On the career side of the ledger, social media is often written off as nothing more than a marketing tactic. However, there are actually several unique and powerful uses that, marketer or not, can help to enhance your professional game — especially if you’re a freelancer.

Here are five ways that you can upgrade your efforts in order to enhance your freelance success.

1. Foster Client Relationships

Client relationships are a huge part of the freelancing lifestyle. If you can’t cultivate and maintain relationships with your clientele, you’re going to find it challenging to stay in business.

Social media offers an effective way to socialize with those that you work with, even if you aren’t on-site working by their side. It allows you to interact and discuss topics with them. This includes sharing content and replying to comments, two crucial activities that are part and parcel of a good social media presence. Throughout this process, you naturally learn more about each person that you freelance for.

Social media is commonly brought up as the future of e-commerce, as it adds a level of authenticity and power to a company’s offerings. As a freelancer, use social media to add that extra level of credibility to your own product: yourself.

2. Perfect Your Online Presence

The way that you’re perceived online is a critical factor of modern-day success. This is particularly true for those working in the gig economy, as the constant turnover in clients and the short-term nature of contract work means you’re typically looking for new jobs more often than the average Joe working as a full-time employee.

While you can build your own website and create a killer sign-off for your emails, it’s social media that really allows you to perfect your online presence. Sites like LinkedIn and Facebook provide platforms where you can showcase who you are, what you like, how you think, and even how you look.

Everything from sharing content that you’ve created on Twitter to posting a professional picture of yourself on your LinkedIn profile can help to cultivate how the modern online professional world sees you.

3. Build Awareness of Your Personal Brand

Along with cleaning up your online presence, social media also give you a chance to project that carefully cultivated personal brand out in front of your peers. It gives you the opportunity to discover pre-existing communities within your niche or industry — critically, communities that you can easily gain access to.

As a freelancer, you’re too often on the outside looking in. Social media gives you an open door to enter your industry, interact with others, and let them know that you exist.

As your brand grows in recognition, you can even position yourself to become a nanoinfluencer within your industry. This uses your social media efforts to establish yourself as an authority to your clients. It also acts as a beacon to draw the attention of others who may require your services.

4. Stay Up to Date on Industry Trends

The “club” mentality of many social media sites also allows you to use it as a way to keep up with the latest changes in your industry. By following influencers, bloggers, and companies that you work with, you can use your social media profiles to siphon cutting-edge information directly to your personal news feeds.

While this can feel like a pain in the butt to keep up with at times, it serves a very genuine and valuable purpose. By keeping up on the latest trends in your industry, it enables you to display a sense of calm, cool, and collected authority whenever you interact with clients — and there are few behaviors that are more impressive to an individual looking for a freelancer they can trust.

5. Get New Work

Finally, you can use some social media sites to literally get new work. Platforms like LinkedIn have job adverts that you can visit in order to see what companies are looking for freelancers with your skillset.

If you’re looking for a way to streamline this, you can even set up an email alert that sends batches of applicable jobs directly to your inbox on a daily or a weekly basis.

Using Social Media to Crush It as a Freelancer

In many ways, social media can feel like a professional burden. It’s easier to turn off those notifications and focus on your work.

However, if you can find the time to invest in a genuine social media presence, you can actually gain many benefits out of the deal. From growing your network to establishing your authority, perfecting your personal brand, and ultimately landing new gigs, there are many reasons to upgrade your social media game as a freelancer.

Indiana Lee is a writer and journalist from the Pacific Northwest with a passion for covering workplace issues, social justice, environmental protection, and more. In her off time she enjoys hiking with her two dogs. You can follow her on twitter @indianalee3, or reach her at indianaleewrites@gmail.com

The post #5onFri: Five Ways to Upgrade Your Social Media Game as a Freelancer appeared first on DIY MFA.

Here are five simple ways that you can care for your freelance finances without getting too distracted from your writing work in the process.

