Yeah, I know too many of you have kind-of a “no” answer to that, at least in terms of any kind of plan. Many of my editing and design colleagues are introverts who would much rather deal with clients one at a time, do the work, and collect their fee than play the sales game.…
freelance business
Finding Your Client Match
I had a project recently where I totally miscalculated my suitability to the client’s needs. I lost money because of it because I had to spend way too much time dealing with the client mismatch itself. There’s the scope fog for the job itself (conflicting scopes from different client representatives), and then there’s scope creep…
It’s the Experience, Really!
Steve Jobs was right on this point. Give the customer an experience, not just a product. And that applies to those of us providing freelance services in the publishing industry (yes, it does!). I see the customer experience as being 50% product quality, 50% customer service. In the end, my job is to service the…
Freelancing, Yes or No?: Part 2
And now for Part II of my response to Michael Poh’s “20 Reasons to Say ‘No’ to Freelancing.” As I wrote in Part I, I found that Michael’s perspective was not always reflective of my own twenty-five years as a freelance book indexer, copy editor and proofreader. In this part, I’ll respond to Michael’s section on “self-traits,” as…
Freelancing, Yes or No?: Part 1
I found Michael Poh’s “20 Reasons to Say ‘No’ to Freelancing” to be interesting, but not always reflective of my own twenty+ years as a freelance book indexer, copy editor, and proofreader. It ain’t easy. That’s not the point; work, even work we are passionate about, isn’t necessarily easy. But freelancing has its rewards, and…