Leaving employment was a long process for me, but a few moments helped push that process along. The ones that pushed hardest were the overt efforts to remind me that I’m Black and that that fact could always be used against me. The last business trip I took was the last for a reason. Everything […]
I Almost Fell Back Into That Stability Trap
I’ve got to admit something that’s hard for me to say, especially as someone who runs this site. Over the past year, I’ve gotten really loose with my marketing. Don’t get me wrong…I’ve still been doing it weekly and jumping on LinkedIn and all that good stuff, but I’d stopped going that extra mile. I’d […]
7 Ways to Build Peace Into Your Freelance Business
This post will help you with Phase 1 of the Black Freelance Foundations Workbook…if you haven’t started yours yet, download it now! My first Internet business was impressively exhausting. I built it while working full-time in a job I hated, so naturally, it sucked up every extra bit of energy and time I had. […]
How I Coped With Burnout As a New Freelancer
This post will help you with Phase 1 of the Black Freelance Foundations Workbook…if you haven’t started yours yet, download it now! I didn’t start my freelance career on my own terms. Whenever you hear me say that it’s best to transition slowly into freelancing and build a client base before you make any […]
4 Years Later and I’m Still Dealing with Burnout
This post will help you with Phase 1 of the BlackFreelance Foundations Workbook…if you haven’t started yours yet, download it now! Last week, I missed a call with a client. There wasn’t an emergency or anything, I just kept working, ignored reminders, and completely blew past the meeting. It wasn’t like me at all, […]
30 Ways Employers Control Your Life
**This post will help you with Phase 1 of your Freelance Workbook.** We underestimate the impact employers have on our lives…and that’s an understatement. I fell asleep last night thinking of all the ways my life has been different since becoming a full-time freelancer but also wondering what my life would be like if I’d […]
5 Things I Had to Say “No” to BEFORE I Started Freelancing
This post will help you with Phase 1 of your Freelance Profile Workbook. One of my biggest beefs with career advice is that it seldom addresses a person’s full life. Like when you get tips on what degrees pay the most without a nod to the satisfaction levels in the careers those degrees lead to […]
The Conversation that Launched My Freelance Career: Doers vs. Connectors
We all, every last one of us, walk into our careers with incomplete understanding. No matter how well-connected, long-educated, or perceptive we might be, there will always be certain rules, certain corners, movements, and paths of power that we cannot see or simply don’t understand. That obscuring of our vision happens because of multiple factors […]
You Don’t Have to Get Freelancing Right the First Time (or even the second)
This post will help you with Phase 1 of the Black Freelance Foundations Workbook…if you haven’t started yours yet, download it now! I want to tell you something real quick. Your first freelance profile won’t be right. Your first pitch either. Know what else? Your first website will likely be strange and ineffective and your […]
2017: The Year I’m Giving Up Goals
I’m done with goals. At least for a year. Goals are overrated. I still have things I want to see happen (namely upping the level of my clients), but I’m at a point where that’s going to have to happen as a natural outgrowth of how I live as a freelancer. After decades of forcing […]