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The flexibility of the freelance life.

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Sometimes the freelance life is frustrating: isolation, long hours, dry spells between assignments, no paid time off.

Sometimes, though, the freedom to order your own days makes it all worthwhile.

A few days ago I was just about to tackle a current deadline when my teen-aged nephew, M, called from the school counselor’s office. He’d just learned that a friend had committed suicide, and was too shaken to finish out the day.

His mom had okayed his leaving but could not break away from work (she’s a teacher) to come get him. Was there any way that I could?

You bet there was.

 

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Get a discount on ‘Earn More Writing.’

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One of my personal finance writing buddies has an online course designed to help earn more writing. Starting on Black Friday she’s offering a short-term, 20 percent discount on her Standard and Pro packages.

Why take the Earn More Writing course? Because Holly Porter Johnson knows what she’s talking about.

“I make my living as a freelance writer, not selling courses,” Johnson says.

In other words, she practices what she preaches. Rather than spend all her time promoting her course and selling webinars, she’s a workaday writer who routinely bills five figures per month. Last year she earned $225,000 as a freelancer.

Interested yet?

 

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Make sure you get paid to write.

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My subconscious is very active while I’m sleeping. Often I wake up with thinking of stuff like the need to send a birthday card, or the perfect lede for an upcoming article.

Recently I sat up straight in the morning and said, out loud, “Did I ever get paid for that (publication redacted) gig?”

In early March I delivered an assignment to a freelance client who pays via direct deposit. Checked my account and nope, the payment never showed.

When I brought this up (politely, via e-mail), the very-busy editor was a very-embarrassed person. The result: an apology, and a slightly higher payment than usual.

There’s a lesson here for me, and for you.

 

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Win a ticket to FinCon17.

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The Rockstar Finance site is giving away a free ticket to the 2017 Financial Blogger Conference, which will take place Oct. 25-28 in Dallas.

Someone has to win. Why shouldn’t it be you?

Note: You don’t have to be a personal finance writer to enjoy FinCon17! In fact, you don’t even have to be a writer at all. Some people go because they’re interested in topics like FIRE (financial independence/retire early), paying down student loans, conquering consumer debt, video production, podcasting and awards travel.

But if you are a writer, or planning to be one, you’ll learn plenty about that, too.

 

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No. 1 on top-jobs list? Writing.

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Each year the Freelancer.com website puts together a list of the 10 most in-demand services. Derived from the 10 million job opportunities posted on the freelancing/crowdsourcing website, the list is designed to give entrepreneurs a heads-up on what’s needed the most.

The top job opp? Writing and content.

Let me say that I really don’t like the word “content.” In fact, one entire chapter of the Write A Blog People Will Read course is titled, “Stop calling it ‘content’!” Fact is, that’s what lots of people call it – and if you’re a writer then this list should encourage you.

 

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A blogging success story.

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Sometimes a blog can become a full-time job, as people like Holly Johnson or Steve Chou can attest. Or a personal website could get you nationally known, e.g., Chris Hardwick.

Today I’m going to talk about a guy whose personal blog turned into his dream job – a gig that was not running a blog.

As the Alaska Dispatch News headline puts it, “Anchorage man turns hobby into NBA front office job.”

Seth Partnow, 39, told the newspaper that his job “feels, to some degree, almost like a fantasy camp.”

Not bad for a guy who started blogging about basketball because he was a total stats nerd.

 

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What I learned from writing ‘Your Playbook For Tough Times.’

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YourPlaybookForToughTimes3DFirst it was five months of researching, writing, self-editing, having friends read the manuscript and paying a professional proofreader. Next came weeks of tech glitches and waiting, waiting, waiting for review blurbs. But my long-simmering project is finally done.

“Your Playbook For Tough Times: Living Large On Small Change, For The Short Term Or The Long Haul” ate up a ton of my time, most of it in hurry-up-and-wait mode. By the time I hit “publish” I was nearly snatching myself bald-headed with frustration.

Oh, and then I had to un-publish temporarily. More on that in a minute.

But you know what? I’m going to do it all over again, probably within a few months. Knowing what might go wrong during self-publishing will, I think, make it easier the next time.

 

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Should you hire a writing coach?

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th-1A while back freelancer Susan Johnston Taylor was stuck in a rut, feeling “uninspired” and unable to come up with ideas for her regular clients. Hiring a writing coach fired her back up.

Although she bounces questions off fellow freelancers and freelance forums, Taylor will still set up a coaching session now and then.

“Sometimes I find that seeking advice from one person I trust is better than getting a chorus of conflicting opinions, especially when it’s a more personal or complicated issue,” she notes in an article on Contently.

She quoted author and coach Rochelle Melander, who suggested at least two times a writer might want to reach out:

 

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Two essential tools for writers.

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th-1Long time no blog! Sorry about that. I’ve been working on a book.

Full disclosure: I’ve also been working on enjoying the Alaska summer, providing some fill-in child care, spending a week at a theater conference, hanging out with my life partner (he and I particularly enjoy the built-from-scraps greenhouse) and my BFF, being a writing coach and helping my daughter promote her book.

Both of us are personal finance writers, so it’s no surprise that both of our books have personal finance underpinnings. Abby’s is called “Frugality For Depressives: Money-Saving Tips For Those Who Find Life A Little Harder,” but it’s not strictly a PF how-to. She writes from painful personal experience about the ways she tried and failed to follow the frugal hacks with which she was raised, and how she (and later her husband) manage their money in the most sustainable ways.

My book also springs from painful experience, but in an odd way: To become a personal finance writer, I had to go broke.*

 

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Writing vs. singing.

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thEvery day I do the Swagbucks* daily poll. Yesterday’s question definitely got my attention:

Would you rather be an excellent singer or a superb writer?

Today I checked the results: More than half (55 percent) the respondents want to be superior wordsmiths.

Naturally I wish the percentage had been a little higher. But as a writer and a writing coach, I’m glad to see that scribbling edged out singing.

I’m also curious as to why.

 

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