Freelancing + a part-time job = the key to happiness?

After a year of freelancing I've taken a part-time job (16 hours/week) with my last IT client. I was with them for over three years as my client, but it felt like a family. They are the reason I stayed in IT as long as I did ... probably an extra year. I've missed them dearly.

My alter ego

In February when they casually asked if I'd consider a part-time gig as their technical writer, I said "yes" without hesitation. I want to tell you why (spoiler: money in and of itself doesn't make the list), but first I have to recap why I left.

I left my old job last February because I was feeling lost in it. I didn't care about the end result of my work, it just wasn't important to me. I wanted the freedom to pursue other things that were pulling on me, creative endeavors. I wanted to see if I could work for myself. I didn't want to consider staying part-time because I felt as though I needed a clean break. A clear message to myself that I was trying something new and "here goes nothing".

I'm 100% glad that I left and not a day has passed that I questioned my decision. Now, here's why I rejoined the team.

I got my clean break. After a year away, I can approach the same team (albeit a different position) with a fresh perspective on the job, the goals, work-life balance, everything. I have an entirely different outlook on and appreciation for money. I understand why paying for your own healthcare when you're already not making a lot can become a huge stressor. I was never truly at risk with money (yet), but I certainly had more going out than coming in. It was eye-opening and I value the knowledge and experience more than I can put into words.

There's just something grounding about spending an hour to make $15 on a blog (early on), realizing you want a second latte, then realizing that buying it will take away a third of what you just made. Yes, in some ways I learned the value of money more in this last year than I ever could have in my first 31.

I couldn't ever seem to work 40 hours/week on freelance writing. I love doing it, but I don't love doing it for 40 hours/week. It's taxing to constantly write things that are fresh and interesting and slightly humorous (but not too casual) and on and on ... to switch topics every hour. In some ways that's super-exciting, but I found it impossible to do 40 hours/week.

I missed the structure and connection of a team. I tried fixing it by creating a team of freelancers to help with my workload, and that did improve things some, but not enough. I now know that I need to use the technical parts of my brain to really feel right, whatever that means. The first day that I really worked back with my old client I was on a high that I can't explain in words. The first day that I got to see my team in person was the best day I'd had in months.

On top of all that, there's no downside. My team supports my freelancing pursuits, be it writing, editing, or acting. To be fair, they always did. My hours are flexible. This gig takes nothing away from my freedom or creative pursuits, rather the good mood and self-actualization that comes from being on this team only help.


So I guess after a year of pure freelancing, I learned that I need my technical fix as much as my creative/actor fix. I feel so lucky to be back with my team and I'm excited for what's to come.

Yes, Some Questions ARE Stupid: Your elementary school teacher lied to you

If you're like me, you grew up hearing the old adage, "The only stupid question is the one you don't ask." I call shenanigans. We need a few more qualifiers before we can truly label a question as "not stupid." I've created a simple flowchart to help explain, so I will say no more.

3 Things You Can Do TODAY to Feel More Organized

I've been inspired to do some organizational/clean-up activities lately. The amount of time to do them is always far outweighed by the improvement in my mood, and every time I do things like this I wonder why I don't do them more often. I decided to make a list of quick-hit activities to do weekly or monthly so I can stay more organized. Here's my list in case you want to try it too!

Note: This post assumes you use the tools I use (Gmail, Mac, iPhone, etc.) ... but you can easily adapt my suggestions.

1. The Overflowing Email Inbox

What's your number? You know, the number on your phone that indicates how many unread emails you have? I used to be zero-emails-inboxer. Today's inbox? 2,844.

A third of you just fainted. I'll give you a moment to get off the floor.

It doesn't matter how or why it happened, but it did. Having been on the other side, I know it doesn't have to be this way. Not for me, and not for you.

Here's a quick activity to make a big dent:

Step 1: Look for five "categories" of emails that make up a large chunk of your inbox, but can easily be deleted. For example, here are five of mine right now:

1. Amazon Notifications
2. Elance Notifications
3. LOFT Promotional Emails
4. PayPal Notifications
5. ActorsAccess Notifications

Step 2: Find the best way to search your inbox for each of the above items. Meaning--the way that will return the least number of emails that you might NOT want to delete. For example, instead of just searching for "amazon", I get better results with the specific Amazon notification email address or part of a subject line, like "Your amazon.com order".

Step 3: With the results returned, select all, then scan through the list for any emails that you're not sure you want to delete and uncheck them. For example, if I search for "ActorsAccess", I get mostly notifications that I can totally delete, but also a few stray acting-related emails from my agent and others. I quickly uncheck anything I'm not 100% sure I want to delete (don't spend time thinking about it, this is a QUICK exercise!), then to the trash can they go.

Step 4: Hit 'Delete'. Ahh. Now go look at your phone and see how far the number went down! Wasn't that fun?

