Image credit: Cecile Graat

In her latest issue of The Prosperous Writer, Christina Katz asks, “On a scale of one to ten, how’s your self-respect? Can you say no? Do you say yes to yield to social pressure and supposed-tos and then suffer for it? Are you catering to too many other people’s needs but burning out in the process? Do you listen to and trust your instincts about what is and isn’t the best way to proceed?”

I aim for balance when it comes to my writing business and personal life. I love the flexibility that comes with my business. Spending time with my family, taking care of my health and contributing to my community are all priorities in my life.

• Family: I chose to have a family and that involves spending time with them. It doesn’t mean spending hundreds of dollars on vacation or expensive activities. It can be as simple as reading a book together, playing a board game or sitting at the dining table.
• Health: If I don’t take care of myself, I won’t perform my best for clients, family and others. I believe in “If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” When I don’t get seven to eight hours of sleep, I function at 50 percent the next day, if that. Staying up a couple of hours late isn’t worth the effects it would have on the following day.
• Community: Contributing to my community matters because it takes a village to take care of our world. Without programs and people, many things would never happen to make a difference in people’s lives.

Every year, I gain a couple of new assignments, which often take me out of my comfort zone because they’re new.  Already, I have a new gig that is different that pushes my boundaries while I have fun. I maintain a variety of clients because I enjoy the diversity of the work. Plus, if one should go out of business (knock on wood), my business won’t fall apart because I still have other gigs. I’ve been fortunate that I bring in new clients on a consistent basis.

I thought about creating a course that I’d teach by email. After long deliberations, I opted not to do it. Developing a course not only requires pulling together strong, interactive content, but also promoting it and keeping it fresh. As much as I love the subject, I didn’t have enough confidence that I’d have enough enrollment on a regular basis. Furthermore, I’ve noticed those who do well in offering such classes tend to speak a few times a year and have at least one known published book.

I’m comfortable with giving presentations, but uncomfortable with the answering questions part — a very critical part of the two-way interaction. So that’s not a priority in my business, but I wouldn’t turn down free travel and the opportunity. If it happens, I bring index cards so people can write their questions down or send it  to me on Twitter. Sure, I’ve written two books, but they’re not focused on my expertise.

Because I’m not a high energy person, every opportunity that comes my way receives careful consideration. I do what I can to avoid overwhelming myself and keeping my work streamlined.

How’s your self-respect?

Streamlining has emerged as a theme with a few writers. Christina Katz said good-bye to several newsletters and her fun Back-to-School Giveaway that I participated in for all three years. Kristine Meldrum Denholm, Mary Jo Campbell and Pamela Wilson also write about streamlining and finding your direction and clarity. Freelance Switch shows how to start of your new year with an ideal project profile that can send you on your way.

I’ve shared my struggle to plan for the new year, but these posts help me realize something. Part of the struggle could be a result from my *staying* streamlined. I’ve always known that I am not a high energy person even though I played lots of sports as a kid and continue to make exercise a regular part of my lifestyle.

What can you streamline? Originally, I began to answer that here. Only to find out this post fit a client’s blog, and client comes first. So here’s the streamlining work post. Here are the bullet points from the post along with how they apply to a writing business:

• Changing direction. This can be changing your topic, industry, type of writing (articles, white papers, case studies, greeting cards, etc.) and client types (ad agency, publisher, web site, etc.).
• Replacing one for one. You can drop a publication because it no longer interests you and replace it with one that does. You take on a web content project and drop one that’s focused on doing articles for a publication.
• Dropping energy draining clients and projects. Maybe you’re tired of your beat with one publication. If you aren’t comfortable with dropping the beat without lining up another, wait until you find a new beat that energizes you.
• Social networking. How you spend your time on social networking depends on how you use it. For me, it’s my major marketing tool.
• Unpaid activities. Social networking and writing blog posts in your own blog are unpaid activities (unless you have blog sponsors). Review these unpaid activities and determine how much time you should devote to them.
• Organizations. Being active in a professional writers’ organization can be beneficial in a lot of ways and time consuming. You can change up how to stay involved. Instead of being a board member, be a volunteer on an as-needed basis.

Christina Katz left a great comment. “If you could do anything you wanted to do all day without having to worry about money or anything else at all, how would you spend your day?” I’ve been thinking about that since she left the comment, and I haven’t arrived at an answer yet. What about you? What’s your answer?

While I haven’t answered that question, I can honestly say I’m happy with all of my current clients and projects. (I weaned out the not so enjoyable work a while ago.) So I will continue that route with the occasional acceptance of new projects or applying for them. I’m lucky that my work is diverse. Maybe that’s why I can’t answer Christina’s question.

