It’s July 4th, Independence Day here in the U.S. And here I am, tied to my computer, swamped with work while everyone else is at the beach - and wondering if I am, in fact, ‘free’ and independent. I made some lists, and the answer I’ve come up with is this: yes and no. Let me know what you think…

YES

• I am my own boss
• I can wear whatever I want to work
• My dog comes with me to the office
• I work in a beautiful post and beam shed in an oak and huckleberry forest on Martha’s Vineyard
• I can choose which projects I want to work on
• I can choose my clients
• I make my own schedule
• I eat popcorn for lunch almost every single day
• I can spend time with my family when I want to, not when the boss says so
• I had a meeting on the beach this morning
• I LOVE my work

NO

• If I’m not here working, the shop is closed, the cash flow is stopped
• I don’t have a substitute Julie to stand in or do the heavy lifting
• I’m addicted to my blog
• I’m addicted to my Blackberry
• I’m in love with my MacBook
• I have no vacation or sick time
• My dog is the only one in my office with me and he won’t answer my phone and can’t type
• I never turn away work
• I’m a workaholic

See what I mean? Yes and No. What do you think? Am I free? Are you?

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Do you charge by the hour or by the project? Do you send estimates or proposals? When do you require payment?

After much trial and error, and the guidance of a fabulous mentor. I have some pretty solid answers for these questions. Here they are and my reasons why:

1. I charge by the project.

• This is for the sake of clarity. I found that when I charged by the hour, it ended up being an invitation to a negotiation. When I said something took 10 hours, there were questions (’did it really take you that long?’) and I felt that my time and my work were devalued.
• A wise, wise person once said to me, “I build websites twice as fast as I did 5 years ago and my skill and experience levels have quadrupled. If I was charging by the hour, I’d be making half the amount for far better work.” This is a golden statement because it is so true. One of my strengths is my speed. Typically, I write very fast and charging by the hour would penalize me for this instead of honoring my ability to deliver high quality work quickly.
• Concepting time. Now who can place an hourly value on this most important part of any creative process? Sometimes I eat lunch, sometimes I read my favorite blogs, sometimes I walk my dogs, sometimes I write free form - but my mind is always working and suddenly, blam!, I’ve got it. The concept is there and the writing begins.

2. I send proposals. I found that when I sent an estimate such as 6-8 hours, clients set their sights on the lower number and again there was a lot of wiggle room. With a proposal, everyone is clear about what will be done and exactly how much it will cost.

3. I require payment before I begin any project. For one time projects, I require 50% before I write a word and then the final 50% at the project’s completion. For ongoing projects, like blogging, I require payment for the upcoming month before it begins. I know some people won’t send the final draft until they have the last check, but I haven’t had to go that far.

• As a freelancer these methods are critical to keeping the cash moving. I’ve had many projects where I’ve completed the bulk of the work and the client gets busy and hasn’t done the final proof…and on and on…until it’s been 8 months and I haven’t seen a dime.
• When working with a new client, protect yourself and get the money first. I hate to think the worst, but there are bad people out there who will take your work and then disappear. Of course, with established clients or close-knit referrals, you can bend this rule if you need to due to time constraints.

Have anything to add? The comment link is right down there…

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This is incredible news because up until now - many of my clients were having to choose between the flash of flash and the flash of SEO. Flash’s wow factor was always dampened by the fact that search engines (like Google and Yahoo!) couldn’t read the flash. Expensive alternatives like making mirror sites without the flash or simply adding content on the site’s back end. Of course, blogs have played a key roll in site findability - and they still will - whether the search engines can read flash or not.

If anyone is interested in a flash site, but has been holding back because of non-searchableness (my word), I work with an expert team that specializes in flash, Stainless Communications, that created this: Bonobo Kids.

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Networking, word of mouth and relationships have been the greatest marketing tools for my business. While I had to have the skill, know-how, tools, etc. in order to actually do any networking, my business was built on and continues to be sustained by this growing, active network and my participation in it.

1. Join a networking group or 5. I was a member of my local BNI chapter back in Northampton, MA where my business was born. You could also join your local chamber but most people find that it isn’t as effective for relationship building as BNI. Another smart choice is to find online, local if possible, groups that support each other. I’m part of a group called Hidden-Tech where jobs are posted, questions are asked and answered, information is shared, relationships grow and people collaborate every single day. You can find groups that directly relate any profession. BNI has been the most supportive of my business, however. I find it to be brilliant in several ways:

• a weekly meeting of a committed group of professionals with open networking, educational information, self-promotion requirements and shenanigans at 7am
• one seat is allowed for each profession - one writer, one graphic designer, one CPA
• you have the chance to tell your group all about your business and educate them about what you do every week
• everyone is there to network and help each other
• your chapter is your marketing team - they learn about you and your business and spread the word on a daily basis
• good chapters pass millions of dollars each year

2. You’ve heard me say it before, but I believe that every situation is a networking opportunity. Without being obnoxious (really), I talk to people about what they do and about what I do all the time. It’s seed planting and you never know where it will lead. Sometimes the rewards are instantaneous…and priceless.

