I’m replaying this January 2021 episode to hopefully motivate you, inspire you and encourage you to do some of these things if you haven’t already yet this year. The year is starting to wind down, incredibly enough, so let’s embrace these concepts and set up our businesses for success now. This episode might also be a good reminder of how to think like a business owner and how now to take time to improve your business. This episode goes through seven areas that I would love for you to improve upon, if you haven’t already. They are: 1. Embrace a business owner mindset This idea is what this podcast is based on. Think of yourself as a freelance business owner and all that that entails. Words matter, and the words you tell yourself and others can help to change your mindset. 2. Raise your rates The pandemic has been a hard year economically too, so raising rates for all clients might not be doable. But there are some clients who fared well, and it may be time to raise your rates. It’s certainly time to raise your rates for potential clients — they don’t know what your past rates were! Also, if you have a secret hourly rate — which helps you determine project rates and/or is the amount you aim to earn every hour you are working for clients — I encourage you to raise it by at least $25 an hour. And don't ask your client about raising your rates. Remember, you are a business owner and costs go up. So, you can send an email and say “I wanted to let you know that my rates are going up as of such and such a date. My new rate will be this.” 3. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket It’s important to have anchor clients, but when you commit too much time to an anchor client or become too comfortable with that gig and that income, it can hurt you if you lose that client. Ideally, I would consider not having one client that is more than 35% of your income. When I talk about don’t put all your eggs in one basket, I also mean your services. This can mean your services and/or your industry. Do you need to expand your niche to have niches that are similar? Can you use your skills to add more services for clients? 4. Don’t compare yourself to others Sometimes you do this without even thinking about it. You look at others in your field, even friends of yours who are freelancers, and see their amazing careers or their clients or the big achievements they’ve reached. I can fall prey to this just like anyone else. We have to stop comparing ourselves to others. You are a unique individual, and your business is unique. You have different strengths and weaknesses and values and responsibilities and desires. First, social media. What social media platforms are you on often and how do they make you feel? Are you happy when you scroll through Instagram and see what people are doing and read motivational quotes? Or does it make you feel lazy or like a failure or that you need to do more? Maybe it is time to get off Instagram! This goes for all social media platforms. Take a critical look at how your viewing and interaction with these platforms make you feel. Another suggestion: Start a gratitude practice. Perhaps you want to start a gratitude journal to write down one to three simple things that you are thankful for that day. I embrace the word “savor” and try to remember to savor all the little things throughout the day. Another way to express gratitude in your life is to acknowledge and thank other people. You can still do that as a freelancer. You can let your direct client know if a staff member is really helpful on something. Complimenting and acknowledging people is like volunteering; it makes you feel good to make other people feel good. One more way to stop comparing yourself to others is to be alert for the word “should.” Anytime you say you “should” be doing something, catch yourself or have your partner or a friend call you out on it. “Should” often comes with shame and guilt. It makes you feel bad and does little to improve any situation. So stop shoulding yourself. 5. Set boundaries Boundaries tell you and those around you what is acceptable, appropriate human behavior. They vary from person to person. Knowing what your boundaries are and setting them is critical to building healthy, respectful relationships in your life. So, please check out episode #45 of Deliberate Freelancer for tips on setting boundaries. 6. Get ahold of your finances For many of us, 2020 blew up our financial goals and plans. Now that the dust has settled a bit, if you haven’t already, I highly encourage you in this first quarter of 2021 to get ahold of your finances. This could be a variety of things — it will be different for everyone, If you need help with your finances, I highly recommend episode #28 of Deliberate Freelancer, with my guest Pam Capalad. Pam is a certified financial planner and a whiz when it comes to this stuff. 7. Take a vacation or staycation Plan time off now! Some freelancers tend to be bad in general about taking time off. My argument is always: If I’m going to take only 2-3 weeks of vacation a year or less, when I’m my own boss, than why am I my own boss? I shouldn’t treat myself worse than an employer would. Freelancing means freedom. If you don’t schedule vacations, staycations and days off, they often won’t happen. Even if you can’t really go anywhere because of the pandemic, you can play a staycation or other days off. I want all of you to get into a regular habit of planning and taking vacations — and DO NOT check email or do or check in on client work. That’s not a vacation. It can be done. Remember, you’re your own boss. You tell your clients you’re going to be away. Depending on how regular the work is you may have to work ahead to get stuff done or hire a subcontractor to fill in. Or, take advantage of slow work times. You can also create working vacations, like I do in Indiana for two weeks most summers. The freedom to work anywhere gives you the flexibility to go places and keep in touch without having to completely log off work. Biz Bite: After/then habits The Bookshelf: “Behold the Dreamers” by Imbolo Mbue Resources Episode #1 of Deliberate Freelancer: Change Your Mindset: You Own a Freelance Business Episode #39 of Deliberate Freelancer: Raise Your Rates—Without Emotion Episode #23 of Deliberate Freelancer: Five Questions to Evaluate and Diversify Your Services Episode #45 of Deliberate Freelancer: You Need to Set Boundaries Episode #28 of Deliberate Freelancer: Take Charge of Your Finances, with Pamela Capalad https://tinyhabits.com/design/

