Deliberate Freelancer

On today’s show I am going to go over several networking tips that will be particularly helpful to introverts. But I also know extroverts who don’t love networking, so I think you extroverts out there will find these tactics useful as well. Let’s be clear: I am an introvert. In this episode, I tell you about my solo adventures in Europe, where I enjoyed being alone with my thoughts and experiences and reactions. Several things that I like are common among introverts: I am comfortable doing things alone. I enjoy being alone with my thoughts and my inner monologue. I don’t have trouble filling alone time. I like being with other people but usually one-on-one or in small groups and only for a short time. All of this seems counterintuitive to everything we think about networking. How many of you would say you hate networking? Many people think of networking as those happy hour/reception-type events with strangers. But that’s only one small part of networking. First, let’s reframe networking in our minds. I have renamed it: “relationship building.” And “relationship building” is a necessary part of building your freelance business. You cannot sit in your home office all day and just do the work, without meeting new people, marketing your business, making connections. You MUST talk about your business A LOT. Life is word of mouth. I’ll start with three steps to prepare for networking events: Step 1: Set a monthly networking goal. Choose the number of networking events you will commit to in one month. Put it on your calendar to plan this out at the beginning of each month. Search on Twitter, go to Meetup.com, search Facebook events in your area, and Google the local chapters of national organizations you are interested in or already belong to. Step 2: Develop ice-breaker questions ahead of time. Step 3: Set a networking goal for that particular event. For example, tell yourself you are going to meet 3–5 new people. And when you hit that goal, give yourself permission to leave. Now, I want to also talk about email networking. You may not think of this as networking, but you can build great business relationships and connections through email. Here’s one of the best tips I got when I started my freelance business: Email everyone you know. Not just former co-workers and friends. Email family, neighbors, classmates, former bosses, even other freelancers who you might think of as competitors. Tell them you are starting your own business and explain your services. Focus on how you can help people solve their challenges. If you didn’t do this when you started freelancing, it’s not too late. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been freelancing; you can do this at any time. It just takes tweaking the email. Maybe explain that you are looking for new clients—or even that you added new services—and that you wanted to see if they could use your services or know of anyone who could. Here’s the trick: Don’t just say, “please let me know if you know of anyone who might be interested in my services.” ASK for that person’s contact info: Do you know of anyone who might be in need of my help? Would you mind sharing their contact info with me so I can reach out to them directly? That is the critical piece because if you don’t ask for the contact info, they may not forward your email on and you’ll have no idea who might see it. Now, let’s talk about conferences, which I love. Before you go to a conference, download the conference app. Don’t just look at the schedule; look at the speakers and attendees (if the app allows this). Search the conference hashtag regularly in the week leading up to the conference. You can even tweet something obvious like “Hey, who’s going to hashtag XYC next week?” You may realize that people you’ve known only on Twitter will be there. Go ahead and suggest you meet up. You can move your conversation to the Twitter DMs or email or text to make plans. I recently went to the Podcast Movement conference for the second time. Having a podcast provided the perfect question to approach strangers with: What is your podcast about? I noticed that because of this, there was a culture at Podcast Movement of introducing yourself to people you sat next to during sessions. I’ve never seen that happen to that extent at any other conference. Podcast Movement has an friendly vibe and culture. I saw more than once people commenting on Facebook and Twitter just how NICE everyone is. There were about 3,000 people there this year, a huge conference in my mind. I could so easily be overwhelmed and not talk to anyone. But this friendliness was contagious. After a day or so, I too was automatically introducing myself to the people I sat next to. I had great conversations about podcasting, found some people who have similar focuses and audiences as I do, found other freelancers, and just learned new things. It was exhilarating, and I’m really going to try to remind myself of this at my future conferences so I can help implement this awesome culture into other events. One note about conferences and being an introvert: All those people can be EXHAUSTING— especially when you’re doing all that extra networking. Introverts get their energy from within and get tired after a while of being around so many people. So take care of yourself and your energy. For me, this means I always splurge a bit and stay at the conference hotel so I can just pop upstairs to my room to rest. Don’t feel guilty if you skip a session to rest and relax in your room. Even take a nap. You are paying for this conference and you need to get out of it what you want. Sometimes that means taking a break from people in the middle of the day so you can rally for the late afternoon sessions or evening events. I often eat lunch at conferences by myself. If lunch isn’t provided, I leave the convention and go find some healthy fast food. And I take it back to my hotel room. I don’t stay in the restaurant, which is also loud and full of people. At conferences, it’s important to be aware of how you’re feeling and if your energy is waning. Don’t be afraid to escape for a bit. Biz Bite: Finding Podcasts via Google The Bookshelf: “Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World” by Cal Newport Resources: “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking” by Susan Cain Meetup.com Podcast Movement By the Book podcast The Daily Show With Trevor Noah: Ears Edition (podcast) Episode #9 of Deliberate Freelancer: This Is a Smartphone & Social Media Intervention

