Deliberate Freelancer

Three requests for the podcast right now: I want to do an Ask Me Anything episode. Please email or DM via Twitter your questions about the business of freelancing and I’ll answer them on a future episode. You can share your name or be anonymous. melanie@meledits.com or DM @MelEdits on Twitter I’m considering a series interviewing freelancers who make six figures. So, if you have earned $100,000 or more as a freelance business owner, let me know. I’d love to talk with you more about how you got there so we can provide tactics and inspiration to other freelancers. melanie@meledits.com or DM @MelEdits on Twitter I am looking for diverse guests, so please reach out and pitch me your podcast episode idea or recommend guests who are from marginalized groups. I’m doing my own research and outreach, but I’m open to pitches and recommendations too. melanie@meledits.com or DM @MelEdits on Twitter In this week’s episode, let’s talk money again. First, let’s talk about setting an income goal, then about how to track it regularly. This is important for your freelance business at any time, but your plans and goals may have changed during the pandemic and you may need to update your goal. I also think it’s important that we’re transparent about money, especially to lift up other freelancers, including those from marginalized groups. I often talk about my “secret hourly rate,” which is the idea that I have a rate that I try to earn at minimum for most projects I’m working on. To determine whether you’re hitting that rate throughout your week, it could be a helpful exercise to track not only your hours for a particular project but to track your hours for all your work in a given month or a full quarter. Then, do the math to see how much you earned per hour for each project, and then figure out what that averaged out to for all projects during that month and quarter. That could give you valuable data about whether you are charging enough, taking on the right clients or you need to figure out how to work faster in some way. Do you have an annual income goal? Do you need to change it because of the pandemic? Or do you just work all the time and hope you can pay the bills? Or maybe you know how much you need each money to pay the bills and everything after that is gravy? Money isn’t everything, but it gives me the freedom to not stress about money. So, I encourage you to set an income goal that is higher than just paying your bills. You may not hit it the first year, especially if you’re relatively new to freelancing or if you were hit hard during the pandemic, but you can strive to hit it. And that will likely keep you striving to get more, better-paying clients and to continue to market yourself. In order to create this income goal, write down or create an Excel spreadsheet of all your expenses. Start with your monthly ongoing expenses—mortgage or rent, utilities, internet, cable, phone. Do you know how much you spend on groceries? What about household items, like shampoo and soap and laundry detergent? Some of you with significant others may have to do this part in tandem with your partner. If your partner is paying part of these bills, do you know how much you are contributing? Have you discussed with your partner how much the both of you think you should be contributing? Are you the breadwinner? Is it split 50/50 or do you pay certain bills and they pay certain bills? I encourage you to talk this over so you’re both on the same page. This could be particularly helpful right now during the pandemic if one or both of you had hits to your income and things have changed. Talk also about who is responsible for what bills and if that needs to change. This is also a good time to discuss ways you can cut back on various subscriptions or services you might not need right now. You can also renegotiate if you’re willing to put in the time and money. Oftentimes, when you call up companies like your cable company, internet provider, phone service, etc. and tell them you want to cancel, they will cut your monthly payments or offer you a “one-time deal.” Once you have figured out your monthly costs and made a list of subscriptions to cancel or renegotiate, look at yearly costs. For example, car insurance premiums, holiday presents. Next, add in the extras. If you could earn plenty of money, what would you spend it on? What would you like to have? Think of things that could make your life easier but also things you love to do and buy for yourself. Do the math and estimate how much those things would cost each month or over the course of the year. Now, you have two numbers: the bare minimum you need to earn each month and the ideal goal you’d like to earn each month. Next, how many hours do you want to work each week? Don’t say 40. Think paid work. You will have a lot of unpaid work—answering emails, marketing, doing social media, invoicing. No one pays us for that, but it’s all important to your business. I don’t have a magic number for you to tell you how much time you should work on paid work versus unpaid work. I also can’t tell you how much time your paid work will take you. It is different for everyone. I can tell you that if you have no idea, tracking your time for a week or two can be really helpful. I mean, tracking ALL of your time—keep track of the time for each individual project. That will start to tell you how long it takes you to do specific types of projects for clients. Also, keep track of all the unpaid work. You might find out you’re spending hours on marketing—is there a better way? Are you spending way too much time on social media? Is it paying off? Think also about how many hours you would like to work each day and what those hours are. Ideally, I’d love to work from about 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. with an hour break for lunch and a few smaller breaks throughout the day, about 10 minutes here and there. What is your ideal? My pre-pandemic income goal also had to drastically change since March because I lost my anchor client, which was nearly half my income. So, I had to up my marketing game, look for new clients, take on new types of assignments and completely refocus my business. Even though things are so up in the air right now it helps to still have that income goal, even if it has changed. That goal will tell you not only how much money you need to earn each month, but it will help you figure out if you can say no to work that isn’t the right fit or pays too little. When you know your yearly goal, as I talked about, it’s often helpful to break it down into monthly goals to keep you on track. But I also like to think in terms of quarters. Some months are busier than others, and looking at quarters can help you average it out for that time period. Now that you’ve set all your goals, they do you no good if you’re not tracking them. For invoicing, I already had an Excel spreadsheet for each month. In that document, I have separate tabs for each client. I keep it open all the time and add in projects as they come in with the deadline and fee. So, I just added a tab to that monthly file to track the work that came in for that month. That tab has all the work for each month of the year, separated by columns/month. Each column totals up at the bottom so that I can see how on target I am for the month and whether I need to get more work or not. I am continuing to use that system during the pandemic too, which really helps me keep track of my income. As you work toward your income goal, how do you make sure you are paying bills, saving money and not spending frivolously? One thing I have found helpful is to have a separate checking account for personal and one for business. Put all your income into the business account and pay for business expenses out of that account. And then every two weeks or at the end of the month, pay yourself what you earned into your personal account so you can pay your bills. Now is also a good time to ask your clients about direct deposit. Many are a lot more receptive to this while so many people are working at home during the pandemic.   