Category: Uncategorized

April 20, 2017

Freelance Writer and Blogger’s Arsenal: My Top 10 Tools

Today I’m going to let you in on the secrets behind running my business and blog from the back end.

Let me start by saying, you do not need any fancy programs to get the job done. I’m a minimalist when it comes to work systems, because I don’t like to be overwhelmed by the details. There’s nothing more professional about using a Freshbooks invoice versus a Paypal invoice. Complicated systems just slow you down.

During the beginning stages of your freelance career, you’re likely not going to encounter anything more complicated than invoicing and getting paid. You don’t need any writing programs more complicated than Google Drive. And if you build a website, you don’t need anything more complicated than WordPress with a free theme, if you know what to look for.

So, without further ado…

*Disclaimer, this post may contain affiliate links

My Top 10 Tools for Running a Successful Freelance Writing Business and Blog

Google Drive

Pretty much my entire business is run inside Google Drive.

I deliver content to all my clients through Google Docs, except for a few that I access directly through WordPress. In fact, most of my clients request their files through Google Docs.

My drive is pretty organized, which helps a lot. I have a separate folder for each regular client, so their articles are easy to find.

I use Google Sheets to track client pitches and income (get a copy of my exact pitch tracker). Nothing fancy. My finances at this point are pretty straightforward. Since I’m about 99% paid through Paypal, my income is pretty easy to track. My expenses are pretty straightforward as well, so I don’t feel it necessary to purchase anything fancier. It would probably just throw me off my game if I had to resort to another program on another site. Keeping everything in Google Drive keeps me from feeling overwhelmed.

Mailchimp

Now, Mailchimp obviously isn’t required for freelance writers. But, if you keep a blog of your own (you should!), you’ll want to find a way to collect subscribers, believe me. Maichimp is free for up to 500 subscribers. I chose to upgrade to the $10 plan recently so I can build a few simple automated email sequences, like for my free 7-day Freelance Freedom from Corporate series.

I know there are plenty of other fancier services out there. But I haven’t been convinced yet to transfer over to any of them. Mailchimp does everything I want it to and it’s easy to use. And again, fancier tools would probably just slow my roll.

Paypal

I almost exclusively use Paypal for taking payments and invoicing. Every client I’ve had pays through Paypal. It’s something that everyone recognizes and trusts as safe. And usually everyone already has an account there. So, I’ve found it’s the most simple and straightforward way to accept money, invoice clients, and keep track of my money. I wrote a detailed step-by-step post on how to invoice with Paypal here.

Evernote

Everything that doesn’t live in Google Docs lives on Evernote. Mostly, I keep more personal notes on Evernote. If I’m listening to a training video about Facebook Ads, for example, I might keep any notes I want to remember on Evernote. All of my branding details (fonts, colors, audience, etc) are kept in a file on Evernote, among a few other things.

If I don’t use Evernote, I usually have a bajillion different physical notebooks for different topics lying around my house, which just gets to be too much. Evernote also allows you to keep clippings from websites you’ve found helpful so you can return to them.

Canva

I use Canva for everything. Almost all the pinnable graphics on my blog come from Canva, including the one at the top of this post. I designed my poetry ebook and Budget Fitness book cover in Canva (and then saved the ebook PDF files in Google Drive). If you wanted to, you could create a logo and social media posters with Canva. I used to use PicMonkey, which is another option, but their graphics seem a little dated to me after using Canva.

Canva is so easy to use. You don’t have to have any design skills. In fact, that’s what it’s primarily for, people without design skills. Canva saves me and forgives my complete ineptness at design skills. I like to use their premade designs and then just swap out the colors for my brand colors.

Slacker

Slacker is a great app for collaborative work, in situations where multiple writers work for a single client, for example. I can’t even tell you how cool it is to be able to connect with other writers this way. If I’m curious about where the other writers are finding their images or if they’ve had trouble with a certain platform, I can post on Slacker and get replies right away. The client can also post helpful links and tips for all of us in one place. Before going on Slacker, there’s no communication whatsoever with the client’s other writers.

I work with 4 clients already on this platform, and I love it. It’s a nice way to keep work separate from daily life too, which is why it’s a nice alternative to a Facebook group or something similar where people can message you any time. You can set your “office hours” on Slacker so no one can bother you at certain times. It’s just slick.

Bluehost

So, the creation of this entire website started with Bluehost. I chose Bluehost to host my website because I had seen so many others who used it and were happy with it. I didn’t want to waste time trying to figure out the best host, because then I probably never would’ve started. I just needed a host for WordPress. WordPress is what I needed, and Bluehost seemed to be the easiest answer.

Now, you may be thinking, I’ll just create a blog on a free platform. Well, you can, that’s fine. But if you want to have real reach with your blog and business, you need a real self-hosted website. A business website is an absolute “must” today. If you don’t have a real online presence for your business, then you’re shortchanging yourself.

If you’re running a blog, you’ll find you get IMMEASURABLE results having a self-hosted blog versus a free one (ok, they are measurable with Google Analytics, but I wanted to make a point). I ran my old blog on Blogger for 6 years before switching to WordPress, and the results from switching were immediate. My pageviews increased exponentially. Google prefers self-hosted sites to free ones. If you plan to monetize your blog, you almost always have to have your own self-hosted blog to be considered for sponsorships and such.

Now, since a freelance writer can start a business with little more than a laptop and a website, I would say the pennies you pay for a website make a pretty low startup costs compared to almost any other business in the entire world. Don’t sweat the cost. You’ll make that money back in a snap, especially if you work your business like I teach you in my Freelance Freedom from Corporate series.

After you purchase from Bluehost (which is super easy), you don’t need to think about it again for like, two years, and even then you can choose to have your hosting renew automatically.

WordPress

My fitness and writing website, this one here, is a WordPress site. I noticed that WordPress came very highly recommended from everywhere I looked. My contributor posts on Huffington Post, The Mighty, Baby Gaga, and elsewhere are also written in WordPress. So first, I’m thinking, if the big guys are using WordPress, then it’s got to be good. And second, I’m thinking, navigating WordPress will just be easier if I’m using the same platform as I do for my contributor columns. Simple as that. Just make sure for your professional website that you go with WordPress.org not WordPress.com.

Make Theme

So, when you go to create your website, you either have to build the entire thing out from scratch, or you download a WordPress theme that helps you design it. Typically, entrepreneurs will choose some kind of drag-and-drop website builder that does all the pretty design work for them.

For this website, I use a simple, free theme. The Make Theme by Theme Foundry is the simplest drag and drop website builder ever. Divi is the theme everyone talks about, but I’ve found Make does everything I need it to. You can upgrade to Make Plus and get even more features, but I prefer to keep it simple. That’s kind of a theme with me.

It takes a little bit of playing around to figure some of the features out, and there aren’t a whole lot of tutorials out there, but it’s free and fully functional. I’m thinking of doing a tutorial or two myself to show how to do a few things it took me a little bit to figure out that were really super simple!

Facebook groups

Ok, so this isn’t so much a program as a place. But, this is where so much of my business magic happens. You see, even when you work at home, you can still be connected to so much awesomeness out in the world. Facebook groups are a resource that have given me inspiration, connectedness, and even business opportunities.

