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How Your Attitude Towards “Interruptions” Can Make or Break Your Freelance Blogging Career

How Your Attitude Towards “Interruptions” Can Make or Break Your Freelance Blogging Career

“There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.” ~ Henry Kissinger

A “crisis” doesn’t have to mean a major war or a major accident. If you’re like me, it’s crisis enough to hear your e-mail beep when you’re rushing to finish the post you THOUGHT you’d left plenty of time to write. The freelance blogging vocation is full of emotional hells born from underestimating working time and overestimating life’s cooperation with your schedule.

Anger over that can hurt you mentally and physically. It can also hurt you professionally, if it poisons your overall attitude toward “interruptions.”

Opportunity Was Knocking, But I Resented the Noise

Have you ever had a potential high-paying client call out of the blue, and blown the opportunity because your brain was locked into a “Plan A” that brooked no alterations? I have. Silently fuming over the upset in how I expected things to go, I fumbled any show of enthusiasm and radiated the attitude “take your business elsewhere.” They usually did.

Actually, this is part of freelancing’s learning curve. The self-employed life, with its limited income guarantees and potential dozen-plus “bosses,” is a constant balancing act between doing your best at everything that needs doing, and leaving room on the to-do list for new opportunities. If you aren’t careful, overcommitting on “Plan A” can rob you of a “Plan B” that might serve everyone far better. [Read more…]

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When to Get Training/Coaching VS. When to Just Do the Work

When to Get Training/Coaching VS. When to Just Do the Work

By now, you’ve probably heard the concept that “investing in yourself is always a good idea.” And what that advice is usually referring to is paying for training, coaching, and other “learn and grow” info products.

I really hate this advice.

It’s not that I don’t agree; in many cases, I do agree. I’ve spent a lot of money over the years — even when money was exceedingly tight — “investing in myself” to get the training I needed to do better than I’d been doing previously.

It’s true that you can lose your stuff but you can’t lose your education. (Losing your mind, however, is something we’ll get to in a bit.)

There are definitely times when getting yet another course, watching yet another webinar, taking yet another 5-day or 2-week or 30-day challenge via email, joining yet another mastermind, and the like, are anything BUT a true investment in yourself.

Want to invest in yourself? Great. But don’t get it twisted: sometimes what you actually need to do to “invest in yourself” is put your head down and just do the actual work in front of you. [Read more…]

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The Blogging Pitch Template That Gets You A “Yes”

The Blogging Pitch Template That Gets You A “Yes”

Pitching potential clients, businesses, and other bloggers and websites (guest posting) is probably the hardest part of a freelance writer’s work. Being ignored or rejected is the last thing we want happening, especially in the beginning.

When you’re first starting out, you’re usually in an especially desperate state because let’s admit it: you’re trying to get paid! You’re not one of those people that want to write all these awesome posts and articles for free or for “exposure”. Simple exposure is not going to help you put food on the table right now. You’re not a hobbyist.

You don’t put in countless hours of work to help get someone else’s monetized blog more revenue for free. You want money. You need money, and we aren’t talking about pennies. Pennies are what you get at those terrible content mills. (Who else cringes just at the phrase “content mill”? Makes you sound like some factory worker, writing your ass off for pennies. Gross.)

One of the biggest questions besides what is the right way to pitch is what is that one way to pitch an editor or business that is 100% guaranteed to get them to say yes? Sadly while there are never any guarantees, there is a way to pitch that will certainly increase your chances of getting your prospect to  strongly consider signing you on and paying you what you’re worth for your time and hard work.

Guest posting is a great way for writers to get their name out there, and getting paid at the same time. Who wouldn’t want to get paid while building an impressive portfolio? When a website calls for guest posts or you’re cold pitching, some are confused as to what exactly an awesome guest post pitch looks like. Whether you’re experienced or just started, these tips and the template I have here are sure fire to get you exactly the response you want.

Side note: If your reply is no reply, there’s nothing wrong with following up. Sometimes your email may have just gotten lost in the spam folder or the editor just missed it. If they don’t have a specific response timeframe given, just wait a week before contacting them again. If there’s still no response after the second follow up, just consider this a dud and move on. [Read more…]

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Why You Should Step the Fuck Up to Be a Freelance Blogger

Why You Should Step the Fuck Up to Be a Freelance Blogger

Do you love a challenge?

What if we call it a dare instead? You in?

Oh, you want to know what it is first. OK. In a nutshell:

I dare you to succeed as a freelance blogger.

Now let me ask you again: are you in?

If you are, I’ve got the one piece of information that will make a HUGE difference to your success as a freelance blogger. And I’m going to share it with you right here and now, so keep reading.

[If you have absolutely no interest in being a freelance blogger, feel free to leave.]

Excellent. Now that they’re gone, it’s just you and me, so let’s be honest with each other. Can we do that?

Get your business head on, and brace yourself: I’m going to be blunt. Because if I don’t tell you this, I’m not sure that anybody else will have the guts to say it to your face… [Read more…]

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Feel the Fear and for F*ck’s Sake Get Over Yourself [$100 Prize!]

Feel the Fear and for F*ck’s Sake Get Over Yourself [$100 Prize!]

How many posts are there about fear on this blog?

How many about confidence? To most people, confidence implies an absence of fear, so it’s pretty much the same topic.

And, oh, you’ve felt the fear. You feel it and hurt under it and let it drag you down into this swamp of self-doubt so you don’t get as much done as you know you could. When you do take action, you take it so nervously it hardly makes any impact.

That’s why there are a bazillion self-help books and blog posts about courage and bravery and confidence and self-esteem and assertiveness and “fake it til you make it” and it goes on. I’m stopping there.

