Deliberate Freelancer

I am really good at saying no. Today, I'm going to walk you through nine common scenarios freelance business owners experience and tell you how I say no to these questions and situations. Even if the language I use doesn't resonate with you, I hope it will get you thinking, encourage you to say no more often and help you figure out how to say no in your own words. "No" is a complete sentence. You'...

Today's guest is Madalena Sanchez Zampaulo. Madalena lives in Southern California and owns a boutique translation agency called Accessible Translation Solutions, which she opened in 2010. She continues to do freelance translation work as well, specializing in medicine and life sciences. Madalena shares her knowledge and years of research to help freelance translators and interpreters improve their...

This week is a short episode because I'm supposed to be on vacation. Tune in to hear how this part-working vacation, part unplugged real vacation is going so far.   Biz Bite: Schedule a Monthly Self-Care Reminder   The Bookshelf: " Project Hail Mary " by Andy Weir   Resources: Subscribe to the Deliberate Freelancer newsletter .

On today's show I go over 33 ways you can find new clients. This is a replay of episode #43, which came out January 23, 2020, before we knew what was in store for us. A couple of my recommendations refer to in-person conferences and in-person networking, which is not happening for most us right now during the pandemic. However, just imagine that I'm saying "virtual conference" every time because I...

Today's guest is Suzy Bills from Utah. Suzy  is an editor and author and a faculty member in the editing and publishing program at Brigham Young University (BYU). She was previously a lead editor for the Joseph Smith Papers, and she's owned a writing and editing business for more than a decade. Suzy's book, "The Freelance Editor's Handbook" is being published this fall by the University of Califor...

For the past several years, I've chosen a word (or words) of the year in January, a theme to keep me focused on a particular goal or area. In 2021, my word was simplicity. I think I needed that after 2020. Plus, in January 2021, things were still looking a bit bleak. COVID numbers were high, I hate winter, a bunch of traitors tried to destroy our U.S. Capitol and harm lawmakers. Whew.   "Simplicit...

Today's guest is Sarah Greesonbach from Richmond, Virginia. Sarah is a B2B content marketing writer and has been freelancing since 2013. She operates the B2B Content Studio, a freelance consultancy that helps agencies and Fortune 500 technology companies in the HR, retail/e-com and higher education space develop B2B content marketing assets such as white papers, thought leadership articles, case s...

Today's guest is Anita Kwan, from Columbus, Ohio. Anita is the owner of a video production company called Reel Hoot. Her mission is to hold a safe and inclusive space in video production while having fun. She helps women, people of color and LGBTQ+ businesses thrive with video strategy and marketing content.   Connection is important to Anita. She co-runs an online community called PB&Qs, which st...

On today's episode I am talking through my embarrassing business secret: procrastination. It's my biggest struggle in my business and the thing I hate the most about my business self. I feel like it makes me look lazy or unreliable.  I'm a big fan of time tracking, and time tracking has showed me that I don't get a lot done on most Fridays unless I have a meeting scheduled or a deadline. But, beca...

Today's episode is all about books and reading! I talk book podcasts and tell you about a great book list app. I also recommend the seven best fiction books and one best nonfiction book I've read so far in 2021.   My new favorite book podcasts, which I also support on Patreon to get the extra podcast content, are:   Sarah's Bookshelves Live   From the Front Porch podcast (from a bookstore called T...

At the end of every quarter I'm going to conduct an analysis of my time tracking, income and clients and projects. I use Toggl to track my time, and it is particularly helpful to let me know how much I am earning per hour for projects in which I'm paid per word or per project. It also tells me how much time it takes me to do certain types of projects, instead of just guessing. That is valuable inf...

Today's guest is Sarah Townsend from the city of Gloucester in the UK. Sarah has been a freelance marketing copywriter for more than 20 years and is the author of the #1 Amazon bestseller "Survival Skills for Freelancers: Tried and Tested Tips to Help You Ace Self-Employment Without Burnout."   Sarah uses clever copy to help businesses become more successful, and she's on a mission to raise awaren...

