Words on a page

Every so often, someone (usually someones) ask me about what they’d have to do to become a freelance writer. With the economy doing some strange gymnastics over the last 18 months or so, I’ve been asked that question a bit more. So, I started to plan out a series of posts on this subject.

Then I remembered that my business partner and I put together a set of blog post about this last year on the company blog:

• Becoming a freelance technical writer
• Getting set up
• Getting to work
• Marketing
• Educating yourself
• Rendering unto the tax collector

The posts are aimed at technical writers (seeing as how our company focuses on that area), but there’s quite a bit of information in there that I believe will benefit freelance writers of all stripes.

Take a read and let me know. Either leave a comment on this post, or on any of the posts that are listed above.

Recently, my vacuum cleaner (which was of a certain age) gave up the ghost. Probably due to all the dust from the various renovations that my wife and I are currently doing to our house. I quickly replaced it with a new Dyson bagless model. And it’s the best vacuum cleaner I’ve ever owned. It’s compact, powerful, and has a really great design. The house hasn’t been cleaner.

My wife, while generally satisfied with the device made an interesting comment: I can’t believe they don’t include attachments with the vacuum. I thought about that for a second, and while I agreed with her (a vacuum that price should have some basic attachments), I realized that this is a deliberate ploy. The attachments are an additional revenue stream. One of those value-added products and services that we keep hearing about.

Dyson’s strategy in this area can definitely be applied to a freelance writing business.

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These days, it’s not uncommon for freelancers of any stripe to never see a client face to face. Everything is done electronically — communication, exchanging drafts, and working with contracts.

Most of us who’ve worked remotely on client projects know the contract cycle well. We negotiate the terms of work with a client. Either we or the client draw up a draft of the contract and email it to the other party. Tweaks are made, and the final version is sent either as a word processor file or PDF. And that’s where things become something less than fun: we print the file, sign it, and then either fax a copy or scan and email it.

That’s definitely not the most efficient workflow. A lot of time and effort is wasted that way. There are other ways of doing this. Lately, I’ve been using a signature graphic that a friend cooked up for me. I just insert it into a file and don’t have to worry about printing. But even that isn’t one of the most efficient way of doing things.

What is? How about using an electronic signature service? To be honest, while I’d heard of such services I really didn’t know (or bother to find out) much about them until I read this post at Sitepoint.com.

I’m definitely intrigued. Enough that I plan to take a closer look at some of these services. I’ll keep you posted on what I learn and whether or not I use one.

Do you use an electronic signature service? If so, what are the good and bad that you’ve run into? Feel free to leave a comment.

Photo from http://sxc.hu

I got thrown a bit off track this week, so the lengthy blog post that I had planned is still in the half done stage.

That said, I was talking to someone who wants to make the jump into the freelance writing world and he asked me about getting paid. I went into my usual speech about that, then I remembered this post by Angela Booth.

The keys to getting paid?

1. Get a contract
2. Negotiate a retainer
3. Keep your deadlines

Admittedly, having a contract is no guarantee of getting paid. A few years ago, I subcontracted to do some technical writing and the recruiter ripped me off to … well, the tune of quite a bit of money. I’m still trying to collect the majority of it.

Still, the advice Angela Booth gives is solid. Her post is definitely worth a read and a bookmark.

As hard as we may try not to, every freelancer has to spend money from time to time. Yes, those pesky expenses. There’s always something, and you need to make a habit of keeping track of those expenses. Here’s how I do it.

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