As a journalist, I sometimes write columns and blogs that people don’t agree with. Sometimes I feel so lambasted when people leave comments about what I’ve written that I literally can’t read them. I have a pretty tough skin, and I am aware that I’m not always right—but still, sometimes I get angry and hurt.

My goal in writing something controversial is to never regret writing it. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, and I try to be as explicative as I can when I know I’m writing about a touchy topic. I don’t have all the answers to everything, but I know that posing the question to readers is usually the most important thing.

I feel really good when something I have written gets a ton of comments and shares—even if most of them are from people who completely disagree with what I have said. That’s what blogging is all about! Creating a dialogue with my ideas is the ultimate goal, whether I am praised or shunned. It’s good to have strong opinions, and having an outlet to share them is a wonderful thing.

I bring this up because of the recent TIME magazine cover with the young mother breastfeeding her 3-year-old son. You’ve probably heard about it as bloggers and columnists and mothers around the world are speaking out about it. And most of the stuff I have read is not praise.

This is most definitely a case where a photo is worth 1,000 words. And from now on, photographer Martin Schoeller is going to be known as the photographer who took the controversial cover photo for TIME magazine where Jamie Lynne Grumet, a gorgeous California mom, is breastfeeding her son who is standing on a chair.

“When you think of breast-feeding, you think of mothers holding their children, which was impossible with some of these older kids,” Schoeller said in an interview on TIME.com. “I liked the idea of having the kids standing up to underline the point that this was an uncommon situation.” —Time.com

Breastfeeding is a controversial topic in the United States. It’s much less so in other nations. Here’s the kicker—the article doesn’t even feature Jamie Lynne Grumet. It’s a piece written by Time staff writer Kate Pickert about Dr. William (Bill) Sears and his book about attachment parenting.

TIME knew exactly the effect this cover would have on the nation and it succeeded beautifully. News shows are all over it, Twitter is abuzz and it’s the top story in every paper. Mothers verses mothers, once again. Well played, TIME, this will surely be one of the best selling issues of the year. —TheHuffingtonPost.com

Here are some snippets from other news outlets about the cover photo:

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Signage, stationary and forms, oh my! Businesses can easily create enough visual material to fill up an ark. There’s a logo, of course, and everything it gets applied to, such as: brochures, catalogs, websites, print and e-newsletters, Facebook pages, ads, uniforms, vehicle graphics, and more.

When a company is successful, it grows and expands. As it moves from infancy to adulthood, its visual armaments grow as well. One location becomes three, then twenty and so on. Each one brings with it more of everything. More signs. More stationery. More forms. This can avalanche out of control. Hopefully, someone is keeping an eye on things. But, that’s often not quite the case.

Enter the design audit. “Audit” might be a word that puts the fear of the taxman into you, but don’t sweat it. This kind of audit is a good thing. And it’s an opportunity for freelance designers to expand their service offering. Continue Reading

I got a telephone call today at the office from the wife of a certified public accountant. She was pitching me on a story that her husband had just written about the benefits of creating an LLC versus an S-Corp. I listened politely, then told her why I couldn’t run her husband’s obviously wonderful story.

I can’t tell you the number of times I get pitches that we would never publish—not because it’s a bad idea but because it just doesn’t fit in the pattern we have already created.

The magazine I edit is a regional publication that has a pretty narrow focus. We only publish stories that fall within our already established sections. I can’t tell you the number of times I get pitches that we would never publish—not because it’s a bad idea but because it just doesn’t fit in the pattern we have already created.

I often get advance copies of novels and CDs from publishers, authors, and musicians, asking us to please consider reviewing them in our magazine. We have never, in the six years we have been in print, reviewed a book or CD. Never. Yet I keep getting these lovely gifts in the mail on a monthly basis. And I always feel badly—these publishers and public relations people are clearly wasting money on sending me stuff.

In the case of this lovely woman who called me on the phone, I explained to her that we currently don’t have a place in the magazine where such a feature would appear and that we decide upon our editorial calendar 8 months to a year in advance. She proceeded to tell me how it would be a benefit to our readers. I didn’t argue that point—it very well might—but I can’t reinvent the wheel. I suggested that she contact the local daily and weekly newspaper, as they have much more flexibility to publish articles than I do.

Our company also does not accept unsolicited manuscripts—but I didn’t feel like I needed to get into that with her. She was clearly not used to pitching story ideas to the media.

