Life on Avenue Z

Multitasking and hourly work don't mix

As a freelance copywriter, I prefer to work on a project-by-project basis, giving one price for a series of eNewsletters, a brochure, etc. Recently I've been working on an hourly basis for several clients, and I'm struggling.

A couple of hourly issues:

1. Multitasking doesn't work when you're working hourly. Last week I kept trying to get into a really big hourly project, but the phone rang, or the teleconference time came up, or exciting emails came in.
2. Covering off small tasks for an hourly project doesn't work. For example, someone writes in and says, "Hey, Beth. Add this to that other document, pretty please." So I stop what I'm doing (3-5 minutes), absorb what has to be done (3-5 minutes), actually perform the task (10-15 minutes), write back to the client to let him know it's done (2 minutes), go record the time in my time-tracking software (2 minutes), then figure out where I was in the other project and get back into it (3-5 minutes).
   
   So perhaps I spent 15 minutes actually working on this. It actually took me 30 or so to get into it and out of it. What do I record?

I've moved my major hourly work to nights and weekends so I can work uninterrupted for longer periods of time. Yesterday I spent 6 very successful hours on a big project and pushed all the way to the end.

Ahh... the hectic holiday season

A few weeks ago I wrote about my daily schedule and how I was exchanging actual work time for marketing and follow-up time because I didn't have as much work to do as I had marketing to do.

In the past week, I've landed some really big projects for Avenue Z Writing Solutions. All of a sudden, I have almost no time to work on marketing during the day. I'm actually working on project after project. In fact, I've had to reschedule a meeting with a potential partner, cancel a class I was going to teach and cut back a little on working out. It's been pretty amazing.

Copywriting Guru Peter Bowerman warns in his books that December is frequently very busy with everyone wanting to get projects started/completed before the end of the year. I figured that wouldn't be the case this year since I'm just starting off. I was wrong. He also warns that January is very slow. But if you don't advertise in December for January work, how do you make a living in January?

My problem is keeping up with the marketing while all this working is happening. In sales we learned very quickly that one can never just sit around and finish what's on one's plate. One always has to be on the hunt for tomorrow's dinner.

I'm worried about hunting, but right now I'm trying to juggle all these deadlines.

This is good, right?

First Do No Laundry

I've got to admit that I do a pretty good job of keeping focused on my work as a professional writer while I'm here in my home office. When I'm at my desk, it's just like being in an office at work, and I pretty much ignore that I'm actually sitting in my living room at a $35 Ikea desk I picked up at a thrift store.

But sometimes I really have to stop myself from living the life of someone who stays home all the time. A former colleague gave me the first rule of working from home: never do your laundry during the day. Here are a few rules I try to live by to keep my work day professional.

1. Like my friend said, first do no laundry. I have three loads running right now, but I couldn't help it. I don't have many outfits for the gym, and I go five days a week. I have to therefore keep up with my laundry much more than I did when I just sat around in yesterday's sweats all the time.
2. The fridge is not your friend. Just because I'm ten feet from my kitchen doesn't mean that I can pop up for Pop Tarts when I need a break. Of course, if I worked in a real office, I'd have to avoid the conference room donuts as well.
3. Forget working on your complexion or your unwanted facial hair during the day. Sometimes on a quick trip to the restroom, I catch a look at myself in the mirror. "Hmmm... I could use a quick mud mask," I think. But I really try to resist.
4. Do not pick up a dust rag. This is actually my worst habit while I'm talking on the phone. I pace around the house, and I start dusting, or mopping, or wrapping up the garbage. And then the client says, "Write this down," and I have to rush back to my desk.
5. Watch out for friends and coffee. I'm forever getting sucked into coffee with friends during the work day. I ADORE coffee with friends, and it's hard for me to resist. But sometimes I really need to limit my coffee time or just not go. (Ok, I always go, but sometimes I make myself leave early.)
6. Be careful of personal email. I've talked about this before. Personal email checking, internet surfing, mail sorting, personal calls from friends. All these things distract me from actual work. And if I don't do the actual work, the business does not keep going.
7. When the cat's away, you can get work done. My cat's name is Mickey Mouse, and she frequently becomes insistent that NOW is the time to cuddle. RIGHT NOW. No, really. It's best when I keep her high on catnip or when I keep the house a little chilly so she curls on my bed in the down comforter.

