Sometimes I sit back and think about the fact that project management is a whole career. People get paid salaries plus benefits just to keep projects running. As freelancers, we’re taking on what basically amounts to advanced project management…but we don’t talk about it all that much. That’s a problem. When I hear people expressing […]
So You Want to Be More Productive…But Why?
This post will help you with Phase 1 of the BlackFreelance Strategy Workbook…if you haven’t started yours yet, download it now! I’m always paying attention to what topics get Black freelancers interested, so when this article (it’s about what a 6-figure freelancer does every day) turned out to be one of the most popular, it […]
Discovering Your Niche: What Can I Do with Storytelling Skills?
This post will help you with Phase 2 of the BlackFreelance Strategy Workbook…if you haven’t started yours yet, download it now! Narrowing down your niche is one of the hardest things you’ll do as a freelancer. It’s also one of the most important. If you take the time to choose, test, and refine […]
5 Ways to Use Trade Publications to Master Your Niche
This post will help you with Phase 2 of the BlackFreelance Foundations Workbook…if you haven’t started yours yet, download it now! If you’ve been around here for a while, you know I’m quick to recommend trade publications to basically everybody. That’s because they changed my career (more on that later) but it’s mainly because trade […]
It’s Time to Reset Your Freelance Expectations — With Some Numbers
What do you expect from freelancing? Low pay? Consistent income? Long hours? A quick start? I know when I got going, I had ZERO idea of what this life would be like. I had to cobble together my ideas of what ‘normal’ and ‘possible’ looked like from podcasts, Facebook groups, and random conversations online. I […]
How to Be a More Resilient Freelancer
Updated 1/17/2020 Over the years, I’ve changed my mind about a few things around here at BlackFreelance. Things like working in multiple niches and goal setting. The latest is freelancing as a lifestyle. I used to use the term “freelance lifestyle” but I let it go. I’ve just met too many different freelancers with […]
Older Freelancer? Here’s 6 Things You Should be Taking Advantage Of.
Between established bills and shorter time to retirement, older freelancers (I’m talking early to mid-30s and older) have some challenges, but honestly, we’ve got a lot more opportunity. That might be easy to forget with all the social and traditional media focus on teens and 20-somethings, but if you take a step back, you’ll see […]
What is Low-Friction Freelancing?
BlackFreelance welcomes all skill sets and freelancers, but I gotta be honest — some freelance work gets priority over others. That’s because BlackFreelance is all about leveraging freelancing to improve lives, not the other way around. And if we’re keeping it 100, there’s a lot of freelancing out here that’s happy to eat your life […]
Protect Ya Neck: 4 Ways to Prevent Freelancer Non-Payment (and Underpayment)
I’m a big believer in defensive freelancing — handling problems before they become a problem. Tactics like using contracts, expectation management (which we’re covering in the Academy this month), and even using your website to communicate your price ranges and processes can go a long way in preventing freelance issues…and if there’s one area where […]
Companies Making Freelancing Look More Like Employment (Updated for 2020)
Updated 12/27/2019 With the gig economy in full swing and the percentage of freelancers exploding toward 50% in the U.S., we were bound to see some entrepreneurial folk stepping in to take some of the edge off. Right now it looks like the primary targets are going to be the inevitable freelancing gaps like […]