As a freelancer, I’m no stranger to promoting myself. You get over any modesty you may have had when you entered into this gig pretty fast, or you tend not to be very successful. So yes, I have no problem hawking my writing skills to you or anyone else. Can I write? Yes, I can. And do. And will. And I’m pretty darn good at it, if I do say so myself. Heh.

What I’m finding—now that I’m well-established as a writer, and still trying to expand my expertise and reach—is that I need to become even more brazen in my broadcasting of my capabilities. Part of what I also do (and enjoy) is speak at conferences, and there are lots of reasons to do this in almost any field. It’s great experience in dealing with people; it’s a networking and marketing opportunity; and it’s much-needed “face time” in a field where so much of my business is conducted alone in my office. (Yes, freelancing and connectivity and the ability to work from anywhere is great, but there’s still plenty of old-school clients who’d like to know there’s a person behind the email, you know?)
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Up until very recently, I was not a big buyer of books. Now, that’s not to say that I didn’t read; I’ve always been a voracious reader. I’m also a big fan of the library, and I do a lot of thrifting, so the books I buy tend to come from Goodwill or yard sales for pennies on the dollar. That’s just good, frugal sense. Right?

Back when money was tight, that was the only way I acquired books. Then things improved and suddenly I could afford to buy books from real stores. I immediately moved to buying the hardback versions of books written by friends of mine, both as a show of support and so that I could have them signed. If there was a book I really wanted, I would get it from Amazon. More recently I’ve become a huge fan of Better World Books as a great way to both be green and to get great prices.

But lately I’ve been thinking that I need to reset my thinking when it comes to purchasing books. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that I think it’s part of my duty as a writer to do so.
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Today I have two things for you! First, I’ll choose the winner of the contest I posted last week, and that person will receive a free copy of Susan Getgood’s book, Professional Blogging for Dummies courtesy of me and the publisher, Wiley.

Second, today is my birthday, and it’s made me a bit reflective. It’s around this time that I always look back on when I made the decision to take the freelancing plunge; it was just about five years ago (almost to the day) when I finally resolved to go for it. What I’ve learned in those five years could fill many, many volumes—each and every one of them would need to be bound up with humble pie, too—but I thought with it being my 5-year freelancing anniversary, I’d target just the top five, for today.

First things first, though. We need a contest winner!
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I’ve known Susan Getgood for years, and when I heard that she’d be tapped to write Professional Blogging for Dummies I immediately thought to myself that she was exactly the right person for the job. As I talked with Susan throughout the process—both just on a general level, and because I spoke with her as part of her research—my anticipation mounted. The most basic way to put it is that Susan gets it, from the dual perspective as a strategic marketer and as a blogger, herself. So I knew the book would be spot-on.

Last week Wiley (the publisher) was kind enough to send me two copies, and even knowing everything I did, beforehand, about Susan’s acumen and how she was planning to structure this, I was still absolutely blow away by how thoughtful and comprehensive this manual is. You could truly pick up Professional Blogging for Dummies if you’d never blogged a day in your life and—after reading through the advice herein—start a professional blog and make money with it. Moreover, if you’re already a problogger, there’s still great information in here for sharpening your approach.
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BlogHer 2010—just in case you’ve been living under a rock—is happening later this week. It’s a big conference. Huge. And of the previous five years of BlogHer and BlogHer Business conferences, I’ve been in attendance at four of them.

But this year I’m not going. And I’m totally okay with that.

I mean, in the last couple of weeks I started reading about it everywhere. People panicking about what to wear. What to pack. Whether they’d embarrass themselves. And as I read through the blogosphere’s collective angst I smugly said to myself, “Well. Thank goodness that’s not me. All those neuroses in one place? I certainly dodged a bullet, there.” And I went on my merry way, happy to be staying home.

But then I started reading blog posts and tweets from folks I adore. People I already know and haven’t seen in a long time, who will be in New York in a few days, and I won’t be there. And people I’ve never met, but wish I could, who will be in New York in a few days, and I’m missing the chance to meet them.

