25 Tips for Self-Employed Independent Contractors
I’ve been self-employed for more than 20 years. An independent contractor. A small business owner. A do-it-yourself kinda gal.
No matter what you call it, I’m my own boss. 
Sadly, in neither career - psychotherapist or real estate agent - did my training include skills for running a business.
Whether you are a seasoned entrepreneur or a newly licensed real estate agent, dentist, therapist, coach, doctor, beauty stylist, whatever… you will find this list to be a timeless resource:
- Don’t work for less than you can afford to.
- Surround yourself with supportive people.
- Separate your work and personal life.
- Plan some ‘thinking time’ into every day.
- Write a business plan.
- Never lose sight of the big picture.
- Solicit advice from people who know what you don’t know.
- Avoid isolation.
- Use the Internet.
- Get trained!
Now it’s your turn. Add one or two tips.
Make the list 25 Tips for the Self-Employed by the Self-Employed.
What have I missed?
How do you practice these tips in your business?
Tell me about the lessons you’ve learned.
What would you have done differently?
Use the comment box to share your experiences.
I’m listening…
Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons | Brian Bolter
Social Networking Tipping Point?
Will the economic down turn tip social marketing into the mainstream? Could 2009 see continued explosive growth of blogs, Twitter and other social media?
I predict we’ll see a surge in small business blogs as marketing budgets continue to tighten and business owners hunt for cost-efficient ways to get the word out.
Enter social media marketing
Blogging is very effective SEO. And it’s SEO everyone can understand. You don’t have to be a technical genius to write good stuff for people you want to reach. A small business owner who is passionate about what they provide has all they need to write a decent blog.
Tight budgets – and fear – will propel independent contractors and other small businesses forward with online marketing and social media networking.
Necessity takes the fear out of risk
Let’s face it, anyone can learn to use Twitter, create a Facebook page, establish a LinkedIn profile, or ping a blog. The value is in the leading edge, not the bleeding edge. Feel the fear and do it anyway.
I learn best by doing. But if that’s not your style, or if you want a mentor, I’m here to guide and support your online marketing success
Follow the Yellow Brick Road
BUILD YOUR OWN OZ!
“Follow the yellow brick road,” sang Dorothy and her unusual entourage in The Wizard of Oz, as they marched toward the Emerald City. The road was clear and their direction set. What they didn’t know was that the good witch and the joyful munchkins had sent them down a road leading to a wanna-be fake wizard behind a curtain.
Have you ever had friends or family direct you to take a “yellow brick road” of their imagining? If you blindly followed their advice, you may have ended up in your own Emerald City of disappointment. The truth is you have the power to create and follow a yellow brick road of your own, one that leads to the realization of your dreams. 
The hard part is that YOU must also lay the paving stones of that road. You must first decide on a destination, and then be certain that each brick faces in that direction. Along the way, you may be distracted by winged monkeys or a wicked witch of your own making. If you succumb to those distractions, you may look back to find that your paving stones are uneven and lead in the wrong direction.
Only by having your destination clearly in mind will you arrive unscathed by life’s many dead-ends and hairpin twists and turns. You must also be committed to the work involved - choosing only the right bricks, having the patience and perseverance to lay them straight, and the strength to avoid life’s temptations as you work.
In the words of Thoreau - “If you have built castles in the air . . . ”
Photo Credit: dawnzy58
Failure Is Not Fatal
Failing can often bring the type of marketing insight that will eventually allow you to succeed on a massive scale.
I recently listened to the audiobook of Seth Godin’s Tribes. Here’s what he had to say about failure:
“The secret of being wrong is not to avoid being wrong. The secret is being willing to be wrong. The secret is realizing that ‘wrong’ isn’t ‘fatal.’
The only thing that makes people and organizations great is their willingness not to be great along the way. The willingness to fail on the way to reaching a bigger goal is the untold secret of success.” (2:43:43)
Decide what you want, where you are in life, and where you want to be.
I know the current market is scary for most. And yet, there is hope for those willing to take some chances.
Risky Business
Your job or business is risky.
risk (noun)
1. The possibility of suffering harm or loss; danger.
2. A factor, thing, element, or course involving uncertain danger; a hazard
And yet, risk also offers profitability. You cannot succeed if you are not willing to take risks. Be bold. Take a chance.
Get over your fear of being different. Your fear of failing. Your paralysis by analysis.
You’ve got no choice. Everything is risky.
When all roads lead to risk, there’s only one thing we can do. Live. We live life by learning, by trying, by falling down and getting up and learning from the best teacher we’ve ever had - life itself. “Everything Is Risky” David Armano
If all this talk about risk is making you nervous, don’t worry – it should.
Risk is inevitable. Failure is not.
When you are ready to talk to someone who understands, someone with a strategy for your online marketing success, contact me.
The Illusion of Stability
Seth Godin outlines the pace of marketing and the idea of an stability in marketing in his most recent book, Tribes. Here is a brief quote:
“Stability is an illusion.
Marketing changed the idea of stability. It’s human nature. We still assume the world is stable, still assume that Google will be #1 in five years, and that we’ll type on keyboards, and fly on airplanes, that China will keep growing, and that the polar icecap won’t really be melted in six years. And we’re wrong.
We’re wrong because the dynamics of marketing and storytelling, and the incessant drumbeat of advertising, have taught us to be restless in the face of stability and the internet just amplifies this lesson…Today the market wants change. The market demands change.” -Seth Godin, Tribes, audiobook 24:24
Marketing is changing every day.
