I just got finished laying engineering hardwood in the foyer and living room and there’s only one room left –my office/dining room/library. The front room of my house is having an identity crisis and frankly, it’s stressing me out. As a mom who works at home part of the time, I need to have my office in the middle of the madness. This means I
Hello hello! How about some good news? Today, instead of telling you ten thousand things you need to make sure that you are doing, or emphasizing how difficult it is to break into writing for print, I’m simply going to encourage you. That’s right. Today is a pep talk! I was not a good writer when I began. Seriously. I was pretty average, used cliches,
Writers should always have multiple revenue streams, even if they all involve writing. In fact, no single client should make up such a large part of your income that you would suffer if you lost that client. Not only is this good money sense, it’s good business sense. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket as the proverb goes. I can see why a
It is one thing to market your talent to potential clients. It is another thing entirely to present your fee schedule and agree on a price and other project details. When setting up your fee schedule for the first time, you need to do so with “marketing” in mind. What good is this info if you don’t have anybody to send it to? There is
This post is based on a comment I recently left on Lori Widmer’s “If it Didn’t Work with Huffington….” Writing for ad revenue is usually a bad idea for writers. Some of the big networks have been doing it for years, and the problems have been clear for a long time now. It’s easy to justify it though. I’ve been there myself. I’ve crunched numbers
In the last week, two tricky word patterns have made it to my attention. This is particularly interesting since I’m not in the classroom over the summer, where I usually am assaulted by word problems. Here are my most recent scenarios: Scenario 1: The Email for Past and Passed I was asked via email about the words “past” and “passed.” The writer wanted to know
A health savings account (HSA) is a type of tax-deferred savings account that gives you a tax break on out-of-pocket medical expenses. The plan is only available to individuals and families who have high deductible health plan – a type of insurance that requires you to pay a lot of money out of pocket before the insurance kicks in and pays anything. These high deductible
As you network with others, no matter if in person or in another manner, you may be tempted to make promises. While there is nothing wrong with this, you must be extremely careful of what you say. If you promise something and don’t come through, there is a good chance that the relationship will end sooner rather than later. In the past, I made this
Virginia C. McGuire shared a link on Twitter to a local story that caught my attention. It related to legislation that would require small business owners to offer seven paid sick days to their employees. And one Philadelphia diner owner spoke out against it. The problem? He spouts suppositions as facts and admits that while he gives paid sick leave to his real estate employees
I’ve had an insane lifestyle long enough to recognize how insane it is and to simply anticipate periods of time when I feel like punching walls and throwing up my (then bruised) hands in despair. Fortunately with great responsibility comes great wisdom as well as great amounts of stress for good measure. I often use my great wisdom to find ways to reduce my great
I’ve touched on this a little bit in the past, but it’s such an important subject that it deserves a post all by itself. When it comes to writing for print, understanding your editor is a key piece of the puzzle. Editors for print are different than those that work on the web. There are different demands and priorities. While some things are universal (example:
After Google’s recent algorithm changes, income from at least one of my sites dropped a lot than I could have predicted. Unfortunately, I didn’t see the change coming. It made me a lot more thankful of the famine/feast budgeting method I use. Whenever I have great income months, I don’t spend the extra money, though I’m often tempted to. Instead, I put the extra in
A few days ago a colleague shared a story about a recent experience with a nonprofit organization. Here’s the gist of what happened: The client hired the freelance writer for a previous project at the writer’s professional rates. The client had need for a professional writer again. The writer sent a proposal (which the client asked for). The client contacted the writer saying they could
At the end of this month I’ll take a vacation of sorts — a working vacation. It’s a chance to get ahead on some projects and get caught up on others, all while minimizing distractions of the ordinary day-to-day work schedule. For me it’s about a problem with project overload. I try to keep busy at all times (working hours at least), but right now
There is nothing better than meeting a potential client in person. Not only does this give you the chance to show who you are and what you have to offer, but you are also able to better assess the client’s needs. The first few times I met with potential clients face to face I was scared. From not knowing what to say to the worry
