Constant Content is a site that basically works as an article broker for freelance writers. I’ve been using it for a couple of years now and while my earnings there aren’t spectacular (around $2,000 total), I also spend very little time there, so consider it a good investment of my effort. It’s a good option for freelance writers that are going through a slower period.

How It Works

The way the site works is you, the writer, turn out an article on any topic that pleases you (unless responding to a request, more on that later) and submit it. You set the price and decide if you only want to sell usage rights or full rights. There is a strict approval process that ensures only top quality articles get into Constant Content’s article database, but once you’re in, potential buyers can view and purchase your article. Constant Content takes a percentage off the top (35%) and the rest goes into your account, which is paid out at the beginning of each month if you have $5 or more pending.

Article Requests

While you can write on literally any topic, people do put in special requests for articles. The majority of these are going to be “public requests” which any freelance writer can respond to. For example, you’ll be notified that someone is looking for ten articles on kitchen sinks. You write a couple of articles using their keywords and submit them. Once these articles are approved, you can send them to the buyer who will purchase only the articles he or she is interested in. To tell you the truth, I haven’t had a lot of luck with this method unless the buyer is looking for a large number (10+) of articles. With just one article, the fastest article writers will get the job . . . but the article that you wrote for the project still goes into the directory and is available for sale should someone want it at a later date, which they usually do if the topic is a popular one.

There are also private requests where someone will contact you through your Constant Content inbox and request specific articles. These are pretty much guaranteed pay and I’ve made a good chunk of cash off this type of request. If you do a good job, these buyers will usually come back to you time and time again. Building up a reputation is very valuable.

How Much Can You Earn?

Once you have an article approved, it’s on the site and in the public eye even if you never write another article for Constant Content. I usually go through bursts where I’ll upload 10-20 articles at a time and then not touch the site again for months at a time. Despite ignoring them completely, my articles continue to sell and I receive a monthly payment from the site, even if I haven’t logged on in weeks.

Since you set your own price, you can ask for just about anything. There are some freelance writers who underprice themselves and offer their work for $5, but most of the buyers who come to Constant Content are willing to pay good money for quality work. Most of my articles are priced between $25 (for usage rights) to $50 (full rights), but I’ve sold several for $100, as well. Remember that Constant Content does take 35% off your price, so if you sell an article for $50, you receive $32.50. Since these are articles that I wouldn’t have sold otherwise and that I can usually turn out in 10-15 min. it’s worth it for this price.  Remember that you can write what you want, so there doesn’t have to be a lot of research involved.

I wrote a post on my blog in February about how to sell articles on Constant Content which you can read here: http://athomemomblog.com/how-to-sell-articles-on-constant-content/

Ten Tips for Hiring a Virtual Assistant

1. Understand what a virtual assistant truly is. A virtual assistant is a small business owner who provides administrative services to help other small business owners, entrepreneurs and freelancers grow their businesses. We are independent contractors, not employees, and we use technology to do our work remotely, regardless of the physical location of our clients.
2. Virtual assistants offer a HUGE variety of services to their clients, so think hard about what special skills you might benefit from in a virtual assistant. You may need a generalist virtual assistant or you may appreciate someone with specialized knowledge in your specific industry.
3. To decide what tasks you want to have your virtual assistant help you with try this: make a list of the things you do each week. Now separate that list into three parts, the things you love to do, the things you dislike but that are essential and the things that you need to eliminate. Anything that is essential but that you dislike doing has great potential for being assigned to a virtual assistant.
4. Decide how much you want to spend. Be realistic. You may have heard about $3/hr virtual assistants, but like so many things in life, you get what you pay for. The average rate for a high quality virtual assistant is likely to be from $20 to $50 per hour, and rates can be higher for highly specialized VA’s. You can likely treat your virtual assistant’s pay as an expense for your business, but check with your accountant to be sure.
5. The best way to find a virtual assistant to work with you is by referral, but other good options are by searching on Twitter or posting an rfp on sites like VAnetworking or IVAA.
6. Be aware of the affect of working in different time zones. Do you need a virtual assistant in your time zone or perhaps one who works the opposite of your hours to insure quick turnaround of projects?
7. If you are hesitant to hand over a lot of your administrative work at once, start slowly and build up to utilizing a virtual assistant to optimum benefit. You could start by using a virtual assistant for a couple of hours a week and build up to using them for 10 or 15 hours per week (or more!)
8. Be sure to be clear on billing procedures such as methods of payments and how often you will be invoiced and how long you have to pay.
9. Get a contract. A contract will outline the terms of your arrangement and protect both parties.
10. The MOST important tip!! Communicate often and clearly. Follow up phone calls with emails to confirm details and do regular status checks on projects. Online relationships do have a greater margin of error for miscommunication since tone is so hard to interpret in an email or instant message. And if you feel everything is going really well take a minute to send your VA a note saying how happy you are with the current arrangements. She’ll appreciate knowing that she’s on the right track!