How are you streamlining your writing business so you can focus on what you love to do?

Prizes: Custom blog design by Jon of Spyre Studios and Freelance Folder, one Alawar PC game package including full copies of Virtual Farm, Curse of Montezuma, and Alex Gordon, and 80 Photoshop brush packs from our guest blogger, Jacob Cass. Just leave a valuable 30+ word comment by July 6, 2008.

As a regular reader of Freelance Folder, I read about a contest that Jacob Cass had going on his Just Creative Design blog. Once I checked it out, I became a regular reader even before I found out I won a prize! I also gave away a few prizes there, too. Jacob oozes talent in both writing, design, and business. This guy hasn’t been blogging long and already established himself as a blogger. How I wish I could be following him on his 30+ days of vacation!

Take Advantage of These Productivity Tips

This article will go through the best time of the day to do things in relation to your mental state of mind which in turn will make you more productive. I present to you… productivity tips for designers.

8am – Face Your Fears Time

This is the quietest time for suicide so this is a good time to face your fears – Know that you have a deadline due at 1pm, know that you have 10 other projects to complete, know that your house needs cleaning, bills need paying and know that there is no end to it. Just make sure you know all this by 11 at night as this is suicide o clock.

9am to 10am – Work Time

Time to tackle your work here, these are the most productive hours (for the majority). Even Darren Rowse thinks so.

10am/11am – Chill Out Time

This is the time that most heart attacks occur so it would be good to chill out or have a break at this time. Coffee or morning tea break anyone?

12pm – Sex & Uncluttered Mind Time (If that can go together?)

If you fancy someone in your office or classroom, now is the time to go in for the kill. As James Sniechowski, author of the The New Intimacy explains: “People are more receptive to advances then, because their minds aren’t cluttered with what they have to do that day or what they have to do when they get home.”

Pretty much this is a great time to get your creative juices going as you have an uncluttered mind. You may also want to check out How To Boost Your Creativity.

1pm – Nap Time

The best time to have a power nap (as I call them) is at around 1pm when your body temperature naturally dips. An ideal power nap should last for 15 to 20 minutes.

2pm – No One Can Touch Me (FIG JAM)

This is the time that we have the highest pain threshold so it is a good time to ask for a promotion or get that dental filling you were meant to have last month but ‘accidentally’ missed.

3pm/4pm – Strength and Mood is at its best

Hand and eye coordination is at its peak and mood levels are high during this period so this would be a good time to have a break. Maybe go for a short jog or for the lazy… maybe some Photoshop Tennis.

This is also the time that people are most awake and alert so how about you do that one last proof now before sending your job to the printer.

5pm – Happy Hour

We all know what 5pm means but did you know that your liver metabolises alcohol most efficiently at this time of the afternoon? After work drinks never sounded so good.

8.30pm – Sweet Sweet Food

Despite what many people think, eating late will not necessarily make you fat says Nigel Denby of the British Dietetic Association. “A calorie is a calorie whenever you eat it.” Dig in.

10.30pm – Sleep

A warm shower helps to make people fall asleep as body temperature needs to fall in order to help us sleep… I don’t think I have ever met a designer who does go to bed at 10.30.

Got any more productivity tips?

About The Author: Jacob Cass is a graphic designer / blogger based in Newcastle, Sydney, Australia. He runs a popular graphic design blog by the name of Just Creative Design of which you can get more articles like the one above just by subscribing to his feed.

Winners of Are You Ready to Hire a Virtual Assistant? entry prizes: April wins Five ebooks on writing from Anne Wayman and Tracy Fitzpatrick wins one full copy of Astraware Classic Collection, which includes Astraware Sudoku, Astraware Solitaire, and Astraware Board games. Congratulations!

This entry’s prizes: One copy of Business Daffynitions: Humor from the Workplace from Joe Heuer, the Rock and Roll Guru, one full copy of Orchidia PC game from Joyboost, (See Meryl’s Orchidia review.) and one copy of Andy King’s Website Optimization. As usual, just post a valuable 30+ word comment by July 6.

Either Peter Bowerman’s name or books came up in the newsletters on writing that I regularly read. Eventually, we exchanged a few emails and I enjoy his knowledge, honesty, and writing. He produces a valuable newsletter and of course, his books are worth every dollar. I’m honored to have him as a guest blogger.

