Lauren’s Last Post (And What Comes Next for BAFB)

A lot can happen in just over five years…

For those of you who don’t know me: My name is Lauren Tharp. I’m the owner of the multiple award-winning LittleZotz Writing. And, since the summer of 2013, I was the Managing Editor of Be a Freelance Blogger.

Yup. “Was.” I’m leaving.

Don’t cry. This is actually good news. I’m now a full-time editor for Syed Balkhi’s Awesome Motive.

With my new full-time employee status (no more freelancing!), I simply don’t have time for BAFB like I used to. But BAFB will always, always hold a special place in my heart.

Sophie Lizard is absolutely amazing, and Be a Freelance Blogger is a website I’m immensely proud to have been a part of.

I’ve met so many great writers – some of whom have become great friends! It’s been a blast.

I’ll let Sophie take over in a minute, but… in no particular order, here are my Top 10 favorite BAFB articles:

1. What to Do When Your Freelance Blogging Career Is Going Nowhere

I would read this older article, written by Sophie, whenever I got “stuck” career-wise. It helped me many, many times.

2. Not Writer’s Block — How to Cope If You Physically Can’t Write

This article is amazing. I’m in good health now, thankfully; but, when I wasn’t, this piece gave me some great tips. And Pinar ended up becoming a friend of mine.

3. How to Write a Blog Post in 8 Steps

This guy never wrote for us again, but his one piece is an absolute favorite. He took the most basic topic ever and turned it into something I had to say “yes” to.

4. Cracking the Editor’s Code — Writing a Killer Guest Post as a Freelance Blogger

Written by the writer I’m going to marry. Yup. He made it into my inbox AND into my heart! His post is pretty bomb too.

5. How to Blog Like Every Day is Halloween

I’m a white girl. Of course I love Halloween. This one was written by moi and I had a ton of fun with it.

6. The Batman vs. Superman Guide to Freelance Blogging

This could’ve easily been a junk SEO piece meant to cash in on the superheroes craze, but Daniel made it educational, entertaining, and filled with value.

7. 11 Ways to Boost Your Confidence on the Phone to Prospective Clients

This post is excellent, but my fondest memories of this particular piece are in regard to Karen’s pitch. Hers was the first pitch that made me jump out of my chair with excitement due to how awesome it was. Side note: Karen created Untamed Writing, one of the most well-regarded websites for writers on the internet!

8. How to Protect Your Blog Posts from Copy-and-Paste Poachers

Important stuff for bloggers to know! And written in a way that’s easy to understand.

9. Reverse Scope Creep — How to Break Up With Your Ever-Shrinking Freelance Gig

Not sure what REVERSE scope creep is? That’s because I invented the term (I think), right here on the BAFB blog. Go check it out!

10. How to Keep Freelance Blogging When You’re Mentally Ill

More than any other piece, this is the one I get the most emails about. And that’s any other piece I’ve written ANYwhere. I’ve gotten so many sweet letters about how this piece changed people’s lives – and even stopped two individuals from committing suicide. Powerful stuff. And definitely a favorite here at BAFB.

Okay…well… I’m getting overwhelmed and misty-eyed, so I’m going to hand it over to Sophie now.

So long, BAFBers! It’s been real.

Take it away, Sophie!

*****

Lauren hasn’t even left the metaphorical building yet, and I already miss her. 

But OK people, let’s tuck our hankies away and get down to new business!

So, I have a problem: without Lauren keeping me on track, I tend to get disorganised.

When I say disorganised, what I really mean is that I’ll be publishing posts at 4am because I forgot to write them until the night before they were due… And pitches from prospective guest bloggers will disappear into the depths of my email inbox, never to surface again.

Eeeeek! Not good.

So now I’m looking for someone — or more likely several someones — to save me from that wretched fate and keep BAFB awesome.

Would you like to work with me? Then read these role descriptions, and get in touch if you fit one of them!

We’re Hiring: Guest Contributions Editor

What you’ll do:

• Respond to incoming pitch emails, approving or rejecting pitches with constructive feedback.
• Give developmental feedback on drafts, helping contributors to create their Best Post Ever.
• Walk each guest post from pitch acceptance to publication (including getting final draft approval from Sophie, picking a publication date, and passing drafts and supporting media to our new post prepper).
• Be Sophie’s co-judge in Pitchfest every 3 months.
• Plus we might have opportunities to work together on content for other things — books, training courses, and so on — in the future.

