The Boss of You

Our friend and admired colleague, Michelle Goodman, graciously took the time to do a Q&A with us. Her new book, My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire, is chock-full of great advice for entrepreneurs of all stripes, whether you fall into the “freelancer” category or not.

Bonus: Amazon.com has a deal right now where you can pick up Michelle’s two books and a copy of The Boss of You for just over $30! Could there possibly be a better holiday gift for the entrepreneurial gal (or guy) in your life? I think not…

OK, enough sales talk — on with the interview!

So much of the advice in My So-Called Freelance Life applies to small (and even large) business owners as well as freelancers. Are there specific chapters you would recommend to non-freelancers who are considering picking up a copy?

It’s hard to narrow it down because I agree that most of the book (if not all of it) applies to startups of all sizes, but here goes: Chapter 1, “Business Plan to Go,” can help you identify your entrepreneurial goals. Chapter 6, “Name Your Price,” tells you how to establish a fair market price for your services or wares. Chapter 10, “The Check is Not in the Mail,” tells you when working for free can be worthwhile from a marketing standpoint — and when it’s most likely a scam you should run far, far away from.

Chapters 11 and 12, “Let’s Make a Deal” and “Get It in Writing (But Don’t Sign Blindly),” are two of my favorites because they tell you how to negotiate rates and contracts like a badass. I also really love Chapters 13 and 14, “Care and Feeding of Your Clients” and “The Client from Hell,” because customer service and setting boundaries with would-be bloodsucking clients is such a huge part of working for yourself. I’d probably list all eighteen chapters if given the chance, so I’ll stop there.

I hear from a fair number of freelancers who got into their careers unconsciously — it’s like they woke up one morning and realized they’d become a freelancer, without necessarily planning it that way. What advice would you give someone in that situation?

I agree. So many people find themselves freelancing in the wake of a layoff and before they know it, they’re running a full-fledged business. If you too are an accidental freelancer, take stock of the work you do and the clients you do it for. Are these the types of projects you want to be working on and the types of people and organizations you want to be working with? If not, list the kind of freelance projects that interest you most and the names of at least ten organizations you’d love to work for. Then tap your professional and personal networks to see if you can find a way in. If you need to acquire any additional skills or portfolio samples to make yourself attractive to these organizations, get cracking.

Even if you are happy with your clients and workload, it’s important to revisit your freelancing goals –income, creative milestones, client wish list, and so on — at least once a year. (January is a great time for this.) Get too comfortable and you’ll quickly get bored, burn out, or start to feel like an employee all over again.

If you had “do-over” privileges, what’s the one thing you would change about your freelance journey?

There are so many things I would have changed. I would have taken better advantage of my last staff position (publicist at a New York publishing company in the early nineties) before going solo. Specifically, I would have saved up some money to cushion my landing as a freelancer, taken on a few more freelance journalism and copywriting projects to beef up my portfolio, and made more contacts in the publishing and magazine industries while I was still in New York. I also would have read a book or taken a class on freelancing or running a small business instead of diving in head first and spending a couple years figuring out how to swim. Plus, I would not have bought a lifetime’s supply of staples and paperclips like I did sixteen years ago at Office Depot. I’ve barely made a dent in them.

As someone with a business partner, it’s hard for me to fathom juggling all the roles a freelancer has — sales, marketing, invoicing, bookkeeping, etc. etc. — not to mention the actual client work. What do you tell people who worry that one or more of those freelancer hats won’t fit?

There’s no getting around selling yourself to new clients during your early years. I know a lot of new freelancers are loathe to do it, but as I promise in the book, it does get easier — dare I even say fun – with practice. Plus, email and social networking sites make contacting new prospects so much less painful for you (and less intrusive for them). So you really have no excuse there.