Bianca Gonzalez is a marketing writer from New York state who specializes in corporate social responsibility; diversity, equity and inclusion insights; and multicultural consumer insights.   Bianca was preparing to graduate college in the spring of 2020 when the pandemic hit. Because of her health risks as a brain cancer survivor, she turned to freelancing and working from home. Bianca has been ab...

It's my 100th episode! For this very special episode, I invited back my very first guest (in episode 4), Jennifer Goforth Gregory. Jennifer focuses on B2B technology content marketing writing. She is a leader in the content marketing writing world—she literally wrote the book "The Freelance Content Marketing Writer"—but like so many of us, the pandemic brought many challenges. She went from workin...

UPDATE: I have extended my podcast hiatus until Thursday, June 17.  Now could be a perfect time for you to catch up on the 99 (!!) previous episodes. I also encourage you to scroll through the show notes on your podcast app or at deliberatefreelancer.com . The show notes read like blog posts and include a ton of resources at the end. I will be back on Thursday, June 17, with a brand-new and very s...

Amy Posner lives in Olympia, Washington. She calls herself a serial entrepreneur and has been a business owner for three decades — she had a computer start-up, a New York City agency and then built a very successful (and lucrative) sales team in the telecom industry.   But for the past decade, Amy has been an in-demand conversion and direct response copywriter, coach and copy chief. She now mostly...

Today's guest is Austin Church from Knoxville, Tennessee. Austin helps e-commerce founders stand out online with their brand strategy. He also coaches freelance creatives.   After Austin got laid off in spring 2009, during the U.S. recession, he became a freelance copywriter. Does Austin consider himself an agency? Not exactly. He likes to pull in other creatives as necessary, and he serves as the...

Today's guest is Quiana Darden from Richmond, Virginia. She is a launch copywriter, which means she supports coaches and service providers who are launching or rebranding their high-ticket offers. She offers sales page copywriting, email marketing sequences, social media copy, landing pages and ad copy.   She started as an elementary school teacher, but later decided she wanted to home-school her...

This is a rerelease of episode #22 from August 2019. I am rereleasing this as I catch up on all my work right now, which is ironic considering the name of this episode. Laura Poole offers great advice that we might all need right now about creating a work-life balance that is right for you. But beyond that, Laura is peppy and fun, so I think you'll enjoy hearing from her.   Laura is a a freelance...

On today's show, I introduce you to Cal Newport's new book, "A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload."   First, I talk about his concept of the "hyperactive hive mind" and the problem with email and instant messaging tools like Slack. Then, I talk about his solution briefly. And then I share my own thoughts and tips for getting your email under control, as well...

Today's guest is Cathy Wilkes, who coaches people through a transformation, helping them figure out what their true dreams and goals are and how to jump-start that transformation.   Previously, Cathy built and led high-performing sales teams in the financial services industry. She used her philosophy of building people up, and helping them find their greatness, to create a better sales team.   Eve...

On today's show, I'm doing an audit of my time tracking for the first quarter of the year. I used to do time tracking using pen and paper, mostly to keep me on task. That worked, but it didn't allow me to easily track and analyze my data to improve areas of my freelance business.   I now use the Toggl app to track all of my work time. Today, I will talk about what I learned from time tracking the...

On today's show, I want to talk about something super positive: post-pandemic life! Let's look ahead and see where we want our business to be once lockdown is over.   Most of us were affected in our business lives in some way when the pandemic hit last year. We lost clients, or had to suddenly work from home 100% of the time, or had to rethink and change client projects. In-person everything was c...

Today's guest is Kat Boogaard. Kat is a full-time freelance writer in Wisconsin who provides blog content for software clients in the productivity, project management and business ownership spaces. Some of her past and current clients include Atlassian, Trello, QuickBooks and Loom. She also provides advice and resources for freelancers through her blog, weekly newsletter, private Facebook communit...

Today's guest is Jennifer Duann Fultz from Bloomington, Indiana. Jennifer is a freelance writer and business educator specializing in creating online courses for business owners who want to leverage their expertise through scalable information products. She is also the founder of Chief Executive Auntie, a blog and podcast where she helps Asian American and other BIPOC freelancers and creatives ear...