Do you use Gmail or Yahoo Mail? Are you ever nervous about the fact that your precious information about publications, assignments from editors and other crucial e-mails may disappear? StashMyMail gives you an easy way to back it up–and right now–it’s free! Once you have your e-mails downloaded through their program, you can even get to them offline…..worth checking into, I’d say!
Regardless of whether you are a newbie or seasoned pro you can find some good information here. This resource, put out by the Naval Safety Center, gives great tips on a wide range of subjects that are of value to writers. Here are some titles of the individual pages:
Although this is geared for writers who work for their publications, it offers terrific advice!
Whether you voted for Obama or not, he’s in, and it’s time to find out what he is going to do. Change.gov is up and running–your online source for his transition to the Presidency. Bookmark it and check back often. It will keep you up-to-date.
In the early days as a full-time freelancer, I did not have health insurance. Part of the reason for doing what some would call playing healthcare roulette had to do with the fact that I had plenty of free coverage (albeit limited in some cases) thanks to my former job as a military writer and editor. When I worked for Air Force News and the American Forces Network, I never needed to pay for healthcare and when I got out I had a transition period where I had access to coverage. No longer.
And yes, in the interests of transparency I will admit that I didn’t have ANY health insurance for a time after my old coverage no longer applied. I figured I was healthy, careful and not about to develop any major problems. I took a gamble that fortunately for me, paid off. But I could easily have been flattened by a runaway bus or a nutjob with a steak knife. Lucky for me it never happened.
My research into the scary and daunting world of health insurance for freelancers has turned up some scary numbers. Since it’s so early in the hunt for affordable healthcare, as someone with the unmitigated audacity to work for themselves instead of being chained to a desk in the Land Of The Cubicles I am naturally a bit put off (terrified?) by what I have found so far. But for every unnerving discovery about freelance health insurance, I find at least one solid resource or advice site with practical, no-nonsense advice either about taxes, the insurance itself or the business of freelancing in general.
One of my most fruitful discoveries to date is AllBusiness.com. I will confess that I’ve only seen the articles on self-employed taxes and health insurance, but I have high hopes based on the strength of this series. Granted, it was written in 2006 and some legal issues have changed or will be changing, but it feels like a great place to start. All Business seems–again, at first glance–like a great no-nonsense resource for anyone serious about making a profit as a freelancer, small business owner or self-employed person. They have not one, but THREE podcasts and feature call-in numbers so you can ask questions on the shows. I am impressed.
The quest for AFFORDABLE freelance health insurance that doesn’t demand insane deductibles goes on. I’ll be passing along my findings here, including a look at what you can find by joining MediaBistro.com’s AvantGuild or the Freelancers Union.
Sure, it was published in 2005, but I found this great article on international freelancing to be quite interesting indeed. Most fascinating was the idea of offering an employer a competitive edge by being able to submit work during “our” normal working hours that would arrive overseas in the middle of the night, waiting for the editor first thing in the morning.
Sure, not all freelance gigs require such timely delivery, but it is an interesting selling point, depending on what you are trying to pitch and where.
If you’ve never tried freelancing “across the pond”, it’s definitely full of potential, but there are a few things to keep in mind. Stay tuned for some posts that address this issue as Cath and I both have experience in this area. In the meantime, check out Inkwell Editorial for the article and others like in collected in a series covering international freelance issues.
Time for more statistics resources–you can never have enough at your disposal! StateMaster allows you to search and compare data on the states. Could be quite handy for an article, wouldn’t you say? Bookmark this baby for future reference–literally!
Jennifer Mattern has some excellent advice for freelancers in this recent post on freelance marketing. One great point she makes about holiday marketing is not to overlook sending Christmas cards or other holiday-themed communications, even if you don’t personally celebrate that holiday. It’s easy to get tunnel vision about that sort of thing, and this advice is well-timed.
Another great bit of advice in this article; take stock of your accomplishments this year and start thinking ahead to next year. I’ve always started doing this round the end of the year, but earlier is definitely better when it comes to making plans for next year. What I would add to Jennifer’s advice is to start thinking ahead in terms of your budget, especially if you need to get new business cards and other promotional items.
Are you launching any new ventures in 2009? Will you start teaching writing classes or doing seminars? You’re going to need money for promotional materials and supplies. Do you need some extra tax write-offs for 2008? Get those supplies early and count it towards this year’s taxes where it’s legal to do so. A little extra thinking time never hurts. Great advice and food for thought all around in Jennifer’s article, Evaluation Time - Monthly Marketing Mix.
Don’t ask me how this one escaped my attention all this time, but I finally stumbled on Editors Only. This is a print publication with a high subscription price, and I haven’t read the print mag so I can’t vouch for the contents. In today’s market, the EO business model seems risky to me, but if they’ve got a following I say more power to ‘em.
What most FZ readers will like this site for is the classifieds section. There is a help wanted section AND a professional services section and you can post to it for free. Newcomers to freelancing take note, I strongly suggest reading the other ads before you decide to post. This classified section is full of credentialed professionals, and if you’re short on published clips and experience, do yourself a favor and look longingly at this one, but wait until you have a stronger resume before posting. The heavy-hitters on this site are tough for a newcomer to compete with.
