SISTER WISDOM : build a better life

Obstacles Welcome: Turn Adversity to Advantage in Business and Life

by Ralph de la Vega, President and CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets.

4 out of 5 stars

How does a book about being a successful business executive translate into something helpful for a Mom, writer, and homemaker? Read the rest of this entry »

Proverbs 6:6-8

Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise, Which, having no chief, Officer or ruler, Prepares her food in the summer And gathers her provision in the harvest.

"Diligence in business is every man's wisdom and duty; not so much that he may attain worldly wealth, as that he may not be a burden to others, or a scandal to the church. The ants are more diligent than slothful men. We may learn wisdom from the meanest insects, and be shamed by them. Habits of indolence and indulgence grow upon people. Thus life runs to waste..." from Matthew Henry's Commentary on Prov. 6

Do what you can while you can do it.

O Me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring;

Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish;

Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who  more faithless?)

Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle ever renew’d;

Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;

Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined;

The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here—that life exists, and identity;

That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.
O Me! O Life! by Walt Whitman.

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“True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new.”

-Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Because everybody wants to be a spiffy like Wonder Dog, even if no one actually uses the word spiffy anymore.

1. Update your photo and bio.

   If your bio ends with your current status ten or five years or even six months ago, bring it up to the present. While you are updating, get a photo that looks professional: a closer, well-focused head shot with a neutral, non-busy background will look more professional than that half of your face from the 1999 family Christmas picture. You can use a photo you already have and do a little editing. Blur out the background; maybe convert the picture to black and white. You might also check into prices on getting a professional head shot.

2. Add screen shots of the sites for which you write on your own website.

   . This saves visitors the trouble of having to click to all your links, and it also saves you the risk of getting them so interested in a different site that they forget to come back to yours. If you’re not sure what a screen shot even is, go read this explanation from Wikipedia. Basically, you are taking a picture of what is on the screen, saving it as an image file, and then putting it on your website as a picture. You could put it into a writing sample of what you’ve done on that particular website, so visitors can read your work and see where it’s published all without leaving your site.

3. Provide a downloadable .pdf of your portfolio, resume, and/or writing samples.

   You have a potential client who is browsing your website while waiting for a flight. It’s just time to board when they start reading your writing samples. They notice that little “Download as PDF” button, click it, and now they have a copy they can read in flight. Providing options makes it easier for your clients to remember you and hire you.
   Most office programs provide a way to convert a document to a .pdf file, or there are several online options you can look into. Make sure the option is easy to see for your website visitors.

4. Document your areas of expertise with specific samples or clips.

   First, of course, you’ll have to list your areas of expertise. As you build up samples and clips in each area, provide links right next to the listed topic on which you are (becoming) an expert. This makes it easy for clients who want writing on a particular subject to go straight to your relevant writing samples, rather than browsing through your entire portfolio.

5. Have a professional header and logo made.

   If you got some graphic designing skill, make it yourself. Think simple and streamlined. Do a little internet searching if, like me, your graphic design skills are at a negative level. I have found several very affordable options and have been very pleased with the results. Having a uniform header and logo for your website makes you look professional, and it also makes it easy for others to link to your site in an aesthetically pleasing way.

6. Make your design/theme simple with muted or neutral colors.

   I give this advice with a big caveat: some very professional themes and designs incorporate brighter colors and more complex color schemes. But if you’re not sure what you are doing, of if your aesthetic sense is somewhat, uh, underdeveloped, err on the side of caution. A classic black and white theme promotes your writing skill, whereas a complicated, multi-color scheme might just prove distracting to potential clients. Obviously personal taste is involved, and the kind of clients you are pursuing matter, so take this advice with a big grain of salt. Sea salt. White sea salt.

7. Provide a table or spreadsheet with your rates.

   Make this downloadable as well, so clients can have it as a reference. It doesn’t have to be a complicated table, just a simple spread of the services you offered lined up with what you charge. If you have pricing options (by project, by hour, by page), then lay those out clearly as well.

8. Use your sidebar for shameless self-promotion, but in a classy way.

   If you have a sidebar, that is… Gather a collection of quotes from your satisfied clients, positive reviews, and a few of the best lines you have written. Convert part of your CV and areas of expertise into little factoids, then load up all those goodies into a rotating quote collection or other display format. It’s like a little snack bar of how talented you are.

9. Record an audio or video introduction of yourself and what you do.

   A caveat with this one as well: only do this if you can do it well. If you are a work at home freelancer and can’t find a quiet time or place to record, skip it. If, however, you have a friend who is handy with YouTube videos or podcasts and you can come up with a brief, smart script and a good place to record, do it. This could be the first thing visitors see when they come to your website, and a little click on the play button will let them “meet” you. It might be the extra effort that makes you stand out from the other freelance writers out there.

