Deliberate Freelancer

This is a rerelease of episode #73, from September 2020, about the devastating effects the federal PRO Act would have on independent contractors in the U.S.   I am rereleasing this now because the House has announced its plans to vote on this act next week, the week of March 8. We need your help! We must all tell our House representative and our two senators the impact of the PRO Act on our career...

Today's guest is Emily Derouin, a licensed psychologist in Denver, Colorado. She works as a clinician and supervisor at a community mental health center, where she is a generalist, helping people with a wide variety of issues. She also works one day a week in private practice, where she specializes in eating disorders.    As we approach the one-year anniversary of the pandemic lockdown, Emily help...

Today's guest is Mario Boone, a science writer for a science organization in the Washington, D.C., area. In fall 2020, Mario gave a presentation as part of the Association Media & Publishing virtual annual conference. The session was about how to attract and embrace diverse employees. During Mario's portion, he talked about what it was like to be the "only one"—in his case, the only Black man, oft...

There is no new episode of Deliberate Freelancer this week. However, I have several upcoming guest episodes that I'm excited about, so please listen to this week's short message for a few teasers and announcements. I also encourage you to listen to last week's episode—#88, Positioning Yourself as an Agency and Partnering with Other Freelancers, with Reggie Holmes—which has received a lot of great...

Today's guest is Reggie Holmes, the owner and creative director of Enthuse Creative LLC, a branding and design firm based in Tysons, Virginia. Enthuse Creative is a strategic creative partner for businesses and organizations and specializes in brand-focused strategy consulting, brand design and brand management.   Reggie is also a graphic designer, but he's a strategist first, with his clients and...

On today's show, I quickly go over my top 10 favorite books of 2020—and the one I absolutely hated—before listing out my most anticipated books of 2021. The 2021 list will include several nonfiction books that could help you as you think about your freelance business.   For more in-depth descriptions and information on my top 10 list for 2020, read my blog post " The Best—and Worst—Books I Read in...

Today, I want to hopefully motivate you, inspire you and encourage you to consider the aspects of your business that need improvement or to make a plan to work on things that you personally struggle with. This episode goes through seven areas that I would love for you to improve upon, if you haven't already. They are:   Embrace a business owner mindset This idea is what this podcast is based on. T...

New Year's resolutions fail for a lot of reasons, but January can still be a good time to take a new look at your business and personal life. Instead of resolutions, I like to choose a word (or two, or three) of the year. It sets my theme for the year and reminds me to focus on something in particular all year long.   I was inspired to do this a few years ago by marketer Chris Brogan, who actually...

Happy New Year! On today's show I talk about where my head is at for 2021, which is essentially that I am not setting huge goals for myself this year. I'm trying to continue to give myself grace—not be so hard on myself—and to focus on my personal wellness, while maintaining a steady income.   I did an audit of my business in 2020, crunching the numbers and analyzing the data, and I share that dat...

Deliberate Freelancer will be on a holiday hiatus until Thursday, January 7. Please feel free to send me your freelance business topics and questions you'd like covered on the show and/or your guest recommendations:  melanie@meledits.com  or DM me on Twitter @MelEdits. 

Today's guest is Eva Jannotta. Eva lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and helps bold women leaders defy the status quo, amplify their influence and expand their wealth and power. She does this through providing thought leadership strategy and advisory services as well as communications support. Her Big Hairy Audacious Goal is to end gender and racial discrimination.   Many white people in the U.S. grew up...

Today's guest is Gresham Harkless, of Alexandria, Virginia. Gresham is the founder of CBNation and Blue 16 Media. CBNation is a business-to-business (B2B) brand. It helps people like you—CEOs, entrepreneurs and business owners—with resources and increasing your visibility. It includes blogs under CEO Blog Nation, as well as podcasts and videos. Blue 16 Media is Gresham's digital marketing agency....