On today’s show I want to help you go through a series of 5 questions so you can evaluate the services you offer clients and think about focusing on the services you LOVE the most—and also think about diversifying your services. You know I believe you need to think like, act like and BE a business owner. And that includes evaluating the services you provide now and figuring out how to diversify your services and your clients. Parts of my business look very different now than they did when I started almost six years ago. And that’s because I evaluated my services several times through the year and I’ve pivoted as needed. And you need to do the same. I want you to ask yourself a series of 5 questions: 1:What services do you offer your clients? List them out and be specific.  2: How many services did you just come up with that you offer your clients? 3: Let’s break down the services that you just listed out. Which ones do you love to do? Are there any that you dislike? Any that are just OK? If you love to do something, why aren’t you focusing more on that? Maybe the thing that you love the most doesn’t pay as well and isn’t as sustainable. However, I encourage you to think about it a bit more. Can you focus on that love with better paying clients? Can you raise your rates for it? Can you package it with something else to increase the fee? 4: What new services can you offer? 5: What do you do as good as or better than any of your competitors? What comes really easy for you? And what do your clients need help with? I encourage you to really take the time to brainstorm on this and think way outside your current services. Think about what you’re great at and what you love and then think about how you can create a service from that that your clients desperately need. Biz Bite: Think like a millionaire. Listen to Ramit Sethi talk about Money Dials on the Financial Independence podcast. Ramit Sethi, “I Will Teach You to Be Rich” Ramit’s Money Dials concept   The Bookshelf: “The Nickel Boys” by Colson Whitehead

Today’s guest is Laura Poole, a freelance editor from Durham, N.C. Laura has been a freelancer for about 22 years, almost her entire career. She provides copyediting for scholarly nonfiction publishers and training for editors and freelancers. She is also a trained, certified life coach. In this episode, Laura talks about creating work-life balance while running a freelance business. Laura explains that work-life balance is about creating the life you want, which is a personal definition for everyone. It’s not about time and task management. It’s about having the things that you want in life. Laura had two key moments in her life and career when she realized she needed to improve her work-life balance. The first is when she and her husband started talking about having a child and she realized she had to let go of some things to make room for a baby. The second realization came when she asked herself why she was working evenings and weekends. The point of freelancing was so she could work when she wanted. “I woke up to my own justifications,” Laura said. Two years ago she challenged herself to stop working weekends and now she never works weekends. Raising rates and finding higher-paying clients helped make that possible. Laura talks about the problem of saying yes all the time, which leads to overwork. And many women are people pleasers who have a hard time saying no. (I also think it makes it hard for my Midwestern polite self to say no.) Laura shares a helpful tool to learn when to say yes and when to say no. Ask yourself: If I say yes to this, what else am I saying yes to? What am I saying no to? If I say no to this, what am I saying yes to? What am I saying no to? These questions will help you discover the values you hold. No is a complete sentence. That’s true, but it’s often hard to say no. Laura provides some tips, including how to be direct. Laura doubled her rates a few years ago: “Waking up to my own value was key. I believe in getting paid for the value of my work, not my time.” Brilliant! That realization and effort gave her back time to get back into hobbies she loved, like quilting and baking. When it comes to the business side of freelancing, ask yourself what you really need to do and what’s most effective. Focus on that. You can’t do it all and you need to take breaks. Laura talks about breaking the feast-or-famine cycle, partly by noticing patterns in your work schedule throughout the year. And when times are slow? Take some time off! Restorative time is important. Laura is a big fan of experimenting with things, like going to a conference and tracking what happens from that for an entire year. Biz Bite: Take a few moments of peaceful clarity and think about what you want more of in your life. What do you need to change to make that happen? Resources: Laura’s book: “Juggling on a High Wire: The Art of Work-Life Balance When You’re Self-Employed” Laura on Twitter

