“You have to be EL James or Colleen Hoover to make a decent living as a writer! Don’t even try! Get a real job!” Ever hear that? Ignore it. There are countless ways to get paid to write. To give you some ideas, I went all the way back to the early Nineties – the […]
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How To Charge What You’re Worth
I see a lot of blogs and Facebook conversations about “earning the income you deserve” and “charging what you’re worth.”
Make your name by doing the unsexy work. (AKA Puff Is Pissed, AKA Grownups Eating Ice Cream And Crying)
At the company off-site, they had tubs of ice cream waiting for us first thing in the morning. Breakfast of cry-babies.
KEEP READINGThe F-word I don’t use (and maybe you shouldn’t, either)
“Are you a freelancer?” When someone asks that, I nod yes-ish and answer, “I have a copywriting business.” I’ll call myself a consultant, a professional copywriter, an independent contractor. I’ll say I’m for hire. A free agent. Available for projects. A business owner. But I don’t say “freelancer.” Why? Because it sounds poor. Poor, and […]
KEEP READINGNot every entrepreneur wants to change the world. Some of us just want to love what we do and never fly coach.
Should I be ashamed? Am I a freak? A grinch, a soulless beast, a Kardashian-hearted money grubber? I wonder that sometimes. Because here’s what I see: People in the online business world (life coaches, business coaches, healers, private chefs, virtual assistants, copywriters, dog psychics) who cater to other people in the online business world (other […]
KEEP READINGYes, it’s raining, humans are weird, and you can make a living telling us what we already know.
The other day, I was on my walk (fyi – when I say “a walk” it means just a putter around the neighborhood where I might stop into a clothing store and try on a top; when I say ”my walk” it means a long one that counts as my workout for the day. A walk that must happen. Podcasts […]
KEEP READINGThe three most boring words that come out of your mouth
Know what I need to do? Apparently, everything. Every time I open up 750words.com, which I use as my journal, I see that I accidentally skipped a few days. I broke my streak. And I invariably start with, “I need to write more.” And then, as I continue typing, the “I need to”s multiply like Gremlins when they get […]
KEEP READINGI deserve to be lazy. But so what.
I’ve been very deserve-y since I got back from Europe. (Sorry for that sentence. “Since I got back from Europe” is a heinous thing to say. Makes me think of my first day at my private all-girls school in 9th grade. During lunch, one of the fanciest girls in the class — her last name was one […]
KEEP READINGThe best Power Pose for work.
You’ve heard about power posing, right? Using your body language to generate confidence, calm, or sharpness in your brain? The Wonder Woman pose is the one you hear about most.⠀I’m sure it’s great before speaking on stage. Or walking into a negotiation. (Because a quivering lip does not back up “It’s my way or the […]
KEEP READINGWhat if it’s a “hell, maybe”?
“If it’s not a ‘hell yes’, it’s a ‘hell no!’” If you haven’t heard that expression, then you probably aren’t in contact with any coaches-slash-“lifestyle design” experts, or anyone who’s being coached and parrots everything they hear. And you probably don’t read any of the self-helpy or businessy blogs that I can’t help browsing every […]
KEEP READINGWhy I got fired, the sauerkruat smell, and how to be un-fire-able
If it’s 8am, I’m still sleeping. Go away. 9am? Still sleeping. Maybe even at 10. I’m not proud that I sleep so late, but I’m proud that I can. I’ve built a profitable business that lets me be the Queen of Snooze that I am. (So can you. More on that down the page.) Fun […]
KEEP READINGHow to be disgustingly productive
A productivity workshop seemed like a silly idea for me. No, not because I’m so productive. I could win shiny gold medals for wasting time, if there were official world records. But there aren’t, because it’s a hard thing to measure: Is staring at Facebook for hours waiting for another like to show up wasting time? Is […]
KEEP READINGBe for the weirdos – and other lessons from a day with Seth Godin
I was so mad that Friday. At 6:40, I was hustling off to my 7pm House dance class, wearing my dowdy, full-length black down coat and all kinds of other thermal layers. I’d walked a block thinking, “Only for Cebo’s class do I go out in this cold.” Cebo is my teacher’s “dance name.” (All the […]
KEEP READINGRemain an unshowered troll, or show your face? (The entrepreneur’s dilemma.)
I didn’t shower yesterday. Not for any reason except I kept getting sucked into a work or Facebook vortex every time I looked at the computer. And I kept looking just when I was about to shower. I went to bed feeling filmy. I actually love the shower. I don’t avoid it like my friend Victoria, who’s scared […]
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