When I first started BlackFreelance, I was ALL about focusing on one niche…not just for myself, but also that’s the advice I would give other freelancers. Lately though, I’ve changed my mind a little. While I still think focusing on just one niche is one of the best ways to cut through beginner freelance confusion, […]
3 Reasons I Pay My Freelance Taxes Monthly (U.S.)
I know taxes are something most freelancers trip over at some level from the get go, but I’m still embarrassed at how long it’s taken me to get comfortable. As much as I loved international accounting in business school, freelance taxes just turned out to be a much different, and much more personal game. Eventually, I […]
5 Ways for Web Designers and Developers to Build Trust
I should probably start this post off with why you should even listen to me in the first place. I’m not a developer. I’m not a designer. Without a solid template to start with, I’m basically dead in the water. So this is an advanced request for forgiveness if I use any terminology wrong. I […]
Review: BlackFreelance Workbook
I was SO happy to run across this thread on Twitter. It’s a review of the BlackFreelance Profile Workbook as well as the site overall. It was totally unprompted and unsponsored, but what made me happy is seeing the freelance challenges it answered. Here’s a look at the thread. So I just spent a […]
Quick Thoughts: How Writers Should Get Into Social Justice
If you follow me on Twitter, you know I’m not a big fan of social justice as a niche. Not because it doesn’t matter or it doesn’t need writers (it does), but mostly because people tend to approach it thinking that sheer energy will translate into income and a great career (it won’t). The thing is […]
The Best (and Shortest) Intro to Freelancing I’ve Ever Heard…
I’ve been following Seth Godin for years now, and while he occasionally can get a little bootstrappy, he’s hands down my favorite marketing guru (he’s one of the few people I’ll use that title for seriously) AND he has a long history of working as a freelancer. That’s why I’m always excited when he takes […]
Don’t Know the Value You Provide as a Freelancer? Read This.
If there’s a trick to building a freelance business, it’s focusing on value. Whenever you listen to experienced freelancers (the ones who’ve been running successful businesses for 10, 15, even 20 or 30 years) talking about how they’ve survived and thrived, that value concept is going to come up. That’s because value is everything. Value […]
Black Bloggers Need to be More Than “Bloggers”
Every time I see someone say they’re working on business goals as a blogger, a little piece of me winces. It’s not because blogging isn’t important or powerful…it is, I’ve started a whole business around it and still do it myself. It’s because too often, when people are talking about blogging on its own, they’re […]
Exploiters vs. Partners…Are your clients taking advantage of you?
I just dropped a survival client that was getting on my last nerve. If you want to get caught up, they ended up getting me through a few tight months after a pretty large retainer client dropped me (and after I’d been slipping on my marketing), so I’m glad I found them, but honestly? They […]
Intro to Value (Read this even if you’re employed…especially if you’re employed)
There’s an uncomfortable little truth to freelancing that I think some of us are just starting to accept. It’s a truth that’s so fundamental to business, that eventually, even employed people are going to have to start paying closer attention to it. It’s pretty straightforward and might be a tad confusing at the same time, […]