Deliberate Freelancer

Today’s guest is a freelance editor from Durham, N.C. Laura is the owner of Archer Editorial Services. She exclusively provides editing to university presses. She also develops and conducts training for editors and publishers.   As defined by the Success Alliance, mastermind groups offer a combination of brainstorming, education, peer accountability and support to sharpen your business and personal skills. A mastermind group helps you and your group members achieve success. Members challenge each other to set strong goals and, more importantly, to accomplish them.   A mastermind group is not a class, group coaching, mentoring or networking, although it can have aspects of each of those things.   Laura became a certified life coach several years ago, which is where she was introduced to mastermind groups. Her mastermind group, called The Quad, started organically via a Facebook chat when she connected with several cool people she kept meeting at conferences. She later realized her group had been functioning like a mastermind group.   The Quad currently has seven members (despite the name) and was formed in 2015. Most of their communication is still through Facebook chat, but they also created a secret Facebook page to share resources.   The Quad has helped Laura with her business goals. Some of the benefits of her mastermind have been honest feedback, being challenged by the group, fresh ideas, accountability, a “kick in the pants,” brainstorming sessions, celebrations of each other’s wins, and support in tough times.   Because of the mastermind group, Laura and Erin Brenner teamed up to buy Copyediting.com, which they reinvigorated. The business broke even and then started making a small profit. After three years of owning it, they sold it to ACES–the Society for Editing.   The Quad is all editors, all freelancers except for one, and all women. A mastermind group could be all people in your industry or could be people from various industries. You would get different benefits from each group.   It’s important that everyone in the mastermind has the same intentions for what the group is and a similar scope of what they want to achieve.   The Quad has held in-person and virtual retreats together since 2016. At the in-person retreats, they invited a well-known person in their industry to have dinner with them.   For their retreats, the members collect data about their own business so they can measure how it’s going. They analyze whether they hit their goals, where things need to change, what they learned.   The Quad’s retreats include a “technology showcase,” where they teach each other certain tech skills. They also do “power hours” of administrative tasks and have one-hour “CEO time sprints,” focusing on the bigger goals.   To start a mastermind, look around you—who do you think is cool and interesting? Just start reaching out to people you want to get to know better. First, see if you “click.” You don’t have to immediately ask them to join your new mastermind group.   To communicate with your mastermind group, you could consider Facebook chat, Slack, Discord or Zoom. It’s important to talk through the format and your communication goals and expectations.   When you are thinking about joining a group, ask about the structure, member expectations, and communication timeline and format.   Biz Bite: Schedule CEO Time   Resources:   Archer Editorial Services Inc.   Laura’s training and courses   Laura’s book, “Juggling on a High Wire: The Art of Work-Life Balance When You’re Self-Employed”   Episode #22 of Deliberate Freelancer: How to Create a Better Work-Life Balance, with Laura Poole   Laura on Twitter   Laura on LinkedIn   Laura on Instagram   Join the Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group.   Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee.  

In today’s episode, writer Treasa Edmond walks us through several client scenarios many of us struggle with—scope creep, treating us like an employee, not paying us on time—and gives us the script for what to say and how to say it. This episode is like Treasa is handing us all templates on great client management.   Treasa is the owner of Edmond Editing and Writing. She is a ghostwriter and content creator in Missouri. She gets straight A’s for knowing how to communicate with clients—as Melanie witnessed in a writers’ Facebook group. So, she’s here today to teach us her wisdom. In addition, Treasa is currently writing a book about client management and how to have these tough conversations, so Deliberate Freelancer will keep you posted on her book, which may be published within the next year or so.   Is the customer (or client) always right? Treasa learned from her business owner parents the importance of standing up for your business. She combines customer service with client management.   A problem Treasa sees often is freelancers who allow clients to manage them or “run the show” for the project. But the freelancer is the one who needs to take charge. Other challenges include not setting boundaries or not communicating well.   To improve communication with clients, you need to first focus on your mindset and see yourself as a business owner. View client relationships as partnerships, and use the word “partner” as a verb and noun when talking with clients.   Miscommunication and conflict come from an attitude of “you and me,” not a partnership. Instead, use the “royal we” or inclusive “we/our” language. For example, when there’s a problem, you could say: “It looks like we’re having an issue here. This is how I think we can resolve it. Does that work for you?”   Treasa sets boundaries early on—when she agrees she’s going to have that initial discovery call. She emails the potential client a questionnaire before the call. If they don’t fill out that questionnaire, that’s a red flag. Another red flag is not telling you their budget, even if it’s a range.   Treasa believes in taking control of the client relationship from the beginning of the discovery call. You could say: “I’m very glad you’re here today; we have some great things to talk about. My first goal is to learn more about your project.”   Treasa walks us through several situations and suggests how we might respond. Listen to the episode for her suggested language.   Biz Bite: Bonsai client management system for freelancers   Resources:   Edmond Editing and Writing   The Writing Mindset (about writing your book)   Treasa on Twitter   Treasa on Instagram   Join the Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group.   Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee.   Subscribe to the Deliberate Freelancer newsletter.      

