Freelancing Myths

I thought this was an interesting article by Alyssa Gregory, owner of virtual assistance firm avertua, LLC, concerning myths about freelancing. There are some on here I've heard before and some I'd never thought about. And I thought I'd add a few more to the list.

Myth--Freelancers can do whatever work they like. Well, you can, but . . . there's a qualification that needs to made here. You need to make sure there's a market for the service you want to provide. You also need to do whatever's necessary to reach that market, whether it's networking, cold calling, social media, sending queries, etc. Plus you need some basis for claiming you, in particular, would be good at the work. What value do you provide? How does your background and experience lend itself to providing that value? These are all important considerations in choosing the work you do.

Myth--All freelancers work in pajamas. Casual clothes, yes. But pajamas--absolutely not. Some freelancers may work in PJs, but not this one (and I don't think I'm the only one). I feel like I'm not really ready to work, unless I've taken a shower and dressed in real clothes I could wear on the street. I think it helps, in a psychological sense, to get ready for your day and dress for it--even if your "dress code" doesn't require pantyhose, heels, a suit or a tie. Besides, you never know what might come up that could require you to leave the house.

Myth--Freelancers have to work all the time. Not true. If you plan ahead and set a schedule for yourself, then do your best to keep to it, you can get work done without working all the time. You shouldn't have to kill yourself to make a living. This is also a function of the rate you charge and the type of assignments you're willing to accept. Bottom line: don't sell yourself short and treat your work like any other business. And if extra hours are unavoidable (and sometimes they are--owning a business can require some OT now and then), be sure to pencil some time in for yourself, keeping in mind the old saying: Work expands to fill the time allotted. Set goals for getting your work done and hold yourself to them the best you can.

Myth--Freelancers can't afford to turn away any work. So not true. Sometimes it's in your best interest to turn down work. Why? The pay offered may be so low it isn't worth your while. You could use the time you spend on a crummy project seeking something much better. (That's a frustrating feeling. Take it from one who's been there.) Another reason: it might not be work suited to your skills. What better time than that to refer the work to a fellow freelancer. By doing so, you'll be doing yourself, your freelancing peer and the client a favor. And possibly get a referral in return. (Good freelancer karma is a thing to be desired.) Finally, you may already be overloaded with projects. Knowing how much new work you can take on without sacrificing the quality service you give to existing clients is essential. And, again, referring the client can work to everyone's advantage.

Myth--Freelancers never have to leave the house. Even in a time when we do so much online marketing, using social media and other online resources to reach our target markets, not to mention using email to communicate and the Internet to do research, there comes a time when even the most housebound freelancer will want to get out and about. Whether it's to attend a conference or a networking event, freelancers can get more marketing mileage from meeting people face-to-face. Joining organizations, giving talks to local groups, volunteering, meeting someone for coffee--these are all ways freelancers can make contacts and generate business by leaving the house.

Another for instance: you're writing an article. Say it's a profile of a local business person. You could handle it by phone, but if you're doing an in-depth piece, you'll probably want to go to their workplace and see them in their element. Get an up-close sense of what they're like. See how they treat others (and vice versa). Freelancers can do a lot of work from home--but even if we're working for clients that are far from us, sometimes the information we need is not online or even a phone call away. (I know--I worked on several projects for a client two time zones behind me and much of the research for them had to be done on-site at the Library of Congress.)

Myth--Freelancers get to watch TV all day. Okay, read the article I linked with, then read what I've added. Do you really think I spend all day watching television?

Quotation for the Week of July 5

"There's no present. There's only the immediate future and the recent past."
-- George Carlin

The Trouble With Twitter

I'll start off with a post I found regarding Twitter's misuse as a marketing tool--the tendency of too many people to tweet, "Look at me! Look at me!" They're not showing the value of what they can do for others. They're using it to spam and hard sell people, when Twitter's all about soft sell, making connections, relationship building AND increasing exposure.

This is a good point, but I think Twitter has a few more problems than that.

Basically, you could say that Twitter is like the biggest party or networking event in the world. And, as such, it can be awesome. But it's also like the biggest water cooler session or the biggest rumor mill in the world. And, as such, it can be really horrible in various ways.