So, I run a few of my own free Facebook groups, one for those seeking to make the leap from corporate to freelance and one for health and fitness motivation (open to anyone, come on over and join!). I love having a place where people can come together and ask questions, discuss issues, and learn something new.

I also belong to quite a few groups. A few for writers, a few for entrepreneurs, and a few specific to groups I follow online. I love being able to ask tech or business related questions when I’m stuck and keep up with new things that are happening. I’ve also made some cool business connections in these groups. Just being active in the groups and offering helpful advice when you can is a great way to build your authority.

If you’re not in a few Facebook groups already, I would suggest using the search bar to look for a few groups related to what you enjoy or what you do for a living.

Runner’s Up

Some other programs that I don’t use on a regular basis but still provide incredible value:

Trello and Asana

If you enjoy (or require) project management, then these two platforms are great. They can help you plan out your week or break projects down into daily steps. For example, if you have 6 clients and need to figure out how to slot all their projects in for the week, you might break down the projects into one-hour chunks and then plan out your week accordingly. Or say, you’re planning to write a meal plan ebook. You could break the project down into steps (photograph food, food testing day, write out dessert section, etc) and put each step into your calendar so you actually DO it!

Now, I’ve played around in both programs, but, as I’ve said about 1,239 times in this post, I like to keep things simple…

Want to know my big secret for project management?

Sticky notes on my desktop. Yes, that’s it. I use the virtual sticky notes that came with Windows on which I keep track of the projects I’m currently working on. They stay up on the computer screen at all times. When you turn your computer back on in the morning, there they are! I think that’s the best part! I don’t have to pull up a bunch of browsers in the morning.

I have one to-do list, one note for blog post ideas, one note for more pressing items, and one note for current clients. And that’s all I need to keep me on track. That’s my sophisticated project management right there.

Did you think it could be that easy to run a laptop business? I assure you, I’m running a successful one right now this way. And I think part of the reason I’m successful is because I don’t need anything fancy to get the best results. In fact, fancy slows me down. I don’t get bogged down by all the details, I just get to work!

How about you?

What are your favorite freelance or project management tools? Do you prefer fancy or minimalist tools?

April 11, 2017

7 Stupid-Easy Habits of a Successful Freelance Writer

I’m about to share with you 7 habits of a highly successful freelance writer. Now, I shouldn’t even have to write these out, because they should just be a given. However, if you follow these 7 criteria religiously, you are going to be HIGH above the rest. Because you’d be so surprised how the majority of people that call themselves freelance writers fail at least one of these criteria.

Now, I’m not writing this to rip on people. I’m writing this post in the hopes that those who think they can’t be a freelance writer or don’t think they can get ahead will know that they certainly can. They just have to have the decency to follow these normal standard behaviors. Seriously, these are easy. Too easy. Most people don’t follow them. So if you do, you can almost guarantee success!

Before I drop my mic…

The 7 Habits of a Highly Successful Freelance Writer

You’re always on time
You follow directions
You’re easy to work with
You edit your work for errors
You run a business, not a hobby
You ask just enough questions
You know how to write. (Ok, I reeeeally shouldn’t even have to list this, but seriously? You need to have a good handle on spelling, grammar, and flow).

Wow, earth-shattering stuff, right? Let’s dig more into the meat of this.

1. You’re always on time

You would be surprised by how many people don’t hand their work in on time. Like they’re still in college, pulling all-nighters. Or really, not even willing to pull an all-nighter. Just shrugging their shoulders thinking “no big deal.” Handing your work in on time is just a common courtesy and a shred of evidence of your professionalism.

Now, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you’re just terrible at keeping everything straight. Make sure you use Trello or some other project management tool to ensure you don’t miss any deadlines.

2. You follow directions

From the very job application to the way you hand it in, make sure you follow your client’s directions. You have got to read the directions, read them again, and then read them again. Then, read them after you’re done writing again to make sure you’ve hit the mark.

When you apply for writing gigs on sites like Problogger, you need to make sure you read the entire listing. Sometimes, just to weed people who can’t follow directions out, posters will use specific instructions for your application. They’ll ask you to put a certain phrase in your subject line or answer a certain question at the top of your email. They won’t even consider your application unless you follow the exact instructions. And you’d be surprised by how many applications go straight to the trash bin!

3. You’re easy to work with

Whining, stalling, excuses, etc are never going to work. Just be a chill, nice, pleasure-to-work with person. Even when clients piss you off. Doesn’t matter. You still need to be pleasant. The second you turn on the bi+!h switch, you’ll ruin everything. It’s just not worth it. This is your career. Treat everyone with the utmost respect, even if they’re hard to work with. You certainly don’t ever have to work with them again, but while you are, be professional.

4. You edit your work for errors

You learned how to edit your rough drafts in the fourth grade. They didn’t just teach you how to do that because you sucked at writing in 4th grade. They taught it to you as a foundational tool that you need to use for the rest of your life.

After you write a piece, have the decency to look it over for errors, even if you think you’re incapable of them. I recommend checking it over the next day or several hours later so you can come at it with fresh eyes. You might even consider hiring an editor if you need a fresh pair of eyes or you hate editing.

It is not okay to hand in work with errors. That makes your clients look bad, which isn’t fair. Making your clients look bad is going to be a horrible reflection on your own business.

5. You run a business, not a hobby

Even if you’re freelancing on the side, you still need to treat it like a business. The professionals that are hiring you consider you a business. It’s not fair to them if you treat your side gig like a hobby. You need to answer emails immediately, work cooperatively, meet deadlines, and treat the writing you’re doing for them with respect.

6. You ask just enough questions

Ask your clients just enough question. Not too many, that they get the vibe that you require hand-holding. Not too few that you don’t get the information necessary to do a thorough job.

You need to develop a basic client questionnaire that gets to the meat: audience profile, objective of the piece, keywords, etc. Make sure your questionnaire doesn’t take your clients more than a few minutes to complete. When you’re working for a client, you’re taking a big task off their plate. The last thing you want to do is make them feel like they have to do more work. But on the other hand, you want to make sure you have enough information to do a decent job.

You also need to feel a client out a bit. I have several clients that give me very little information and they know I can run with it. There are other clients that would be upset if I didn’t ask enough questions. You’ll know when you meet them. If they’re irritated with your questions, pull back a bit. If they appreciate your questions, then ask away.

7. You know how to write

Like I said, I shouldn’t even have to include this, but there are plenty of writers out there, in the content mills and such, that barely understand the English language, let alone grammar rules and proper mechanics.

It’s sites like Upwork that lump the amazing writers with the terrible ones. It puts everyone on equal ground when they shouldn’t be. The people who don’t know where commas go are considered equal to the ones that studied commas for their master’s thesis. It kills me.

If writing comes naturally to you, and people comment on what a great writer you are, then you’re probably a decent writer. Thing is, most decent writers think they’re nothing special because surely most people can write well. If you think that way, then you’re probably an excellent writer and don’t even know it.

Even if you’re a good writer, you’re still going to get rejected sometimes. It’s important to remain secure in the fact that you’re a good writer. Don’t give up, because it happens to everyone!

Now obviously, there’s way more that goes into being a successful freelance writer than just these criteria, but these things will get you pretty darn far and they’ll put you head and shoulders above so many others out there.

