The Top Five Ways to Work at Home With Small Children

If you have children, like I do, keeping your kids happy while you are writing, and still getting work done, can be a hassle. Here are some tips to make life a little easier.

Make a Mini-Office

Make a special area for your kids beside your work area. Fill it with toys, coloring books, crayons, and other things that your child likes and encourage him to play while you work.

Give Them "Work"

Let your child "work" too. Give your child a small pad of paper and a pencil, then let her go wild. Even if your child can't really write yet, she will still get satisfaction out of being like mommy or daddy.

Schedule in Fun

Take regular play breaks. Give your tot, and your own mind, a break and play your child's favorite game for a few minutes every couple of hours.

Work Around Your Child's Schedule

Decide to work when your child is napping, at grandma's or playing outside with your spouse. This way you can get 100% quiet time for those especially important tasks.

Work at Home, Away from Home

Take your child to places where they can safely play and you can have WiFi access, like McDonald's. Your child can get plenty of exercise and socialization and you can get a frothy drink to sip while you work. This was one of my biggest writing secrets when my kids were little.

Here’s everything you need to make your writing business successful.

5 Services Every Successful Freelancer Should Bring on Board

In the wonderful world of freelance work, you’re often alone. You’re your own boss, you don’t work for a company, and that can be incredibly freeing. But at the same time, life as a freelancer can also be a little lonely.

More often than not, we believe that we’re going to need to work by ourselves and a lot of the time you will. But, at the same time, if you want to grow and be successful, you can bring in external services to help you.

Graphic Design

First up, there’s graphic design. Perhaps you want to be able to offer a full-service to your clients, but you’re not so great on the graphic front? Well, then you can bring in a freelance graphic designer to help you do that.

You can utilize their skills when your clients need graphics, and they may then want to utilize yours if their clients need content. You'll find your relationship with a graphic designer can be a great way to push your freelancing business forward. At the same time, you can utilize their help for graphics on your website and within your marketing and portfolio too.

IT Support

As a freelancer, it’s safe to say that you spend a lot of your time working on your computer. So if you were to have an issue with it, software or hardware, it’s going to be a huge problem. Not only can it slow you down and kill your productivity, but it may even cost you clients or lose work - and that’s something you’ll always want to avoid.

Bringing in IT support, with someone such as Houk Consulting, is a great way to play it safe. They take on the support for you, so you can just get on with your work.

Financial Support

How are you with numbers? If you’re not great with the financial side of things, then bringing in an accountant is going to save you time. If you hire the right accountant, you’ll save money in the long-run too.

Virtual Assistance

Maybe you’re spending a lot of time replying to emails and organizing information? When this is the case, you’re probably reducing your rate by far too much! And you may also be killing your productivity levels. So bring in a virtual assistant. By hiring a VA, they can do all this for you on a set hourly rate, so you can focus on your work.

Marketing Support

Finally, there’s marketing support. And there are a range of marketers you could hire. Obviously, you can do your own content, but you may find that it pays to bring someone in to find clients to save you time too!

Don't Worry About Stolen Words

Plagiarism. It's a word that sends shivers down most writers' spines. Most of us diligently ensure that we haven't stolen anyone's work and hope that others do the same for us. Some writers even go so far as to hunt down people who have stolen their words or implement code that prevents copy and pasting on their blog. I used to do this and all I can tell you is it is a BIG FAT WASTE OF TIME.

Plagiarism

You're never going to be able to stop people from plagiarising. They'll just keep doing it, even after they are caught. They'll give you some lame excuse about how they didn't know it was illegal to copy and paste your articles or blog posts without your permission. Then, they'll go right back to it. The only real way to stop the thiefs is to sue. And that takes money. Lots of it.

Plus, all of this takes away time from what you should really be doing: writing.

So, am I saying just ignore the sentence snatchers? Yes.

See, beyond bad karma, those that have nothing original on their sites will get penalized by search engines so badly that they won't even show up in results. They won't get any traffic, won't make any money from your work. Eventually, the thieves will slink away into the darkness to find some other way to make a coin.

In the end, you're the winner.

Running Costs That Any Freelancer Or Small Business Can Easily Cut

Starting out in any small business is a challenging endeavor. In the digital age, there are more opportunities than ever to take your career into your own hands and join the freelance revolution… But that also means that there’s more competition than ever.

Then there’s the problem clients that you have to hound constantly for payment, and the myriad day to day problems that can compromise your productivity and keep you chasing your own tail so that you don’t have time to plan your business strategically.

In such a fraught climate, the last thing you need to worry about unnecessary overheads. Like any small business owner, freelancers walk a fine line between investing in areas that will facilitate growth while cutting down on unnecessary costs. What constitutes a necessary overhead will very much depend on the nature of your business, but there are some areas where virtually everyone can save money.

Your phone bill

Most freelancers (especially those in their early stages) spend a lot of time hustling for new clients and new contracts. While a good deal of this may be over email exchanges or even Skype calls, you’re likely also making a lot of outbound calls. If this is the case, you likely found that your phone bill has skyrocketed. If this is the case, you desperately need to change your tariff with your current provider or switch to another service provider who can give you adequate business phone systems.