Today’s show is a micro-mini, teeny-tiny episode because I’m on vacation and decided I had to give myself a break. And that meant I didn’t have time to finish the guest episode I was planning for this week. I am the first one to preach that we need breaks and vacations. I especially need a complete break from email. But I did that thing that most of us do at some point as freelancers. I underestimated how much time all this work was going to take, and I didn’t finish everything I wanted to before vacation. Can you relate? So, I finally declared this an actual vacation and stepped away from the computer. I’ll be back next week with a new full-length episode. Biz Bite: Create an alternative workspace

Today’s guest is Phaedra Brotherton, a career branding and job search coach in the Washington, D.C., area. She helps mid-career and executive professionals who work at nonprofits transition into more satisfying jobs or new careers. She offers career coaching, resume writing, LinkedIn profile writing, and job search coaching services. Phaedra is certified as both a career coach and a professional resume writer. In this episode Phaedra shares tactical tips on how we, as freelance business owners, can optimize our LinkedIn profiles, find potential clients, and learn how to better network on LinkedIn. Learn how going to a conference led Phaedra down a new career path. Phaedra shares why it’s important for freelancers and solopreneurs to be active on LinkedIn. For one thing, potential clients find us often through a Google search, and your LinkedIn profile is often one of the top search results. You need to start by optimizing your LinkedIn profile. This means being clear on what services you provide and who your clients are. There are four main areas in your profile to focus on: your headline, photo, summary or what is now called “About,” and your experience section. Phaedra recommends that we aim to have at least 500 connections on LinkedIn! She explains why these connections are critical. You need to proactively seek recommendations from people to gain “social proof.” Use LinkedIn as a portfolio—and keep it updated!—to show your best samples that highlight the work appropriate for your ideal clients. Phaedra explains how to use the LinkedIn search function most effectively. Consider joining LinkedIn groups primarily to connect with more people. There are two main ways to post on LinkedIn: an update or actually writing an article or blog post in LinkedIn. When you post an update, think about what comment, information or link you can share that best shows your expertise to your potential clients. Consider posting 3–5 times a week and maybe writing a blog post every other week or once a month. Being consistent is important to stay top of mind to potential clients. LinkedIn job boards sometimes have freelance opportunities. You can set up alerts. Connect with your alma mater and university alumni to gain more connections. Look into LinkedIn’s ProFinder service for freelancers. It’s not for everyone, but you might find it beneficial. Biz Bite: Phaedra recommends two apps: Feedly (a news aggregator) to find appropriate content to post on LinkedIn and other social media platforms. Pocket to collect and manage that content. Resources: Phaedra Brotherton on LinkedIn Resumes & Career Strategies website phaedra@resumesandcareerstrategies.com LinkedIn ProFinder for Freelancers: Will It Help You Find Clients?

On today’s show I help you visualize your absolute perfect work day and then help you figure out how to make that happen—providing tips and tactics. I believe you need to visualize your perfect work day step by step so you can start to implement systems, processes, habits and goals to create that type of day. Let’s daydream to start: How would you wake up on your perfect work day? What would you do before work? How would your actual work day begin? Would you exercise? Meditate? Relax a bit with coffee or tea? My perfect morning routine would look like this: Get up naturally or easily at 5:30 or 6 a.m. without using a snooze alarm. Go for a walk in my neighborhood for 15 or 30 minutes, either listening to a podcast or brainstorming on a work problem. Come home, shower and get ready while listening to an inspiring podcast. Fix my healthy breakfast and indulge in my fancy hot tea. Start my day. My perfect work day would end around 3 p.m. To make this happen, I need to be more efficient. To do that, focus on your peak productivity time. Do you know when that is for you? Maximize your time by focusing on deep work without distractions. Maybe try the Pomodoro method, which is when you work in 25-minute blocks, then take a 5-minute break before working for another 25-minute block of time. Next, get rid of distractions. Email is my biggest distraction. I either tackle email first thing for a set period of time (set an alarm) or I skip it for a few hours and don’t check it till mid-morning. Definitely turn off email notifications on both your computer and your smartphone. Those distractions are terrible for your productivity and focus. Try a batch time or day: Combine like tasks into one set period of time and stick to that time period every week. Figure out how to work on projects you love that pay you well. First, analyze your freelance business to determine the projects that you love to do the most—not just the projects you might be good at. To start to make more money, analyze your rates and how you landed your best clients. Make a list of your highest-paying clients. Then circle the ones you love to work with. How did you get these clients? Focus on getting more of those clients from the same places. Make another list of all your regular clients and services and how much you charged. Put them in order of the most money you earn to the least money you earn per client. Why do you have those rates? Did you set them? Or did the client offer them to you? Can you raise those rates? Create a wrap-up-the-day routine. For me, this includes creating a short to-do list for the next day and shutting my laptop, leaving my computer and my smartphone in my office for the night. Biz Bite: Set timers for appointments and phone calls. Resources: My favorite tea (hot Cincinnati spice black tea) from Churchill’s Fine Teas My favorite podcasts: Before Breakfast Company of One Crime Writers On…True Crime Review Ear Hustle Happier in Hollywood Happier with Gretchen Rubin High-Income Business Writing (with Ed Gandia) Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield Unemployable: Advice for Freelancers and Entrepreneurs What Should I Read Next? Writer’s Bone Boomerang plugin for Gmail Episode #3 of Deliberate Freelancer: Host a Solo Business Retreat Episode #18 of Deliberate Freelancer: How to Set Higher Rates