Maybe this post was a little snarky. My intention isn’t to put anyone off, it’s to prepare you for success. It’s really meant to encourage those of you that fit these simple criteria. It’s meant to say: if you are a great writer and treat your writing like a profession, get after it! To only settle for what you’re worth and no less.

***

If you’re ready to make the leap from corporate to freelance, fill out the box at the top of this post to get your free 7-day course delivered to your inbox. It’s time to become who you were meant to be!

***

What about you…

Are you a decent writer that always thought everyone could write? Does this list surprise you, that you can be a successful writer just by being a decent human who can write? LOL. #cheeky

April 4, 2017

The Best Way to Make New Habits Stick Is…

…to incorporate them when your entire schedule and life is changing!

Well, I think any time is a good time to put new habits in place. But, new habits are much easier to incorporate when your schedule is changing anyway. Because if you put these new habits into place immediately, they’re easier to stick with than if you try to wedge them into an established schedule later.

I knew that leaving my corporate job for self-employment was the perfect time to create some new habits, since they would automatically become part of my new schedule. And I knew I didn’t want to waste this perfect opportunity!

I showed you my morning schedule, but truthfully I wasn’t being as consistent as I would like with all of them while still in corporate. But now I am!

The secret to incorporating a new habit into your day is setting aside dedicated, uncompromised time for each activity, otherwise there will never be space for them.

So, before I left corporate, I wrote out a new schedule for myself. I sketched in work time, lunch breaks, naptimes, babysitting times, and time for some new habits.

I decided I needed to dedicate time for:

Spirituality: God is the center of my life, but I wasn’t really being true to that. So, I decided to make dedicated time every morning for devotions and prayer. I typically read the daily devotion from Proverbs 31 ministries. Sometimes I journal on the message. Sometimes I meditate on the message. But whatever the message is, I try to bring it with me throughout the day.
Journaling: I wrote about this practice extensively in my journaling post. (You gotta check it out!) I’ve learned that journaling is THE secret to moving myself and my business forward. Reaffirming my goals and objectives every single day seems to bring them into focus much easier. Also, I just get really excited about journaling, so it’s really easy to get out of bed in the morning. If my mood turns sour, I know a better mood is just a journal entry away. And no, I’m not talking about “dear diary” baloney either. If you read the post, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Tithing: From the very moment I opened up a new Google Sheet to track my income and expenses, that I wanted to make room for tithing. That way, it was already taken care of and I didn’t have to think about it again. So, that’s what I did. I made columns on my spreadsheet for taxes and tithing. I take those percentages out automatically.
Lunch break celebration: Every day, I whip open my office door, blast Rebel Beat by the Goo Goo Dolls (my new theme song), and dance with my daughter at lunch. It’s a signal for my 2-year-old daughter that it’s lunch time, but it’s also a fun daily tradition that makes lunchtime a little more special for us. I can’t wait until summer break so my son can celebrate lunch every day with us too!
Move once an hour: my Fitbit is changing my life. I don’t say that to be trite. It really stinkin’ is! One of the ways it’s helping me with my health habits is with its hourly vibration to get up and get moving. It literally vibrates when you’ve been sitting for an hour. That’s an excellent trigger for me to get up and get moving once an hour, like I’ve always intended to do, even in corporate. So, on cardio days, I’ll typically get up and jump rope for a minute every hour. On leg day, I might get up and do some jump squats. On arm day, I might do 10 pushups. You get the picture. It helps re-energize my body, warm me up (it’s still chilly in WI), get my blood moving, and burn a few extra calories. I might start posting my daily moves on Instagram, if you’d like to follow along.
Sit on my exercise ball: I don’t often sit on my exercise ball, but when I do…I practice much better posture. So, in corporate, we weren’t allowed to sit on exercise balls because it was considered a safety hazard. But, as part of the corporate wellness team, we were always looking for ways like that to change people’s sitting habits. Well now, in my home office, I can do what I wanna. And I like being able to sit on my exercise ball. I have a platform for my laptop that puts it at just the right height too. Me likey.
Flexibilty goalz: So, for as long as I can remember, I’ve been writing down a few flexibility goals. The kind I haven’t followed through on. Until now. So, one of my goals is to be able to clasp my hands behind my back, one over the shoulder and the other behind my lower back. The other goal is crow pose. So now, once a day, when I get up for my hourly moves, I practice those two moves. I hold my jumprope to stretch my arms behind my back. I can’t wait until I can announce that I’ve nailed it!

I totally fail this shoulder mobility test!

Source

Make your habits stick by making them meaningful

To make new habits stick, they should also hold personal meaning. These goals are actually very important to me, otherwise I wouldn’t make room for them in my schedule. It’s important to have a strong enough “why” behind these habits to actually put them into practice. If you want to put new habits into place too, you need to make sure they’re not just “would be nice” goals. They should be “change my life” goals. They need to have personal meaning, otherwise they’re not worth it.

These are just a few more examples of how we can make an effort to be:

~Better Every Day

How about you…

Have you ever been successful putting new habits into place? What is your best piece of advice?

March 23, 2017

Change Your Life On Your Lunch Break: Grownup Journaling

*This post contains an affiliate link for a book I personally adore, but it doesn’t affect the cost to you in any way.

Dear diary,

Ugh! So much angst wells up inside of me from just those two words. Does it for you too?

Those words feel embarrassing. They drip with teenage restlessness and elementary immaturity.

So much so that I never revisited keeping a diary for a decade. And I’m guilty of rolling my eyes at people that suggest it. #timewaster

But now…

This is an incredibly juicy topic for me. It makes me light up. It makes me want to jump up and down while I tell you about it breathlessly.

So, picture me jumping up and down with a geeky smile on my face as I tell you about it, m’kay?

How to journal as a modern mature woman

First of all, let me introduce you to the woman who ignited this giddy pleasure within me.

Kat Loterzo and her book: How to Journal and Make Sh*t Happen!: The Book Every Woman Craving an Exceptional Life Must Own!

It’s a whopping $3 on Amazon, so just get it and start devouring!

I was turned onto the world of journaling again by this crazy beautiful wild woman, whom I’ve now hired as my mentor.

Her way of journaling as a modern, mature woman has finally clicked with me in a way that nothing has before!

See, I’ve dabbled in art journaling, which was like the perfect marriage between journaling and scrapbooking. I purchased this course (not available for sale anymore) and never finished it because it just didn’t have any relevant, immediate value to me. It was just pretty for pretty’s sake, and mostly felt like an unproductive use of time in the grand scheme.

The difference with Kat’s style of journaling is that EVERYTHING about it is meaningful. Not one bit of it is a waste of time. It’s no-fuss and it’s not necessarily pretty. But it’s absolutely life changing!

It’s hard to explain until you try it, but this kind of journaling unleashes something inside of you. It builds you into the person you want to be. And it helps you sort through your barriers to…anything. Which is really handy when you have a goal that you think seems unreachable.

Let me try to explain it as best as I can.

First, what is the purpose of this journaling?

To change your life.

Moving on…

Haha, no, but really. That’s the short answer. The answer you’ll figure out when you make journaling a regular habit for yourself. But let me try to explain it in a more practical and less esoteric sense.

Journaling realigns you with your goals every single day. You know how you have that Post-it on your computer or that sheet buried in a binder somewhere that lists out all your goals for the year? When’s the last time you looked at it?