Separate Personal and Business Fiscal Matters

As a freelancer, it’s easy to blur the lines between personal and professional finances. However, if you want to be financially safe, you have to resist getting lax in this area. Strive to keep these activities separate by:

• Opening up separate bank accounts for work and personal life. 
• Having all work payments go into your bank account first. 
• Paying taxes from the correct account, depending on if you’re paying personal or business taxes. 
• If you’re making a personal purchase, avoiding using your business card. 

You get the idea.

Track What You Make and What You’re Paid

A lot of thought goes into what writing is worth. Should you accept low pay? Should you hold out for larger contracts? At a certain point, though, you’re going to compose something — and then you’re going to get paid for it.

When that happens, you should do two things:

• First, meticulously track the work that you’ve done: Every time you write something, use a spreadsheet or some other document to keep track of the money that you’re owed. Otherwise, it’s easy to forget. When that happens, things can quickly fall through the cracks.
• Second, track what you’ve been paid: This has two benefits. First, it helps you understand when you haven’t been paid yet. More importantly, though, it also helps you see how much money you currently have available to pay yourself. 

Some clients pay within a day, others can take a month or two. By tracking what you’re owed and what you’ve been paid separately you can maintain a better handle on your finances at all times.

Underpay Yourself

If you want to protect your financial state, you have to ensure that you aren’t living beyond your means. The tricky thing about that is that, as a freelancer, you may not have a clear idea of how much money you’re actually making — and that’s okay. In fact, that’s normal. 

Nevertheless, there is a way that you can bring some stability to your erratic income: by underpaying yourself. 

If you’re projecting your annual income to be $50,000, you should be able to pay yourself $4,166 a month (before taxes). However, what you don’t know is if you’re going to hit a point where you lose a client and your pay dips for a few weeks or a month or two. To be safe, pay yourself something like $3,500 per month instead. This will naturally allow a buffer of cash to accumulate in your business account, which can help you through any low points in the future.

Stay Above Board with Your Financials

Freelancing is hardly the time to start asking for cash under the table so that you can add it to your envelope system. Instead, set up a clear financial structure for yourself that takes care of everything in a trackable and honest manner. A few tips to do so include:

• Use secure banking options: Personal data safety isn’t just something to think about with your writing. It’s also important to consider it with your finances. Open up a business account with a reputable bank, make sure you have solid mobile device security before using a banking app on your phone, and so on.
• Set aside and pay your taxes: This isn’t just a good idea, it’s critical to financial stability. You don’t want to be surprised by a huge tax bill each April. Set aside roughly 25-30% of your income and then make your quarterly estimated tax payments on time.
• Use professional help: Even if you’re handling your finances well, you may want to consider professional accounting help when tax time rolls around. The extra cost is well worth the fact that you can rest at peace knowing your legal financial obligations have been taken care of correctly.

It can be challenging to make an extra effort to stay above board with your freelance income. You’re already busy running your own business, getting new work, and writing existing content for clients. However, if you want to protect your finances, you have to find the time to cover things like secure banking and taxes.

Stick to a Regularly Updated Budget

Finally, if you want to maintain control of your freelance finances, you have to follow that age-old advice to keep a budget. Budgets provide a sense of structure to your financial state. They help you identify if your income and expenses are balanced and can help you budget and save up for big items like furniture or a car.

Once you have your artificially underpaid paycheck in hand, create a budget that reflects all of your income, expenses, savings, and debt.

Creating Financial Stability

Freelance writing is an iconically unstable career — financially speaking. The truth is, though, as a freelance writer, you’re operating with highly diversified streams of income. In other words, you don’t have to live under the fear that you may lose all of your income at once if you lose a client or even two.

While income typically isn’t too much of a concern, the real struggle comes from managing the finances that you earn. So use the above tips to help cultivate a more stable financial footing for your independent business. If you can do things like underpaying yourself and pay your taxes on time, you’ll eventually find yourself in the most secure financial state possible.

Indiana Lee is a writer and journalist from the Pacific Northwest with a passion for covering workplace issues, social justice, environmental protection, and more. In her off time she enjoys hiking with her two dogs. You can follow her on twitter @indianalee3, or reach her at indianaleewrites@gmail.com

The post #5onFri: Five Ways to Protect Your Finances as a Freelancer appeared first on DIY MFA.