Deliberate Freelancer

REPLAY: #86: What I Wish for Your Freelance Business in 2021

Today’s guest is Emma Siemasko, the founder of Stories By Us, a content marketing business. Emma, who lives in San Jose, California, also offers freelance writing coach and is co-host of the Freelance Writing Coach podcast.  Emma has been a solopreneur for six years. She is an expert on writing case studies to promote our businesses. She created the DIY Case Study Kit and has created dozens of case studies and customer stories for tech companies and solopreneurs. Emma’s clients include Figma, Grammarly and Salesforce. A case study is “the story of a customer’s transformation because they used your product or services.” Case studies go beyond testimonials and LinkedIn recommendations. Case studies allow you to get more specific about what it was like to work with you, plus you can share results. Melanie thinks of case studies as being sprinkled around solopreneurs’ websites. But there are several ways you can use case studies. Case studies can be emailed as pdfs as part of your sales pitch or during onboarding. You can also pull out a quote from a case study and post it as a testimonial on your website. When choosing which clients to write case studies about, you may want to develop a case study for each one of the services you offer or each one of the niches/industries you cover. Your case study should tell a great story. This includes sharing your customer’s challenge, how you solved it and the results. The best case studies require getting a client’s permission and interviewing them about the relationship and project. Have a good set of questions written down. But if you feel uncomfortable or awkward doing that interview, you can outsource the interview part. Once you write the case study, send it to your client for review. Emma explains how to write a case study if you’re “only” writing an article or doing a straightforward project that doesn’t seem to lend itself to case studies at first—or you aren’t privy to metrics. Results don’t have to be metrics. Results can be how you made their job easier and what you were like to work with. Be creative in how you think about results. What was the value of working with you? Emma also talks about the nitty-gritty details: length, format, design.   Biz Bite: Use minimal viable systems. The Bookshelf: “Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire” by Lizzie Johnson   Resources: Emma’s Go-To Case Study Interview Questions   Case study examples: The Core Centers How NFI Used WorkStep Retain to Improve Frontline Retention How Laura Got a 711% Return on Her Ad Spend How Kira Hug Helped Business By Design Drive Almost $500,000 in One Launch How Weebly Saved “a Million” Hours on Content Production and Achieved a 3X ROI   Emma’s website, Stories By Us Emma on Twitter Emma on LinkedIn Freelance Writing Coach podcast Emma’s DIY Case Study Kit to purchase—use the Code PODCAST to get 20% off. Emma’s Case Study Email Templates to purchase    

#116: How to Create Case Studies to Land New Clients, with Emma Siemasko

Today’s show is all about the benefits of time tracking. But it’s not about my experience today. Instead, five Deliberate Freelancer listeners sent in audio files about their time-tracking experiences and explained the various ways time tracking has helped their freelance business. Information is power. I believe if you know how you’re really spending your time—rather than making assumptions or incorrectly guessing—you can begin to figure out where you want to make changes and make better use of your time. I hope you find my guests’ tips helpful today. And thank you to these lovely guests and listeners for participating!   Biz Bite: Download potential clients’ lead magnets. The Bookshelf: “What Could Be Saved” by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz   Resources: Subscribe to the Deliberate Freelancer newsletter. Episode #10 of Deliberate Freelancer: Think Like a Marketer to Grow Your Business, with Megy Karydes Episode #91 of Deliberate Freelancer: All Things Pricing: Project Rates, Day Rates, Retainers and More, with Jennifer Duann Fultz Episode #59 of Deliberate Freelancer: Parenting while Freelancing (with or without a pandemic), with Amy Ragland  

#115: Time Tracking Lessons from Deliberate Freelancer Listeners

Today’s guest is Courtney Chaal. Courtney is an American now living in Vancouver in Canada. Courtney helps creatives, coaches and consultants stop being broke and start getting more clients by creating an irresistible service that they can eventually turn into a scalable offer. End goal? Freedom! Courtney is a copywriter turned business coach obsessed with making complex concepts (like business models and sales copy) simple and tangible to help regular people get big results. Over the past 10 years, her business has evolved from her writing custom proposals to now launching digital products and programs, including her high-ticket coaching program, called Yay for 100K. Courtney was diagnosed in July 2020 with ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder). Before her diagnosis, she was struggling with managing her business: “I was dropping a lot of balls; I thought I was really organized and I just kept forgetting things. I was struggling with feeling like I should be more on top of things than I was.” Some ways ADHD manifested in Courtney was that her house was messy, she would forget things—one time, she bought two plane tickets to the same conference. When her mom first suggested she might have ADHD in 2020, Courtney first took a short online quiz, which found she had a high correlation with ADHD. One she was formally diagnosed, she said, “I never felt so validated in my entire life. … I thought I had 100 different small problems and what this showed me was that every single thing I was struggling with in my life was one thing.” Melanie shares that her husband also has ADHD and was only diagnosed a few years ago in his 40s. Courtney believes the name of ADHD is misleading because people with ADHD don’t often have a lack of attention; they have a lack of control over where their attention goes. In fact, people with ADHD often hyper-focus on something they are interested in at the moment, forgetting many other responsibilities. Courtney also doesn’t like the word “disorder.” Her ADHD is just a neutral quality of how her brain functions, with both pros and cons. As Courtney explains, an ADHD brain is wired for interest over importance. Until something becomes an emergency, it’s not important for ADHDers to deal with. Courtney long knew there were certain things she wasn’t good at in her business—following through, organization—but her diagnosis allowed her to let go of trying to be good at those things. It gave her permission to hire a full-time operations manager. ADHD has both negatives and positives. Courtney sees her ADHD as her superpower. If she didn’t have ADHD, she would also be giving up her creativity, her out-of-the-box thinking, her problem-solving, her big picture thinking skills, her humor and being quick on her feet. No one person gets to have all the good qualities and none of the challenges. Instead of developing “coping” strategies, Courtney lets go of other people’s strategies. For example, she tries not to buy the planners at the beginning of the year because she knows that she won’t use a planner. Outsourcing has helped her tremendously with areas of friction. She outsources her laundry, orders groceries online, hires a cleaning person and uses meal prep services. You can also find smaller, simpler strategies to help in areas of friction for you. For example, whenever Courtney prepares to leave the house, she always says the mantra “wallet, keys, phone,” so she can be sure not to forget one of those things. She also recently had keyless entry installed on her apartment. She also hates hanging up coats on hangars, so she makes sure to have hooks instead, which she’ll use, and that they’re in the right place. Biz Bite: Do a brain dump: When you fall into an overwhelming “pit of despair,” stop and write down everything swirling in your brain that you have to get done.   Resources: CourtneyChaal.com Courtney on Instagram Courtney on Twitter Courtney’s Rebel Productivity Facebook group A Guide to ADHD ADDitude magazine    