Exactly.

With journaling, you rewrite your goals every single day until they become so real to you, that you can’t help but make them happen. They stay in front of you every day. And each time you write them out, you get the feels from them. They stay front and center in your mind.

Journaling gives you a sense of purpose. Instead of treating each day like a race to the weekend, running on autopilot, and just doing what’s necessary to get by, journaling helps you focus on your short-term goals and your big picture life purpose goals.

News flash: You can live with intention rather than being dragged along.

First of all, you might have to journal to “figure out” what your life purpose is to begin with. Then, once you figure it out, you can journal it into focus. And journaling about it gives you a sense of purpose and gives you an opportunity to re-commit every single day, especially once you make journaling an everyday habit.

Journaling makes your dreams tangible. Bringing your goals into focus in a clear way, every single day, makes them easier to visualize, tangible even. It brings them into focus. Doing so makes them much easier to achieve.

Journaling helps you uplevel your life. You know my motto, the one that keeps popping up everywhere on my site because it’s so close to my heart? ~Better every day. That’s exactly what journaling helps me to do. Be a little bit better every day.

I might journal about what’s not going quite right in my life and why to find an answer. I might journal about ways to make little parts of my life even better, like holding flowers in your hands instead of walking around empty-handed. Or drinking out of a gilded wine glass instead of a plastic cup.

Yeah, things like that. But also BIG things like turning myself into an online influencer. Journaling helps me to think bigger and reach higher.

Journaling helps you figure out your blocks. And by blocks I mean, whatever is standing in your way to getting to your goals. Say your goal is to become a coach, but you keep telling yourself that the barrier to entry is so high that you don’t even now if you should bother. You would journal through that.

See, the difference between journaling and just “wondering” is that when you wonder inside your head, you don’t get very far. Your wonder wanders. With journaling, you can key in on your wonder for as long as necessary. And you can’t forget what you’ve written down, but you can forget thoughts you have.

Journaling helps you raise your vibe. Whenever I’m feeling kind of flat or even distressed, I know that an elevated high is just a pen and journal away. I’ll just grab my journal and work through the feelings until I’m energetically high again.

I’ll ask myself “why do I feel so down today?” and “what would make me feel better right now?” and “what can I be thankful for right now?” Immediately upon penning the answers, I will feel my vibe rising and my mood elevating. Even just writing this post about journaling is making my energy rise. It’s a mental health trick I use all the time!

Journaling redirects my mind to the good things. Once you get into the habit of journaling what you’re thankful for, your mind will be trained on all the things to be thankful for.

Journaling makes me a better writer. You know how they say that to be a better writer, you need to practice writing every day? Journaling is my Two Birds, One Stone. With my writing, I am able to capture emotion in my reader. And I have journaling to thank for a lot of that. Practicing reflection really helps nail those emotional triggers on the head.

Journaling is an idea incubator. One of Kat’s exercises in her book above is to use journaling to help you come up with ideas. And this happens to me all the time now. I come up with article ideas, program ideas, kid activities, pitching ideas, you name it. I am an idea machine.

The magical thing about journaling is you can write something down, let it germinate for awhile, and see what happens. For example, I came across several people on Facebook that were doing really interesting work and I wrote down what they were doing and why they fascinated me. Then, I came up with my own program ideas based on that! I am also in the practice of writing lists daily, so my mind is trained to come up with more, more, ever more.

Writer’s block is not a thing for me.

Journaling equips me for daily productivity. My favorite question to ask myself in my journal is, what do I want today to be about? When I focus on that right away in the morning, it equips me for the most productive of days. It gives me a focal point and something to shoot for. And on the days when I do that, I actually am more productive.

How do you actually journal?

I mean, it sounds too simple, right? But how do you actually approach it?

You get out a pen and notebook and you start asking yourself some reflective questions (like the ones below) and working through them. Or you just start writing about what’s on your mind right NOW. Or what you’ve been thinking about lately. Or who you want to be.

Don’t think too hard about what to write, just let anything come out. Even if you don’t feel like saying anything, write down “I don’t feel like saying anything today. Why is that?” And go from there.

Sure, you could ask yourself these questions without writing them down, but it will never be effective or life-changing to just “think about” these things. I’ve tried that. I’ve tried just thinking about what I want my life to look like, but “thinking about it” doesn’t hold my attention for longer than about 10 seconds. I get distracted. My mind wanders in a million directions.

There’s something really effective about writing it down, bringing it into and keeping it in focus, that actually allows you to work through your thoughts better than just “thinking,” if that makes sense.

I will also say, don’t waste time with all the pretty stuff like stickers, washi tape, decorative hand-lettering, and heart-dotted I’s: that’s a waste of time. Once you start writing, it will come at you faster than you can keep up with. And if you’re a high achieving person like me, you’ll find all that stuff to be a waste of precious productive time.

You don’t need to take too long writing either. I literally set an online timer for 15 minutes every morning as part of my morning routine. And since this article is about changing your life on your lunch break, this would be a phenomenal way to use your lunch hour–or even one of your 15 minute breaks.

Journaling isn’t just something that “sounds nice” in theory, it’s a game changer, a life changer. It changes everything. I dare you to try!

I hope you’re as excited about this as I am now! Because I want you to try it, to feel the energetic lift that I feel every day from journaling, I created some journaling prompts to get you started.

Journaling prompts

What am I feeling unsettled about today and why?
What do I want today to be about? (I use this one daily)
If I were living the life I’ve always dreamed, what would I be doing? How can I live that TODAY? (inspired by Kat)
If I look around the room I’m in right now, what do I have to be grateful for?
If I chose to be lighthearted and joyful right now, what would I be doing?
What does my perfect day look like?
What is the version of me that I want to be every day?
What is my personal mission statement?

I typed up 26 kick-butt journaling prompts like this in a pretty little document for you to get you started on this life-changing journey. Give it a shot, and then stop back here and gush about how it’s working for you. Get it here:

***Note: after you fill out the form, the link to the prompts is on the following screen.

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So, tell me…

When’s the last time you journaled? Have I convinced you to start again, in a new way? If you regularly journal already, what has it done for your life?

March 17, 2017

5 Little-Known Facts About Pilates

Today I am happy to introduce you to my friend and fellow writer Becky Kay. She is a long-time Pilates instructor, so she has a deep appreciation for the intricacies of the practice. In this article, she discusses a few of these intricacies so you can appreciate them too!

Over to you, Becky!

Pilates is not new on the exercise scene—not by any means. It’s been around much longer than most people are aware (we’ll get into that later). But a lot of people still don’t really understand what it is or what it does for the body.

I have been instructing Pilates for over eight years and I still get questions like “does Pilates work your abs at all?”. If I’m feeling feisty, I say “no, not at all”.

If I’m being honest, I say that it is one of the most ab intensive exercise methods out there because the focus is on the core of the body which is defined as your rib cage down to your mid thigh—top to bottom and front to back.

Despite its long history Pilates is a new and daunting idea to a lot of people. The lack of Pilates knowledge and know-how prevents a lot of folks from reaping the many benefits Pilates has to offer.

Allow me to shed some light on the amazing exercise discipline called Pilates!

