There is a world of difference between the business hobbyists and the business professional. First of all, a lot of talented hobbyists think they’re professionals, but they can’t manage to twist their brain enough to think like the master of an empire. They think too small, too passively, and too emotionally to build an empire. They can’t detatch their hearts from their heads. They fumble along in Guessland instead of playing with numbers (they often hate numbers) and operating like a business. So, they may be doomed to always having a hobby instead of a leave-the-day-job business.

All is not lost. They can either outsource some things — like marketing and planning — or they can learn to think like professionals instead of artists/hobbyists. They can let someone else do the work they can’t, or they can figure out how to do it themselves with the right frame of mind.

Most people will have some hobbyist and some professional in them. I know I do because sometimes I would rather goof off than write a plan, but I'm also a classic Type A. There is nothing wrong with being a hobbyist - especially if you like your day job and have no designs on turning your hobby into an enterprise.

But if you're not satisfied with the status quo, understanding and rectifying these 8 differences in the way the hobbyist and the professional think may help you.

I’ve observed these traits through my own experience and that of others. I don’t claim to have any kind of an empire, but I’ve spent a great deal of time with people who do. And I know that any gifted hobbyist who can twist his mind to think like a professional has the capacity to conquer the world.

1. Hobbyists blame others, professionals blame themselves.

It’s fun to blame someone else for your troubles, isn’t it? Because, let’s face it, the problems you’re having in life can’t possibly be your fault. If you’re overweight, it’s your genes. If you hate your job, it’s the company’s fault. And if your products aren’t moving? Well? It’s the economy. A vendor’s policies. The wind blowing from the east. A quite tempting prospect for someone who lacks the confidence and skill it takes to build an empire. And a fine scapegoat, too.

But the successful executives, C-levels, and entrepreneurs of the world didn’t get to the top by blaming someone else for their troubles. By balking at a glass ceiling. By criticizing bosses behind their backs. Instead, they see every obstacle as an opportunity. When they run into a wall, they don’t curse the wall. They don’t scream at the guy who built the wall, the entity that approved the structure, or the blasted wind that isn’t blowing strong enough to take it down.

They find a way to work with it or to work around it. Nobody ever built an empire by complaining about someone else’s failings. You only build empires by taking responsibility for everything that happens to your business and finding clever ways around the walls that doesn’t involve pointing fingers, crying, or failing to recognize your contribution to your situation.

2. Hobbyists complain, professionals act.

It happens all the time. A group of so-called business owners get together to not only blame someone else for their troubles, but to complain about it too. To lawyers, to associations, to anyone who doesn’t have the wherewithall to ignore them or tell them to sod off. Belaboring moot points. And those wolves feed on each other like cannibals until, in the end, nothing is left but a few canine carcasses and the buzzards flying overhead.

Meanwhile, the professionals of the world are taking action. In a sore economy, the CEO of Ford (Alan Mulally) developed the right people to oversee product development, marketing, and finance to help the company build products people actually wanted to buy, find the people who wanted to buy them, and cut costs at the same time to make them profitable last quarter.

If you do not want to build an empire, I encourage you to play with the carnivorous wolves. Spend as much time with them as it takes to whine and moan and slap your hand on your forehead to proclaim “Alas! Woe is me!”. But those who spend their time changing the way they do business, building new products, cutting costs, and finding new markets are the ones who will still be standing when the wolves are nothing but a pulpy mass of smelly goo.

3. Hobbyists guess, professionals crunch.

“Well…” they seem to think… “I guess I, a single person who in no way consitutes a reasonable sample size, would pay $20 for this bloofit. So I’ll price it at $20. If it doesn’t sell, I’ll lower the price.” Nevermind that it cost her $28 to conceptualize, create, build, and market it. And, “Hm. I’m not sure who my market is but I think it’s women between 20 and 60 who like jewelry.” Nevermind that she just described most women alive today.

People who lack confidence in themselves and their business often operate this way. They have great artistic talent and they so want to succeed, but they think like the uninitiated who make decisions based more on emotion than logic. They guess using unproven and highly flawed methods that have little or no basis in reality. And, my friends, that’s no way to run a business.

The professionals, however, don’t suppose.

They come as close to knowing as possible. The analyze the data. They have sophisticated spreadsheets and formulas to help them calculate costs and figure out how set prices so their profitability is comfortable. They narrow their market based on a broad set of criteria so they can say, “One target market is women between 25 and 35 who are college educated, have higher than average incomes, and spend time playing foosball with their overabundance of male friends.”

They do not operate in vagueness but in near-certainties. They crunch numbers and make logical (not emotional) decisions based on the results. They act and react in ways that are designed to grow business, not their egos.

4. Hobbyists get attached, professionals remain aloof.

Artists and hobbyists alike really love the work they do. They are passionate and excited and they care, oh how they care, about each little bloofit they create.

Professionals may care, but they don’t become too emotionally attached to a given product. If a product or product line isn’t moving, no matter how variably it’s marketed or how low the price, the hobbyist will cling to it hoping against sense that someone someday will love it as much as they do.

Professionals don’t. They set rules in advance to determine at what point a product — no matter how much they love it or how much faith they had in it — will be discontinued or rebranded or remarketed so it’s no longer an unprofitable cost center. They don’t allow themselves to become TOO attached for fear that their passion will interfere with their ability to survive as a business.

5. Hobbyists flow, professionals plan.

“Hm. I think I’ll try to run an ad this month and see what happens.” This is the way hobbyists think. It’s one of the things their friends love about them. They’re laid back. They go with the flow. If their friends want to have Thai for dinner, they won’t mind going even though they’d probably rather have Ethiopian.

Professionals don’t — and probably can’t — think that way. With their Type A personalities, they’re all Monica Geller all the time. They plan and plan and decide and prepare and have contingency plans and know what they’re going to do no matter what obstacles might befall them. They have business plans and marketing plans and product development plans and financial plans. They sometimes even plan to plan, making outlines and schedules and tables and charts. They don’t pussyfoot around when it comes to being prepared.

Failing to plan, in the long run, really is planning to fail. Even if you change your plans along the way, having them in the first place gives you direction and helps you focus your attention where it’s most profitable. Instead of getting derailed by some tangent.

6. Hobbyists hope, professionals expect.

Anyone going into business for themselves is hopeful that it will survive. They want, they might pray, they ask others to wish them well. But those who really excel go one stop further. Professionals fully expect to succeed. They don’t think, “I really hope I do well.” Instead they think, “I’m going to do well and this is how and why and when.” They crunch the numbers and plan and leave emotion out of it and this propensity launches them into a state of expectation rather than hope.

Expectation is far more active than hope, which is quite passive. Expectation forces a person to act and take responsibility, where hope leaves it to the fates. Expectation is positive and even aggressive where hope stands still and waits. Hope might get you what you want, but expectation involves you in your own outcomes and offers a far more likely-to-succeed alternative to hope.

7. Hobbyists are cautious, professionals are risk-takers.

When in doubt, hobbyists stand still. They might ask some questions of other hobbyists. They might read a few articles. But all in all, they are afraid to take swift action. It ties to their general hippiesque go-with-the-flow way about the world. “What’s meant to be will be and if I’m not sure, I’m going to do nothing.”

Professionals, on the other hand, act. They trust their instincts even if their instincts go against conventional wisdom. They’re willing to spend money on risk. They gamble. They aren’t afraid to make mistakes because they know if they screw up, they’ll be able to find a way to fix it. They have confidence. They are assertive, even aggressive. They take action even if they aren’t certain that action is going to lead to positive results.