Who you are and what you know:

• You’re a long-term reader of this blog.
• You understand what makes a guest post pitch awesome, and what kinds of guest contributions we do or don’t want on this blog.
• You’re a freelance blogger with at least a couple of years’ experience, and can send me links to your bylined posts for paying clients.
• You’re an experienced guest blogger — and you’ve experienced your fair share of rejected pitches as well as success.
• You understand the concept and purpose of constructive criticism, and make every comment worthwhile.
• You’re not afraid to be honest with people when something isn’t going to work for our audience — even if the pitch is from a friend, even if it looks like it took a lot of effort or courage, even if their ego is fragile… You get the idea, right?
• You know how to use Gmail, Google Drive, WordPress, and Trello.

We’re Hiring: Blog Post Prepper

What you’ll do:

• Upload and schedule new posts.
• Add images and links to posts.
• Create or update author bios.
• Sub-edit, spelling check, grammar check, and check links in posts and author bios.

Who you are and what you know:

• You’re reliable, responsible, and know better than to assume something is OK without checking it.
• You’re super organised and will always know what posts we have coming up.
• You understand how to search for imagery and you have enough image editing skill to crop, resize, and add text over an image.
• You know how to use Gmail, Google Drive, WordPress, Trello, and at least one image editing app.

We’re Hiring: Technologist

What you’ll do:

• Help to get new and old tech set up to work the way we want it to.
• Advise on tech we should use and how we should use it.
• Help set up, run, and analyse experiments.
• Help fix things when they break.
• Train team members on tech they need to use.
• You might also have opportunities to work directly with my students when they need technology help, support, or training.

Who you are and what you know:

• You know how to use (AND fix problems in) Gmail, Google Drive, WordPress, plugins, widgets, AWeber, PayPal, ScheduleOnce, Asana, and many other tools.
• You understand (AND can explain) web hosting, SMTP settings, cloud storage, and other things that make non-techie people confused.
• You’ve never met a piece of tech you couldn’t learn.

We’re Hiring: Social Media Manager

What you’ll do:

• Post and respond to posts on social networks.
• Manage group memberships and moderate conversations.
• Advise on how we can use social media to help our audience learn more about freelance blogging and boost their success.

Who you are and what you know:

• You stay up to date with news and trends in social media management and social media marketing.
• You like to help people directly and indirectly, and you understand that helping is the best form of marketing.
• You have a great memory for names, faces, and details.
• You know how to interpret social media analytics (I don’t give a shit about vanity metrics, but I will want you to know what our most-appreciated tweet or video was this month, for example).
• You know how to use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other social networks.

We’re Hiring: Jobs Board Curator

What you’ll do:

• A shit-ton of research and a lot of summary writing.
• Find suitable job ads and share summaries of them on the BAFB jobs board.
• Add original job ads to the board on request.
• Plus you might have the opportunity to help develop the current (bare bones, very low-tech) jobs board into one that’s super-useful and that we can be 100% proud of.
• You might also be able to complement your job board curation work with extra research for other resources we create.

Who you are and what you know:

• You’re an experienced online researcher and know how to work search engines to get the best results in the shortest time.
• You have at least some experience or familiarity with freelance writing (because that makes it much easier for you to interpret and evaluate a job ad).
• You care about providing a genuinely useful resource for freelance blogging gig hunters.
• You know how to use search engines and WordPress.

General Assistant

What you’ll do:

• Research all kinds of stuff.
• Prepare pre-written emails (and occasional short emails that you write yourself) for sending.
• Help with keeping things organised.
• Various other small, simple, one-off and ongoing tasks that I haven’t already mentioned.

Who you are and what you know:

• You’re either an experienced virtual assistant or a freelance blogger who wants to gain VA experience.
• You know how to work productively and get tasks checked off, without needing to be chased.
• You know how to use Gmail, Google Drive, AWeber, Asana, and you have no problem learning how to use new tools.

If you or someone you know would like to do any of the above stuff, please send an email to sophie@beafreelanceblogger.com with the subject line BAFB JOB APPLICATION and tell me:

1) Which of the roles on that list you believe you’d be best at – you can choose more than one.

2) How you prefer to be paid — per post, hourly, on a monthly retainer, or whatever — and how much you expect to be paid. If you’re applying for more than one role, please do this step separately for each of the roles you’re interested in!

THE DEADLINE FOR ALL APPLICATIONS IS OCTOBER 20, 2018.

I’ve already received strong applications from some of our students, who heard the news before Lauren wrote this farewell post. So when you apply, tell me what makes *you* a good person for me to hire. 🙂

I will *not* be replying to every application email, at least not any time soon. My plan is to give myself time to look through all the applications, then arrange a paid trial month or two for the best candidates before making final decisions.

So if you don’t hear from me after sending in your application, don’t worry… But if you still haven’t heard from me by, say, February, then you can safely assume that you didn’t get the gig. 😉