#114: Building a Successful Business with ADHD, with Courtney Chaal

Today’s guest is Anna Hetzel, from Columbus, Ohio. Anna is the owner and founder of Strange Birds, a business they started five years ago in which they convert copywriting and strategy for websites and community design and strategy.   Anna works with service providers and entrepreneurs who are trying to expand their reach and figure out how to talk to their ideal clients and build more scalable offers through paid online communities.   Hear the fun story about how Anna named their business Strange Birds.   A lot of freelance advice is about how to grow your network. But Anna approached it differently. From day one, they approached it based on relationships: “I didn’t give two hoots about how many people I was connected to. What mattered to me was did I have good relationships I was connected to.”   The value of that relationship building showed up when the pandemic hit. Instead of having just a lot of names of people Anna had met, they had real relationships.   Melanie talks about how she hates the traditional cocktail hour networking event where she doesn’t know anyone. Anna offers a tip: Anna’s goal at those events is to make one friend—not one contact, but one friend. That helped them filter out the noise and overwhelm.   At networking events, we may feel pressured to meet 12 new people and begin to develop opportunities. But opportunities take time. Focus on making one new friend instead.   There’s a difference between a network and a community: “It’s the difference between a list of contacts versus a group of people that are mutually invested in each other’s success.”   Your social media following or your email list is a network. They are not a community; they are your audience.   It can be hard to make friends as an adult! Find what you’re good at—like writing or photography—and read related social media posts and comment thoughtfully. Give your energy in that space.   As for virtual events, it’s OK to decline those and set boundaries. Do what makes you feel comfortable. That includes not turning on your video during Zoom calls.   Anna uses the five love languages to build relationships in their business too. The love languages are words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, gift giving and physical touch. Anna modifies the “physical touch” love language for the business world to think of it as “human to human.” Add a human touch, such as by sending gifs of people or a video of you reacting to an email.   Biz Bite: Before tomorrow, write out what an amazing day means to you (both in work and life) and build your business ferociously around those guidelines.   Resources: Sign up for Anna’s email list at StrangeBirds.land and receive a quick guide to match your unique skills and simple-to-implement scalable ways to move away from transactional contacts and into real relationships.   Anna on Instagram   Episode #112 of Deliberate Freelancer: How and When to Say No   “Hoatzin: the Strangest Bird in the Amazon?”   Loom (send quick video messages)   What Are the Five Love Languages?  

#113: How to Build Relationships, Not a Network, with Anna Hetzel

I am really good at saying no. Today, I’m going to walk you through nine common scenarios freelance business owners experience and tell you how I say no to these questions and situations. Even if the language I use doesn’t resonate with you, I hope it will get you thinking, encourage you to say no more often and help you figure out how to say no in your own words. “No” is a complete sentence. You’ve heard that, right? But in business there usually needs to be a bit more finesse than that. And there are a lot of different ways to say no depending on the situation. Whenever you are considering anything—whenever you are trying to decide whether to do something, always keep in mind: You are a business owner. You are in charge of your business, your life and your career. YOU choose who you work with, just as much as they are choosing you. YOU choose what you are worth. YOU set the parameters. Everything can be negotiated. You are a business owner. Words to stop using: Just Unfortunately I’m sorry (except in rare cases, like when you actually make a mistake).   Don’t qualify your answer. Don’t apologize for how you run your business. And stop over-explaining things when you say no.   Scenario #1: You don’t want to do the project. My answer: Thanks for reaching out, but this project is not the right fit for me.   Scenario #2: You don’t have time. My answers (here’s where it might be OK to say “I’m sorry” if that makes you feel better): I’m sorry, I am fully booked for the next month. I’m sorry, I am fully booked for the three weeks. Is there any flexibility with the deadline?   Scenario #3: You are asked to sign an onerous contract (non-compete, insurance requirement, indemnity clause). My answers (first, try to negotiate): Can we strike the indemnity clause from the contract? Indemnity clauses put all legal risk on my solo business and I cannot sign contracts with them. or, offer to replace the clause: I cannot sign a contract with an indemnity clause. Indemnity clauses put all legal risk on my solo business. I will guarantee my work, though. Can we replace the indemnity clause with the following guarantee: The writer guarantees that the articles she writes will not contain material that is consciously libelous or defamatory, to the best of her ability.   If I’m asked to sign a non-compete, the answer is always no. That’s non-negotiable as a freelancer, so I’ll say: As a freelance business owner with multiple clients, I cannot sign a non-compete.   The end. They can take that or leave it. The same goes for insurance (for me, personally).   Scenario #4: The pay is too low. My answer: This is much lower than what I charge. I charge XX per XX. Is that within your budget?   If they say no, or if they can’t negotiate to an acceptable rate, I usually respond with something like: I’m unable to do the project at this rate. Thanks for thinking of me and I wish you luck.   Scenario #5: Vague requests or “can we get on the phone?” or “what are your rates?” My answer: Could you email me a bit more about what you’re looking for and what your budget is so I can determine if I might be a good fit?   Scenario #6. Can you lower your price? My answer: No. In an email, I might say: No, I can’t lower my price.   Scenario #7: The client asks for something beyond the scope of work. My answer: I’m happy to to do this work. However, the original proposal included XYZ and was based on a maximum of XXX words/pages/parameters, which is what I provided. I can do this extra work at an additional rate of $XXX/hour. I would estimate approximately 2-3 more hours would be needed.   Scenario #8: Can I pick your brain? My answer—I may not answer an email at all if I don’t know them. You don’t have to respond to people. It’s not the law. I will also point people to relevant podcast episodes instead—you can do that with a blog or other articles too. Or I say: I’d be happy to talk with you. My consulting fee is XX per hour. or I offer a 30-minute coaching call for XX dollars.   Scenario #9: Someone asks you to volunteer or speak at an event and you cannot. My answer: I’m sorry, I don’t have the capacity to add anything else to my plate right now. or I would love to, but I’m completely booked right now and can’t commit to any more volunteering opportunities. or What is the payment for speaking? (or What is the compensation?) or I don’t do unpaid speaking. Do you have a budget in mind?   Biz Bite: Save a script of how to say no.   The Bookshelf: “The Nothing Man” and ALL the books by Irish crime writer Catherine Ryan Howard   Resources: Subscribe to the Deliberate Freelancer newsletter. Episode #45 of Deliberate Freelancer: You Need to Set Boundaries Episode #102 of Deliberate Freelancer: Freelancer Survival Skills + a Pep Talk about Boundaries, with Sarah Townsend Episode #91 of Deliberate Freelancer: All Things Pricing: Project Rates, Day Rates, Retainers and More, with Jennifer Duann Fultz  