Step 5: Consider unsubscribing or updating preferences for each of the five to limit incoming emails. For example, I don't need LOFT promotional emails coming to me. I don't need help shopping more often, trust me. I can also check my preferences for the others to see if I can limit the number of emails I get. Hm, adding that to my to-do list now.

2. Apps and Icons and Badges, Oh My!

If you're like me, you probably spend more time swiping around your phone looking for things than you realize. Something as simple as reorganizing your apps can really freshen things up and make you feel a bit more together. A few days ago I had four screens of apps with many already in folders. Today I have one screen. You might not want to be a one-screener, but chances are you can make some improvements.

If these steps seem like too much for one day, try doing one step at a time. It still works!

Step 1: Delete apps you don't use. Might seem obvious, but it's really easy to download something, use it once, and forget it.

Step 2: Put apps into folders. Most of you probably use folders, but chances are not optimally. Take some time to think about what categories really make sense for you and move things around a bit. Only leave apps outside of folders if you use them almost daily. Here are some examples of my folders:

• Business & Finance (Wells Fargo, PayPal, LinkedIn)
• Utilities (Contacts, Delta, CVS)
• Games (way too many)
• Sleep (I have several sleep-aid type apps. You probably have at least one category that most other people wouldn't have!)

Step 3: Rearrange apps, folders, and apps inside folders. First, arrange the apps you left on the main screen in order of how often you use them. Second, arrange the folders the same way, after the apps. Third, go into each folder and arrange them in order of frequency of use, too. If you don't want to go overboard, just make sure the apps you use frequently are on the first page within the folder. 

3. The Anxiety-Inducing Desktop

If you're prone to desktop-icon-overload, here's another quick win for organization. Basically just repeat #2, but for your desktop. Delete what you don't need anymore, put things in folders if you keep them. You can literally spend five minutes and some common sense and create a calming effect every time you look at your computer screen.

If any of these tips work for you, I want to hear from you! Plus, if you have more, please share. I need all the help I can get.

Raising Freelancer Rates for Blog Posts: Lessons in progress

I've now been a freelancer without any other job for 11 months. I decided to use the new year as a reason to revisit my rates. My hope is to standardize some things and also get some of my original clients up to a more reasonable rate now that I've proven my worth.

Going up?

Freelancer rates, at least for writing, have been and will always be a bit convoluted. It's impossible to know how much effort one blog post will take versus another, which one will take you into a research spiral and which one will fly onto the paper in a mere thirty minutes. We have to average that effort to come to something reasonable.

In searching for "standards", I find that most sites that speak to rates are vague or confusing. I also find that they list very large ranges, which I understand. I've decided that I mostly need to come up with my own system and learn as I go.

Right now the majority of my clients are for ghostwriting blog posts, so that's where I focused my standardization. Here's what I decided:

Short (< 600 words): $75
Medium (600-800 words): $100
Long (800-1200 words): $125

You will not find this transparency other places. If you find it, please tell me!

These are "base rates" of course, which you always have to stipulate ... because someone could ask for writing on a topic that takes a ton of research, or I could just come to realize their work continually takes much more effort because they are pickier and ask for more revisions ... but this is where I plan to start for all of 2015.

I will likely come up with some other standards as I pursue more web copywriting and editing work. I really enjoy the editing the most. Helping someone say what they want to say, but better, it's the most rewarding work. For me anyway. I also think it is my best work. People have lots of ideas--stories to tell and thoughts to share--and I love getting to help them put their words out there in a way that's clear and engaging. But I digress ...

This is just a newsy/update-y post because it's been too long (again). I want to write a post about Third Eye Blind lyrics, so I felt I had to write one about business first. Now, on to Third Eye Blind ...

Winning Repeat Clients - Tip #4: Find Appropriate Times to be Personable

I've been quiet, yes. The shortest explanation is that I've been moving and doing things that lead up to moving.

Today I'm posting a 4th tip for turning your clients into repeat customers:

Find Appropriate Times to be Personable

It's not exactly rocket science that being personable can lead to better relationships, but the way you do it can make a big difference: for better or for worse.

The most important thing is to follow your client's lead. Some clients will want to learn about you and share about themselves. Others will prefer to stick to business.

I'm reminded of my experience with a certain financial planning company when my advisor insisted on having 10 minutes of small talk any time we were on the phone together. I didn't want to EVER be on the phone with him, but he would insist on quarterly calls, then insist on asking about acting, and writing, and volleyball ...

I am not the type to want to small talk with a stranger, and when it comes to customer service or any service, the more I can do online or for myself, the better. Many people my age or younger will feel the same way. If a little small talk happens naturally, that's cool with me, but this felt forced and he always asked the same exact questions. He never picked up on the fact that I wasn't into it, and the more I asked if we could just communicate via email, the harder he pushed for quarterly meetings on the phone. In the end, I moved all of my assets to another company and it's mostly because of this guy.