Biz Bite: Take a Mental Health Day The Bookshelf: “The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century” by Kirk Wallace Johnson   Resources: Episode #5 of Deliberate Freelancer: Track Your Time for Better Efficiency Episode #9 of Deliberate Freelancer: The Money Lessons I’ve Learned the Hard Way Episode #18 of Deliberate Freelancer: How to Set Higher Rates Episode #28 of Deliberate Freelancer: Take Charge of Your Finances, with Pamela Capalad Episode #29 of Deliberate Freelancer: 3 Big Financial Changes I Made This Week

Today’s guest is Amy Ragland, a freelance marketing writer and content strategist in Wichita, Kansas. She writes mostly for financial services clients. Amy and her husband have two daughters, ages 13 and 11. Amy began freelancing in 2002, before she was married. She began freelancing on the side when someone asked her to do a particular project. For a long time, it was only a side hustle and sporadic “play money.” After she had her children, she stayed home full-time with them for three years. Freelancing helped her keep her brain sharp, bring in a bit of extra income and feel like she was contributing financially to the household. Later, she began full-time freelancing to have a more flexible schedule as a parent. Freelancing allows her to structure her days so that she’s most focused and productive when her children are in school. She can also make more money in less time than when she was an employee. The flexibility also allows her to volunteer and get involved in her kids’ school activities and events throughout the day. Pre-pandemic, Amy took her kids to school and picked them up, which she felt was important. Another flexibility perk is the ability to help out her parents, in-laws and her grandmother, who live nearby, if they need help with something. Amy is someone who likes to have a plan and for that plan to work out. The “topsy-turvy” aspect of the pandemic has been frustrating. She is used to having quiet and being able to concentrate on writing, and that’s been difficult with her kids at home. Freelancing can also be lonely. Amy tries to protect her writing hours so that she can do her work done during work hours and focus on her kids after school. But that doesn’t leave much time for connecting or meeting up with other freelancers. She recommends being very strategic about reaching out to others so you aren’t isolating yourself and not getting into a rut of work-family, work-family. Freelancing as a parent changes as children get older. Now, Amy’s kids can stay home by themselves so that (pre-pandemic) Amy could meet up with someone for coffee or run an errand. As Amy’s children got older, it became easier to say, “Go away now, I need to work.” The kids respect that, and she doesn’t have to supervise them 24/7. During the pandemic, many freelancers accustomed to being home alone now have partners, children and/or roommates at home now. Not getting enough alone time has been difficult on Amy. Amy’s daily structure has changed during the pandemic. Her husband is considered an essential worker, working for an electrical contractor, so this spring Amy was trying to run her business while being thrust into full-time schoolteacher. Her “mom guilt” went into overdrive because she felt like she needed to work, but then she felt guilty that she was ignoring her kids.   The pandemic is also difficult on kids, who have suddenly lost their daily routines and structure. Amy tries to remember to give everyone—herself included—grace. “Grace” is also tied in with letting go of our expectations. You may need to give yourself some grace and let go, or adjust, some of your personal and professional goals this year. Early in the pandemic, Amy talked with her children about what their new daily routine would look like. She doesn’t allow her kids to stay up late or sleep in. Instead, they aimed to stay on a fairly structured routine, which has helped them during the pandemic. She also began to delegate more household chores. Amy uses the Pomodoro technique. Pre-pandemic, she would work for about 1 ½ hours with a 30-minute break. But she has adjusted that to now work for about 40 minutes. She can tell her kids she has to work for 40 minutes and that they can talk to her after that. That helped lessen the interruptions and helped Amy stay in a writing flow. For self-care, Amy makes sure to find some alone time. She will go into a room and close the door and read a book, even for just 20 minutes. Amy also reminds herself that she got into freelancing for the flexibility and to be available to her family. She tries to be very conscious right now of how many freelance projects she takes on. She tends to say “yes” to everything in general, and right now it can feel “foolish” to turn away potential income. But she works to stay tuned in to her time limitations. Amy has adjusted her business during the pandemic also. She typically does quick-turnaround projects for clients, but right now she has asked her clients to give her a little more notice. Freelancers who might not have a lot of work right might want to take the opportunity to try something new they didn’t have time for before. Amy tries to look for the silver lining during the pandemic: What lessons can she learn right now? How can she improve her business and become a better person? One positive thing Amy has noticed: Her daughters have gotten along pretty well during the pandemic. She has watched them become buddies and take care of each other. She and her husband and daughters have also done more activities together as a family, like doing puzzles and taking walks. They bought a basketball goal for their driveway and have been playing HORSE nonstop. The biggest advice Amy can give freelancing parents is to be strategic with your time. That will get easier as your kids get older. Set yourself up for success. Structure your day to take advantage of the best time to work. When her kids were little, trying to plan to work during naptime often got derailed, which was frustrating. But Amy shifted her mindset to be more strategic with her time throughout the day, which made her feel more in control with her day. Resources: AmyRagland.com Amy on LinkedIn Amy on Twitter   Biz Bite: Create Excel spreadsheets with the regular resources and links you consult for your business (so you aren’t Googling the same info every time). Writers can also create an Excel spreadsheet for the articles they write (include date, client, topic).