#112: How and When to Say No

Today’s guest is Madalena Sanchez Zampaulo. Madalena lives in Southern California and owns a boutique translation agency called Accessible Translation Solutions, which she opened in 2010. She continues to do freelance translation work as well, specializing in medicine and life sciences. Madalena shares her knowledge and years of research to help freelance translators and interpreters improve their online presence—from their websites and LinkedIn profiles to SEO and copywriting. She does this through her blog, as well as courses, webinars and coaching and as co-host of the podcast Smart Habits for Translators. I asked Madalena to come on the podcast after I saw how she revamped her website earlier this year. I was impressed with all the services and products she offers other freelancers and how she organized them all into a Resource Library. Today, Madalena talks about blogging, creating courses and becoming a coach for other freelancers.   Madalena translates from Spanish and Portuguese to English. She explains the difference between a translator (written) and an interpreter (spoken). Madalena is a six-figure freelancer. She offers two ways to get there: Diversify your services and work with the right clients—those who see you as a partner and pay well. Madalena started marketing her services through a blog and then created an email list to send out new blog posts and other content. She commits to posting on her blog every other week—weekly seemed too cumbersome—but she also takes breaks and vacations when she needs to. Three areas that have helped her market her business are her email list, social media and word-of-mouth. In fact, the latter is probably the biggest driver for her business. Public speaking also drives a lot of people to her blog, email list and social media. Madalena breaks down the type of courses she has offered to freelance business owners and how that has evolved over the past few years. She now offers monthly office hour for her course students over Zoom, modeled after a professor’s “office hours.” She sets a block of time she’s always available and students can hop on Zoom to ask any questions. She also has a community for her course students in Slack. Before you start creating courses, consider what you can offer that fills a need in the space. What are the motivations people have for taking your course? What is the transformation your students want from your course? When creating your course think about how to relay complex information in a logical way.  When considering coaching, Madalena said: “I listened to what people were asking me for and decided ‘is this something I can offer well and offer successfully?’” With coaching, you don’t have to have all the answers or offer advice. Coaching often means offering people a new perspective and new ideas they didn’t think of. You are helping them figure out how to get unstuck or providing encouragement or reassurance. Before you offer coaching, consider what you can offer that fills a gap for people. There are coaches for every topic. What is it that you can provide that people really need and how can you meet them where they are? How can you be different from what’s already available? Delivery of coaching is important. Consider whether you want to coach—or your clients want coaching—that is face-to-face, via Zoom, or via phone, text or email. Giving people options can be helpful. If you’re going to become a coach, think it through. Take the pulse of the people who will actually pay for your services. Try it out. Once you commit to coaching someone, it may be long-term. You can’t just quit it immediately. People are expecting you to show up. Creating is exhausting. You can be more productive if you give yourself a break. Go for a walk. Do some chores and just let yourself think. That’s part of the creation process—giving yourself enough space to think something through.   Biz Bite: Do something today that your tomorrow self will thank you for.   Resources: Madalenazampaulo.com Accessible Translation Solutions  Madalena on Twitter Madalena on Instagram Smart Habits for Translators podcast MemberSpace for courses Loom for video messaging Vimeo for videos Contentstudio for social media management Subscribe to the Deliberate Freelancer newsletter.

#111: Offering Courses and Coaching, with Translator Madalena Sanchez Zampaulo

This week is a short episode because I’m supposed to be on vacation. Tune in to hear how this part-working vacation, part unplugged real vacation is going so far.   Biz Bite: Schedule a Monthly Self-Care Reminder   The Bookshelf: “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir   Resources: Subscribe to the Deliberate Freelancer newsletter.