You may well find that switching to VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) saves you a small fortune in outgoing calls. Plus, your rates will be more favorable, your service will be more reliable and you can even use it when on the go. 

Office space

In their early days many freelancers (particularly writers) work from home or find a cosy nook in their local coffee shop. This works just fine for some, but as their business and client base expands, it soon ceases to be fit for purpose. They start to want the prestige of an office space to assure their clients of their professionalism.

The trouble is that this can be a pretty sizeable (and largely unnecessary) overhead. While it’s understandable that you may want a prestigious office address, this does not mean that you need to fork out large amounts of money to get it.

There are numerous options for business address rental, and if you work better in an office environment you may want to consider hot desking as an alternative to paying over the odds for an office.

Web hosting

It’s understandable that you’d need an online presence to serve as a portfolio for your work and skills, as well serving as a tool to advertise your services. That doesn’t mean that you need to sink a chunk of your monthly profits on the wrong web hosting deals. Many new freelancers don’t realize that you can save money by buying their domain name and their hosting services from different companies.

A Sneaky Way to Find Jobs On LinkedIn

You probably already know how to use the jobs tab on LinkedIn, but there is another, sneakier way to find jobs that many people will never see. Many company post job openings in their post, instead of on the job boards. Finding these types of posts is easy.

1. Go to the home page.

2. In the search bar type "looking for writer" or "looking for blogger." You can get more specific, if you like. For example, you could type "looking for fashion bloggers" or "looking for medical writers." Whatever your niche is, try a search including it for better results.

3. Look for the menu on the top left side of the page.

4. Click on Content.

5. Click on the menu on the right side of the page called Relevance.

6. Click Latest.

All of the recent posts including the phrase will pop up. Bingo! Job gold! There may be a few results that don't work for you, but there will be at least a couple that will. Searching this way gives you less competition than on the job boards, too.

Want more client finding tips like these? They're in my book: The Fluff-Free Freelance Writing Master Course: The only course that gives you concrete, actionable information to building a successful freelance business without any fluff.

Improve Website Problems Today & Get More Freelance Clients Tomorrow

Many freelance writers understand the importance of having a website presence to attract clients, show off work and make it clear why you are the best person to take on writing assignments. But let’s be honest. The vast majority of freelance writer websites aren’t as good as they should be.

awesome website content

And the truth is, you are up against a heck of a lot of competition. Type ‘freelance writer’ into the Google search box, and you will reveal almost 11 million results. How can you possibly compete when you're new to the business or don’t have the time to work on your site 24/7 for a few months - or longer?

Well, there are a few things you can do that can make a huge difference to your online presence. In today’s guide, we’re going to go through a few simple things you can do today that will - hopefully - give you a better chance of getting yourself some writing gigs tomorrow. Let’s take a closer look at some of your options.

Explain your niche

What kind of writer are you? It’s important to establish your niche and make it crystal clear to any visitor that arrives on your site. Don’t mess around, and make sure your unique value proposition is the first thing that any prospective customer sees.

It should explain who you are, what you do and why someone should give you a shot at writing for them in less than a few seconds. Leave nothing to the imagination, and you’ll find you get better results than before.

Don't know your niche? Here's a guide to help figure it out.

Speed up your site

Another important thing to consider is the speed of your website. A slow, lumbering site that takes eons to load is not going to be good for business. Search engines will rank slow sites low in the results, ensuring you don't get seen. Aim for a load speed of around two to three seconds. 

First of all, think about upgrading your web server - while a lot of writers start out using free services, the reality is that they almost all have speed issues, and it’s worth investing in a service that gives you snappy, super quick response. If you need some assistance, look around for some local cloud migration solutions to help you transfer your data with as few hiccups as possible.

If you are using a lot of images on your site, it can cause severe slow-downs, so make sure you are optimizing every single image for the web, and your site should zip along quite nicely.

Also, nix unnecessary plugins. Plugins can slow speed down dramatically.

Google has a free nifty tool that can tell you how long it takes your site to load and what you can do to fix it.

Test CTAs and headlines

Do you want someone looking at your site to hire you, or at least to get in touch? Then you need to be implicit in telling them that’s what they should do. Creating Call To Action buttons - or CTAs - is essential.

People like clicking buttons, so give them every opportunity. Test your CTAs, too. The idea is to run A/B tests and see which button converts the best - and then keep on improving it.

Finally, do the same for your headlines. Believe it or not, the headlines you use on your website could make or break it. First impressions form incredibly quickly in the online environment, and it’s important to test your work to see what resonates most with your visitors.

Good luck - and why not share your tips in in the comments section below?

Build Your Confidence In Your Business

When you set up your business, you have an idea that you believe will work. However, as you grow your business, you can have plenty of moments when you don't feel as confident in it. You start to think that maybe you were wrong and that your business could fail. Or you don't feel that your business is capable of surviving without you there micromanaging everything. If you don't feel like you have a lot of confidence in your business, there are ways you can boost your confidence and remind yourself that you can make it work.

Make a Happy Portfolio

I suffer from anxiety and depression. Running a business is hard when you have mental illness. There are times throughout my career when I told myself that I suck at writing, that I would never make it.

