Welcome to the fourth installment in our Freelancing SMART series written by Elizabeth Fayle. If you missed the first three posts, you can find them here: The Grand Introduction, Step One: Being Specific, and Step Two: Getting Measurable Up for discussion today, Step Three: Is It Agreed Upon Welcome to the next post in our series on freelancing SMART, and you’re in luck today – we’re going to take a look at “Agreed Upon”, the middle letter of that smart freelancing you’ll soon be doing (if you haven’t started already). If you’ve been following the
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Is Your Email Address Losing You Clients?
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New freelancers make a few mistakes that no one will tell you are mistakes, because they don’t want to offend you, or they may have already disregarded you because of this stupid mistake and don’t wish to become mired in the soup of your (sure to be squalid) company. Now, I know your company is neither squalid nor soup-like, and I have no fear of offending you. I am, in fact, sure that I will offend you, but I embrace this honor with open arms and live not in dread. Come now! We shall discuss
> Read MoreWant More Clients? Explain Yourself.
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I recently wrote about how and why arTEESTes piss me off, and I used the example of an average guy I called Joe, who doesn’t really know why one copywriter or web designer should be worth more than another. He chooses the lower-priced freelancer out of sheer practicality. It’s simple: Two guys do the same job. One of them does it for cheaper. If that were all the information I had, I’d go with the cheaper guy, too. So what does it take to convince Joe that he should plunk down three times as much
> Read MoreDrive-By Shooting Sunday Special: Adventures of a Barefoot Geek
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“Ow.” He picked his foot up and grimaced. “Ow-… Look, this is not good. Never again, man. Ow.” “Quit complaining.” James lifted his feet and placed them carefully on the gravel, wincing a bit. “It’s job hazards. Gotta do what we gotta do.” The sun was blindingly bright, and James pulled his grey sweatshirt hood over his head, hiding the colorful fedora before he stepped into the mass of eager fans. They made their way through the crowd slowly. “Why do you need that sweatshirt?” Harry complained, still wincing. “I’m cold, okay?” A breeze whooshed
> Read MoreHow to Measure Your Worth
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We’ve been pleased to see so many freelancers enjoying our series on working SMARTer. Welcome to the third installment, written by Elizabeth Fayle. She’s whipping us back into shape – but you get lucky. All you need to do is read this post. Here at Men with Pens, we’re working SMART: • Specific • Measurable • Agreed Upon • Realistic • Time-based If you’re not sure what each of those means, check out my first post in the series, the introduction to SMART freelancing. And if you missed last week’s post on how to be
> Read MoreDrive-By Shooting Special: Cheryl’s Casual Contemplations
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James squinted at the figure on the tiny video screen. The man seemed confused, wandering at the side of the building for a minute before staring straight up into the closed-circuit camera that watched his every move. He put one hand to his ear as if to scratch it, deftly balancing two pizza boxes in the other hand. “Are you sure this is the entrance?” Harry whispered into his mic, still fiddling with the earbud. “Of course I’m sure.” Good thing Harry couldn’t see the face James was making. “I’ve been sitting in this office
> Read MoreHow Does Writing Make you Feel?
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There are days when I don’t feel like writing. If we’re going to be perfectly honest about it, there are many days when I don’t feel like writing. In fact, there hasn’t been a single day in recent memory in which I bounded out of bed just dying to get my hands on a pen or the computer keyboard, my head bursting with the desire to write, to get something – anything – down on the page. This suddenly struck me as peculiar one day after a solid, five-hour stint of work. I had gone
> Read MoreAre You a Snotty Artist?
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There’s a debate online (and probably offline too) that divides writers, designers and more into two camps: those who consider their work a trade, and those who consider their work an art form. Now, for those of you who know me or have read older posts on this site, you’ll know that I firmly sit in the “writing is a trade” camp and disdain calling what I do for a living an art. It’s a career. It brings me income. It’s a business. It’s not William Shakespeare or Leonardo DaVinci. I don’t make a point
> Read MoreHow to Freelance the Specific, SMART Way
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And she’s back, folks! Please welcome Elizabeth Fayle. Not long ago, I wrote about the concept of freelancing the SMART way: • Specific • Measurable • Agreed Upon • Realistic • Time-based You can read more on that introduction to SMART freelancing by clicking here. It’s a good read; I even suggested that James needed some SMARTening up. “Yes, and we figured you’d be fired.” “Hard to believe you’re still here!” “Huh, maybe there’s something to this…” There is something to it, and it’s something I’ve noticed that many freelancers aren’t paying attention to. They’re
> Read MoreSlaying Writer Dragons: Epic Skill #3, Physical Prowess
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This is the final installment in our series on how to fight the dragons of writing. We explained why being a writer is like getting commissions to go out on an epic quest in exchange for monetary reward, and why that makes you pretty awesome. We also explained why you need to train your awesomeness mentally, emotionally, and finally – today, in fact – physically. Now, writers are not necessarily a physical bunch. We wind up with tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome and back problems from being hunched over a keyboard all day – and
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