First, Black Lives Matter. Let’s talk … On today’s show I am going to go over how you can relook, reimagine and reexamine your goals in the midst of a crisis, like this global pandemic. But first, I want to talk about the protests happening this week in our country after the murder of George Floyd by police and the “weaponization” of race by a white woman, Amy Cooper, in Central Park. As if the pandemic wasn’t stressful and heartbreaking enough, racism—which has long been a cancer in our society—has really come to a head in recent weeks. I am a privileged white woman, but I try to be an ally and to listen and learn. I believe that Black Lives Matter. And if we are upset and angry about buildings on fire and broken glass, then we should be 1000% angrier about black men and women and boys and girls being abused, beaten and even murdered by police and other people in our society. You may not have tuned into this podcast for politics, but we cannot simply talk about our freelance businesses without recognizing what is happening around us and how the anguish and racism affects all of us. We who are white need to listen and learn from others, we need to speak out, we need to try to understand. And to those who are black, to those communities who have been harmed and abused and forgotten, to my fellow freelancers, to colleagues, strangers and friends, I am so, so sorry. One way we can help as freelance business owners is to be an ally to people who are not white, not heterosexual, who don’t have the privilege some of us were born into. For example, if you hire subcontractors, you can do a little extra work to go outside your regular circle and try to hire people from marginalized groups. You can buy products from minority-owned businesses. You can reach out to other freelancers when you hear of gigs that aren’t the right fit for you. In this podcast I made a conscious decision from the beginning to try to have a diverse array of voices when I have guests on. And I haven’t done a great job at this—mostly because I have often brought on guests I knew in real life and that tends to be other white women. This is a common problem in our society—we stay in our bubbles when hiring, reaching out, mentoring. And our bubbles often look like us. I just did an audit of my podcast guest list, and out of 20 guests since I launched last year, I’ve had five people of color on my podcast. So, 20%. The rest were 12 white women and 3 white men. That’s not good enough. I need to do much better. I need to search out more diverse voices, even if that is more work. So, that’s what I plan to do. And when I say diversity, I mean racial and ethnic, but also LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, regional diversity and more. I commit to doing this work, but if you know of freelancers—or people who are experts in a certain area who could help freelancers—and you want to suggest names to me, feel free to DM or tag me on Twitter @MelEdits or email me at melanie@meledits.com.   Now, reimagining your goals. Time to pivot … Let’s talk about how to reimagine your goals during a time of crisis. This could be any crisis in your life, whether global or very personal. Right now, of course we’re dealing with a health pandemic and a global economic crisis that affects all of us in varying degrees. In episode 53, I talked about how to find your resilience and pivot right now and the fact that you are being forced to pivot because of the pandemic. But I want to think of this a little differently this week. How can you shift your mindset and see this as an opportunity to reexamine and change up your goals? First, what were your goals this year? Did you set some? If you didn’t have them written down or they were kind of vague, take some time now to think back to December and January. What did you imagine yourself doing this year in your personal life and in your business? I had some big goals this year, including a huge income goal that I was really excited about. More money would mean more travel with my husband and fixing a few things around the house. Now, of course I’m doing my best just to cover the bills. And this could be my worst financial year in my 7 years as a freelancer. Let’s first talk about our income goals. There are two main areas I see that could affect your income goal right now—that you are losing clients but also that you might have less time, particularly if you have children now at home. If you are taking care of children, can you realistically continue to work the same amount of hours you were working pre-pandemic? And if you have lost work, how much money can you realistically earn right now? For the past few months you may have been marketing and networking and reaching out and taking whatever work comes your way. In other words, you have been constantly hustling to get more work. And I understand the need for that. But, you need to take the time to take a breath and figure out a long-term strategy. What areas of your business are doing the best right now? What services can you offer that people want? What industries and companies can you go after that are doing OK in the pandemic, maybe even doing well and are hiring? Start adjusting your goals or creating new ones based on your answers. Here’s what I’ve done: I’m a writer and an editor. I offer a variety of services, but what I really love to do is put together publications as a managing editor of magazines and newsletters. But that takes a lot of time and I can only commit to a few of those clients at a time. Pre-pandemic, I had two clients where I was managing editor. Now, I have one. As a managing editor, I didn’t have a lot of time to write articles. I usually only wrote a couple of big articles every month or two, with four-week deadlines, plus maybe a few smaller articles. And I didn’t actually want to be only a freelance writer. I liked editing and having a variety of services. But, writing in my industry pays well and by the project, so during this current crisis I switched up my goals and decided to double-down on writing. I’m a health care writer so I was able to stress that I could write about the coronavirus, science and public health, as I reached out to previous and potential new clients. I quickly received two big assignments related to coronavirus, as well as a few more smaller articles on other topics. My new goal was suddenly to be a full-time freelance writer, with editing—except for my one remaining managing editing gig—taking a backseat. And I surprised myself by liking this focus on writing. I started to contemplate what would happen if I got my anchor client back. Would I want to go back or would I want to stick with writing more? It took a global pandemic for me to reimagine my goals and embrace this new mindset of writing more. Ask yourself: Has there been any little thing that has come out of this pandemic that you might have been forced to do in your business that you enjoyed just a bit? Or have you lost a specific client or type of work and realized you don’t miss it at all? The pandemic has also forced me to slow down, which opened up my day to try new marketing tactics, to network more, to take courses. Now is the time to take advantage of all these free courses. Another goal I’ve switched up is to go back to former work. Several years ago I cut back on some copy editing projects to make room for other more enjoyable, more lucrative work. But I stayed in touch with those previous clients and recently contacted them. One of them hired me again for copy editing, and I was able to pick up right where I left off. Being able to be at home every day also allowed me to take on a new editing project as well, where I’m kind of “on call.” It could have been a mental adjustment to be on call every day. I’m a planner and like my calendar mapped out for the week. But for some reason it wasn’t stressful. I think part of that is the anxiety I’ve felt during the pandemic; if I can deal with the anxiety of this health and economic crisis, I can certainly change my mindset to accept a more flexible daily schedule. You may not have even realized it yet, but you also may have become more accepting and resilient of things that you said you’d never do. You may be more open to new types of work or certain work parameters. So question those hard-and-fast rules you’ve been holding onto in your business. Are they reasonable? Can they be adjusted? Can you be more flexible? In episode 53 about pivoting, I talked about how I told myself to think way, way, way outside the box. And even though I was doing that several weeks ago, it took a few more weeks for me to realize I could adjust my mindset even further. As you’re thinking about all this, continue to ask yourself some big questions, like: What have I always dreamed of doing? What have I put off trying because I didn’t have the time? What areas of my business make the most money and how can I double-down on those? How could I create packages of services to offer right now? What do my clients need and want RIGHT NOW?   Biz Bite: Set a daily timer for dinner prep.   The Bookshelf: “An American Marriage” by Tayari Jones   Resources: Episode #53 of Deliberate Freelancer: Pivoting and Finding Resilience   Episode #2 of Deliberate Freelancer: Discover Your Unique Brilliance   Book list: “An Essential Reading Guide for Fighting Racism”   “For Our White Friends Desiring to Be Allies”   Black Lives Matter website—What We Believe (and how you can help)

This week is a mini episode because I’m doing what I’m preaching: Taking a break. I apologize for the brevity, but I will be back next week with regular episodes. This past weekend was the three-day Memorial Day weekend. And while it looked very different during this pandemic, I still focused on taking most of the weekend off, completely unplugged from work. And I encourage you to take a break too. Even if you aren’t that busy with your business right now, don’t feel guilty about taking a break. Everyone—no matter what our workload is right now—needs a physical and mental break from work. So, consider what a break looks like to you and take a few hours, a full day or a weekend off. My wish for you this week is to go easier on yourself, to not feel guilty for taking some time off from work and family, and to put yourself first by taking a break. I promise I’ll be back next week with regular episodes. Be well and take care.

