many contacts gained through our social media outreach practices and because we commonly use freelancers (especially smaller, WAHM ones), we know who’s good at what and what kind of prices they charge.

While I haven’t tracked the results of our recommendations to see if the pyramid idea holds as strong for others, I do like to think that a kind word of praise here or there results in more business for our peers. It’s the least we can do for a community that has been so integral in our own success as a freelance writing company.

How, oh how, do freelancers get any work done in the summer?

May’s Totals:

Monthly Income: $6,013.50
Percentage of Income Paid Out to Our Writers: 25.3%

SEO Articles - $2,147.30

Web Content - $274.90

Blogs - $1,240.00

Ebooks/Reports - $1,290.00

Newsletters - $211.30

Press Releases - $100.00

General Informational Articles - $120.00

Miscellaneous Business Writing - $630.00

You’ll notice that we paid out a substantially larger percentage to our writers than we have in previous months. We’re hoping this will be a trend we continue in months to come; not only is it great to provide an income to others, but it also decreases the amount of time we spend in front of the computer!

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday.  Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers.  We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog!  If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

While money is certainly not the only motivating factor for freelancing, it is a big one. If I could realistically live the life of a SAHM instead of a WAHM, I think I’d be OK with that. Unfortunately, the need for cold, hard cash is a reality here in Freelance Parent Land. I recently used that to my advantage, and the payoff (pardon the pun) was really worthwhile.

I guess that in order to tell this story properly, I will have to admit that my life involves a fair amount of debt. Both my husband and I attended a very pricey university, and I was crazy enough to go back for that Master’s Degree. We should probably pay off our student loans right around the time we start putting our own kids through college. Yeah, that’s a fairly depressing thought.

A couple of months ago, I decided to use those student loans to motivate myself to see what I could do with my freelance writing business. I set a rather ridiculous goal to try and pay off one of my husband’s student loans. The goal was $13,000 in five months. I started last November and had hoped to pay the entire thing off by the first day of spring.

Having that goal made me much more productive. Whenever a job came in, Tamara and I would determine if it was something she wanted or not. When neither one of us has the time or inclination for a particular project, we turn to our writers to see who would be a good fit. For those five months, however, anything that didn’t go to Tamara “defaulted” to me. As a result, I put in far more hours than I ever had before, and I got myself on track to pay off that debt.

Having that student loan bill as motivation was really inspiring. I could watch each month as the next statement came in the mail, reflecting all the extra payments I had made. Rather than having the money just disappear (as is common when there’s no true set purpose for it), I was able to funnel it right into the perfect place. In fact, I would find myself doing “mental math” from time to time. “So, if I take this project for $800 and those other two for $400, that’s an extra three months’ payments on the student loan…”

I have to confess, however, that one thing did get in the way of my plan…one client left me on the hook for about $3,500. We’re still working to recoup that money, and it has been quite a lesson. Not only did that mean that I had $3,500 less for my overall goal, but it knocked a lot of the wind out of my sails and derailed my progress. Remember, I was trying to earn $13,000 above my normal pay.

In the end, I paid about half of it off, which is still quite an accomplishment. It was a lot of extra work, but it’s the kind of thing I can see doing every once in a while…maybe when we get close to paying off the next student loan, for example, I’ll kick it back into high gear for a couple of months. The point here is that by finding one place to focus my financial efforts, I was really able to motivate myself to stay quite focused and to get more done than I ever had before.

That said, I would absolutely love to know what types of things you all do to get that extra motivation! What ideas can you spark?

Photo by mezone.

Photo by altemark

As freelance writers, we all know that there are advantages and disadvantages to being self employed. Some of the best things are obvious:

• Setting your own schedule
• No boss breathing down your neck
• Working on projects you like
• Working when and how you are most productive

Of course, there are disadvantages, too:

• Setting your own schedule
• No boss breathing down your neck
• Taking on projects you don’t like but feel you need
• Staying productive

One of the biggest pitfalls that many of us experience is getting distracted by all of the fun stuff we’d rather do when we should be working. I’m about to make that worse. While working on a recent project, I found a bunch of writing blogs that have threatened to suck away my productivity.