Laurie Mapp is a mother of three boys who runs her virtual assistant business from her home in Alberta, Canada. Check out her business blog for more information about her business or her mom blog for more about being a work at home mom.

We are excited to have Lis Garret of Woolgatherings join us for one last guest post. Lis, like many of our readers, often combines the struggles of a freelancing career with the joys of parenthood (and vice versa).

When your infant finally arrives, you spend a lot of time simply staring at her. In the beginning, it’s enough just to sit and admire her as she sleeps in the bassinet. You memorize the tiny details of her face, her heart-shaped mouth and upturned nose. You stare at her for hours in disbelief and complete reverence.

But after awhile, you start to get bored. You begin to wish your new baby would do something already instead of just sleep, eat, and cry. You willfully wish her into the next level of growth. I can’t wait until she rolls over. I can’t wait until she sits up. I can’t wait until she crawls. I can’t wait until she walks. With all that impatient wishing, however, your baby becomes a toddler almost overnight, and you’re left longing for those pre-mobile days of infancy.

Just as a baby grows from placid infant to precocious toddler, and so it goes with any new business, the growing pains associated with the transition from one developmental stage to the next.

My active pursuits into freelance writing began in July 2007. The responsibilities with the job I had providing web content were few and simple. I understood the guidelines and had a firm grasp of the style in which I was to write. It was smooth sailing, as far as I was concerned. Then I got bored and began looking for additional work to occupy my time and talents. That’s when my second blog was born, a place to remove the writer from the mother and begin exploring a different niche altogether. My ability to balance was once again tested, as I had my hands full juggling the tasks of contract work and posting daily on two blogs. In the course of one week, I signed two additional contracts, one for a paid blogging position with b5Media and the other for article and editorial assistance on a job that has the possibility of extension. All of this, in addition to my volunteer position as an editor for a local elementary school newsletter, the increasing demand for small-business endorsements, and the occasional stint as a guest blogger.

Did I mention I have three young children and a husband who frequently travels?

My career is still in its infancy stage, so much so that I hesitate to call it an official business. I equate it to the feeling of bringing your baby home for the first time, still a bit in denial that she is actually there in front of you, despite the fact that she is alive and thriving. This business of writing and providing a service is so new, yet so very intoxicating. However, I’m beginning to experience the pains of growing. In terms of business, these pains are good. As life is with a new baby, it’s learning how just to manage that is the real pain. It’s the type of growth you welcome, growth that you know encourages positive change. But it’s a pain, nevertheless.

As work at home parents, it is very easy to get caught up in work, since it’s always there. Cooking dinner? While the roast is in the oven, you can get a few more paragraphs written. Laptops make it easy for us to work while the kids are in the bath or at the park . . . but working all the time isn’t necessarily the best for anyone, you or your kids.

Taking some time to just hang out and play is good for you and chances are you’ll find that you are far more productive after a little break. If nothing else, you’ll have a little down time to work in because your children will be calmer and happier after spending some time with you. I know my toddler gets awfully cranky when he doesn’t feel that I’m paying enough attention to him!