Listen, I get it. It’s kinda scary when you’re not 100% sure what you’re doing, or if it’ll work. In blogger mentoring sessions, I often spend time reassuring my students that yes, they’re doing this right, they’re doing fine, they should keep doing it and aim a bit higher next time, nobody’s going to mind, the universe will not implode…

I get it.

But here’s what YOU might not be getting:

It doesn’t matter. Your fear is irrelevant.

Freelance bloggers, it’s time to get over it and get freelance blogging.

If you have a genuine phobia that makes it extremely unpleasant for you to even think about writing a blog post or sending an email to a potential client, you’re excused. [And you should probably get professional treatment to make your phobia easier to manage.] I know if my laptop were swarming with spiders, Arachnophobia-style, I wouldn’t get any work done because I’d be too busy hyperventilating.

But if you’re just a bit scared… then you need to get past, through or over that feeling. [Read more…]

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21 Unusual Ways to Find Blog Post Inspiration

21 Unusual Ways to Find Blog Post Inspiration

There are plenty of questions I hate fielding from people when they find out I’m a freelance blogger (such as, “Why don’t you write for a newspaper?”). But at least I’ve developed canned responses for most of them (such as, “Because print is dying and traditional jobs make me murderous, Uncle Frank.”).

The one question I’ve yet to figure out a good response to, however, is one which on the surface seems fairly innocuous: “How do you come up with ideas?”

This is is because I myself don’t really know the answer to this.

I can say it helps to have a working knowledge of the publication you’re writing for, a sense of what has already been covered (and converted well), and a healthy heaping of creative spin to make your approach new and noteworthy. It also helps if you’ve gotten enough sleep, had enough caffeine, have nothing else stressful going on in your life, and are Seth Godin. (The man is so prolific it’s unnatural).

But even possession of all the above (minus, of course, Seth Godin) isn’t enough to ward away those times when the ideas Just. Won’t. Come. Some days you’re a wellspring of potential pitches and some days the well runs dry, but if you want to succeed as a freelance blogger, you have to find ways to prime the pump no matter what condition it’s in. Because your clients want content, and their schedule doesn’t revolve around your “aha!” moments.

When you find yourself at a loss for blog post ideas, here are 21 ways to step outside your stale, obstructed brain and jumpstart your creativity. Whatever topic you’re covering or audience you’re writing for, these hacks can be tweaked to fit your needs — and the timeframe you’re working with. [Read more…]

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5 Easy Ways to Get Paid Faster as a Freelance Blogger

5 Easy Ways to Get Paid Faster as a Freelance Blogger

We all know: freelancing blogging is great. You’ve got your freedom, you’re doing something you’re passionate about (most of the time) and you’re proud of your work (most of the time).

You put in the hours, a little bit of elbow grease, a whole lot of energy, and you send off your post to your client, along with your invoice.

And then you wait. And wait. And two weeks later you check your bank account, and then you wait some more. And then two weeks after that you get an email saying it will come in two more weeks.

Sound familiar? Even if you’ve got your invoice basics covered, late payment is unfortunately a part of life for freelance bloggers.

Luckily, there are ways to minimize the likelihood of that happening to you, and there are things you can do today to help you get your invoices paid faster. [Read more…]

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How to NOT Be Your Freelance Blogging Client’s Fool

How to NOT Be Your Freelance Blogging Client’s Fool

Yes, I’m aware of the date. No, this post is not a joke. In fact, it’s as serious as they come.

I couldn’t resist doing a post about “fools” on April Fool’s Day. After all, there are so many ways clients can make fools out of us freelance bloggers.

Sometimes we play the fool when a client refuses to pay. Other times, we’ll be made a fool when a client keeps piling on work that we didn’t sign on for. Or maybe, you’re that sad fool whose had the misfortune of working for an abusive client? Ah, yes… the saddest fool of all, perhaps.

Well, it’s time to take a cue from Cinderella and become “Nobody’s Fool.” (Feel free to play that song in the background while you read this to get in the proper mindset).

The Client Who Makes You a Fool by Not Paying

This is one of the most common ways a client can make a fool out of a freelance blogger. It happens, on occasion, to even the best, most established freelance bloggers. It’s nothing to be ashamed of… but it is irritating as all get out.

The first step is not to panic, or let rage consume you. You absolutely must stay calm.

From there, try resending your invoice, with a little reminder that it’s past due.

Still no response? Then it’s time to send your client a carefully-worded e-mail about the situation.

Try something like: [Read more…]

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Your Freelance Blogging Plan B [How to Survive When Plan A Turns to Shit]

Your Freelance Blogging Plan B [How to Survive When Plan A Turns to Shit]

“Oh, holy fuck. Fuck fuckitty fuck fuck….”

That’s what my brain said. That’s probably what my mouth said too, but to be honest I can’t remember because I was too busy panicking.

Why?

Because my freelance blogging career took a nosedive from sweet, easy profit into the frozen, thumb-twiddling hell of I HAVE NO CLIENTS AND NO INCOME.

Plus I was the primary moneymaker in my little family and they were all depending on me to keep them housed and fed. So, y’know, no pressure. 😉

Shit happens

It was early 2012; Google had just updated its algorithms to stop crappy websites from ranking high in search results, and I’d been working 25 hours per week for a client whose websites were definitely kinda crappy. So when Google updated, those websites tanked and my client couldn’t afford to keep me.

I scrambled to pick up a couple of new clients, made sure this time that their websites were not crappy or grey-hatted, and kept on going. I also spent more than $10,000 on coaching and training programs to improve my business skills that year.

Fast forward 3 years to early 2015 and there I am, billing my clients up to $13,000 per month, owning a popular blog, working only part-time and only on projects that suit me, while planning my wedding and honeymoon.

So everything must have turned out just fine, right?

I wish.

[Read more…]