The $75,000 Writer: Follow the Dollars to Freelance Commercial Writing

Imagine This: The editor of a magazine you’ve written several pieces for says yes to a recent query. You outline the parameters of the piece and the conversation turns to money. He says, “Let’s try something a little different this time. Figure out how many hours you think it’ll take to do the piece. Factor in time for research, background reading, travel to and from appointments, brainstorming, interviewing, writing, and editing. Then multiply the hours by $75 and give me a figure.” You return with a number, he says “fine” and you get to work.

Has he lost his mind? Is this a freelancer’s wistful fantasy? In some writing arenas, maybe. But in freelance commercial (corporate) writing, the above-described scenario is pretty much right on the money. And speaking of money, instead of flat fees with potentially vast and open-ended investments of time, here’s a field where fees are based on hourly rates of $50-125 or more, and all time counts.

A Lucrative and Growing Opportunity
In the few decades, prolific downsizing in Corporate America has resulted in the outsourcing of an enormous amount of writing projects to well-paid freelancers. How can you get your share? Who do you contact? Well, for starters, there are two main groups of prospects: End Users (EU) and Middlemen (MM).

End Users (EUs)
EUs are the corporations, large and small (as well as non-profits, universities, and more), that will be the end-users of the writing. With large companies, approach Corporate Communications, also known as “MarCom” (marketing communications). With smaller ones, try marketing, sales, or finally, HR.

A manager with a huge telecommunications firm in Atlanta noted, “Most people would assume that a company of our size would do the bulk of our writing in-house, and they’d be wrong. It’s amazing how much writing we outsource. My writing needs these days are pretty steady, and I pay anywhere from $65-85/hour, depending on the writer’s experience.”

Middlemen (MMs)
MMs – companies often hired by EUs to execute these projects – include advertising agencies, graphic design firms, marketing companies, PR firms, and event production companies – to name the key ones. Few of these entities staff writing talent, preferring instead to hire the right talent for a specific job, and only when needed.

• Ad Agencies/PR Firms: These entities, which can be huge, do staff copywriters for high-profile ad campaigns but will often bring in freelancers to handle “collateral” (marketing brochures, newsletters, sales sheets, etc.). Small agencies offer better opportunities for freelancers.
• Graphic Design Firms: This group tends toward the smaller end and rarely have on-staff writers. They include many “lone rangers” (one-person shops), several of whom have put many thousands of dollars in my pocket over time. Cultivate relationships with the most talented designers at the larger firms. The good ones all eventually go freelance and if they like you and your work, you’ll be on their “A-list.”
• Event Production Companies: These firms handle all aspects of huge corporate conventions, conferences, product launches, etc. That may include show literature, videos, speeches, web content, signage, and more. Contact major convention facilities to get the names of the big players.

Who to Contact?
For all the above MM clients, contact CDs (Creative Directors: often hard to reach), ACDs (Assistant CDs: easier), AEs (Account Executives), PMs (Project Managers). Find them through the actual category listing in the Yellow Pages or through an annual business listing publication.

Beyond the Yellow Pages…
Where else can you find your prospects? Most good-sized metropolitan areas have a weekly business publication ending in “… Business Journal (i.e. Los Angeles Business Journal, Philadelphia Business Journal, etc.) Check www.amcity.com for the full nationwide listing. Get their Book of Lists, an invaluable annual resource listing of the top businesses in dozens of categories.

Whatever your goals or circumstances, the commercial writing field offers a lucrative and growing opportunity for those with good writing skills. Isn’t it time for a raise?

About the author: Peter Bowerman, a freelance copywriter, speaker and business coach, is the author of the award winning Well-Fed Writer titles – how-to “standards” on lucrative freelancing for businesses (www.wellfedwriter.com). In 2007, leveraging the successful self-publishing of his first two books (52,000 copies in print, and a full-time living for five-plus years), he released The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living. (www.wellfedsp.com).

• Add Spark to Your Writing with These 3 Simple Tweaks: I shy away from sentences where I use repeating words even though a comma separates them. This convinced me otherwise.
• So You Want to Become a Freelance Writer? Four part article with advice from the pros.
• Best Pro-Blogging Sentence in 2008: Wonderful quote from a CEO on why blogging matters in business.
• Disposable Email Addresses: Want something? Not sure if you can trust a source asking for your email?
• The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks: Love this. I’ve got friends who do this in email plus add unnecessary apostrophes. Nice to laugh instead of cringe for a change.
• Idea Seeds for Successful Articles and Posts: Creative approach to finding ideas.
• Searching for Mr. (Pardon, Mrs. and Ms., too) Good Host: A guest post of mine over at my guest blogger’s site

And for fun… because we’re allowed…

• Speak LOL Cat [Link: Peter Shankman]
• Bored at work, but don’t want to get caught reading fiction or poetry? How about reading this stuff in PowerPoint? This takes work to figure out — but you log in as a user and click the folders. Start Here.