For more ways I waste time, view My whole category on Procrastination....

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

Another lesson learned disguised as a post about my hair

I treated myself to an expensive haircut today, thanks to my generous mother's birthday check. I walked in and told the stylist that I really had no idea what I wanted.

"Fix it," I said. And boy did he.

I have thick hair, and now it's thin, thin. I had split ends that needed to go, and he took them off and ADDED split ends, calling it "shattering" the ends for volume. My hair is a thousand different lengths and will never look good in a ponytail at the gym. And the ends are dry as sticks and look dead.

My immediate thought: THIS GUY SUCKS! But then I thought for a minute about how he came to the conclusions he did about what would work.

Here are two places this relationship went bad...

One, as the customer, I didn't know what I wanted. I came in with a problem and said I'd like a solution. And he gave me the solution he thought was best.

Two, when I didn't know what I wanted, he didn't ask any questions that would perhaps help him to help me figure out what I wanted. "Are you looking for something more professional?" he could have asked. "Are there any people who come to mind with hair you like?" But he didn't ask any questions. He just went forward as an expert and assumed he was doing what I wanted.

This is what happens with professional service providers if we don't ask enough questions. "I have a problem" a client will say. As a professional writer, I need to help the client to define the problem, to identify what solutions would solve that problem, to recognize concepts that would solve the problem in a way that fits into their business. But sometimes I'm guilty of saying, "Right. You've got a problem. I'll give you my solution." And this doesn't work, which is why I was summarily dismissed by a recent client.

So, for now I'm going to wear a hat, and I'm going to use the lesson I learned to make my business thrive so I can afford to find a better stylist.

The "duh" of "duhs"

Yesterday I attended a free training from Constant Contact, the company I use for my eNewsletter and emails. I was excited about going for a couple of reasons: 1. I wanted to find ways to increase my eNewsletter open rate, and 2. I wanted to see how the company put on workshops to see if the concept would work for another of my clients.

Picture this: 75 or so small business owners looking to improve or start their own eNewsletters. What did they need more than anything? Guidance and content. What do I do for a living? Provide content and help for marketing efforts such as eNewsletters.

And what was I thinking about when I first got to the meeting? Whether or not I should have a muffin for breakfast.

(Please slap forehead here.)

As we were waiting for the session to start, the speaker greeted attendees. I introduced myself as a copywriter. The speaker turned to the other participants and announced, "Hey, people wanted to know where to get content... This woman has a company that produces content!" Within minutes three people came to introduce themselves. "Can you call me tomorrow?" one guy said. "We always need content!" another couple said. "Can you give me a price range..."

Holy smokes! How dumb could I be? I should have been networking from the get go.

The speaker really did all the wonderful things for me. When I raised my hand to respond to a question later, he said again, "And you're a writer, right? And you specialize in eNewsletters?" In a mock, cheesy voice, I announced, "Yes -- I am a WRITER WHO SPECIALIZES IN NEWSLETTERS." Everyone laughed, and the speaker said, "Make sure you get her card before you go.

I ended up with 10 leads and another half dozen people left with my card. And I was worried about muffins. Jeeze.

Let he who is least anal among you cast the first stone

I'm finding it a little hard to believe how anal retentive I've become in the last month. When things in my personal life went askew, I surrounded myself with a rigid schedule to further my freelance copywriting business, and I'm afraid to admit it gives me comfort.

I scheduled an hour or so in the morning to rise, shower, dress, talk to family, shuffle around (yep, that's how it reads on the schedule) and the like. The next thing on my daily list is to post a blog entry. After that I'm scheduled to spend several minutes rewriting my to do list from the day before. I keep two types of notepads -- one for to dos, and a spiral one for notes from projects (see the picture). In the project notepad, I've even taken to color coding and paper clipping the various notes together to keep things organized.

I'm scheduled to spend 4-5 hours on billable projects each day, but many days I switch those hours with marketing/follow-time, for which I had scheduled 1-2 hours daily.

I spend another two hours each night at they gym, with an hour for a workout and an hour luxuriating in the saunas and hot tub.

I scheduled time to work on a book I want to write, but I haven't delved in 100 percent yet. I keep flipping back and forth between fiction ideas and a couple of nonfiction projects. And I haven't started anything.