A hobbyist will limit how much money they spend on marketing and advertising, for instance. They don’t know a lot about it, so they’re afraid of screwing it up. The professional doesn’t care about screwing up. He knows that screwing up just means learning. Learning what not to do. Learning how to do it better next time. Learning one more step toward success.

8. Hobbyists think small, professionals think big.

Hobbyists intrinsically limit themselves. They think in terms of how one little vendor (Etsy, for instance) has a lot of power over their business. They worry a lot about how whatever that vendor is doing. They believe that vendor defines that businesses success or failure.

Professionals can’t be bothered. They observe what a given vendor is doing and may take some action, but they recognize that they are not the captors of the professionial’s business. They know they have limited choices and make decisions accordingly. If that vendor isn’t working for them anymore, they don’t take him out back, beat him with a tire iron, and break his kneecaps. They just find a new vendor. They think bigger than a single vendor. Bigger than a single marketing source. Bigger than the small time.

Professionals realize the world is their oyster and no single vendor, marketing source, or buyer is going to prevent them from building an empire. Their empires exist independently. Everything else is just a tool of world domination.

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Related Entries:

• Interview with a Freelancer: Kaarin Moore, Wardrobe Consultant and Freelance Writer
• Interview with a Freelancer: April Michelle Davis, Editor, Indexer, and Writer
• Choosing Where to Advertise
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ed Tittel, Writer and More
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ev Bishop, Writer and Editor
• My articles for the weeks of June 1 and June 8
• Syndicated on YouWordMe.com
• Organizing Materials and Research
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Writer and Editor
• When You Get Overwhelmed

Now back to more talk about freelancing.

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Now, I don't want this article to come off as a Google ad. In fact, I have a number of issues with Google and its policies. However, in their drive to become THE go-to place for data and information on everything, they have hit a few home runs in the way of making the world a bit smaller. You can use Google Earth to not only see what a location looks like from an orbiting satellite, but also to zoom in and get a better look.

How Low Can You Go?

How far you can zoom in for a particular location depends on a number of factors, such as:

• If for some reason the location is purposely set in Google to prevent you from zooming too close. This situation occurs for war zones, sensitive security areas, and other locations where a government entity approaches Google on this topic.
• If someone involved with the location has paid to have additional images taken with special flights or some other method, allowing you to zoom in further and see more detail.
• If someone has built a 3-D model of any part of the location, allowing you to explore it.
• If the Google Street View van has been through the area.

Is There Real Practical Use?

A friend recently told me that she was working on a story and wanted to be sure how a particular downtown Vancouver location was laid out. She could have driven up from Seattle, or begged me to drive down to Vancouver and check, but instead she decided to try out Google Earth. Since her interest involved a major city her chances were pretty good that she'd find what she needed, and lo and behold, she was able to confirm exactly what she needed to, saving both of us gas and time (not to mention begging and negotiating).

While you're not seeing a live video feed of a location, there is also the option of going back in time. Each time an image of an area is updated, the older images are preserved and remain accessible. Just activate the timeline feature and drag the slider. If there aren't any older pictures available, then the image won't change.

For Some Real Fun

You can also use Google Earth to explore the oceans, the sky (the constellations, for example), the Moon, and Mars.

Next time I'll take you on a bit of a tour of using Google Earth.

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DEE-ANN: Why did you choose to use your own name or start your own business to work under?

KAARIN MOORE: I currently do two types of work:

  a) I own Closet Caucus, a wardrobe consulting business in DC.

  b) I do multiple freelance projects outside of my primary business, including PR, resume writing, and internal communication assessments for nonprofit organizations. The road that led to this work was winding, but my past personal and professional experience built on itself and progressed to these arenas.

At the time I decided to become a freelancer I was doing communications work at a museum in DC. Internally I felt as if my time there was winding down. I yearned for a new challenge and to try something on my own.

My initial thought was to start two businesses: Closet Caucus and a catchall for my freelance communications work called Moore Inspired. From the beginning I knew that one business would move to the forefront and the other would fall away. My vision was still being defined as I quit my job and gave freelancing a try. The past two years have been about building a foundation, clearly defining goals, and building processes and systems. Closet Caucus turned out to be much more than I ever anticipated at the outset, and thus has become my primary focus.

Ultimately I feel as though my work will always be about communication. Thus, I’m turning a corner and going after / accepting new writing projects that support my Closet Caucus brand. For example, I just signed on to become a fashion columnist with Shoestring Magazine called "Practically Posh."

DEE-ANN: What type of freelance work do you do?

KAARIN MOORE: For Closet Caucus I work with individuals to help match who they are internally with what they express externally. I offer a number of services including wardrobe editing, style workshops, and a new service called “From Breakup to Bombshell” which helps men and women work through the transitional time after a relationship ends.

Although this work seems vastly different from my past experience, it all comes back to communication. Closet Caucus focuses on expression and clarity of message through the medium of clothing.

DEE-ANN: Freelancers tend to work from home, which means we can lose track of little things like wardrobe and style if we aren't careful. What advice do you have for the freelancer who wants to put on a professional face when going out into the world? Going to a face-to-face meeting in sweats and bunny slippers I hear isn't advisable.

KAARIN MOORE: If you are a freelancer you are your brand. Walking into a meeting you are your entire company, and your choices represent your work. That means dressing up for business meetings. It means minding the details.

Also, it is a myth that dressing up is uncomfortable. There are many options out there. Even if you work at your computer 90% of the time clothes can be both comfortable and polished. It doesn’t mean spending lots of cash, but it does mean keeping a conscious eye on the fact that you embody your brand.

DEE-ANN: What would you say are the similarities between wardrobe editing and prose editing? What similar issues crop up?

KAARIN MOORE: In both mediums the clutter needs to be taken out so the message isn’t muddled. Writers feel deep attachment to the words they write. In the same way, people have deep connections to clothing. Both types of editing can be an emotional experience, because it is truly about letting go. At the end of both processes, when something has been expertly edited, there is freedom in the end product.

DEE-ANN: How can freelancers express the style of their work through the style of their dress and appearance?

KAARIN MOORE: I believe that clothing can exaggerate a feeling. For example, wearing something that makes you feel sexy can push you to be cheekier or more confident. Since many freelancers work from home and don’t see their clients it can be easy to get into a pattern of wearing things that are sloppy / frumpy. Clothing can be about play – it can be about pushing a particular part of your personality to the forefront.

DEE-ANN: When would the "From Breakup to Bombshell" treatment be a good idea for a freelancer's writing style?

KAARIN MOORE: Perhaps the Breakup to Bombshell concept can be applied to particular client situations. Sometimes freelancers just have to breakup with a client. But, that “breakup” can be very difficult, especially for freelancers who feel pride in delivering the best product possible. But, terminating a client relationship isn’t necessarily a reflection on talent / ability. Sometimes partnerships just aren’t a good fit. The only thing you can do is remain confident in who you are, pick yourself up, and push onward. 

DEE-ANN: How long have you been freelancing?

KAARIN MOORE: Almost 2 years.

DEE-ANN: Full time or part time?

KAARIN MOORE: Full time.

DEE-ANN: Can you describe a typical, or at least recent, project for us?

KAARIN MOORE: I recently spoke at a networking group called 40+ of Greater Washington. Branching out to speaking engagements is a whole new area personally and professionally. I would much rather work with people one on one in order to affect change. Public speaking has been baptism by fire, and has pushed me to grow.

DEE-ANN: What have you found resonates the most with your audience?

KAARIN MOORE: Being real. Being vulnerable. Telling stories that have deep roots about who we are as people and the insecurities we have with our bodies. It’s terribly frightening to talk about, but going to that place is something that everyone has experienced in some form.

DEE-ANN: How did you get into public speaking?