What I wanted to tell her was that if she was going to pitch people her husband’s already-written story, to take a look at some back issues of said publications to see if it’s a good fit or not. If she had looked at ours, she would have seen that we don’t publish stories of that nature. I also wanted to tell her to not introduce herself as the wife of the CPA who wrote this wonderful article that I should publish in our magazine. It’s unprofessional—and of COURSE she thinks it’s a great article…her husband wrote it! Continue Reading

Many freelancers work out of the house. But there are situations in which at least having access to office space is important: Maybe you need a place to meet with clients. Maybe you need a place where there aren’t kids demanding attention. Maybe you just need a safe place to keep gear that pets can’t get at. Sure, for many of these purposes, you can just head to your local coffee shop. But it’s worth considering office space, especially if you can get it inexpensively.

Shared office space, whether we’re talking about a coworking space, a conference room you can rent, or even just a cubicle that you can use in a bigger office, can make a lot of sense for freelancers, especially considering you can get a lot out of a small space. Continue Reading

Networking is more than just attending events and swapping business cards. Freelancers, in particular, can find fellow collaborators, future partners, prospective clients, and a tribe of fellow freelancers when they network. Networking is about building relationships and like all relationships it takes trust and personal contact built over time.

1. Do a head check first and look inward.

The first relationship to consider before you jump into networking is the one you have with yourself. Can you deliver commitments and handle setbacks in a professional way? Do you recover quickly when things don’t go your way? Do you truly enjoy your work? You’ll need to get comfortable with your lifestyle as a freelancer to have the right interactions with others. Learn how to lead a more relaxed freelance lifestyle and ask yourself if you should really be freelancing.

A more appropriate self-image for a freelancer is someone who is self-employed. Remember, you are, in fact, a business owner– with all the perks and headaches.

Establishing your self-identity (and confidence) as a freelancer sometimes takes time and practice. The term “freelancer” often has negative connotations that many people new to the business can’t shake. Leaving a well-established career and shifting into being a free agent can be both an ego boost and ego deflator.

A more appropriate self-image for a freelancer is someone who is self-employed. Remember, you are, in fact, a business owner– with all the perks and headaches. For one thing, you have to wear a lot of hats. Not only are you a professional in your field, but you are also a project manager, a customer service rep, a marketer, a sales agent, a secretary, and an accountant. Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking freelancing is an easy life.

So, the next time you present yourself to others, hold your head high, and remember that you are a professional. If you treat yourself with respect, the rule of karma will follow you into that room when you present yourself to others and network. Continue Reading

School is coming to an end for another year, and many students will be participating in internships for the summer. An internship can be a real win-win situation—the hirer (you) gets low cost or even free help while the intern gains valuable work experience.

I did a number of internships in my college days. I’ve also managed interns in my professional days. When I worked for a small, post production company in Boston, we had an intern in our office every day of the week. They helped us with tasks such as blacking out tapes, burning DVDs and videotapes for our clients, assisted in shooting projects, and brought a great, young energy into the office.

What did they get out of it? They got to use state-of-the-art professional shooting and editing equipment for free. Many of these students couldn’t even get their hands on stuff this awesome at their colleges. Plus, they were encouraged to create their own projects when the equipment was free, which happened often since we were such a small shop.

In graduate school I was an intern at both PRWeek and Inc.com—two business publications where I learned a tremendous amount. The best part of going to grad school was that it allowed me to take advantage of some stellar internship opportunities.

I know I have been lucky, especially when I read about interns who are worked to the bone and aren’t learning much. This recent article in The New York Times shares some horror stories.

Many students who are graduating are having a tough time finding work, and thus are turning to unpaid internships in the hopes it will help their resumes. Many are finding that the internships aren’t all they’re cracked up to be—that they’re working 12 hour days doing menial tasks like grabbing lunch and cleaning, which, if the internship is unpaid, is actually against the law. Continue Reading

Remember the good old days before 2008, when freelance writing gigs seemed to just fall out of the trees at you? It’s been a long slog through a tough economy since then, and there’s still no end in sight.

But here’s the thing: you are free to ignore the bad economy and continue to earn a good living.

How do I know? I’ve earned more as a freelance writer each year since 2006. That’s right — straight through the downturn.

While the overall freelance writing market may have shrunk in the crummy economy, if you are that rare freelance writer who is aggressively markets your business, you can still find plenty of work. In the great big world of all freelance writing assignments, there’s enough work left in there for one little ol’ you.

If you know where to look.

How can you use your skills to write your way to a good income despite the lousy economy? Here are my five best strategies: Continue Reading

Once a week, we feature a fantastic freelance-themed comic from the talented N.C. Winters. Why not also take a look at our comic archive? Continue Reading

Imagine a quiet office space. There are only a few people around – not enough to distract you, but enough to ensure that you don’t feel isolated from the world. Mostly they are freelancers, typing away at their computers.