Not too many entries ago, I wrote an entry on how much to charge for writing. Since then, I’ve come across a few helpful articles on the topic. It’s rare that you’ll find actual rates outside of Writer’s Market and an $100+ ebook. Too many factors and variables can affect the quote.

The best way to learn is from experience and learning about the process of coming up with a quote. I edit graduate theses (edit, not write it unlike those term paper mills).

The first time I landed a thesis editing project, I charged too little. It far took more time than I expected. The second time, I quoted a better rate… but still short of what it should be. By the third time, I had it figured out plus I had a backup in case a couple of rounds of editing turned into 30 revisions.

The following sites explain the process of coming up with a quote (some are general articles for different service-based business and some are specific to those in the writing business):

• WorkZ
• IttyBiz
• Nolo
• About Freelance Writing
• Absolute Write
• Instigator Blog
• Will Write for Chocolate
• Associated Content
• Writing World

Participating in the Community

Reading other blogs or feeds is a great way to learn how to carry a discussion. Find other blogs covering topics similar to yours and check them out. Disagree with their opinions? Write about it and explain your reasons. Cross-blog discussions are common, and that’s where trackback comes in handy.

Trackback is a blog feature. If you decide to comment on another blog posting in your blog instead of in that blog’s comments page, then you link to the conversation through the trackback link. Trackback is similar to the permalink, the permanent URL for the blog entry, but it has a different URL for copying and pasting in your blog’s trackback box.

Aside from the technical aspects of operating a blog on a daily basis, subscriber list size and Web site traffic are good indicators of what kind of reaction you’ll get when opening a blog. Starting from scratch with little traffic means you have a long road ahead and lots of work to do. There is no magic formula anyone can sell you for $97 to make your blog an overnight success. But with some perseverance and ingenuity, your blog can engage many prospects and clients.

Pick a Topic… Any Topic…

Considering there are numerous blogs out there, pick a niche topic when starting a blog for a better shot at attracting and keeping an audience. meryl’s notes focuses on three areas: webby, geeky and wordy. In reality, this is too much. What I should do for my readers is create three separate blog entry points, so those interested in writing, newsletters and Internet marketing get nothing but the wordy entries. Those interested in Web design get the webby stuff and the technophiles receive the geeky content.

I also manage a personal blog separate from meryl’s notes. Bionic Ear about cochlear implants and deafness. This could fall under the geeky category, but it’s a personal blog and doesn’t belong in meryl’s notes. This blog is written for a different audience.

Blogs as Tools

The blogging tools for both of my blogs come with syndication capabilities so those using feed readers or aggregators can read the content through the software. When sending a new issue of a newsletter, comment on it or link to it in the blog, that way the blog and feed readers will get the goods, so all three bases are covered.

Blogging tools aren’t just for, well, blogging. Such tools are an excellent way to help you update your Web site more often than you otherwise would. I use it to manage the list of tableless Web sites. Using blogging tools is much easier than the way I managed it before, updating the HTML files by hand. Though using a blog tool, it isn’t a blog. In this case, the blog tool has become a content management system (CMS).

Small business owners don’t have a need for the fancy and pricey CMSes out there. They find it easier to use blogging software to manage their sites or hire someone to adapt the tool for their site.

Blogs have found a place in businesses and people are finding creative ways to use them. Some companies have a blog on the intranet for communicating project status, jeopardies and metrics. Some use them for knowledge management. With information pouring in, blog applications provide a way to share, organize and process the information.

Being a follower can be good or bad. No one wants to walk off a cliff with the lemmings, but everyone wants to succeed. Best practices won’t help, since the decision to blog depends on the organization’s mission, needs and goals along with its target market’s desires and needs. A blog about lemmings? There is one, sort of. Or maybe you’d like to start your own and talk about dumb business moves.

Part I of article is here.

Lemmings are cute, but dumb. If you tell them to jump off a cliff, they will. Just like the people who start blogs because everyone is doing it. After a little while, the blogs die. While cleaning a list of blogs, I deleted countless sites because the sites and blogs no longer existed. The people ran out of steam or had no reason to start them in the first place.

How do you know when a blog is right for your business? Learn why people start blogs, how they find their niche and how blogging tools do more than just hold blog entries.

Some people like to read blogs, others like to read newsletters, still others like to rely on feeds and some read a few or all of them. No matter the method the information is distributed, each medium has one thing in common: content. Having a blog connects your newsletter, your Web site and your business with all of these readers and delivers important content in a particular style.

