Win More Clients, Projects and Freelance Jobs By Making Three Small ChangesWritten by Shelley Wake
I've spoken to hundreds of editors, employers, and project managers about how they choose a freelancer for a job. Whether they were reviewing job applications or considering project bids, they all had one thing in common. As every one of them started to look at applications, they had their skeptic's hat on.How a Project Manager Thinks Here are a few quotes from project managers and employers to show you exactly how they think. 1. Jaime, Editor - "The First Elimination" My process of judging proposals is one of elimination. The first step is about a general impression. If it's vague and unconvincing - eliminate. If it's fluffed up but with no substance - eliminate. If it has real details and seems credibale - keep. Many times this process only leaves one person. That's how easy it is to get a job - be credible and convincing. 2. Jacob, Project Manager - "I only believe what I see for myself." I read every proposal while questioning what I'm being told. Some people make things up. Most people exaggerate. Many people think they're better than they really are. I've been working with contractors for a long time and I've found that only way you can judge a person is by what they do. 3. Randy, Project Owner - "Don't Tell Me, Show Me" Don't try and impress me with ramblings. Lots of positive words strung together does nothing for me. You know, "I am keen, reliable, prompt, easygoing, articulate, generous, kind, competitive, athletic..." I have no reason to believe you're any of those things. If you want me to pick you for project, you have to do more than just tell me. You have to prove it to me.
| | Are You Achieving Your Writing Goals?Written by Mridu Khullar
At start of this new year, like at start of every other new year, I came across dozens of articles about importance of setting achievable goals, challenging myself to do new things and fixing measurable standards and working towards them. But what happens when you mess up goals from last year? Where’s real advice about missed deadlines and lost goals that all but kill inspiration to come up with new ones? I didn’t achieve three out of ten goals I had set for myself last year, even though I was obsessive-compulsive about looking at them each day and measuring my performance regularly. I’m tempted to say that life got in way or blame shift in priorities that happened mid-year. But these are things that can and will happen each year. Instead of putting your life on hold year when strains and stresses get too much, plan your goals accordingly right at beginning. If you didn’t meet some of your goals last year, here are some questions that you need to answer honestly, so that you do this time around. Are you actively pursuing your targets? It doesn’t work just to look at your goals each morning and then do nothing about them. Sure, that’s a good start and it means you’re conscious of where you are in your career, but if you want to move further, you need to create an action plan. Instead of just making yearly goals, make monthly, weekly, even daily ones and then try and meet them. Also important is to work towards what you want to achieve step by step. One of my goals last year was to get published in Reader’s Digest. Guess how many query letters I sent them? Two. You’re laughing, aren’t you? I’m cringing. That’s because I know that two queries just doesn’t hack it if you’re targeting such a high-level publication. Two queries wasn’t even enough to get into my local newspaper; how’s it going to land me a national assignment? If I had been serious about getting into RD, I would have read every issue, sent a query each month and built a personal relationship with editor. Yet, I did none of those things. Not surprisingly, my goal remained unfinished at end of year. Are you being honest with yourself? In my first year of freelancing, I earned over a 100 published credits. That’s because my aim was to reach this number, without caring about money that came in. That meant that I wrote for low-paying publications, publications that paid in kind instead of cash, and on topics that I had absolutely no interest in. The next year, I shifted my focus to cracking nationals and making a decent income from my work. But here’s where I went wrong: I assumed that since I had already proven that I could write a 100 articles in a year, I’d be able to do a repeat performance. But national magazines require much more research, very specialized queries, and a great deal of more effort per article. So while my goals of getting into national magazines and increasing my income were met, my goal of getting another 100 credits wasn’t. Are goals really yours? I think almost all of us get sucked into aping tactics of someone we admire at one point or other. The thought process then works something like this: If she could write two children’s books, pen twenty greeting cards, author three non-fiction titles and syndicate a humor column in her third year of freelancing, why can’t I? Never mind that I’m not really that into children’s writing and I haven’t said anything remotely funny since I was 10. I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve been guilty of doing above. It’s easy to look at goals of other writers and think, “She’s got so many goals for year and I’ve got only five. Let me increase mine, too.” But “she” doesn’t have your life, and you don’t have hers. So set goals that are appropriate for your career and your ambitions, not hers. What’s your life like? If you’re a new mom, don’t expect to be able to work 80-hour weeks like you did before you gave birth. If you have a full-time job, don’t try to take on same-day deadline assignments. You need to set goals that are suitable to your life, your speed and your talent, no matter what anyone else may do or say.
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