Canadian Freelance Writing Jobs

Let’s face it; most of us freelance because the very thought of office politics make us cringe, and our way of dealing with the lady selling daffodils for cancer research is to tell them that the society that she is supporting doesn’t make a lick of difference in the lives of cancer patients (yeah, I did that. Because I called said society when my spouse got cancer, and got nothing info-wise. Just some brainless CSR squeaking at me with “REALLY? I’VE NEVER HEARD OF THAT KIND OF CANCER BEFORE! LIKE OMG!!!!”). That’s another story.

Anyway, teamwork. We’ve all heard of it, we’re all supposed to be great at it, but what the hell is it, really? Let’s try to define what teamwork means to a freelancer.

Communicating With Your Clients
If you are silent for too long, your clients will start to worry. Unless you are on a super short project with no timeline, you need to keep them in the loop through e-mails, phone calls, or even a short line on chat.

Finding Supporting Freelancers and Helping Them
I have web designers, web programmers, and other copywriters on the line that I can call on for any client project. If they need more work, I will actively try to find them work. Likewise, if I need more work, I know I can rely on them to help me out. In order to make this kind of relationship work for you, you have to be an active participant; don’t just stick people in your Outlook contact folder.

Promote Your Work Through Social Media
If you promote your work through social media by tweeting sites you have worked on, blog postings you have done, and otherwise spreading the love, some of your clients will notice and love you for it. That being said, you shouldn’t be obligated by your clients to do this; it should be offered as a happy “extra” on your part. If you want to get paid for it, put together a proposal for your clients with a targeted social media campaign.

What about you? Do you have some ideas on what constitutes “teamwork” as a freelancer? Fire away in the comments.

Tags: firefly motivational, freelancer teamwork
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The issue of gender equality among freelance writers has been an issue that has flamed on and off the intertubes since noted Men With Pens blogger, James Chartrand, pulled a reverse Crying Game. Since that happened, I’ve been chewing over the issue and posting a couple of posts about it here, one of which I retracted because it reflected too much the hopelessness I felt immediately after her big reveal.

Since then, I’ve had the great opportunity to write and hire other writers in my favourite field, writing about technology and the internet. Sadly, not many women came out to the party, even though we posted ads everywhere. Granted, it wasn’t paying one ruby per hour, but it wasn’t shabby either. So that led me to the question – are women just avoiding the more lucrative fields like technology because they are a) scared or b) feel they are underqualified?

I don’t think this is limited to women. I think that the more people that want to write about a subject, the less you are likely to make in that field. As with all economics, an influx of supply creates a downward pressure on the market prices. This has been happening with women’s interest magazines for years, to the point where all but the most lucrative consumer publications pay pennies per word. If you go where the people aren’t, you’ll be more successful.

I do think that women tend to place higher importance on qualifications than men; a woman will think she needs acres of experience before tackling something, while  a man will just feel more comfortable winging it. The takeaway from that is to apply to everything, whether you think you are qualified or not.

I think it also helps to familiarize yourself with fields that you think you’d like to write about, but don’t feel qualified enough to do so just yet. Read some books, visit some websites, apply to write for trade magazines in that field. You may find yourself becoming an expert writer in that field sooner than you think.

Lastly, ladies, don’t be afraid of technology. Don’t eschew social media as a time-waster because all of your technologically non-inclined friends have done so. Pick it up, embrace it, and just start using it. You’ll waste more time playing Farmville than you will updating your Twitter account daily, so dive in. Come to the dark side, we have boy whores.

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I have a big mouth.

Since childhood, this has gotten me into trouble, gained me friends, taught me mad fighting skills, and generally shaped my character. The Captain’s preferred method of self defense makes a lot of sense to me, as politically incorrect as it may seem. When someone is gunning for you, you don’t resort to “using your inside voice”. You give it right back. Likewise, if someone is trying to take advantage of your professional skills, don’t take it. Don’t try to gun them down, but move on to more lucrative and less abusive contracts.

Happy writing!

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