by Jargon Writer

As Journalists, Are We Also Experts?

I was discussing the idea of experts–and journalists as experts–with a fellow writer earlier this week. She shared that at her previous job, as a business to business journalist, she and her co-worker were frequently asked for advice from readers.

As magazine writers they naturally were in a position to receive up-to-date industry news and to interview various industry experts on subject matters relevant to their audience. This is true, I think, of almost any journalism job. But did that mean they were qualified to hand out advice?

We’ve Got The Beat

We, as writers, develop a beat–be it a neighborhood or a subject matter–that we tend to write about most frequently. Magazine staff are often assigned a beat, but even many freelancers choose a niche and write the majority of their work for that niche. As such, we grow networks within that field that we can rely on to provide us with quotes and information for our pieces; facts to slide into our writing… data from which we can draw ideas and write our stories. Continue reading…

Weeding The Good Clients From the Bad

Even after you figure out how to get a a rave recommendation from a previous client or acquaintance and it sends a new client your way, you still have to land the gig. If you pitched yourself well to the person who recommended you, hopefully the potential new project will be a good match. But, as Lindsey pointed out in the comments of “Calling All Word Nerds,” that’s not always the case.

In order to avoid wasting time on a client whose needs you can’t meet or who can’t afford your services, there are a number of things you can do to set realistic expectations.

Make Sure Your Website Is Clear.

Even though a you were recommended to them, chances are your potential new client will still check out your website and the materials you make available on your services before actually contacting you. So your first chance to separate the weeds from the flowers (those prepared to pay for your services)  is on your website–in particular, on its Frequently Asked Questions page. Continue reading…

Recommended Reading: Freelancers Are Chickens

This week’s reading recommendation comes from friend and fellow freelancer P.S. Jones.

Over at Diary of a Mad Freelancer, P.S. Jones breaks down the difference between being a chicken and being a pig this way, “Either you can be a pig or a chicken. When it comes to making breakfast, there are two levels of involvement. The chicken is pretty involved. It creates and passes an egg through its hoo-haw. Then, it donates it to the  breakfast cause. However, the pig is extremely dedicated. It lays down its life for breakfast. While a chicken will go on to be a part of many other breakfasts, a pig has everything riding on this one.”

Therefore, she says freelancers are chickens, while employees are pigs. Not convinced? Read her piece here.

And since I haven’t caught you up in a while on what I’ve been writing about elsewhere… Continue reading…

Playing (Freelance) Match Maker

Ever wonder why all your freelance friends seem to be getting referrals for new work and you’re not?

I mentioned Monday that I was in a position recently to recommend several of the other writers within my network to my editor in chief at Pet Business. He happened to be looking for a few new writers and since I happened to know several writers who were looking for new work, I happily made the introductions.

I do things like that all the time. If I know someone looking for a service and I know someone offering that service, I’ll try to match the two up. I also keep my ear to the ground about jobs–if I know someone looking for a job and I know someone hiring, I’ll gladly introduce them.

But there are several people within my network right now who I’d happily endorse–if I knew what they did and who they want to be doing it for. In each case I know the person is reliable and would feel good recommending them. But I can’t make a connection if I don’t understand what they’re looking for. Continue reading…

Calling All Word Nerds!

I’m excited to share that I’ll be appearing tomorrow night at 8 EDT as part of Brazen Careerist’s Network Roulette Event. Tomorrows event focuses on Word Nerds–professionals making a living from words. There are some awesome folks who have pledged to attend as experts (yours truly included) and I highly recommend you sign up.

If you’d like to check out who will be there and our creds, we’re all listed on the Word Nerd sign up page.

Jason, over at Brazen Careerist also interviewed all of us for a fantastic post on Five Tips for Aspiring Writers, that gives you a pretty good preview of the kinds of info you can expect to find if you attend the event.

He sent over some kick-butt questions when preparing the post, but since he had so many experts so little space, he only got in a quote or two from each of us. So I though I’d share the rest of my tips here.

Jason: What is the importance of networking in your career? Continue reading…

Guest Post: Work Less, Earn More & Get a Life

I’m honored to share a guest post with you today from the wonderful Jennifer Mattern on how to work less, earn more, and get a life beyond freelancing. Today’s post covers phases one: the workaholic and phase two: exhaustion. Check out the first part of this post for Phase one: Workaholic and Phase two: Exhuastion –today’s post is on Phase three: Taking control.

Jennifer Mattern is a freelance business writer and professional blogger who writes about freelance writing, social media, indie publishing, and small business. She also publishes e-books for freelance writers and is scheduled to publish her first nonfiction book, The Query-Free Freelancer, next year. Jennifer Mattern is behind All Freelance Writing, ProBusiness Writer, and Social Implications. Check out her sites — the lady knows her stuff.