1. Pilates Originated in Germany during World War I

The inventor of Pilates, Joseph Pilates, was quite an interesting character! He spent his childhood in a sick, frail body. As a young man he became passionate about physical fitness as a means to strengthen his body and transform it into a strong machine.

Source

Pilates became a student of many physical fitness disciplines to strengthen his body and build up his health. He was hugely successful! He boasted skills in gymnastics, karate and boxing. He even was a circus performer at one point!

Around the time of WWI, he had developed such an effective method of exercise that he began to make a name for himself. His help was even sought to train soldiers. He declined because he was a pacifist and wished to stay out of wartime activity.

Eventually Pilates found himself in a war prisoner camp but, instead of wasting away, he became stronger and healthier. He began training his fellow prisoners and they, too, became strong and resistant to disease that was claiming lives all around them. He gained much attention due to this phenomenon and actually ended up training prison guards. Pretty crazy, huh?

2. Pilates Is Not Just for Women

So often I hear people complain about various aches and pains. From my experience as a former hip and back pain sufferer, I know that Pilates can be instrumental in relieving chronic pain so I often suggest trying Pilates as a method of pain relief.

Many of these conversations are with guys.

Sometimes it’s my brothers. Sometimes it’s my husband’s friends. But the response is almost always the same: they poo poo the idea of Pilates claiming that it’s ”for girls”. Oh, the insanity! Actually, in my class, we have a pretty even mix of men and women. Sometimes the guys even outnumber the gals!

Men and women alike can reap amazing benefits from Pilates because, let’s face it, most of us live a more sedentary life than is ideal. We all get a little stiff or even notice muscular weakness as we get older. The great news is that there is a lot we can do to combat this. Pilates is a great choice!

Source: An article about why men should do Pilates

Even though men and women are put together a little differently, all the main parts are there—arms, legs, abs, back…you get the picture. Because Pilates primarily stretches and strengthens the muscles of the core, both genders can experience significant changes in strength, tone and flexibility. These physical changes can be dramatic and rapid if Pilates is practiced regularly.

While women love the aesthetic benefits of Pilates, men often take the class to improve in other sports. Some of the regular attenders of my class are avid runners, bikers, golfers and weight-lifters. They range in age from mid-twenties all the way up to one very fit gentleman who just turned 70. He can put many younger newcomers to the class to shame!

3. Pilates Supports the Back in Ways Other Exercises Cannot

One of my absolute favorite aspects of Pilates is how it builds and supports a strong back. There are several ways this is accomplished. First, we already talked about how Pilates works to strengthen the abdominal muscles. This, in itself, helps to support the back and keep the spine aligned and healthy.

Add to that the fact that a good class will also focus almost equally on the back side of the body and you now have a nice, strong girdle of protection surrounding your spine. How great is that?

But, that’s not where the good news ends. There is a series within Pilates called the side kick series. Each instructor does it slightly differently and may even call it by a different name but it is always present in a classic mat Pilates class. Each leg is worked, one at a time, in a series of movements designed to strengthen and stretch the small muscles in the hip joint.

Source

The sidekick series also promotes flexibility and strength in the muscles of the upper leg—the hamstrings and the quadriceps. What’s so great about that? Studies show that a good deal of back pain actually originates in the hips.

Yep, weak hip muscles can either be strained or too tight from sitting too much or from improperly balanced exercise routines. This imbalance causes a pulling on the spine which knocks the back out of whack. This is when people experience back pain and injury.

If the imbalance is allowed to continue unchecked for long enough, it can even create enough pain and physical change in the spine to necessitate back surgery. No fun! And as far as the quadriceps and hamstrings go, you may have already guessed that if they are either too tight or grossly unbalanced in strength, they can pull the hips out of alignment which then affects the back. It’s my guess that, barring specific injury, most back issues don’t start in the back but in another part of the lower body.

Regularly practicing Pilates can naturally help your body combat these effects of overworking or underworking the muscles and help to ensure a healthy back and hips late into life.

4. Pilates Is Not the Same as Yoga

There is a misconception out there that Pilates and yoga are interchangeable. That’s understandable because they do have a lot in common. Both disciplines create flexibility and long, lean muscles. Both disciplines tend to be lower key in terms of the atmosphere in the room and the music played during a formal class. However, while yoga is primarily stretching, Pilates is stretching and strengthening at the same time.

Source

While there certainly are elements of yoga that also can boast this benefit, Pilates is specifically geared to both stretch and strengthen the muscles at once. Also, yoga often incorporates meditation and other spiritual practices and, in some ways, tends to be almost a lifestyle to some.

While living healthy and eating clean is certainly part of a “Pilates lifestyle”, Pilates generally does not go beyond the workout session. There is no spiritual component to Pilates. It is simply an amazing workout done in a similar setting as yoga but when you leave, you leave Pilates there.

If you choose to meditate or focus on a “higher being”, that is done aside from Pilates. This is often a confusing aspect of the yoga versus Pilates debate for religiously spiritual individuals who feel that prayer is preferable over meditation.

5. Pilates Supports the Movement of Lymph Fluid Throughout the Body

What?

What on earth does that mean and why should you care?

What a lot of people don’t understand is that the body is constantly in a state of detoxification. Every day you are regenerating cells. In fact, within a year’s time, you have regenerated nearly all your cells so that you have, in effect, a whole new body. Pretty cool, right?

Well, a huge part of that process is detoxification. Your body has an amazing support and transport system called the lymph system. The lymph system is responsible for transporting lymph fluid throughout the body to deliver necessary nutrients.

Source

It also is involved in collecting waste and getting it on the fast route out of the body. Many factors in our busy lives such as poor diet, dehydration (a state in which many people unknowingly live!) and stress cause congestion of the lymph system. This can lead to fatigue or disease.

One great way to keep the system running smoothly and performing it’s job as designed is Pilates! Any movement is good because the lymph system does not have a pump—it relies on your body movement to circulate fluid. Pilates has been shown to be particularly beneficial with this movement of fluid.

Source

To sum it all up, Pilates has a lot of benefits that are not well-known to the general population. If you’re like me, the more you learn about it the more you will love it.

If you decide to give it a try you will experience that firsthand. I know I have! I was able to teach Pilates well into the six month of my last pregnancy and I had a very easy, fast childbirth and recovery. I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight in record time and back to teaching within a matter of months.

Even during times of illness or periods of being too busy to dedicate as much time as I’d like to a regular workout regimen including cardio and weight training, I have consistently been very pleased with how even one Pilates session per week can maintain muscle strength and tone.

While Pilates is great as a stand-alone fitness program, it’s a fantastic complement to any other regimen. I highly recommend it and don’t think you’ll be disappointed if you give it a try!

Over to you…

What is your favorite thing about practicing Pilates?

March 8, 2017

3 Ways You Can Protect Your Identity As A Freelance Writer

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to give out my actual address and phone number to strangers online. However, my email service provider, Mailchimp, requires a real physical address. So does my web hosting provider. And clients sometimes want to talk on the phone, which requires a phone number. So I have no choice but to give out my information.

That can be kind of scary.

As my email list grows, my physical address goes out to more and more people. That’s a little unsettling. Now, I choose not to live in a state of fear about this kind of thing. Sure, it’s possible that something could happen if my information got into the wrong hands, but the actual reality of that happening is different than a scared brain makes it seem.