Way back in 1998, I started keeping a binder full of screenshots, award certificates, first clips and notes from people who like my writing. One of the first entries was a note from my mom saying that I am a good writer. Now, my mom is a world renowned Esperanto poet, so that's high praise. Every time I got down on myself, I would look at my Happy Portfolio.

Build a Staff You Trust

To build a business you can believe in, you need to make sure you have the right employees. If you don't think they can do their jobs to the best of their abilities, you might not have hired the right people. You need to build a staff you can trust with the day-to-day running of your business. While they might need some daily instruction, perhaps in a meeting each morning, they shouldn't all need to be constantly watched while they work. You need to hire carefully if you want to feel like your business can make it, even when you're in a rush to expand your team.

Know You Have Tech You Can Rely On

Every business today relies on technology in some way. You can lie awake at night worrying about whether the tech your business uses is adequate and if you can meet your customers' needs. You might even struggle with various tech problems that make you feel like your business can't make it. With the right help, you can feel a lot more confident in your business tech.

Using a strategic IT consulting service allows you to ease some of the worries you might have. You can trust a team of experts to take care of things for you. Meanwhile, you can work on other aspects of your business.

Measure Results to Observe What's Working

Sometimes you need to remind yourself that your business idea is working. If you want to see that things are going well, as well as where you could improve, it's imperative to have metrics you can measure. Being able to look at things like your website conversion rate or the average value of your sales allows you to see your success in hard numbers. Reading customer reviews gives you a different way to see how you're doing things right.

Get Mentoring from Someone More Experienced

In business, you should always recognize that you have things to learn still. Even if you have been running a successful business for years, you can still learn about how to do it better. If you want to increase your confidence in your business and the business world in general, getting mentoring from someone more experienced than you is a great idea. They can reassure you, and they can also help you develop your ideas and give you the support you need.

If you feel less than confident in your business, do some things to improve your business or to improve your confidence.

How To Make Your Blog The Ultimate Industry Competitor

Self-employment has been on the rise recently. More and more people are realising the earning potential of being their own boss and creating their own business. Blogging has surged in popularity.

For anyone starting out, or trying to climb the blogging ladder of success, there is a lot of competition - even if you have a peculiar niche. So how do you stand out? Here are a few tips on how your blog can climb from the bottom to the top of your competitor list, and start to grow with the success it deserves.

Your Layout And Design

You may love your layout and design of your blog, and make a point of constantly trying to improve it. However, if you are still not seeing a surge in views per day, it may be time to see what your existing viewers think of it.

• Are new blogs easy to find?

• Do you have a way of searching through your content?

• Is your content categorised?

You may think your blog is pretty and simple, but the opinions that really matter are of your viewers. If they think it’s a hot mess, it could be what's holding you back from your big viewing break.

There are many websites out there who offer a template service to help you customise your layout, or you could get in contact with an experienced web designer who will be able to advise you on the best way to make your page easier on the eyes and more user-friendly.

SEO

what is SEO

After you’ve put all that hard work into making your website functional and visually appealing, it would be a shame if nobody got a chance to see it. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a way of ensuring that whenever people are searching for content within your particular niche, that your blog comes up near the top of the list.

If you are honest with yourself, when was the last time you looked beyond the first page of an internet search? Most people don’t even look beyond the first five or six entries. A good quality SEO agency helps to put your blog at the top of the pile, meaning more hit and more followers for you. Exposure is the name of the game.

Don't want to hire help? Here's my free guide to everything you need to know about SEO.

Social Media

In order for your blog to become a success, you already know you need to create a loyal following and make yourself known to brands who can  sponsor you.

If you haven’t yet started to market your blog on social media, it is time to start. With being able to reach a much larger percentage of people overnight than any other source of marketing, social media is invaluable to your business success. You can join blogging groups or simply share posts on your own professional page.

To really kick-start your marketing campaign, you could even do a giveaway that requires the viewer to share your blog on their page to enter. It also is a great tool for keeping in touch with your readers to thank them for any good feedback or constructive criticism. You can also get inspiration for ideas if ever you hit a wall of writer's block with your blog.

There you have it, some tried and tested methods of placing your blog head and shoulders above the competition, and helping it to find its own two feet in success.

The Way to Create Genuine Business Fans

If you’re a business owner, one of the biggest mistakes you can possibly make is figuring out how to attract customers. You don’t want to attract customers. You want to create genuine fans of your business. You know, the kind of people that get excited about your product launches, stay up to date with what you’re doing, and tell their friends and family all about you! That's what you want! 

Take a look through these pointers and tips and you’ll quickly learn how to create fans.

Know Exactly Who Your Audience Is

Before you go about creating fans for your business, you need a good idea of who your audience is exactly. When you know this, you can tailor your efforts to them and speak their language. You can’t target absolutely everybody, so don’t try to. Sure, you’ll probably get people who were’t expected at one point or another, and that’s fine.

Roll with it. Just keep on doing what you’re doing.

To make sure you have this part down, sit back, imagine your perfect fan and try sketching out a couple of ideas. Write down who these people are, their age, what they like, don’t like, whether they have kids, what their problems are, what they do in their spare time - all of these things will help you to create awesome campaigns. It’ll also help you to see how you can target the people you want perfectly.

Start With Your Brand

Now you know who your audience is, you can start designing a brand that appeals to them. Bear in mind that your brand is everything these days. Your brand is not only your logo, but your fonts, the words you use, the colors, your values as a company, and more.