The Center for Independent Journalists, aka The CIJ, is a new organization—launched in September 2021—to provide advocacy, education and support to freelance journalists of color and those from other underrepresented groups in the media. Programming is open to anyone, and white journalists can also join the organization.   It’s open to all freelance journalists, not only writers. Currently, membership for the first year is included when you register for The CIJ’s March 11–12 virtual conference. The CIJ has received grants to support the organization and continues to explore other revenue models that won’t require higher registration fees.   CIJ Co-founder Katherine Reynolds Lewis lives in the DC area and is an award-winning journalist and author who writes about education, equity, mental health, parenting, science and social justice for publications including The Atlantic, The New York Times, Parents and The Washington Post. Katherine’s 2015 story on the school-to-prison pipeline became Mother Jones’ most-read article ever and led to her bestselling 2018 book, “The Good News About Bad Behavior: Why Kids Are Less Disciplined Than Ever—And What to Do About It.” Her current long-form narrative project on racial justice in education is supported by the O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism and the MIT Knight Science Journalism fellowship.   CIJ Co-founder Chandra Thomas Whitfield, who lives in the Denver area, is a multiple award-winning freelance journalist. As a 2019–2020 Leonard C. Goodman Institute for Investigative Journalism Fellow, she hosted and produced “In The Gap,” a podcast for In These Times about how the gender pay gap affects the lives of Black women. A former Atlanta Press Club and Atlanta Association of Black Journalists “Journalist of the Year” awardee, she has been honored by the Association for Women in Communications, Colorado Association of Black Journalists and Mental Health America. She is an alum of the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, Education Writers Association, Ted Scripps Environmental Journalism, Soros Justice Media, Kiplinger Public Affairs and Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism fellowships. Her Atlanta Magazine feature made the Atlanta Press Club’s “Atlanta’s Top 10 Favorite Stories of the Past 50 Years” list and is widely credited with contributing to a change in Georgia law and a teen’s early release from a 10-year prison sentence.   The Center for Independent Journalists’ first virtual conference will be March 11–12. The early-bird rate of $49 expires on February 18. You get 14 sessions, including 10 panels and two keynote speakers. The keynotes are Denene Millner, a six-time New York Times best-selling author, Emmy Award-nominated TV show host and award-winning journalist who has written 31 books, as well as David J. Dennis Jr., a senior writer at The Undefeated and author of “The Movement Made Us.”   Katherine and Chandra started The CIJ after forming a group on Zoom for freelance journalists during the pandemic, where people unexpectedly became vulnerable very quickly, sharing their struggles and isolation. Katherine and Chandra realized that if this accomplished group of journalists was struggling, then other freelance journalists must be struggling too—financially, emotionally, with work, etc.   Katherine also recognized she had a lot of advantages that other freelance journalists don’t and was called to give back.   Racial diversity in newsroom leadership has been a longtime challenge, and while there’s been a lot of focus on it, there’s very little progress. Humans learn through story, so we need diverse storytellers to have a robust and thriving media ecosystem.   It’s crucial to a democracy to have a healthy freelance ecosystem. The freelance world is the least powerful part of journalism, and The CIJ aims to strengthen it.   As newsrooms struggle and cut positions and lay off staff, there’s a sentiment among freelancers of color, women and those from other underrepresented groups that they’re the first to be let go. There are also those who are willingly leaving journalism because of microaggressions, office politics and lack of advancement. The CIJ is there to support those journalists in building a freelance career.   Want to be an ally? First, listen and respect the experiences that people are sharing. Don’t try to debate it with them: “Oh, maybe you misunderstood. Oh, that wasn’t their intent.”   Also, those of us not from underrepresented groups should question the lack of diversity in the room. We need to be the ones speaking up about diversity.   Both employees and other freelancers can make the effort to find and hire or refer people from underrepresented groups. Those on the “inside” need to find people on the “outside” and offer them opportunities.   Those who want to be allies—including freelance business owners—can also educate themselves through reading more about racism, prejudice and diversity; recruit diverse panels and speakers; recommend, refer and introduce people; hire a diverse array of subcontractors; diversify your own personal network; and support diverse organizations financially. And don’t be afraid to mess up and say the wrong thing. Just apologize, learn from it and keep trying.   Resources:   Register for The Center for Independent Journalists March 11–12 virtual conference for only $49 before the February 18 early-bird deadline.   The Center for Independent Journalists   Chandra’s In the Gap podcast (how pay discrimination affects Black women)   Episode #61 of Deliberate Freelancer: 6 Ways to Be an Ally with Your Freelance Business   Episode #83 of Deliberate Freelancer: A Conversation about Practicing Anti-Racism in Freelancing, with Eva Jannotta   Episode #89 of Deliberate Freelancer: Being the Only Black Man at a TV News Station, with Mario Boone   Join the Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group.   Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee.   Subscribe to the Deliberate Freelancer newsletter.    