I used to keep my family’s names out of my blog posts a long time ago too, but I decided to stop acting from fear, as an intentional choice.

I know nothing is completely foolproof, but I’ve found some great way to add a level of safety to my online presence that you can try too.

3 Ways To Protect Your Identity As A Freelance Writer and Blogger

Get a ViaBox address. If you don’t plan on getting any actual physical mail, you can use this service for free. They give you an alternative address to use for your mail, so you don’t have to use your family home address. Another option would be to open up a PO Box at your local post office. I didn’t really want the hassle (or cost) of doing that, plus I don’t anticipate getting any mail.
Get a Google telephone number. Signing up for a Google phone number is free. I learned about this one from Gina Horkey. Some of my clients use Zoom or Skype calls to protect their personal telephone numbers, so those are also viable alternatives. I had fun with this one because I was able to put the words “flash me” in my phone number, which goes with my whole FlashFit theme.
Web hosting privacy protection. This option costs. When you purchase web hosting, you must disclose your physical address. What this means is, if someone wanted to, they could look you up. I even did this myself when I was looking for the owner of a domain I wanted. I contacted the owner of the site this way because his information was provided (He didn’t want to give it up. Sigh). Knowing this, I feel a little weird about having my own information up for grabs. Thankfully, Bluehost has a privacy service, and I’m sure the other hosting providers do too. So, make sure you spend a little extra to keep your information private.

I hope this article has given you some great ideas for keeping yourself safer on the internet.

So, tell me…

What ways do you try to protect your privacy online? Do you try not to live your life in fear too?

PS. Have you seen my free 7-day series, Freelance Freedom From Corporate? I’m spilling the beans about how I was able to make the leap within 5 months.

March 6, 2017

8 Places I’ve Looked for Freelance Work and How They Turned Out

I do it too.

I see a new site offering “high-paying jobs” to freelance writers and think…maybe this is it!

The secret place online for finding high caliber freelance writing jobs!

I continue searching for that ONE website that will be worth it. That will bring me quality, high-paying work in my niche.

And I’m disappointed almost every.dang.time.

I should’ve learned by now. These just don’t work. There’s a reason why they’ll never work.

These job boards are free. If a company can post a job for free, they’ll post almost any crappy jobs for free.
Someone out there is always willing to write for $0.02 per word. You need to find the clients that know your much higher rates are worth it.
This is the easy way. I believe in “easy ways.” But not when it comes to something as serious as my work.
This is also the lazy way. I prefer to be proactive and go out an find my own opportunities, not wait for them to come to me.
The people looking for quality writers aren’t on any of these sites.

Every freelance writer wants to know where all the best jobs are. That’s likely why you’re reading this article. Well, I’m sorry to say, but most of them aren’t on these sites.

The best way to find quality writing jobs?

Cold pitching.

That will be the moral of this story.

But let’s take a look for a minute at some of the sites that are pulling freelancers in and see how I fared when I tried them.

Since I keep track of every single pitch I send out in my pitch tracker (get a copy inside my free freelance writing course), I can tell you exactly where I’ve pitched and how it’s turned out.

Of course, so many other factors come into play, like what your pitches sound like, the timeframe of your pitch, how you position yourself, and how strong of a candidate you are, but I’m just going to focus on the avenue in this post. Also, I will say, I’m still holding out hope for one or two of these as they sound good in theory but haven’t yielded any results yet. I will keep trying and report back if anything changes.

Where I’ve Looked For Freelance Writing Jobs and How They’ve Turned Out

Creative Circle

Creative Circle is a staffing agency, but not the run-of-the-mill, desperate-grunt-jobs-for-pennies agency like you’re thinking. Far from it! They’re a high-end talent agency for digital professionals (web designers, writers, social media specialists, and the like). They pair freelance writers with companies that need specialized talent on a freelance or full-time basis.

To get into the Circle, you have to send in an official resume and application and then go through a phone screening and reference check. Once your agent gets a better idea about you, they start sending you daily job postings that fit your criteria. The emails I get for job openings are usually upwards of $30 an hour in the health and B2B niches that I specialize in.

You can apply for any of these projects by sending a current copy of your resume (which is weird for a freelance writer, since we usually go by our portfolios) and three bullet points about why you’re qualified for the position.

How it’s worked so far: So far, I’ve applied for several projects that were perfectly aligned with my talents and I never heard back. I’ve always gotten an auto-response that says something like “due to the influx of applications, we can’t reply to every candidate. I’ve had no luck. Now, we probably could pick apart my resume and my qualifications like we could for anyone, but so far it seems difficult to break into this one. But the jobs look rather enviable.

NDash

This online platform allows both businesses and freelance writers to set up profiles and communicate back and forth in the form of pitches for freelancers and assignments for businesses. Companies can ask a specific writer to accept their assignment or they can post it to everyone. Writers can also send their own pitches to the companies that are on the platform. The writers and the businesses can attach a price to their offers.

This site is supposed to be different than a content mill in that they only want quality writers, but I’m skeptical, because anyone can set up a profile just like on any content mill and a few of the projects I’ve seen quoted are laughable at best ($35 for a case study!!!). I’m not sure how the creators regulate this kind of thing, but it definitely needs some tweaking.

There’s not really great communication on this website either. nDash asked for articles on certain topics which I “applied” for and commented on, but I never heard anything back and the comment wasn’t acknowledged. You also don’t get emails if anyone accepts or rejects a pitch. You need to always remember to check your assignments and pitches all the time, where you mostly see that the businesses “politely declined” your application. And when you “Apply” for an assignment, you simply press a button to Apply, you are given no chance to explain your expertise.

How it’s worked so far: I haven’t quite figured this one out yet, and I haven’t received any offers or acceptances for the pitches I’ve made. I’ve sent multiple pitches to different businesses, but I have yet to receive any kind of response.

When I’ve scrolled through the list of businesses that are actually on nDash, they seem scarce. Perhaps they’re too new yet. I’m not sure, but so far, I feel like there’s a lot of room to grow.

FB group job boards

I’m in a few entrepreneur groups on Facebook and a copywriting job board. Once in awhile, an entrepreneur or web designer will post that they’re looking for a copywriter in these groups.

Facebook groups can be a great place to find jobs, but you’ll be amongst dozens of others that reply, unless you happen to be the first person that notices the post and applies. These also require sifting through for quality and niche-specific assignments.

You may also land a client a roundabout way in Facebook groups by being an awesome human, offering value for free, and showing up every day.

The cool thing is that these entrepreneurs are some of the best clients a writer can have. They’ve got the same ambition and mindset and they’re just awesome people.

How it’s worked so far: The connections I’ve made in Facebook groups have resulted in several very invigorating client phone calls but no actual projects. (Entrepreneurs can also be hard on funds.) I also thought I landed a social media job for a FitBit-like tracker thing. The prospect sent me a tracker and everything. But I think there was a language barrier and it just kind of fell through (which is ok, because the tracker wasn’t very good). Anyhow, I haven’t received an actual paid job this way yet.

Problogger

Problogger’s job board tends to be a little more high caliber than your standard writing job board (as I’m sure this is one way the creators of Problogger preserve their integrity). I check this job board almost daily because of this, but I don’t spend a lot of time here.

Some of the offers on here are laughable ($0.04 per word is not industry standard, tyvm) and only occasionally do projects in my niche come across. You can see that there are only a few job postings each day. So, it’s very much hit or miss.

