Life on Avenue Z

Essential tools for the freelance writer

Today is Black Friday when everything's on sale. Here's my shopping list of things you might want to buy to equip your office.

Becoming a professional writer doesn't take very much equipment. You can really get started with the very basics of tools...

1. A laptop computer with a ton of memory and a fast chip. I have a Sony Vaio.
2. Amazingly fast internet access. I have cable.
3. An all-in-one office machine with a printer, scanner, fax machine and copier. Mine's an HP Officejet.
4. A phone with speaker phone (mine doesn't have it, darn it), call waiting, a robust long-distance plan, call forwarding and voice mail. You should also have a cell phone to forward calls to.
5. Microsoft Office (I choose office because it's the most common -- all your clients probably use it).
6. Stapler, tape, pens and pencils, paper clips, etc. These are very cheap at back-to-school sales.

Once you have the basics, you can add a few extras as you see fit. Here are the items on my second tier of needs...

1. Steno pads for notes.
2. A nice portfolio for face-to-face visits with clients.
3. Other note pads for daily to do lists.
4. A highlighter (I have only one -- I love them and need more).
5. Labels for direct mail efforts. I like the Avery Easy Peel Clear Mailing Labels.
6. Thank you notes for clients.
7. Accounting software -- I use a free program called Microsoft Accounting. Works just fine.
8. Organizational tools like color-coded folders and color tabs for the steno pads.
9. A big-screen monitor and separate keyboard and mouse for the laptop.
10. A shredder.
11. Recycled paper (I use both sides).
12. A backup system for files. I use Mozy.com and love it.
13. A time-tracking system. I use Pelotonics, which is also a project management system.

More of my favorite freebies
More about what's on a copywriter's desk

How writers can use speech-recognition software

My sister and I worked our way around the country for six months in 1996, doing odd jobs like washing airplanes, weeding sweetgrass fields, cleaning B&Bs and housesitting for strangers. We'd pitch our tent behind the garbage dumpster at hotels and sneak in for the free breakfast, or we'd sleep in the car and freshen up in the bathroom of a fast-food restaurant -- we called it urban camping.

At any rate, I wrote a book about the experience: "America on Five Dollars an Hour." I wrote it on an electronic portable typewriter. To save paper, I typed the whole thing in one long paragraph, single-spaced, front and back.

When I started trying to transfer the book to a computer, I was hating life. Hours and hours of retyping and reformatting. So I invested in software called Dragon Naturally Speaking, a brand new program that would type as I spoke.

What a mess. I had to train it for at least an hour, and I had to talk. like. this. very. slowly. and. clearly. My voice was growing hoarse from the strain. And, more than anything else, I repeated, "Correct that. Correct that. Delete that. Correct that." It never worked.

Last spring I decided to give Naturally Speaking another try. What a difference a decade has made! I can easily dictate in a natural voice with a natural speaking pattern, and it's probably 95 percent accurate. I had to train it for maybe 15 minutes this time, instead of an hour or more. And it scanned my computer for all my files to pick up my writing patterns and subject matter.

That being said, I don't think a freelance copywriter can really use it for regular writing where you need to sit down and come up with copy (or at least I'm not talented enough to do so). But it is excellent for the following:

• Entering names in a database for a mailing -- it rocks for addresses and phone numbers especially, and you'd be surprised how often it gets names right.
• Dictating really easy writing, like some SEO articles I did a month or so ago.
• Writing a list of tasks/ideas.

In other words, it's good for a chug-chug along writing task, where the words will flow and you really just need to get them down on paper.

Another tip -- You HAVE to buy a good microphone for this thing to work well. I have a headset that I use with a very nice mouthpiece. Works like a charm.

Oh, and the book? I found a publisher, rewrote it three times in two years and bailed out two weeks before printing. The manuscript just wasn't good any more.

More on Estimating and Proposals

I'm starting another proposal for another potential client, and I just remembered something I did wrong for my last big proposal. When I'm looking at a multi-step project, I mentally assign an amount of time I think it's going to take to complete the project.

A better idea: Write your time estimates down.

This time I'm making a grid of all the project components and putting in my time estimates. That way when I'm working on the project, I can track how long I think a project will take versus how long it actually took, thus helping me to refine my estimating procedures.

My project management system allows me to track time spent on each project.

Here are the other tips on estimating and proposals that I posted the other day.

Favorite Freebies from the World's Cheapest Copywriter

Since leaving my jet-setting, executive-type sales/marketing position at a technology company, I’ve become ultra cheap.

Not just kind of cheap. I mean really, almost insanely cheap.

Example 1: at first I budgeted 3 trips a week to my favorite coffee shop, but then I discovered that I can buy 25 tea bags and make chai at home for the cost of about two cups of coffee (not including tip!).

