Category Archives: Freelance Work

How to Make Your Procrastination Productive

Productive procrastination might sound like an oxymoron, but with the right approach you can make those unfocused hours work for you.

We all have off days. There are times when our minds are intent on focusing on just about anything that’s not the main item on our to do list. If you’re stuck in one of those periods where your brain just will not listen to reason and face the task you need to tackle, think strategically about how you can still get something accomplished during your distracted state.

1. Switch to one of the lower energy items on your to do list.

It’s rare that everything you need to get done requires the same amount of mental energy. Maybe you have some accounting you’ve been neglecting, or a spreadsheet of contacts you’ve been working on filling in. If there’s something you can work on that requires less active thought than the main work you have to do that day, focus on it first. Once you’ve actually gotten something else done, you might find that your mind is more prepared for the larger tasks you weren’t previously up for.

2. Spend that time on research and social networking.

You can always be learning more, regardless of what kind of work you do. If you spend a little time on your favorite business blogs, or interacting with professional contacts on your social networks, you can do something useful that actually feels a little like procrastination. Just don’t let yourself get stuck on Twitter or Facebook focusing on things that don’t relate to your work. Set a timer to let you know when it’s time to switch back over to other forms of work.

3. Find a way to get started on that intimidating, looming task without diving right in.

Maybe you’re trying to write an article and instead are stuck staring at a blank page. Stop unsuccessfully trying to get that intro paragraph down and focus instead on working up an outline, or just writing down some sloppy, brainstormed ideas to get the juices flowing. Often the biggest barrier to getting started is the sense of just how much you have to do. If you can find a way to ease into starting, you can overcome the main psychological barrier keeping that page blank.

4. Plan your days to get the most out of your active hours.

Sometimes we have off days, but most people also have certain times in each day that they’re less mentally alert. For me, it’s usually the hour or so after I eat lunch. Maybe for you, it’s the beginning of the day when you’re still waking up, or late afternoon when you’re just itching to be done. Pay attention to your work habits and, once you’ve identified your weak period, leave some of those lower-energy work items to focus on at that time.

5. Take a break to let yourself think.

If I’m overwhelmed by a project, facing it directly doesn’t necessarily work. To think more clearly about it and how to best approach it, I need to walk away for a little while. Whether that’s a literal walk, a long bath, or spending a little time cooking or cleaning, I’ll often find that by spending my time doing something that leaves room to think, I’ll come back to work with a better plan for accomplishing what I need to.

On Writing and Getting Paid

writing and getting paidThere’s been a lot of conversation online recently about the typical practices surrounding how for-profit publications pay writers, or whether they do at all. Prompted by the correspondence Nate Thayer published between him and an Atlantic editor, after he was asked to let them publish his work for free, many writers and editors have spoken up to weigh in on the subject, including Ta-Nehisi Coates over at the Atlantic, and a large group of writers and editors at the Awl.

As a freelance writer, I’ve followed the conversation with fascination. Sometimes to the slight detriment of my own productivity (did you see the length of that Awl discussion?). It’s not a new discussion, but as with many heated topics, all that was required was the catalyst of one angry writer making a stink, and many others followed to weigh in with their opinion.

So, because I’m sure the internet is clamoring for one more voice on the subject, here’s mine.

Whether or not writers should be paid for their work depends on the intent of the work.

Work

Obviously I need to get paid for my time and work, or I can’t make a living and would need to go back to working for someone else. I very much prefer freelance work to the alternative, so this is an important consideration. If I’m writing for a business or a for-profit publication, there shouldn’t be a question of payment. The content provided is valuable and serves a profitable purpose.

Almost any work I do that will help to promote another company or publication, I expect to get paid for.

Marketing

Here’s where the almost comes in: in order to be successful as a freelance writer, marketing myself plays an important role in the equation. Many freelance writers produce content for self-promotion for free, whether that content is published on a personal blog, their own website, or as a guest post or article in an industry publication that will bring it to a larger audience.

