Rebecca | Build A Freelance Biz

Are You Letting Information Overload Kill Your Business?

Getting started with a business, even a tiny one-person operation, involves a lot of learning.

Often, you’re making a career switch that puts you in entirely unknown territory.

And there are loads of people out there trying to sell you on their brand of snake oil.

They’re telling you that you need a blog, you need a twitter account, you need to produce video, you need infographics, you need this magical system that will manifest clients with gold-lined pockets.

It’s really easy to get paralyzed by all of the possibilities. It’s really easy to end up doing nothing as a result.

If you want to be a freelancer, you’re going to have to get used to the fact that you are the head of all departments in your business. You’re the marketer, you’re the creative director, you’re the sales manager. Oh, and you also have to do work for clients.

But you don’t have to succumb to the idea that you have to do everysinglethingrightnow.

I want to share with you some things I’ve learned about keeping a cap on the crazy in my work life.

Do One Thing at a Time

The idea that multitasking is productive has been thoroughly demolished. Humans need to concentrate to do something really well. If you’re trying to do more than one thing at a time, your creative energy is definitely leaving out the back door. You’ve got to turn some stuff off.

Pick a Few Marketing Channels, and Forget the Rest

You do not have to be on top of every self-promotion trend. No, really, you don’t. My main channels are email, in-person networking, and the telephone. Yes, these are decidedly old-school. But you know what? They are proven techniques that get me clients. That’s right, I mainly use Twitter to post pictures of my cats.

Find a Work Process that Works for You

Take a really close inventory of your daily rhythms and routines. Note your high-points and low-points. Many of us have been so conditioned by the standard workday, that we have no idea what our natural rhythms are. If you find you are an early bird, don’t try to schedule your work time at midnight, because you’ll too easily ditch it to get to bed. Set yourself up for success instead.

I personally need lots of routine in my life to get anything done. And I’ve set everything up so that my work process supports that need.

Developing a real work process is part of demonstrating to yourself and the world that your work is serious. If you want to get stuff done, start here.

Whittle Down Your Reading to a Trusted Resource List

You have to carefully choose whose advice you’re going to follow. If you try to follow every guru in the blogosphere, you’re going to get stuck. (Trust me on that.) Pick a program and work it. My own trusted advisers are Mary Jaksch of A-List Blogging Bootcamps and Carol Tice of Freelance Writer’s Den. I do read other people, of course, but I don’t really follow other people. Find your trusted resources and stick with them so you get somewhere.

Once you stop the information surplus you’ve been subjecting yourself to, you’ll find some clarity and focus. When you have clarity and focus, you’ll be able to make real progress on your business.

What’s your experience with this? Have you kicked overload’s butt, or are you still struggling? Please share in the comments below.

Photo Credit: Don Foy

Freelancer's Guide To Starting A Business

Start your business today. It isn't as hard as it seems!

You will learn to:

Conquer your fears by setting up you very own business (the easy way!)
Save on your taxes by incorporating the right way
Get started on the right foot with a business bank account

Just enter your email below to get your free copy of the eBook The Freelance's Guide To Starting A Business - The Easy Way

Filed Under: Build Your Business

I’m an Info-Product Addict

By Rebecca Leave a Comment

I can’t stop myself.

I need someone to tell me how to work, how to live, how to be happy.

They say that the road to recovery depends on being honest, and that is why I am here confessing that I have a problem.

I’m addicted to info-products and books.

In theory, I’ve been buying all of this stuff to help me make my business better. In reality, buying the book or product has all too often been a substitute for action.

And there is no substitute for action.

Obviously, since you’re here reading this, I have managed to get some stuff done. As a matter of fact, the past year has involved a lot of growth and change for me and the way I do business.

But what if I had channeled more of my fear and uncertainty into doing instead of buying?

Where would I be now?

There is no way to know that, of course. The time is gone, and the money I spent is gone too.

What I can do is make a plan for how I want to deal with unpleasant fears in the future. Here’s my plan – I’m sharing it with you to help me stay honest and keep my focus on action instead of fear.

Be Mindful of My Purchases

For me this means making it harder to make impulse buys. I’ve made an agreement with my husband to discuss all non-essential purchases. This puts some brakes on my actions and means that there is a built-in waiting period before buying.

Write When I Feel Like Buying

I’m always griping about how I don’t have time to write, but mostly I think this is bullshit. It’s a little bit scary to make this commitment, because it almost certainly means confronting some nasty feelings head on. What I can say though, is that avoiding these feelings has not been working for me.

Stay on a Budget

I’ve done budgeting before and fell of the wagon — which led to ruin. This time, I’m going to go the full monty with an envelope system. I hope that by making what I spend very tangible, it will give me time to pause before I buy another goddamn book. Not to mention that it is pretty hard to spend cash online.

Reduce Overwhelm

This past year has been thrilling and … exhausting. I need to create more focus and flow for my work-life. I’m working on productive daily routines and building a super-solid sales process to level out some of those crazy freelancing ups and downs. Hopefully when I’ve got my own system hammered out, I won’t be so desperate for someone else to tell me what to do!