Today’s guest is Jessica Thiefels, an organic content marketer, which means she focuses on creating content and content strategies for clients—but doesn’t work with paid marketing and sales. Jessica now lives in Burlington, Vermont, after traveling for eight months last year with her husband. Jessica also has a new podcast called Mindset Reset Radio, which helps millennials get intentional in their life, business and career. Instagram has 1 billion users, and users tend to be very active. The primary age range is about 25–35. People are looking for content that showcases the most authentic part of your brand or business. It’s not about sharing other people’s content as much as on Twitter or Facebook. That personal touch allows people to forge deeper connections with potential clients, which builds brand loyalty. While Instagram was built for beautiful images and lends itself well to businesses like fashion and travel, other businesses and freelancers can do well on Instagram by creating their own graphics. However, Instagram is mostly for B2C businesses, not B2B, because businesses themselves aren’t as likely to be on Instagram. Graphics can be a mix of providing inspirational and educational content, with also showing the behind-the-scenes of your business.  Here’s how to learn whether your audience is on Instagram and if it’s worth it for you to build up your presence: If your target audience is 35 and older, you’re not as likely to find them on Instagram. Research your competitors and see if they are having Instagram success.  Remember, you should only focus on a few social media platforms, not ALL of them. Look at your own data, such as Google analytics, to see where your website traffic is coming from. Most Instagram users use it on their phone, not their computer. However, now Instagram allows you to use its messaging app on your computer, which makes it easier to copy/paste email addresses and other links. You can only post Stories via the phone, although you can watch Stories on your computer. Jessica reminds us that our social media efforts must be aligned with our business goals. Write out your top 3 business goals and then write down how Instagram can support those business goals. You can schedule your Instagram posts, saving you time. Instagram Stories is critical to your Instagram business strategy. If you’re not using Stories, you won’t be as successful on Instagram. Jessica recommends posting on Stories at least 3–5 times a day because every time you post a new Story you get bumped to the front of that line. Stories works by posting text, a photo or video. You can use a Story to share what’s going on behind the scenes with your business throughout the day. You can also share other people’s posts through the “add to my story” option. Instagram Live Stories—you shooting a live video—have been a lot more popular during the pandemic, possibly because of the real-time connection. During Live Stories, people can comment and ask you questions. Stories only last 24 hours, but you can add them to your Highlight to make them last longer. You may want to create an “about me” Highlight, creating a video telling people what your business is all about when they find you for the first time. Freelancers and consultants who are selling services, not products, can see Instagram success. Jessica points to two tactics: You can stay strictly educational, showcasing your expertise in a field through your posts and Stories. The second way is to build your brand and show yourself as the face of your brand. This means sharing more personal information about yourself. Let’s talk Instagram hashtags: Instagram uses a lot of hashtags per post. Have a mix of high-volume hashtags (about 1 million posts) and lower-volume hashtags. Don’t go over 1 million because those hashtags are too saturated and broad. Consider the hashtags that your potential clients are following or searching for. Here’s the formula Jessica uses: First 3–5 hashtags should fall into the 300,000 to 1 million posts range. Next 3–5 hashtags should fall into the 80,000 to 300,000 range. The last 3–5 should be anything lower than 80,000 posts. That last category can be super niche and focused on your very specific industry. You can also create your own branded hashtag (like #DeliberateFreelancer). When you start to type a hashtag in Instagram, it will auto-populate and also show you the number of posts. You can also search for hashtags and the number of posts they have on the Instagram website on your computer, which can be easier when you’re researching. You will also need to engage with others on Instagram. Search a common hashtag for your business (or follow that hashtag) and go through and engage by commenting, liking a post or sharing a post in your Story. You have to be social on Instagram. You can’t expect people to engage with you and not do the same. Make sure you’re replying to comments and direct messages. You can reshare Instagram images through certain apps (Repost, InstaRepost) or just screenshot the image and paste in your feed. Oftentimes, it’s best to get permission first, and always give the original poster credit. If you have a limited amount of time for Instagram, choose one day of the week and plan and schedule out all of your content in 1–3 hours (choose images, write your captions, schedule it). Then, throughout the week, engage with others in 5-minute increments when you’re in between tasks. Jessica puts a 15-minute timer on so she doesn’t go down the rabbit hole. Biz Bite: Use Boomerang to Schedule Emails.   Resources: Jessica Thiefels Consulting website Jessica’s podcast: Mindset Reset Radio Jessica on Instagram Jessica on Twitter Jessica has a new book on Amazon: “10 Questions That Answer Life’s Biggest Questions” Planoly (Instagram scheduler) Later (Instagram scheduler) “How to Use Instagram Hashtags for Business: A Strategy for Visibility” (via Social Media Examiner) “How to Repost on Instagram: 4 Ways to Reshare Content from Other Users” (via HubSpot)

Today’s guest is Julia Bocchese, an SEO consultant and Pinterest strategist for creative small businesses. Her goal is to make SEO and Pinterest strategies approachable and easy to implement for all small businesses so they can reach their ideal clients organically. She lives in Philadelphia with her Siberian Husky sidekick and her husband. And on the side, she runs a travel photography site and goes to grad school for history to study Vikings.   In this episode, Julia provides a lot of strategy and tips on how to use Pinterest for your freelance business, whether you’re brand-new to Pinterest or you need to ramp up your efforts. I was concerned that Pinterest was only for businesses that are heavy into images like photographers or fashion bloggers, but Julia assured me that most businesses can benefit from Pinterest. Please know that Julia is hosting a virtual workshop on Pinterest on Tuesday, May 26, so check out the link under Resources below for more information. Pinterest is a visual search engine, not a typical social media platform. Followers don’t matter as much as they do with other platforms. You can still get a lot of traffic and engagement with just a handful of followers. You can spend less time on Pinterest as well, scheduling out pins and not engaging with people directly as much as on other platforms. Pinterest pins can rank high in Google, so keyword research is important in Pinterest. People think of Pinterest as visual mood boards for your individual interest, but it can be very helpful for businesses. Pinterest can be for almost all businesses, except for brick-and-mortar local businesses like a drycleaning business. Pinterest also allows you to have secret boards, so you can have your personal interests, such as recipes, fashion, home decorating, on your business Pinterest account too. You can also have secret