From Bunny Slippers to Business Plans
Quite some time ago, I signed up for Brazen Careerist, a network for young professionals that allowed me to share my blog feed and connect with other awesome people like myself. (You may have noticed the little bookmarklet at the bottom righthand corner of my blog.)
Today, Brazen Careerist has launched itself in a whole new way.
I did not make life easy for my parents.
During my toddler years, they worried over my introversion. During my junior high/high school years, they worried over my fiery temper. During my college years, they worried throughout the course of an abusive relationship I couldn’t bring myself to leave, and then worried some more when I fell into a deep depression and dropped out of college. (I eventually went back to [a different] school and earned my degree.) Post-college, they passed me onto a possibly masochistic husband with a sigh of relief, but still couldn’t help but worry over all my ups, downs, and interminable plateaus.
Throughout the duration, they’ve (for some wild reason) continued to support me in everything I do.
While I use my Twitter account primarily to promote my work, share relevant links, and network with other freelancers, the mundane, the personal, and the desperate often sneak in.
But perhaps that’s a good thing.
Despite all my preparations, when I finally went full-time freelance, I was clueless when it came to finding new projects. As I had always done before, I scoured the job ads, dutifully sent out cover letters and resumes, found a part-time freelance gig that gave me the feeling of stability and, otherwise, waited for the work to come to me.
And for at least a year, it worked. I eventually ended up with two regular, moneymaking gigs, and additional projects continued to come my way via friends and former colleagues. Within only six months, I had matched my previous corporate salary.
Then the publication I was copy editing for folded and, about six months later, the web magazine I was writing for decided to switch things up, leaving me with a lot less income. And it occurred to me: I had been coasting!
I know I’m not the only one. Other office workers looking to go freelance are often surprised to find out that job-finding tactics are wildly different when you’re in business for yourself.
After the jump, some passive and aggressive ways to find work, and why it’s essential that you cultivate a mixture of both:
I was totally planning on attending a networking event tonight. I had already RSVPd. I’d put it into my Google Calendar. I’d e-mailed the info to a few friends. Then I began losing momentum…
I was afraid to go alone. I didn’t feel like taking a bus into the city, especially during rush hour. My energy levels were low, anyway, and there was work I could get done if only I stayed at home.
I put on a dress in order to motivate myself. After all, who wants to waste a pretty dress by not leaving the house?
I took the dress off.
Then I noticed that I was having a good hair day. Could I possibly waste a good hair day by not leaving the house?
Yes. Yes I could.
If only I could find a networking group closer to home.
I’m a bit obsessed with the Twittersphere. I’m logged on 24/7 and use the site to promote my work, seek out sources, and network with other freelance writers. Plus, it helps me to maintain my sanity when I’m desperate for some small bit of human contact.
Why not use the site as a virtual business card as well?
[Photo via]
This past weekend, I traveled to Boston to see my father-in-law run in the marathon. It was my first marathon ever, and I wasn’t quite sure what it would be like watching a group of people run by.
My husband, my mother-in-law, and I set up shop about 100 yards from the finish line, right outside the Prudential Center and a block or two away from the library. We were lucky enough to get a spot right at the barrier, where I stood poised with my camera, waiting for our runner.
Next to us was a woman with…um…a loud mouth. I wasn’t sure if she was there to see anyone in particular, but she cheered on just about every runner who went past us, referring to the names on the fronts of their shirts.
“Yeah Jan! Whooo! Almost there! Yeah Pam and Steve! Whooo! Doing great!” Nonstop. It was a wonder she still had a voice.
Some of the people around us gave her dirty looks, but I just loved the way she broke through to those runners on the last leg of their journey, giving them the strength to make it those last 100 yards. I was alost overcome by emotion every time one of them broke out of their running reverie and smiled, or gave her a thumbs up. It seemed to me that she was doing those marathoners a great service.
Sometimes, my work day feels like a marathon — one filled with endless blog posts, pitches, interviews, rewrites, edits, and the like — and I wish I had someone to drag me those last few yards to the end. This is where my own personal freelance support group comes in handy.
I can’t believe I haven’t posted about Twitter before. After all, I’ve been using it to promote my writing and connect with other freelancers for quite some time now, and even did a guest post over at TwiTip on taking your Twitter networking from online to in-the-flesh.
I think it warrants a mention here at Freelancedom, no?
After the jump, 4 ways to use Twitter as a means of building your personal business:
I’ve been missing my old writing group.
We met several years ago, in Cris Beam’s From Pitch to Publish Class at New School. For at least a year, the four of us workshopped each others’ pieces, shared contacts, suggested paying markets, and basically gave each other the kicks in the ass we needed.
Eventually, life got busy. One of us moved to Brooklyn. One of us moved abroad. One of us had a baby. And I kept getting promoted at work, a development that forced me to travel more often on business.
I’d love to start a new group. But how? And who?
Between a last-second edit test, a quick trip to PA, and a full day holding poses for a portrait artist, I. am. wiped. So I hope you’ll forgive me for relying on an easy-as-pie Coffee Break post so early in the week.
This one was actually inspired by a conversation taking place over at the mediabistro bulletin boards, on how different pitching tactics have different success rates.
