You’re drawn to working on your own because you want to do it your way.  You don’t want a boss. You hate punching a clock, asking permission to do stuff, going to meetings, trusting your fate to some company. You’d rather run your own life, and not be blown around by someone else’s winds. Yeah, [...]

What if you needed to ratchet up your income, by oh, 43% or so? And pretty soon. Or what if you’re tired of scratching around with pipsqueak projects for D-list clients. You want to do work that means something, for clients with actual budgets? What should you focus on? What do you ramp up? Your [...]

Do you remember the first day on your own? The day you stepped onto that swaying, shaking rope bridge over the chasm, without a job, in charge of your own fate? Here’s what I remember. I had set up an office in the basement. My desk was a folding table.  I had a stack of [...]

How good must you be to freelance successfully? Do you need to be a rock star genius in your craft? Nah. Being a genius may be useful. But it’s not a requirement. Heck, just fancying yourself a genius is sometimes enough. (I’ve gotten by on that for years.) And yes, as I’ve said, having a [...]

Think of it this way. In a cubicle job 100% of your income — the money you need for your family — comes from a single source.  The boss has 100% control over 100% of your income.  (Personally, that would scare the hell out of me.) If the job goes away, even through no fault [...]