One Thing at a Time

By focusing on what you’re doing, you will do it better. That means when you are bathing your kids, you can get in there and make bubble beards and Mohawk hairstyles and just enjoy being with them. And when you have to work, focus on that. This isn’t always possible, but spreading your attention between several activities is usually far less productive.

Use a Timer

If you are a total workaholic who simply can’t pull yourself away from work, try using a kitchen timer. Set it for 30-60 minutes and take a 15 minute break when it dings. This works well for kids, too. They can trust a timer more than you saying, “I’m just going to finish this report . . .”

When the timer goes off, go do something else. Play with your kids for those 15 minutes, do the dishes, etc. You will benefit from a little rest and your kids will leave you alone more if they know they have guaranteed time to be with you when the timer goes off.

Schedule Free Time

Whether it be a full day to hit the zoo or waterpark (or skating rink for those of you in colder climates!) or simply an afternoon for a picnic, it’s a good idea to schedule free time into your day planner. Having it specifically scheduled means you won’t accidentally plan a client meeting at the same time, pushing that free day up again and again. It also gives your family something to look forward to, if you make it a regular thing.

Taking time out to play is something that every freelance parent needs to do. Kids grow up fast and you don’t want to miss out on it just because you were working too hard! So, plan to start taking time to color and build block towers with your toddler, play Monopoly with an older child, or just hang out and chat. You won’t regret it.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably an eParent, which puts you up there with Superman, the Green Lantern and all those other great heroes of the Marvel Comic world. In the blink of an eye, you can rip off your pajama mentality and convey your powerful online personality of Freelance Worker Extrordinaire.

You are eParent (!!), superhero of the crashed-together worlds of Vale of Virtual and Havoc of Household.

But you probably feel like a version of Mr. Incredible, the disillusioned, depressed has-been of the Superhero world. You’re probably incredibly frazzled, incredibly tired, incredibly worn-out and incredibly close to snapping. And that’s on a good day.

Oh come on, let’s be honest, here. That smooth, sophisticated, suave eParent doesn’t exist. Those magazine ads extolling sleek, successful mothers in power suits or Adonis-like fathers who can handle business as well as they can handle baseball?

They don’t exist – not in the eParent world.

eParents are electronically wired into a digital world, furiously blazing through work to make the rent while they single-handedly wipe up baby spit with one hand without even taking their eyes off the email.

They can whip out an arm to protect Wee Wilbur’s head from the Impending Strike of Doom from Terrible Toddler Number 2. Without even blinking an eye or dropping the polite tone they’re using for the telephone conversation.

They can create a complete aura of “I’ve got it all together and under control” while internally clocking just how long they have left to wrap up the client call before All Hell Breaks Loose.

eMom, eDad… It makes no difference. Gender isn’t an issue where eParent is concerned. Joined together as a virtual community while still remaining completely isolated by Civilized People, eParents accept each other openly, thrilled that someone Finally Understands.

And eParents dominate the trailblazing of the Internet, zooming forth on our high-speed connections as pioneers seeking the solution to survival for Home Workers. As eParents, we set the standard for all new, tentative eParents testing their cables and routers for the first time.

We are creating a rich lore of wisdom and experience, a tried-and-true success story for our children who will follow in our digital footprints. We are leaders, discovering and exploring how to blend digital living with Life on Earth for the benefit of generations to come.

Maybe we are incredible after all.

Out next appearance for the guest blog lineup is none other than Deborah Ng, the go-to woman for everything blog related. Deborah is a full time professional blogger. In addition to her flagship Freelance Writing Jobs blog, Deb also maintains the Celebrity Cowboy blog and five blogs for b5 Media including Simply Thrifty and She Plays Music.

A lot of times when we read about making a living as a blogger, we learn about cultivating our own blogs. What about those who enjoy blogging, but would rather not take the time to build up a blog of their own? Fortunately for them, there are plenty of opportunities for freelance bloggers.

Who is Hiring Bloggers?

Blogging is being taken a lot more seriously now than a few years ago. Look at any of the freelance writing job boards and you’ll see a majority of the opportunities are for professional blogger. Who’s hiring?

• Blogging networks looking for niche bloggers.

• Businesses looking for people to blog about products and give websites a more personal touch.