lists of your competitors or clients you want to keep tabs on. You can pin any type of content you create, like blog posts, videos or podcast episodes. Create vertical images—you can take a stock image and put a text overlay with your content title over it using Canva.com. Canva has Pinterest templates you can use. Pinterest’s algorithm favors “fresh content,” meaning a new link or a new image. So, create multiple graphics for the same blog post so you can pin more than one pin. Space them out across a few weeks or months. You should pin something every day, but you can schedule them through an app called Tailwind and only spend a few hours a month scheduling for the entire month. If you’re just getting started and don’t have a lot of content to post, it can be helpful to post other people’s contents; those can also be scheduled in Tailwind. Follow people in your industry to see what pins work well for them, but it doesn’t matter how many followers you have, unlike other social media platforms. There are a few ways to find out if your ideal audience is on Pinterest, such as searching on Pinterest for topics you have written about or cover in your business. Look for people in your industry. You can also find out who has pinned your website content by typing in: www.pinterest.com/source/YOUR WEBSITE NAME. This shows you which of your content is gaining traction. If no one has pinned your information yet, Pinterest might not be the best platform for your business. SEO is important for Pinterest. Pinterest doesn’t have a great keyword search tool yet, although you can type in topics in the Pinterest search tool and they will auto-populate. Optimize your pins’ headlines and descriptions with strong keywords and be smart about who you are targeting. You can rank high in Google with pins—and not just in the Google image search. If you have a limited amount of time for Pinterest, focus first on creating great content to pin. Then, create a few graphics to pin for your new content. Use Tailwind to fill out your schedule for the month. Then, look at your analytics at least once a month to see which pins and which content are performing the best. You will need to have a business Pinterest account to see Pinterest’s analytics and will need to claim your website through Pinterest. It’s easy to switch your personal Pinterest account to a business account. It can take a long time to build up your Pinterest efforts, similar to Google. It could take up to three months to start seeing traction. But pins can live on for months and years, unlike tweets and Facebook posts. Biz Bite: Have a CEO Day Each Week. Resources: Julia Renee Consulting website Julia on Pinterest Julia on Instagram Julia’s blog post “How the Coronavirus Is Affecting Female Entrepreneurs Around the World” Julia’s blog post “How to Use Pinterest for Small Businesses: 9 Easy Tips to Get You Started” Julia’s blog post “Pinterest Strategy Tips for Small Businesses” Julia’s virtual workshop “Grow Your Business with Easy Strategies for Pinterest!” on May 26 Canva.com (to create easy graphics) Tailwind (Pinterest scheduling tool)

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how to get new clients right now. I’ve also been thinking about how I will have to change my business and plan for the next several months or year or two, even though so many things are unknown during this pandemic. First, here are some reminders about how to be a rock star for your clients. This is about your personality, attitude and ability to be helpful. What you should always do, but especially right now: Respond quickly. I know this isn’t always possible. There are exceptions. But when a client emails you, especially if you’re already working on an assignment for them, get back to them quickly—as in that same day if possible. Don’t leave them hanging. Don’t ghost clients. This should be obvious, but I’ve had freelancers working for me who did not only respond quickly, they just didn’t respond at all. For days. On a deadline. And I never hired those people again. Meet your deadlines. If you are having trouble with your deadline, reach out to your client as soon as possible. The worst thing is to reach out the day of and say you can’t meet the deadline. You just sound like you procrastinated. Instead, contact your client several days before your deadline, apologize and ask for an extension. Do the little things. For writers, that might mean suggesting headlines and subheads and creating a list of all sources with contact information for fast fact-checking. Don’t overshare. Clients don’t have the time or mental energy to hear all about your troubles. They just want their project on time and done right. Be helpful. Be polite. Now, I want to share four ideas to consider as you pivot and work to earn more money and gain new clients: Think digital FIRST. And think digital for EVERYTHING. I know some of you might have video chat/Zoom fatigue, but we have to be all digital most of the time. We don’t have a choice. This is the world we live in now. Whether you are already providing services digitally (writing, website design, etc.) or not, you have to think digital for everything right now. On one end of the spectrum are courses and webinars. What skills can you teach online right now? Aim to make money, but this is also about expanding your network and showcasing yourself as an expert—which can then lead to new work. But you can also start smaller, perhaps with Instagram videos or Facebook Live sessions. What are you an expert in that people want to know more about? Join an online practice group, accountability group or Facebook groups. In short, expand your support network. But this is not just about networking. It’s about gathering with people in your industry—or an adjacent industry—to share best practices and ideas about how everyone is pivoting right now. And the people in these groups can also commiserate with you as we all struggle through this. Be a part of the conversation. It can be helpful to talk to friends and commiserate with other freelancers right now, but it’s also important to be a part of the larger conversation as an expert in your field. Pose questions on LinkedIn. Answer questions in Facebook groups. Take part in tweet chats, such as #FreelanceChat every Thursday at 12 p.m. Eastern time. You can also consider being a guest on a podcast—or even starting your own. Write a guest blog post. Be strategic about all this: Who are you trying to reach? Is there a way to reach your potential clients? How can you get out front and center in your industry? Be really helpful. Ask nearly everyone you know: How can I help with your work? What are you struggling with in your position? What does your organization need? Maybe they won’t have work for you right now, but I bet they remember you for asking. Maybe they can offer you a smaller project or you can charge a bit less than you normally would. Or if you can’t help or they need a service you don’t provide, you can refer them to a freelancer who might be able to. If you take nothing else out of this episode, I highly encourage you to think digital first. Think digital for everything. What new and creative ways can you pivot into providing digital services and content for your audience?   Biz Bite: Work outside   The Bookshelf: “The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir” by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich   Resources: Episode #53 of Deliberate Freelancer: Pivoting and Finding Resilience Episode #43 of Deliberate Freelancer: 33 Ways to Find More Clients

