Category Archives: Business

Eight Resources For Veteran Writers

american flag dd214by Joe Wallace

By “veteran writers” I’m talking specifically about writers who are veterans of the United States Military, as opposed to writers who have a lot of experience in the business. There are a lot of us–myself included–who have time in uniform as part of our resumes, and it occurred to me that I’ve never posted any resources for us. It’s high time to correct that oversight, starting with this post.

For starters, if you’re writing about military topics, chances are good you already know about VA.Gov, the Department of Veterans Affairs official site.  But did you know about Jane’s Defense Weekly? Consider Jane’s to be the opposite side of the coin. Where VA.gov caters specifically to the individual veteran and those still in uniform about benefits and related information, Jane’s is aimed at “big picture” military issues including hardware, technology, and related topics. You can get a LOT of source material and background info here.

USO.org is a natural for human-interest pieces and feature stories. Ever wonder what it’s like to go on a USO tour and entertain troops in a combat zone? You might just find a great story idea at the USO you could parlay into several good-paying freelance gigs with the right editor.

I personally have found plenty of good background, stats, and news on veteran’s hiring and employment issues at the U.S. Department of Labor Veterans’ Employment and Training Service official site.

These resources are great, but on a slightly more personal note:

Vets often leave the military and begin small businesses (like Freelance-Zone.com, for example) but need help when it comes to getting started, learning about funding the business, operating it in the early days and surviving the costs of a startup. I spent a lot of time before I left the military exploring sites like the Center For Veterans Enterprise, and the Office Of Veterans Business Development. These sites are quite valuable for developing your own business plans, but also for background on articles and web content that pertain to the same areas. I highly recommend them.

One of the most important documents a veteran possesses is the DD Form 214, the official record of separation from the military. A lot of people who want VA benefits like the GI Bill, VA home loans or VA health care find they have misplaced their DD214 (usually in a relocation from an overseas base back to the USA before retirement/separation). There are plenty of websites offering vets help in getting a replacement DD214–many of them charge a fee which is NOT needed. Vets can get their DD214 FOR FREE direct from the National Archives in St. Louis. (Transparency alert: I recently did some freelance work for DD214.com which has an extensive collection of information on the DD214 which is why it’s been on my mind and included here.)



How Not To Hire A Freelancer

how not to hire a freelancer

by Joe Wallace

Oh, but that game box art makes freelancing look exciting and lively doesn’t it? And then there are days like these, where a poor freelancer looking for work has to contend with the frustration of wading through job listings like the one I’m about to show you.

Normally I direct my writing here to freelancers, but this time it’s the employers who should sit up and take note. What follows are excerpts from an actual ad seeking a freelance writer. I did not change anything for emphasis. In all cases the case, the spelling, the capitalizations, and the breathless prose are all the original ad writer’s work. Behold:

we are looking for writing and a sales person

Great headline. You can already sense the trouble brewing.

(Company name deleted) A NEW COMPANY IN (location deleted) IT IS LOOKING FOR A
-WRITING PERSON PROFESSIONAL AND WITH GREAT WRITING SKILLS RESPNSIBLE PART TIME JOB WORK AT HOME

Oh, yes, we are off to a great start here with the all caps. Writers, you should be ready to run away screaming at this moment, never mind what comes next:

-SALES PERSON RESPONSABLE ,VERY PROFESSIONAL WITH GREAT SALES SKILLS MOTIVATED AND WILLING TO GROW WITH THE COMPANY IT IS A PART TIME JOB WORK AT HOME.

OK, so maybe they couldn’t afford TWO job posts, one for each position? We can give the benefit of the doubt here, right? Um….maybe not.

VERY IMPORTANT IT IS A REQUIREMENT HAVE A LAPTOP OR DESKTOP WITH INTERNET CONEXION EMAIL US (name deleted@deleted.COM) WITH ATACH RESUME

Yes folks, that Internet conexion is going to be crucial to your survival at this company–especially when you have to use an online dictionary.