• Professional bloggers looking for help on their own personal blogs.

• Website owners who own blogs and want to earn revenue but would rather pay someone to do the work.

What Does A Blogging Job Entail?

If you’re looking to make a career of blogging for others, you may be required to fulfill one or all these responsibilities:

• Write from one to several blog posts per day.

• Find news, images, videos and more pertaining to your niche.

• Blog promotion and traffic building

• Encourage discussion and community building.

What Do Blogging Jobs Pay?

Blogging can be a lucrative career. Large corporations and many individuals pay their bloggers quite well! Networks offer a lower base or per post pay, but the traffic and revenue bonuses can help make up the difference. There are also those who only want to pay a percentage of revenue or traffic. This isn’t always recommended as you might not earn any money for the first few months.

What Skills Do I Need to Become a Professional Blogger?

If you want to blog for a living, you’ll need to know how to effectively communicate with your audience. Since blogging is a more informal form of writing, a sense of humor is a plus. Bloggers should know something about building traffic and SEO (search engine optimization) techniques.

It’s also important for bloggers to know their chosen topics well. If you’re going to blog every day on a particular topic, you’ll soon burn out if you don’t know enough about the niche.

Where Do I Find Blogging Jobs?

Fortunately, blogging jobs are everywhere. Here are some great places to look:

• Freelance Writing Jobs

• Problogger Job Board

• Performancing

• Craigslist

• Blogger Jobs

• About Freelance Writing

• Freelance Switch

Blogging is also a great career for busy parents, students or even those with a full time job. Most blogging platforms now allow for you to time stamp your posts, or set them to post to a specific date and time, so you can blog ahead for a whole week if needed. This comes in handy for those who can only work on the weekends.

If you’re a good writer looking to make a living from your craft, do consider blogging. It’s proving to be the best thing to ever to happen to me, bet you love it too!

You made it. You’ve sold your first article to a magazine, the light of prestige at the end of a very long, SEO-lined tunnel. (With apologies to Tamara, who turned a spectacular phrase that I couldn’t resist borrowing.) You’ve been sent a three-page contract set in 4 point type, and once you sign, your check will be in the mail and your name will be in lights all across the country (wouldn’t that be nice?) But really, though the ‘Net is wild and wooly, the world of print is not much better. Always make sure you know what you’re signing before you put your name on the dotted line.

First, a disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer, law student, or even frequent Law & Order watcher. If you have questions about a contract, please contact someone knowledgeable (like an actual lawyer). But if you’re just hoping to get some basic information about what to expect, read on!

Here are a few terms you might come across in a magazine contract:

Work made for hire : Under a work-for-hire agreement, the company, magazine, or blog paying you to write for them becomes, legally, the creator of your work–even though you wrote it. (Much more common on the Internet, but certainly not unheard of in the print world.) Work for hire may or may not come with a byline. As in, it’s possible to have your name on an article yet still not be regarded as the author of the work. You can’t resell it, reprint it, or share it without the company’s permission. And they can. This is yucky, and if you can avoid signing this, do so.

All rights : For most purposes, identical to work-for-hire (though you are much more likely to get a byline).

Reprint rights : You’re not giving the company the right to reprint your work elsewhere; you’re offering them the right to use a reprint of your article. Similar to one-time rights, where a magazine is allowed to print your piece once, but not necessarily first.

First North American Serial Rights (FNASR) : Now we’re getting somewhere! Excepting reprint rights (where you get money for an article you’ve already written), FNASRs are the most favorable to a writer. It means that a magazine can print your article once, anywhere in North America, after which point the rights revert to you and you can do what you want with your work. Contracts offering FNASR usually ask for more, though, such as:

• Electronic rights–the right to publish your piece on CD-ROM, tape drives, the Web, e-mail, etc.

• Internet rights–the same as above, except without CD-ROM and other electronic medium support.

• Exclusive rights–usually for a fixed length of time. For 90 days, 6 months, or a year, you cannot resell your work. After the exclusivity period ends, rights revert to you.