KAARIN MOORE: Growing up I did a lot of theater, which gave me a background for being in front of an audience. But, I must say that speaking on behalf of your own company is vastly different than acting in character in front of a large audience. Give me a play any day of the week. But public speaking? I’m still in the stage of trying not to pass out before getting behind a podium.

 DEE-ANN: What is the most important piece of advice you could give to someone starting out or transitioning into your specialty?

KAARIN MOORE: Find mentors! Surrounding yourself with savvy people will help spawn growth. Freelancing / starting a business can be a solitary road, but trustworthy advisors are worth their weight in gold. I wish someone had told me at the start of my journey to seek out different types of confidants. It has taken awhile, but I have finally found a group of people who I consider to be part of my team. I strongly recommend that new freelancers seek out these types of mentors:

a)    An IT advisor. It didn’t occur to me that I needed an IT advisor until I started having problems with my computer. My friend, Navin Vembar, is brilliant in many aspects of technology and is insightful regarding the latest technological trends. He helps me decipher what technical things could be beneficial to my business and what I should not invest time / energy into.

DEE-ANN: What one IT insight would you say has made the biggest difference in your business?

KAARIN MOORE: Creating and implementing a strategic social media plan. Twitter made my business that first year. I didn’t have any money to advertise, but I did put time into thinking through ways of building an audience.

 b)    Someone successful within your field. Kristen King is my business go-to gal. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the ethical way she conducts her company. Thus, I turn to her for advice on how to handle difficult clients, questions on billing, and topics that require both thoughtfulness and moxie.

DEE-ANN: What one piece of advice really turned on the light bulb for you on how to handle a difficult situation?

KAARIN MOORE: Kristen has a very solid sense of justice, which is an amazing personality trait. It’s something that I call “pink furry” – the ability to be kind and at the same time stand your ground. Freelancers can be placed in very vulnerable situations at times, especially when it comes to money. Sometimes clients try to get out of promises regarding payment and benefits. I witnessed a client try to pull something over on Kristen and she wasn’t taking any of it.  She stood firm, and didn’t resort to being nasty / critical / angry with the wrong people. A classy move from a classy lady. Totally inspired me. 

 c)    A mentor who knows you from a past job. Shari Werb is my former boss and a valuable resource. She knows how I work, thus is aware of my strengths and weaknesses. She is outside of my industry, which is incredibly important in order to get a broader view of my professional objectives. Shari is also a member of my target demographic so I can go to her and say, “Would this service be interesting to you? What do you think of this idea? This language?” and know that her voice represents many of my clients.

DEE-ANN: What's one area where Shari's understanding of you really made a difference?

KAARIN MOORE: A couple of months ago we were having dinner and Shari said, “What you are doing is answering a question. You are testing a hypothesis.” She went on to say that my curiosity about the connection between communication, clothes, and body image was something that I wanted to study, and that it would take me to interesting places. Her comments were salve to a place internally where I was still wrestling between the pull of two seemingly different worlds – fashion and communication. She is a person who can speak to a very quiet part of me, and thus has the ability to completely reframe things. 

 d)    An advisor who loves you, is a cheerleader, and asks, “Are you sure?” My sister, Carey Moore, has a head for business and the rare gift to see three steps ahead. She can also say things to me that many others cannot – i.e. give me a reality check that is completely founded in love and compassion. I recently went to her with an idea and said, “What do you think?” She liked where I was going, but pointed out that I currently don’t have the infrastructure to support my idea. I still will pursue my initial plan, but will go about it in another form when the timing is correct. Carey’s honesty and ability to see problems within my structure has saved me money, aggravation, and hours of work on half-baked ideas.

DEE-ANN: How did you pull together your group of mentors? Any tips?

KAARIN MOORE: I just keep an eye out for people who are on fire. People who speak their truth and are passionate. I have never asked someone, “Hey, would you like to be my mentor?” I don’t think it works like that. Instead, I just ask someone out for a cup of coffee and ask lots of questions. Usually people are open to talking about their opinions. 

DEE-ANN: What’s your favorite part of your work?

KAARIN MOORE: Closet Caucus is deeply fulfilling. The most exciting part of my job is observing as a client’s framework about his/her own beauty shifts. Watching others go from, “I feel frumpy and unattractive,” to, “I’m sexy and feel ready for anything,” in 48 hours is a high unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

DEE-ANN: Do you find you learn anything about yourself in the process?

KAARIN MOORE: It’s amazing how people’s insecurities tend to be more alike than different. I never realized how many people feel so alone in their struggles. And for what reason? If people are feeling similar fears why aren’t they discussed? It’s pushed me to become more open and helped me realize that we are more deeply intertwined than we can possibly understand. 

DEE-ANN: What would you rather farm off on someone else?

KAARIN MOORE: All of the nitty gritty work involving money. Invoicing, processing, and keeping up financially with various clients / accounts can be quite tedious.

DEE-ANN: Do you use an accountant?

KAARIN MOORE: Oh yes! My accountant is amazing. I really can’t say enough about her – she is kind, honest, spunky, and intelligent. Would recommend her services to anyone, especially freelancers:

Donna Barwick, CPA
Andrews, Barwick, & Lee
280 Charles Dimmock Parkway, #1
Colonial Heights, VA 23834
804-520-1384

DEE-ANN: As a very, very general rule, do you find wardrobe or writing clients to be easier or more difficult to work with?

KAARIN MOORE: Working with wardrobe clients takes more out of me emotionally. I do a lot of listening about a client’s life, and it’s an honor to be entrusted with that information. But, I come home from Closet Caucus appointments completely spent. It is a good kind of exhaustion, but it is still exhaustion. I’m learning about how to have empathy while keeping healthy emotional boundaries. 

DEE-ANN: Anything else you’d like to share with Freelance Survivors?

KAARIN MOORE: Don’t expect everyone to understand your vision. When I decided to become a freelancer I assumed everyone would be thrilled and want me to succeed. It surprised me when some friends were not supportive. It took awhile to realize that it was okay if other people didn’t understand where I was going and why. Regardless of if I succeed or crash and burn I know that a) I’m giving it a real shot and b) it’s an amazing adventure.

The decision to live your dream is powerful. It pushes buttons within people in ways that are unexpected. Both support and resentment will come from unlikely sources. Your main job is to keep pushing toward the dream that is within you. Listen and weigh other people’s concerns and anxieties, but make sure that you take advice from those who deeply care about you and want the best for your life. Then fight like hell to make your vision a reality.

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Related Entries:

• Guest Article: How to Stop Thinking Like a Hobbyist and Start Thinking Like a Professional
• Interview with a Freelancer: April Michelle Davis, Editor, Indexer, and Writer
• Choosing Where to Advertise
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ed Tittel, Writer and More
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ev Bishop, Writer and Editor
• Finding Sources
• Master Books List
• Syndicated on YouWordMe.com
• Organizing Materials and Research
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Writer and Editor

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• Are You Ready for the Pushbutton Web? 
• Alert: What's Coming for Open Source CMS in September 2009
• Drupal Gardens Screencast of Theme Builder and Export Tools
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Related Entries:

• August Articles
• My articles for the rest of July
• My articles the weeks of June 22 and June 29
• My articles for the week of June 15 2009
• Master Courses Developed List
• My articles for the weeks of June 1 and June 8
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DEE-ANN: Why did you choose to use your own name or start your own business to work under?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: My business name is Editorial Inspirations, and it is an LLC. I chose to create a business because I thought it would look more professional. It shows that I am serious about what I do and that I am not going anywhere, making me more reliable. Also, I chose to become an LLC to protect my family in the event that I ever get sued.