If you really want to land a gig on here, you need to get your application in immediately. Each business that posts will get hundreds of applications per posting. You need to stand out from all of those! Getting at the top of the list is one way. Another way is to personalize each pitch you send and to make sure read through the poster’s specific instructions. Businesses will weed out spammers by using a specific instruction in their application process (i.e. put the words “Copy is Best” in the email subject line). You wouldn’t believe how many people can’t even follow simple instructions, so make sure you read through the entire posting.

How it’s worked so far: One of my most lucrative clients came from Problogger. I’m really enjoying working with them, but it was after months of watching the board and being very picky and strict on pricing. I also landed my Baby Gaga contributor position through Problogger. The desirable projects are few and far between, but the ones that I’ve landed have been worth it.

Freelance Writing Gigs

This is another job board with the occasional posting that sounds worth it. They curate a list of freelance openings from all different places, including Craigslist. But you need to be careful with Craigslist posts because they can be sketchy.

I found a job posting on Craigslist where they send you a “test” where you have to write product copy for one of their products. I wrote a brilliant post and felt a little bit like maybe they do this to get free content. And I’ve heard that’s absolutely true!

How it’s worked so far: I don’t check this site regularly, and I’ve applied for many, but I haven’t landed any that were worth it. I’ve had to turn down offers that were on the same level as content mill prices.

Bunny, Inc.

I just found this site last week, so I can’t say a whole lot about it yet. But the premise of this site is to pair businesses that need content for their site with quality, qualified writers.

The cool thing is, you can set your own prices on this platform. Then, Bunny Inc adds their rate on top of your prices. You do NOT have to settle for any less than what you deserve. However, I do have a feeling that they’re trying to tell me to reconsider my prices. No bunny, I will not reconsider.

You have to pass a rigorous writing test in order to be accepted onto this platform. Only a tiny percentage of people pass the testing (I think it’s like 3%). After some requested edits, I passed. I had to write a well-researched 1600-word article on the issues businesses face if they decide to hire a freelancer full time. It took quite a while to write and edit. Their editors are very clear that this is not a content mill and therefore, you need to have solid research to back up any claim you make.

Bunny Inc’s tagline is “beautifully written articles from the best professional writers on Earth” and they need to live up to that. So, that’s why they’re so rigorous. It’s a good way to weed out unqualified writers and preserve the integrity of the platform.

How it’s worked so far: I’ve only been on this platform for just over a week, so I’m undecided about this one yet. So far, I have not had any projects assigned to me, so it certainly doesn’t seem to be a viable income earner at this point. And like I said, I have a feeling my rates are not what they’re looking for, which is strange if they want to only hire the best writers on earth. Just sayin’.

Thumbtack

I got the tip to try out this site in a business course I took but for me, it was a waste. Basically, people looking to hire professionals to do any kind of job (landscaper, manicurist, personal trainer, writer, etc) can hire on Thumbtack. The aim of the site is to support small local businesses.

As a professional on the site, you have to purchase a package of “bids.” In order to vie for any posted jobs on the site, you need to use a certain number of bids. Each posting allows for five bidders and the original poster gets to choose from those five. All of mine were passed on, probably because of pricing (which makes this system no better than a content mill).

First of all, you should never have to pay to offer your services, but I was willing to overlook that fact since Thumbtack uses the bidding system to weed out people that aren’t serious.

However, if you send a quote and the poster passes on you, you will still lose your bids. I spent $34.99 on a package of bids and they were all ignored or passed. I will not do this again. In fact, I’m super suspicious of anyplace that charges you to work. For example, I’ve seen advertisements for Master Writing Jobs and I refuse to give them money at this point.

How it’s worked so far: As a freelance writer, don’t use this site! Waste of money. Waste of time. It might be worth it if someone is looking for a local personal trainer or seamstress. But not for a freelance writer. These are not the kinds of clients you are looking for anyway.

Alignable

I saw that someone in one of my Facebook groups landed a job from networking on this site, so I thought I’d sign up and give it a try. Basically, it’s a platform where local businesses can connect with one another. In fact, it’s hooked up to LinkedIn. I haven’t given it enough attention, but it’s mostly another networking site.

How it’s worked so far: There’s nothing on here you can’t do from just looking in your local directory and cold emailing. I’ve only had one musician request I read his life story. No thanks!

The moral?

Let me repeat it again: Cold emailing is your ticket to a success story.

An alternative to content mills has not really happened in any valid way yet. The time wasted on these sites would be much better spent cold emailing niche prospects.

Don’t waste more than a few minutes on these sites or try not to be dragged in by the siren song of a site that claims to be “the answer.” The time you’re using trying to find your golden ticket would be much better spent cold pitching in a strategic way to find the most lucrative work.

Make your own opportunities. Don’t wait for them to come to you.

~Better every day

So, tell me…

Where have you looked to find freelance writing jobs and how have they turned out?

February 24, 2017

What My First Day of Self-Employment Looked Like

Whew!

Last Friday I was feeling #allthefeels as I said goodbye to a place that felt like my second home for nearly a decade. A place that saw me through two babies and so much “life.” Some of my best friends. So many memories. A feeling of safety and stability.

I left my corporate copywriting job of 9 years.

My friends at work surrounded me with the most honorable sendoff with the most kind words. They gave me the most fabulous gifts, but the most fabulous feeling of commendation resonated behind them.

Monday morning was the real deal, and it still feels surreal. I am in a period of adjustment right now because my sensible side is screaming “what the heck are you doing?” while the real raw inner me with fire and purpose and drive is yelling “helllllllllllll yeah!!!!”

Yep, that’s the feeling. This boy gave me the most heartwarming
face when I told him I would be home when he got off the bus.

So, what did my first day of working at home look like?

Well, let me show you. I put together a very well thought out schedule weeks in advance, so all I had to do was follow it.

And I did, for the most part.

The schedule

What my ideal freelance writing schedule looks like:

5:30-6am Wake up, get coffee, wake up Kayne and get him ready for school.

6-8am Start on my work before Rayna gets up. (I am also building some personal habits into this time. I plan to do a separate post on that, because it deserves its own explanation.)

8:9am Workout, shower, and breakfast with Rayna. (Yes, I plan to shower every day;)

9:12pm Sitter comes while I sit down to my work.

12-1pm Lunch with my Boo, put her down for nap

1-4pm Work

4pm once Kayne gets home, turn off work mode and focus on the family.

What the schedule actually looked like yesterday:

6:30am: get up a half-hour after I should have, because I stayed up too late (I don’t intend on this happening again).

6:50am: Kayne misses his bus, so I have to get Rayna up and dressed and drive Kayne to school. So, I really don’t get any considerable work done in my 6-8am stretch.

8-8:45am: Work out with Rayna in the room, because she’s perfectly content watching and playing near me while I work out. Monday is leg day. I have to stop in the middle of the workout to read Rayna a book because she sits on me and hands me a Scooby Doo book. Happy to oblige!

8:45-9: Shower, grab a smoothie.

9:15-12:15: Get down to work, for real this time. Working on some client research.

12:15-1:15: Lunch with my daughter, mom, sister, and nephews. Put Rayna down for her nap after a little bit of snuggle time.