The gig economy is a bit like the Wild West. Opportunities abound, but the rewards often come with a substantial dose of risk. Fortunately, it’s easy to dabble in most freelance work without making any major commitments. You can practice graphic design in the evenings, walk dogs in the mornings, and write on the weekends. This gives you valuable experience and some extra income to boot.

If you’re thinking of taking your freelancing career full-time, though, there are some things that you’re going to want to consider beforehand — especially where finances are concerned. Here are five specific financial questions that you should ask yourself before you ditch the 9-to-5 in favor of a freelance career.

1. Freelancing Can Require Professional Help

The first thing you should consider before going freelance-full-time is your professional lifelines. For instance, while this humble author has extensive personal financial freelance experience, the five tips presented here are more general in nature and should always be discussed with a financial professional who knows your particular situation.

Typically, the professional help that you should have “on tap” as you launch your career can be boiled down into three categories:

●  A lawyer: Do you have a good lawyer that you can go to with legal questions? Having a lawyer can ensure that you safeguard yourself against any unnecessary personal or workplace liabilities.

●  An accountant: Again, while these general tips are a good starting point, a CPA will be aware of state and local tax codes and the more detailed nuances of running your business finances successfully.

●  Another professional in your field: It doesn’t matter if you’re a rideshare driver or a writer, a musician or a software developer, if you’re going to survive the full-time freelance gig, you’re going to want to ask someone with experience when questions inevitably arise.

If you don’t have professional help lined up, your freelance efforts can quickly spin out of control.

2. Are Your Finances Healthy?

Next up, consider the current state of your finances. Ask yourself a few questions:

●  Are you responsible with your money?

●  Are you able to live on a budget?

●  Have you considered how you’ll pay the bills early in your freelance career?

●  Do you have healthy credit?

As you grill yourself, consider what you can do to improve your current financial situation in preparation for the financial stresses and strains that often come with the freelance life. How much money do you need to make each month at a minimum? Can you improve or repair your credit? Do you have an emergency fund saved up to cover expenses if you have a lull in income?

3. Have You Considered the Extra Costs?

While adding up your personal expenses is a good start, you must also consider additional costs that come with your new independent career.

For example, if you’re an aspiring author, have you considered the costs involved with self-publishing? If you’re going into a service-based freelancing gig, do you need to pay to build and upkeep a website? If you’re going to be a rideshare driver, have you added up the expense of keeping your car on the road every day?

Strive to challenge yourself with critical questions like these before you make the leap into full-time contracting work.

4. Can You Handle Your Own Taxes?

Of course, the biggest financial elephant in the room is taxes. As a freelancer, you won’t have things automatically withdrawn from your paycheck. Heck, you won’t even get a “paycheck” in the first place. You’ll just get paid.

With that said, have you considered what it takes to do your own taxes as a contractor? It isn’t rocket science, but freelance taxes do take a bit of your time and focus. Make sure you’re aware of all of the major details, such as estimating taxes or filing returns, and that you have that CPA readily available so that you’re ready to put everything into action once you start generating a full-time income.

5. Are You an Organized Person?

Finally, consider if you’re organized enough to go full-time in the gig economy. This includes everything from beginning to end of the work process. Are you ready to perpetually feed and organize your workload? Have you equipped yourself with the proper financial tools, such as a budget calculator and business bank account, that are required to make and receive payments, maintain a budget, and set aside taxes on a regular basis?

If you aren’t organized from the get-go, it can hamstring your ability to ultimately succeed, you know, with the actual work that you’re getting paid for.

Financially Flourishing as a Freelancer

There are many financial considerations that should take place before you commit to full-time contracting. However, none of the above factors should be seen as a barrier to entry.

Rather, they can and should serve as initial starting points and opportunities to prepare yourself for the oft-overwhelming but ultimately exciting journey ahead. If you can start your freelancing adventure on the right financial foot, you’ll be better able to handle whatever curveballs your professional future may throw your way — and ultimately be financially better off for the change.

