The Precarious Balance: Life as a Freelancer

February 3rd, 2009

One minute there is no work to be seen…for miles. The next? You have projects and deadlines coming out your ears. In a perfect world, you would have a steady stream of projects flowing in, one after the next at a speed that matches your writing pace exactly.

But, the world isn’t always perfect. And this is how I deal with it when it isn’t:

When I’m not busy with client work…

…I use my time wisely. There is always work to be done, really, in terms of promotion and marketing. And action is key – stay busy with something. Approach a company you’ve been dying to work with, rewrite your website, rework some blog posts as articles, network on Twitter, answer questions on LinkedIn. As you take action and reach out, the work is sure to come. Do not sit, mope and think your world is ending. It’s not (unless you sit around and mope and think your world is ending!)

When I’m happily busy, but not overwhelmed with work…
…I never stop thinking about the future. This means that I continually network, market, pitch to new clients, seize opportunity and write all of my thoughts and ideas down in a place I can find them (very important).

When I’m so busy that I can’t see straight…
…When it rains, it pours – cliche, but true. The busier I am, the busier I get – which is why I’m encouraging you to stay busy in the case of scenarios #1 and #2. But you do need to manage your time. If you say yes to every project – make sure that you either give realistic deadlines or that you actually have the time to get everything done.

If someone approaches you for a job, and you simply can’t do it ‘right now’, you will be faced with one of the hardest decisions we face as freelancers (or at least those of us who are not also highly skilled fortune tellers). Do you:

1. Turn down the work not knowing if the next week will bring a freak occurrence of ‘all current projects are now on hold.’

2. Say you can do it, but not for a month (or whenever).

3. Worry that saying #2 will cost you the job.

4. There’s also the ‘law of scarcity’ option where clients love that you’re so busy and will wait because You are the goods.

5. Take the job but siphon it off to a junior/’nother copywriter. In this scenario, you can take a finders/editors/management fee from the project fee and pay the other writer the rest. And you’ve come through for the client, keeping the relationship strong for future projects.

6. Worry that the pinch-writer won’t pull it off like you could, which means you’ll have to scramble to redo the work (one way to avoid this is to find a really good No. 2 writer – and 3 and 4 in case 2 is busy – that you can count on for quality goods).

How about you? What balance issues do you come up against in the non-secure and wild world of freelancing? And how do you handle them?

Filed under Critical Copywriting, How To, Marketing, Networking, Social Media, The Business | Tags: copywriter, copywriting, freelance copywriter, freelancing, how to freelance, Julie Roads, life of a freelancer, managing time, project management, Writing Roads | Comments (7)

ghost action: the ultimate to-do list and project organizer

August 26th, 2008

I’m in love. Yes, with an application. Ghost Action is everything I’ve been looking for in a personal organizer:

easy to use. I don’t think it gets much easier.

I create Projects, for me these are typically client names
I create Actions, ie. write blog post, edit site or interview Erin
I give each Action a due date
I create Contexts, mine are Write, Do, Meet or Delegate
I sync it with my iCal

good looking. It’s clean and simple and organized – the total opposite of my desk. And, the icon is a plump and friendly check mark, the world wide identifier that exclaims, ‘IT IS DONE!’ Just seeing that check mark makes me feel accomplished. (see icon above)
made for Mac. Listen, I tried to have a PC for years and I only got frustration, freezing and restarts. Ghost Action was made for Mac…so it works just like everything else on my computer, looks like everything else and I don’t have to learn anything new. If any of you PC users want to guest post about a similar app for PC, send it along!
syncs with iCal. As long as you put the @ sign before your iCal entries, they will sync up on Ghost Action. So now, I have a list of things I have to do in Ghost Action – divided by Context and Project, I also have a view of my to-dos in daily, weekly and monthly calendar form AND I have iCal popping up reminders throughout the day (basically kicking me in the pants and telling me to do what I have to do).
has finder functionality. I’m pretty sure that Finder is my favorite function on my Mac because it doesn’t require me to remember where I put anything, I only need to remember the words I used to define said things. For instance…I just wrote a press release about kids cleaning up the beach…so I start typing in those words and everything on my computer that has those words, starts to pop up (and it prioritizes the listings in terms of word match and recent usage). It’s a beautiful function and Ghost Action does it too, so in this case, I can type in ‘press release’ and all of my press release to-do’s will appear – instantly.

It costs $19.95…less than a good day planner and more than a notebook filled with lists and scratch outs…and so much more useful, functional, infinite and productive than either or both of those systems could ever hope to be. Get it here.

Major props to Erin Anderson of Flexpaths for introducing me to my new best friend, Ghost Assistant.

Filed under How To, The Business | Tags: business organization, copywriter, copywriting, freelance writer, Ghost Action, Julie Roads, marketing writer, organization app, personal organization, project management, project organization, to-do list, Writing Roads | Comment (0)

Bonobos, Books & Websites

April 7th, 2008

For the last several months, I’ve been so fortunate to be project managing (and writing for) the design, printing, marketing collateral, marketing and PR for an amazing children’s book called, I’m Lucy: A Day in the Life of a Young Bonobo. And the book has officially hit the streets! Here’s the news:

I’m Lucy is now available for purchase at www.bonobokids.org.

This book, written with caring words by Mathea Levine, astonishing photographs by Marian Brickner and a heartfelt afterword by Jane Goodall has truly been a collaborative effort brought about by a collective desire to teach children about our closest primate cousins. I’m Lucy educates, excites and ignites young readers and their families. And when purchased through our website, www.bonobokids.org, all profits from the sale of I’m Lucy are donated to non-profit organizations dedicated to saving the bonobos and the environment.

Bonobos share 98.7% of human DNA and are distinguished from other great apes by their matriarchal and cooperative society. While over 100 bonobos like Lucy and her family currently live in zoos, wild bonobos are found only in the Democratic Republic of Congo where they are often hunted and their habitat risks total destruction from human encroachment and environmental destruction. The bonobo population has dropped to nearly 10,000 placing these endangered creatures devastatingly close to total extinction.

When you visit Bonobokids.org you’ll find that this is more than a website where you can purchase the book. The interactive site offers cool information on bonobo ape kids and rewards human kids who practice ‘green’ behavior. The Bonobo Challenge blog invites kids to learn, get involved, play games and win contests while connecting with other “BonoboKids.” In zoos and in the wild, bonobo societies are cooperative and cohesive, and BonoboKids mission is to bring kids together – with each other, with the earth’s creatures, with the world.

By purchasing a copy of I’m Lucy you will become part of a community springboard for an ongoing and productive relationship between children and their world. Bonobokids.org gives kids the opportunity to connect to this amazing ape and to understand that today’s actions affect bonobos, and all creatures – even themselves – tomorrow.

If you like kids, animals, books and/or the Earth, spread the news…it can only help us all.