How to Work Less, Earn More and Get a Life Beyond Freelancing – Phase Three: Taking Control

Once I resolved to make changes, I was able to identify my underlying problem. I was stuck in the “work more” mentality rather than the “work smarter” one. To get more done I didn’t have to work more hours. I just had to learn to use the time I did devote to work more efficiently.

One of the biggest changes I made was to my working hours. No more did I get out of bed when I felt like waking up, telling myself I could work as late as I needed to. I knew that I was completely unproductive in the afternoons. I chained myself to my desk but still didn’t get much done during those hours. I started setting my alarm for 4:00am. Continue reading…

Guest Post: Work Less, Earn More & Get a Life

I’m honored to share a guest post with you today from the wonderful Jennifer Mattern on how to work less, earn more, and get a life beyond freelancing. Today’s post covers phases one: the workaholic and phase two: exhaustion. Stay tuned for Friday’s post — Phase three: Taking control.

Jennifer Mattern is a freelance business writer and professional blogger who writes about freelance writing, social media, indie publishing, and small business. She also publishes e-books for freelance writers and is scheduled to publish her first nonfiction book, The Query-Free Freelancer, next year. Jennifer Mattern is behind All Freelance Writing, ProBusiness Writer, and Social Implications. Check out her sites — the lady knows her stuff.

How to Work Less, Earn More and Get a Life Beyond Freelancing

Do you ever feel like you work too hard and still don’t achieve that freelance writing success you long for? Do you work late regularly, putting in sixty or more hours a week, and still struggle? There are better options. You don’t have to work your fingers to the bone, clickity-clacking away at the keyboard all day to make a living as a freelance writer. You can find a better balance, making time not only for work but for family, friends and play.

Let me share a story with you — how I personally went from being a workaholic writer to one who can earn a full-time living with part-time hours, accomplish more now than I did at sixty or more hours per week, and have plenty of time left over to enjoy life, pursue hobbies, and spend more time with loved ones. Continue reading…

Getting Up & Getting Back On

Last night at the gym I was bench pressing; I went to re-rack the bar and my hand slipped–Instead it fell on my face. Immediately three guys at the gym rushed over to pull the bar off of me and to make sure I was alright. I shakily stood up, thanked them for their help and went to clean the blood of my face–and then I came back to the bench, laid back down and did two more sets.

You may have heard the term “when you fall off the horse, get up, dust yourself off and get back on.” The idea is that after something goes wrong, it’s natural to be afraid of doing it again. By immediately “getting back on” you’ll be less likely to develop a long-term fear of horseback riding (or bench pressing or whatever). You show yourself that you’re not going to let that fear hold you back and begin the first step in overcoming it.

Doing this last night made me realize that I wasn’t doing the same thing in my freelance career. Whenever I receive disappointing news (a rejection letter, for example), instead of “getting right back on” I tend to wallow and procrastinate before sending out the next one. Instead, I should immediately start working on a new query and pitch, pitch, pitch. It’s the only way I’ll ever be able to stop myself from developing a fear of rejecting and letting that fear hold me back. So this weekend I’m going to sit down and send out some queries–and from now I’ll respond to any query letters by sending out two more.

[Image via Wikicommons]

Lessons From Retail

I spent the last week at a trade show for my day job. In some ways, I love trade shows–they are an opportunity to get out of the office and really talk to people about what’s going on in my industry. In other ways, they’re difficult–you have to be “on” all the time.

However, while there I intentionally didn’t work on anything not related to the show. I gave my brain the week off. And what resulted was a plethora of ideas for posts here and over at my freelance writing website.

Today’s inspiration came from a Retailer Idea Exchange Seminar I attended, hosted by Two Hat Marketing’s Steve Miller. One of the things Steve talked about was the fond farewell. Now, keep in mind that this particular seminar was for retail stores — mostly brick & mortar retail stores.

See, there are two times during your interaction with your customer that are particularly important: their first impression and their last impression. Continue reading…

Why (and how) I Redesigned My Freelance Website

Okay, so the title of this post is a tad bit misleading–it uses the past tense, implying I’m finished redoing the site. Really, it’s still a work in progress. And the truth is, I don’t think I’ll ever be “done” working on the site. I constantly apply tweaks, and as of right now, there are at least 5-6 more things I want to change.

But when I decided to refocus on my freelancing work, I took a good look at my existing site. Was it really on target? Did it portray everything it needed to? A lot of the copy was okay, but the site was very basic and didn’t really go into as much detail as I wanted it to. I began poking around, looking at free wordpress themes and found one I really liked. It was cleaner than my previous design and much easier for a novice like me to play with on the back end. I understand just enough web design to be dangerous.

I’d also decided this site wasn’t very client focused. As much as I love sharing my journey, posts about how to price freelancing services aren’t going to help me sell said services to a new client. So I wanted to create a resource on that site with pieces that clients could look through that *might* help them decide to purchase my services. So I’ve launched a new blog on www.melissabreau.com for that purpose exclusively. I brought over some of the more targeted pieces from the Jargon Writer archives, but mostly it’s new content. Continue reading…