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Social media strategies for freelancers

by Jake Poinier

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On Tuesday, June 8, at 7 p.m. Eastern, I’ll be participating in an Editorial Freelancers Association teleconference about using popular social media platforms (blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn) to increase your professional visibility as freelancers and make connections with clients and colleagues. My co-guest will be social media strategist Greg Pincus of TheHappyAccident.net, so I’m sure I’ll gain insights to share here in the coming weeks.

It’s an EFA members-only teleconference…but if you’re an editorial freelancer, this is an organization that you should consider joining. If you’ve found out about Dr. Freelance through EFA, please feel free to ask any questions you’d like about social media or other strategies for freelancers through the “Ask the Doc” link in the sidebar.

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Freelance Forecast 2010 survey results

by Jake Poinier

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Freelance Forecast is Boomvang Creative Group‘s annual survey of creative freelancers—writers, editors, graphic designers, web designers, illustrators, photographers, PR pros and all varieties of solo entrepreneurs—as well as the clients who hire them for freelance jobs. If you did not participate this year, but would like to be notified about the upcoming Freelance Forecast in December, please subscribe to the email list via the sign-up box in the right sidebar.

  • Download Freelance Forecast 2010 (.pdf)
  • Download Freelance Forecast 2009 (.pdf)
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Required writing: Do I really need a blog?

by Jake Poinier

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Dr. Freelance, I’ve been blogging for a few months. I usually enjoy it, but it’s a bit frustrating to pour my heart and soul into something and then have practically no traffic and certainly no new clients to show for it. As a writer, I know it’s something that people expect, but I’m close to concluding it’s not worth the effort. Am I missing something? Do I really need a blog just because I write for a living?–Bloggers Anonymous [Read more…]

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Why working on commission is best left to salespeople

by Jake Poinier

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Dr. Freelance, I’ve recently experienced a rash of potential clients suggesting I should be working on commission. (I do a lot of PR work, so they want to pay me based on how much press I get them, for example.) I’m not sure if I’m giving out some sort of weird vibe or if this is just a temporary thing, but I know for sure that working for free is no way to pay the bills. Any suggestions on how to handle these situations?—The Commissioner

Commissioner, I think you’re correct calling it a “rash”—it gives me hives just hearing about it. My guess is that these people aren’t making much money right now, and so they’re trying to figure out ways of doing things on a shoestring. Your shoestring. [Read more…]

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Will layoffs cause a freelance tsunami?

by Jake Poinier

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Dr. Freelance, I’ve got quite a few friends in the newspaper business who’ve been laid off in recent months, and many of them are hanging up a shingle as a freelancer. Do you think this is going to lower prices and/or create more competition for freelance gigs? — Freelance Tsunami Watcher

Freelance Tsunami Watcher, I’ve seen the same thing, with tons of friends (in all types of media, not just papers) who’ve lost their jobs in the past year. It’s pretty awful. There are several factors to my answer: [Read more…]

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