10. Offer a contact form, not just a mailto: command.

    This is a pet peeve of mine. I’m not always on the same computer, and when I want to contact someone who offers only a mailto: option, I have to copy the email address from the command line, open up my own mail server, and send the email. Offer a contact form option so that visitors only have to take one step to get in touch with you. If they are using a public computer or don’t have a default mail server set up on their own, clicking a mailto: command is far more annoying than it is useful.

I originally wrote this post for Writers Unbound, several months ago. Editing it to post on this website has added a few significant items to my list of updates for my portfolio website. Time to get to tweaking...

If you make over $400 per year in “additional income,” you better plan to pay tax on it. You can not plan to, but you’ll still be paying the taxes anyway. And yes, you could also decide not to report what you make from freelancing; for multiple reasons, not reporting is a very bad idea. So you know you’re going to make some amount of money from your writing, and whether that’s moonlighting it or as a full-time writer, the tax structures are about the same. Here is a little breakdown to help you decide how to deal with your freelance income and the resulting taxes.

• The first, and most obvious option, is simply to report as self-employed. You don’t have to set up a business structure; it’s the simplest option. Another way to say it is that you work as an Independent Contractor. This means that “the person for whom you perform services has only the right to control or direct the result of your work, not what will be done or how it will be done,” according to the IRS. You need your social security number, good records of the income you have received, and a little time to fill out some additional forms at tax time. The federal self-employment tax rate is 15.3%, and you will have to make estimated tax payments since your taxes are not automatically withheld.
• A Limited Liability Corporation is the next simplest option. It’s not that complicated to set one up; About.com’s guide predicts 1 - 4 hours. Basically, you have three items on your list: the Articles of Organization, the business name, and the Operating Agreement. The simpler your company is, the simpler these documents will be. If you’re one person, the sole owner of the LLC, you’re looking at a fairly quick set-up. Unless you have more than one member, the federal tax rate is basically the same as it is for self-employed income. The IRS treats a sole-owner LLC as a “non-entity” and taxes it according to sole proprietorship (self-employed) tax laws. So what’s the benefit of forming an LLC if the tax rate is the same? Purportedly, an LLC offers what its name indicates: you can’t be held personally liable if the business fails. So if your business took on debt to support itself, couldn’t pay, and went bankrupt, you wouldn’t lose your personal assets (house, car, savings) to pay that debt.
  I’ve heard from different sources that 1) it’s a good idea to have an LLC because you need the liability protection and 2) the LLC is really just a false front that doesn’t offer any real protection. I suggest doing some independent research there, like talking to someone who actually runs an LLC or chatting with an IRS representative, your accountant, or your lawyer. However, all that said, I don’t really see the point of an LLC structure for a freelance writing business. There is basically no overhead to work from your home as a freelance writer. If you get into setting up an office outside of your home or buying a new laptop every month, you can acquire some debt, sure. But generally, freelance writers are able to keep their expenses very, very low. So setting up a structure to provide liability protection for a company that doesn’t really have liability seems rather redundant. The only other scenario would be the possibility of a lawsuit that could result in large bills. So don’t write anything rude about people…
• Finally we come to the corporate structures, the S Corp and the C Corp. The C Corp is how the big businesses are set up. The S Corp is an option for businesses that don’t want to offer public stock options, and it allows pass-through taxation, which basically means that the corporation doesn’t pay taxes, only the “employees” do on their actual income.
  Neither one is very hard to set up, but you want to pay attention to tax documents, annual reports, and other required forms and filings. As with an LLC, however, a corporation seems rather over the top for a sole proprieter(freelance writer) except that it offers liability protection and, in some scenarios, a savings on taxes.

Now the disclaimer, and I mean it: I am NOT a lawyer or an accountant, and what I’ve said should in no way be treated as legal or professional tax advice. I am a freelance writer, like you. The research I’ve done has been for the purpose of understanding tax options and making decisions for my own income. I have simplified and shared what I know, which isn’t much. The point is to get you started thinking about the best route, so you don’t just wake up in April and realize you have no idea what to do. Whatever you do, be sure you keep accurate records, report honestly, and set your business up legally.

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Coaching, team development, and personal growth are a big part of business now. I'm not sure I buy into it: seems like a corporate extension of what is often a self-help racket. Can coaching and leadership development really produce increased productivity, magically cooperative team-players, and employees so motivated they beg you for extra projects?

Maybe. Maybe not. As with most broad-sweep solutions to common problems, what you put in is exactly what you get out. A corporation can't force you to develop yourself any more than you Mom or Dad could. It's up to you. That said, choosing to exercise discipline, smooth out your rough places, and gain skills is beneficial whether you work in a corporate office or a drive-thru window or from a laptop at your kitchen table. Read the rest of this entry »

Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You, translated into business terms:

Market unto others as you would have them market unto you.

What does that mean? Seth Godin, author of New York Times Best Seller "Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable" (among others), put it this way Read the rest of this entry »