#110: Getting Stuff Done in Indiana

On today’s show I go over 33 ways you can find new clients. This is a replay of episode #43, which came out January 23, 2020, before we knew what was in store for us. A couple of my recommendations refer to in-person conferences and in-person networking, which is not happening for most us right now during the pandemic. However, just imagine that I’m saying “virtual conference” every time because I’ve found virtual conferences these page 18 months to be great for networking, providing presentations to a wide audience, and education. So, consider what you can do with virtual conferences to gain new clients. But before you embark on a project to find new clients, do a little prep work. First, consider what type of work you truly want more of. What do you love to do? What work pays well? Focus on that. Next, raise your rates. Then, be crystal clear on what you want to say to those potential clients. Focus on how you can help them and what they want. Now, you’re ready to find new clients. Here are my tips (scroll down to the Resources section for a printable pdf of this list): Ask current clients for new work. Ask current or past clients for referrals. Go to industry conferences. Maximize your LinkedIn profile and add keywords. Send a ridiculous number of letters of introduction (LOIs). Follow up on past LOIs or with people you’ve met in real life. Add a new service. Apply to speak at conferences as an expert in your field. Reach out to your contacts who are at new jobs. Write a guest blog post in your industry. Ramp up your social media game. Go old school and mail out postcards to a select group. Join organizations and make sure to fill out your profile in the online directory. Apply to win awards in your field. Be active in Facebook groups and/or Twitter chats. Create a private Twitter list of potential clients. Launch or revive your blog. Create an email list. Create a newsletter. Create a freebie. Set up keyword searches on Twitter. Ask for testimonials from happy clients. Ask for LinkedIn recommendations. Try Facebook Live or Instagram Stories. Be a guest on a podcast. Revamp your website. Update your online portfolio. Consider partnerships. Answer job ads. Go to local events. Connect with a co-working space. Tell everyone you meet what you do. Fire a client. Biz Bite: Stop reading and listening to things that make you angry. The Bookshelf: “Daisy Jones & the Six” by Taylor Jenkins Reid Resources: 33 Ways to Find More Clients printable pdf Episode #23 of Deliberate Freelancer: Five Questions to Evaluate and Diversify Your Services Episode #18 of Deliberate Freelancer: How to Set Higher Rates Episode 22 of Deliberate Freelancer: How to Create a Better Work-Life Balance, with Laura Poole Episode #6 of Deliberate Freelancer: Make the Most of Conferences Episode #24 of Deliberate Freelancer: Networking Tips, Especially as an Introvert Episode #20 of Deliberate Freelancer: How to Use LinkedIn Better to Find Clients, with Phaedra Brotherton

REPLAY #43: 33 Ways to Find More Clients

Today’s guest is Suzy Bills from Utah. Suzy  is an editor and author and a faculty member in the editing and publishing program at Brigham Young University (BYU). She was previously a lead editor for the Joseph Smith Papers, and she’s owned a writing and editing business for more than a decade. Suzy’s book, “The Freelance Editor’s Handbook” is being published this fall by the University of California Press. She is also starting to offer business consulting and coaching for freelancers. Suzy began freelancing on the side in 2006 while working as an editor full-time. She became a full-time freelancer in 2011. She started at BYU as an adjunct professor and was offered a full-time position in 2017. She continues to maintain her writing and editing business. Perfectionism is a personality characteristic that causes people to strive to be flawless. That causes them to set really high standards and be quite critical in how they evaluate their performance. It often leads people to think they shouldn’t make any mistakes. Perfectionism can be destructive, but it can also have positive qualities. Suzy saw perfectionism in herself and worked to turn it into a positive attribute. Perfectionism can lead to obsessive compulsive disorder, depression, eating disorders and more. There are two types of perfectionism: adaptive/constructive and maladaptive/destructive. With adaptive perfectionism, people set high standards and are motivated to reach them in encouraging and exciting ways. This can lead to happiness, a sense of meaning and satisfaction with life. With maladaptive perfectionism, people set high standards but aren’t optimistic they can achieve them. It leads to self-criticism, stress and low self-esteem, which often leads to burnout. And too much stress on yourself can actually lead to lower performance on a project or task. Overcoming perfectionism is mostly about changing our thinking. We can be working on the exact same project but look at our goals and success in different ways. Perfectionism causes some people to not even start their freelance business. It causes freelance business owners to not reach out to new clients, to not start new services, to discount projects and give refunds over small mistakes. Humans, including copy editors, aren’t perfect. Industry standards say 90% accuracy in editing is achievable and acceptable. Copy editors are not always going to be 100% accurate. (This is also a good reason to hire a proofreader later on.) How can we recognize and manage perfectionism? Practice being self-aware and catching yourself when you’re in a perfectionism spiral. Are you using your perfectionism in a healthy way? Perfectionism might manifest as being cruel to yourself. At that point, put your thoughts on trial. Stop being the prosecutor and be the objective judge or jury. Find and evaluate the evidence that shows what you are thinking is not accurate (for example, success on a last project, this client rehired you). You may also identify an area of weakness. That’s OK. If that happens, create a plan about improving that weakness. Ask yourself: Where was the breakdown that led to that mistake? It is a process issue, overwork, lack of sleep or lack of skills? To encourage a positive mindset, create a mantra that works for you and repeat it multiple times every day. It might feel silly at first, but you will start to internalize it and believe it. Accountability partners can also help reassure you when you’re being too hard on yourself. It’s also important and helpful for people to talk about their mistakes and weaknesses to normalize that we are not perfect. Write down your thoughts, especially because people tend to ruminate on the bad thoughts and situation. Writing can help get it out of your mind and allow you to move past it. Keep a record of positive feedback, whether in an email folder, a smartphone “boost bank” folder or in a praise jar. If you do discover you made a mistake, you are likely to react physically. So, change that physical reaction. Take deep breaths, move your body to relax it. Walk around. Go for a longer walk. Next, take responsibility for a mistake with a client. That actually increases respect for you. Then, create an action plan to prevent that type of mistake in the future.   Biz Bite: Set Aside Professional Development Time Every Week   Resources: Suzy’s book, “The Freelance Editor’s Handbook” http://writingandeditingbysuzy.com Suzy Bills on LinkedIn ACES–the Society for Editing Episode #70 of Deliberate Freelancer: Techniques to Deal with Anxiety from My New Therapist Episode #71 of Deliberate Freelancer: 3 Failures and the Lessons They Taught Me   