Those are the main three phrases you’ll see in contracts. But often it’s more complicated than that. How about a contract, from X magazine, that stipulates authors must offer all future ideas to X first? (Are you kidding?) How about one that says writers cannot resell their work unless “the lead and some other content” is changed? (Could that be any more vague?) Or the magazine that buys First North American Serial Rights with the non-exclusive right to republish in any form for eternity? (So I can compete with you to resell my writing?) I’ve seen all of these on real contracts. They are more or less common (though the first one blew my mind when I saw it). But just because something is common doesn’t mean you have to take it.

If you’re offered a contract that is really unfair to you: In short, if the publisher insists on buying all rights, ask for more money (or for their rights to expire after a certain amount of time.) If their budget is tight, offer FNASRs with the option to negotiate re-use in the future.

One last note about print market contracts: Make sure there is a kill fee clause. From my explorations on the Internet and paid blogging sites, it looks like this concept hasn’t quite caught on–perhaps because of the quick turnaround–but in magazine and other print writing it is a must. What this means is that if you are assigned a story to write, it’s accepted, but it doesn’t run (because they run out of space, the editor changes her mind, whatever), you are entitled to a percentage of your agreed-upon fee. This is, as they say, totally sweet.

You don’t have to let contracts get the best of you–just educate yourself and know what you’re signing, and success inevitably will follow.

If you’re not in touch with other writers, then you’re missing out on one of the greatest opportunities that there is to learn and grow. Not only can networking with other writers be a means of learning about your writing craft and finding job leads; it can also be a wonderful source of enduring friendships.

There’s nothing quite like talking about your latest writing project, with all its triumphs and frustrations, to another writer. Your spouse or significant other (unless they are also a writer) probably doesn’t really want to hear it. Your best friend, as well meaning as she is, doesn’t really get it. Your kids aren’t interested. Another writer, on the other hand, understands exactly what you’re going through and can commiserate, or cheer you on, in ways that no one else can.

When I first started working from home, I already had a good network of colleagues that I had built up during my years in the corporate world. In fact, one of my very first clients came from a referral by one of those colleagues. Now, six years later, I still know how to reach most of those colleagues – even though we’re no longer in touch on a daily, or even a regular, basis.

Without other writers I know that I wouldn’t have become the same writer that I am today. Connecting with other writers can change your life and your career too. Why not give it a try?

Tips for Connecting With Other Writers

There are a lot of different ways to connect with other writers. This post lists just a few of the more common methods.

1. Professional Societies – This is where I started connecting with other writers during my corporate career. I was a member of The Society for Technical Communication, but there are professional societies for nearly every type of writing.

2. Mentors – A mentor can be anyone who you want to learn from who is willing to spend some time with you. A mentoring relationship can be formal, through a mentoring program, or it can be informal.

3. Former Co-workers – Out of sight doesn’t have to be out of mind. If you’ve worked in a professional environment and you haven’t burned your bridges (and I sincerely hope that you haven’t), then you should make an effort to stay in touch with the people who used to work with you.

4. Online – I almost titled this post “Why You Should Connect With Other Bloggers,” then I realized that networking is bigger than blogging. The Internet, however, is definitely expanded the scope of networking. As a writer you should make use of the networking tools that the Internet provides. Here are just a few of them:

• Blogs – You don’t even have to have your own blog to have a relationship with writers who blog. Find a few writing blogs that you like and leave comments on a regular basis. Once in a while, you can e-mail the blogger.

• Forums – Forums are a great way to get to know other writers. Once again, the important thing with a forum is to participate. Find a few topics that interest you and join the discussion.

• Be Part of A Group – Join an online network of individuals. Both Google and Yahoo have a groups feature that lets you communicate with others who have similar interests. If you blog, there are also blogging networks that you can join.

• Social Networking – Stay connected with your writing friends using one or more of the many social tools that are available. With multiple social media available, there’s really no excuse to lose touch anymore.

So, what’s keeping you? Get out there and connect!

There seemed something so magical, rebellious and cool about saying “I’m a Freelancer.” Like I got to thumb my nose at all of those poor saps in their stuffy desk jobs as I got to work from my bed eating bon bons. Not that I did that, I just liked it when people thought I had a cushy, cool job.