As for marketing, that’s pretty closely tied into selling your services, but there are many aspects of marketing you can farm out to other freelancers (for cash or trade): you can have a writer fine-tune your promotional copy, a web designer set up your blog or web portfolio, a virtual assistant create and maintain a Facebook group or fan page for you, and so on. And there are all sorts of free or low-cost applications that can help you automate your invoicing or bookkeeping. Also, an accountant or tax advisor who specializes in working with freelancers in your industry is a must; that is one road you don’t want to walk down alone.

While I’ve always advised newbies not to go overboard spending money on computer software and consultants, some investments will save you untold cash, hours, and/or headaches in the long run. If given the choice to pay a web designer to tweak my website or to try wrestling with the blasted WordPress code myself (usually results in me swearing at the computer and tearing out clumps of my hair), I’ll gladly pay the designer and use the time saved to make money doing something I actually know how to do.

I think all entrepreneurs — even those with staff — can relate to your tips about time management and balancing “task mistress” with “zen mistress.” I loved your advice about how to deal with friends and family who assume that because you’re self-employed, your schedule is infinitely flexible. What kinds of tips do you have for those of us who have trouble saying no to friendly interruptions in our workdays?

Don’t do social lunches or midday coffee dates with other self-employed pals, unless you’re meeting right around the corner from your office and can be back at your desk within the hour. At least once a week, I get a request from someone who wants to “meet for lunch downtown — since we’re both working from home.” I’m about 30 to 60 minutes from downtown Seattle, depending on parking and traffic. Factor in the other person dealing with parking and traffic, and my entire afternoon’s shot. Better to get your work done first, then play.

Also, don’t do laundry or turn on the TV while you’re working. Don’t answer or look at your phone just because it’s ringing or vibrating, unless you’ve been waiting for an urgent call. If you accidentally answer a call from a friend looking to shoot the breeze, say, “What’s up?” in your clippiest “I’m busy” voice and tell them you need to call them back after business hours. Don’t answer the doorbell, unless your neighbor’s house is on fire. If you like to work out during the day, go at the same time Monday through Friday so you don’t throw off your work schedule. And finally, if you want any chance at getting that big project off your plate by midnight, shut down email, Facebook, IM, and all web browsers until you’re finished.

A great post from an established crafter about why she’s also set up an Etsy shop. It’s well worth a read, but here are the highlights:

• Exposure to a new audience/customers
• Helps with Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Awesome crafting business advice through the Etsy community

By the way, I’m also hoping to find some time before Xmas to post a round-up of the awesome vendors/stuff we saw at the Urban Craft Uprising, until I do though, I think you should just go and buy some stuff from Schmancy for everyone on your list, because who doesn’t need a personalized fortune cookie in their stocking or a stuffed gnome under the tree?

The Grassroots Business Association is the project of a bunch of super awesome Seattle-based small business folks (including our pals Megan and Kristen) who are creating an association for small business owners (and the aspiring or business curious). They’re having their first class is tomorrow night (December 4th) in Seattle and if you’re running a small business, working freelance or thinking about doing either, you should totally go. The details:

Upcoming class

What:
What entity to choose for your business, different accounting options for small business and preparing for your 2008 federal taxes.

When:
December 4th, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.

Where:
University Branch meeting room, 5009 Roosevelt Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98105. This event is not sponsored by the Seattle Public Library.

Cost:
Free

Speakers:
Deborah Asavarahapun
Accounting for Small Business, Inc.
deborah@afsbinc.com

David Sitlani, Attorney
Law Offices of David Ravi Sitlani
drs@sitlanilaw.com

Also, if you’re in Seattle (or near) don’t forget we’ll be at the Urban Craft Uprising on Saturday signing and selling books (if you’re already bought one and want to bring it to be signed we’d love to meet you). The full schedule of author signings is here, and if I may say so myself I think Saturday is shaping up to be a pretty awesome day with Michelle Goodman and Alicia Paulson also on the schedule. (I’ll be bringing my copies of both of their books to be signed as well).

The Tyee has an interesting article up about women in architecture, and in particular the historical dearth of women in leadership roles in that field. There is a new firm on the scene in Vancouver, led by two women, Jennifer Marshall and Shelley Craig — and apparently their partnership is unusual enough they had to give it some serious thought before going into business together.