This is the tricky line of exposure. How do you measure whether the publication of your work is doing more to promote the publication in question (in which case you should be paid) and when it does more to promote your own brand (in which case it serves as marketing and might be worth doing for free, or a lower rate than usual).

Love

There’s an amazing series on the Hairpin called Scandals of Classic Hollywood. As I understand it, these stories, which are often lengthy and always include a number of photographs that surely take some time to gather, are written for free. They are also wildly popular on the site.

Why would someone put that much time into something without the promise of a profit? It’s clear that the writer, Anne Helen Peterson, loves the subject matter she writers about. It’s worth noting, she also recently published a book on the subject that many of her Hairpin readers rushed to buy, but my hunch is that she didn’t start the series a couple of years ago as a long-term marketing project for a book that hadn’t been written yet (although if she did, that’s brilliant marketing).

If a writer chooses to do some writing to help a non-profit she cares about with fundraising, or to raise awareness of an issue that’s of special importance to her, or for the fun of analyzing a good tv show – then there’s a drive to do the work that has little to do with profit.

 

So, that’s it. If you ask a professional writer to write for free, unless doing so achieves them a specific marketing goal, or it’s a piece about something they love and would likely write about anyways, don’t be surprised if you get an offended response like Thayer’s.

Unless you’re quick to offer whatever you do for a living for free to any asker, you should be sympathetic to their position.

The Case for Telecommuting

Generally speaking, the business world is moving toward offering workers greater flexibility and embracing remote work. There are a number of reasons why.

The ban on allowing Yahoo employees to work from home has garnered a lot of attention, most of it negative. For many individuals who have had the experience of working from home, and for many businesses that have made more flexible options available to workers, the move looks like a big step back. When a large-scale tech company in an industry that values being on the cutting edge moves in the opposite direction of progress, people will definitely have loud opinions on the subject.

Marissa Mayer isn’t the only person who associates working from home with lower productivity, but for many it’s a snap judgement based on bias rather than evidence.

Telecommuting has a wide variety of benefits that make it a good tool for attracting talent, keeping workers happy, and, often, getting better work out of people. Here’s why:

1. It shows you trust the people working for you.

When you send the signal in a workplace environment that you don’t feel the people working for you can be trusted to do their jobs without supervision and micromanagement, you’re insulting them. In many cases, people will behave the way they’re expected to. If a business doesn’t show respect and trust to its workers, there’s a good chance they’ll care less about the work they do.

2. It’s good for the environment.

This pretty well speaks for itself. The less people driving long distances or sitting in traffic every day, the better for all of us.

3. Time saved increases productivity.

Someone who saves, say, half an hour each day or more by skipping the commute is able to choose a more productive way to spend that time. Whether that means getting started on work earlier, or doing some exercise (which will help improve energy levels), the result is likely to be an improvement for both the business and the individual.

4. It’s just as easy to procrastinate in an office as it is at home.

The distractions may differ, but they’re still there. Whether it’s chatting with co-workers, attending to the needs of family, or browsing the web, there will always be something to distract from a full 8-hour day of work. The fact is, where you’re located has little to do with how likely you are to procrastinate.

5. Spending more hours “working” in an office isn’t necessarily more productive.

There’s clear evidence that longer workweeks don’t mean more work gets done – they just leave people more tired. If part of the concern about allowing people to work from home is that they’ll spend less time doing work, who cares? If an individual’s productivity drops, talk to that individual to figure out the cause. It’s lazy to blame it on a system that works well for many.

6. You can choose the best talent.

If you’re open to hiring people regardless of where they live, you can pick the best of the best. If you’re only open to working with people within driving distance of your offices, or willing to move for the position, you lose out on a lot of good potential candidates.

