PRO Act. ABC test. Two acronyms that could negatively affect all U.S. freelancers, whether we’re writers, editors, designers, or any other type of independent contractor in a creative freelance enterprise. The tl;dr scoop is this: With barely a hearing or discussion, the U.S. House of Representatives will soon be voting on the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, a.k.a., PRO Act (a.k.a., H.R. 842). The act would codify into federal law California’s stricter ABC test (rather than the existing IRS test) for classifying workers as independent contractors vs. employees. [Read more…]
A freelance pep talk and open-line Friday on 3-26
Note from Dr. Freelance: For some reason, Mailchimp decided to send out a year-old post when it sent out my commentary on the PRO Act, which you can read here: “You may not be interested in the PRO Act, but it’s interested in you.”
I have no idea why this happened. However, in the spirit of serendipity, I will do another open-line Friday–on March 26, 2021!
Interestingly enough, my points from last year have stood the test of time. I hope you and your business are doing well.
And now I return you to the post from 2020…
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I had a sneaking suspicion the Universe was telling me something when several freelance peers asked me last week why I haven’t blogged in a while. My answer looked approximately like this: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. In a world awash with armchair epidemiologists and instant experts on working from home, I’ll leave those topics untouched. What I do want to do is offer a quick pep talk for freelancers out there. What am I doing personally to manage my mindset? [Read more…]
Notes from the past to my future freelance self
It was August 1999 when I bolted my corporate job and launched Boomvang Creative Group as a full-time freelance writer and editor. If I could step back to day 1 of 19 years of self-employment, here are some notes I would have provided to my future freelance self: [Read more…]
Vague writing feedback revisited
Last week, I wrote about the challenges of managing vague creative feedback, and provided a couple of thoughts on how to bring such situations to resolution. The good news? That post was based on writing feedback on a real-life freelance project, and the next step went smoothly. Woohoo!
How did I move the client from uncertainty to approval? Pretty simple, really. But you need a little more backstory than I provided last time. [Read more…]
The worst kind of creative feedback and what you can do about it
You’re not going to last long in the creative world if you can’t give and accept criticism gracefully—or at least without sparking conflict. That’s not guaranteed, however, when you’re working with clients outside our field. It can be a struggle for them to convey creative feedback about projects in an actionable fashion, simply because it’s a skill they’ve rarely or never had to use. That results in profoundly unhelpful comments such as “Just let your creative juices flow,” “It’s missing something, but I’m not sure what,” “You’re the (writer/editor/designer),” and the worst offender of all, “I’ll know it when I see it.” [Read more…]
Freelancing in the sticks
Today’s guest blogger is Bruce Farr, a writer in my freelance stable during my staff editing days, a client during his corporate days, and a wise friend for the duration. (He’s a holdout on blogging, but here’s a quick article about his background, which includes writing and recording commentaries for NPR’s All Things Considered.) Here’s his response to a question the Doc received about freelancing in the sticks. [Read more…]