I’ve had a couple of jobs recently where I totally miscalculated my suitability to the client’s needs. I lost money because of it, quite a bit for me, because I had to spend way too much time dealing with the client mismatch. There’s scope creep for the job itself (book turns out to be more […]
Beating the Afternoon Slump
The afternoon slump is a tough problem for most of us, and freelancers are no exception. In fact, working from home can have its own post-prandial pitfalls — namely, the sofa. While there’s nothing wrong with catching a quick 20-minute snooze, especially when tight deadlines mean working late into the night, there are a few […]
Preventing and Handling Scope Creep
One of the biggest challenges in indexing services (and editing and proofreading as well, but I’ll focus on indexing for this post) is to accurately estimate the scope of a project in order to provide a flat fee or per-page fee that then translates into a reasonable hourly rate for the indexer. I’ll cover two […]
Negotiating Rates
Setting rates is often up to indexers — we get a query about a project and respond with a quote. Sometimes, though, it works the other way around, and we get approached with a rate from a potential client. When the rate is just fine, our answer is mainly determined by our schedules and our […]
Making the Most of the New Year
It’s unavoidable in January. Along with sending kids back to school, tax prep, and for many, snow, the start of a new year brings with it a chance to evaluate ourselves and our businesses. Articles on goal setting and resolutions are everywhere, with advice on topics from losing 20 pounds to gaining 20 new clients. My own goals are still […]
The Why of Your Freelance Career
I know most folks in freelance businesses (in publishing or elsewhere) focus on what they have to offer, presenting their services like products on a shelf in the store and advertising the availability and quality of those same services through social media and/or advertising. But before you put those services on the shelf, make sure […]
