Making Side Projects Work for You
In his book, My Startup Life, Ben Casnocha offers a 30-day plan for becoming a better entrepreneur. I’m not going to rehash Ben’s plan – you’re better off reading the book than hearing about it from me. But I am going to elaborate on the task he assigns for Day 28:
Have multiple side projects going. Diversify your portfolio of interests and activities.
This begs the question: What is a side project?
I like to define them as projects that we usually aren’t paid for and are done in our non-work hours. Here are three examples:
Questions & Answers: How to Describe What You Do
When it comes to the questions we’re asked, “What do you do?” is at the top of the list. There are times when the answer is best delivered in the form of a catchy little “elevator speech.”
And then there are times when a longer answer is needed.
For example, a prospect may be visiting your website. Although he loves your site’s design and the pieces in your portfolio, he just can’t figure out what you do. So he clickety-hops away, never to be seen again.
Although they seem to be an anathema to many designers, photographers, and other visual types, nothing beats words when it comes to explaining what you do. I like the Question/Answer format that’s commonly used on website FAQ pages. It’s simple, direct, and easily customizable. Continue Reading
Planning for Next Year: Your Professional Development Plan
We’ve reached the end of our series on New Year’s Planning. The previous three articles covered:
Now we’re going to talk about you. Specifically, about making you into a smarter business person. Here, my rule of thumb is that it’s not enough to be in business. You must also be a student of business.
Planning for Next Year: Client Acquisition
This is the third of four articles on New Year’s Planning. The previous two articles covered:
- Next year’s tax bill. For many freelancers, this bill can be a nasty surprise. But it doesn’t have to be. The trick is to get prepared now. Have you met with your accountant and started setting aside money for your taxes? If not, please do so!
- Next year’s budget. Here, we looked at budgeting as an exercise in goal-setting with numbers.
In the course of doing your budget, you projected next year’s gross income. Nice looking number, isn’t it? Now it’s time to turn it into reality. The first is step is to do some client acquisition planning. I prefer to limit my client acquisition plan to one page – no sense in writing War and Peace when I don’t have to.
Budgeting for Next Year
In my previous New Year’s Planning article, I talked about getting ready for tax time. Now that we have that fun subject out of the way, let’s look at your 2009 budget.
For many creatives, “budget” is one of “Don’t Go There” words. But we’re going there, and I promise that it will be a worthwhile experience.
In this article, we’re going to prepare a hypothetical income statement for your business. And the first question we’ll address is a fun one: How much revenue do you plan to generate next year? Write that number down. Now we’re going to give it a name: Projected Gross Income.
Planning for Next Year’s Tax Bill
Since we’re closing in on 2009, it’s time to start doing some New Year’s Planning.
The first item on your agenda should be something that we all love to deal with – taxes. If you haven’t done so by now, make an appointment with your tax accountant so you can get ready for April 15, or whatever the magic day is in your country.
Here’s what to take to your accountant:
Holding Yourself Accountable, Part Four
In this article, I’m going to talk about how you can hold yourself accountable on a yearly basis. The first three articles in this series covered:
- Daily accountability. At the start of each workday, you made a list of things you absolutely had to accomplish. At the day’s end, you asked yourself what you did to make money and what you did to bring in business.
- Weekly accountability. At the end of your work week, you wrote a review and evaluation of how things went. You also planned the following week, with special attention paid to the tasks involved in doing the work for which you are paid, getting more of it, and running your business.
- Monthly accountability. On the daily and weekly level, you were working in the world of words. For your monthly accountability, the focus shifted to numbers, specifically, your profit and loss statement as compared to your budget and to the previous year. You also looked at your cash flow and bank balances, and you forecasted your revenues and expenses.
Holding Yourself Accountable, Part Three
In this article, I’m going to talk about how you can hold yourself accountable on a monthly basis. The first two articles in this series covered:
The focus of the first two articles was on things that you can do with words – evaluating your day and your week. When we move up to the monthly level, the focus shifts to numbers. Which means that it’s time to talk about accounting software and your business. Yes, I know that this is a sore spot for many creatives. It was for me for many years, but I got over it.
Holding Yourself Accountable, Part Two
In this article, I’m going to talk about how you can hold yourself accountable on a weekly basis. Before we get started, why not open the first article on daily accountability in a separate browser window.
Now that you have that first article open, here’s an idea that will help you on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. You generate a lot of ideas. They don’t stop coming when you’re marching through the day. And they certainly don’t take time off for evenings and weekends.
Freelancing 911: Turn Your Business Around with Warm Calls and E-mails
This past July, I outlined a five-step process that I’m using to turn my business around.
My July article covered cold calls and e-mails, and I suggest having it open in a separate browser window while you read this one. The same five-step process can be used for warm calls and e-mails. To recap, here’s the process:
- Create your Ideal Client Profile
- Find leads lists
- Script your calls
- Make the calls
- Have a follow-up system
Holding Yourself Accountable, Part One
Permit me to start this article with a confession: I have the attention span of a gnat. Which means that biggest f-word in my life is “focus.”
So, how does an easily distracted freelancer like me get anything done during the workday? Part of the answer lies in the question. Instead of working in an office that’s full of attention-grabbing things like talking coworkers, ringing phones, and the aroma of popcorn popping in the break room, I work at home by myself.
Another Look at Networking Groups
Three years ago, I noticed my design business starting to slip. And, wouldn’t you know it, that slip soon became a slide.
So, I tried various things that I’d heard were good for businesses like mine. Here’s how they worked out:
- Advertising. It proved to be a fabulous way to attract price-shoppers and tire-kickers. No more ads for me.
- Direct Mail. Although I had been diligent about sending postcards to the people on my in-house list, I found that they were becoming immune to my mailings. This, despite the fact that I was doing telephone/e-mail follow-up after each one. Combine this with the fact that printing and postage costs have really gone up, and you can see the reason why I’m now just an occasional mailer.
- Mentoring. I signed up for a local mentoring program. And got an experienced mentor. Since the business was deep into Slide Mode, I started exploring career alternatives. Well, in this particular mentoring program, exploring alternatives was bad, very bad indeed. So, I was kicked out.
- The Networking Circuit. Oh, boy, does this one get a lot of airplay in forums like this. The idea is that if you join the business/professional groups, go to their meetings, and get involved in the running of the groups, business will come your way. Didn’t work for me.
