Archives for March 2010

Crowdsourcing: Does the Corporate Ladder Still Beckon?

March 31, 2010 by 8 Comments

A few weeks ago, one of my YourTango co-workers got a (totally deserved because she’s awesome) promotion.

It got me thinking: What’s the next step for me at this company? And do I even have a future here if I’m unwilling to go full-time?

Because while I love working for this company, and it feels like such a perfect fit for me, I’m a freelancer through and through. I have so many other projects on my plate, large and small. I have a new coaching practice. I plan on having a child soon. I enjoy the flexibility, and the diversity of projects. And I don’t want to have to give up anything!

This led to a late-night conversation with my husband, in which we discussed the fact that neither of us has had any interest in the traditional, corporate “ladder” for quite some time now. Rather, what we both enjoy is the act of creating. Management? A completely unattractive prospect for the both of us.

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Filed Under: career path Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Link Love: March 27, 2010

March 27, 2010 by 3 Comments

It’s been a busy week, and my poor ebook keeps falling to the bottom of the heap in terms of priorities. After all, who has time to whip up a book when there’s an office job to stay on top of, clients to coach, copy to be written, and blog posts to be…well…blogged? Still, my new web platform is slated to launch at the beginning of April (see: clock ticking). And my new web platform will have a products page filled with coaching packages that can be ordered directly through the site. And an additional item — available to order as a standalone product — will be my ebook. Yes, I am currently employing my oh-shit face.

Which is why I’m hunkering down this weekend (my sniffles have effectively quashed the desire to go outside, anyway) and working on nothing but Job Hopping for Word Nerds. Luckily, a good number of you have weighed in with ideas on what I might include in my ebook. Which makes my job a lot easier. (I love you guys.)

Before  brew another pot of coffee, however, and chain myself to the laptop, here are a few pieces you might find worth a read:

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Filed Under: link love Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Pinpointing Dream Job #328

March 25, 2010 by 9 Comments

Once upon a time, I wanted to be a ballerina. I loved the tutus, the leg warmers, and the ’80s dance movies. After a few months of ballet lessons, however, in which I was subjected to an itchy flower costume and an inordinate number of bourrés, it was clear that the American Ballet Academy was not in my future. (I still love the tutus. And the ’80s dance movies.)

In Test-Drive Your Dream Job, Brian Kurth wrote of the fears inherent in throwing yourself into a new career. “What if I pursue the ‘real me’ and then I don’t like it?” he wrote. “Or, scariest of all, what if I pursue the ‘real me’ and then I fail?” A valid fear, but I’ve found that acknowledging the fact that career goals and dream jobs change–and understanding that this is perfectly normal and okay–somehow makes those small leaps less scary.

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Filed Under: career path Tagged With: , , , , , ,

When To Stop Giving It Away

March 24, 2010 by 3 Comments

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Considering that I maintain a how-to blog with no membership fees, donation links, or advertising, you must assume that I love giving it all away. And to some extent, you would be correct. I love how this blog has helped me build up a professional platform. I love how it’s allowed me to connect with fellow freelancers. And, bottom line? I love helping people out.

But lately, two factors have led me to question where I should draw the line when in comes to “free”:

1. The launching of my coaching practice, the eventual success of which relies upon the assumption that people will actually pay me money for my expertise and professional guidance.

2. Repeated questions from newbies that lead me to believe that they haven’t even tried doing their homework. Forget thorough research. A quick search of my blog would have yielded them the desired results! Am I hurting wannabe freelancers by giving them the easy answers?

So how do I know when to provide free advice, when to direct people to my blog, and when to simply say, “Here’s my coaching fee!”?

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Filed Under: coaching, finances/income Tagged With: , , , , ,

Job Hopping for Word Nerds: An Ebook-in-Progress

March 19, 2010 by 15 Comments

Hey there guys — I need your help. Here’s the story: I’m working on an ebook. It’s called Job Hopping for Word Nerds, and I’m writing it with the intention of creating a go-to resource for those interested in finding work within the publishing industry…anywhere in the publishing industry. I plan on including descriptions of the positions available in book publishing, magazines, newspapers, etc. More importantly, I want to create a monster resource manual, filled with links to professional organizations, databases, job sites, blogs, powerful tweeps, and more. In short: I have a vision. 🙂 The resource appendices of self-help books have typically been my favorite part of said books, and that’s what I want to focus on here.

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Filed Under: PSA Tagged With: , , ,

Link Love: March 19, 2010

March 19, 2010 by Leave a Comment

It’s been a long, ridiculously busy week and, I must admit, I’m feeling a bit burnt out. Which is why, last night, I forced myself to step away from my laptop and indulge in an evening of Netflix+hot cocoa. Still, work goes on, and I completed a copywriting project for a new client, had my very first career coaching appointment, and got back into the bloggy swing of things. I’d still like to write up a guest post, organize the content for my new online portfolio, and make some headway on my e-book but, you know…we’ll see how that goes. 🙂 In the meantime:

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Freelance Dilemma: Brainstorming New Ideas

March 18, 2010 by 3 Comments

For the past six or seven weeks, I’ve been participating in Freelance Success‘s Query Challenge.

The last time I participated, I broke into new markets and gained a whole lot of momentum in my freelance writing career. This time around, I’m floundering. A lot of that is due to the fact that I’m juggling so many different things right now: I work in NYC three days a week, have various copywriting gigs on my plate, and am in the midst of launching my career coaching practice/taking on practicum clients. For these reasons (and because I’m finding that–more and more often–work is coming to me), sending out queries is just a much smaller part of my freelance life at this point.

But the other reason I’m floundering–both in this query challenge and on my blog lately–is because I haven’t been generating new ideas.

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Filed Under: writing Tagged With: , ,

I Skipped SXSW. Am I An Idiot?

March 17, 2010 by 2 Comments

So apparently, just about everyone in my Twitter feed was at South by Southwest (SXSW) this past week, a conference (and seemingly non-stop party) that somehow brings together “music, independent films, and emerging technologies.” It’s that last that is of greatest interest to me and, as the web developers, bloggers, content producers, and new media entrepreneurs in my feed live-tweeted talks and workshops, party-hopped, and networked, I started to feel that I was totally missing out.

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Filed Under: community, education, networking Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Link Love: March 14, 2010

March 14, 2010 by 2 Comments

What a week! I announced the winners of my Career Coaching for Word Nerds contest, and have my very first appointment scheduled for this coming Wednesday. I’m way excited to start helping people find career fulfillment, and am also interested in seeing how the balance of editing, writing, and coaching shifts in my own life.

Not only that, but I managed to tear myself away from the computer twice this week in order grab drinky drinks with fellow entrepreneurs. On Monday, I met up with a former colleague who just resigned from her full-time job in order to throw herself into full-time freelance writing. As we’ve both been on the editing and writing sides of the table, I had a great time talking freelance strategy with her, and sharing on-the-job stories. And on Thursday, I headed to Ginger Man for happy hour with two fellow tweeps who had driven up from NC for a short vacation. So great to put faces to tweets!

I’m not sure yet whether this Sunday will be lazy or productive (I have an ebook to work on, and a new copywriting client) but, before I decide, let me give you some weekend reading:

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Filed Under: link love Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Career Coaching for Word Nerds: And We Have Liftoff…

March 12, 2010 by 2 Comments

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You guys! Two weeks ago, I announced the launch of my career coaching practice, Career Coaching for Word Nerds. To kick things off, I held a contest here on my blog, so that two lucky readers could win a month’s worth of career coaching, completely gratis.

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Filed Under: PSA Tagged With: , , , ,
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