#109: How to Recognize and Overcome Perfectionism, with Suzy Bills

For the past several years, I’ve chosen a word (or words) of the year in January, a theme to keep me focused on a particular goal or area. In 2021, my word was simplicity. I think I needed that after 2020. Plus, in January 2021, things were still looking a bit bleak. COVID numbers were high, I hate winter, a bunch of traitors tried to destroy our U.S. Capitol and harm lawmakers. Whew.   “Simplicity” was quite different from my planned 2020 words of “Explore + Act” (that changed once the pandemic hit) and my 2019 word, “leap.”   But in 2021, I vowed I was going to lean in to simplicity. Well, now it’s August and I’m fighting with myself over that word. I feel like different sides of my personality are battling with each other. Simplicity is lovely and relaxing. But simplicity is also status quo and holding off on big ideas.   I want to explore—and act—on the big ideas I have for this podcast, not sit back and contemplate. But then there’s the other side of me that likes living a calm, simple life.   Several of my podcast guests have talked about setting big goals and not sticking with the status quo. While I get excited about that in theory, what I don’t say to them is: That sounds like a lot of work. And I don’t know if I want to work more. I don’t know that I want to set that big goal and have to put in all the extra hours to achieve it. I like working less than 30 hours a week and not on the weekends.   Is that my fear talking? Am I just lazy? Am I just scared of leaving my comfort zone?   Is it OK to just stay the same with my business? Is it OK to just be comfortable?   Of course it is. But how can I embrace simplicity when I want to explore—and act—on those big ideas?    After almost eight years of freelancing, I’m thinking about scaling up more than at any other time. For me, this involves two sides of my business: MelEdits and Deliberate Freelancer.   Let’s talk about scaling up. It’s a buzzy, jargony, marketing phrase. And I think when we hear it as freelance business owners, we often think that means becoming an agency, or at least hiring a few subcontractors and doing more strategy work, rather than the doing the actual implementation.   But scaling up does not have to mean becoming an agency. And being successful in your freelance business does not mean the next logical step is becoming an agency. You can remain a company of one forever. Hiring virtual assistants and subcontractors as needed can be great, but you don’t even have to do that if you don’t want to. I, for one, want to keep doing the writing and editing.   So, are there other ways to grow your business? What about this idea of passive income? Selling books, courses, templates and other products. (Of course none of this is really passive because you have to create it and then continue to market it.)   I am now thinking of Deliberate Freelancer not just as a podcast, but as a business—as the freelance knowledge and community side of my business.   What if Deliberate Freelancer could build and foster a community—a community of you all, freelance business owners? And what if it could then offer you services to help you grow your freelance business?   Listen to this podcast episode for all the ideas swirling around in my head and stay tuned for how Deliberate Freelancer will be expanding. This free podcast will remain, but there will be new opportunities and offers for you soon.   Have new ideas for Deliberate Freelancer and where it should go? Please let me know! Email me at melanie@meledits.com or tweet me or DM me on Twitter @MelEdits.   So, how can you scale up, or create a new arm of your business, or make more money—but doing that by doing what you love? What big, bold idea gets you excited?   Creating an agency isn’t for everyone. Taking on more work isn’t always the right call. Think creatively and do what ignites a fire in your belly.   Biz Bite: Don’t Do Everything Right Now   The Bookshelf: “Falling” by T.J. Newman   Resources:   Subscribe to the Deliberate Freelancer newsletter.   Episode #105 of Deliberate Freelancer: My Procrastination Struggle and Potential Solutions   Episode #95 of Deliberate Freelancer: How to Dream Bigger and Transform Your Freelance Business, with Cathy Wilkes   Episode #98 of Deliberate Freelancer: Six-Figure Freelancing: The Benefits of Selling Strategy and Outcomes, with Austin Church    

#108: Should I Keep It Simple or Scale Up?

Today’s guest is Sarah Greesonbach from Richmond, Virginia. Sarah is a B2B content marketing writer and has been freelancing since 2013. She operates the B2B Content Studio, a freelance consultancy that helps agencies and Fortune 500 technology companies in the HR, retail/e-com and higher education space develop B2B content marketing assets such as white papers, thought leadership articles, case studies and more. Sarah is also the founder of B2B Writing Institute, which is developing a workforce of highly trained and certified B2B writers to meet the B2B marketing content needs of the future. Sarah talks about two kinds of doubt: creative doubt and doubt as a freelance business owner. She worked to overcome the doubt for years, but then she realized that being a freelancer means you are going to experience doubt from time to time as clients and projects and income fluctuate. Sarah talks about how we sometimes say “yes” to work even though we should have stopped because our calendar in that month was full. “When I look at my calendar and see that it’s not physically possible to do what I’ve said I’ll do, that just creates this stress and anxiety that doesn’t go away very easily.” Doubt can pop up during those times when you’re too busy, which also can make you start to feel burnt out. Sarah asks herself a couple of questions in those moments to help get her back on track: How is my cash flow? Fear often pops up as a cash-flow problem, so Sarah tries to keep at least 1–3 months of income in the bank, which causes less stress and for her to say “no” more often. Sometimes she’ll start to look at employee job postings and daydream about being an employee again. That’s when she asks herself: What am I really missing right now? She considers what she likes in a healthy work life. For her, it’s often purpose, security and community. So, she asks what she’s missing and how can she fix it. Sarah talks about how to fire clients, including clients where she liked the people but was bored with the work. She listens to her gut when she doesn’t want to do a project anymore. She tells those clients that she is shifting her business. In one case, she wrote a long letter explaining the situation but then she did not send the letter. You don’t have to share all the details and make it dramatic. It’s just business. In freelancers who are struggling, she sometimes sees that they have a scarcity mindset—thinking there’s not enough work. But, she sees an overwhelming need for freelance writers in her work. Sarah has set some parameters around her schedule recently that have transformed her business. Because her work requires a lot of phone interviews, her day was getting taken up by all these 30-minute calls with only short breaks in between—not enough time to do focused work. She began to reserve only a couple of days a week for phone calls—right now she is not doing phone calls on Mondays or Fridays.  Getting control of social media “check ins” was also important. Now, she doesn’t get on Slack or social media until 2 p.m. on work days. She thought she had been keeping in touch and staying “on top of things,” but she hasn’t missed out on anything by waiting until after 2 p.m. Biz Bite: Comment Back (you never know who will respond!) Resources: Sarah’s B2B Writing Institute Sarah’s podcast: B2B Craftworks Sarah on LinkedIn Sarah on Twitter Freedom app (to block certain websites and social media) Boomerang app in Gmail (to schedule when emails are delivered to her) Book “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” by Greg McKeown