So, don't be that guy.

Seriously, do you not
sense my annoyance?

On the other hand, some personal connections can make work more pleasant and fun, and also can help with business. I have one client for whom I write blogs, website pages, newsletters, and books. We've worked together for over eight months now (wow, I hadn't done that math before!) and we have become friends. It was clear from the beginning that he wanted me to personally understand his passion for his business and the voice he wanted in the writing. He wants me to be excited about the topic and grow a passion for it too.

At first, I was resistant. I mean, after what you've read so far in this post, you're probably not surprised. My instinct is to be all business because I tend to focus on the task at hand, and expect others to want the same. Slowly I realized that with this client, allowing the personal connection in was helpful not only to him, but also to me. I was able to write better for him in a way that really connected with how he wanted to represent his business.

The point here is that learning a bit about your clients shows them respect and that you want to understand them and their needs. Especially if they are personally passionate about what they're asking you to write--which is generally the case for me, and I would think for many freelancers that work for individuals.

I hope these stories illustrate this tip well enough--I don't want to go overboard by now explaining what I want you to infer. Lastly though, I want to say that it's important to remember what you learn about your clients so that you can be personable when you want to. You may talk to 10 different clients a day (sometimes I have those days), but they still expect you to remember your discussions/emails/messages with them. I need to work on this one myself, any suggestions for a good tool?

P.S. - I cut my hairs and got new headshots!

Winning Repeat Clients - Tip #3: Teach Your Clients to Fish

It's been almost two months since I posted on this topic, so I'm overdue for another tip. Today's tip for converting freelance clients into repeat customers:

Teach Your Clients to Fish

You want to create value beyond what your competitors provide so you can either win more business or get paid more. A great way to do that is to help your clients do things on their own that you're now doing for them. That may sound contrary to a successful business model, but bear with me here ...

First, if you help your clients with grammar/formatting/writing stuff like I suggested in tip #2, they are going to start providing you with better written content ... hopefully. Say you charge 2c/word for editing and then you teach your client that one space between sentences is really the current trend and get them to start only using one. Well, now you can still charge 2c/word, but the same edit will take less time because you're not looking for this pesky little change over and over.

(Side tip: You can use Find features for spaces to quickly find these changes. You can search for "  " and replace with " ".)

If you could teach yourself out of a job by offering your client some better ways here and there, you've got bigger problems. You can create more value (and make more money) with your time and energy if your client learns to avoid some of the more common writing problems.

Another example, say your client is sending you 1000-word blog posts on topics that should really be kept to 600 words or less. You could keep editing them down to about 800 words at your 2c/word rate, or even keeping the same word count, without ever telling your client what they're doing wrong. I mean, you've only signed on for editing.

OR, you can explain to your client that you think shorter posts would work better in this instance. Suggest ways to keep the posts shorter or things that can be left out. Show them an example with a recent post and suggest they aim for less content the next time. You might be lowering your pay per post if you're charging on word count, but you're adding value to your client in a way that will keep them coming to you over your competitors.

In the end, you want to feel good about the value you're providing and if you keep your clients happy, you'll keep your clients.

When it's a good idea to use the "Public" privacy setting on a Facebook post

Officially I am a writer. But as a freelancer in charge of my own marketing/sales, I'm also becoming somewhat of a social media expert. So here's a short lesson that I wish everyone knew ... some of you already do, I know.

Pay attention to the privacy settings on your Facebook posts. This is not a "be safe, don't spread your info too wide" lesson (you can find those lessons out there, but they won't be from me). This is a lesson in using the Internet for maximum effectiveness.

For me, as I imagine is true for most, most of my personal posts are set to be shared with "Friends" (see pic). But here's the thing--if you post something you WANT to be shared beyond your friends, you need to change it to "Public." Otherwise it can never go past your little circle.

For example, you post a stray animal in need of a home, a link to a fundraiser, a link to your new blog (assuming you want maximum readership) ... change it to "Public." This means that while it will still only go to the news feeds of select friends decided by Facebook's crazy algorithms, it has the potential to be shared beyond your friend circle. It will be on your public profile and if a friend shares it, it will go to all of THEIR friends as opposed to just all of your MUTUAL friends.

Oh, and perhaps more importantly (because it's more common), if your friends comment, their friends may see that they commented. If your post is restricted to your friends, that won't ever happen.

I'm trying to change the situation when a friend says, "Please share!" and I want to help them ... but they have it set to just their friends. So I tell them, please change privacy, and then they do, and then all is right with the world. This is my attempt at a broader message and some hopefully helpful advice 

Did I get anything wrong, fellow social media gurus? I was going to say something about making sure to change it back with the next post, but I think Facebook changed that a little so I don't want to comment without more research. But generally, check! Don't want to make something public on accident.