WE ALSO CHECK BACKGROUND AND CHECK REFERENCES FROM PREVIUS JOBS .
OUR COMPANY IT IS A WEB DESIGNS AND MARKETING ON LINE FOR SERVING SMALL BUSINESS IN USA IF YOU WILL LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT US GO TO www.addressdeleted.com

Hey! These folks are into MARKETING! That explains why this ad is so…stunning.

That last bit contained my favorite part by far–the marketing geniuses posted entire job ad in all caps except for the URL. Trust me, you’re going to LOVE working for this bunch.

THE WRITING PERSON WE WILLING TO PAY FOR A JOB (WRITING CONTENT FOR WEB SITE)
THE SALES PERSON WE WILLING TO PAY BY COMISSION 15% FOR EACH SALE .

  • Location: (deleted)
  • Compensation: IT WILL BE DISCUSS IN THE INTERVIUW

I’m not sure I would be able to keep a straight face in the “interviuw”. Now I hear some of you already mentally chiding me for poking fun at a freelance job ad that seems to be clearly written by someone who uses English as a second language, but I am certain that the phrase “spell check” is one of those universal things that can–or at least should–transcend the language barrier somehow. Or maybe I’ve been watching too much Bill Maher and it’s started to infect my brain.

So what’s the point of this article, besides having some fun at this poor job ad poster’s expense? My point is this: being critical and using your skills to size someone up for their suitability for the gig is NOT just the job of an interviewer. Freelancers, you should be interviewing THEM just as much as they are trying to interview YOU.

This freelance job poster blew the initial interview, at least in my mind. All the warning signs are there. You wouldn’t work for a boss who told you women can’t do a good a job as men, and you shouldn’t work for someone who can’t toe the professional line in less obvious–but still identifiable–areas (like the standard operating procedures used by professionals when writing help wanted ads to attract freelancers.)

Reply to a job ad like this at your own risk, but my personal advice is to stay away. Or better yet, get into your spaceship and fly somewhere else like the guy in the image above is clearly ready to do.

New iPhone + New Data Plan = Bad Combo

iphoneby Catherine L. Tully

This isn’t a good thing.

I’m not going to go over all the details–you can read them for yourself. Long story short–limits on data use are coming. And as a writer–you should be very, very scared.

AT&T has just started charging for data based on useage when it comes to the iPhone. Will this have an impact on you? Probably not…at least…not yet. But as we use mobile devices more and more, we’ll stream video, “tweet”, play music, send e-mail and plug coordinates into our GPS. Data use will continue to rise. And one day in the not too distant future, this harmless “new plan” will wind up hurting us all.

App developers will stop shooting the moon with their ideas and scale back. After all–who will want to buy an app that will hog the data use allotted for the month? Other companies will start following suit and charging for data use–and before you know it–the limits will go down and the price will go up. You know–like how some fast food places start out serving large portions which then get smaller and smaller as time goes on?

I see nothing good here for the consumer. Save five dollars a month now–and pay 10 (or even more) later on down the road. The fact is that once this door has opened, it could start a whole new chapter in computer use. I see the writing on the wall, and I don’t like it one bit.

I have always dreaded the fact that one day we might get charged for the amount of e-mail we send, or the amount of time we spend on the computer. This is our job. The way we make our living. It makes me very nervous.

Big business is getting greedy again. Watch out.

As for me? I’m going to stay on the iPhone/AT&T plan I have as long as I can–and hope for a revolt. Anybody with me?

The 411 on new 1099-MISC tax rules for freelancers

Not many headlines stop me in my tracks, but this one from CNNMoney.com Small Business did. (WARNING: You might want to swig some Peptol-Bismol before visiting the link.)

Health care law’s massive, hidden tax change

Currently, we’re all familiar with receiving 1099s at tax time; you’re also supposed to follow up with any client who owes you one. For those of us who hire other freelancers or legal services in excess of $600, you need to send 1099s to them, too. No big deal, it’s part of being in business for yourself.

But the new healthcare law slides a pair of nasty little requirements into your accounting for 2012 and beyond. You’ll now need to:

  1. Track not just services over $600, but tangible goods you purchase, and
  2. Send 1099s not just to individuals, but to corporations.