On today’s show I talk about how the pandemic is forcing some of us (me included) to pivot and how we need to find our own resilience to be able to pivot and work on our freelance business. I don’t actually want to pivot right now. I like what I was doing with my business and where it was going. But I don’t have a choice, as I’ve lost clients and projects and need to replace that income. I had an anchor client that was about 48% of my income. I knew that was risky; I knew that wasn’t recommended. You should aim instead to have several anchor clients, no more than about 30% of your income. Now, that anchor client is on hold, so I’m forced to pivot—and I don’t know for how long. Some days I am optimistic and know that if I work hard I can get new writing assignments from regular clients and past clients. But I still feel sad and upset and annoyed that I lost clients and have to do other things now. My husband reminded me that I’m in mourning, mourning for the type of business I had and the client I liked to work for every week. Grief is about loss—it doesn’t have to be only about death. And the uncertainty can sometimes be the hardest part. That is called “anticipatory grief.” We have no idea how long this will continue or what things will look like in a few months, a year or two years. You are allowed to be sad, annoyed, upset. You’re allowed to grieve for what you had just a few months ago. You’re allowed to grieve for all those plans you had for 2020. (So many plans!) Resilience is the ability to recover quickly from hard times. Think of it as mental toughness. Think of it as “bouncing back.” Being resilient doesn’t mean you won’t still be worried or scared or sad at times. But if you can find your own resilience, you can start to figure out how to better manage this sheltering-in-place and how to manage your freelance business. You can start to accept this pandemic and economic collapse for what it is and start to look forward at how life might change and what you can and need to do. I don’t want to be Pollyanna. I know some of you have lost all or almost all of your freelance income. I am sorry. That is scary. But resilience means figuring out what you are going to do with your time now and how you can plan for the future, even if it’s not possible to get work right now. Maybe you can pivot, but maybe you can’t. Maybe you need to focus on applying for unemployment and loans and seeing how you can downsize. A PositivePsychology.com article cites the American Psychological Association, which describes several factors that contribute to resilience. These include: The capacity to make realistic plans and take steps to carry them out. A positive view of yourself and confidence in your strengths and abilities. Skills in communication and problem-solving. The capacity to manage strong feelings and impulses. Having a strong self-esteem and confidence in yourself is really helpful right now. But what if you don’t have those? You can build a stronger self-esteem. Just to name a few tips: Allow yourself to feel a wide range of emotions. Now is not the time to bottle up your emotions or hide them. In fact, so many people are feeling similar feelings. Plus, people are really understanding right now. Focus on self-care. What helps keep you going? What helps make you happy? We would all do well to get more sleep, eat healthy, drink more water. But what unique things do you love? Another way to find your resilience is creating a structure and routine. That has been hard recently as everyone’s routines have been upended. But now we’re fully in this pandemic and we’re going to be here for a while, so what new routine and structure can you create for yourself? But remember to give yourself some grace. Don’t beat yourself up when you fall out of your structure. Just get back on the horse and try again. I’ve been working on getting up early—after sleeping in most days till 8 or 9 a.m. during the first six weeks of my shelter-in-place. I also want to create a habit of doing a 20-minute yoga/stretching routine every morning as soon as I get up. Businessman and speaker Michael Hyatt talks about his “morning ritual.” I already have a morning ritual and I bet you do too—but is it the best ritual for you? Is it how you want your mornings to start off? Think about how to set up your morning to have your best day. Another thing that helps build resilience is taking action—no matter how small. Figure out what you can do right now to work on your business. You can start by writing down all the challenges you face right now in a column. Then, make a second column to the right of the first on potential solutions to those challenges. Then, pick just one. What can you do today to start to meet that challenge head-on? One idea is to draft an email to all previous clients asking how you can help them. Tell them you have some availability (to put it mildly!) and outline the services you offer. Your clients likely don’t know all the things you can do, so let them know all the ways you can help. A writer friend emailed all her friends, family and colleagues, outlining the skills she has and the services she can offer. It might feel weird to ask for help, but there should be no shame in this. Offer ways you can help. Let’s talk about how to pivot. Now might be the time to work ON your business. That’s one way of pivoting. But you will also likely need to focus on getting some actual paying work. Some of this might be linked—like updating your website, which you had already been wanting to do. Here’s a tactic I used to figure out what I could pivot to: Play some fun, lively music. Dance around for about five minutes to get yourself peppy and psyched up. Then, take out a piece of paper and turn on your phone timer for 5 minutes. In that time, write down every type of pivot you can think of. Just keep writing. Challenge yourself to answer: How could I change my business NOW and in the immediate future to get more clients? Think way, way, way outside the box. Ask yourself: What do my clients need and want right now? What new skills could I learn? What have I always dreamed of doing? What hobbies and activities do I love? How could I create packages of services to offer? How could I partner with other freelancers to create projects? How could I promote myself to get my name out there more? Then, type up the list. Don’t edit it yet. Then, prioritize the items. Put the ones with the most potential—those that would be the easiest and quickest to implement—at the top. You’re not done yet. In his book “Atomic Habits,” James Clear talks about the challenge of “motion versus action.” The idea is that sometimes we feel like we’re doing new things—working on projects, being productive—but everything we’re doing is just “motion.” Motion is the research, the planning, the preparation. But it’s not the action of actually doing something. I realized I am really good at motion. But I need to be better at action. So, after you’ve brainstormed on how to pivot your business, ask yourself how you need to act. That could mean creating a to-do list for a couple of items. It could also mean putting those items on your calendar and sticking to that schedule. That will cause you to act and actually do something. Biz Bite: Take a Free Course. The Bookshelf: author Maeve Binchy Resources: Connect with Melanie: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelEdits Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meledits_dc Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meledits Website: https://meledits.com Email: melanie@meledits.com Harvard Business Review article: “That Discomfort You’re Feeling Is Grief” Fortune article: “With work drying up, here’s how freelancers can pivot to make it through the coronavirus pandemic” PositivePsychology.com article: “What Is Resilience and Why Is It Important to Bounce Back?” American Psychological Association: “Building your resilience” Michael Hyatt “Free to Focus” book and Lead to Win podcast Episode #52 of Deliberate Freelancer: Embracing Self-Care without Guilt, with Acupuncturist Rachel Brumberger Episode #48 of Deliberate Freelancer: How to Cope with Coronavirus Anxiety, with Therapist Mira Dineen Episode #41 of Deliberate Freelancer: How to Create and Stick to Habits—the Backbone of Your Life and Business  

