Category: Advice

Annual Business Services is a Tax Scam

Posted on August 31, 2014 by - Advice

Last week I got a letter from Annual Business Services. It looked like it was sent by the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office regarding official tax-related business. The envelope looked slightly spammy, but mostly legit. Here’s what it looks like:

Annual Filing Services Scam

Hating to receive mail from the government, I opened it immediately to make sure I wasn’t late on something. There was no letter of introduction, no State of Oregon letterhead, no “Sincerely” farewell. What it said at the top of the form was “2014-Annual Minutes Form.” And what it said at the top of the other piece of paper in the envelope was “Instructions for Completing the Annual Minutes Form.” It also said that a payment of $125 was required with the submission of my minutes, which I could pay by check, money order, or by filling out my credit card information.

Pause.

The State of Oregon has never asked me to do that before. And all other things being shady, I went onto the Oregon Secretary of State’s website to double-check the proper procedure for filing shareholder minutes. Guess what I found? Two posts dated July 2014 and May 2014 warning business owners to beware this company that’s masquerading as a State entity. Here’s the post.

If you’ve received this letter, don’t fill it out! I just went to the website, www.annualfilingservice.com, and they’ve shut it down. I had gone before and it was an ugly templated thing.

On the form it said to respond by August 29th, so this post is a little late in coming. Hopefully they haven’t made off with your $125 by now. If they have, report it to the police and/or the Secretary of State’s Office.

3 Professionals Every Freelancer Should Have on Their Team

Posted on July 3, 2014 by - Advice

Every freelancer is good at what they do. Whether your a copywriter or welder, graphic designer or gardener, your time is precious and it’s best spent doing what you’re good at. For everything else, I recommend you hire someone to do it for you. Your business team will help you do your taxes, make your business a legal entity, draw up legal documents, deal with non-paying clients, and buy business insurance. The resources listed below are located in the Portland-Metro area (and may practice in Washington as well).

1) Small Business Attorney


Business attorney rates, like any service provider, can best be described as having a range. The range I’ve encountered is $150-$1,000 per hour. There are also pre-paid legal service providers out there, if you want to go that route. Your best bet will be to find a small business attorney amongst your network of family and friends, and enlist their services. Working with an attorney who has her own practice (versus a huge, cookie-cutter firm) would be my recommendation.

If you live in the State of Oregon, I can highly recommend Katie Lane. I recommend her because she specializes in working with freelancers. I know quite a few attorneys, and she’s the only one I’ve met who knows the complete ins and outs of what a freelance business professional needs.

As an additional legal resource, MercyCorps Northwest offers a series of small business consulting services including: general small business consulting, legal consulting, record keeping, and credit consulting.


2) Accountant/CPA (Certified Public Accountant)


Tax time is no joke. While I’m sure I would feel very proud of myself if I did my own taxes, I will never ever be as educated about the latest and greatest tax breaks, rates, and deductions available to me. I just won’t. I’m a writer. I am writing. This is what I do.

Spending more than a couple hours per year dealing with my taxes makes me nervous. And bored, to be perfectly honest. My CPA is Geoff Dougall, and he’s like a unicorn: absolutely magical and very real. His office sends me a reminder in the mail that tax time is upon us (with a little booklet that helps me prepare everything he needs!), we meet for an hour to go over my financials, I leave, the magic happens, and they tell me when my returns are ready to pick up. See? Magic!

Yes, I pay him for the service he provides, AND he keeps me financially safe, secure, and cared for. I’ve worked with Geoff for years, and I hope to do so for many more to come.


3) Financial Advisor/Planner


When I was renting a desk in a larger office, I called my financial advisor to give him my new address. During that call, he asked if I was interested in purchasing renter’s insurance. I said “No, why do you ask?” He said, “Because you’re renting a desk in a shared office. And you’re probably leaving some of your business assets or other property at the office, right?” He was. “So anyone who has access to that office, or happens to wander through, could possibly steal your stuff. See what I’m sayin’?” I did.

The insurance would cost me $5/month. I bought it. He also helped me set-up my first 401K, an investment account, and wants to “get me into a Roth IRA” in the next few years.

If you don’t already know a Financial Advisor or Planner that you trust, start by asking the people in your network to recommend someone.


What other complementary business professionals do you think should be on the team of every freelancer?

How to Find Your Niche as a Freelance Writer

Posted on June 27, 2014 by - Advice

Three years ago, I thought becoming a freelancer was the most terrifying and gutsy career choice I’d likely ever make. I’d just been laid off from the marketing department at Powell’s Books, and my severance and unemployment benefits gave me a six-month window to either get a business off the ground or become…I don’t know, homeless? I tried not to get too hung up on the many things that could go wrong.