Atlas Katari is the owner of Katari Creative, a B2B organic content marketing agency focused primarily on LinkedIn marketing with some SEO and content creation.   Atlas is a self-described “LinkedIn nerd” and walks us through the latest LinkedIn offerings and how to best use LinkedIn for our businesses. They say that LinkedIn has an incredible organic reach you can use to promote your content.   So many people have only posted their profile on LinkedIn (ages ago) and haven’t looked at it much since. LinkedIn has changed a lot in recent years and offers a lot of new services.   LinkedIn is focusing heavily on creators these days so it’s a great way to show and practice your writing chops, talking about what you know and what you love.   In 2021, LinkedIn rolled out several new services that are a part of its free tier. LinkedIn introduced newsletters for users to create and now has “creator mode,” which allows you to highlight on your profile that you are a creator, choose topics to display in your profile as hashtags, and highlight your original content.   Last year, LinkedIn also fully launched Service Marketplace, which allows people to advertise for short-term projects geared toward freelancers.   If the thought of being more active on another social media platform feels overwhelming, Atlas recommends at least updating your profile — before you comment or create content. Look at fellow freelancers in your industry to get inspiration for your profile style and format.   In your profile, update your headline. Focus on your title; don’t use phrases like “I help this person do this.” LinkedIn is a search engine, so think about keywords. And think about what keywords potential clients are looking for, such as “freelance tech writer.”   Add a strong profile photo (consider a brightly colored, solid background) and focus on your banner image. The banner image should have a purpose and not just be a plain stock image. You can brand it with your photo, business name, a short URL (not clickable) and a call to action.   The About section (previously called the Summary) is also prime space to tell your clients what your services are. And leave a call to action, even if it’s just “email me at XXX.”   Beyond your profile, if you plan to be active on LinkedIn, it’s important to be consistent, rather than perfect. Atlas recommends reviewing your LinkedIn profile quarterly, maybe making small tweaks in your headline or switching to a new URL you want to promote. This could be a good time to add pieces to your portfolio or update your call to action.   Atlas puts their Calendly call scheduling link in their “Featured” section, providing another way people can easily contact them.   Asking for a LinkedIn recommendation can be part of your client offboarding process.   Atlas uses LinkedIn only through the free tier, but they walked us through the paid premium tiers and what each one offers (tiers: Career, Business, Sales Navigator and Recruiter).   Atlas believes LinkedIn Groups will improve and become more popular. Right now, group posts don’t show up in your feed and you don’t get notifications.   LinkedIn Live is a live video option, but you have to apply to be able to use it. Atlas says the criteria are fairly easy though.   Melanie shared how she culled her LinkedIn a few months ago from about 900 connections to 400. Atlas supports these type of “purges” (at least every year) to keep your feed relevant and you focused on your goals.    To also keep your feed relevant, you can follow hashtags and influencers in an industry you want to connect more with. Comment strategically—and provide value through your comment—on popular posts.   Biz Bite: Create a strict boundary for daily time spent on each social media platform.   Resources:   Katari Creative   Linked Into Freelancing course and Substack newsletter subscription   Atlas Katari on LinkedIn   Join the Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group.   Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee.   Subscribe to the Deliberate Freelancer newsletter.