Setting higher rates, better rates, and asking for more money takes confidence. There’s so much emotion and self-esteem wrapped up in what we charge. It’s often fear that keeps us from charging more. So I’m here to give you a pep talk and then explain why you should start creating project rates and stop offering an hourly rate. But, every freelancer should have their own SECRET minimum hourly rate they are aiming for, which will help you develop higher-paying project rates. When I started freelancing, my business coach called me out on the “low” rate she thought I was offering per hour. And I learned what I was afraid of: people telling me “no.”        You can always negotiate down; you can’t negotiate up. So aim high. Hourly rates penalize you if you have more experience and you’re fast. They can also scare off potential clients because they don’t want to get a huge bill. And some clients will easily say yes to a flat project rate but balk at what they see as a high hourly rate. So, stop telling people your hourly rate. But create your own secret minimum hourly rate that you use to create project rates. To create each client’s project rate, talk through the project on the phone. You’ll get more information to see if you want to even do the project, and you can both see if you’re a good fit. If you do the same type of project over and over, make a list of questions that you ask every client every time to ensure you are understanding the full scope of the project so you can set an appropriate rate. Do not tell clients the rate over the phone. You need to give yourself some time to think through the project and what it will take and then develop the rate. Your project proposals should include both a Scope of Work section and an Outside the Scope of Work section. If you often do the same types of projects with a few custom tweaks per client, create templates for your proposals. Avoid putting rates on your website—but there are exceptions. Perhaps add a minimum rate or a range on your website to weed out low-paying clients. Consider creating specific one-off packages and list those on your website with a fee. Let’s talk about rate shaming. If you are taking rates considered low in your industry, try not to get defensive when people encourage you to charge more. Instead, work at figuring out how to gradually start to increase your rate and where you can get better work. Biz Bite: Take a Real Lunch Break. Resources: Episode #1 of Deliberate Freelancer: Change Your Mindset: You Own a Freelance Business Episode #3 of Deliberate Freelancer: Host a Solo Business Retreat Episode #9 of Deliberate Freelancer: The Money Lessons I’ve Learned the Hard Way  Episode #13 of Deliberate Freelancer: How to Set Better Goals for Your Business, with Andrena Sawyer

It’s July Fourth—a great time for a little diversion from our regularly scheduled programming. This week I recommend my favorite books I’ve read so far this year. I’ve read 20 books as we hit the year’s halfway point, but my goal is 52, so I need to get a move on! Turns out, my personal favorite book genre is literary fiction in which I completely fall in love with the characters and want to hug them and help them and wish the best for them. Not sure what you call that, but that’s what I love. I also love memoirs, and five of the 20 books I’ve read are memoirs; I include one recommendation here. Happy reading! Biz Bite: Use your library’s hold system. Resources: My Goodreads profile and reviews The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai The One-in-A-Million Boy by Monica Wood Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng Celeste Ng on Twitter “Celeste Ng Is More than a Novelist” A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza A Place for Us—“Sarah Jessica Parker Has a Book She Wants You to Read” Dark Matter by Blake Crouch “5 Books to Read After Dark Matter Rewires Your Brain” The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane “‘Ask Again, Yes’ Is A Profound Yet Unpretentious Family Drama” Maid by Stephanie Land What Should I Read Next podcast Melanie appears on the What Should I Read Next podcast! Check out the time stamp 22:55 in episode 185: What should you read this summer?

