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):
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.
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.
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.
- Proofreading Test and Tips — I prescribe to the “put it away for a day” proofing method.
- Contests (writing) and Agencies to Avoid [Thanks, Sage]
I referenced Yuwanda Black’s article in a past blog entry in which she shares her experience as a freelance writer, so I was honored when I saw an e-mail from her in my inbox. Sometimes when I link to others, they drop me a note thanking me — so I wasn’t completely surprised.
However, she not only thanked me for the mention, but also asked if she could interview me for her newsletter [pdf file] on how to start a freelance career. Though I’ve been interviewed a few times, it pleasantly surprises me whenever someone asks as I’m used to being the one who contacts people for interviewing — not the other way around.
Anyway, here is the interview. I hope new and future writers can glean something from the interview. If there are unanswered questions in the interview, post a comment here and I’ll do my best to answer them.
The Internet and business magazines contain plenty of anecdeotes on business that have succeeded with implementing community-based tools. Such tools connect businesses to people, clients, suspects, and prospects. These start conversations and build relationships.
Businesses, especially executives, love numbers that prove the success rate of a product, service or tool. So,I wanted to find statistics on businesses using community tools. Talk about impossible task! Well, not impossible, but too time consuming to get results without whiling away my day.
Sure, there’s a wiki listing Fortune 500 that have blogs, but its last update was October 2006 and it only focuses on the biggies. Plenty of sites show proof that businesses have accepted and incorporated blogging:
- Problogger list of business blogs
- PR Wiki corporate blog list
- Business podcast directory
- Wiki cuts one person’s time spent on projects by 25%
I’ve looked in blogging books and podcasting books. Nada. I’d love to create a poll that would help us all — but I fear that’s too ambitious for my schedule. Anyone know of any resources with numbers pertaining to businesses?
WorldMate 2006 Professional Edition is the “Swiss Army Knife” of travel as it contains 14 travel-related tools in one neat little package. The subscription-based application wirelessly provides updates to weather reports, world times, flight schedules and statuses, currency rates and satellite maps.
Itinerary
The itinerary holds all the information regarding your flight, car rental, hotel, cruise info, train and even meetings. Since services can e-mail you the itineraries, it might be easier to copy and paste the information into your device than to go through the Itinerary tool. [Click image to view larger]
Area Codes
When people give you a phone number, they might not include the area code or dialing prefixes assuming that you know them. The Area Codes tool provides GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), US and Canada area codes, and international dialing prefixes. Search for codes by entering the first letter of the city or country to jump to it. However, if you want to do a reverse lookup (i.e. enter the area code to find out where the call came from), you’ll need to rely on the Internet or another tool as this one doesn’t do reverse lookups.
Map
View the world day / night map to quickly see where it’s day and night around the world. Tap any spot on the map to identify the city or select the city from the list to see its exact location. A nice tool that would be nicer if we could zoom in.
Measurement and Currency
Someone tells you that where you want to go is 16 kilometers away. Americans continue to hold out on converting to the metric system, so enter the distance into the measurement calculator to find out that the destination is 10 miles. It also converts areas, length, speeds, volumes, weights and temperatures. Currency calculator works similarly where you can select three currencies for converting. Since currency rates change, the tool stays updated through the subscription service.
Packing List
Instead of starting a packing list from scratch, use the checklist in WorldMate’s Packing List. Check the items you need to pack, and they appear on “My List” so you only see what you need to take instead of all the items you’re not taking. Packing List also sorts items in categories for easier finding.
Tipping/Tax Calculator
Not all countries operate the same in terms of taxes and tipping. The Tip, Tax Calculator lets you select the country and service (restaurant, bar/pub, hotel porter, taxi, concierge, deliveries, airport and general) so you can figure out what you will owe. The calculator also gives you the option of adding the tip, tax or both amounts into the calculation on top of the bill amount.
Clothing
Business trip or not, you might want to shop for surprises and clothes for yourself. But the sizing in Europe, UK and Japan might not be the same as home. Instead of picking out three different sizes of shoes that look about your size — use the Clothing chart to look up your shoe size and find the right size. If you’re a female size 8, you’re a size 40 in Europe, 6.5 in England, and 25.5 in Japan. The application advises using the chart as a guideline.
WorldMate Professional supports many handheld devices, smartphones and cell phones. It’s a worthy investment for frequent travelers so they can stay updated on all important travel-related information. Mobimate also has a standard edition, which offers fewer services for a lower subscription rate.
Those who rarely travel won’t need something as powerful as WorldMate. Other applications exist that don’t require a subscription. However, this means you’ll need to enter the currency rates yourself for calculating and it won’t be updated unless you regularly check the rates. Weather applications that don’t rely on over-the-air updates can be updated when connecting the device to the PC through the cradle or USB cable.
WorldMate is available for just about every mobile device. Even a 2007 edition is available as well as a standard edition. Here are links to get you started and figure out what you’d be interested in.
Saw these resources in Selling Power magazine. They give you the basics for understanding financial statements, balance sheets and income statements. These resources help you “translate” the statements so you understand the company’s current financial situation and problems so you can get the juicy details.
Reading Business Financial Statements
While freelancing offers flexibility in terms of time and location, procrastinators and people who can’t motivate themselves will find it a struggle. Unlike a corporate job, “when you’re not working, you don’t earn money.” In the corporate world on a regular salary, you get paid during slow times even if it means you might spend that time chatting, playing games or surfing the Web.
Sticking to a schedule doesn’t mean creating a schedule like high school. First period: Blogging. Second period: Answering e-mails. It’s more flexible, but you do the same things around the same time every day.
I start my day by checking and deleting e-mails. Then I blog here and at InformIT. Next, I review my calendar and to do items to decide what tasks to complete for the day. This means picking one to three tasks that I can check off and feel a sense of accomplishment — NOT looking at the long list and pouting that I have too much to do.
Sure, on occasion, I might not blog until the afternoon. It’s OK to stray from your general schedule as things come up or you’re motivated to do something else. Having a schedule helps you make it a habit of getting specific things done each day and you tend to stick to it.
Do you have a craving or a feeling about things on specific days of the week? Days of the year? For instance, do you have a hankering for turkey or Mom’s famous dessert at Thanksgiving? Do you feel like swimming or grilling on Memorial Day, 4th of July and/or Labor Day? Because we get used to doing the same things on those holidays, it becomes a habit and a desire. Scheduling the same tasks each day works in a similar way.
I start my day with a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. Last week, when the newspaper didn’t show up for the first time in ages, we called the newspaper and they delivered it to my door by 9:00am. However, the “first thing” feeling passed and I was already deep in my work that I never read the paper that day. It felt weird not to start my day with the newspaper because of habit.
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