Right now I keep to the schedule at least 6 if not 7 days a week, since every day is Tuesday. The strict schedule gives me comfort and helps me continue to make a living while filling the hours that might be spent having a personal life.

The good and the bad of marketing efforts

As a new freelance writer, I've been making a strong effort to do a large marketing push at least once a week. Here's a summary of what's been working and what hasn't.

• Success: I sent a series of letters to vendors who sell goods and services to the professional association industry. I worked as an association director of education for many years before becoming a sales and marketing professional for a company who sold webcasting services to the association industry.
  
  These letters were fairly personalized, and I got a great response rate. I've picked up at least 3 jobs with this technique, and I've got more meetings scheduled.
• Success: Although I haven't gotten any specific jobs from my eNewsletter yet, I've gotten a lot of exposure. Each week I add probably 10-20 names to my list, and once a month nearly 2000 people get a reminder that I'm here and ready when they are.
• Success: I'm an active member of a listserv in the association community, and I regularly offer resources and ideas to the group. I've gotten quite a bit of exposure this way, including requests for articles and speaking engagements.
• Not So Good: I spent another $300 yesterday buying a list of top companies here in San Diego to send them a direct mail postcard with my services. I've sent several of these out, but I don't seem to get many calls back. The most effective postcard campaign came when I sent out the postcard then sent emails to the people who were going to be getting them (when I had the emails, of course). I met with a designer last week who will probably send me something to spec out soon.
  
  What I really need to do is to add cold calling to these direct mail efforts. Perhaps I'll make some calls today. Ugh.
• Not So Good: I had high hopes that my column on small business issues in a local monthly newspaper would drive traffic to my blog and my site. I haven't even been able to find a copy of the newspaper myself, and I haven't seen a kabillion people stop by.
• Not So Good: I've been leaving piles of my postcard in public places here in San Diego: coffee shops, mailbox office counters, etc. I got a call from one guy who wants to market a product to prisoners, and another guy called me looking for someone who could put together a marketing plan to sell products to Hispanics who visited lunch trucks. Neither of these were really up my alley.

An hour in the life of a lifelong procrastinator

About an hour ago, I was starting another web page for a client.

My fingers felt sticky. I went to the kitchen sink.

I saw this morning's pot of coffee. I decided to heat a mug.

I opened the microwave. It smelled a little fishy from last night's dinner.

I grabbed the new cleaner with bleach that I bought yesterday. I wiped down the microwave.

I put the coffee on to heat. I stood in the kitchen and noticed the grout between the tiles was kind of gray.

I started spraying the grout with the new cleaner. I cleaned for several minutes.

I remembered the coffee. It had started to boil.

I poured that out and added new coffee to the mug. I closed the microwave.

I did the dishes. The coffee was finally the right temperature.

I brought the coffee to my desk. I checked email, messages from my friend Ian, my open rate on the last eNewsletter and a couple other things.

Now I'm writing a blog post. And I still have to write those web pages.

Changing lonely for ambitious

As I've posted before, one of the tough things about branching off on your own is that, well, you're on your own. As a new freelance copywriter working out of my home, I spend at least 12-16 hours a day completely alone. I strive to drink coffee with friends a couple of days a week, and sometimes I take a day off, but for the most part, I'm here in front of my computer, alone.

This working situation is tough on my personal relationships. I keep my poor sister on the phone way too often, and my past boyfriends have had to deal with my incessant babbling when we were in the same room because I had been starving for human contact. (Note that I'm very single now).

The other day I had a revelation. What if every time the phrase, "I feel lonely" passed through my head, I stopped myself and replaced it with, "I feel ambitious"? I truly am ambitious these days.... I want to make a living -- a real living, not just staying out of debtors' prison, as a writer. When I was a little girl, I dreamed of writing, not of a husband and a nice house and well-behaved kids. In my English classes, I imagined kids 40 years in the future struggling to pronounce my name as they studied my short story collections. So I'm living the dream I always wanted to live (although right now they only way kids are going to see my name in English class is if I ghost write their textbook or something).

Thus, each time I think lonely thoughts, I start thinking ambitious thoughts. I decided to try it with this phrase first, and then perhaps I'll work on other phrases. So far it's giving me real energy to keep going.