‘Advice’

The Born Freelancer’s love-hate relationship with freelancing

A friend of mine read my last blog and asked, “Why would anyone ever want to freelance?”

My Top Ten Reasons To Love Freelancing

(1) I am my own boss.

This is probably the number one reason for most of us. We get a sense of being in charge of our lives – even if we’re not. In reality, sometimes it
may feel like we have numerous bosses but at the end of the day it is still our choice and that seems to be important. As is my actual mandate (as
decided by me) to do more or less exactly what I want to do, creating what I want to create, on an ongoing basis.

Posted on July 11, 2011 at 10:36 am by editor · 2 Comments · Tagged with: ,

Evolve or die: Survival in the ever-changing freelance biz

This series of posts by the Born Freelancer will share personal experiences and thoughts on issues relevant to freelancers. Have something to add to the conversation? Your input is welcome in the comments. Reader “Spanky” commented on one of my previous posts, “What a sad state of affairs our business is in. The model is […]

Posted on June 23, 2011 at 10:51 am by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , , ,

Picking a price point for your e-book

Being able to slap whatever price tag you want on your own work is one of the most freeing things about self-publishing, but it can also be the most challenging. Not all writers are marketing experts, and, as far as we know, a guide on How to Compete in the E-books Marketplace — with its […]

Posted on June 22, 2011 at 11:16 am by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Roger and Me: Why every freelancer needs a mentor

This series of posts by the Born Freelancer will share personal experiences and thoughts on issues relevant to freelancers. Have something to add to the conversation? Your input is welcome in the comments. “You can’t always get what you want but you get what you need” – The Rolling Stones The recent death of Canadian […]

Posted on June 9, 2011 at 2:03 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , , , ,

Blogs as steady income earners: how it’s done

Freelancers maintain personal blogs for all sorts of reasons: to have an all-in-one-place online portfolio, to increase their profile in a particular community or gain a reputation as an authority on a particular topic, to experiment with different types of writing than they get to do in their freelance work, or, often, to post photos […]

Posted on June 8, 2011 at 1:45 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , , , , ,

Extreme Budget Makeover: Freelancer Edition

This series of posts by the Born Freelancer will share personal experiences and thoughts on issues relevant to freelancers. Have something to add to the conversation? Your input is welcome in the comments. Some 9-to-5ers I know were complaining that the recession was so brutal that they felt they had to sacrifice their usual early […]

Posted on June 3, 2011 at 12:18 pm by editor · One Comment · Tagged with: , ,

To be or not to be (in a union), that is the question

This series of posts by the Born Freelancer will share personal experiences and thoughts on issues relevant to freelancers. Have something to add to the conversation? Your input is welcome in the comments. “I wouldn’t belong to any club that would have me as a member” — attributed to Groucho Marx I usually feel the […]

Posted on May 26, 2011 at 1:57 pm by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , , , ,

Health insurance for freelancers: Know what you need

This series of posts by the Born Freelancer will share personal experiences and thoughts on issues relevant to freelancers. Have something to add to the conversation? Your input is welcome in the comments. Q: Why did the insurance executive cross the road? A: Who cares? Good riddance! I’m not a fan of insurance companies. Could […]

Posted on May 13, 2011 at 7:30 am by editor · 3 Comments · Tagged with: , , , , ,

Gear advice 101: recording phone interviews on a budget

This is the first in a series of posts by the Born Freelancer that will share personal experiences and thoughts on issues relevant to freelancers. Have something to add to the conversation? Your input is welcome in the comments. Sooner or later it’s a question that will confront every freelancer lying awake at 3 a.m.: […]

Posted on May 6, 2011 at 9:00 am by editor · 5 Comments · Tagged with: , ,

Just the facts: tips on identifying and fixing errors

Sure, we all “regret the error,” but how interested are we  in rooting out inaccuracies from the stories we write each day and in preventing future mistakes? Jonathan Stray, journalist and computer guy, has written a comprehensive post on his blog about accuracy and error reporting in journalism, and he offers some interesting solutions to […]

Posted on April 21, 2011 at 9:59 am by editor · LEAVE A COMMENT · Tagged with: , , , ,