Make sure your brand aligns perfectly with your target audience. Doing this alone could be difficult, so you should consider working with an experienced company who can help you. Smashbrand is a good example of what can be achieved when hard work and experience are put to the test. Click for more information if you think they could be of help to you. You’re free to go it alone, but if you don’t have experience in the field, then it probably isn’t the best idea.

Set Up Social Media Profiles

Social media is a must for any business in this day and age, but it's especially important when trying to win fans. You want to make sure you have the social platforms set up that your audience most often use, though. Don't just go crazy and start a page on every site. You'll get worn out and your posts won't be as good. This is why many businesses choose to hire a social media manager.

Make sure you do your research here. Your customers might use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or something more specialized. For example, if your niche is crafting or how-to, you may do well with Pinterest. If your niche is tech, Reddit may be the best option.

To gather fans, be sure you post consistently, post when your target audience will read it and interact with other people who post things in your niche.

Make Sure Your Customer Service Is Impeccable

Something that fans of your business will love is a great customer service ethic. Make yourself an expert in customer service by remembering great customer service experiences you’ve had and figure out why they were so great. Write a list of things you want to emulate.

Then, do the same with terrible customer service experiences.

The thing about customer service is that you’re not always going to be dealing with happy or chilled out customers. Some may be quite angry and aggressive if you’ve made a mistake. The customer may not always be right, but if you want to keep them, they need to feel like they are. Here are a few pointers:

• Make sure customer service is consistent across your entire business.

• Make sure you can show empathy, and you aren’t just reading robotically from a sheet.

• Make sure they go above and beyond to help a customer resolve a situation.

• When talking to customers keep a smile on your face. It's sounds crazy, but people can actually hear a smile in your voice.

Remember, word spreads. People will be more likely to tell others about a bad experience, than a good one. They could haunt you!

Give Your Customers Stuff

To run a successful brand you need useful things that your fans can get from you to make them feel like part of the team. For example, my No-Fluff Writer brand includes a book, a free download, an Instagram feed full of writing tips, this website and a Facebook group.

I even give out free wristbands! lol

Don’t Compromise On Product/Service Quality:

Create Awesome Content

This goes without saying, but creating awesome content keeps people coming back to your business again and again. Whether you choose to write helpful blogs that are designed to inform, or create videos to entertain and educate at the same time, make sure you do it and do so consistently. Post them to your social media channels, and design them so that people share them and engage with your business.

Content is one of the key things you should focus on if you want to create fans of your business. Don’t be afraid of sharing your knowledge. When you establish yourselves as experts, you’ll be glad you did!

You should make sure your product or service is the highest quality you can muster. Ensure you have a great quality check process, and that everything meets the same standards across the board.

For articles, be sure to check:

• Spelling

• Grammar

• If the intro is interesting

• If you've included different types of media for visual interest

• If the title grabs attention without being clickbait

• Links: They need to be live and point to reliable sources

• Style

Personalize Interactions

Personalizing interactions -- not just sending duplicate messages to people (it’s too easy to copy and paste) -- will go a long way. It shows people that you’ve paid attention a bit, and shows them that you care. Do your best to personalize email interactions, social media interactions and telephone interactions.

Listen To Your Audience

Make sure you take the time to listen to your audience too. Perhaps one issue has cropped up a few times, or you put out a survey and ask what can be improved. Make sure you actually make the changes they are suggesting! You don’t have to change everything based on a small number of issues, but showing that you’ve paid attention to your audience will create more of a loyalty with them.

The thing is, you don’t just create fans with your product or service, like many people believe. You could have a great product, for instance, but if the rest of your business is off, it’s unlikely people will come back. The key is making them feel good about the entire experience. That’s how you create fans that keep on coming back.

If you’re just starting out with your freelance writing business this pack will give you everything you need to be successful.

Here's A Trick To Help You Get Through To The Busiest People

Please enjoy this guest post.

Hate it when you can’t get through to someone you really want to connect with in business?

They don’t return your phone calls, your emails go unanswered?

“Here’s a trick that I learned from my kids about communicating with even the busiest people,” says Ivan Misner Ph.D., a leading networking expert who’s been called ‘The Father of Modern Networking’ by CNN.

Dr. Misner holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and as the Co-Founder of the BNI Charitable Foundation he was recently named “Humanitarian of the Year” by the Red Cross.

“No one is harder to reach than a teenager who just moved out of their parents’ house,” jokes Ivan, who is the author of the just-released second edition of Networking Like A Pro (Entrepreneur Press). “To get through to them I had to get a little crafty. This same technique applies in business too. Here’s how it works . . .”

Here’s What My Kids Taught Me About Getting Through To The Busiest People In Business . . .

• “After my three kids moved out of the house, I quickly realized that our avenues of communication were no longer working. My eldest daughter did not respond to emails and phone calls, but when I texted her, immediate response. My second daughter wouldn’t use email, never used the phone, and thought texting was old school. Instead, she communicated via whatsapp. I downloaded the app, immediate response.