1:30-4:30pm: Work. Spent about 1/2 hour working outside as it was unseasonably warm in WI earlier in the week. Kayne came home at 3:50 but promptly announced he was going to play at the neighbor’s. I did a quick Periscope Livestream about my first day of self-employment while he was away.

4:30-7:30pm: Turn off the computer and turn my attention to my family. We had a tray meal for dinner (sweet potatoes, beans and chicken), worked on rebuilding some of Kayne’s Lego vehicles, wrestled a bit, and then got ready for bed.

8pm: Put the kids to bed, and a live Kat Loterzo training about funnels came on, so I watched that.

9:30pm: Bed for momma.

If you were following along on Snapchat (@StarBasil) or Instagram (@Jess_FlashFit) stories, I did a whole play-by-play of my day.

Oh friends, my day was fabulous. Nothing all that noteworthy happened, but everything was noteworthy! I’m now self-employed and it’s real and it’s happening. I got to sit outside whenever I wanted instead of being cooped up and missing these beautiful days we’ve been having. I got to see Rayna whenever I wanted and see my boy when he got off the bus. I got to turn my full attention to them after work, instead of being distracted by my freelance stuff or trying to make my life dreams come true. Because now I get to work on them during my “office hours!”

And check this out, my new work uniform consists of soft leggings and oversized shirts:

I feel a little bit like Carrie on Sex and the City. They pay me to write about what I love. I can’t help but wonder…why have I waited so long?

And Monday I did $380 worth of work!!!! Seriously, a few hours of work and I’m already nearly doubling my previous income. I don’t know if that will happen every day, but I’m already sitting pretty for the week.

Tuesday, it was a record high over 60 degrees. In February. In Wisconsin. And I am more grateful than words for this opportunity to enjoy things like that.

Guys, I have so much more to share about this freelance life, so if you want to stay updated, make sure you’re on my mailing list. I plan to spill all my secrets and share more about freelance life as it unfolds before your very eyes and as I navigate this freelance territory.

And I just want to encourage you to chase after your own dreams. Because this feeling? It is everything you’ve been looking for and more.

So, tell me…

How do you wish you could spend your days?

February 6, 2017

Is Freelance A Dirty Word?

Quick…

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “freelance?”

Side job

Something people do to make a little extra cash.

Starving artist.

The people companies use when they need to save money and can’t do it themselves.

******

Is that about right?

When you tell people you’re a freelance writer, they feel sorry for you. Then, they try to offer you ” real jobs.” Even though they’re coming from a helpful place, you can’t help but feel insulted.

The word “freelance” even has the word “free” right in it! People oftentimes don’t take it as a real, serious business.

******

What they don’t know is that you’re making more money than any corporate job has ever paid you.

What they don’t know is that you have to be one of the most Type-A driven, organized humans to create your own success.

What they don’t know is that you have a rare and valuable talent that other business owners find invaluable.

What they don’t know is that this job revolves around more than just writing pleasant sentences. You have to be adept at psychology, persuasion techniques, branding, emotion, audience awareness, research, SEO, social media, story and so many other aspects.

What they don’t know is that you had to hustle your a$$ off to get to where you are.

What they don’t know is that content is absolutely paramount in business right now and good writers are actually? Everyone business’s secret weapon.

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What to call yourself instead

I don’t want anyone associating any of the things listed at the top of this post to what I’m doing for a living. So, I’ve decided to change the language around what I do and hope you consider doing the same.

I’ll still probably use the term freelance for this site for search purposes and sometimes in conversation for clarity purposes.

But for actual clients?

I am a professional fitness copywriter. I own my own copywriting business.

That language is much stronger and more important, right?

Even in my own head, that seems more legit. It makes me feel more confident about what I do.

More importantly, it more accurately describes what I do.

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So, my fellow freelancers, here’s your homework…

1. Decide on your one-liner.

The one line you’ll use to describe your business the next time someone asks you what you do for a living…

I own my own content marketing business.
I am a professional finance writer.

2. Improve your mindset

It took awhile for you to admit to yourself that you were a real writer.

Then, it took awhile for you to get out of the “employee” mindset and into a business mindset.

It will take a little bit of time to get used to the idea that you own a copywriting business. But you do! And you will!

So, just start saying it and owning it. Don’t roll your eyes and follow it up with “that’s just a fancy way of saying I’m a freelance writer.”

Ditch your employee mindset and remember that you are a fellow business owner, not your clients’ employee. You work together, not one for the other.

You have a real business. Don’t let anyone–yourself included–deflate your ownership of that. No one would walk into Walmart and say they’ll trade a few hours at the cash register in exchange for a TV.

That’s ludicrous!

Almost as ludicrous as anyone believing your work is available in exchange for a few kisses on the cheek.

Unless it’s your daughter.

You can write for your daughter for a few kisses on the cheek. That’s acceptable.

So, tell me…

Is “freelance” a dirty word? Fellow freelancers, how do you describe what you do? Do you get the same patronizing feels when people hear you’re a freelancer?

February 2, 2017

Freelance Income Report January 2017

Well, as you may have seen in my announcement post, I am leaving corporate to pursue my writing business full time!

I just can’t tell you how good this feels to be pursuing my actual passions in a full-on way. To be writing…to be writing about fitness! To be writing from home! To be steps away from my daughter! Gah!

Each day, I just feel more grateful for this decision.

Sure, it’s scary, but not as scary as you would think!

Partly because I completely trust the numbers I’m getting and the strategy I’m playing. Like I said in my announcement post, it’s all just a numbers game. The more pitches you send out, the more contracts you’ll get. Simple.

If you’d like to read a little more about How To Prepare for Freelancing Full-Time, you can also read my interview at Horkey Handbook.

Anyhow, on to what you came here for…

So, the grand total for freelancing in January 2017:

$4,059

You can see how well this is working, right?

Let me just remind you, this number came from doing work in my SPARE time!

I diligently plugged away from 8-9pm, sometimes longer, at night after the kiddos go to bed and on weekends during nap-time.

Imagine what will happen when I can dedicate all of my working hours to this business! (And them go to bed on time).

But then…I noticed something even more amazing when I did the math.

If you combine my freelance income with my corporate income for January (which I’m going to be very vague about to protect sensitive information), let’s just say it’s the closest I’ve ever come to earning FIVE figures in ONE MONTH!

Like, if I would’ve tried just a tiny bit harder, I could’ve done it!

That looks a little like some kind of cheesy spam headline, doesn’t it? Learn how to earn five figures in one month just in your spare time!

One of those headlines that sounds totally unbelievable.

But in this case, it just about happened.

I will say though that this month included bonuses both from one freelance client and from my corporate job. So to be fair, it’s not a “normal” month.

A quick look at expenses:

$172 for insurance
$10 for Mailchimp

I also purchased a monthly coaching membership for $49. As you can see, I still haven’t had to spend much for this little biz of mine. Neither do you.

By the way, You may have noticed that I didn’t report my income for December. It just wasn’t very exciting like this month was. I was awaiting payment from several people at the end of the month and didn’t get it, so my numbers seemed low. But the total came in at a solid $1250. Not too shabby for “spare time” working either, is it?

I’m just so flipping excited!

So, tell me…

What are you flipping excited about right now? If you could pick my brain about this process, what would you ask me?