You like the music playing in the background because it is almost like someone copied your own playlist. The coffee is delicious, there’s plenty of food to choose from, the view is not bad at all…And the best part? The rent you pay is the price of the things you eat and drink.

It sounds good, doesn’t it? I’ve just described at least three of my favorite coffee shops. You might think that working in coffee shops is an obvious choice, albeit not a very convenient one. After all, several other FreelanceSwitch writers made pretty good cases about why libraries make better offices than coffee shops or why co-working spaces are the best office alternatives. But what if there aren’t any co-working spaces near where you live? And most libraries don’t really allow you to eat or drink something around their computers.

So what’s a freelancer to do? Sure, most freelancers, including me, run home offices. But working in one place for a long time decreases productivity, creativity and frankly, it gets boring and lonely.

So every time I need a change of scenery, I take my stuff and go to one of my favorite coffee shops. And if you choose correctly, they can make the most fun and positive office substitutes. Whether you don’t feel comfortable in libraries or you don’t live near co-working spaces (or just don’t want to pay $25 or more for them), here is a guide to what to look for in coffee shops so that they provide a satisfactory office experience: Continue Reading

Freelancers have to step outside their comfort zone for a number of reasons. You might be offered a collaborative project with a larger team than you are used to working with, or asked to take on a far bigger project than you would usually, or you want to create a side project, such as writing a book or launching a new enterprise.

Although you are excited about the new opportunity, it can be stressful, even scary, thinking about the implications if something goes wrong, but that shouldn’t put you off taking the plunge.

So what can you do to get a handle on problems that could derail your project, while keeping the risks in perspective?

How will you not let fear get in the way of enjoying your new challenge? How will you plan ahead before you go charging in, full of enthusiasm, only to get tripped up by something unforeseen?

What you need is a bit of basic risk management. Continue Reading

I’ve got a lot going on in my life right now. I’m on deadline for our biggest magazine issue of the year, grades are due for the college class I teach, I’m in two weddings this summer, my husband is interviewing for a new job, we may have to move for husband’s new job, and we’re expecting our first child at the end of July. Oh, and my house is a mess, my lawn needs to be mowed, and I don’t have a free weekend off until the baby arrives.

Does your life sound anything like mine? I bet, for many of you, it does.

Summertime is supposed to be fun, leisurely, carefree. But every time I flip the calendar page on May, my life turns to chaos. There is so much going on during the warm summer months that it’s hard to do it all. And even when you do say no, it’s easy to get stressed out. And boy, am I stressed out right now!

Stress in vast quantities and for long periods of time is not good for our bodies or our minds. That’s why, even though I have so much stuff to do, I’m taking a week off in June for vacation. I have to. If I don’t, I know myself—I’ll get sick.

But what do you do when you can’t take a vacation right away and a day at the spa is just too expensive? Here are some tips on how to relax to keep yourself on track and on task: Continue Reading

If you’re a freelancer or if you sell a product online, you probably use email to find new prospects. Even in the age of Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, email remains an excellent way to generate serious sales online. You’re probably fully leveraging your copywriting skills already to write great emails.

Here are four tips to make cold-calling via email more efficient:

Find Email Adresses with Rapportive

Find the email address of anyone using Rapportive — even that elusive CEO.

Many a time, you’d want to pitch the person occupying the highest position in an organization’s hierarchy. but the problem is you know only his name and not his email address. You might try Googling, but that doesn’t always work. Some websites even ask for money to reveal email addresses of CEOs and the like.

Here’s a quick tip to guess and verify anyone’s email address using Rapportive. Rapportive is like the Gmail People Widget on steroids. Once you type an email address in the ‘To’ field of the compose window, Rapportive immediately fetches information about that person from LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, then puts those details in Gmail’s sidebar.

If you find someone by the name Steve Cook but you don’t know his email address, you can guess it by trying these first name + last name combinations: steve@domain.com, cook@domain.com, stevec@domain.com, scook@domain.com, sc@domain.com. Type these in the ‘To’ field, and Rapportive will display appropriate details for only one of these email addresses and for the rest, only a gray avatar will be shown.

You can then conclude that the address for which relevant information was fetched is the right address, and discard the rest. The email you should be pitching to is this email address.

Pretty cool, isn’t it? Let’s say you’re pitching some startup founders from AngelList. You’ll find names of the founders there, but not their email addresses. In that case, you can use Rapportive to verify their email addresses.

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