• “Now, my son didn’t use email, or phone, didn’t text and refused to use whatsapp – but I knew he was big into online gaming and communicated with his friends via a gaming platform called STEAM. As crazy as it sounds, I downloaded the app, purchased a game, and sent him messages through the platform. Boom. Immediate response."

The business networking lesson? “Rather than try to get people to move to your preferred communication platform, go to theirs!” explains Ivan Misner, Founder of BNI.com, the world’s largest networking organization.

• “When you meet a valuable connection in business, ask them how they prefer to be communicated with and use it,” says Ivan. “This will help you get through to the important and powerful people that can move your business forward. Don’t be afraid of using new and unfamiliar apps – just go wherever they are.”

3 Things a Freelance Writer Needs To Worry About

The life of a freelance writer can be strange. You are likely to see yourself as part-business, part-individual, and you have to treat yourself as a little of both at all times. Because of the business side of things, it means that you often need to concern yourself with business affairs and creative.

The more you pay attention to these details the more likely you'll be able to build your writing career into exactly what you want it to be. You'll see the success you are looking for all by just changing your perspective a little. Let’s look at some of the business concerns a writer should be aware of.

Security

As with any business, you need to make sure that you are focused on the security of your freelance writing career - and that means approaching it in the same serious way as any business. For instance, you might want to make sure your computer systems are as well protected as possible, by using an IT security company or doing it yourself.

You should also protect your business premises - which could be your home - so that you feel even safer. Be sure your insurance policy is updated.

Also, put a little money away each month to help tide you over during slow months. Freelancing is feast or famine. One month you may be making big money, and then the next you may hear crickets. Be sure you're ready for the slow times.

Marketing

You need to make sure that you are enticing people to buy your skill, writing, with marketing. Marketing an individual is of course a little different to marketing a company, but in principle they are ultimately the same.

You need to advertise your best qualities and downplay others which are not so good, all while ensuring that you are focusing on drawing in the right kind of people. Believe it or not, you have a demographic, and you need to make sure that you are aware of what that demographic is. The more aware of that kind of thing that you are, the more likely you can arrange your marketing so that it really draws in the people who care.

First, find a niche.

Next, build a website.

Finally, build a social media following.

Budgeting

Again, you have incomings and outgoings like any other business, and you need to make sure that you are budgeting yourself properly.  Be sure to budget and to keep records of everything you take in or spend for tax purposes. Also, keeping track of what you spend will help you to better determine your rates. I keep all of these figures in an Excel spreadsheet and make a new one each year.

Need help getting clients and starting your business? I share how I make $100 to $200 an hour in my book The Fluff-Free Freelance Writing Master Course: The only course that gives you concrete, actionable information to building a successful freelance business without any fluff.

I Won The Writer's Awards' Top Author Websites for 2017

What an amazing way to start the new year! This site has won a top spot in the The Writer's Awards' Top Author Websites for 2017. This alinabradford.com was chosen as one of the top 45 out of thousands of websites that were nominated.

Here's what the group of volunteer writers that started the contest had to say:

Here's the list of everyone who won. Click to move through the slideshow.

via Commaful

Free Writing Workshop: The No-Fluff Workshop

Okay everybody! Super excited! Starting

January

8th, I'll be having a free week-long workshop for all the members of my

No-Fluff Freelance Writing Group

. All you need to do is join the group, grab a copy of my my book

The Fluff-Free Freelance Writing Master Course

(the ebook or paperback works great) and follow along here: 

https://www.facebook.com/events/1825341277547804/

The No-Fluff Workshop will cover:

• Day One: Easy tips on how to find high-paying freelance jobs.

• Day Two: Portfolio tips to help you look more professional.

• Day Three: Tips on creating a resume, even if you don't have any writing experience.

• Day Four: Hook potential clients with your opening email.

• Day Five: A look at my day. An exclusive behind-the-scenes look at my life as a freelance writer and some tips for replicating my success.

No Up-Sale, Promise!

Don't worry! I won't try to up-sale you to buy a course or anything. This is free for all members because I want to help you guys create a freelance career that you love and that makes you big bucks in 2018. Let's start the New Year's off right!

Are You In?

If so, comment below and let me know! Also, leave any questions you would like for me to answer during the workshop.

The 12 Steps to Becoming a Freelance Writer

how to get writing clips

Not sure how to start your new career as a freelance writer? In my book, The Fluff-Free Freelance Writing Master Course, I go over how to become a freelance writer in detail. I thought I'd do a post, though, on what steps to take, without the detail, so you can get quick overview of how to get started.

1. Write posts on all of your favorite topics. You'll need at least three. Make sure they range between 500 and 1,000 words.

2. Edit the posts until they are easy to read, spelled correctly and make sense.

3. Post the articles on your own blog, LinkedIn or Medium. Congrats! You're a writer. Now, time to get some clients.

4. Choose a niche, or two or three. Here's how.

5. Create a resume. You may not have any publishing credits to list, so be sure to highlight any work experience that pertains to your niche. Also highlight things like typing speed, skills like being able to use Word and WordPress, turn-around speed, knowledge of SEO and anything else writing related.

6. Start applying to ads looking for freelance writers in your niches. I post ads in my Facebook group to get you started and here are some other great places to look.

7. Set up a business PayPal account. You may have heard horror stories, but PayPal is the easiest way I've found to take payments from all over the world.