Consumers resist push marketing in favor of direct communication. Marketing is more entwined with technology. If you get lazy and stop learning – or mistakenly believe business will return to normal – your business will become obsolete.
It’s no surprise some of you are intimidated. A slew of new technologies and growth of the online social networking channel has left many paralyzed with uncertainty.
There will never be a time when you understand everything. You must start learning and implementing today because marketing will never be the same again.
If you need help or direction, contact me. I’m booking well into January now.
Economic Slowdowns Are Opportunities
People are scared.
Economic slow-downs are scary things. Individuals and businesses are tightening their belts. Evaluating expenses. Cutting costs.
Typically marketing is one of the first line items to see cuts during economic hard times. Independent contractors, small businesses, large firms – they all lean toward restricting advertising, marketing and public relation costs when money is tight.
Smart business owners recognize a recession is the best and least expensive time to gain market share when competitors are hunkering down.
Maintained visibility translates into:
- recognition
- familiarity
- trust.
Online Marketing – Why Now?
Consumer attitude toward advertising has shifted. We have become adept at avoiding interruption marketing.
We want open, honest, transparent communication - on our terms, at our pace.
The online social medium is less expensive than other channels, easier to measure, and gaining importance daily.
Are you in position to communicate as the economic slow-down pushes social media tools into the mainstream?
Is fear holding you back?
What’s Missing in Your Life?
Grab a cuppa coffee, kick up your feet and reflect… What’s Missing in Your Life?
From “Wellsprings of Wisdom” by Ralph Woods comes this story:
A successful businessman was invited to address a group of young executives on the subject of opportunities. He began his talk by tacking to the wall a big sheet of white paper and placing a black dot in the middle of the sheet. “What do you see?” he asked, pointing to the paper on the wall. “A black spot,” called out everyone in the audience. “Yes, I see a black dot too,” replied the speaker, “but none of you saw the much greater expanse of white. This is the point of my talk on opportunities.”
While it is so easy to focus on the “black dots” - the immediate tasks that face us each day - how often do you grasp the opportunities that no one else notices in the white space?
Don’t answer that you haven’t the time to notice the white space.
Do you ever find yourself daydreaming? When you do, you’re visiting that white space.
The question is: Do you recognize your ability to bring those daydreams to fruition?
Look around you.
Do you find yourself envying what others accomplish?
Perhaps you can learn from their example.
All they have done is to act on their dreams - to recognize the value of their white space and put it into motion.
So - what’s missing in your life?
Why not try filling in the blanks - the white spaces - with the achievement of your dreams? Maybe a legal pad and pencil can help.
Try making a list of every dream you’ve ever had. Write them all down, all of them. When you finish, place an asterisk next to the five you would most like to accomplish or experience.
Finally, make those five items the “black dots” upon which you will focus until completed. Once identified, it becomes much easier to concentrate your attention on them.
Opportunity knocks!
Transcending Hard Times
How do you handle hard times?
What do you do to transcend personal pain? Who do you talk to?
The last several weeks I’ve been reading “When the Heart Waits” by Sue Monk Kidd in my woman’s group. The author relates her passionate and moving tale of a time when life seemed to have lost meaning — When her longing for a hasty escape from the pain yielded to a discipline of “active waiting.”
Creativity flourishes not in certainty but in questions. Growth germinates not in tent dwelling but in upheaval. Yet the seduction is always security rather than venturing, instant knowing rather than deliberate waiting.
And yet, waiting can be so terribly isolating. And scary.
Fear propels us into frenzied activity desperately seeking answers, a way out of the darkness.
Sometimes it seems we’re “quickaholics” — people compulsively seeking out quick and easy ways to live and solve problems, avoiding what is deep, difficult, and therefore growth-producing. We yearn for what’s fast and instant because we don’t want to endure the suffering of change.
“Most people prefer the certainty of misery to the misery of uncertainty,” writes Virginia Satir, a pioneer in the field of family therapy.
What does “active waiting” mean to you? Is it different than sticking your head in the sand? I think so.
How do you resist the lure of the quick and easy? Where do you go for support when times are tough?
Me? I go to my girlfriends first. And then I reach out to my colleagues. How about you?
Thanks to @mindyg for sharing.
New to Twitter? 10 Steps to Getting Started
From the Inbox: 10 Steps to Getting Started on Twitter
Kathy,
I’m not sure how to sign up. Can I sign up from my desktop? Or do I sign up from my cell? I’m not sure how the program works.
Ron
10 Steps to Getting Started on Twitter
- Create an account. Play around with Profile Settings. You can choose to receive direct messages by text, or not.
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just ’cause it’s cool and I’m almost famous. But, no where near as famous as @TBoard @TheRealEstateZebra @Miamism @ResPres @Boomerjack @DaleChumbley @SarahWV @KimWood @MikeSimonsen (Altos Research) @leelefever (CommonCraft videos) - Type a user id after the Twitter url to see their profile - and all the folks following them.
- Be sure to click on the little pictures to find out who has similar interests. Follow them.
- Download Twitterberry for your Blackberry. BB Geeks provides video installation instructions for Twitterberry.
- Download Twhirl for your desktop. Run the application in the background as an opaque sidebar.
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Lurk. Read. Discover.
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To get involved, hover on picture and ‘reply’ to something written in the last 10 minutes.
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Add value. Tell them you are new to Twitter. Accept the warm welcomes.
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REMEMBER: It’s all about the relationship.
For more tips on Twitter and other social networking applications:
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