Indiana Lee is a writer and journalist from the Pacific Northwest with a passion for covering workplace issues, social justice, environmental protection, and more. In her off time she enjoys hiking with her two dogs. You can follow her on twitter @indianalee3, or reach her at indianaleewrites@gmail.com

The post #5onFri: Five Things to Consider Before Freelancing Full Time appeared first on DIY MFA.

One of these is networking. How do you network when you’re a writer, a profession renowned for its participants’ reclusiveness? Furthermore, freelance writing is not a job that requires much physical contact, but rather one that relies heavily on online communication.

As a result, it can seem hard to develop new contacts and hone relationships. Nonetheless, there are a variety of ways freelance writers can successfully network and market their abilities. Here are just five ways to get started.

1) Seek out content managers

As a freelance writer, the majority of work you’ll be doing (at least at first), is composing on-site content for companies or agencies. As a result, you’ll want to seek out the content managers at these companies and agencies that are usually in charge of brainstorming the topics and recruiting the right writers.

Since content managers spend so much time doing outreach, they’re typically responsive. In fact, they may even be grateful that you’ve saved them the step of finding a competent writer.

There are a number of ways you can seek out content managers, but the best is to use LinkedIn’s advanced search to search by job title. In addition to content managers, here are some job titles you may want to seek out:

• PR Rep
• PR Coordinator
• Content Coordinator
• PR Specialist

Compose a message template that you personalize for each company these individuals represent, and use it to highlight your specialties, as well as incorporate some writing samples. This allows you to take control and build up your rolodex of contacts.

2) Take advantage of Facebook groups

What better way to network than on the world’s largest social networking site? While you can join local networking groups, these don’t allow you as broad a reach as social media does. There are countless Facebook groups for small business owners, which you should absolutely request to join.

Seek out closed groups, as they’re more likely to focus on making valuable connections than act as an outlet for shameless self-promotion. Furthermore, you’ll definitely fit into these groups, as being a freelance writer makes you a small business all on your own.

Whatever you do, make sure to join in on the conversations that are happening. Don’t just make it a one-and-done opportunity—this is what makes it networking as opposed to advertising. Comment and provide valuable feedback on others’ suggestions or issues, and shed light on how your services can solve or improve upon their existing situation.

These groups are a great starting point, and once you’ve written pieces for one or two members, you can share the value of this relationship with the rest of the group, potentially leading to even more interest.

3) Consider self-publishing

Self-publishing is so accessible, and so nominally priced these days, that there’s almost no reason not to do it. This is more of a networking tool than a networking method, but it’s extremely viable. Self-publishing provides you with the ability to establish yourself as an authority on a specific subject matter. It also allows you to build up your CV.

If you’re a freelance writer with a specialty, whether it’s dog grooming or technology, you should self-publish on that subject matter.

Then, you can bring your published work to networking events. Not only does it act as a conversation starter, but it allows you to give the individuals you network with a freebie. Freebies will contribute to a more positive impression, and remain more memorable than a simple business card.

A self-published book also serves as your “writing sample”, providing you with an easy way to showcase your prowess, while also forging connections. For networking purposes, keep it short and publish a booklet. This will cost you less, and will be more likely to pique the interest of its recipients.

4) Join a Writers’ Association

Networking with fellow writers is just as important as networking with potential clients in this line of work. For this reason, you’ll want to join some writers’ organizations. There is one for every niche, from freelance to specific subject matters.

In these groups, freelancers can come together to share their contacts. Oftentimes, freelancers who have their plates full will even seek out referrals through these associations to give to their clients. This “pay it forward” tactic is highly effective, and even one referral could land you a regular freelance gig with a specific client.

Perhaps the most popular writers’ association geared toward freelancers is the American Society of Journalists and Authors. These associations even include links to, and calendars of, in-person conferences and networking events in different areas you’ll be sure to want to attend.

Pro Tip: Some of these organizations, like Freelancers Union, even offer medical and retirement benefits for freelance writers.