8. Plan for taxes. I run as a sole proprietor and use my name as my business name. If you want to use another name you'll need to register your business with the IRS. Either way, you'll also need to get an EIN assignment.

9. As you garner more clips, be sure to save the links in an online portfolio that you can send potential clients to. I recommend creating your own site and posting your portfolio on the site. Here are some tips for making your website wow.

10. Ask for referrals. Get clients to refer you to friends, business contacts and more to get new business.

11. Get testimonials. After a project, ask your client to write you a testimonial and send it to you as an email. These testimonials can be used on your business' website to draw in more clients and make you look super professional.

12. Be active in your community. Get out of the house and get involved in local charities and events. When people ask what you do for a living, tell them you're a freelance writer. Word will get around that you're a local writer and jobs will start coming to you. (Plus, helping others is a good thing!)

Need more help? Grab a copy of my book, The Fluff-Free Freelance Writing Master Course.

I'm a Writer That's Lost 100 Pounds

Not so long ago I weighed myself and almost fell on the floor crying. 365 pounds? How could that be? When did this happen?

I had to do something, but I thought getting healthy was impossible since I'm a writer and literally sit all day at the computer. While my fingers got a workout, the rest of me sure as hell didn't.

I needed to do something, though.

After one year, I have lost over 100 pounds. Here's how I did it.

lose weight for writers

I thought I was fat when I wasn't

I started out my body hatred at 150 pounds, size 12 and age 13. People told me I needed to lose weight. No boy would like me if I didn't lose 50 pounds.  I had a 28-inch waist, 32-inch hips and 35-inch chest. I was toned. I was fit. I had huge muscles. My calves and thighs were like granite.

I thought I was a glob of lard.

Looking back now, I realize I wasn't fat. I went down a self-destructive road that led me to be 365 pounds. I wasn't fat, but I got there by believing I was. It's amazing what a poor self image can do to you.

Plus size models get a bad rap. I wish I had seen size 12 models back then. I would have believed that I could be curvy, strong and healthy and there wasn't anything wrong with that. I'm so glad girls today have better role models.

The Guidelines

I've written hundreds of health articles in my career, so I know a lot about what you should do and what you shouldn't do to lose weight. I broke everything I've learned over the years down into some simple guidelines that are working for me. I'll go over them.

By the way, this is just what worked for me. I am not a medical professional and you should always consult a doctor before trying to lose weight.

Here's what I learned.

You're okay, I'm okay

It's okay to have fat on your body. That doesn't make you a bad person! You have fat, you aren't fat.

There are no bad foods

Eating "fattening" foods is okay, as long as you make sure to stay in your calorie range-ish. I used MyFitnessPal app (it's free!) to figure out how many calories I need for my height, weight and activity level.

Surprisingly, I wasn't eating enough on most days. Uhh, what? Lol! Apparently my body was in starvation mode and was storing fat like it was the apocalypse. Sigh. I would go off on benders because I was so hungry and my body packed it away like a bear getting ready for winter.

Don't skip meals

If you can't eat a healthy meal, guzzle a yogurt smoothie (they come prepackaged and have active cultures, which is good for the tummy) or a bottle of 100% juice/vegetable smoothie (no sugar added!).

Pig out on veggies and fruit

You can't go wrong filling up on these. Find your faves and stock up. I'm a glutton for berries, so I stocked up on grapes, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries while they were in season.

Soda... only sometimes

Cut back on the soda and replace it with black coffee. No sugar and you'll still get the much needed caffeine!

Get off your rump

Find projects that make you get up and move. This one is a little harder, but it's fun if you make a game of it like I did with my laundry.

Food is f-ing delicious

Don't deprive yourself, just don't go back for seconds! Savor it, go slow and keep a close watch on your tummy. When it feels full, stop eating.

Change your sitting arrangement

I switched out my office chair for a yoga ball and stand. I bounce up and down on it while I'm thinking. My butt looks great!

You can't get better if you're depressed

I hate pills, but sometimes you've got to suck it up and take medicine to make you better. I'd tried everything to overcome my OCD, depression and panic attacks naturally. I finally had to admit I needed help. I'm on Prozac today and I'm not ashamed of taking care of my mental health. I'm no longer eating to make myself feel better and I'm happy. That's a win on its own!

Get up and play

When your kids want to have a dance party, have a dance party with them. When the dog wants to play. Play! Having fun doesn't feel like work, but it does burn calories and build muscle.

Be positive

This is going to sound a little woo-woo, but being positive is a huge key to my success. Everyday before I get in the shower I say, "You're getting thinner every day," or "You're getting healthier every day." Hey, it works! You can't lose weight if you're down on yourself.

One bad day (or two!) doesn't mean anything

You're human. You have cravings. Who cares. You do you, boo.

What this all means

I think you may be sensing a pattern here. My main mantra was, "Be good to yourself." When you start to take care of your body and mind like you would the loved ones in your life, changes start to happen.

I may not be bikini ready, but I'm healthier and feel like a new person. I can breath! I can walk into the grocery store without wheezing! You can see my neck muscles and collarbone! My back doesn't hurt all the time! I can see a light at the end of the tunnel and it's working.

Avoiding and Dealing with Writer's Block

Please enjoy this guest post by Marie Miguel.