Blogging Topics

I’ve been blogging since June 2000. If you review my early blog entries in meryl’s notes, you’ll notice they’re more personal. When blogs first hit the scene in the late ’90s, they were personal diaries and journals. Like the blog business, my blog has transformed from personal to business speak, although I still add personal notes here and there.

A few bloggers tend to talk about their work, their products and their little world. That might work for celebrities where fans want to know everything about them, but it doesn’t work for the average business person.

Other business people want information on how to succeed and when a blog spends time hawking products offering information of no value, few people will return. The people whose products sell well are the ones who provide valuable information. Readers already know what kind of information they’re getting, so they trust that when they buy something, it will be of the same or better quality. They reflect this value in their blogs.

Questions to Ask

No one wants to be a lemming (I would hope). How do you decide whether or not to set up a blog? The answer isn’t black or white (what did you expect?). Ask these questions:

• Can you regularly update it — at least a couple of times a week?
• Do you have something to say other than just linking to others?
• Do you read other blogs or feeds?
• Can you provide information of value to others not just to yourself?
• How large is your newsletter subscriber list?
• How many unique visitors do you get on an average day, week or month?

The big decider is whether you can write in the blog almost daily. The people behind the high traffic blogs post multiple times a day. Though resourceful, merely linking to other sites doesn’t give visitors much reason to read yours.

Read Is a Blog Right for Your Business? Part 2

Renegades usually don’t follow rules because that is what makes them renegades. Rules for Renegades aims to share Christine Comaford-Lynch’s experiences. She states that she started with no special advantages and that 10 life lessons — the rules — she shares will help readers gain confidence and self-esteem, build strong relationships, and become financially independent.

The book oozes Comaford-Lynch’s fiery style and rivets. This is a woman whose history consists of running away to New York to try modeling, becoming a Buddhist monk, inventing several products earning millions of dollars, and making a mistake that cost $8 million. She tells fascinating stories while interweaving advice on funding and starting a company. Reading the book is akin to reading People Magazine and getting the inside scoop on celebrities from a business perspective. Instead of reading about actors, read about an executive who meets celebrities and attempts to motivate.

What are the chances any of us will experience such meetings? Very little. The celebs with the biggest parts are Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, and an anonymous billionaire. She drops plenty of names of people she meet along the way including Connie Chung, Maury Povich, Jane Fonda, and Barbara Walters. This book qualifies more the autobiography section than for the self-help section.

The author’s writing feels loud and she sounds like she bounces off the walls. Few successful people have a personality resembling Comaford-Lynch’s maniacal and hyperactive style. Thus, her experiences aren’t something many of us can do or make happen even if we tried. Her advice seems more kitschy than insightful.

In talking about what it takes to be success, she believes a person’s GSD (Gets Stuff Done) is more important than an MBA. She doesn’t mean to slam education, but tells readers that the real world experience is what matters instead of the pile of degrees. A GSD means you know how to get your foot in the door, set goals, listening to the voice in your head, and avoiding pushiness. If you want to earn a GSD-style degree, David Allen’s GTD (Getting Things Done) is better.

The most interesting thing in the “Work Your Money Mojo” chapter is its title. The advice on raising money from outside the company doesn’t offer anything new: Prove you have a viable product, set measurable goals to track progress, and report to management. However, she does a valuable service in providing resources for getting funding. This information, though, feels out of place in the disjointed book.

Comaford-Lynch deserves congratulations for making millions, working as a CEO for multiple companies, and learning from her mistakes. Her path to all of money, career, and happiness isn’t one most people would want to take to grow and prosper. In sum, Rules for Renegades proves an entertaining read with too much emphasis on things that are bigger than they really are.

• Title: Rules for Renegades: How to Make More Money, Rock Your Career, and Revel in Your Individuality
• Author: Christine Comaford-Lynch
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• ISBN: 0071489754
• Date: August 2007
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 256
• Cover Price: USD: $24.95 – Amazon: $16.47

• I love Wikipedia, but I know it’s not 100% reliable and sometimes you need more than one resource. Beyond Wikipedia: 20 References You Can’t Do Without points to other resources.

• I started reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, but wasn’t impressed. 10 Overrated Business Books (and What to Read Instead) also thinks 7 Habits is overrated.

• In addition to 10 Tips For Marketing Your Book Online, check out Plug Your Book.

• 5 Tips to TRULY becoming your OWN BOSS

• Proofreading Test and Tips — I prescribe to the “put it away for a day” proofing method.

• Contests (writing) and Agencies to Avoid [Thanks, Sage]

• Marketing Lessons from Apple

• “You Ain’t All That!” — A Marketing Copy Autopsy

• Games for the Brain