Being the swell gal that I am, I wanted to share them with you.

• Grammar Girl – I still use her mnemonic device to keep “affect” and “effect” straight.
• WWdN – I’ve loved Wil Wheaton ever since he was Gordie in Stand by Me, and this is one of the few blogs that I read just because I want to. (It doesn’t hurt that he writes about writing, either.)
• Apostrophe Abuse – I admit to being snobby about apostrophe use, but these folks take the cake.
• Indexed – One of my favorite blogs of all time. Not technically a “writing” blog, but you have to admit that Jessica understands words!
• The Rejecter – If nothing else, I just like the name of the blog. It’s written by a literary agent’s assistant and has good advice for those wishing to publish books.

While there are so many others, I wouldn’t want to jeopardize your productivity for the entire week. I hope you enjoy these blogs. If you happen to have a favorite way to waste time when you should be working, I’d like to hear about it. Maybe you could put a little linky-link in the comments section, yes?

However, I’ve discovered that one issue that gets in the way fairly often is my attention to personal projects. And I have a hunch I’m not the only one. Freelancers almost always choose their respective fields because it’s something they enjoy and it’s something they’re good at. Photographers love to snap pictures, writers love to write, designers love to create art…you get the idea. This means that in addition to using our talents for paying work, many freelancers also dabble in the “fun” side of their craft. For me, the “fun” side has been trying to write a romance novel.

So far, things seem to be progressing really well with my little pet project. I’m working toward publication and also writing both a new novel and novella at the same time.

And therein lies the problem.

I already struggle to find the time each day to work on my writing projects for clients. Finding time for my own projects only doubles the amount of time I need to spend in front of a computer each day. Not only is it not very kind to my family, but I’ve begun to resent my “real” work for all the time it takes away from the writing I’d really like to be doing.

I’ve tried putting a cap on things with two hours of article writing resulting in a reward of one hour of personal writing, but it rarely works. Because once I get going in my stories, not even the Dancing with the Stars finale can pull me away (and that’s saying a lot). It also doesn’t help that there’s been a bit of excitement with my pet project lately, which leaves me unable to work for all the mooning about I do at my desk.

It’s all about that elusive work-life balance, I guess, but I’m curious how other freelancers walk the line between doing the work they need to do and doing the work they want to do.

When I prepared to write this post, I had a hard time picking just one movie to use. There are so many choices, and for a writer, actually being “assigned” to write an analogy is like the ice cream truck stopping at your house, the driver coming to the door, and finding out that Drumsticks are on a 100% off special today. OK, maybe not that great, but still pretty cool.

I started out thinking I’d use Jerry McGuire. After all, the main characters in that movie really followed their beliefs. Tom Cruise believed in doing business a different way, Renee Zellwiger believed in Jerry’s vision, and Cuba Gooding, Jr. believed in himself. But, it felt too obvious after spawning the phrase “Show me the money!” (Also, “You complete me” pretty much makes me gag.)

Then I thought, well, what about my favorite movie, Lady Jane? It’s all about how these two young people use their unwanted power for benevolent purposes. Sounds good until you consider a) I’m probably the only person around here whose seen it (rent it, seriously) and b) um, it’s not got a very happy ending (keep a box of tissues nearby).

I also considered:

• The Goonies (“Goonies never say die!”)
• The Princess Bride (OK, I can make some pretty good arguments for this one, including using words when you don’t know what they mean.)
• The Wizard of Oz (I’m sure there’s something to be said about how freelancing can take your life from black and white to Technicolor.)

But, in the end, I decided to go with the Keanu Reeves/Sandra Bullock/Dennis Hopper “classic” movie, Speed. Because it pretty accurately reflects my last two weeks in freelancing.  Ready for a big, fat analogy?

OK, so I’m admiting a lot here, but this is sort of what my last two weeks have looked like:
You step on a bus thinking it’s going to be an ordinary day. The next thing you know, some crazy person has hijacked the bus without even being on board.
-or-
You sit down to work on a nice little project you’ve been assigned, only to find out that the client—who lives across country but has your cell phone number—is totally freaking nuts.

