Be a Freelance Blogger

[Note from Sophie: Yes, this is a Pitchfest announcement with the usual $100 prize. But don’t skip to the contest – first, Lauren has some helpful advice to share with you about how to spare yourself the horror of working on a project that goes against your personal ethics and values.]

When it comes to freelance blogging, what you don’t do is just as important as what you do.

Every once in a while, you’ll be faced with a tough decision, and you’ll have to look deep inside yourself to see what you’re truly capable of. Are you willing to sell out an entire race just to feed your family? Is earning a paycheck more important than your humanity?

Earlier this year, I was hired by what I’d assumed to be a legitimate publication. I quickly found out that they were peddling hate speech and wanted ME to write it for them. I refused and removed myself from the project.

From there, I wrote a few posts on my personal website about my views on certain issues – sexuality, racism, etc. – so that future clients wouldn’t be confused about where I stand. I made it clear that I don’t tolerate hate, and that I refuse to write about it (unless it’s in the context of stopping said hate).

This put me in the Famine part of the Feast or Famine cycle for a while. Turning down a high-paying job is never easy, even if you believe strongly in your moral convictions.

However, thanks to the posts I made, I ended up with one of the best jobs of my career. They liked what I had to say on issues that were important to them. Because we were in synch on the tough issues, we ended up getting along incredibly well – and I fully back their company’s mission statement.

By sharing a little about my personal views, I was able to weed out the clients who were bad for me; and draw in the clients who were a perfect fit. It was a risky move, but well worth it. [Read more…]

If you’ve worked as a freelance blogger for any length of time, then chances are good you’ve experienced the following scenario:

Client meets blogger.

Client falls in absolutely, positively, head-over-heels in love with blogger, and sends tons of work their way.

Client decides blogger is so awesome that they want them for other, “related” tasks. You know, a little social media management here, some slight image sourcing there, and – oh, heck, why not? – a few Facebook ads for that upcoming book launch.

Soon enough, blogger finds themselves losing autonomy, performing non-blogging tasks they don’t enjoy and getting paid way less for mere crumbs where before they had the whole pie. Even worse, blogger does this at the expense of getting new, better work. Goodness gracious, what happened?

The short answer: fear. Especially when new to the biz, freelance bloggers often suffer from the concern that they will never be able to find enough work. Like a vulture wheeling overhead, this anxiety seems ever-present, threatening serenity and nudging us toward poor choices. But consistent work isn’t the biggest problem we face as bloggers: It’s maintaining our autonomy and resisting the urge to compromise our standards out of fear.

So what can you do about it? Here are a few steps (and one non-step) to take if you want to avoid falling into this trap and helm your own ship for life. [Read more…]

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…]