In my last post, we went over someone’s blasting out of her availability over the internet. She was asking readers to share her post. Read Coattail Freelancing for the details. Her marketing missed the mark entirely, for she posted it with “freelancing” as the hashtag. Oh, sweetie. You didn’t. Are you making similar mistakes? Let’s…
Coattail Freelancing
It happened yet again. Another freelancer thinking that this is the way to market: Hi all! I’m looking for new work in writing or editing. Please feel free to share. Oh honey, no. Worse, it was posted on social media. I call it coattail freelancing — trying to find work by hanging on to someone…
Setting Your Freelance Image
Freelance writing friends, I get it now. Not long ago, I remember bristling at the thought of describing myself in any way other than an actively working professional writer and editor. I shunned any suggestion that I mention my phasing out of working and cutting down my hours. In fact, I wrote a post about…
4 Things All Freelancers Need (but may not have)
Have you ever been caught in a voice mail loop of hell with a doctor’s office or other service provider? Recently, I called a doctor’s office to reschedule an appointment. I tried three times. Three times, I advanced only so far into the system before I was referred to the website to make an appointment….
Niche Freelancing without Boredom
I was thrilled to see my friend Jennifer Mattern’s latest Well-Fed Writer newsletter (here’s the link to sign up and see for yourself). In it, Jenn talks about the gold mine that lies within commercial writing opportunities — those “boring” projects that pay well. She urges readers to reconsider these gigs as they can be quite lucrative.
AI and Clients: A Freelance Primer
Not long ago, I had a client who handed an article draft to me. Proudly, they announced that they’d “written” it with the help of AI. They wanted me to edit it. I refused. I told them why, and this is something I think we all need to caution our clients about because they are…
4 Freelance Personas that Don’t Work
I’ve been writing professionally since 2000, freelancing since 2003. Friends, I’ve seen some shit. Maybe you’ve struggled with the same issues over your freelance career. Some of the things that frustrated me are pretty universal, I suspect. The know-it-all freelancer I’ve had a lot of people tell me what I’m doing wrong in my freelance…
Your Stalled Freelance Writing Career (and how to un-stall it)
Once upon a time (2003), I was thrust into the world of freelance writing when I lost my job. Through connections I’d made on the job, I was able to start working independently the very next day. This freelance stuff was going to be easy. Yes, I was that naive, my freelance friends. What followed…
4 Fairly Surefire Ways to Increase Freelance Income
Let’s face it: We’re in the era of AI, which means some people will be looking to take shortcuts while writers who target these potential clients will be bemoaning how “dead” freelancing is. It’s already started. A few friends have already been asked to edit AI-generated content or worse, train AI to basically take their…
Removing Freelance Roadblocks
In a conversation with a fellow creative not long ago, I realized just how often we creatives put roadblocks up. I greeted this creative, whom I’d met previously, and asked how things were going. Ten minutes later, I now knew more about how things weren’t going. And I was done. The conversation went something like…