So, spend more than $599 and you’re going to send a 1099-MISC Apple or Dell, after researching their federal tax information. Same with GoDaddy, Staples, Costco, Verizon, Exxon and so on. Regardless of whether you are thrilled or horrified at the healthcare law, there’s no question this will add significantly to your accounting workload. (And you might want to stock up on stamps.) Naturally, our friends in D.C. are saying it’s for our own good, because it will aid in tax compliance to help pay for the new benefits.

Philosophically, I take issue with that concept, or at least with the execution. I pay my taxes willingly, but the process already consumes more than its fair share of my time and energy. $600 is an awfully low threshold nowadays, and this puts a burden on the people least equipped to handle it, in order to “police” scofflaws. I suspect it is laying the foundation for a VAT tax in our near future.

I also suspect it will create more unwitting criminals through tax bureaucracy. This opinion from a respected registered investment adviser, “1099 Mandate from Hell Slipped into Health Bill,” concludes: “Clearly this is insanity. If enacted, it will be the most widely ignored IRS regulation in history.” Time will tell.

New Freelance-Zone contributor Jake Poinier is the founder/owner of Boomvang Creative Group and the newly launched advice blog for freelancers, Dr. Freelance.

Oh *Expletive* – Great Moments in Regret

By Amanda Smyth Connor

I always get nervous when new interns start. I want them to like me and respect me and the resulting fear that they will776852_hidden hate me turns me into a babbling idiot every time I am around them for the first few days.

My newest intern started yesterday. While I was training him, my mouth began to produce more saliva than any human seemed capable of producing, thus leading to my spitting on him several times during the course of our conversation. We both did our best to pretend not to notice. I continued to stammer my way toward an awkward conclusion to this training session, when my nose began to tickle. I innocently used my index finger to rub the tip of my nose and, no lie, a huge booger fell out – right onto my lap – where it proudly lived until I could regroup from the mental spasms I was having long enough to excuse myself in order to make a run for the bathroom to hide. The look of horror on my intern’s face will forever remain seared into my brain.

I spent the next 20-minutes in the bathroom wondering “if I just went home now and didn’t return to work, would they notice?”

Well, yes. In a company of five people, they might notice if 20% of their workforce went home and hid under her bed.

*expletive*

I regrouped, went back to my desk, acting as though everything was completely fine. I opened my inbox to catch up on the latest only to find an email from a writer asking for an extension on a project. To preface this, this is a new writer who I have only worked with once before and have not yet formed a solid relationship with.

And because I was feeling demoralized in the aftermath of Boogergate, I proceeded to verbally tear this writer apart in an effort to quell the embarrassment I was feeling. Was this act completely unjustified and thoroughly uncalled for? Yes. Did I hit the send button harder than I needed to? Quite. Continue reading Oh *Expletive* – Great Moments in Regret

Review: Peter Bowerman’s The Well-Fed Writer (2nd Edition)

By Erin Dalpini

“Have you ever dreamed of becoming a writer but never took it too seriously, because after all, the words ‘starving’ and ‘writer’ are pretty much joined at the hip?” asks freelance copywriter and author Peter Bowerman in his updated edition of The Well-Fed Writer.

Well, have you?

Bowerman’s query brings up the quintessential conflict that faces all freelancers and wanna-bes at one point or another in their careers—how to write away the workday, without having to pinch pennies.

Maybe you’ve already made it past that point.

Great. This book is still worth your while.

Or maybe when you read the opening question, you thought, “Yeah, that’s pretty much me in a nutshell.” That’s even more reason to check out Bowerman’s aptly-named The Well-Fed Writer, in which he shares a slew of industry secrets that will assist you in successfully marketing yourself and your writing.

Compartmentalized into useful chapters such as  “Money Matters: How Much to Charge and How to Get Paid,” “Learning to Love S&M (Sales and Marketing),” “Where’s the Business?” and “The Well-Networked Writer,” this book touches on all the fundamentals of freelance copywriting while maintaining the spunk and attitude often lacking in the average guidebook.

I have to admit I was quite skeptical about “commercial” freelancing when I first started reading The Well-Fed Writer. Continue reading Review: Peter Bowerman’s The Well-Fed Writer (2nd Edition)