Today’s show is all about how I’m feeling right now—that blah feeling of languishing. If you feel like that too, or are dealing with any mental health challenges right now, please listen to this episode and then join us in the Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group, where we’ll be talking about this and solutions that might help each of us. Resources: Join the Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group. Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee. Subscribe to the Deliberate Freelancer newsletter. New York Times article: “There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing” Psychology Today article: “COVID Left Us Languishing. Here’s Why We Should Care” 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 #90 of Deliberate Freelancer: Coping with One Year of COVID-19 Lockdown, with Therapist Emily Derouin Episode #70 of Deliberate Freelancer: Techniques to Deal with Anxiety from My New Therapist Episode #31 of Deliberate Freelancer: How to Get Motivated to Work When You’re Feeling Blah    

Today’s guest is Molly Rose Speed, founder of Virtual Assistant Management, which provides trusted virtual assistant (VA) solutions and flawless tech execution for busy entrepreneurs. Molly Rose is the go-to professional for some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the speaker/author and content creator industry. She is also an awarded military spouse and solo world traveler who believes in creating a career and a life that allows you to do more of what you love. Molly’s company trains and places virtual assistants, the majority of whom are military spouses. It’s time to consider hiring a VA when you are sacrificing income because you’re spending time on lower-billable or unpaid work such as administrative tasks. It’s also important to spend time working ON your business (building and improving your business), not just IN your business (client work). Also, keep note of your energy level. Are you exhausted trying to do everything yourself? Are you dreading each work day—on a business you created for yourself and should love!? There are a wide variety of other freelancers who might call themselves virtual assistants; they might offer high-level skills such as web design, copy writing or course creation. However, general virtual assistants are akin to executive assistants in the corporate world. VAs might help with scheduling, booking, answering phone calls and emails, managing a blog, creating social media. To find a VA, ask your network and share on social media, being specific about what type of work you need help with. A VA agency can also pair you up with someone. Before you look for a VA, be very clear about what you want the person to do but also think about whether time zone matters and the personality types that might work best for you. Do you want a leader in your business or someone more behind the scenes? Ask potential VAs for references. You may also want to consider giving them a paid test in the area you need help with—such as asking them to create five social media posts or draft an email. One misconception is that you have to hire a VA for 20 hours or so each week. But VAs—like you as a freelancer—often have multiple clients and aren’t available for that many hours. Instead, you can negotiate hours with a VA. Molly recommends hiring them for at least 5 hours a week, or 20 hours a month, and creating a retainer agreement. You can also hire virtual assistants for one-time projects or at a specific time when you need extra help. Molly always recommends creating a contract with a VA and paying the VA’s retainer at the end of the month. That way, if they go over their hours (which you have both agreed to that month), you have the flexibility to pay them more at the end of the month based upon an already agreed-upon rate. Be sure to also have a privacy agreement as part of your contract and a separate non-disclosure agreement to help secure client information, as well as your passwords, banking info, etc. What about freelancers who say they don’t want to give up the control or take the time to hire a VA? Molly believes that person won’t hire a VA until they’re fully ready, but she tells them: Teaching a VA might take you a “painful hour,” but then it’s going to save you, for example, five hours a month. She also recommends shooting a Loom.com video to show a VA how to do something and then let them “run with it.” Make sure you establish good communication with your VA from the beginning. Molly recommends a Monday check-in and setting up checks and balances. Make sure they have access to the tools they need, along with passwords, before they start. It’s also important to establish and agree upon the style of communication between the two of you. Ask your VA for a list of their “favorites” so you can send them appropriate, thoughtful gifts. Don’t take your valuable VAs for granted!   Biz Bite: Use Asana project management tool   Resources: Join the Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group. Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee. Subscribe to the Deliberate Freelancer newsletter. Molly’s business: Virtual Assistant Management “Are you ready to outsource?” free resource guide Learn how to become a VA Molly Rose on Instagram Loom.com video   Voxer walkie talkie app