It didn’t take too many months of freelancing to realize why they called it free-lancing – because you end up doing a lot of work “for free”. That’s right, the title “Free-lancer” entitled me to fix my mistakes, market my business, do my accounting, troubleshoot my computer, sell my services, and build my client base for free. It wasn’t long before my romance with freelancing faded and the drudgery of being an overworked solopreneur ensued.

Finding clients was easy when I first started in 2000, we were still in the internet heyday when people were literally throwing money around as long as you had some tech experience. But when the end of 2001 hit, small businesses were hit hard – and I suddenly had to not only be a creative designer, I also had to be a creative marketer and sales person to keep my business from going under. I didn’t like spending money on my business, I wanted to be spending money because of my business. So I got pretty good at finding ways to get gigs without spending a ton of money (or any at all).

1. Be an excellent communicator - #1 way to get and keep your clients was to stay on top of emails, updates, followups and even day-to-day casual conversations. If you want to send the message “flaky”, nothing does that better than blowing off your clients. People notice this stuff – sometimes not even consciously – but I assure you it can and WILL make or break a project at some point in your freelancing career.
2. Be anal retentive about appearances - Have a great looking website. Have beautiful business cards. Get good headshots taken. These are your ‘representatives’ when you are not there to speak for yourself – so make sure they are speaking to your strengths and not your weaknesses.
3. Throw in freebies - Not everyone will agree with me on this, but every client likes getting a little more than what they pay for. Even if you go the extra mile for every client (and even prebuild it into your fees), let them know that this little extra is “on the house” – people need to know you care enough about their business to work harder for it.
4. Get out in the trenches - Between Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogging, and all of the other social media site, we have little reason to leave the house. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t leave the house. Nothing builds your relationships or networks more than face time, period.
5. Printers and hosting companies are your friend - Most small businesses don’t think of freelancers first for marketing projects, they think of getting a brochure printed or putting up a website. Be on the front lines by making sure that you have relationships with these companies who can recommend you when they are contacted for referrals – and I assure you, it happens more than you think.
6. K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple, Stupid. Make projects simple to understand and make working with you as easy as possible. Clients LOVE it when they don’t have to think about working with you, because things just get magically taken care of when you are on board.
7. Create a large portfolio of work even if you have a small portfolio of clients - I used to build up my portfolio by making up dream projects and then designing logos or creating illustrations to showcase my best work. To this day some of my favorite past projects were fake, and I was able to repurpose a lot of those pieces later in my career for paying projects.
8. Pick up the phone - Related to #4, sometimes email just doesn’t cut it. I’ve heard it said on multiple occasions “I got the gig because I was the only one who called the client and /requested a meeting/asked appropriate questions/showed I cared enough to call/. Yes, it really can be that simple.
9. Only spend money on things you know will bring a return on investment - I’m all for investing in your business, but when you have a shoestring budget, make sure that you spend it on something that you know will lead to work.
10. Create a brand for yourself and own it – Need I say more than Seth, ChrisG, or ProBlogger? Get it out there anywhere and everywhere.
11. Pay attention to little details – What might be little to you can look like a big oversight to a potential client. Don’t drive yourself nuts, but looking buttoned-up communicates a lot more to clients than ‘just’ being buttoned-up.
12. Be a great presenter - Being a good sales person is sometimes more important than being a good freelancer. I lost more work because I didn’t like sales more than the next 3-4 reasons combined. It pays (literally!) to invest time in knowing how to showcase yourself and your work well.
13. Ask for referrals – You’ll hear it throughout your freelancing career for a reason. I never liked doing this, but honestly, when I did, it worked.
14. Be found in every freelance marketplace - Elance, Guru, FreelanceNation, even Craigslist. You may or may not want to get any work from these sources, but that doesn’t matter, especially when you are starting out. It’s not just about finding gigs, it’s about building awareness of your brand in front of your community.
15. Network with the competition - Anytime I had overflow work, or a project that wasn’t a fit for my skills, I passed work along to my competition. Sometimes it seems counterintuitive, but I used to give as many referrals as I received, probably even more than that.
16. You’d better be blogging already, dammit.
17. You’d better be guest posting on other blogs already, too if you are in the first year or two of business.
18. Learn some basic SEO – I was terribly short-sighted about the importance of SEO for the first 9 months of writing eMoms at Home. After this, I assure you I paid more attention.
19. Stay in touch with past clients - Whether you do it via email, a mailing list, the phone, or whatever, it’s critical to stay at the top of the minds of the people are most likely to hire you again or recommend you to someone else.
20. Don’t overlook the obvious - have a “Hire Me” page. Think this one is stupid or simple? Go around to a few freelancer blogs and find out just how common an oversight this is.

