Freelancers need infrastructure too

Apr 30, 2015 by jgordon@unitedmediaguild.org

It is always interesting to read “mistakes I made when I started freelancing” pieces. We tend to find easier professional paths the hard way, though lots of trials and many errors.

Kayli Barth hit a responsive chord with these thoughts and others in The Freelance Hustle blog:

When I first started out I didn’t want to pay for any tools. I couldn’t justify paying $10/month for an invoicing system. It took me a good 3 months before I realized that the time I spent manually calculating my hours and creating invoices was time I could have spent earning money. Eventually I signed up for Paymo and have never looked back! Invoicing now takes me less than 5 minutes a month.

And . . .

Onboarding clients. Collecting feedback. Getting Referrals. Scheduling social media. I had processes for NONE of these things. I was wasting a massive amount of time talking to potential clients that I would never end up working with because it was a terrible fit. I never asked for testimonials that I could use on my site. I would have weeks of radio silence on my social channels. Once I finally realized that I could be prepared for all of these things, I set up processes and started making running my business so much easier on myself.

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Promoting your work with a website

Apr 14, 2015 by jgordon@unitedmediaguild.org

Personal websites are a terrific way for freelance writers to promote their work and attract more business.

On the Freelance Writing Jobs website, Noemi Tasarra-Twigg outlined some basic points to consider:

Capture your essence. “At its core, a writer’s website is your identity online,” Tasarra-Twigg wrote. “It can serve as your business card. It can showcase your writing porfolio. It can have a section that serves as your blog, where you can write about anything you want and update it on a regular basis.

Create an effective “landing page” to prompt visitors into action. “For example, a landing page on your site can ask the visitor to sign up for your newsletter,” Tasarra-Twigg wrote. “Another example is to entice the visitor to buy your eBook. The key to landing pages is that you want people to actually take action. You want conversion. Results.”
Create several sections without creating clutter. “Create several sections, but don’t overdo it,” Tasarra-Twigg wrote. “For example, have a Blog, Portfolio, About Page, Contact Page, and Products Page.”

Make the most of your Contact Page. “Highlight your contact information as much as possible,” Tasarra-Twigg wrote. “Whatever email or phone number you display, make sure you check them often. If you know your response time is between 24-48 hours (or whatever number), make that clear as well.”

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Taking the freelance editing plunge

Apr 6, 2015 by jgordon@unitedmediaguild.org

The newspaper industry has turned lots of highly skilled copy editors loose in the marketplace.

So how do they find their way as freelancers? Former St. Louis Post-Dispatch copy editor David Sheets offered this advice to the American Journalism Review:

“It mostly started out with me talking to people that I knew and asking them to get the word out that I was doing this. But it also required a lot of networking and going out in the community meeting people I didn’t know but kind of knew needed the work that I had to offer.”

For more on making this transition to freelance editing, check out the AJR article.

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Another example of why freelancers should unionize

Mar 18, 2015 by jgordon@unitedmediaguild.org

You would think an upscale lifestyle magazine would have no problem actually paying those who report and write its stories.

Ah, but HudsonMOD deal has a problem, as Jim Romenesko reported on his blog.

Rather than pay freelancer Terry Ward the $3,460 it owed her, the magazine had its attorney send Ward a “cease and desist” letter. It seems Ward had taken to social media to seek public support for her plight and pressure the magazine into paying.

The magazine offered to settle the matter by paying Ward $2,000 to settle the debt.

Such is the life of a freelancer. And this is an another example of why they need to come together.

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Getting started as a freelancer

Mar 9, 2015 by jgordon@unitedmediaguild.org

In a posting for the Make a Living Writing blog, freelance writer Gina Harkey offered five tips for getting started in the business.

Write for free and get good samples. “Writing for free isn’t always the right choice, but it enabled me to build samples for my portfolio and hone my craft — and this gig gave me confidence to apply for paying gigs.”

Connect with the right people. “I connected with my mentor by cold emailing her after I ran across her work. She exposed me to the inner workings of her business, let me contribute to her site, and also introduced me to potential clients.”

Set income goals: “Instead of focusing on how much money I had in the bank, I figured out how much I needed to make to support my family.”

Perfect your pitching: “I let potential clients see my portfolio and client testimonials — and describe how the work I’ve done is a fit for what they are asking for.”

Give it your all: “I hustled by getting up at 4:45 a.m. to write. I hired a babysitter on the weekend when I needed to catch up. And I pitched and pitched and pitched. I checked job boards daily and replied to two or three postings I was a good fit for.”

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