A freelance writer who can't put out words simply doesn't earn. Another reality is that editors and clients typically rely on you to meet deadlines, and a writer who doesn't meet due dates can delay the progress of an entire project. Yet some days, as Neil Gaiman says, the blank piece of paper wins, and there's little you can do about it. What's worse is that you might think things are progressing even if at a painfully grinding pace, only to realize the next day that you've produced nothing but insipid drivel. While every writer has their own approach and flow, the good news is that certain things do help most people overcome writer's block, most of the time.

Organize your Working Life

Even if working from home, it's essential to have your own office or space where you can keep distractions to a minimum while surrounding yourself with everything you need. Having a defined starting time each day and some kind of timetable can be immensely useful in the long run. This primes you to work when you have to instead of procrastinating. Many writers find it useful to work an hour or two as soon as they wake up. At this point in the day, your conscious and unconscious mind will work together most effectively, often allowing you to circumvent sticking points with less effort.

Locate any Emotional Blocks

Particularly when writing fiction, a writer often comes up against a truth they'd prefer not to face, or a character trait they'd prefer not to recognize. This is normal. The tricky part can be that our minds shy away from these points to the extent that we often don't know what's bothering us.

Stepping back and practicing mindfulness may help in identifying what's holding us back and in learning how to confront it. After all, writing is often an exercise of self-discovery, which is why many people find it useful to keep a journal. If you can't surmount this hurdle on your own, getting an outside perspective is sometimes the quickest way to get back in the saddle. Sometimes, we’re afraid, perhaps of receiving bad feedback or not putting out something quite as perfect as we imagined. At other times, our mental picture of what we want is still too inchoate to do much with. These are all examples of our feelings getting in the way of our work.

Take a Break, Do Something Unusual

“A change is as good as a holiday.” Well, whoever said that either has fantastic changes or lousy holidays, but the principle is sound. If you're unable to produce any output, taking the day off might be just what you need. Visiting friends, going for a nature walk or doing anything that might inspire you is good. Breaking your routine is like rebooting a computer and can help you get out of a rut.

Alternatively, admin and marketing are rarely exciting, but need to be done anyway. If you can't be productive in the way you'd like, you might as well be productive in the ways you can.

Keep at It Anyway

This may seem like the most pointless suggestion possible while you're staring at a blank screen and an immobile cursor stubbornly blinking at you. Still, you can't edit anything. Tapping out random stream-of-consciousness sentences, making notes or spending some time planning isn't actually wasted effort. It's a warm-up exercise. Even if you just spend some time sitting in front of the keyboard without resorting to Facebook or cat videos to cure your boredom, the random thoughts passing through your head will often coalesce into an avenue you can follow to get unstuck.

Writers! This Multitasking Tip will Make You More Productive

Okay, I have a bad habit of sitting on my bum all day. I mean, I'm a writer, so it's hard not to. I sit until I finish my article, or my blog post, or my whole day's worth of work. Research shows, though, that taking regular breaks make people more productive. Also, sitting all day can make you sick. I know it's given me a plumpness never seen before on this body! So, I've found one multitasking solution that gets me up and makes me more productive. You'll find this tip particularly helpful if you are a work-at-home mom or dad.

work at home

Set a timer!

You've heard this one before, I'm sure, but my tip has a twist. Be sure your timer is connected to something important. For example, before I start a work project, I throw a load of laundry in the washer. When the timer goes off, I make myself get up and put the laundry in the dryer. When the dryer buzzer goes off, I get up and put the laundry away. Then, I start the whole process over again.

multitasking for writers

This works with cooking, too, if you're a home chef. After you put food in the oven, sit down and start a task. When the oven timer goes off, get up and check your dish.

This way, I get stuff done around the house, plus I give my mind a break and give my body a break from sitting.

Do you have any tips for getting up out of the office chair?

A Couple Things Your Small Business Needs in Its Marketing Arsenal

As a small business, you need to market yourself as frequently and as fervently as you can. If you don't, no one else will! So, sell your business by packing its marketing arsenal full of things that will help it to both reach consumers and entice them. Here are a couple tips.

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Knowledge on your part

Even if you are not your business’s marketing manager or even in its specific marketing team, you should still have knowledge on the subject. 

To obtain this marketing knowledge, consider taking accredited online MBA programs without GMAT that teach of the marketing basics. By taking such a course you wouldn’t have to bend your schedule too heavily to accommodate it as it is taken 100% online, plus you wouldn't have to go through the very time consuming GMAT entry test to obtain entry onto it in the first place.

And, once on the course you would be able to learn all the marketing knowledge needed to provide you with a strong understanding on the subject; you can then use that knowledge to prove your business with a strong marketing backbone.

A strong online presence

Something else that your business needs to be strong with is its online presence. Simply, a poor online presence can tank your business, and a strong one can bring in clients or customers by the dozens. 

To ensure that your business’s online presence is strong, you need to ensure that its online consumer reaching medium, its website, is up and active at all times. This doesn't mean just during the day, either. This means 24/7, 7 days a week.

When it comes to keeping your site up, you should enlist the help of what is known as UptimeRobot. What this ‘robot’ does is watch your website fervently at all times, and if it were to ever notice an instance of it crashing or being down it would notify you right away via email. Your job would then be to get the site up again before any potential customers may try, and fail, to log onto it.