On today’s show, I talk about my word (phrase) of the year and what I’m hoping to do in 2022. Then, I talk about the importance of habit formation and give several strategies to build better habits.   As I begin to work on developing better habits this year, I want to point out that if you try to introduce too much change into your daily life, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Humans are not great at reorganizing their entire day all at once. We have to start small (so don’t make 10 New Year’s resolutions and expect success).   You know those people who talk about willpower? Well, willpower is a crock. Willpower does not often get you to where you want to go. It’s habit formation that gets you to your goals, and willpower only causes most of us to feel like failures.   Gretchen Rubin, author of “The Happiness Project” and co-host of the Happier podcast, developed a concept and wrote a book about it a few years ago called “The Four Tendencies.” This framework is based on how a person meets inner and outer expectations. The four types are Upholders, Questioners, Obligers and Rebels. (Take the free quiz to learn what type you are.)   I’m a questioner, which means I have questions and need justifications before I’ll commit to doing something. It also means outer accountability doesn’t matter to me. It’s why I don’t care about joining a mastermind group or having an accountability partner. And I won’t stick with a class just because I paid for.   But that type of accountability works well for obligers, who need accountability to meet inner and outer expectations. These are the people who, when they pay for that yoga class or tell a friend they’ll exercise with them, it works. They do not want to let anyone down so they will show up. You can see how knowing your tendency will help figure out what you need as you start to create habits and try to commit to better habits or new goals.   In his book “Atomic Habits,” James Clear talks about making tiny, tiny habits, just a 1% change each day. So, want to start running? On that first day, just run around the block and come home. Don’t push yourself. Don’t go farther. It’ll take 2 minutes.   That may sound ridiculous, but you need to focus on the process, routine and the change in your routine. Don’t focus on the running; focus on the habit creation.   Starting is the hardest part. Katy Milkman is an economist who studies change behavior at the Wharton School. She was on Dan Harris’ podcast Ten Percent Happier about how to change your habits. Katy talks about this problem of getting started. It’s not about willpower. It’s about the struggle to get started. And that requires habit formation.   Katy also talks about something called the “fresh start” effect—that time when we start a new job, or move to a new city, or when the school year starts in September when it feels like a fresh start. That’s the perfect time to implement new habits.   January and the new year also feels like a “fresh start” to people and can be a perfect time to start new habits. We just have to be careful not to try to start too many at one time.   Gretchen Rubin would say before you start thinking about techniques to use to develop new habits you need to know yourself. That’s why I recommend taking her Four Tendencies quiz. But, in addition, think about the kind of person you are. Are you a night owl? Then, you’re never going to get up at 5 a.m. to exercise! Accept it and aim for a better habit that works for you.   A few habit formation strategies to try:   Pairing Pair the new habit with something you’re already doing, preferably something you like. For me, that is walking while listening to podcasts—what I like to call Bod and Pod.   Accountability As I mentioned earlier, it doesn’t work for everyone, but if works for you, try to build more accountability into your daily life. Maybe find an accountability partner who is also a freelance business owner.   Scheduling it Sounds obvious, but sometimes we just forget to work on our new habits, so put it on your calendar and to-do list and set timers.   Commit to a streak Start a 30-day challenge where you’re going to do the new habit every day for 30 days.   Make it difficult or inconvenient Delete apps. Use the Freedom app to block social media websites.   Hide bad cues and display good cues. Put your phone in another room. Hide junk food. Keep your vitamin bottle visible. Put your water bottle near the front door.   Think about your future self. Future Melanie will be happy this summer if I already have a regular exercise routine established.   Biz Bite: Embrace hygge   The Bookshelf: “How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America” by Clint Smith   Resources: Join the Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group.   Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee.   Subscribe to the Deliberate Freelancer newsletter.   “Respair” tweet by Susie Dent   Book “The Four Tendencies” by Gretchen Rubin   Take The Four Tendencies quiz   Book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear   Katy Milkman and her book “How to Change” and podcast “Choiceology”   Katy Milkman on Ten Percent Happier podcast: How to Change Your Habits   Yoga with Adriene   National Novel Writing Month   “A 180 in 365: My Year of Walking” by Alicia Chantal (blog post)   Episode #78 of Deliberate Freelancer: Building Your Community as a Newish Freelancer, with Alicia Chantal  

