Team up with others for growth (and fun!)
Working with other freelancers can help you bid on projects too big for one person. It’s a growth strategy when you can’t fit any more work into your day. And sometimes, it’s simply a way to work with people you enjoy. Here are some tips for...
Past clients aren’t ‘dead,’ they’re just resting
Don’t think of former clients as “dead” clients. They may just be “resting,” as the shopkeeper tried to say in the famous Monty Python parrot skit. If you had a good relationship with past clients once, you may be able to rekindle it or encourage a...
Networking? You (still) need a business card
Twice in the last two weeks, I ran into people I knew at a networking event. They were networking. Actively seeking work. Meeting new people. Neither one had a business card. Some people think that a printed business card is terribly old school. Yet it’s still...
Easy ways to market your small business on a shoestring
How do you market your small business when you have limited marketing bucks? Oakville’s Chamber of Commerce sponsored a panel discussion on the topic for last week’s Small Business Week, to which moderator and entrepreneur Michele Bailey graciously invited...
Writing for impatient readers (Wordnerdery)
Have you run across “TLDNR” yet? It stands for “Too long, did not read.” As the Urban Dictionary explains it, you respond with “TLDNR” when someone writes too much in a blog post and you can’t be bothered reading it all. Ouch. Everyone is...
How to set up your website for success
Visitors to your website are either on a mission to find information or they want to be entertained. Either way, it’s your job to make the site welcoming and easy to navigate. “Usability is the term for the art of making a site easy to use,” Andrea...
Be seen as an expert with LinkedIn
Your LinkedIn profile can help you be seen as an expert in your field. At a recent meeting of one of my freelancer groups, Communicators Connection, my colleague Carl Friesen suggested paying attention to these areas: Photo: Use a head-and-shoulders professional...
Tips for getting and using quotes
The Canadian Press Stylebook is all about practical. Yet I love that it says using quotes in your writing will “put the rosiness into the cheeks of the palest stories.” The September issue of my monthly newsletter, Wordnerdery, has a few suggestions about getting and...