January 2008

The following posts were written in January 2008.

Monday, January 21, 2008, 1:04pm

Talking to Your Clients About Money

Home Biz Notes points to a post by The Golden Pencil describing the way people discuss money - or really the way people DON’T talk about money.

I think this topic relates to all kinds of freelancers. Here’s a snippet:

As Anne says, especially if you don’t have a business background, it’s quite common to think that money seems to be somehow associated with greed. In fact it’s your earned income, just like employees get a wage. You have expenditure, running costs, charges and profit.

You can extend this idea to a discussion of money and payment with clients. Money can be an uncomfortable subject for new freelancers, especially after unforeseen problems or design revisions make a “liar” out of the initial estimate. While clarity is certainly important in preventing discrepancies, composure is just as critical in a difficult situation. (more…)

Sunday, January 20, 2008, 11:10am

Writing What You Know, And Admitting What You Don’t

Last night I received a very polite email asking my opinion on a specific affiliate program. Because I wasn’t familiar with that particular program, I couldn’t be much help and replied with an apology for my lack of knowledge on the subject. I also asked that he keep me informed about his success in the program as I was (and am) quite interested.

From this exchange, I realized that probably one of the most important qualities of a successful writer is his or her ability to write from experience and knowledge, without the “fluff”. It’s easy to report the news or regurgitate another story especially as a blogger when news is real-time and continuous, but it’s more meaningful to really learn about something and then write about the experience.

I suppose that’s something I should keep in mind myself.

Saturday, January 19, 2008, 3:31pm

The “One And Done” Blogger Syndrome

Just like workers in other professions, sometimes a blogger will fall into a rut. One problem that manifests itself during a rut is the notion of “if I just squeeze out this post I can move on”. In other words, an author will begin to force ideas just to publish a post.

I call this the “One and Done” syndrome because what you’re really doing is taking away from the continuous nature of a blog - that is, the idea that a blog is a stream of ideas and that you are constantly reading and learning and building upon those ideas has now become merely an exercise. (more…)

Saturday, January 19, 2008, 10:39am

As a Follow Up to My Last Post

…I can safely say I’ve secured more freelancing work through blogging than I have through any other method, even more than local, offline word-of-mouth marketing. I think blogging, combined with services like tumblr and Twitter and Facebook, is a great way to connect with others if - and here’s the kicker - you use these services with a purpose.

Many people are too afraid or embarrassed to ask friends or colleagues for help in their work or in their startup, but why? I’ve asked friends if they knew business owners looking for a website and more often than not it works out well for everyone involved. If it’s an awkwardness or an ego thing, you’ll get over it pretty quickly when that new client asks for a $3,500 website redesign.

The people you connect with through your blog can make a big difference in your success. Though I still feel blogging strictly for money is a poor use of your time, if you write with a purpose you’ll be successful in many other ways.

Friday, January 18, 2008, 10:55pm

Blogging is a Bad Way to Make Money (Directly)

There I said it. Someone has to agree with me, right? While blogging can do wonders for building your personal brand and securing freelancing gigs, by itself it isn’t a very lucrative profession.

Yes, bloggers have found the occasional niche and profited very nicely, but overall the grass is more brown than green, and the median income for a blogger is probably not far from $0. Here’s a very quick analysis of why I feel blogging strictly for money is not an effective use of your time.

Let’s say I spend one hour a day writing 1-2 posts. I think that’s a pretty realistic time commitment and I challenge anyone to write a quality post in less than 30 minutes. So over the course of a month you’re looking at around 30 hours. (more…)