As a small business, your business’s marketing procedures need to be as strong and as hardworking as they can in order to suffice for the lack of exposure it has compared to other, bigger businesses. So, make sure to pack that marketing arsenal full of the hints and tips love!

3 Mistakes All New Freelance Writers Make

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You’ve taken the leap and made the decision that could change your life: you’re going to try and make a go of a career as a freelance writer. Getting to this point often takes hours of worry, stress, and dedication to your art-- surely everything after this point is relatively easy by comparison?

Sadly not; in fact, when you’ve made the decision to be a freelance writer, the work is just beginning. Now you have to try and make your choice a viable opportunity. You’ve never done this before, so it’s inevitable that you’ll make some mistakes along the way-- isn’t it?

Perhaps not. Perhaps you can avoid the all-too-common “new freelance writer” mistakes, and launch your career with a bang. If this sounds appealing to you, then read on for the errors you’re going to want to avoid as you embark on this new chapter in your life…

Common Error: Unclear Briefs

When you pitch a brief, it is far safer to give too much information than not enough. Editors can spot a new freelancer from miles away due to the length of their pitches. A seasoned writer knows that editors want detail; they want facts, statistics, and a clear insight into why that writer is the perfect fit to write the piece they are pitching.

A pitch should be at least 200 words, contain at least two links to sources you wish to quote, and a brief background about you as a person. This helps the editor to know that you have the right idea, the evidence to back it up, and are exactly the correct writer for the piece.

Common Error: Not Taking The Financial Side Seriously

When you decide to try to make it as a freelance writer, you have to approach the entire task as you would when starting a business. You have to ensure that you tick all the bureaucratic boxes, register your company via the likes of yourcompanyformations.co.uk (if you're in the UK) or accredited registers (if you're in the US) and be aware of your tax obligations.

When you’re just getting started in the writing industry, going through all of the above feels rather overwhelming. It’s also demands time that you feel would be better spent crafting your latest pitch. However, if you neglect the finances, you could find yourself in a lot of trouble in the future. Put good practices in place at the beginning of your journey, so you can establish good habits.

Common Error: Not Finding Your Own Style

When you’re trying to write professionally, you will likely read a lot of work produced by other people. This is generally good; it’s research, helping to shape the way you write… but it is possible to go too far.

It’s vital that you define your own style; something that is unique to you, and makes any words you produce instantly recognizable. If you (sometimes unwittingly) copy another’s style, or write with a dull “boilerplate” style, then you may struggle to convince clients and editors as to why you specifically are worth commissioning. There’s a great guide to finding your own writing style at oxbridgeediting.co.uk, so read through and take the points to heart.

In Conclusion

If you can avoid the mistakes as mentioned above, you can be sure to get your writing career off to a flying start.

My book shows you how to avoid new freelancer foul-ups and guides you step-by-step. Get it here: The Fluff-Free Freelance Writing Master Course: The only course that gives you concrete, actionable information to building a successful freelance business without any fluff.

Don't Let A Poor Online Presence Tank Your Freelance Business!

When it comes to trying to survive in the cutthroat world of freelancing, it pays to be able to reach as many people as possible. Because of this, the internet could not be more important to your overall success.

Sadly, far too often promising freelancers end up failing simply because they didn't fully understand how to use the internet to their advantage properly. However, just because something can be a challenge doesn't make it impossible. If you really want your career as a freelancer to be successful, then you've got to be able to create the best possible online presence. Here are a few simple and easy ways that you can do just that.

Fix your terrible web design

The biggest issue that many small or independent businesses have when it comes to their online presence is that their websites are often just terrible. There are plenty of things that can ruin a customer's experience of your website.

It could be that it's impossible or confusing to navigate, or that the functionality of the site is pretty broken, or it could simply be that it's incredibly ugly. The fact is that you need to think carefully about exactly what about your website needs improvement. One of the best ways to be sure that your website is always up to scratch is to use one of the many website builders available online.

Sites like https://WebsiteBuilders.com can help you compare different services to figure out which is right for you. Creating a website that people actually want to visit is the first step in building an online brand that people care about.   

Start using social media properly

It's become pretty clear over the last few years that not only is social media not going away, it's also an incredibly useful method of engaging with customers. However, far too many freelancers and businesses end up using it totally wrong.

You can't just fill your social media pages with ads and promotions and expect results. You need to create an identity online that people will actually want to follow and share. Otherwise, you're just going to be wasting your time with stuff that your customers simply don't care about.

Give your customers something to engage with

Customers don't want to be showered with advertising and promotions anymore. What they really want is content that they can actively engage in. This means that you have to produce things that will connect with customers on an intellectual or emotional level.

Blog posts are one of the very best ways to do just that since you're going to be able to give customers a peek into the human side of your business that they might not be aware of. That kind of thing can create a remarkable emotional connection that otherwise wouldn't be possible.

Of course, don't assume that your business can survive based purely on your online presence alone. You still need to think about things like connecting with customers in person, attending business and trade events, and focusing on high calibre customer service. Running any kind of successful business is a matter of being able to keep things as balanced as possible as much as you can.