FACEBOOK UPDATE: The Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group is now live! Please join at www.facebook.com/groups/deliberatefreelancer. In today’s episode, I look back at my time tracking for 2021’s Q4 briefly and then I dive into analyzing the entire year. At the end, I share some questions that can help you evaluate last year and plan for this year. My average weekly time in Q4 was similar to the previous quarters. I was really proud of myself that I stuck to my “absolutely no work” plan Dec. 23-Jan. 3. And I took at a four-week podcast hiatus. All of that was restorative and rejuvenated my creativity. The biggest surprise for me was I earned more money last year than I ever had in the past—by a wide margin! I do track my money each month, but I wasn’t really adding up those monthly figures to see what I was making for the year. While I’m thrilled with how much I earned last year, I’m not sure it’s sustainable. That’s not just pessimism talking. Two big projects I landed in 2020 continued into 2021, but ended or were cut back before the end of the year, and I cannot expect that income this year. I analyzed where my work came from in 2021. Referrals are always my biggest source of work. In 2021, 37% of my income came from referrals. These percentages are based on income, not number of clients. I want to know where I’m earning the most money. After referrals, 21% of my income was from my involvement in the group Associations, Media & Publishing Network, specifically the Associations Council. The majority of my clients are associations, so I’ve gone where my clients are. Where are your clients? There’s probably an organization out there where you can start to get involved and subtly show your expertise in the industry that you serve. Next up, 17% of my income came from cold networking; 13% from letters of introduction; 12% from former jobs. I also analyzed the type of organization I worked for. I want to focus on membership associations, but did my income reflect that? Yes, it did. I’m pleased to say that 77% of my work came from membership associations last year. I also analyzed if what I want to do matches up with the services that bring in the most money. It hasn’t always matched up in the past, but I’ve been more purposeful about going after the work I love—managing editing—versus the work I “like”—copy editing and proofreading. I’m happy to say my numbers in 2021 did match what I had tried to do. 59% of my income came from managing editing work, while 29% came from writing and only 12% came from editing and proofreading. I encourage you to consider time tracking. I consider it a game changer. Analyzing your time tracking at the end of a big project—that you charged a project rate for—can tell you whether you met your secret hourly rate or whether you undercharged.   Questions to ask yourself: What services do you love to do? Is that where you’re focusing your marketing? How can you take your business in a new direction? What can you improve upon in your business in 2022? What did you learn in 2021? What worked really well for you and your business? What didn’t work for you last year? Do you need to drop clients, raise your rates, change your services? And be honest with yourself: Did you do anything last year that you’re frustrated by or disappointed by? What do you need to work on personally? Where have you felt stuck in your business? How can you start to make a plan to get unstuck?   A solo business retreat in January is a great way to reflect on these questions and work ON your business, setting yourself up for success this year.   Biz Bite: Create a Success Jar The Bookshelf: “Miracle Creek” by Angie Kim   Resources: Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee Subscribe to the Deliberate Freelancer newsletter. 50 Powerful Questions To Help You Reflect Episode #65 of Deliberate Freelancer: The No. 1 Way I Find New Clients Episode #119 of Deliberate Freelancer: Why and How to Pare Down Your Network Episode #113 of Deliberate Freelancer: How to Build Relationships, Not a Network, with Anna Hetzel Episode #3 of Deliberate Freelancer: Host a Solo Business Retreat Episode #42 of Deliberate Freelancer: Tips from My First Solo Business Retreat of 2020 Episode #115 of Deliberate Freelancer: Time Tracking Lessons from Deliberate Freelancer Listeners Episode #86 of Deliberate Freelancer: What I Wish for Your Freelance Business in 2021 Episode #76 of Deliberate Freelancer: Embrace These 7 Core Principles for a Successful Freelance Business Episode #40 of Deliberate Freelancer: Reflect, Analyze and Plan Now for the New Year Episode #26 of Deliberate Freelancer: Delegate, Automate and Terminate to Improve Your Business Episode #23 of Deliberate Freelancer: Five Questions to Evaluate and Diversify Your Services Episode #19 of Deliberate Freelancer: Visualize Your Perfect Work Day—Then Create It

This episode is all about books! And it’s the last episode of the year. My next episode will be January 6, 2022. Happy holidays! As of December 5, I read 51 books this year. I will likely finish book #52 this week, but I probably won’t hit my goal of 60 books in 2021, which is OK. I set a goal just because I have fun tracking my books along the way. In this week’s episode, I rank my top 10 books of the year — all were published in 2021. I then give you two extras that I loved this year that were published in 2020. I also mention a few other 2021 books that I haven’t read and that don’t seem like my cup of tea but that you might want to check out. And, I mention a few 2021 books that I really want to read but haven’t gotten to yet. Then I finish up by listing a few 2022 books that I’m looking forward to. Listen to the episode to hear my top books of the year in ranked order — what will be my #1?! However, all of the books I mentioned in this episode are in the list below.   