I spend the bulk of my work time in my office, alone, typing at my computer. Sometimes I talk to people on the phone. But most of my client interactions don’t happen face-to-face, and my office happens to be right here in my house.

So while the cliche about freelancers working from home in their pajamas is a cliche, in this case it’s a cliche because it’s mostly true. At least, it is for me. I work in my pajamas a lot. And when I do get dressed I wear what’s comfortable for a work-at-home mom who also runs her kids around town but doesn’t have anyone to impress—I wear jeans and t-shirts, sweaters, comfortable shoes, and other unremarkable items.

I wouldn’t say I’m a slob, exactly, nor would I say what I wear is somehow inappropriate. I mean, the fact that I get dressed at all on days when I never leave the house is pretty commendable, right?

And I know that when it comes to professional events, I have to dress like a professional. And I do.
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Well, it took me a few weeks, but I think today I’m getting to the last of the topics posed when I asked for your burning questions last month.

Today’s topic comes from the lovely EmmaC, who asked:

I’d love to hear your thoughts on evaluating clients and negotiating with them - warning signs that you’re getting into a bad situation, negotiating with client expectations (ie, they think it should take 30 hours and you know it will take at least 50), when to negotiate and when to just turn a project down, etc.

This is something I think a lot of neophytes in particular are nervous about handling; isn’t the client always right? (The answer to that is NO, by the way.) There has to be a balance between sticking up for yourself and losing out to another freelancer who will agree to what you won’t. And figuring out where to strike that balance is tricky. I think the most important thing to remember is that you’re talking about a shifting target; how you approach any negotiation will depend on many factors, most of which vary from week to week and job to job.
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Today I’m heading back to your questions to me again, to address one of my favorite topics. Today let’s talk about Sharon’s question, because this is one of those “everyone knows you’re supposed to do it, but very few people are sure how you do it” sorts of things. She asked:

I would also like to hear about networking - who, when, where, and how. At what point did you start “Want Not” and how did you publicize that website? In general, how do you market yourself?

When I worked in an office and had a boss who had a boss who had a boss who had a boss, I never really needed to toot my own horn. I was not required to find work for myself, and—generally speaking—if I did good work, my colleagues and boss would convey that to others without any additional effort on my part being required. The biggest mental shift required for me in starting my own business was the realization that if I didn’t sell myself, no one else would. If I want work, I need to pursue it. And if I want a good reputation, I have to build it myself… not just through doing good work, but also through discarding humility and self-effacement and being unafraid to not just toot my own horn, but assemble my own marching band.

Okay, that may have taken that metaphor a little too far. But you (hopefully) get the point.
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Last week, I asked you to tell me what you want to know. The responses were overwhelmingly in favor of discussion of getting new clients, so we’re going to tackle that, first. (The other questions, about networking, negotiations, and beginners’ mistakes, I’ll get to next week.)

Randi said: I’ve been working as a freelance writer for over two years now (wow, time does fly!) and most of that time I’ve worked for 2 main companies. This means that I’m really not very bright when it comes to getting new clients or starting to work for new companies. Any hints or tips that you’re willing to divulge?

Carrien said: What exactly did that first email say? How did you convince them with a beginner’s resume?

Alice said: Ditto to the others - getting new clients. Even if it’s just a variation on the 90/10 rule, hearing stories about how you psyched yourself up to send things out, how you chose whom to approach, what kind of a portfolio you built (or wish you built), etc.

So let’s really talk about it—how do you get someone to hire you?
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I’ve been writing here at Work It, Mom! for coming up on three years. Can you believe that? The time has flown by—in a good way—and part of me feels like it was just yesterday that typed that first “Here is why you should hire me” email (with clammy palms) to one of my very first clients, close to five years ago.

Some days I still can’t believe this is what I do for a living.

Anyway, for years I’ve been writing about all of the aspects of being a freelance writer which I suspect others will find interesting or informative, and I hope I’ve been on target at least a good percentage of the time. What a good percentage would be, I’m not entirely sure. Would it be like a batting average…? Anything over about 40% is awesome…? (Kidding!)

Now I want to hear from you.
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So you know from my last post that part of what I’m doing this year is getting serious about diet and fitness; I’m pleased to report that so far it’s going really well. I owe part of my success to the fact that I am a consummate geek, and nothing gets me committed and organized like a good list.

(Fellow geeks are nodding their heads in righteous agreement. Anything that can be tracked and logged is a good thing, am I right?)

So I have this iPhone app now that allows me to track my food intake and my exercise, and it tells me how much I can eat each day and looks up the calories for everything and even tells me how many calories I burn when playing Dance, Dance Revolution on the Wii with the kids. (Hint: Not nearly as many as it feels like. Sigh.) Thanks to this app I am becoming positively pumped about the changes I’m making, because while eating a handful of Hershey’s kisses is satisfying, so is logging that bowl of air-popped popcorn and discovering I actually ended the day with calories to spare.
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The year is nearly done, and so it’s time for me to reflect on how my business did this year, and what I want to change for next year. There’s no law stating I have to do this, of course, but it’s a little exercise that I find goes well with writing checks to the IRS and weeping uncontrollably.

Oh, I’m kidding. I don’t cry while I write those checks.

I come up with new swear words, instead.

Kidding! Truly!

Look, ever since the first time I got completely walloped with taxes, I have a little mantra I like to repeat to myself: This is an excellent problem to have. Having lots of taxes to pay means I made money. Having more taxes to pay than I planned for means I made more money than I thought I would. If there’s a better problem to have, I’d like to know what it is.

Still, it’s the perfect time of year to reflect, to start planning for next year, and to just generally see where my business is at.
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Oh what a difference a week makes.

Last week, I was trying not to drown. Too much to do, not enough time to do it in, angst and fretting running in overdrive.

This week, things are different. And not because anything changed. Well, nothing changed with work, anyway. The difference this week is that my children are home from school. And I still have lots to get done; but for some reason, rather than feeling overwrought and frantic about it, I’m just feeling much more relaxed.

Crazy, right? To feel more relaxed when the kids are running around and I have to stop working fifteen times a day to play referee or fix them something to eat or just come and “look, Mom!” or whatever? Usually those things would, I’m sad to say, put me on edge and make my day more stressful, if I’m trying to get work done.

If this were a movie, now would be the part where I would show you have I was visited by several ghosts and learned the true meaning of Christmas.
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I’ve got about a week and a half to go until Christmas, and I think I’m going to make it. It’s all going to be fine. I’m sure it is. It has to be, right? It will. Obviously.

It is helpful, at this time of year, to remind myself that I feel this way at this time of year every single year without fail. Because the way I feel right now is sort of how I imagine the last mile of a marathon feels. I keep telling myself that I just have to keep going until Christmas, at which point I can pull back and relax a little bit. It’s just that right now I have to do all of my regular work as well as “prepare for the holidays.”

(I think maybe the holidays should learn to prepare for themselves. That would make things a lot easier….)
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I’m kind of having A Day. And given that it’s barely 10:00 a.m., that just seems… not good.

The plan, today, was to work this morning (as I do) and then go to an appointment with my accountant, be home in time for lunch, and work the rest of the afternoon until the kids got home from school. Nothing remarkable.

Instead, I got a call late yesterday afternoon that we’d come up on the cancellation list with Dr. Important Specialist, and did I want to bring my son in first thing this morning? Of course I did. So I shuffled a few assignments around, determined that I could get him there, drop him off at school after, and still make it to the accountant on time. Easy.

But this morning did not go according to plan.
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