To this day, architectural practices without a man in the house remain an oddity around here, so the two architects had to sit down and calculate if Vancouver could accept an all-female firm. “Jennifer and I talked about it for a long time beforehand,” says Craig. “There was always that question: is the world ready for this? We decided that it was.”

There’s some interesting historical context and a bit of off-the-cuff gender theory in the piece; I recommend it for a quick and intriguing read.

Also, in a design-related aside (otherwise a complete non sequitur), check out how good Times New Roman can look if it’s handled with great, great care.

Something very exciting happened last week: I got my new iMac set up at work. And the heavens opened, the angels sang, the earth shook a little (gently)… then I got straight back to work, because let’s face it, things are busy.

This wouldn’t be such a big deal, I guess, except that until recently Raised Eyebrow has been a PC shop. Why? Well, back in ye olden days of the web, we felt it would be best to use PCs as our primary testing grounds because it’s what 95% of end users were using. Mac testing was part of our process but the majority of our everyday needs were better met by Windows machines.

Then for years, we felt trapped by the software investments we had made for our PCs. Moving to Macs (oh shiny, pretty, elegant Macs!) would entail purchasing a bunch of new software, and the specialized software we use (hi, Creative Suite, we’re talking about you, you pricy thing!) is expensive enough that it tends to add up to more than the hardware costs of a new machine. The whole enterprise was daunting enough that every time it came time to buy a new computer we defaulted back to PCs, though each time that time came we would torture ourselves at Apple.com, checking out the new models and all the sexy things they were capable of. But we were like car buyers test-driving Jags and then heading back to the minivans when the chips were down (gazing sighingly backwards at the ultimate driving machines we were leaving behind).

Something changed a while back, though: Apple started building Macs that are capable of running Windows. This isn’t news, really, but I’m surprised how few people seem to know this, so I figured I would share it here. This changed everything for us, because our “we need to test on Windows” argument was suddenly irrelevant; if we need to test something on Windows, we can simply fire up Windows like any other software (we use VirtualBox to run Windows within OS X, so we don’t have to reboot) — and then close it down when we’re finished. Ahhhhhhhh…. That’s the sound of a very, very satisfied customer getting the best of both worlds. (Quite honestly, I feel like I walked out of the car lot with a Jag and a minivan, for the price of a single car.)

What about the software, you may be asking? Well, a few other things changed in the last few years. There’s now a free and viable alternative (or two) to Microsoft Office, for one. (You can get MS Office for Mac, but at this point I’m on the “Why bother?” side of that argument.) And for another, we learned that Adobe, in its wisdom (and perhaps a wee bit of experience with the design community’s undying love for all things Mac), is willing (with a bit of paperwork) to transfer software licenses from one platform to another — so if you bought, say, Photoshop for PC and then switch to a Mac, you can get a Mac-licensed version of the product with minimal cost and hassle.

So with our software fears allayed, we were left comparing operating systems (which, um, felt like a totally unfair contest in which Windows was the undisputed 97-pound weakling), productivity potential, and sheer gorgeousity (again, unfair competition, n’est-ce pas?).

Here’s what we discovered about Macs that makes them a productivity boon for our office:

• They take way less time to configure when they arrive brand new. It took me all of ten minutes, tops, to be up and running, and even my software installs went faster because of fewer (and faster) reboots.
• The 24″ iMacs have beautiful, big screens that enhance our staff’s productivity. (If you haven’t read about what a difference large and/or multiple monitors make to productivity, here’s some info on that.) Plus, they have a kind of built-in multiple-screen functionality called Screens that’s worth looking into. (I use Screens and like it, but it’s not without its quirks, and it’s not a total replacement for multiple monitors.)
• They crash way less frequently than PCs.
• They don’t get bogged down with viruses and sneaky systray apps that sloooooow dooooooooown thhhhhheeeeeeeeeee sysssssssssteeeeemmmmmmmm tooooooooo aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawlllll.
• They come bundled with useful software and a minimum of extraneous crap. (And all of it is configurable without arcane knowledge.)
• They really do deal with plug-and-play devices like magical mind-reading machines. Plug in a camera; the computer recognizes it immediately and imports the photos. Plug in an extra mouse, and your old one keeps working while the new one functions without any setup required. This still blows my little geek mind after so many years in PC-land, fiddling with drivers. Thank you, Apple, for not making me download drivers.
• They sync beautifully with our iPhones and iPods. (Yeah, we totally drank the Koolaid. But it’s yummy, we swear!)