#107: Firing Clients and Taking Control of Your Schedule, with Sarah Greesonbach

Today’s guest is Anita Kwan, from Columbus, Ohio. Anita is the owner of a video production company called Reel Hoot. Her mission is to hold a safe and inclusive space in video production while having fun. She helps women, people of color and LGBTQ+ businesses thrive with video strategy and marketing content.   Connection is important to Anita. She co-runs an online community called PB&Qs, which stands for Professional, Business and Queers. This community hosts monthly events for women, trans and non-binary professionals looking to network and grow professionally. Look for a link   Anita started Reel Hoot Productions about five years ago after getting laid off. When her business took off quickly, she stopped looking for a full-time job.   Because she is focused on live video, Anita’s business took a big hit when the pandemic arrived in the U.S. in spring 2020. However, while the pandemic took away her ability to film, she quickly pivoted to provide services to client. She could still use her editing skills, and she embraced her creativity, using stock images or whatever assets a client had, such as photos or short videos on their phone.    Now, in summer 2021, she’s been able to meet in-person with more people and also embraces shooting outdoors as needed.   Videos are some of the best ways to reach your audience because they are an automatic attention grabber. It’s a great way to take your audience on your journey and build a connection.   Anita encouraged us to ask ourselves: When is video right for my business and why? Who is my audience? You need to be able to answer those questions before you decide to create a video.   Anita says, “I can create a great video for you, but if you don’t have a plan, if you don’t know who your message is going to reach, if you don’t know who your audience is, then it’s just going to be a video with no eyes on it.”   Anita talks us through the array of platforms—Instagram, Facebook Live, YouTube, etc.—and how to choose between them.   Choosing social media video options depends on who you want to reach and on your personality. Some people love doing live video while others prefer to record it first.   Consider how you can repurpose your videos. You can “chop up” a longer video into shorter bits to share on time-limited platforms such as Instagram Reels or Tik-Tok. Anita explains the difference between Instagram photo posts, Stories and Reels and how each works best. Stories is often more the day-to-day sharing and a way to build consistent content. Stories only lasts 24 hours, so don’t worry about the production too much.   Anita believes we should be authentic online and in videos. The “professionalism” demeanor some freelancers think they have to uphold at all times does not mean they can’t talk about their personal lives or how they are feeling about their business or life. For example, businesses and people who were only posting about business during the pandemic came across as “non-human.” They were not connecting to people and recognizing how difficult life was for most people.   The type of video will depend on your goals and your messaging. Anita walked us through a couple of types: branding videos to introduce your business; behind-the scenes videos to show your personality and/or process to build trust and credibility; educational or how-to videos to share your expertise.   A common misconception about video is that it’s easy to create a video, but Anita says a lot of videos are too long, don’t have a direct storyline, are boring, or have poor lighting. A well-produced video follows a three-step process: pre-production (planning), production (filming) and post-production (editing).   The good news is that video is more affordable than ever. And production quality isn’t the top priority for your audience, as we learned during the pandemic when everyone had to make their own videos at home.   If you’re uncomfortable with being on video, Anita says we need to be easier on ourselves. It’s OK to fumble your words, to not look perfect. Get comfortable with being authentic and vulnerable. We are often our own worst critics.   Anita also talks about audio and lighting options and best practices.   To brainstorm on what videos to create, watch a lot of other videos. See what you like about them and draw inspiration from those.   Biz Bite: Find a community to get involved in.   Resources: Anita’s business, Reel Hoot Productions: www.reelhootproductions.com   Anita and Reel Hoot on Instagram   Anita’s community: Professionals, Business, & Queers (PB&Qs)   PB&Qs on Instagram   Dollar Shave Club’s 2012 hilarious and low-budget branding video   How Dollar Shave Club used video to grow to a $1 billion exit (2020 article)  