Example 2: I spend evenings perusing books at Borders bookstore, and I take pictures of the ones I want with my cell phone camera so I can come home and order them on Half.com.

Cheap. Cheap. Cheap.

Here is a list of free discoveries I’ve made since starting my own business.

1. Microsoft Office Accounting 2007 — The      Express edition is free and covers the needs of a small consulting      business just fine.
2. EverNote — When I was employed, I really grew to like      Microsoft’s OneNote, which allowed me to kind of “throw” important notes      into the service without having to save, organize, etc. EverNote does the      same thing, but it’s free.
3. Survey Monkey — I use electronic surveys to gather      information for articles for my monthly eNewsletter, plus I send a survey      to my clients after a project is finished. The basic service is free and      covers all my needs.
4. Pelotonics      — The name for Pelotonics comes from cycling: a peloton is a group of      riders working as a team to increase efficiency and conserve energy. I use      this group collaboration website to manage all my projects. We upload      files, drafts and versions; set deadlines; keep track of communication.      There’s a free level, but I now use one of the paid levels (still cheap!).
5. FreeConferenceCall.com — It’s exactly what it says. You can set up your own conference calling line for collaboration with your clients. Everyone calls a regular phone number and pays regular long distance charges, but we can all be on the line together. 1-800 conference call lines are also darn cheap.

A free 2:04-Minute Timer

Ok, so I did a search to see if I could download a 2-minute timer that didn’t cost $10 like the one from David Allen’s website. I found a couple that required .Net Framework, and since I couldn’t figure out what that is, I created my own little timer in PowerPoint. Then I downloaded a 30-day trial of Wondershare Software, which allows you to convert a PPT into something small for an iPod. The result is a little piece that you can create a shortcut for on your desktop, and you’re welcome to download it. Wondershare makes it clear that it’s an Evaluation Copy, so pardon the branding.

Things pile up when I don't apply David Allen's 2-Minute Rule

Another of my new business resolutions was to keep my Outlook Inbox crystal clean at all times. I told myself that I wouldn’t go to bed if I had not finished the things that had come in that day – either filing things or answering people or setting up tasks that couldn’t be done right away. I don’t do everything according to the productivity master David Allen, who wrote one of the most popular personal productivity books ever, Getting Things Done. I do religiously follow his 2-Minute Rule, which states:

“If the Next Action can be done in 2 minutes or less, do it when you first pick the item up.” Even if that item is not a “high priority”, because it takes longer to store and track any item than to deal with it the first time it’s in your head. (p. 131, “Getting Things Done”)

I didn’t do a good job of keeping that resolution, and when I woke up this morning, I had 27 emails still sitting there. Of course, at my last job, I left more than 2700 items unfiled in my Inbox. So 27 isn’t bad.

Here’s what slowly slipped into the big black Inbox hole:

1. A half dozen or so messages      from Wordpress to “please moderate comment on…” Frankly I’m thrilled when      I get one of those. It’s to me like a handful of hellos on a college      campus as I walk to class: people who don’t really know you but who are      taking time to notice you exist and to reach out for a moment. I had      approved all the comments already, so those I deleted.
2. A newsy note from an old friend      who just learned I left my old company. She’s still in the box because I      have to take the time to be newsy back.
3. Several notes from people who      want to see the results of a survey I just did for eNewsletters – both the      ones you read and the ones your organization produces. I had written many      of them back to see if they wanted to sign up for my eNewsletter to get      the article automatically, and I had to sort through my Inbox and collect      the contact info of the ones who said yes (I use AddressGrabber for this – Fantastic tool!).      All sorted and disposed of.
4. Two very intelligent responses      to my query on a listserv about whether direct mail was making a comeback      for marketing in the face of email overload. I’m embarrassed about these      two notes. I haven’t written these people back, and now it’s getting to      the point where I simply have no excuse – I just haven’t. I hate it when I      do that. I left these guys in my email box.
5. A note from a client asking me      to send the invoice on to the accountant at their organization. I kick      myself that I put that one off. But it’s taken care of, and the email’s      gone.
6. A note from artist David Castle      telling me how to order his beautiful abstract note cards, which I like to      use for thank you notes. I couldn’t find my checkbook, so I printed the      email out and will send the check next week.
7. Finally, I had a great note      from my boyfriend, Art, telling me how much enjoyed my company at lunch a      couple of weeks ago. We went to an overpriced, overhyped chain and had a      mediocre meal, and I was fretting because I had convinced him to go. I      feel sentimental about those emails, those one- or two-line quick      compliments that make you smile. But out it went because I don’t have a      folder called, “Things My Boyfriend Says That Make Me Smile.”

