Over the holiday weekend, I received an urgent email from a client asking about the status of a newsletter that needed to be sent out before the end of the month. The only problem was, I hadn’t gotten the original email. Thanks to autofill, she’d accidentally sent it to another Jake in her address book. My decision was easy: She’s a fantastic long-term client who’d made an honest mistake, so I took a break from repairing the deck and completed her job. This event coincided with several discussions I saw on Facebook with freelancers talking (and some complaining) about having to work over the holiday weekend, which brings me to today’s topic: setting freelance client boundaries. [Read more…]
File naming conventions when you have tons of revisions
Doc, do you have a method for file naming that makes it easier to track document revisions? Every time someone tells me s/he has a great system, it turns out to be including the date in the file name or creating a new folder, which doesn’t help with multiple versions per day. On occasion, I will go back-and-forth with a client and create a half-dozen iterations in a day and need to keep components from each. Any suggestions?—Gilberte [Read more…]
Freelance links: Impostor syndrome, clients, and entrepreneurship
Deadline and invoicing day, so this is going to be a speedy one. As a follow-up to last week’s post on freelance creatives and impostor syndrome, the first of today’s freelance links is from another freelancer who’d gotten the same sense that chatter on the topic had increased: In “Imposter syndrome and editing,” Katherine Trail suggests using a “win jar” to boost spirits or dispel moments of doubt. I’ve got a bulletin board that serves the same purpose: When a freelance client pays me a compliment, I print it out and tack it up. [Read more…]
Quitting freelancing, debunked
My April Fool’s Day post, “Why it’s time to quit freelancing,” was intended to cite common complaints about the freelance business with sufficient winking and nudging to make it obvious I was goofing around—and not quitting freelancing. The feedback on social media made it clear, however, that some of the bullets contained painful truths and warranted further discussion. [Read more…]
Is it time to diversify your freelance business?
Since you’re already knee-deep in numbers, tax time is an ideal point to take an honest look at your freelance business—not just the top-line income number, but a client-by-client breakdown. The numbers don’t lie, and they could be flashing a warning signal that it’s time to diversify your freelance business. As suggested in last week’s post, client diversity is your best business defense against a freelance client bankruptcy or financial trouble, but there are other reasons to take a dive into the data. [Read more…]
Is BookGrabbr the answer for self-published book marketing?
As you may have seen on social media, I’m experimenting with BookGrabbr. (UPDATE: The promotion is over as of March 8, 2016.) It’s a relatively new book marketing tool that provides readers a free preview of a book in exchange for sharing the link. (I’ve uploaded the first 7 chapters of The Science, Art and Voodoo of Freelance Pricing and Getting Paid.) Before I get into my initial take on the tool, though, I want to discuss why I’m giving it a try. In short, it’s because I believe experimenting is a critical component of freelance success. [Read more…]
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