Today's guest is Lynne Testoni, from Sydney, Australia. Lynne is an editor, journalist and content producer who's worked in high-level editorial positions and as a freelancer for a range of corporate clients. She has been freelancing for only four years, and she specializes in a very specific niche of home design, interior design and food, writing both content marketing and journalism.   Lynne is...

Today's guest is Satta Sarmah Hightower. Satta is a journalist-turned-content marketer who lives in Boston. She produces content for agencies and brands in the industries of technology, health care IT and financial services. She previously worked for AOL and the Tribune Company and holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Boston University and a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern...

Today's guest is Laura Pennington Briggs. Laura is a teacher turned entrepreneur, two-time TEDx speaker and freelance writer. She's the author of the award-winning "How to Start Your Own Freelance Writing Business" and the Amazon bestseller "Six-Figure Freelancer" and the founder of Operation Freelance.  Laura started as a freelance writer and virtual assistant in 2012. Now, she continues to write...

On today's show I am going to outline 10 micro habits that you can consider implementing in your life to improve your work-life clarity. Building habits into my life helps me commit to work-life clarity. Micro habits are tiny, incremental things you can start to do that seem so incredibly easy that you might just continue to build them. And, if you find they are working for you in some way, they m...

Today's guest is Alicia Chantal, from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She is an editing and writing consultant and the owner of Fresh Look Editing. Alicia is passionate about helping individuals and small businesses create messages that resonate with an audience. She specializes in non-fiction copy editing and proofreading and has a background in public relations.   A couple of cool projects Alicia has...

In episode #6 of Deliberate Freelancer I talked about how to make the most of conferences. Well, we've all had to pivot, and I cannot go to the 4–6 in-person conferences I typically go to each year. So, I've learned to embrace virtual conferences, which may be around until at least summer 2021.   Here are a few tips to make the most of these events: Commit to a virtual conference like you would an...

On today's show, I want to talk about some core principles you'll need to run a successful freelance business — these are ideas I have come to believe strongly in over the past seven years: Core principle #1 : You are a freelance business owner. Changing your mindset and truly believing you are a business owner and the boss of you helps both the way you look at yourself and the way others perceive...

Today's guest is Sarah DeGeorge, a digital marketing specialist who lives in Philadelphia. Sarah works in paid and organic marketing, public relations, and social media marketing and management. She helps small- to mid-size businesses find their authentic voice for their audience.   Sarah started freelancing as a freelance writer while still in college. As she was nearing graduation, she got sick...

Today's guest is Wudan Yan, an independent journalist in Seattle, who covers science and society. She has written for National Geographic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Elemental, Harper's and MIT Tech Review. Wudan also writes for brands and is a fact-checker. She is the co-host of The Writers' Co-op, a business podcast for freelance writers. Her co-host is Jenni Gritters, also based in Sea...

Today's guest are Kim Kavin and Karon Warren, two longtime freelance writers who have built successful freelance businesses. Both are active in the fight against the national PRO Act. Kim was active fighting against a similar state bill in New Jersey, and Karon heads up the national efforts to defeat the PRO Act through the grassroots organization Fight for Freelancers. The PRO Act (Protecting the...

Today's guest is Anthony Moore, a writer, speaker and coach in California. He is one of the top 100 writers on Medium.com, where he writes about personal growth, self-improvement and writing.   I had trouble trying to name this episode because there were so many things Anthony talked about that I wanted to call your attention to. So, I hope you find all the areas we discussed helpful in your freel...

On today's episode, I am sharing three experiences in which I failed and the lessons I learned from those situations. Hopefully, you'll find a few takeaway lessons here and it will also lead you to analyzing your own failures to see what you can change or learn from moving forward. The idea is not to beat yourself up; we are not perfect, but to learn from our failures and to know that all freelanc...

I am not a therapist or a doctor, but on today's show I want to share with you several techniques that I learned from my new therapist that have been very helpful to me, and I hope they will help some of you as well. I also want to help dispel the stigma that comes with mental health issues. Yes, I needed therapy. Yes, I've been experiencing more anxiety than usual. So, I sought out help. And that...