DEE-ANN: What was involved in setting up your LLC?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: Setting up an LLC is pretty easy, at least in Virginia. It is done through the state, so the process would be different in each state. In Virginia, I had to complete a one-page form and call to verify that my chosen business name had not already been taken. There is an annual fee of $50, and that's it!

DEE-ANN: What type of freelance work do you do?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: I represent myself as a freelance editor, indexer, and writer. I have several certifications in editing, and that is what I first began doing in 2001. I have performed a variety of types of editing, such as line edit and developmental edit. Since then, I began writing and even won two Writers Digest Awards. I have also taken classes in indexing. I have worked on books, magazines, and other publications in areas such as carpentry, engineering, law, self-help, memoir, dissertations, biography, children's, and fiction.

DEE-ANN: What types of certifications, and what was involved in earning them? Do you find that they make it easier to land work?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: I first obtained a certificate in editing and then one on book publishing from the University of Virginia. Each of these certificates required about 10 classes, but some of the classes overlapped. I was also working on a certificate in electronic publishing when UVA quit offering the program. I then went to EEI Communications and obtained a certificate in professional editing. This program required 11 classes in various types of editing and grammar. In this program, I had to take three elective classes, and I chose to take two in indexing.

These classes peaked my interest, and I would later pursue more education in indexing. These helped me get my first full-time position as an assistant editor for a magazine. In 2006, I began a master's degree in publishing at George Washington University. This program lasted two years, and its professors were professionals in the field, so they had a lot of relevant  experience.

DEE-ANN: For those who aren't familiar with the terms, what is the difference between line editing and developmental editing?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: Developmental editing is performed when the book is still being created. An editor works with the author to create a book and include all of the pertinent information. The editor also helps to rearrange the material in a logical order. A line editor comes in after this and corrects grammar, punctuation, and also makes sure that the developmental aspects of the book are in order.

DEE-ANN: What did you win the awards for?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: The contest involved writing a single sentence for the opening line of a story based on a picture given.

• Writer's Digest Your Opening Line Contest - Honorable Mention (December 2006)
• Writer's Digest Your Opening Line Contest - Honorable Mention (September 2006)

DEE-ANN: What's involved in building a good index?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: There is a lot to know to write a good index. I have been indexing for several years. I have taken two courses: USDA Graduate School's Basic Indexing and UCLA - Berkeley's Indexing Theory and Practice. And I still feel like there is so much to learn about indexing. Many people never even think about where an index comes from, but it is a very complex process that must be completed in a short about of time.

DEE-ANN: How long have you been freelancing?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: I have been freelancing since 2001.

DEE-ANN: Full time or part time?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: I began freelancing part time while holding down a full time job as an editor of a magazine. In 2007, I graduated from grad school with a degree in publishing and decided to freelance full time.

DEE-ANN: How do you feel that your graduate degree helps you in your freelancing?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: A prerequisite for the graduate program was to already have a job in the publishing field. And the entire program was completed with the same students in each class, so a lot of networking and friendships grew out of the two-year program. The program helped me to visualize the entire publishing process, see what other people in the process do, and see where I fit in it.

DEE-ANN: Would you recommend that freelancers take courses in publishing? If so, what kinds?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: Definitely! Courses help to keep skills updated and fresh and to practice those skills that are not used very often. Even if courses do not help land a job, they can help freelancers keep jobs by making clients happy with the skills that have been refreshed.

DEE-ANN: Can you describe a typical, or at least recent, project for us?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: Because I offer a variety of services, many of my projects are very different from one another. One project I have been working on is a memoir for a man who was born in Croix des Bouquets. I have been working with the author to smooth his broken English and make the story flow. Another recent project was editing and then indexing the history of a town in Minnesota.

DEE-ANN: Are there any special challenges in working with someone whose first language isn't English? 

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: One major challenge of working with ESL authors is to figure out what they are trying to say. Once that has been accomplished the editor has to rewrite the text so it is understandable to the general reader, but also sounds like the ESL author wrote it. Keeping the author's tone can be tricky while maintaining the clarity of the manuscript.

DEE-ANN: About how much of your time do you spend on the business side, and how much on creating?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: In general, I probably spend about 10% on the business side. I usually try to work on the business side, such as creating new projects in my database that was created just for me or creating invoices as they come along, rather than letting them pile up.

DEE-ANN: Could you describe your database? What program is it in? How do you use it?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: The database my husband created is awesome! It is in Microsoft Access. When I receive a project, I enter in the title of the project, select the client it came from, and insert the date received. When the project is completed, I insert the services performed, the date of completion, and the date I am sending out the invoice. When I receive payment, I insert that date, and I also insert the date the payment is deposited. All of that occurs in just one table. From that table, I can see reports of pending projects and projects completed from any given year. I also have a table in Access for creating estimates on projects, all of my client contact information, my expenses, and my car expenses. At the end of the year, I simply print out the reports for taxes.

DEE-ANN: What is the most important piece of advice you could give to someone starting out or transitioning into your specialty?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: Network and never give up. It was really hard for me to get my first break in the field, but once I did each new client was a little easier to obtain. I got my first break from meeting someone and then periodically touching base until he finally gave in and gave me a project. His company has been a client of mine since 2002.

DEE-ANN: What’s your favorite part of your work?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: I love the flexibility and the lack of office politics. I was never very good with the office politics because I am too independent. I really enjoy the flexibility because I can work really hard one day and take the next day off if there is something going on that I would like to participate in. Now that I have a son, I love that I can take him to the library for story time on Wednesday mornings. Though some people think I have the life because I work from home, I find it difficult to separate work and home life. When I have down time, I seem to gravitate to my computer and work on my current project or begin reading emails.

DEE-ANN: Do you have any work/life balance tips you'd like to share?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: Balancing work and life can be hard, especially when I have a laptop and can read my emails in bed, in the living room, in the kitchen, everywhere. To help me balance my time, I have a lot of rules for my email accounts, and I prioritize the various folders. When I have a lot of work, I only read from two of the folders and let the others pile up.

Though I freelance full time, I also have a young son who stays home with me. I work when he sleeps. Therefore, I am extremely busy, but I am forced to stop working and to be with him when he is awake. In the beginning, I felt like I was waiting for each nap so I could do more work. I had to change my mindset and learn to enjoy the time I got to be with him, but also to enjoy his naps so that I could feel like I have accomplished something.

To help with the balance, my husband and I give each other one night a week to do whatever we please. Sometimes I catch up on work or emails or go grocery shopping. Though they are not what I would want to necessarily do on a night out, I get to choose what to do and getting chores done does make me feel like I have accomplished something and make my days less stressful, so I can enjoy being with my son and playing with him even more.

DEE-ANN: What would you rather farm off on someone else?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: Nothing! If I am willing to take a project, I want to do the work. If I had to pick something, I would like to have an intern to work on my website and internet advertising.

DEE-ANN: Anything else you’d like to share with Freelance Survivors?

APRIL MICHELLE DAVIS: Being a freelancer has been my dream since undergraduate college. With a lot of hard work and determination, I was finally able to achieve it, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

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Open Source Is Not Just a Marketing Term

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Note: I don't want to quibble over the semantics of what advertising is. Assume that in this case I mean paying to be listed or have an ad displayed somewhere. 

There are a number of reasons you might choose to advertise your services. Here's just a few:

• You need more work (a big one, of course)
• You want to become more recognizable as a brand/name
• You feel your customer base is too small and want to ensure that it's more spread out, so if you lose one customer you won't be in a world of hurt

If you feel that you do need to advertise, then the first question you need to answer is: To whom? Who are you trying to reach? Try to be as specific as possible, down to individuals is best rather than just a type of company or organization.

You might get started with something simple like this:

"Companies that can use my expertise."

"Companies that need fresh advertising copy."