Fiction Writers & Lovers by Lily King The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave What Comes After by Joanne Tompkins Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir The Martian by Andy Weir The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain What Could be Saved by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell The Push by Ashley Audrain The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams Matrix by Lauren Groff Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff Hell of a Book by Jason Mott My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle The Family Plot by Megan Collins   Non-fiction The Promised Land by Barack Obama Once I Was You by Maria Hinojosa (memoir) Know My Name by Chanel Miller (memoir) All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung (memoir) The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap by Wendy Welch (memoir) Four-Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain The Premonition by Michael Lewis The Big Short by Michael Lewis Moneyball by Michael Lewis The Blind Side by Michael Lewis Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire by Lizzie Johnson Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (memoir) How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith   2022 Books I’m Anticipating: Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades (publishes January 4) A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham (publishes January 11) Nine Lives by Peter Swanson (publishes March 15) The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James (publishes March 15)   Resources: Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee. Subscribe to the Deliberate Freelancer newsletter. Episode #104 of Deliberate Freelancer: Best Books of 2021 So Far—and New Releases This Fall Episode #87 of Deliberate Freelancer: My Most Anticipated 2021 Books (and Fave 2020 Books) Episode #69 of Deliberate Freelancer: 9 Nonfiction Books that Improved My Freelance Business Episode #17 of Deliberate Freelancer: My Favorite Books of the Year So Far (2019) American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) fall membership drive. Use the code: 2021FALLDRIVE ASJA Membership FAQs

On today’s episode, Ashlee Sang talks about how you can work with purpose-driven solopreneurs and service providers. She also explains how you can base everything you do in your freelance businesses around a set of core values—and how that will help you make decisions, find the right clients and grow your business. Ashlee lives in Central Illinois. She owns Ashlee Sang Consulting, where she works with visionary founders who want to grow their impact and their business in a way that’s rooted in values and propelled by purpose. Before doing brand messaging strategy and consulting, she worked with a variety of nonprofit organizations, including a human rights education non-governmental organization (NGO) in Senegal and a local branch of Habitat for Humanity. The common thread has been sharing messages that matter. Ashlee began working with purpose-driven founders after learning about the conscious consumerism movement. She wants to work with businesses that have a mission and impact in the world. Ashlee always keeps that goal in mind as she selects clients. She has taken plenty of projects in the past that didn’t align with her values and she realized she always dreaded the work and the client. Now she focuses on attraction marketing—walking the talk and standing up for her values as a way to set herself apart. Before living in Illinois, Ashlee lived in Senegal for four years. Moving there was the most formative decision of her life. She was studying anthropology, French and linguistics as a study-abroad student and ended up meeting her future husband. So, after graduation, she moved to Senegal and landed a job with an NGO. In Senegal, she learned a lot about herself, about interpersonal and organizational communications, and about viewing different cultures from various perspectives. The years in Senegal shaped how she now views the world and supports her goal to provide empathetic accountability because she has met and spoken to so many different types of people. For example, it has helped her develop clients’ audience personas because she can better get into other people’s heads and hearts. Ashlee believes in making value-based decisions. She has a set of core values that she operates from. The list includes intentionality, progress, open-mindedness. They guide who she works with as well as her offerings. Making value-based decisions impacts both your marketing and your operations. For example, it helps with knowing what to post on social media, who to pitch to, how much to charge and who to hire. Ashlee recommends sitting down and creating a list of values and periodically reevaluating that list. This way of working supports prioritization and hedges “shiny object syndrome.” It shows up in the everyday work and in the big decisions. The benefit of basing decisions on your values is alignment: If it feels better for you, it feels better for your clients. Ashlee supports the nonprofit 1% for the Planet and highlights this on her website. As part of this, she has committed to giving 1% of her revenue to an environmental nonprofit of her choice. She also lists her brand values on her website, but living your values is more important than just listing them. When you take the time to do this foundational work—your personal vision, your business mission, your list of values—it makes decision-making throughout your life and business easier.   Biz Bite: Turn Off Email Notifications   Resources: Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee. Subscribe to the Deliberate Freelancer newsletter. To help you get clear on your values and how to apply them to your marketing and decision-making, download Ashlee’s free book “Stand Up To Stand Out Workbook.” AshleeSang.com Ashlee Sang on LinkedIn Ashlee Sang on Instagram 1% for the Planet American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) fall membership drive. Use the code: 2021FALLDRIVE ASJA Membership FAQs