5) Keep clients close-by

If your client is someone who is constantly putting out new content, whether it’s for other publishers or just for their own blog that they like to keep consistent, keep them close to the vest. It’s important to know that your client is most likely troubled by the fact that good writers are so hard to come across. You can mitigate their woes.

If they seem to appreciate and enjoy your work, keep the dialogue open. Check in regularly to see how their content needs are going, and if you can help them with any larger projects they may have in the works.

If you’ve really built up a rapport with a client, you might even ask them for a reference. See if they know of any fellow business owners that could use a freelance writer, and always be appreciative of their praise.

Networking as a freelance writer is a delicate balance between in-person networking events and online relationship building. The key is to utilize the many resources available through the internet to both forge and maintain client relationships.

Join every Facebook group, jump on the self-publishing bandwagon, and use your LinkedIn (or paid PR directories) to seek out industry gatekeepers. Once you’ve proven your prowess, a ripple of references is sure to form.

Ellie Batchiyska is a writer for EveryUSB, a custom flash drive manufacturer that also offers eBook publishing services. She’s a strong proponent of self-publishing for networking and portfolio-building purposes, and helps struggling writers prepare their first self-published work in her free time. You can connect with her on Twitter at @elitzabee.

The post #5onFri: Five Networking Tips for Freelance Writers appeared first on DIY MFA.

Today I’m interviewing the awesome Zachary Petit. Zac is the editor of the National Magazine Award-winning publication PRINT. He is also a freelance journalist, a lifelong literary and design nerd, and a friend. Formerly, he was the senior managing editor of HOW magazine and PRINT, the longtime managing editor of Writer’s Digest magazine, and executive editor of the newsstand magazines Writer’s Workbook, Writer’s Yearbook and Writing Basics.

Zac is the author of The Essential Guide to Freelance Writing: How to Write, Work and Thrive On Your Own Terms (which is out now) and co-author of A Year of Writing Prompts: 366 Story Ideas for Honing Your Craft and Eliminating Writer’s Block.

In addition, Zac has written thousands of articles, both as a staff writer and editor, as well as a freelance writer. This means he can speak about freelance writing from both the editor and author perspectives. If you’ve ever wanted to learn about freelance writing, this is the podcast episode for you. Listen up!

In this episode Zac and I discuss:

• Why a writer would want to freelance.
• How and why to adapt your voice when freelancing.
• How to break into freelancing.
• Debunking major myths about freelance writing.
• How to expand your professional network.
• The pros and cons of pitching an idea versus pitching an article on spec.

Plus, Zac’s #1 tip for writers.

About Zachary Petit:

Zachary Petit is the editor of PRINT magazine, which is the major magazine in the design realm. (When I worked in design, PRINT was synonymous with “bible.”) Formerly Zac was the managing editor of Writer’s Digest magazine, and later PRINT, and HOW magazines as well. In addition, Zac has an active freelance writing career.

Alongside the thousands of articles he has penned as a staff writer and editor, covering everything from the secret lives of mall Santas to creative legends, his words also regularly appear in National Geographic Kids, and have also popped up in the pages of National Geographic, Melissa Rossi’s What Every American Should Know book series, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and many other outlets.

Zac’s wonderful book, The Essential Guide to Freelance Writing: How to Write, Work and Thrive On Your Own Terms is out now. I’ve started reading it and boy do I wish I had gotten my hands on this book sooner because already I have learned so much. He is also the co-author of A Year of Writing Prompts: 366 Story Ideas for Honing Your Craft and Eliminating Writer’s Block.

Zac is obsessed with all things writerly (even down to his nerdy tattoos), and is a firm believer that anyone can break into any facet of the writing world—they just need to know the appropriate way in. Once that has been demystified, anything is possible.

To learn more about Zachary Petit, follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter or visit his website.

Link to Episode 77

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, leave a review, and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available. Also, if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please share!

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome.

The post Episode 77: Build Your Freelance Writing Career – Interview with Zachary Petit appeared first on DIY MFA.