The hijacker rigs the bus to blow up if you go below highway speeds.
-or-
Everything Crazy Client needs from you is marked “Urgent!” and you feel like you just can’t let him down. After all, you have a reputation to uphold, and you kind of feel for him.

The bus ends up driving in big circles on an airport tarmac while everyone else finds a way to safely jump ship.
-or-
The client asks for endless revisions, you feel like you’ll never get through it, and anyone who hears you complain says you should “just dump” the client.

I think there was something about the bus crashing into a subway and Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves making out in the rubble.
-or-
Since I’m still in the thick of this thing, it’s hard to see how the happy ending part is going to come about, although I suspect the “rubble” thing might be accurate.

So, if you had to compare your freelance business with a movie, which one would it be? Leave us a comment, or write about it on your own blog…Really, we’re dying of curiosity. Don’t leave us hanging.

Photo by leah.jones

I just really like the idea of writers doing a Wordless Wednesday post. This picture makes me think about how important words really are to a writer’s soul.

Oops, better stop typing since it’s supposed to be wordless.

Sparkplugging is starting a new tradition called ‘Spark an Idea Thursday’.  Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers.  We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog!  If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

OK, so I’m being a little facetious with the title there, but today’s topic for Spark and Idea Thursday is “Spark an Idea that Makes You a New Business Ally,” and there’s something to be said for laying out a little cash in return for a great new ally.

We actually came upon this idea accidentally.  You may remember that some time ago, we invested in a new website for the Berry|Brewer Freelance Agency.  What we didn’t know at the time was that small business we hired would become one of our best clients.  We just wanted a shiny new site and were willing to pay another mompreneur to build it for us.

Fortunately for us, websites are not all that person was building.  She was actually laying the foundation for a really successful marketing company aimed at local small businesses.  I say it was fortunate, because she took us along for the ride.  Now, tons of the people who come to her for design also come to us for content.  Whether she needs something for her own business or for one of her clients’, she turns to us first.

I would say that you can’t buy that kind of loyalty, but the fact of the matter is that we sort of did…even if we weren’t smart enough to be doing it on purpose.

So, how can this relate to your freelance business?  Well, consider this: you need stuff that other people have.  They need stuff that you have.  You both know people that need what the other is offering, so why not hook them up? 

I sincerely believe that teaming up with other small business owners is a great way to make friends and improve your own business.    I’m not just talking about networking, either, but truly utilizing their services and seeing what kind of relationship naturally develops.  It’s worked extremely well for us, that’s for sure.

1. What is something mom always says to you?
“No thank you, no thank you, no thank you.”

2. What makes mom happy?
“Snuggling…and night-nighting.”

3. What makes mom sad?
“When I say ’stupid.’”

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
“When you be silly.”

5. What was your mom like as a child?
“You were a nice little girl, and you played and played and played.”

6. How old is your mom?
“Twenty-eight. That’s a lot of years.” (Emphasis hers.)

7. How tall is your mom?
“Very tall. As tall as a mommy.”

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
“Work.”

9. What does your mom do when you’re not around?
“Get some work done.”

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
“Um.” (She said it about 30 times. I don’t think she understood the question.)

11. What is your mom really good at?
“Working.” (Oh, dear.)

12. What is your mom not very good at?
“Um…climbing trees?” (I don’t believe I’ve ever attempted it in front of her. I’m not that terrible.)

13. What does your mom do for her job?
“You go to your office.”

14. What is your mom’s favorite food?
“Chicken…good chicken.”

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
“Giving me hugs.”

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
“You’re the fairy godmother. I’m Cinderella, and you’re the fairy godmother.”

17. What do you and your mom do together?
“Play Pretty, Pretty Princess. And we read books. And sometimes we go get some candles.”

18. How are you and your mom the same?
“Well, um…you like to eat candy and I like to eat candy.” (Too true, I fear. Too true.)

19. How are you and your mom different?
“Cause you have glasses and I don’t have glasses.”

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
“Hugs. Kisses. Snuggles.”

21. Where is your mom’s favorite place to go?
“The mall toys. We both like the mall toys.”