Today’s guest is acupuncturist Rachel Brumberger, here to talk about acupuncture and Chinese medicine and how you can use those principles to do some self-care at home right now. Rachel began studying acupuncture in 2009. She has earned a master in acupuncture, a master of Oriental medicine and a postgraduate certificate in women’s holistic health—all from the Maryland University of Integrative Health. She co-founded Third Space Wellness in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland, about five years ago. Then, in 2019 she started Rachel Brumberger LLC, which is the home of her clinic, writing projects and wellness for workplaces. She now has her own practice for clients in downtown Bethesda, Maryland. Rachel explains the concepts behind acupuncture. It’s whole body medicine, recognizing that the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual are all connected. Therefore, acupuncture can help with a wide variety of ailments, including migraines, menstrual disharmony, back pain, sleep issues, anxiety, depression and infertility. Even though I dislike winter, the past two years as we have come out of winter, I notice I feel more blah than usual. I don’t feel like myself. So, two years ago I decided to go to Rachel—who I had received acupuncture from before—just to see if she could soothe me. She knew exactly the feelings I was talking about as we changed seasons. As Rachel explains, human beings have seasons just like Mother Nature. It’s common for people to come out of winter—which should be a slow, hibernating season—and feel strange or blah. “We reflect the season, and sometimes our bodies need a minute and need a little help catching up to that movement so that we can move into it with more ease. As we regulate the energy within the body we’re basically synching up to the nature around us.” As we’re all dealing with new and enhanced feelings that can change daily during this coronavirus pandemic, Rachel asks us first to pause and acknowledge our feelings. Sit with your emotions before you try to “do” something about them. Rachel compares emotions and feelings to waves forming in the ocean. Picture yourself at the beach and how the waves come in, crest, go out and come back. Our emotions are like that. And it’s important to allow your feelings to come in like waves before you try to fix them, label them, judge them, stop them, heal them. This could mean watching a sad movie and crying through it. It might mean laughing, yelling or crying with a partner or a close friend on Zoom—or it might be a very private thing you do by yourself. Take a quiet moment with no work, no kids, no phone, no immediate responsibilities. Clear the space and sit with your thoughts and feelings. Some people find it easier to do this at night when the rest of the world is quiet. After you do this for a bit, then you can begin to think about self-care tools you can try. Right now, there is a lot of noise in our world, especially for those people who are being asked to be on video chats all day long. Even extroverts are recognizing they need some peace and quiet right now. “We can’t really go anywhere too much and yet it still feels loud, too loud, to do our feelings.” There is no shame in having a wide range of emotions. Acknowledge that you are a human and that these are the emotions that humans experience. If you weren’t supposed to have a full range of emotions, you wouldn’t. Humans are built this way. That helps to not judge yourself. Recognize that if a friend was experiencing these feelings you would not judge them about their emotions. So, why judge yourself? “There’s all kinds of fascinating dynamic emotions people are experiencing right now that they maybe never had before, or never this big, or not for a long time, so it can be very confusing.” Can you listen to yourself and your emotions—with love and respect—and not judge yourself right now? Now, what are some of the tools we can use? First, come back to your breath. Start by lying on the floor or at least put both of your feet flat on the floor. Take a few breaths—that is the cheapest, most accessible tool we all have. It can slow down our brain and our nerves and calm us. You can do this yourself or search out meditation apps like Calm or Breathe. As you’re waiting for each Zoom chat to start up, sit with both feet on the floor and take a few deep breaths. Take deep breaths while you’re cooking or while you’re taking a shower. It doesn’t have to be 40 minutes of meditation. Where can you put it in your day where it’s easy? Unclench your jaw, drop your shoulders, unfurl your brow. Breathing deeply helps. Write “Breath” on Post-it Notes and stick them around your house to remind you. Drink water. Think of a wilted or dried-up plant. Our bodies are 70% water, so remember to hydrate, which can affect your emotions too. If you don’t love water, add a pinch of salt or a lemon or a berry. Even drop a tea bag in your water—something that makes the water seem more like food for the body. Sip the water—don’t gulp—throughout the day. If you can, eat as healthy as possible. Consider canned and frozen fruits and vegetables if you can’t easily get fresh ones right now. Write down the three times of day that are best for you to eat. It differs for everyone. What times work for you? Write it down and stick to that schedule. If you skip breakfast or you push your lunch back a few hours or eat dinner later than you are used to, you start getting crankier and that can increase anxiety. You can use principles of acupuncture at home on yourself or others to take care of yourself. A “scraping” technique is called Gua Sha, which helps the body move stagnation. Watch Rachel’s helpful how-to Instagram video to learn this easy method: www.instagram.com/p/B-Ablj1B1Jl. You can do Gua Sha on sore muscles, or on the chest to relieve anxiety and anger, and on the chest or back to help general moodiness. You can also massage acupuncture points on your own body. See links below under Resources for information about a couple of points. Do the ones that feel good to you. When you find an acupressure point oftentimes the area will feel tender. However, the rest of the body will start to respond to that massage and start to regulate itself. You can also use the five senses. For example, take the sense of smell. What smells good to you? A particular spice, a flower, a candle, your shampoo? Use your nose to smell those scents regularly to calm yourself. How do you get through these tough emotions when you have an immediate deadline or kids to take care of? Take a minute away from work, away from your family and jump up and down for a few seconds. It might sound silly, but it helps. You can also take one hand and wipe it down the other arm, like you’re wiping something off. Then do the other arm. If you are feeling angry and annoyed—like Melanie admits she gets some days during pandemic—and if you have the flexibility in your schedule, just stop the work day. Take a break. Give yourself a “permission slip” to just stop. You can also tell the other person exactly how you’re feeling. Ask for a minute. Ask to call them back or postpone the meeting. That rarely crosses our mind because we’ve been taught to suck it up or leave it at the door. But if you name that feeling and admit to it, it’s easier to blow away those feelings. People are more understanding and sympathetic than they probably ever have been. Unlike other hard moments, we’re experiencing this with so many other people. It’s not just our tough moment or problem. Sometimes it just helps to sleep on your feelings—if you aren’t having trouble sleeping. And if you have to make a decision, tell the other person, “I need a minute. Let me sleep on it and I’ll let you know tomorrow.” Melanie—who is a fan of naps anyway—decided to take a nap recently on a day when she could not stop her anxiety from spiraling. So she just took a nap and woke up two hours later feeling better. Not perfect, but the anxiety had calmed way down. Think of yourself like a toddler—when you get overwhelmed, troubled, cranky, you may need to go to the bathroom, eat, get some exercise or sunshine, or take a nap. Even before a meeting, open a window or step outside even for one minute to breathe in some fresh air and feel the sun. Or you can even just lie down on your floor and look out the window and listen to the birds. Thank yourself, give gratitude for your body, mind and spirt, for freaking out. Your body is taking care of you and trying to save you in the “flight or fight” moment. Tell your body that is OK to calm yourself down. Practicing gratitude acknowledges your feelings and prepares you to begin breathing practices.   