"Organizations that need new online help materials written."

Now to target them better. Who in those companies and organizations are you trying to reach? Who handles the ad copy? Probably someone in marketing. So maybe a better one there is:

"Marketing executives in companies that need fresh advertising copy."

If you specialize in a particular sub-market (in the case of this example, perhaps you specialize in restaurants and caterers, the food service industry) then you can narrow this further:

"Marketing executives in food service industry companies that need fresh advertising copy."

Mind you, in this particular example, many catering services and restaurants may be small organizations where people wear many hats. There may not be someone there who only does marketing. That said, you're the one who knows your client base. The key here is that you know (in this example) that you're looking for the person who wears the marketing hat, or who at least is partly responsible for those duties.

Now you have to ask yourself what these people read and watch, and where they go:

• Are there key industry organizations or publications?
  
• Is there a key conference or other event that they attend? Are there local places they hang out?
  
• Popular web resources? 

Identify the top five or ten places you'd love to advertise in, ignoring the price at first. Once you have your list, then find out the options available and how much each costs. Don't start to panic if some are expensive. Just make your notes. Be sure to jot down what you feel the benefits are of advertising with each of these places. Rate it on a scale of 1 - 5 or 1 - 10 of most desirable to least. 

Then when you feel that you've identified the top options, go back through the list and pay attention to the costs. It's likely that some will be far out of your reach for paid ads. Make notes for each of these with something like "Can't afford." However, others may not involve high end publications with expensive ad rates. If you're on the fence over whether you can afford it, put a "Maybe," and if you think you can manage that much money, put "Affordable."

Are you lucky enough that you have items that are both "Most Desirable" and "Affordable?" It's certainly possible. The best advertising opportunities are not always in big, flashy magazines or popular television shows. Maybe there's a key local food events newsletter that you know many of your target market reads so they know if they should make sure their organization is a part of the event. If the newsletter sells ads they might be quite affordable.

If there are any intersections of "Least Desirable" and "Can't afford" then put an X or other mark beside those items. Of course if it's on your list, it's still a place you're interested in advertising with, but be sure to put your money where you can get the best bang for your buck. Generally that spot will fall somewhere in the "Pretty Desirable" and "Affordable" or "Maybe" range.

For those times where either you have no advertising budget or a tiny one that won't support any of these options, consider other ways to be seen in your top opportunity list. Can you write an article for the publication or the professional organization's newsletter? Attend the related events and advertise yourself the networking way? Be creative. The same goes for if you really want to get into those "Most Desirable" spots but absolutely can't afford them.

A little creativity can go a long way. 

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DEE-ANN: Why did you choose to use your own name or start your own business to work under?

ED TITTEL: Using my own name--or at least an abbreviated version (I go by Ed Tittel rather than my full legal name of "Edward Richard Tittel")--seemed to be the best way to build a recognizable identity as a freelance writer/author. Seems to have worked so far!

DEE-ANN: What type of freelance work do you do?

ED TITTEL:

• Short answer: "Whatever pays!"
• Longer answer: Books (mostly revisions these days, not many new book deals out there for me lately), Web articles, online training, online course development, white papers, technical editing, and occasional outright consulting work (expert witness work, mostly). 

DEE-ANN: Out of all of these, which would you say are your favorite?

ED TITTEL: Although I still enjoy working on books, my favorite kind of work remains those Web articles that involve hardware reviews or information security topics.

DEE-ANN: Which of these types of projects would you say is the most difficult?

ED TITTEL: Anything that involves building PCs and/or executing lengthy test or benchmarking drills are not so much difficult as they are incredibly time-consuming. I always have to keep an eye on the ratio of "hours worked" to "dollars earned," which helps me stay focused on my return on time invested which is my most important and valuable resource.

DEE-ANN: Do you tend to focus most of this work around a single theme?

ED TITTEL: Not really. Rather, it clusters around a set of themes that include PC hardware, networking, information security and markup languages. Occasionally I'll get projects that let me combine two, or very rarely, three of these areas.

DEE-ANN: How long have you been freelancing?

ED TITTEL: I wrote my first free-lance article in 1986, but didn't become a full-time freelancer until May, 1994. Since 1994, I've had two stints of full-time employment: for about 6 months in 1997-98 at Tivoli Systems/IBM, and for about 7 months at NetQoS in 2006. 

DEE-ANN: What did you end up doing in your full-time positions?

ED TITTEL:

• Tivoli: Job Title "Technical Evangelist" where responsibilities involved educating large customers about a specific family of network management products.
• NetQos: started out as Director of Training in which position I helped to develop a training curriculum and outlined a certification program; ended up as a Senior Technical Researcher, in which position I worked on an in-depth TCP/IP performance analysis project.

DEE-ANN: Can you describe a typical, or at least recent, project for us?

ED TITTEL: This weekend, I finished first draft submission of a 9-chapter chunk on a revision of a book about Windows, to be entitled "Windows 7 in Depth" for Que/Pearson, under the lead authorship of Bob Cowart and Brian Knittel. My topics included a general Windows introduction, disk management, troubleshooting, installing and upgrading, keeping Windows up to date, installing and replacing hardware, and protecting Windows from Viruses and Spyware. It was a very compressed time schedule--about three weeks in all--but a great opportunity to dig into the new Windows while getting paid for the work. 

DEE-ANN: Is that one method you use to choose your projects? An excuse to experiment with something while being paid for it?

ED TITTEL: Yes absolutely.

DEE-ANN: About how much of your time do you spend on the business side, and how much on creating?

ED TITTEL: 75% on writing, editing, or otherwise creating content / 25% on new business development, asking current vendors for more work, concept development & outlining, and chasing money. 

DEE-ANN: How often are you provided a concept to develop, and how often do you approach someone with a concept?

ED TITTEL: These days, it's about 50-50, but that may be because I'm no longer aggressively pursuing book contracts (where one will normally create the concept 80% or more of the time a proposal gets written).

DEE-ANN: What are some tips you might offer for concept development?

ED TITTEL:

1. Choose a topic that interests you, because you're going to have to spend a lot of time at it if it sells.
2. Do your market research thoroughly and dispassionately: just because a topic interests you doesn't mean others want to learn about it, too.
3. It's good to get in on a market or trend early, but even better to provide the best coverage and information about the topics involved. First books generally do well; "Best" books generally do even better, as long as
   they're not too far behind the rest of the pack.

DEE-ANN: What is the most important piece of advice you could give to someone starting out or transitioning into your specialty?

ED TITTEL: Start out with at least a 90-day supply of cash (120 days is better) so you can give your pipeline time to fill up before you have to start chasing payments. Otherwise you'll waste too much time running around after money, and not enough time doing productive work. 

DEE-ANN: What’s your favorite part of your work?

ED TITTEL: I enjoy doing research, especially messing around with hardware: building and troubleshooting systems, customizing systems, and figuring out how to make things work, or work better. 

DEE-ANN: What was one of your interesting projects?

ED TITTEL: Ironically, it was a project that never came to fruition. Gigabyte developed an astounding hi-def audio card for HDMI that takes the HDMI video stream from a high-end graphics card as input, and interpolates HDMIT audio into that stream in real-time. This involved solving several incredibly thorny technical issues, and had to be tempered with input from thousands of technical forum posts from early adopters who functioned as an extended beta test team for the card. The issues involved were quite complex, and it was just fascinating to see how early adopters developed solutions and workarounds through sheer dint of trial-and-error effort. I've considered trying to sell this story as a modern-day technology chronicle in the spirit of Tracy Kidder's famous book "The Soul of a New Machine."

DEE-ANN: What would you rather farm off on someone else?