Most self-employed workers and small business owners take the maximum number of tax deductions to minimize the amount of taxes owed. The benefit in the short run is that you don’t pay the IRS as much money. However, there’s a downside that you may not immediately realize – your reduced income may disqualify you for major loans, like a mortgage or small business loan. Tax
While I love most things about having two jobs, the time I dislike being a double-time working mom most is at bedtime. Throughout the day I push, push, push to get everything done. And now that the day is winding down I want more than anything to just relax and enjoy myself. Unfortunately I can’t sit down and finish up a quick job just yet
Over the past five years I have worked with 100+ editors. Some work for large national publications, and others “wear many hats” for smaller operations. While every relationship is unique, one thing always remains the same: these are great connections to have. Time and time again I land new gigs based on a referral given by an editor in my network. Sometimes they pass contact
If you’re used to sending your kids away to school and working, you’re in for a rough ride – summer is almost here! Of course, those mothers who are insane like I am don’t have to worry too much about this. In fact, the summer months are the most relaxing months for my career, simply because I’m on summer vacation as well. My mornings won’t
You never think a disaster will happen to you and then it actually does. Hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, house fire, and theft are just a few of the things that can turn your world upside-down in a matter of seconds. Disasters hit us harder because we work from our homes. Are you prepared for the worst? Do you have an emergency fund? When you’re depositing money
This is going to be a different kind of post. Call it a sharing post. I’m going to talk a bit about what my expectations were when I got into the magazine industry–and also about the reality. I was pretty surprised at how different those two things are, and I’m going to throw my experience out there for you–just in case I can help clarify
Increasing your productivity can go a long way towards helping you build your freelance writing career in the way you want to. It’s how you work smarter, not harder. You can get more done (and make more money) even though you spend fewer hours working. Or you can open up more billable hours in your existing schedule. What’s not to love? For me, I still
When we think about marketing our freelance writing services, it’s easy to get caught up in the idea of finding new clients. But what about former clients? Sometimes they get lost in the mix, or are downright forgotten. Do you remember to approach them about potential new writing gigs? Here are a few things you can do to bring old clients back: 1. Reach out.
By attending networking events you can quickly grow your career. You will not land a new gig from every event, but the opportunity to do so is right in front of you. Every year, I attend anywhere from 5 to 10 local networking get-togethers. Some are better than others, but I learn something no matter the outcome. Unfortunately, I have made my fair share of
I’m doing something crazy today. I’m working on this post while my children are awake. It’s crazy – I know. I’m used to working in the still of the morning now around 4 am, but yesterday about 2 o’clock my body decided that it was done carrying me through my crazy schedule and decided to develop a sore throat and general yuckiness. As I finished
Most states don’t offer unemployment benefits for self-employed workers, so if something happens and you’re out of work, don’t expect to get help from your local unemployment office. Instead, it’s up to you to pull some strings to get through the rough patch. Predict the shortage as soon as possible. If you know in advance you’re going have a drop in income, you can prepare.
As you continue to attend networking events and attempt to spread the word about your business, you are sure to run into many unique situations. Along with this, you are going to make mistakes along the way. Time and time again, I hear people (not just freelance writers) apologize as they “work a room” and talk to others about their business. This is something you
You may remember that we recently lost several weeks’ worth of content here at All Freelance Writing. There was apparently a problem with database backups that began after our recent server move that caused the database backups to be incomplete and impossible to restore. While this wasn’t an ideal way to discover that issue, fortunately we had another way to retrieve the last few weeks’
If you’re not up to date on the latest parenting drama, the big buzz word is the new Tiger Mom book and following. I’ll admit I’m intrigued, especially since I grew up with the products of these highly regulated Asian mothers who went on to Harvard and other prestigious universities before becoming doctors, lawyers and Indian chiefs. But then, I’m always intrigued by parenting philosophies and
When I first began writing for magazines I had so many questions. I read forums, bought books and scoured every piece of information on the web looking for answers to some of these–and found nothing. So today–I am going to share a few of the things I learned early on so that if you happen to be wondering, you can find the answers on the