And suddenly I started feeling like I was Jan in that episode of The Brady Bunch where she gets herself good and worked up and into a snit over how everything is always about Marsha. And if I’m being totally honest, I was surprised to find myself feeling that way.
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Perhaps the lesson most firmly driven home to me since beginning my life as a business entity is that I am my business and I need to conduct myself accordingly. My behavior and my work are inseparable, in the eyes of the public. That’s the blessing and the curse of being a freelancer, I guess.

The corollary to this realization is that corporations don’t seem to feel any such similar obligation to provide top-notch service and behavior. Is it because there’s no regulating a business entity to that level once you have more employees? Is it because they just don’t care? Is it because they can’t help it? I don’t know. But I do know that since going into business for myself I have a lot less patience for the business snafus of companies that should do better.

Which brings us to my business banking. Unfortunately.
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I read a blog entry recently about the epidemic of folks unable to leave work behind; the writer’s position was that folks who are utterly unable to “unplug” feel that they are simply too important to the world to ever take a true vacation or hiatus from their work. The epidemic of Crackberry addicts, laptops at the beach resorts, etc., are, in her opinion, due to an overblown sense of importance on the part of the folks unable to step away. But then she goes on to ask if it’s perhaps fear (of standing up to the boss) or people who just really, really love their jobs.

I responded in the comments to say that, as a freelancer, when I work on vacation—as I’m doing right this second—it’s not because I think I’m so important, but because I realize exactly how replaceable I am. If I don’t do it, the people who employ me can find someone else who will. If I don’t blog, folks will find other blogs to read. I have no illusions of being such a special snowflake that only I will do; part of the reason I get hired and read is because I’m dependable. (You know, like the postal service, but with fewer anger issues.)

But does that mean I can’t ever unplug?
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One of the greatest things about being a writer for a living is that I get a lot of free books.

One of the worst things about being a writer for a living is that I get a lot of free books.

What? Yeah. Look; I love books, and I love things that are free, so it stands to reason that this particular confluence of Things I Love should be nothing but Nirvana. But the reality is that my cup—more specifically, my office—runneth over. It runneth all over the darn place. I’ve got to figure out a better system.

Of course, the freebies each fall into a certain category, too. Just to make it more interesting. And you’d think that’d help me keep things organized, but you’d be wrong.

(And yes, I realize this is very much a First World Problem, but hear me out.)
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Just about everyone has a story about the job where the boss was completely unreasonable, right? For most of us, that story goes with a job we had in high school or college, when we maybe didn’t know how to handle such a thing, but I’m always amazed at the number of grown, competent adults who carry around war stories of the Job With The Nutty Boss. Part of the lure of freelancing, of course, is that you’re essentially your own boss, and you also have the freedom to pick and choose with whom you’d like to work.

But. Being a freelancer doesn’t somehow protect one from having a run-in with a difficult client. And it’s easy enough to say, “Not me! I only choose to work with people I really click with, and I’ve never had a problem!” But I guarantee that if you freelance long enough, you’ll find yourself dealing with some less-than-optimal relationships, one way or another.

Remember how I make tax mistakes so that you don’t have to? I also deal with Crazy so that you don’t have to. Pull up a chair.
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Every now and then I get such a great question via email, I have to share it with the world. This recent one really made me reach back in my brain to think about how I handled it, and how I’ve seen other folks handle it, and eventually it became clear that this was one ripe for discussion.

So: Thank you to Kim for writing in to ask the following:

I would like to make a career for myself as a freelance writer, and I’ve read a lot of your advice about just how to do that… but the professional website part has me feeling at a bit of a loss. What, exactly, should appear on my professional website if I haven’t had any freelance writing gigs yet? I’m worried that it will wind up looking pretty sparse and unimpressive until I’ve successfully landed a few jobs (and potentially some nice feedback from them). Do you have any suggestions for making a website look presentable if the only writing “experience” I have to date is my personal blog?

Kim has discovered the Great Truth of most careers: You can’t get hired until you have experience, but you can’t get experience until you get hired. The good news here is that I’d argue writing is one of the few careers where this maxim can be… well, if not broken, certainly bent quite a bit. Let’s talk about how you can hang out your virtual shingle even when you don’t (yet!) have the resume to back it up.
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