Although people look to Twitter for resources, news and information, it's clear that a lot of what's being tweeted is just plain wrong.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press ran an article with the following bombastic headline: "Is Twitter the news outlet for the 21st century?" (Oh, God, I hope not.)

Even this article acknowledges that while people can tweet news much faster and in a more interactive way than traditional media, it doesn't mean Twitter users are good reporters. They may be lousy observers. They may have an agenda. They may not know the whole story. They may be making stuff up. They may be passing along unsubstantiated hearsay. (Was it Mark Twain that said a lie goes halfway around the world before the truth can pull its boots on? Now lies circle the globe many times at the speed of Twitter before the truth even thinks about putting on footwear.)

Or they may just exercise bad judgment, like this novelist who really should have taken a deep breath and counted to 10 (or maybe 100) before she trashed a reviewer on Twitter. It's way too easy to rip people a new one online these days.

So, please, people--think before you tweet. And don't believe everything you read. On or offline.

Quotation for the Week of June 28

"Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river."
-- Nikita Khrushchev

Freelancer's Twitter Success Story!

I happened upon this item posted on a freelancers email list. It's exactly the sort of example I've been seeking of a Twitter success story for freelance writers--or, in this case, an editor.

A lot of people view Twitter as a big waste of time. Sure . . . it can be. But so can any other kind of networking or marketing, if you don't take the right approach to it.

I thought the post did a great job of explaining how this freelance editor found and landed a client through her Twitter efforts (and other online media--notice how Web sites, e-mail and online forums all played a part in this). So I asked Katharine O'Moore-Klopf if I could reprint her post as an example of a Twitter success story. She gave me the green light. So here it is, in Katharine's own words:

Three cheers for communication technology!

I just cemented a contract for a small book editing project for a small publishing house whose publisher (his job title) I have come to know through Twitter.

He found me on Twitter in March by searching for such terms as "editor," "copyeditor," "copy editor," and "freelancer," which I use frequently in my tweets. He followed the link on my Twitter page to my business web site and looked through my site's pages. I spent some time finding information on him and the publishing house on several web sites and in a couple forums. Then he e-mailed me using my site's contact form, asking about my fees. I was busy with projects then, so we've kept in touch through Twitter and e-mail. Finally, I had an opening in my work schedule. And now, I'll start work on the project on Monday. It's not medical editing [Blogger's Note: her niche, as you can see from the sig line] but is technology related, so it will be a good mental change of pace.

Cool!

Katharine O'Moore-Klopf, ELS (board-certified editor in the life sciences; see http://www.bels.org)
KOK Edit: Your favorite copyeditor since 1984(SM)
mailto:editor@kokedit.com
http://www.kokedit.com
http://editor-mom.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/K.OMooreKlopf
https://twitter.com/KOKEdit

Author of "Getting Started as a Freelance Copyeditor"
http://www.kokedit.com/library.shtml#gettingstarted

Yes, Katharine--that is indeed cool. :)

Did Someone Say Query-Free Freelancing?

I don't know about you, but I'd love to get all my writing assignments without sending queries. So how could I resist checking out this blog? The Query-Free Freelancer recently interviewed seven writers about its eponymous topic (is it the topic or the blog that's eponymous? not sure). As of this date, it's reached Part 6 (the last installment) in a series of posts on To Query or Not to Query.

This looks like a good blog to follow, see where it goes from here . . .

Thanks to Anne Wayman (one of the interviewees) for tipping me off to this.

Quotation for the Week of June 21

"I've done the calculation and your chances of winning the lottery are identical whether you play or not."
-- Fran Lebowitz

Set the Right Tone

A guest post by Rick Holton

For writers in your organization who have analyzed their purpose and audience, an important next step is achieving the right tone.

Tone expresses your attitude toward the subject and the audience. A local company recently sent a memo to employees that amounted to this: "Because morale is low, we will be instituting an employee awards program." What attitude does this express toward employees? It might have been more effective to start: "Because you have been working hard under pressure…"

Here are four tips on tone that might be useful to people in your organization.