So, I went for it. I put myself out there as a writer and editor and took any gig that came my way. I was all over the place, writing and editing any type of marketing material or book manuscript for any client in any industry. I was not choosy—I was like a raccoon in a dumpster. If raccoons rootled around in dumpsters full of writing projects…?

Anyway, I was making it! Mostly. I was paying my bills at least, which seemed like a feat.

But There Were Two Problems.

Problem #1:
Holy shit, was I spread thin. Because I was taking on “any” writing project for “any” type of client, I felt like I was constantly back at square one—learning new industries, figuring out scope and cost for radically different types of projects; juggling the varying levels of intensity inherent in different projects and clients. My tasks were so different and varied that I could find no way to templatize or replicate any of my business processes or services.

Plus, it was hard to be constantly switching gears—here I’m copyediting a self-help book. Now I’m out schmoozing at a networking event. Next I’m consulting, or writing web content. People wanted me to write their resumes. Or tutor their kids in English. And as a result, my brain was fried, my thinking fragmented. After two years, I felt like I was becoming a “Jill of all trades and a master of none”—which then led to me guiltily asking myself, “Do I have any business putting myself out there as a specialist when really I feel like…a dabbler?”

Problem #2:
I was doing too much work I didn’t love. Being a freelancer is challenging on a lot of levels, but one of the big selling points is that you get to choose your gigs. Yay, choice! But by saying yes to everything, I found myself working on projects that I wasn’t passionate about. Why?? If I was just going to take a bunch of marketing projects I didn’t love, then why not just get a full-time job and take home a sweet salary? Yes, I’d made some major lifestyle gains as a freelancer—no alarm clock! No boss! No pants! But those gains paled in comparison to the dread and boredom I felt working on…well, dreadful and boring projects.

ENOUGH. Time to Find a Niche.

So, what is a niche, anyway? I think you can break it out in at least three different ways:
1) a particular industry,
2) a particular type of writing project, or
3) a particular type of client.

For example, “I only work on projects for the sportswear industry,” or “I only write white papers,” or “I only work with creative agencies.” (And if the word “only” sounds limiting, I invite you to shift your perspective; while it does mean that you’ve narrowed the breadth of your work, there’s no limit to the depth you can achieve.)

So, How to Find Your Niche? Read on, yo.

Step 1:
Identify your strengths and passions. If you’ve been freelancing for a while, think back to the standout projects that really felt good. Why did they feel good? Ideally, these are the projects that fulfill an emotional need—whether that’s to be creative or challenged, or to work for a cause that’s close to your heart. But they must also be the projects that fulfill your bank account. If you’re to successfully find your niche, you must walk the fine line between following your heart and accepting the fact that you’re still bitch to the almighty dollar.

For me, my niche is books, specifically personal development and fiction titles. I’ve been a lifelong bookworm, so this is a natural fit for me. When I’m writing or editing a book or coaching an author, I feel like I’m in my power zone: I’m confident that I know what I’m doing, that I’m charging high enough rates to support myself, and that there’s honest-to-God true value for my client. Frequently when I’m working with an author or a manuscript, I have a surreal moment where I think, “Wow, I get paid to do this. This is my job.” Mind blown. If you have moments like that, pay attention to them—they’ll help you hone in on your niche.

Step 2:
Tell people about your new niche. Seriously, tell everyone—friends, family, fellow writers, networking partners. Shout it from the rooftops of Facebook! Rewrite your own marketing content. The more specific you are, and the more widely you spread the news, the more quickly people will think of YOU for that particular type of project.

Step 3:
Identify referral partners to whom you can pass along the non-niche work. When you find your niche, you find yourself saying “no” more frequently. This can be a bummer. But, honestly, this is a great opportunity to be giving. Luckily for me, I have a great community of writers who all have their areas of strength. So when someone approaches me with a project outside of my niche, I have a simple script: “I mainly work on book projects these days, but you should totally talk to so-and-so. They do fantastic work.” This is an all-around win. I don’t have to say “no,” I help my writer buddies find work, and I’ve told the client what types of work I DO want, so hopefully they’ll think of me when it comes up.

Step 4:
Stay strong! Transitions suck. My first year in my niche was…rough. It was both terrifying and exhilarating to refer away potential clients to my writer buddies. And there were definitely times when I felt like I’d exhausted my network and was wracking my brain to figure out where to find my next book client. Sometimes I despaired over my decision and regretted rewriting all my marketing copy. But I had some major wins, too—I contracted with Timber Press to co-write Mosaic Garden Projects, and a local business consultant hired me to co-write her book, Project Sponsorship. It took a little over a year before I felt really solid in my niche, but I’m glad I stayed strong.

Step 5: Rake in the millions. Admittedly, I’m still waiting for this part. I’ll update this post when it happens. Stay tuned. 🙂

6 Ways to Successfully Manage Inbound Prospects

Posted on June 19, 2014 by - Advice

Reposted from the blog of Enlighten Writing with permission from Mahesh Raj Mohan.