7. It’s easier to take less sick and vacation days.

It’s a lot easier to get a little work in when you’re not feeling well, in between naps and bowls of soup, if you’re able to sit a computer on your lap in bed. It’s also easier to make trips to spend needed time with out-of-town friends and family without leaving all of your work behind. The lines between work time and personal time blur a bit when you have more choice in which is which. For some, that wouldn’t be seen as a benefit, but it makes it easier to work during the times you know you’re most productive, and take off the times you’re not, which equals greater efficiency overall.

8. The technology’s available to make communication as easy as it needs to be.

Skype is free. Google + Hangouts are free. It’s easy to check email and take phone calls anywhere you need to. A lack of communication is no longer the excuse it once was, there are businesses that are 100% virtual with no problem.

9. When you treat people like responsible adults, they tend to act like it.

If you give people reasons to care about their job, they’ll be inclined to do it well. Somebody who works best from home and appreciates the added benefits it affords has a good incentive to do good work in order to keep up the lifestyle they enjoy. Someone who’s unhappy in their job, or stressed out by a lack of work-life balance, isn’t likely to put in the same level of effort.

Working from home isn’t for everybody, but allowing it as an option for those it does work well for can benefit all involved.

Content Marketing in 2013

That content marketing is a growing force is no surprise to anyone who follows trends in marketing. Blog posts and articles citing the benefits quality content has on branding, SEO and customer loyalty abound.

Nonetheless, it’s nice to be able to match some numbers to all the talk. Business Bolts performed a survey of 265 individuals, a mix of small business owners and marketing professionals, in order to gain a sense of how businesses are approaching content marketing in 2013.

You can find the full report on their findings here.

Most of the results aren’t especially surprising, but serve to back up arguments copywriters, marketers and SEO professionals have been making for some time:
content marketing trends

  • Content marketing is good for SEO

77% of respondents said content marketing helped increase web traffic, and 71% said it helped them achieve higher rankings

  • Content marketing is good for ROI

Although there are challenges in many cases to tracking the relationship between content marketing and sales, 59% said they believed that content marketing helped them up their sales numbers.

  • Content marketing strengthens brand awareness

70% reported this benefit, another that’s hard to track, but crucial for small business success.

The good news for freelance writers and content developers: many respondents expressed a desire to find good content producers.

The bad news: few have made content production a high budget item. Most (61%) reported still doing the majority of their content development in house, but of those that worked with freelancers the amount they’re paying is piddling. 14% spend less than $15 for 1,000 words, and 17% spend between $16 and $25.

It’s clear that businesses have a growing awareness of the benefit good content provides. Hopefully, their willingness to value those helping them reap that benefit will increase in time as well.

How to be a lifelong student – and profit from it

I loved being a student. During the years that my primary job was to study and learn new things, I thrived. While a life in academia may have suited me just fine, the debt I finished off my undergrad with, and the level of competition for academic jobs, steered me towards a search for other professional options.

It took me a little while, but I finally landed on a way to translate the experience of being a student into a profitable career outside of academia. Much of being a good student boils down to the responsibility to learn, and to successfully communicate what you’ve learned to others. Working as a freelance writer drops that same experience into a new context.

It turns out, there are varied opportunities where by researching and effectively communicating knowledge to a wide audience online (and occasionally in print) is of value. I graduated amidst a slew of articles about the end of journalism and a growing skepticism at the possibility of making a career as a writer. While many magazines and newspapers have managed to stay around in spite of the apocalyptic predictions, they’re just a tiny portion of the work opportunities available to writers.

Businesses have always needed content, but it’s becoming a more important line item in their budgets than ever. With the dominance that search engines – or really just the one, Google –  practice over how people consume and make decisions, businesses must do what it takes to curry favor with the mysterious Google gods (e.g. the increasingly complicated algorithm that determines rankings). Google favors websites with quality content, and writers gain a more crucial position in the success of businesses.

While freelance writing differs from academic pursuits in that I can’t pick something specific I’m passionate about to focus my learning efforts on, it nudges me out of my comfort zone and requires that I delve into new subjects. Every new project or client comes with new knowledge. As a professional student of such a wide variety of subjects, my understanding of the world gets broader all the time.