So there it is, in black and white. I know my experience with e-books and guru-products is not unique among people trying to start up a blog or business. Have you ever fallen into this trap? I’d love to hear from other folks struggling with info-overload!

Photo Credit: D Sharon Pruitt

Start your business today. It isn't as hard as it seems!

You will learn to:

Conquer your fears by setting up you very own business (the easy way!)
Save on your taxes by incorporating the right way
Get started on the right foot with a business bank account

Just enter your email below to get your free copy of the eBook The Freelance's Guide To Starting A Business - The Easy Way

Filed Under: Workhacks

Work Rituals to Make Freelancing Easier

By Rebecca Leave a Comment

Not quite a hoarder.

I’m recovering today from a computer glitch that threw a gigantic monkey wrench in my writing process.

I use a program called OmmWriter to get all of my writing done. It allows me to remain focused while I work and closes out any critical thoughts about what I’m producing.

I know, it sounds like a miracle product, right?

I’d have to agree. The thing is that this program has become an integral part of my work process, and when I couldn’t get it to load, I panicked a little bit.

By that I mean I was caught up in a day-long thought vortex that sounded something like, “HOLY FUCKING SHIT, I’LL NEVER WRITE AGAIN AND WE’RE ALL GOING TO STARVE TO DEATH!!!”

But, due to my husband’s diligent backups, today I have a fresh install of Windows, all of my files and documents are intact, and OmmWriter is functioning again. Thanks, Dave!

You too may have rituals and tools that are integral to your work process. That you rely on to help you create, focus and flow. That’s awesome, and part of creating a satisfying and creative worklife.

And if you don’t, I recommend that you find some ASAP!

Having routine and ritual in your workday means you won’t come to your desk everyday facing a wall of indecision and uncertainty. Instead, you can just step into your comfortable stream of work, and start doing right away.

But — it is just a fact of freelance life that if you’re not working, no one is. So you’ve got to find a way to keep yourself operational even when things go wrong in your routine. Even when you drop your iPhone in the toilet, and your computer blows up.

Backups are of course a starting point, but you should also have contingency plans for other kinds of catastrophes. For instance, if you don’t have one already, get a library card so you can retreat there for computer and internet access if need be. Have a reserve of your favorite pens, pencils and notebooks.

Below are some recommendations for products that I use to help keep me working. I’m not getting paid for any of these recommendations, I just really like them and think you will too.

Hi-Tec-C Gel Ink Pens These have a superfine and defined line perfect for all types of writing and drawing. Because of the needle-like point, they may not be great for lefties.
Kokuyo Campus High Grade MIO Notebook Did I mention that I have a thing for Japanese stationery? These are purse-sized notebooks that you can use for GTD-style lists, or whatever else you want.
OmmWriter Obviously, this is the program that brought me here today. It is a bare-bones text editor, but it has some special features that make it a perfect focus booster: It pipes white noise directly into your head via headphones to help block out distractions. And as you type, everything but your words fade from the screen, making it easier to avoid minimizing the program to check Facebook.
iPhone I keep my entire worklife on my phone. My schedule, contacts, to-do list, reading list, everything. Everything is synced with iCloud, so if there ever were a phone catastrophe, I’d be able to recover pretty quickly. Except my heart would be a little broken.
Lifeproof Never worry about dropping your iPhone in the toilet again. Lifeproof is a waterproof, mud-proof, dust-proof case to protect your lifeline to the world. The only caveat with the Lifeproof cases is that they muffle the phone mics. If you go this route to protect your phone, you’ll have to also get a Bluetooth headset so your customers and clients can hear you.

So there it is. Routines and rituals will make your worklife flow, and bring out your best, most productive self. Find some stuff that works for you to make everything come together smoothly, but be prepared to replace, repair and rework them if necessary.

Start your business today. It isn't as hard as it seems!

You will learn to:

Conquer your fears by setting up you very own business (the easy way!)
Save on your taxes by incorporating the right way
Get started on the right foot with a business bank account

Just enter your email below to get your free copy of the eBook The Freelance's Guide To Starting A Business - The Easy Way

Filed Under: Workhacks

The Search Secret: Help Your Customers and Clients Find You

By Rebecca 2 Comments

It wasn’t really fairy dust.

One of the things we do at our freelance business Lucky Cats Marketing is SEO.

You probably have heard of SEO, but just in case you haven’t, SEO means search engine optimization. And we do search engine optimization on business websites to make it easier for Google or other search engines to tell what the web page is about.

Some people think SEO is a magical fairy dust that will immediately bring them to the top of every search page.

I assure you that this is not true.

Some people disparage SEO as “writing for robots,” or “gaming Google.”

And I want to tell you that if you are writing for robots, you’re doing it wrong.

If you have a business website, and you want it to be a tool that gets you customers, you should be writing at the intersection of what your customers need and what you are able to provide.

I am going to look at this intersection from a few different perspectives, and show you how everyone can come together there and be happy.

Let’s imagine for a minute that you are a consumer, and it has been super hot lately, and it seems like it is just going to get hotter. So you think you might like to get a pool.