ED TITTEL: I've often employed help to do more mundane and routine business upkeep: filing paperwork, contacting vendors to track or request payment, find co-authors or project staff, and do other project management duties. Fortunately, I'm lucky enough to have worked with and remain associated with some very talented project management professionals who remain ready, able, and willing to help me out with such things. 

DEE-ANN: What should people look for in a good project manager?

ED TITTEL: At least three qualities:

1. Good people skills, especially in communicating goals and feedback to content creators, and in obtaining information and feedback from customers or publishers.
2. A keen attention to detail and quality control.
3. Strong organizational skills, especially in creating and managing schedules/deadlines.

DEE-ANN: Anything else you’d like to share with Freelance Survivors?

ED TITTEL: Given recent economic conditions, I've recently weathered the first major downturn in income I've experienced since going full-time freelance in the mid-1990s. In retrospect, I realize now I probably didn't react quickly enough to cutbacks from long-time customers by immediately going out to aggressively solicit more work once the income stream started falling off.

As a consequence, I dipped down in workflow below where I wanted to be from November 2008 through January 2009. Right now (May 2009) I'm actually busier than I like to be, but have decided to work 7 days a week for a while to try to make up for the income losses in the preceding slack period. All of this points to the importance of projecting cash flow, and monitoring levels to make sure you go out to solicit more work at the first sign of a drop-off. Had I done that, my down period wouldn't have lasted so long, and I wouldn't be over-worked right now.

DEE-ANN: Do you have any tips for keeping the cash flow steady without burning yourself out?

ED TITTEL: Several hard-won "lessons recently learned" include:

1. Always keep looking for more work and new customers (set at least 10%-20% of your time aside for marketing and customer development/recruiting).
2. Try to avoid putting too many of your eggs into any single basket: I always try to maintain at least 4-5 active customers at any given time.
3. Whenever you get a reasonable chance, ask existing customers about new work (it's a delicate balancing act to stay between "irritating pest" and "incommunicative supplier/vendor" but it's a vital balance to find and maintain).

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What do all of these projects have in common? Not only can they be complex, but more importantly, all of these projects can involve an organization's image. Any time you come anywhere near image, you run into the situation that many different people within the organization (the head, the second in command, the marketing people, the lead designer, and more) all want input. And in fact they often should have input. Just not at the expense of the project.

Without the right approach you can get caught in the middle of internal politics and tugs of war. These types of fun can lead to infinite and confusing change requests from many people all at once. If you quoted them a per-project rate, you'll end up making far less per hour than you had expected. Even if you're being paid by the hour, you'll end up miserable because you can't get the project done and the client will probably complain about the bill.

So how do you avoid this? Insist on a single point of contact. This will be the person inside the organization that acts as your interface or buffer zone to everyone else. This insider can handle much of the internal push and pull, whether by mediating a lot of the issues behind the scenes, or pulling together meetings where you can find out more about what the problems are and how you can address them.

Essentially, you make the client provide their own internal wrangler. Along with that, also define who has to sign off at what milestones, and keep those numbers down to a minimum. Ideally, it's the single point of contact that signs off on things as well. Even if internally that means they have to get five people at the company to sign off first before they can do so.

Along with this tactic, also set a specific number of drafts that are included in the quote. One or two is typical. From there, additional changes cost extra.

Doing all of this might feel a bit like micromanaging and being draconian, but really it's just being professional. I'm a big fan of setting expectations up front. When everyone knows how it's going to work, then things go a lot more smoothly. You'll end up much happier, and your clients will too.

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DEE-ANN: Why did you choose to use your own name or start your own business to work under?

EV BISHOP: Well, a business license is cheaper when the business name contains the owner’s name. Seriously. However, I had another reason to use “Ev’s” besides my innate cheapness. My business developed almost unintentionally. I was writing a lot and starting to sell pieces, and eventually people started calling and asking me to take on writing/editing jobs.

When I realized that I could probably make a successful business out of these unsolicited phone calls, I didn’t want to lose the benefit of word-of-mouth/personal connection. I also didn’t want it to look like there was some other business in town competing with me. ☺

DEE-ANN: What types of projects/clients led to the unsolicited phone calls?

EV BISHOP: Two things particularly helped put me in people's minds as a writer to call:

1. In 1999, I landed a columnist position in the Community section of The Terrace Standard. Going on eleven years later, I'm still writing a monthly, and I still have people who call me because they read the latest one. 
2. Right around the same time I was hired on as a freelance columnist, I joined The Terrace Writers' Guild (TWG). Meeting regularly with other writers from a variety of backgrounds with hugely divergent writing experiences and goals was (and continues to be) incredibly inspiring and motivating. It was also (and again, continues to be) a great way to meet people who want  editing work done or know people who do.
   

DEE-ANN: What kind of clientele were they bringing in?

EV BISHOP: Terrace is a small town and word-of-mouth is a powerful force up here (in the whole region actually), but I expect that that's true most places you go. My column led to businesses calling me to do write ups to celebrate historic milestones (thirty years in business, for example) and things like retirement articles for company newsletters. The more of that type of work I did, the more people heard that I did that kind of work, and well, it was the snowball effect, I guess.

My "big break" into editing was meeting Angela Dorsey, a fantastic storyteller and YA writer, at TWG. She was trying to sell her first novel and at the point we met, it had been out to about 80 publishers and been turned down every time--usually with positive notes about what was working in the story. Her last rejection was almost a page long and elaborated on what (the publishers felt) didn't work. She was frustrated and I volunteered to read the book and see if I could figure out what they meant and how it could be remedied. She was happy to let me. I read and noted places I felt the rejection spoke to correctly (and how to perhaps "fix" the problem) and where I thought it was just personal taste. She rewrote with my suggestions in mind and landed an agent and book deal on the first new submission of the fresh story.

It was just luck for me that the novel sold after I edited it--Angela's work would've sold eventually anyway, because like I said, she's a great storyteller and a conscientious writer who would've, once the initial ouch factor faded, used the rejection to make her story stronger. But luck on my part or not, we do work well together. I love her writing and feel fortunate to still be the one who goes over each of her books before she submits them to her agent.

DEE-ANN: What type of freelance work do you do?

EV BISHOP: A lot of the magazine articles I sell relate to my personal interests, but as a writer/editor for hire, I’ll assist with reports, web copy, promotional materials, academic papers (editing only), newsletters, proofreading, structural and stylistic editing, storyline editing—you name it. Almost every project I take on is different, and I enjoy that.

DEE-ANN: How often do you get asked to write papers entirely for people?

EV BISHOP: Not as often as you might be afraid of! And when I have been, it was couched as a joke and very easy to dismiss (with a  short lecture/rant about the value and importance of intellectual integrity and work ethic! :)

DEE-ANN: How long have you been freelancing?

EV BISHOP: Almost ten years.

DEE-ANN: Full time or part time?

EV BISHOP: Full time as of January 2008. 

DEE-ANN: Can you describe a typical, or at least recent, project for us?

EV BISHOP: I don’t really have a typical project, a fact that keeps things interesting (although the learning curve can be a tad brutal at times!). Editing-wise, I tend to attract YA novelists (including Angela Dorsey) and post-graduate students. Recent big projects involved rewriting a business textbook and developing Sex-Ed curriculum.

DEE-ANN: What are the particular challenges in editing YA?

EV BISHOP: I think that the only real challenge is the same challenge that exists in editing any work: making sure that the suggestions you make, fit with and stay true to the writer who's telling the story. Thankfully, once upon a time, I had someone critique my work, beginning with the words, "If this was my story, I'd . . . " and all I could think was, It's NOT your story.

So yes, there's my editing mantra: It's not my story.  It's the author's. I strive to make all my comments or suggestions in that light--always stressing that they should disregard ideas that don't fit with their vision.