I am a freelance editor and writer. I don’t know how to write PHP, Javascript, or use Linux. So why am I reading a book on how to be a freelance computer consultant? One written ten years ago which is now hopelessly out of date, technology-wise?
Simple…I want to know how other freelancers do business and see if there are any “best practices” I can glean from their experience.
One of the best pieces of advice any freelancer will get about setting their rates is “never work hourly”. Sure enough, it’s true in the freelance computer consulting world, too, but I also got some great tips about dealing with hostile work environments, dealing with on-site freelance situations where hostile employees make your life difficult, and how to structure your payment schedule for long-term projects to make all parties happier with the arrangement.
I learned all this stuff for free, having checked out out the book from my local library. It’s surprising where you can learn cool stuff about the ins and outs of freelancing. I had a good laugh reading a ten-year-old book on marketing via the Internet. DId you know there are these great micro-publishing websites called “weblogs” (blogs for short)? Ten years ago, people were convinced that television was DOOMED and that while “blogs” are amusing, they could never be taken all that seriously. After all, they’re so niche-driven, where’s the money in THAT? (Sarcasm alert. It makes me sad that I even have to put that in here, but there you go.)
The library is your friend…especially if they stock a copy of that book every new freelancer is tempted to buy, Writer’s Market. You do NOT need to purchase this book! Chances are the library has done it for you.
If you write non-fiction articles you are already aware of the importance of data. Here are two quick resources to add to your list–great to have on hand in case the need should arise:
FreelanceSwitch.com scores big with this amazing Monster List of Freelancing Job Sites. Folks, this is why we at Freelance-Zone.com don’t even bother TRYING to run a set of job resources; FreelanceSwitch has cornered the market with this staggeringly huge collection of links. If you can’t find a paying gig with at least ONE of the sites listed, I’ll eat my laptop. Kudos to FreelanceSwitch for this excellent resource.
CD Baby Owner Derek Sivers sold his company this summer for $22 million dollars. Sounds like a massive jackpot for Sivers, doesn’t it? Would it surprise you to learn he didn’t get the payday? He put the $22 million in a charitable trust designed to further music education.
That’s part of something Sivers referenced in his blog post from October 16th. It’s a bit of inspirational writing, but in context of Sivers selling his company–probably worth far more than the $22 million price tag–it speaks on a whole different level.
There’s a lot of talk on FZ, and all over the net, about six-figure freelancing, making money and earning your maximum potential, but when the day is over, the real questions remain. Why am I doing this? Did the 13 hours I put in yesterday put me closer to something meaningful?
I think one of the big traps we freelancers fall into–at least THIS freelancer– is getting on the work-eat-sleep treadmill and forgetting to stop and enjoy life. Sivers seems to have learned how to balance the joy of work, the rewards, and finding time to evaluate the meaning of it all. His website has nothing to with freelance writing, it’s aimed squarely at musicians, but it does speak volumes about the kind of independence and freedom we’re supposed to enjoy as creative types. Call it a reminder to stop and smell the roses, even if it’s just on a coffee break.
Paul Lima cuts right through the crap in his Six Figure Freelancing blog. Do you want to earn six figures? Lima gives some sound advice; pick up the telephone. One of the recurring themes in ALL blogs I’ve read on high-dollar freelancing is the connection of two words that makes even the most hard-core fulltime freelancer cringe: cold calling.
Lima is absolutely correct. My own personal foray to the outer edges of five-figure work has included cold calling, but not nearly as much as Lima wants YOU to do. The reason I don’t do much cold calling in my line of work has nothing to do with me being a total badass freelance genius–it is purely circumstantial. But the fact of the matter is, if I want to break the glass ceiling and actually MAKE six figures next year (as opposed to the high fives I earn now) I WILL have to make more cold calls. Yes, it’s been on my mind a lot lately for obvious reasons. When you’re that close to hitting the holy grail figure for the first time, you really want to GO FOR IT, know what I mean?
Cold calling is absolutely vital, and not just for the kinds of freelance writing Lima does. There is huge money in corporate writing, but there is just as much in other sectors…but you will have to let your fingers do the walking, as the old telephone book ad used to say. A freelancer like me, with a strong background in interviewing, being live on camera and behind the mic, and chasing stories has no trouble picking up the phone. But if you don’t have that killer instinct for telephone calls, you need to learn it. Wanna know how? Here are a few hints to developing those ninja phone skills:
Darren Rowse reports Google is combining Goolge Analytics data with Google AdSense stats. This means a great deal to bloggers running AdSense campaigns; you can track ad effectiveness using the power of GA. It’s not happening all at once, Rowse says the rollout is being phased in and publishers who have access the new combination will find an invitation waiting for them in the AdSense admin section. If you are a blogger interested in Google AdSense or are just getting started, this development won’t mean much to you…yet. Once you discover how powerful these two features are when combined, you will learn a great deal.
