Got A Freelance Writing And Business Development Question? Let Me Help, For Free
For those of you who aren’t aware, I write on a weekly basis for the popular freelance writing blog Get Paid To Write Online.
I’ve recently created a post titled ‘It’s Time To Give Something Back To The Freelance Writing Community‘ and I’m aiming to provide answers to freelance writing and small business development questions posed by the readers of the blog.
If you’re a freelance writer and have a question about how to develop your business further, head over to the blog, leave a comment and I’ll hopefully be able to answer your question in full over the coming weeks (or at least point you in the right direction if I can’t!).
National Freelancers Day – 23 November 2010
For everyone, like me, who’s freelancing from the UK, in little over a month’s time the second National Freelancers Day is scheduled to take place.
Organised by the Professional Contractors Group (PCG), the event will happen on 23 November 2010 and has the theme ‘Freeing Up Potential’.
There’s plenty of ways you can get involved and show your support for the day, all of which can be found at the official website, www.NationalFreelancersDay.org.uk.
Do You Keep Your Best Ideas For Yourself Or Your Clients?
I’m not sure whether it’s the time of year or the fact that I’m finding life particularly exciting at the moment (if you’re following me on Twitter, you’ll be aware that I’m considering relocating to London), but ideas are just flowing at the minute.
I’ve been on holiday for the past few days and by the time I came back, my iPhone’s notes app was packed full of ideas for articles, blog posts and a whole host of other musings.
When I got back, I opened up a new Word document and started typing. Half way through one of the blog posts I was particularly excited about, I took a break and whilst sipping on my coffee started to think about where I would use it.
I automatically thought of uploading it to one of my clients blogs, but then I thought should I keep it for here?
It was a great post. One of those that everyone can relate to and that everyone can have an opinion on. It would go down great on my client’s blog and would be very well received by it’s readers and my colleagues.
But Its Dan Smith is still a relatively new blog, so shouldn’t I be aiming to develop this?
After much deliberation, I decided to post it on my client’s blog. I think this was partly due to the fact that the piece was more focused on their audience, but I also believe it was also because I’ve only been working with the client for a few weeks and I’m in that ‘eager to impress’ stage.
Or it could be down to the fact that I have a habit of making sure everyone else is OK before I am. Too nice, perhaps?
That was the first time that I’ve had that thought, but I’m guessing it’s not going to be the last time.
Have you ever been in that situation where you’re not sure where to use your ideas? Is it better to utilize your best posts on your blog to develop your own business more or on your client’s blogs so to satisfy them more and help their business succeed, which could possibly result in more work for you?
What Made You Want To Go Freelance?
Way back in primary school (elementary school for those across the Atlantic), I remember speaking to a friend saying that when we’d left secondary – high – school, we’d go on to college, then university to become accountants and finish off with us owning our own company, working for ourselves from the off.
OK, so it didn’t work out exactly like that (or remotely like that, if I’m honest – I lost contact with the friend after first year secondary school), but that was the first time I realised I wanted to work for myself.
Over the years, that desire to be self-employed and own my company developed lessened slightly, but I continued to know I wanted to work for myself, hence becoming a freelancer.
I was thinking about this recently and whilst I’ve always known I’ve never wanted to spend my life working for someone else (this is not to say I haven’t been employed by others), I’ve never really thought about why.
And I don’t actually think there is one main reason.
There’s no doubt, however, that one of the reasons why I’ve always pursued being self-employed – and then a freelance writing career – is that I hate that Sunday evening feeling.
When I was at school, from 3pm onwards, Sunday’s always sucked. There was nothing on TV and you couldn’t really go out or do anything for any decent length of time because it always meant an early night.
I thought that when I’d left school and started college this would change and although I wasn’t going to bed as early, it still meant a comparatively early night – and there was still nothing on TV.
And when I started working, it was the same. I would spend Sunday evening thinking about what I would be doing at work the next day, dreading the early start and having to jump back into the rat race.
It might not be the most exciting of reasons, nor the only reason (the older I got, the more I realised I wanted the flexibility that freelancing would give me), but I think not having that Sunday evening / Monday morning feeling was actually a big part in me wanting – and then continuing to want – to be a freelancer.
How about you?
Welcome to ItsDanSmith.com. Finally.
It’s been a little longer than a day or two since my first post, but we’re finally here.
I’ve been a Freelance Writer and Small Business Consultant for several years now, but have never got round to setting up my own blog.
The majority of my work in the past has come from recommendations and word of mouth, meaning that I’ve had no real need to have my own website to display my portfolio of work – plus, spare time has been minimal at best, so I’ve struggled to keep a half-decent social life (at times a half-decent life), never mind looking into developing a whole new blog.
However, in early 2010 I was persuaded that it was about time I should setup my own blog. I like to think it was because this person was looking out for me, but it’s more than likely they were simply tired of my lengthy e-mails and would prefer I wrote them down on a blog rather than bombard their inbox on a regular basis.
That was 6 months ago and finally, I’ve got round to going live with ItsDanSmith.com.
There’s two separate aims to this blog. The first is to display my portfolio of work as a Freelance Writer and Small Business Consultant and offer people a way to contact me, whilst the second is to provide regular posts on everything from How To’s to general discussions on the freelance industry.
Sign up to the RSS feed, follow me on Twitter or just check back regularly. There will be something, sometime that will be of interest – I’m positive!
New blog? It’s coming soon, I promise!
Welcome to ItsDanSmith.com – the blog and portfolio of me, Dan Smith, Freelance Writer and Small Business Consultant.
Or at least that’s what it will be.
The Portfolio page is live, as is my About page and you can also check out my Rates. But, there is a blog coming, where I’ll discuss everything regarding freelance writing and small business consulting, with a regular addition of Search Engine Optimisation, social media and general thoughts.
A few days to go and the blog will be here – promise.
Dan