Daniel and I talk about our love of reading and books, including a mutual love for V.C. Andrews. Learn how Daniel and his friend Sean Tuohy started the Writer’s Bone podcast in 2014 and how their original idea changed and grew to what it is today, which is primarily interviews with both well-known and lesser-known authors. Next, Writer’s Bone grew into a podcast network, adding the podcasts Novel Class, Film Freaks Forever and Pop Literacy. Daniel talks about juggling all his interests and responsibilities with his day job. It comes down to scheduling everything. He also uses his lunch hour to work on his podcast network. Daniel has written a novel and a collection of short stories—both through an independent publishing house. Learn how that differs from the traditional and the self-publishing routes. Daniel explains how he landed with an independent publisher and what he gains from that type of publisher. Daniel is a marketer, so it’s natural for him to do some of his own marketing. Learn what marketing techniques worked for him while promoting his books. Daniel recommends you find the independent publisher that is right for you. And he cautions that writing and publishing a book is still a lot of hard work. Don’t think you can write a book for six months and then be ready to publish. Share it with others to get feedback before you send it to publishers. Ask potential publishers about distribution. Get a lawyer to look over your book contract. And if you have a question of your publisher, ask it. Don’t be afraid to fight for your work during the editing process. Biz Bite: Take some time and effort to think about how you want your business to be run. And invest some money to strengthen your initial product. Resources: Daniel’s podcast network: Writer’s Bone Novel Class Film Freaks Forever! Pop Literacy Daniel’s books: Black Coffee—available July 1 from 50/50 Press! Sid Sanford Lives! Books Daniel and Melanie mention: “Trust Exercise” by Susan Choi “What Should Be Wild” by Julia Fine “Miracle Creek” by Angie Kim “The Missing Ones” (A Hester Thursby Mystery book 2) by Edwin Hills “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone” by Lori Gottlieb “The Emperor of Ice-Cream” by Gary Almeter Melanie’s first guest stint on Writer’s Bone Melanie’s second guest appearance on Writer’s Bone Melanie’s Writer’s Bone guest blog post: Stop Calling Yourself a Freelancer Boston area bookstores: Trident Booksellers Belmont Books Porter Square Books Papercuts J.P. I AM books New York bookstore: Kew & Willow Books, Kew Gardens, N.Y.

Summer is here, summer is here! It’s my favorite time of the year, but for many people it’s the slowest time for their freelance business. It depends on the industry, but oftentimes your clients and potential clients are taking time off in the summer. The summer slowdown has begun for some of you. But even if summer isn’t your slowest time, you probably do have slow times throughout the year. These are the ideal times for a marketing and networking push—all those things you’ve been meaning to do but never seem to have time for. Now is the time. In this episode, I go through six tips of things you can do to find more work when times are slow. DELIBERATE FREELANCER SHOW NOTES 6 Tips to Get More Work during Slow Periods: Contact your previous and current clients. I make a list of the clients I’ve worked with in the past year. You can even go back 2–3 years to pull out those clients you loved working with and/or who paid really well. Plan for the year in seasons. At the beginning of the fall, winter, spring and summer, I think about how much work I need to line up, but I also consider my personal and professional commitments. Combined with tip #1, I look ahead throughout that season and then email my current editors to let them know I’m available. In May, I emailed several editors the following: “I wanted to check in and see if you needed some freelance writing in the next month or so. I have some availability in June and particularly in July and would love to write another feature for you.” Reach out to your network. This is where networking and relationship building with fellow creatives is so important. I believe there’s enough work for everyone, and I know plenty of people who—when they get too busy or are offered a project that is just not a good fit for them—connect that client with another freelancer they know. I do this myself. It also shows the client how helpful you are. You are solving a problem for them. Up your marketing game. While this sounds obvious, most of us don’t do enough marketing, and downtimes are the perfect time for it. Start by reaching out to potential clients you’ve connected with in the past, who, for whatever reason, never sent work your way. Now is a good time to create a spreadsheet of all these people; collect all those names that are scattered in various places—from business cards, previous email conversations or LinkedIn connections—and put them into one spreadsheet. Volunteer in your industry. Give presentations. Volunteer for conferences. Offer to write blog posts. Ask to be a podcast guest. It builds your network. Host a solo business retreat. A solo business retreat is a time for reflection, to ask yourself big questions: Where does my freelance business stand? Where do I want it to go? What new type of work do I want to pursue? What old type of work do I want to get rid of? It can also be a time to focus on getting new work. Biz Bite: Boomerang for Gmail Resources: Jennifer Goforth Gregory’s book, “The Freelance Content Marketing Writer: Find your perfect clients, Make tons of money and Build a business you love.” Episode 4 of Deliberate Freelancer: Work Only with Nice Clients, with Jennifer Goforth Gregory Episode 3 of Deliberate Freelancer: Host a Solo Business Retreat