DEE-ANN: How did you get into editing for post-grad students?

EV BISHOP: Again, word-of-mouth. One of my old profs recommended me to someone doing their PhD, whose thesis adviser had told to find an editor.

DEE-ANN: What are the particular challenges there?

EV BISHOP: The biggest challenge is the material.  In order to edit something well, you have to understand the concepts and theories being addressed. You also have to be careful not to overstep the editor/writer boundary and do the rewriting for the student. When I work with fiction writers or creative non-fiction writers, I often rewrite brief passages to show what I mean by a specific comment. With academic works, I generally stick to proofreading notes and explanations of what I perceive to be problematic--the writer has to interpret and apply those suggestions.

The Editors' Association of Canada (EAC) website provides a very helpful list of guidelines for editing theses.

DEE-ANN: How did you get into developing Sex-Ed curriculum?

EV BISHOP: You're probably tired of me saying, "word-of-mouth," but there you have it. I've taught at Centennial Christian School in the past and when I started my business, they were a great client: I've designed posters for them, written up their strategic plan, and done other smaller jobs. British Columbia (as do most provinces, I assume) has guidelines about what should be covered in all subject areas.  Sex Ed (usually called by other names, like Family Planning, Personal Health, etc.) is no exception. I wasn't re-inventing the wheel, just designing and organizing lesson plans to help meet described learning outcomes.

DEE-ANN: About how much of your time do you spend on the business side, and how much on creating?

EV BISHOP: You mean the business side isn’t the creative side? ;-)

DEE-ANN: What is the most important piece of advice you could give to someone starting out or transitioning into your specialty?

EV BISHOP: Ask a good wage and don’t underestimate the time a job will take. The latter is always tricky, because projects have a way of changing scope as you work with a client.Make sure your contract allows for a certain amount of deadline grace, and if you’ve agreed on a set price based on estimated hours of work, have something in place in case the client’s vision for the project changes significantly and demands more time than the quote was based on.  

DEE-ANN: Do you have any tips for determining what and how to charge for a project?

EV BISHOP: It's tricky. I have a set per word rate for writing and a hourly rate for editing. I determined my rates in part by checking out different websites (PWAC offers great outlines), in part by talking to others in the business, and in part by figuring out how much I need/want to make per job, in order to have time to do a quality work every time.  I've read freelance success articles by writers who feel the secret to making a living is writing twenty or more shorts a day (often for Internet clients) for pennies that add up to dollars. I'm skeptical of that approach.

DEE-ANN: Do you have any time estimation tips?

EV BISHOP: I was always dead-wrong on my estimations, so now (it's so simple, I'm embarrassed it didn't occur to me years ago!) I ask to see the material and I work on it for a bit to get an idea of how long it will take, then I give a quote based on that.

DEE-ANN: How involved are the contracts you use? What's a typical length and number of clauses?

EV BISHOP: They vary too much to really give a helpful comment. For short pieces, I sometimes still just use an e-mail agreement. For bigger jobs, I always have a contract in place and I generally ask for 50% of my fee up front.

DEE-ANN: How did you develop your contracts?

EV BISHOP: Usually my clients are corporations or associations that have their own stock contracts, and I suggest any required modifications, then sign when the changes have been made.  In cases where I need to generate my own contract, I use the ones provided by EAC and PWAC. They're written in clear, concise language and easily modified.

DEE-ANN: What’s your favorite part of your work?

EV BISHOP: I find something to like about all of it. Editing is an intellectual challenge, and re-writing is like figuring out a puzzle—how do I best fit this other person’s words and thoughts into a cohesive (concise!) piece of writing? That said, I probably enjoy working with fiction writers best. It’s fun, and I derive a lot of satisfaction from helping other people pursue their creative goals. Despite the obvious importance of non-fiction writing, I feel like fiction is where the real truths are told and explored. Stories show us how to live, survive and thrive.

DEE-ANN: Do you write your own fiction?

EV BISHOP: Yes, and I'm slowly starting to put it "out there." I've short-listed in some bigger contests and have a short story, "My Mom is a Freak," published in Cleavage, an anthology editing by Deb Loughead and Jocelyn Shipley, published by Sumach Press. Sometime this summer, I will start submitting queries and partials for a mystery novel I just finished.

DEE-ANN: What have you learned about yourself and your writing from editing other people's work?

EV BISHOP: It's exciting (if a bit overwhelming, at times) to know that you never fully arrive. If you're up to the challenge and don't wimp out, you never have to stop learning, growing, and discovering new things.

DEE-ANN: Anything else you’d like to share with Freelance Survivors?

EV BISHOP: Just a small word to readers hoping to subsidize their fiction writing with freelance work: Make sure you slot in time for your novel or short stories, just the way you would schedule any job. It’s easy to have your time sucked into the vortex of the other people’s creations—wouldn’t it be horrible to write for a living and not have time to work on your own stuff?

[Editorial note: Excellent advice!]

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Related Entries:

• Guest Article: How to Stop Thinking Like a Hobbyist and Start Thinking Like a Professional
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I prefer to take the phrase a little differently: Write what you Know. Know, as in Truth, as in the greater Truths that bind us all together. Such a definition doesn't rely on knowledge of particular details. It's more an awareness of the human condition and universal laws than whether you actually know what it feels like to be shot. 

However, when you do write (or talk, or film, etc.) about something, you also have a duty to try to portray it accurately. Again, I don't mean this term literally. Don't punish people with your research and include every tiny step on how to build your own thatch hut unless you are actually documenting how to do this so other people can replicate the process (in which case, go for it, cover every teeny tiny step!) I'm also not a fan of such detailed accuracy that you make it easy for someone to perpetrate a nasty crime.

Instead, the goal is typically to portray the flavor and reality of the thing without letting the nitty gritty details overwhelm. I tend to want someone who's a genuine practitioner not to roll their eyes at the ignorant stupidity of what I've put out there, and at the same time don't want to completely lose someone who doesn't really care about every step in making a snow cave since what they're there for is the emotional experience of it. Add the usual caveats for adjusting for your audience, the genre, the goals of the piece, etc.

So how do you manage capturing the essence of something that you don't know how to do? Or what if you're just writing something more straightforward like a journalist piece where you need to make sure you understand how something works, or have someone to quote with some facts? You start by tracking down the elusive beast known as a source.

Many people find it very difficult to approach strangers for assistance, especially strangers who have knowledge that they may admire. Let me start by saying that for a variety of reasons, a source is as afraid of you as you are of them. For one thing, there is the unfortunate fact that if the source is well-known enough or their field is covered enough, they may have experienced or heard horror stories of other journalists misquoting, slanting, or just plain garbling what they had to say in a way that may have reflected poorly on the source themselves. 

You can't do anything about past problems they may have run into or heard about. What you can do is conduct yourself in a manner that is respectful and clueful, showing them that you understand their frustration and that you will do a far better job on their behalf. If you're writing/filming/etc fiction then you might offer to show them a draft and give feedback. A journalist may not have that luxury since often you don't want to show people the article before it goes out, or you may have influence/pressure placed on you to alter it to be more favorable to them, which is not the goal either. Recording the interview is one method of protecting both them and yourself in this regard. Interviewing through email if you're working in a written medium is another, as you can just copy and paste the text.

But before you interview a source you have to find them and get them to agree to talk to you. I tend to think of sources in two groups, neither "better" than the other. There's the people who are already out there and covered and well-known experts on the topic, and then there's people who are maybe in your community (local, online, etc.) and have their own deep experience but don't have source-seeking creatives beating on their doors. Both groups are valuable in their own ways.