I could go on, but I think I’ll stop there for now. Next time I’m going to wax poetic about my favourite app for Mac (and iPhone), which I hope will bring some of my fellow productivity hounds over to my side of the Mac-PC Red Rover game.

Want more reasons to consider Macs for your office? Here’s Apple’s list — and although they’re obviously a little biased, I can vouch for their claims. (And hey, can you believe they’ll actually transfer your files over to your new Mac for you if you buy from an Apple store? Holy cow.)

Lauren and I are going to be stopping by the CRAVE Vancouver book launch party next Wednesday night to cheer on the lovely Melody. If you’re in the Vancouver ‘hood and are available, you can RSVP here. It should be a very fun event.

Lauren and I are featured in a current article in BC Business Magazine, entitled “What Women Want”. The article touches on many subjects near and dear to our hearts like the growth of female entrepreneurs in the business sector (Canadian women are starting 4 out of every 5 new business in the country) and defining success on your own terms. We’re featured in the article as owners of Raised Eyebrow Web Studio Inc. as well as for the book. I hope I don’t come off as too ego-driven if I say it’s well worth a read.

(And a special shout out to the article’s author Dorothy Bartoszewski, thanks darlin!)

E-day is here in the U.S., and I feel compelled to leave a brief note of encouragement to any U.S. citizen who happens to pause and read it today. Today is a huge opportunity. Your right to vote is precious. Please, please use it.

We have friends who are fighting the good fight today, who have been traveling from state to state, county to county registering voters for months, and who are at polling stations today doing important work like reporting on broken voting machines, advocating for disenfranchised voters, and the like. My heart is full of love and pride for each of these powerful, energetic, and devoted souls.

I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited about an American election. My allegiance will not surprise anyone who knows the slightest bit about my politics, or my personality for that matter: I’m behind Obama all the way. I want him to be the next president. I want to see what happens when you infuse a nation with the power of hope and belief in themselves, when a community organizer becomes the country’s leader.

I also want to see the Obama Hustle become the victory dance:

I’m sending love, patience (for long lineups), faith and courage to everyone in the U.S. today. Your big day is here - time to bring it on home!

(P.S. Steven Heller wrote a very cool blog post today on America’s first-ever woman presidential candidate, Belva Ann Lockwood, who ran for office in 1884 and 1888. It’s short and fascinating — go read it!)

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ll be doing a book signing at the Urban Craft Uprising in Seattle on December 6th (the show is both the 6th & 7th). I spent some time last night reviewing (and getting totally lost in) the simply awesome list of vendors for the show and I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing most of my holiday shopping while we’re there.

We really love taking trips down to Seattle, and I’ve often thought about coming down to check out this show after seeing photos and reports of it from Megan. If you’re going to be there too let us know, we’d love to meet you! And remember, The Boss of You makes the perfect holiday gift for everyone on your list ;)

A great article over at the Etsy blog today about a husband and wife crafty team who moved to Amsterdam and have built up a craft business that has allowed them both to quit their day jobs and create a crafty empire. Now I may just find this a compelling little read because I occasionally fantasize about doing the exact same thing, but I think beyond my Dutch living aspirations it is a great success story. Some great advice on building an online business (or in particular an Esty business), DIY marketing and thoughts on taking the plunge from “day job” to fulltime Etsy entrepreneur.

(By the way if you’re looking for “quit your day job” inspiration, the Etsy blog actually has a whole category of blog posts on the topic).