Inbound marketing is a powerful way to grow your business, especially if you’re a freelance copywriter. I was thrilled when my first prospective customer found me after I’d written a blog post. It happened when I was two months into my nascent freelance writing career. My prospective client and I scheduled a call, we hit it off, and worked together for the next couple of months. That content is still in my copywriting portfolio.

Of course, there are caveats to an inbound marketing strategy. Peter Bowerman (the Well-Fed Writer) has mentioned that inbound marketing can bring in many “tire kickers” and even “lowballers,” and he’s not wrong. There are several steps, however, that you can take so the prospects visiting your blog or website will become lifelong clients. Creating your ideal client profile is helpful, and so is determining what type of content marketing your prospects need by doing some targeted research.

Here’s what to do next:

  1. The prospect will have many questions. How long have been a freelance writer? Are you full-time, or part-time? Do you have experience with the prospect’s industry? What is your rate? The questions may be overwhelming, but the conversation will be instrumental in determining if the prospect is the right fit.
  2. If the prospect becomes argumentative about your rate, then classify the person as a “lowballer” and move on. These folks tend to want quality work at a low cost (to them).
  3. If the initial contact ends ambiguously (e.g. no firm decision to hire you), then determine if you want to follow-up. We live in an age of e-mail glut, and because writers tend to be conscientious; we don’t want to spam anyone. But remember that the prospect sought you out, and sometimes people just get busy. So send a follow-up e-mail a few days after the initial contact. I always write, “Just checking in. Did you still need help with [insert content]?” If you never hear from the prospect again, even after a polite follow-up e-mail (or two), then classify the prospect as someone not ready to buy. The prospect may come back later on, when s/he is ready.
  4. If the prospective client agrees to your rate and you’ve had a good follow-up conversation (via e-mail, phone, or video conferencing), then clearly define expectations and write up a contract. If all of this goes smoothly, then congratulations, you just won an inbound client! Go you! (I usually take a deposit upfront for new clients.)
  5. The next step is easy. In the immortal words of Mad Men‘s Fred Rumsen: “Do the work, Don.”
  6. After the project’s (successful) completion, be sure to ask for a testimonial. Periodically check in on your client, and see how the content is working, and if s/he needs follow-up work or help finding other service providers. This strategy can lead to multiple projects with a happy client who understands how you work, and knows the quality that will result from your collaboration.

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This blog post is a new offering from my site. About once a month, I plan to write a blog post chronicling an aspect of freelance writing or editing. Feel free to comment and weigh in on your own experiences.

Have you classified your inbound prospects? What are your strategies?

Networking is Not Selling

Posted on June 13, 2014 by - Advice

The books on this subject are many, so I’ll just give you a few key things to keep in mind about networking.

Networking and selling are different

When you network, you’re meeting people and giving them the opportunity to meet you. You’re literally building your network of contacts by nurturing a long-lasting relationships, and learning what they do and helping them understand what it is you do. Selling would be focused primarily on getting money from someone over the short-term.

Here’s what the difference between networking and selling sounds like:

Selling:

“Hi, I’m Amber and I’m a freelance copywriter. If you or anyone you know needs a website, brochure, or press release written, just have them give me a call. Here’s my card!”

Networking:

Amber: “Hi, I’m Amber. I’m a freelance copywriter.” (Stop)
Dave: “Oh, a writer, huh? What kinds of things do you write?” (Stop)
Amber: “Well, I mostly write marketing content for businesses, like websites, brochures, and social media content. I love being able to work with so many different kinds of writing. Right now I’m working on a website for a naturopath. What do you do?” (Stop)

See the difference? The first example is a scripted speech, while the second is a dialogue, a conversation. That’s what you want. Just talk to people. Relax. Chat. Be curious about them and what they do.

Better even than talking about what you do is listening to others talk about what they do. Be curious about everyone you meet and ask questions about them and their work. People are more likely to hire or work with someone they like over someone with the perfect experience.

For example, I recently met with a prospective client who had a very specific kind of writing he was looking for. I had done some relevant work, but not an extensive amount. By the end of the informational interview, we were geeking out about Sci-Fi books and our favorite characters from the Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R Tolkien. By the end of the 45 minutes (which was only supposed to be 30 minutes) he said he wanted me working on the next project that came in the door.

If you’re not likeable or can’t stand small talk, you might have trouble with networking, and helping people get to know you and vice versa. Be honest with yourself about your limitations and find ways to manage them. Maybe you do better in small gatherings, or perhaps you need to partner with someone who does better at small talk, so you can just do your work.

As freelancers, being known and liked is key to our success. The best advice I can give is to practice, practice, practice. You’ll learn by doing. I promise.