Sometimes it's the less talked to, more accessible people who will give you the most colorful and interesting information. They haven't been questioned to death on the topic so they're less rehearsed, and typically have stories that you won't find elsewhere that you can use (with their permission) to add some extra life to what you're working on. Depending on their particular credentials, they may or may not help you reach a level of credibility you need in order for your work to succeed (in some fields you really need to have internationally-known Ph.D.'s and whatnot on your source roster) but they're also less likely to have a personal agenda in sharing with you, in my experience. They might just be tickled you asked.

Then there's the rock stars of various fields. If you've already been doing reading/viewing on the topic, just look back through the works and see who was interviewed or thanked for their assistance. Unless you're doing a high profile project, though, these folks are probably too pressed for time to give you input. It depends on the circumstances and your timing. Again, I'm not a huge fan of using the same source everyone else does unless there really is only one expert to go to. Discussion can stagnate if only one expert is ever consulted.

On that note, here's some final suggestions for tracking down sources that may have the time to answer your questions:

• Professional associations - Track down professional associations serving the field of interest. Do they offer discussion forums that are open to the public? If so, you might post there. If not, you can write the association, explain what you're looking for, and ask if they can suggest anyone. Such associations also offer a member listing on their web sites, and may publish magazines and/or journals you can look at both for research materials and for people you might want to contact.
  
• Serious hobbyist sites - There's occasional hobbyists and then there's people who live and breathe a topic. Depending on what you're working on, you may not need a credentialed or titled source. Even if you do, hobbyists will have professionals that they admire and can recommend. They may even be able to give you an introduction.

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Related Entries:

• Interview with a Freelancer: Kaarin Moore, Wardrobe Consultant and Freelance Writer
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Linux Migration Guide: Choosing a Linux Distribution to Replace Your Windows Desktop

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Mac OS memory flaws pose challenges for enterprise endpoint protection

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• September Articles
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This list is up to date as of 5 July 2009.

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StudioB author resource section    
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The Computer Paper (Canada-wide print publication)

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Getting Programs to Start at OS X Login
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Disabling Sleep Mode in OS X
Adding a Calendar to Your OS X Menu Bar
Sites to Follow for Discount OS X Software
How to Show the Date and Time on Your Mac's Task Bar
Changing What Program Opens A File By Default in OS X
Two OS X Apps Every Mac User Needs

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Distribution Smackdown: Fedora Core 5
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• My articles for the week of June 15 2009

I'm pleased to announce that Freelance Survivor articles are now being syndicated onto YouWordMe.com, a site that offers turn-key solutions for writer web sites. Essentially an account gets you access to a content management system that you can configure and add content to without having to set up a full web site. Higher level accounts also let you add a storefront to your site.

The articles will appear here first and then on YouWordMe, so from the reader's perspective, little really changes. But I'm pleased as punch! First syndication on one site. Next, all over the world (I can dream, right?)

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• Guest Article: How to Stop Thinking Like a Hobbyist and Start Thinking Like a Professional
• Interview with a Freelancer: Kaarin Moore, Wardrobe Consultant and Freelance Writer
• Interview with a Freelancer: April Michelle Davis, Editor, Indexer, and Writer
• Choosing Where to Advertise
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ed Tittel, Writer and More
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ev Bishop, Writer and Editor
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• Master Books List
• Organizing Materials and Research
• Interview with a Freelancer: Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, Writer and Editor

First, you have to look at whether the items you're trying to organize are digital or physical. I'm going to focus on digital here. In part, this means that I don't generally recommend printing out material unless you absolutely need to. Too often, people print out material that they really didn't need to, keep it for a few days, toss it in a pile, and then eventually just recycle or toss it out completely unused. Better to not print it out unless you absolutely need to. (If saying so makes me a tree hugger, I guess I should go outside and start hugging some trees.

Second, how complex is your project? For some tasks, tagging or adding labels to your email (whatever your particular email client supports) is all you need, allowing you to quickly find what you're looking for. You might also create folders for storing emails related to specific projects. If you use webmail then you might even be able to make a bookmark to the mail right inside your webmail or your browser.

The same goes for bookmarking important web pages. Make folders for your bookmarks for some basic organization. One method I used to use (and still use when I don't have any other options) is either emailing things to myself or asking people to email them to me so that they won't get forgotten or lost. I can then tag and file the mail as I need to. To find items later, you might check out Google Desktop if you don't like the search tools you already have.  

If you have a lot of printed materials, scan them in (or hire a student to do it for you, they could use the money and you can use the time doing things that will earn you more than you're paying them), and/or organize them with a product such as Levenger's Circa system of notebooks. For business cards, one clever solution is to lay them down in groups of four or so, take a digital photo of them, put and the file in a folder with notes on where and when you got the cards as part of the filename. You might also try storing your physical materials in a document storage box labeled with the projects it contains, and/or labeled manila envelopes.

When working on this blog post, I wrote some colleagues to ask how they organize their research. Since they all answered me through the email list, I was able to search my Inbox on the subject and view just their responses, and then move each piece of mail to a saved folder when I was done with it.

While this example might not sound much like organization, consider that putting things into order doesn't have to be a permanent thing. As long as it makes you able to find the information when you need it, it's organized, at least for the moment. In some cases, though, you need to be able to refer back to things later. When an editor asked me to clarify who had said something for an article, since I had put everything into a single folder in a single program, I was able to quickly search all of my interviews for that piece and tell him within just minutes. Before I started using this method, it might have taken me an hour to track down the information on my computer. 

Alas, a lot of projects aren't so straightforward with everything saved into text files dumped into a folder together. Where I started to get buried and seriously slowed down is when I have material from many different sources, meaning both many different people and in many different formats (say text files, email, PDFs, web pages, and images). I've found that for me, it's essential to get everything in one place so I don't have to flip between four different programs to find what I need, or I get bogged down and it takes me far longer than it should to collect my thoughts.

For this purpose, I use DEVONthink, an OS X program that lets me drag and drop in many different types of documents and organize them into project groups (If you're looking for Windows-specific software, check out Debrief or Treepad). Many swear by a Firefox add-on named Zotero for at least their online research needs, which I learned about when talking to colleagues about how they manage their research, and am considering switching to. I like that it's cross-platform, but first I need to try it out and see if it meets my needs as well as or better than DEVONthink does. With some of these tools you can drop in web pages as they appear right at that moment, which can be invaluable in making sure that you capture the information you needed--remember that materials on the web can change at any time.

Another popular solution is Evernote, which is a web-based service that offers free and paid options. Those who travel a lot and can't be sure they'll always have access to the same computer (or divide their work time between their smartphone and their computer) particularly like this option. You can also export an Evernote notebook to your computer, which to me is a must, as I want to be able to access my materials when I'm offline. In fact, you can sync the information across multiple machines/devices running multiple platforms. Add the Evernote browser plug-in and you can add information to this online tool even easier.

Don't have a digital way to take notes that you can carry around? Some people carry 3x5 cards for this purpose, and the more dedicated even print out a framework onto the cards that they can use as a guide to put down the information they specifically need (author, title, etc.) You can then either type in the information or scan it in. Extra points for doing an OCR scan so the computer gets the text without you having to type it.

Eventually you'll find that the information in one folder will pile up and become unwieldy. Organization is a process that's never entirely finished. When too much data piles up in one spot, split it into sub-folders/categories so that you can still quickly find things. And make smart use of search.

Organization might sound like a lot of work, but ultimately, keeping yourself organized at even a basic level pays you back in spades. You'll save tons of time when working on the project, when answering queries about it, and even later when you realize that you need to refer back for a new project to source materials from a year ago. Of course you'll also save yourself some stress and give yourself the gift of peace of mind as well. And what freelancer couldn't use a bit of both?

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