3. Web 2.0, social networking, social bookmarking, blogging. Participate online. The internet was created to share information and to communicate. If you are just focusing on your local clientele, you are missing out on an entire world of opportunity. Participate by

• blogging and sharing information
• reading other blogs
• commenting on other blogs
• responding to comments on your blog
• bookmarking blogs, sites and articles on sites such as Digg, Hugg, Technorati, etc.
• actively networking on sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Squidoo, etc.
• being respectful and unspamlike at all times

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I am completely awestruck by songwriters. There are only a set amount of notes, and yet, every second it seems, new songs are created - totally original, new, unheard of. How is this possible? I’ve always wondered if, at some point, music’s creativity pool would become saturated - all of the notes in all of their combinations would be written, played, sung - there has to be a finite point of fulfillment, right? I swear we ran similar numbers in junior high math class. Ahhh, if only I had paid attention…or enjoyed math. I realize that the NUMBER must be huge - but it exists…doesn’t it?

Then, last night, as I finished one of the best books ever (more on that later), it occurred to me that the same idea could be applied to writing. There are only 26 letters (in my country, anyway) - so musn’t there be a finite number of words and word combinations, ie. stories, posts, emails, novels, websites? Again, I know this number has to be gigantic…but??? And aren’t we, writers, just as awe-inspiring as these songwriters because we have the ability to take this set amount of tools and compose something original, new and unheard of?

If any of you are math geeks (is this considered probability?)…I’d love to hear your thoughts. This is so heady for a Monday morning, eh?

My book recommendation: I have this thing, sometimes, for discovering things later than everyone else…and I’ll tell you why this works to my advantage. If someone were to watch, say, Sex and the City as each episode aired, they would have to wait weeks, months, years to feed their fix. But, if you waited until they were all out on DVD, you could watch them straight through - voraciously - without the need for patience.

I just discovered a book called Wicked and its sequel, Son of a Witch. I know that I’m late to the game - but I got to read them right in a row…boom, boom. Gregory Maguire is brilliant - he created a whole world. He made words do about a gajillion things I’d never seen them do before. I’m totally bewitched, hopelessly ensorceled.

(Prize for whoever can tell me what character, on what prime time show used that word ensorceled to describe his feelings for a love interest.)

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The business is ready to launch, and now it’s time to tell the world about it.There must be an infinite number of ways to do this strategically and productively, here are mine:

1. Send something unique. Don’t send what everyone else is sending - a great way not to do that is to look through your mail for a few weeks and gather all of the junk direct mailers that annoy you and go straight to the recycle bin. Then create the opposite. My original mailer, which you can view on my portfolio page, was a brochure in the form of a greeting card. The color was deep and eye-catching (and bright pink). My business card was attached inside and easily removable. I received countless remarks that the color and shape of the piece made them open it…and read it, because it was something they just didn’t see everyday.

2. Purposeful Direct Mail (as opposed to Random Direct Mail). I urge you to learn from my experience. Here’s the time I did it wrong: I once sent a 750 piece direct mailer to a random list (happened to be to my Chamber of Commerce). I got one, 1, uno job (that’s a .1% return rate). Here’s the time I did it right: I found a small group of companies (about 125) that I knew would understand what copy was and would have a need. (see the niche post for more details). I sent my mailers to them, and then I called every single company (had a contact name for the person I needed). I got 17 clients (that’s a 13% return rate). The average direct mail return rate is 2%.

3. Show don’t tell. Don’t just send something that tells people what you do and how well you do it. SHOW THEM. You’ll notice that my direct mailer reads like a catalog page. This is because I thought I really wanted to do catalog writing back then - so I demonstrated my catalog abilities. If you want to write press releases, illustrate yourself in press release style. If you want to write ads, create a self-promoting ad.

4. Get their attention. Send a promotion or premium. Here are two things I thought about doing and didn’t do, you are welcome to them if they fit:

• Send a huge, weighty oversized pen with your contact info and with a note that reads: “If your pen gets this heavy when you think about writing, call me.” (ooh, I actually like that one and might have to use it…)
• Get seeded paper like this, with copy that says: “When you add water to this paper, you get flowers. When you add my words to this paper, you get success.”