Choose the right word. By now, most of us know that Mark Twain once said, "The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter–it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning." Much of tone-setting is word choice.

Choosing the right word may sound difficult, but it depends on the audience and your message. Often tone can be completely altered by changing only a few words, as in the incentives memo above. The company never would have written what they did had they thought a little more carefully about their audience and how they might react.

Establish the right level of formality. Achieving the right level of formality is, again, mostly a matter of word choice. Do you start your memo "Dear Bob," for instance, or "Dear Mr. Smith?"

Have you been appropriately friendly or stern? If you are writing to turn someone down, for example, and there is no chance that you will change your mind, your tone must make the message unmistakable, without, however, being abrupt or rude.

Level of formality is also affected by punctuation (parentheses, for example, tend to be informal), use of contractions, sentence length and complimentary close ("Very truly yours," for example, is much more formal than "Best wishes").

Sound Confident. You are a professional, and you should sound that way. Avoid expressions like "I believe..." and "I can assure you that..." They bespeak lack of confidence and, because they are unnecessary, distance the reader.

Be Positive. Avoid negative expressions, and avoid pointing out bad things you are not obligated to mention. Refer, for instance, to "challenges" rather than "problems." Don't talk about what you can't do—talk about what you can do.

Another feature of being positive is not accepting someone else's terms. If someone criticizes your company, for example, for emitting "dense clouds of noxious smoke" from one of your manufacturing facilities, don't use their terms in your response. Point out instead that you are in the final stages of installing "clean-air equipment."

Rick Holton is owner of The Holton Group, which specializes in business writing and consulting.

Quotation for the Week of July 14

"You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance."
-- Ray Bradbury

The 4-Hour Workweek: As If

It amazes me that this article from Brazen Careerist is dated January 8th, 2009, but continues to this day to get comments--both in the form of kudos and criticism (in some cases, that last term is putting it mildly--to call some of the criticism "flaming" is like calling the crash of the Hindenburg an unfortunate incident).

I happen to know this article keeps on generating divisive comments because at one point, I commented on it, too. Bottom line: I am equally unimpressed with Tim Ferriss as Penelope Trunk is. And I think I speak for both of us (and many commenters) when I say: Tim Ferriss appears to be a self-centered jerk and his book, THE 4-HOUR WORKWEEK is trash.

Now, I don't trash books as a general rule. I usually find something to recommend even in a mediocre book. But this isn't a mediocre book. It's simply a bad one and I have no clue why so many people seem to think it's brilliant.

And if you want to know why, just read the column I wrote earlier this year. And, yes, I reference and link to Penelope's article at the bottom. (Talk about recursive . . .)

So let the flaming begin.

Quotation for the Week of June 7

"The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet."
-- William Gibson

'Identity Crisis' Available on Kindle

Just wanted to let everyone know that IDENTITY CRISIS, my mystery novel, is available on Kindle now.

And if you'd like to read the Amazon reviews of the print edition, you can find them here.

And, at some point, I'm hoping to reissue the book in print form as well.

When I do, it will have another cover, like the one below (both back and front are shown).

A darker, more menacing look, yes?

Bragging Rights

Wow! While I wasn't looking, back in January, Smartlife named me in the Top 50 of the 100 Freelance Writers You Can Outsource Your Blog Content To. I'm in there at #32, so I can now say I'm on someone's Top 40 List. :)

Quotation for the Week of May 31

"Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons."
-- Woody Allen

Social Media and Email Marketing Apps for Writers

I've been running across all sorts of interesting information about social media resources for writers. Here are just a few you might like.

50 Useful Twitter Tools for Writers and Researchers

Various links to or about literary agents on Twitter (with thanks to Anne Wayman at About Freelance Writing)

Top 40 Twitter Tools

And, of course, there's still blogging. Here are some apps you may find useful for converting blog posts into emailed newsletters, either for free or low cost (and it seems only fitting that I have a new LinkedIn connection to thank for providing these):

MailChimp

My Newsletter Builder

LetterPop

Silverpop

InfusionSoft

Got enough to keep you busy a while? I should think so.