If you are like roughly 80% of consumers, you will start your pool quest at a search engine like Google.

You might type in, “How much does an in-ground pool cost?”

And if you are Google, you want nothing more than to provide an answer to this question. You do not want you user to be taken to a page that was written for robots. No.

You want them to get useful, relevant information that answers the question.

Now, as a business owner, where do you want to be? You should be where your potential customers are searching. In this case, that means you should have a page that roughly answers the question, “How much does an in-ground pool cost.”

By providing this information for a customer, you position yourself first of all as a trusted resource, not as someone trying to sell something.

If you are providing this information, and your competitor is being cagey about it, who benefits? You do.

And let’s say you provide all sorts of information about getting an in-ground pool on your site, so your customer spends some time reading around your site. Finally that person feels reassured enough to ask for more information. You’ve just gotten a lead without doing anything beyond the initial content development.

So after Google helps everyone find each other, everyone is happy.

The search secret is that you should always write for people first. But do consider Google, so you can be brought together with your potential customers at that very fortunate intersection.

As a business owner, you help your customers and clients in all sorts of ways every day. So I hope you won’t forget to help them find you.

Let’s review:

Search engine optimization is definitely not fairy dust. And it shouldn’t be writing for robots.

Search engine optimization is simply helping Google bring you and your customers together at the intersection of what they need and you can provide.

SEO probably shouldn’t be your only traffic plan, but it should be an integral part of what you do to help your potential customers and clients find you.

Photo Credit: Chelsea McNamara

Start your business today. It isn't as hard as it seems!

You will learn to:

Conquer your fears by setting up you very own business (the easy way!)
Save on your taxes by incorporating the right way
Get started on the right foot with a business bank account

Just enter your email below to get your free copy of the eBook The Freelance's Guide To Starting A Business - The Easy Way

Filed Under: Earn A (better) Living

5 Roadblocks That Stop You From Earning More

By Rebecca Leave a Comment

They were formidable foes.

There are so many things to stop you from making more money and having the work-life you want.

And most of them are only happening inside of your head.

Here are five roadblocks that I’ve noticed lately in myself and in others, and some practical instructions to deal with them.

1. Thinking you need a degree.

In the awesome world of freelancing, no one cares about your education, or whether you have a fancy-schmancy degree. You will be judged on the work you do, and that’s it.

Now, that’s not to say that you don’t need to learn something to make your business better, because you might. Perhaps learning some CSS is just what you need to become the design ninja you dream of being. If that’s so, do it. Just don’t get drawn into thinking you need a Master’s level Computer Science program. You don’t, and thinking you do is just derailing your dream. The same goes for getting your MFA, writers.

You know what makes you a master? Doing the work.

2. Being afraid to look stupid.

You are going to make mistakes. You are going to fall on your butt, put your boot in your mouth, and make a big mess of things. And when you do, you will feel like a complete and utter failure.

I won’t tell you to learn to laugh at yourself, or any of the other glib advice you may have heard about failure — Edison’s 10,000 light bulbs and all that.

I want to acknowledge that feeling like a complete ass is painful. It sucks. I will tell you that you can tolerate feeling that way. And if you learn to feel that pain and move forward anyway, you will be more successful that you can even imagine.

3. Being afraid to ask for it.

One of the biggest shocks I had when moving into the business world was how helpful everyone was. In my imagination, all business owners were masters of Machiavellian intrigue, and as likely to spit at me as to help me. In fact, I have never encountered such a large group of generous and giving people as the people in my local business community. I mean it. And virtually everyone I meet in my online and offline networking life is willing to give me a leg up if they can.

Trust that people for the most part want you to succeed. So go ahead and ask for referrals, ask for introductions, ask for work. And, of course, when you receive, be willing to do the same for others.

4. Not being a pro.

If you’re only working when you feel like it, you haven’t yet become a professional. You don’t have to work full-time to be a pro. But you do have to make time for your work, even if it’s 15 hours a week. Make a plan and stick to it. I know that for some, especially parents, this can be rough. But if you want to succeed, you have to prioritize your business somewhere well above baby penguin videos and Gawker.

One tool that revolutionized my work-life (other than my incredible babysitter) is OmmWriter. When I put on my headphones and start writing, the rest of the world disappears. (I’m not getting paid to write this, I just love it — and I think you will too.)

5. Losing your momentum.

When you have a win, it is not time to take a rest. I know, you put a Sisyphean effort into whatever it was, and all you want to do is cling to the couch and watch Dr. Who reruns for a week. (Or is that just me?) Instead, ride the good feelings into your next win. If you keep yourself rolling, pretty soon everything will seem much easier. Much, much easier.

It is just a fact of existence in our universe that things at rest tend to stay at rest. Don’t fight physics man!

ATTENTION: There are spaces open in our end of summer Build a Freelance Website session! We’ll help you set up and register your domain, plus install Word Press with a rockin’ premium theme and all the plugins you need to be awesome. It’s only $250 — but we can only accept a few more people at this price. Send me an email at rebecca (at) buildafreelancebiz.com to secure a spot before it’s too late!

Photo Credit: Brian M. Forbes