Okay, people. It’s time to share. Tell us what you’ve done, how you’ve done it and why it’s worked (or not worked)…

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A frequent topic on this blog, and with my clients, revolves around the conundrum of giving ideas, content, video, tools, etc. away for free online all in the name of branding, publicity and increased sales. And here it is coming up again - this time in the form of a story about JC Penney, viral marketing and how they just don’t get it.

A colleague of mine, Ron Miller, has written an amusing and very smart article about the situation for Daniweb.com. Apparently, JC Penney recently aired an ad that was a bit cheeky and insinuated that teenage sex was good, fun, okay and something, perhaps, to aim for when dressing in your JC Penney garb…and now the company is totally freaked out and trying to cover their tucasses (sp? what is the plural of tucas?) They’re busy trying to say that they never authorized the ad and certainly don’t condone teen sex. According to Miller:

What JC Penney failed to understand is that this ad did them far more good than harm. The people they want to reach saw it and were talking about JC Penney. When was the last time this 20th century company had any buzz on the internet. How about never? As for the people who think the video condones teen sex, chances are those people aren’t watching YouTube.

And this concept of intensive brand protecting vs. viral marketing can be found on Facebook as well. One of Ron’s friends recently made a FB gift of a Nerf toy…and joked that she could possibly get in trouble for using the name without legal permission, that Hasbro might insist that she and others stop using their name and product. Ron wrote:

…they would be stupid if they do. Can’t beat the free publicity of Facebook. I realize you can’t let just anyone mess with your carefully crafted brand, but companies have to realize that there is a bright line between protecting your brand beyond reason and letting a fan champion your brand for free. Fact is, my friend is making a tribute to Nerf toys.

Last night I watched the Oprah about YouTube - featuring a handfull of people who are now bazillionaires, or somehow infamous, because of their YouTube videos. Does it matter that Esmee’s YouTube videos have been downloaded millions of times for free? No, because Justin Timberlake found her and signed her to his record label (and she got to sing with him and touch him). Does it matter that 2 million people watched a ridiculous couple do a rather lame version of the final dance from Dirty Dancing via YouTube? No, because they got to do it again on Oprah, and Patrick Swayze showed up and (and they got to dance with him and touch him).

Bottom line: free can be good, viral is queen…do not underestimate the power of putting yourself out there and seeing what happens.

Read Ron Miller’s entire article here.

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Prospective clients will ask to see your work without a doubt. Showcasing copy work is very different from showing design work - sort of. People like visuals, so there is a possibility that if your copy isn’t that hot, but the design that it’s sitting in is, they might imagine your copy is actually quite great. Consequently, this works in the reverse as well. So, if your copy is amazing, but it is presented as a Word document, a viewer might think it’s boring and poorly written. Notice that I said ‘viewer’…frequently, this is what prospects do - meaning they don’t take or have the time to read all of your precious copy. I know, I know…hard to believe!

That said, you must have a print or a web portfolio available (both if possible):

1. If you are totally new to the game and you don’t have any writing samples that you can actually showcase, make up a portfolio. I DID. Yes, yours truly had been writing forever, but save a few grant proposals, I had nothing to show when I struck out on my own - so I made it all up. I gave myself assignments and wrote ads, brochures, catalog pages, etc.

If this is your situation, write sample pieces that reflect exactly what you’d like to write professionally - pick the formats (re. website), the topics (re. the environment), the size/type of company (re. 100 employees/non-profit), etc. But vary all of your samples, even within a topic, to show the breadth of your skills. And don’t be shy about telling a prospect what you did - this takes gumption my friends - and a ton of drive, creativity and discipline. If you’re really stuck, email me and I’ll send you some assignments.

2. If you have a few choice samples, you may want to pre-package several of them to be mailed or emailed at a moment’s notice. This makes you look super prepared, and saves you a ton of time (from scrambling to put each individual packet together). Trust me on this one.

3. Assemble your print portfolio in a professional portfolio book with clear sleeve pages. This looks great and protects your work. I found mine at an art store…and I had one of my ‘artistic’ friends put it together because, like many writer types, my fine art skills are simply pathetic.

4. Your web portfolio provides people with the time to actually read your work - so make sure they can. Snapshots that work for graphic designers don’t really cover your writing samples fully. I chose to provide people with the option to open each piece as a pdf - or just to get the snapshot overview.