So I went from 27 emails to 3, plus I created 3 tasks I need to accomplish from the ones I deleted. Not bad.

Everyone should experience the joy of teaching

Since I started my new business, one of the ways I’ve been making ends meet is by teaching day-long computer courses for a San Diego training company. Today I taught an advanced class in PowerPoint. I had only three students, and they all were very experienced computer users. Because of a miscommunication, we started the class off without a workbook, so I had to wing it.

I was petrified that these advanced students would eat me alive. I went through the first couple of lessons (the sections I could remember from the last time I taught the advanced class) with them just nodding their heads behind their laptops. “Oh, yeah. Changing bullets. Do it all the time,” one said. “Sure, of course, saving a presentation as a template. Got it.” I was getting more and more nervous. What in the world could these folks learn from me?

So I asked them. “Ok, so what don’t you know? Let’s make a list of all those things you’ve wanted to understand but haven’t.” They started brainstorming, and we came up with a list with things like importing and linking to other Office docs, working with multimedia, working with the master slide.

To make a long post short, we ended up customizing the class to the real things they wanted to know, and *I* ended up learning as much as they did.

For example — Did you know you could highlight a word and increase/decrease the font by holding down CTRL and hitting the bracket keys? To increase: Ctrl + [. To decrease: Ctrl + ]. Amazing. (I know. I need to get out more.)

Each and every time I teach, I learn something. And I also get such a rush when students experience an “aha” moment. I’m really happy I keep getting the opportunity.

Really dumb mistake #245: Not monitoring Google AdSense

Boy did I goof. I signed up a while ago for Google’s AdSense program, which, in theory, is pretty cool. You can pick keywords and geographic areas where your ad will appear in the Google network sponsored searches. You can control the budget and bid on how much you are willing to pay for exposure, which helps you control the budget yourself.

The problem is that I set up the dang thing very early on, and I used the keyword-generating application on Google to start me off. I ended up with some very lame keywords, and I didn’t bother to change them. And then I became so fascinated with Google Analytics of my website, I forgot to monitor the AdSense stuff.

Bottom line: I just noticed that Google charged $89 and change to my credit card (which is under house arrest right now), for two month’s worth of clicks, mostly on very unhelpful keywords that were never going to lead to business.

Some examples:

• I      paid $10.61 for people to find my website when they searched for      “editing.”
• People      who were searching for “writing jobs” or “writing help” clicked on my ad      $7 worth.
• Variations      of “writing” and “writer” cost me almost $16.

The problem is not in using Google AdSense. The problem is that I didn’t monitor what was happening and wasted $89 without getting any ROI.

The stupid things I do now because of technology

I needed an address from an email, and I was flummoxed. How was I to print out the address without printing out the whole email? I mean, sure, I could have printed out the whole email, but that’s a waste of ink. I could open the email, select the area I wanted to print, open the print dialog and choose to print just the selection, right? But I’m a green company, and it’s a waste of paper. So I tried to figure out how to send the address to my cell phone. Could I text message from Outlook? Could I use Jott, my favorite new (free) messaging tool that allows me to call into a 1-800 number, record a 30-second note, and send that note (transcribed) via email or text?

I seriously thought about this for about two minutes, before the answer came to me:

Write it down. Plain old pen and scrap of paper.

Duh.

My 3 Biggest Direct Mail Mistakes

1. I      worked *forever* to find a source of fairly inexpensive recycled paper      products for my marketing efforts.      I found and fell in love with Wizard Graphics,      offering their full line of high-quality printed material on recycled      paper. And they had a special on postcards, so I worked all night for      three nights in a row to create a super-duper 4-color postcard that I      could send out. Mistake One: I ordered 1000 postcards, and now they’re      sitting in my living room, waiting for labels and stamps. Have you ever      sat down and tried to stick labels and stamps on 1000 postcards? I did it      with 67 letters for another mailing, and it took me forever!Learn From      Me: If you’re a one-person shop, choose a mailhouse that will do the hard      work for you.
   
   
2. I      designed the postcard myself, leaving what I thought was plenty of room      for an address and a stamp. The Post Office’s Answer: WRONG. They’ve got      specific guidelines for how much white space they need for automated      mailings.Learn From Me: Research once, THEN print 1000 copies. Not the      other way around.
       
       
3. I      thought I’d be really clever and use the library’s online business      database to get a list of graphic design companies in San Diego for      another mailing. I used the right template and had the USPS send them out      for me directly. The problem? More than half of them came back as      undeliverable. And I just thought that San Diego had a plethora of      independent graphic design and marketing companies.Learn From Me: Free      directories and mailing lists can cost you more money than they make you.