#106: How to Use Video to Connect with Your Audience, with Anita Kwan

On today’s episode I am talking through my embarrassing business secret: procrastination. It’s my biggest struggle in my business and the thing I hate the most about my business self. I feel like it makes me look lazy or unreliable.  I’m a big fan of time tracking, and time tracking has showed me that I don’t get a lot done on most Fridays unless I have a meeting scheduled or a deadline. But, because I have every intention of doing some work on Fridays and then it doesn’t happen, I end up doing it on Sunday. And I hate that feeling of the work hanging over my head on Sunday. Here are some reasons why we procrastinate: Fear of failure I don’t think this is behind my procrastination most of the time. But is it behind yours? We put off things we don’t know how to start or we don’t feel good enough to work on. When you are afraid of failure, you are often overgeneralizing things about yourself or being too hard on yourself. But remember: Your client would not have hired you if you didn’t have some skills. It can be helpful to give yourself a pep talk: Remind yourself of projects you’ve done similarly that you have succeeded in. In episode 102 of Deliberate Freelancer, guest Sarah Townsend recommended, as her Biz Bite, keeping a Boost Bank, which is when you take a screenshot of all the compliments, good reviews and positive testimonials you have received and then put them all in one photo folder on your phone to look at now on again. Not interested in the task Are you procrastinating simply because you don’t want to do that task? We have all probably experienced this at some point. When this is an issue, I like the idea of “eat the frog,” which means doing the thing you don’t want to do. Just do it first thing at the start of your work day and get it over with. Or, batch several “eat the frog” tasks and do them all at once. It feels so great when you get those annoying things off your to-do list and can quit thinking about them. ADHD or depression Procrastination can also be a sign of having ADHD or depression. This is when it might be time to see a doctor or therapist. None of these are reasons for my procrastination right now. I think I just have a lack of motivation. I should listen to my own podcast! Back in episode #31, I talked about how to work when you’re feeling blah. This could be a big neon sign that I need to start taking my afternoon walks again and/or meditate in the morning. I may also need to see my acupuncturist. One thing I did recently is take a hard look at my schedule and how and when I work. I tried to really think outside the box about what I could be doing differently that would be better for me. Two good things I’m already doing: I take advantage of morning peak productivity time and I don’t schedule meetings or anything else on Mondays. But, I had a little debate with myself about whether I should just accept working on Sundays and stop treating it as a Sunday or refuse to work Sundays. I am also debating whether to work half-days on Fridays. The problem with Fridays is two-fold: I’m lying to myself that I can do things on Friday when I know full-well that by Friday afternoon I’m brain dead and I get very little done. The other problem is that I sit at my desk Friday afternoon and fritter the time away when I should just back away from my desk. But what if I really worked on switching my mindset? I could declare to myself that I will not work Friday afternoons and I will not work on the weekends. This just needs to be a new mindset shift. And a lot of mindset is how you talk to yourself. What is your self-talk? Right now, I’ve been telling myself that I do work Fridays and worse, “well, I always have Sunday to catch up.” I hate that feeling, it’s not helpful, and I need to stop. I also think that a two-day break might be just the thing I need to refresh me and help me not procrastinate during the week. (That person who invented weekends might be on to something!) Maybe working on Sunday is bumming me out, which leads to me procrastinating from lack of motivation during the week—which then causes me to have to work on Sundays! A perpetual cycle. Mind blown. Before this revelation, I asked some freelancer friends on social media what I should do about procrastination, and I got a lot of good ideas to try out. Here are a few: Rethink your entire schedule and set new office hours that fit you better. Block your time and batch tasks—do like-minded tasks at the same time. Or, even create solid days of a certain task, like Tuesday is reserved for writing and never meetings. Try Caveday.org, an online accountability Zoom call with strangers. Create strict boundaries that you know will keep you on task, like going to a coffee shop. (I always focus better when I put on my noise-canceling headphones—even with no music!) Meditation. Accountability partners. Biz Bite: Put Times with Your To-Do List The Bookshelf: “Malibu Rising” by Taylor Jenkins Reid Resources: Subscribe to the Deliberate Freelancer newsletter. Episode #102 of Deliberate Freelancer: Freelancer Survival Skills + a Pep Talk about Boundaries, with Sarah Townsend (talking about a Boost Bank as the Biz Bite) Episode #31 of Deliberate Freelancer: How to Get Motivated to Work When You’re Feeling Blah Episode #103 of Deliberate Freelancer: My Time Tracking and Client Analysis for Q2 Episode #52 of Deliberate Freelancer: Embracing Self-Care without Guilt, with Acupuncturist Rachel Brumberger

#105: My Procrastination Struggle and Potential Solutions

Today’s episode is all about books and reading! I talk book podcasts and tell you about a great book list app. I also recommend the seven best fiction books and one best nonfiction book I’ve read so far in 2021.   My new favorite book podcasts, which I also support on Patreon to get the extra podcast content, are:   Sarah's Bookshelves Live   From the Front Porch podcast (from a bookstore called The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia)   The Currently Reading Podcast (Love their Indie Press list Patreon partnership with Fabled Bookshop & Cafe in Waco, Texas)   I’m also a huge fan of the Book of the Month Club.   The app I use to track my books: Reading List   The best books I’ve read so far in 2021: The Dry by Jane Harper The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James Sea Wife by Amity Gage Writers and Lovers by Lily King When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab What Comes After by Joanne Tompkins   Nonfiction: The Premonition by Michael Lewis   A disappointing book of 2021: Survive the Night by Riley Sager   Worst book I’ve read so far in 2021: The Whispering House by Elizabeth Brooks   My most anticipated books for the second half of 2021: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby Falling by T.J. Newman False Witness by Karin Slaughter   A few more books that are getting great reviews this year:   Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston The Guncle by Steven Rowley Seven Days in June by Tia Williams   If you love the following authors, here are new books coming out this fall:   Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune Oh William! By Elizabeth Strout Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone (Outlander series) by Diana Gabaldon Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult     Biz Bite: Reattach to Work Each Morning   Learn more by clicking on habit #19 here: https://www.developgoodhabits.com/productivity-hacks/   Related study: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0149206319829823   More resources:   Subscribe to the Deliberate Freelancer newsletter.   Episode #51 of Deliberate Freelancer: Reading and Book Recommendations during Coronavirus   Episode #87 of Deliberate Freelancer: My Most Anticipated 2021 Books (and Fave 2020 Books)

#104: Best Books of 2021 So Far—and New Releases This Fall

The show for those who want to build a successful freelance business. We are NOT about the hustle. We are NOT about the feast-or-famine cycle. We are about building a business. Deliberately.

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