5. Update your portfolio (says the copywriter who has done no such thing for over a year!!!). Guilty as charged, though as of this posting, my updates should be live in a couple of weeks. As you build your portfolio, tell the world. You’ll learn and grow…show it off.

6. Always ask clients for samples of the finished product (actual print pieces and digital files). As I mentioned, your copy will look much better when it lives in a designed, glossy brochure or site than on an 8×11 piece of printer paper.

7. Remember that everything is your portfolio. While I’m talking about creating an online or a print portfolio, when you are a writer everything you write is fair game. All of your communications (email specifically), your website, your brochure, your blog, your laundry list - everything you write becomes a sample of your craft.

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Why blog? BECAUSE:

Static websites (that do not continually upload content, but act as an online brochure) do not rate in site rankings. To compete in your industry and to be found by the world, you must add valuable, pertinent information to your website on a regular basis - a blog is the perfect platform.

1. Blog posts are dramatically less expensive than newspaper, magazine, radio, TV or web banner ads. For instance, ONE well-placed newspaper ad that guarantees a view by all readers can cost upwards of $50,000.

2. Blog posts are eternal advertisements. They live forever online, whereas a newspaper, magazine, radio or TV ads are gone with the trash/recycling or are missed when someone grabs a snack during the commercials. With a blog, you can be found by a potential client because they searched for a topic you blogged about 5 years ago.

3. While ads may have a headline, a company overview and contact information, each blog post offers vital information on each facet of your business or industry. This profoundly widens the net that you throw and establishes you as an expert in your field.

4. Because blogs are ongoing, the information you post is timely, relevant and cutting-edge.

5. Your blog is a showcase of your expertise and a portfolio of your work.

6. A standard ad is built for the general public, or even the general public of a specific readership (re. Boston Magazine, Science News). Each blog post focuses on a specific element of your profession and contains highly researched keywords that pull qualified visitors to the blog and your site.

7. In essence, blogging is a pure form of permission (or relationship) marketing. Your readers and potential clients found you, you did not coerce them into visiting with bells and whistles and flashing lights. You offered value and information, and they came looking for you.

8. Everyone is online and Web 2.0 supports people in participating, communicating and connecting online. The blogging platform encourages these interactions and a powerful sharing of information and referrals forming strategic web relationships.

9. Traveling purposefully through the blogosphere is essentially a dream networking situation. This is not a Chamber of Commerce Meet ‘n Greet. Here, you can pick and choose who you want to talk to, you have time to think before you speak and you have more than a business card - you have your blog standing behind you, backing you up and showcasing your incredible expertise.

10. When you build your readership, the possibilities of additional income streams (not attached to how many houses you sell, clients you have, hours you work) is endless. Some examples would be product sales, advertising and webinars (people are hungry to learn online in their own time, in their own home).

11. Even though there are currently about 90 million blogs…not everyone has one. Establishing yourself with a blog puts you ahead of many competitors in your industry.

12. When new sites are created, the search engines ’sandbox’ them and don’t immediately rank them or allow them to be searchable. A consistent blog and strategic blog marketing can circumvent this quarantine completely, making you available and findable to the world.

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The business is just ticking along lately, so my over-analyzing mind started picking out the whats, whos, whys, hows and wheres of the positivity. Here are a handful:

1. Every night before I leave my office, shed, shack (I need to name the thing), I make a list of tasks that I need to do the following day. This sounds so simple! But it severely reduces my stress and organizes the millions of thoughts that I carry around in my head. When I leave the office, I find that I am literally and mentally able to leave my office and go home - because all of my to-do’s are safely inked in my notebook. I don’t have to spend any energy replaying and remembering them. And when I get to work in the morning, I look at my list and get right to work - I don’t have to spend any time figuring out what needs to be done.

2. I have a place to go that is all my own. For years, because ‘I was freelancer with a home business’, I assumed that I could work when I needed to wherever I could find a place to set up my laptop. That might work for some people, but for me, it did NOT. I have never been this productive in my life, and I know that it’s because I now have my very own 120 square feet of heaven. My office could be half this size, and the effect would be the same. When I’m at work, I work. When I’m at home, I’m home. Even if your work space is in your home - define it, seal it off. Compartmentalize.

3. You know what they say about dating: when your single it’s impossible to find a date, but the minute you begin a relationship, people are asking you out left and right. I believe on Sex and the City they referred to it as having your cab light on (for all of you SATC lovers). Anywho, the rule applies for freelancers - the busier I get, the more calls and opportunities I get. I suppose it makes sense because the busier I am, the happier I am and, I’ve said it before, people want to work with happy, productive people. Success attracts success…like a good musk.

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