Resources: RachelBrumberger.com Rachel on Instagram Rachel on Facebook Rachel demonstrates how to do Gua Sha at home in this Instagram video. Yintang acupressure point to try at home Liver 3 acupressure point to try at home

This is a slight diversion from the usual episode, but I know a lot of you are bookworms, like me. However, you might be finding it hard to read right now because you’re too stressed. Or you don’t want to read the same type of books. Or you’re having trouble getting books because you always relied on your local library, which is now shut down. So, I’m going to talk about all these things today, while also giving some book recommendations. I’m also going to talk about some non-fiction business books that have really helped me and my freelance business over the years. If you want to skip to just the business book recommendations, fast-forward to 29:00. I was in a bit of a book slump when the pandemic hit, so after reading one good book, I struggled to figure out what to read next. And while many of us might be struggling to read at times, turns out we’re buying a lot of books online. Let’s first talk about how you can access or buy books right now. First, audiobooks. The obvious place to start is Audible, which is Amazon’s audiobookstore. Audible offers the first month free for you to try it out. But I know many of you are anti-Amazon and would prefer to give your money to someone else. So, you might want to instead try Libro.FM, which allows you to buy audiobooks directly through your favorite independent bookstore. You can choose to buy audiobooks whenever you want or you can sign up for a monthly membership for about $15 a month. That gives you one audiobook a month, plus 30% off additional audiobooks. Libro’s profits are split with the indie bookstore of your choice. Get audiobooks from your local library through an app called Overdrive or an app called Libby, which is also by Overdrive. Now, let’s talk about buying books. Twitter pointed me to Better World Books, which is an online used bookstore that, turns out, is based in my home state of Indiana. Every time you buy a book, Better World Books donates a book to someone. The company also collects discarded books from libraries. Libraries need to get rid of books to make room for new ones, and sometimes these books end up in the landfills. But Better World Books takes in all those books, sells what they can and then donates a lot of them. And only then do they get rid of the rest—by recycling them. Better World Books right now is offering 20% off with free shipping if you have buy at least two books. I bought five books on my TBR list for $40 total. Another used book option is Half Price Books, which is a brick-and-mortar chain that sells mostly used books but also some new books. I bought four books from Half Price online as gifts for my parents. The store charged me for shipping for each book, which seemed strange even if it still wasn’t that expensive. But I soon realized it was because each book was pulled from whichever store had it in stock and shipped from that store. Next up, let’s support independent bookstores. I chose to buy two new books directly from Wild Geese Bookshop in my college town, Franklin, Indiana. Wild Geese is only a few years old. It opened in the fall of 2016. I heard about it through friends, and my mom and I checked it out a few years ago and instantly fell in love with this tiny, perfectly curated shop. Another way I could have bought from Wild Geese Bookshop or other indie bookstores is through a new website called Bookshop. At Bookshop.org you can buy books all in one spot but choose which independent bookstore the sale will benefit. Here’s how Bookshop works: Independent bookstores place affiliate links on their own websites, social media, e-newsletters, etc. For every book sold through that link, that bookstore receives 25% commission. Another way to find a good independent bookstore is through Indiebound.org, which also has the Indie Next List, a fun list of book recommendations from indie booksellers. Next up, my favorite book podcasts. My absolute favorite is What Should I Read Next by Anne Bogel, in which Anne asks a guest to talk about three books they love and one book they hate and what they would like to be different in their reading life. Then, she recommends three books to them on the spot. Other book podcasts that are new to me: All the Books! by Book Riot Currently Reading From the Front Porch And check out my friends at Writer’s Bone, where they interview authors about writing and their books. Book talks: A lot of book talks have now gone online, so it doesn’t matter where you live. Here in DC, Politics and Prose was known for having an author talk in the store every single night. Now, those talks are being streamed online. Other stores are doing the same. You can also check in with your favorite authors’ websites and social media accounts to see what they’re up to and where they might be streaming next. Anne Bogel did a Stay at Home Book Tour with several authors over the past few weeks via Zoom. All of these were recorded and you can watch them at your leisure.   Book recommendations: “The Splendid and the Vile,” by Erik Larson “The Glass Hotel,” by Emily St. John Mandel “Station Eleven,” by Emily St. John Mandel “The Resisters,” by Gish Jen “The Red Lotus,” by Chris Bohjalian “Still Life,” book 1 in the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny “The Widows of Malabar Hill” (book 1), by Sujata Massey “The Satapur Moonstone (book 2), by Sujata Massey “Murder on the Orient Express,” by Agatha Christie “And Then There Were None,” by Agatha Christie “Evvie Drake Starts Over,” by Linda Holmes “Daisy Jones & the Six,” by Taylor Jenkins Reid “Most Likely,” by Sarah Watson “The Freelance Content Marketing Writer,” by Jennifer Goforth Gregory “Atomic Habits,” by James Clear “Make Time,” by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky “Deep Work,” by Cal Newport “Digital Minimalism,” by Cal Newport Biz Bite: Take Your Office Outside   Resources: Book recommendations are all linked above. “Book sales surge as self-isolating readers stock up on ‘bucket list’ novels” “Books Are My Secret For Fighting Coronavirus Anxiety” “Overdrive vs. Libby: Which Will Serve You Best?” “How to Get Books When Bookstores and Libraries Are Closed” Episode #4 of Deliberate Freelancer: Work Only with Nice Clients, with Jennifer Goforth Gregory Audible Libro.FM Overdrive Libby Better World Books Half Price Books Politics and Prose (DC) Kramerbooks (DC) Loyalty Books (DC) The Strand (New York City) Powell’s City of Books (Portland, Oregon) Wild Geese Bookshop (Franklin, Indiana) Bookshop.org Indiebound.org What Should I Read Next? podcast All the Books! podcast by Book Riot Currently Reading podcast From the Front Porch podcast Writer’s Bone podcast Stay at Home Book Tour