Guest Author Wendy Piersall is the CEO and Founder of eMoms at Home, and she still does all of this stuff in her current business even though she doesn’t freelance at all anymore.

Freelancing is hard work. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. Sure, you get to work from home, set your own schedule, and you have considerable control over your own salary, but the hours are long and hard, especially in the beginning, which can span anywhere from the first three to twelve months.

There’s a good chance that at some point, you’ll burn up and burn out. Suddenly, you realize that you can’t remember when you had your last meal, your eyes are glazed over and you’ve been sitting in front of your computer in a catatonic state for hours. To top it all off, the pressure behind your eyes indicates that you’ve got a big headache coming on. You need to cool off, and take care of yourself.

For many freelancers, this kind of fever is inevitable. You’re a one person corporation, doing the jobs of many different people, and success or failure rests squarely on one set of shoulders: yours. That’s a lot of pressure. You have to be the CEO, the sales manager, marketing consultant, the administrative assistant, the entire finance department, and oh yeah, you’ve also got to be production.

At times, you’ll get swallowed up by the immense amount of work you have piling up on your desk. Your body and mind, and ultimately your business, will all suffer if you don’t take proactive measures to keep your machine running smoothly. Occasionally, you should sit down and have a business meeting with yourself, review your workload and work habits, do a little planning, and make sure that your operation is optimized for good health.

1. Know when to say no

You don’t have to accept every job that comes your way, even in the beginning when money is tight. If you’re booked up, or a project doesn’t fit your skill set, gently tell the client no. If you miss a deadline or produce shoddy work, it will hurt your business far more than missing out on a few extra bucks. If you do have to turn down a project, try to refer your client to another independent professional.

2. Develop a network

Freelancing can get lonely. That’s why it’s important to build a network of professionals that you can communicate and interact with. Of course, the Web is the premier place to find and get to know other freelancers. These are people with whom you can swap ideas, share stories, and build a working relationship.

3. Consider subcontracting and outsourcing

If you have a substantial income and an overload of work, it may be a good idea to look into subcontracting and outsourcing. Hire a real life or virtual assistant to take care of simple, administrative tasks, so you can focus on the big dollar projects. You can also outsource projects, but make sure you don’t mislead clients into thinking that you’re doing the work if you’re actually farming it out.

4. Keep your eye on the prize

When you’re freelancing, it’s hard to avoid distractions. With your flexible schedule, you’ll find that it’s easy to wander off track. Don’t give in to procrastination! Stay focused, and keep a running list of your priorities, setting aside specific time for play, web surfing, and those tasks which do not have a direct effect on your bottom line.

5. Stick to a schedule and include plenty of breaks

Develop a schedule outlining tasks that have to be done daily, weekly, monthly, and even annually. Make sure you take plenty of short breaks. Ten minutes for every hour will help you stay fresh and focused. Sit outside, have a cup of coffee (away from your desk), go for a quick walk, meditate, or do some stretches. Then get back to work.

6. Remember why you got into this in the first place

Don’t forget that you’re a freelancer because you love this job! It’s all about flexibility, freedom, and being your own boss. But be a fair and reasonable boss, and manage yourself well. Keep a healthy schedule, perspective, and attitude, and your freelance career will thrive.

We’d like to give some special thanks today’s featured writer, Allena Tapia.  Allena can be found pretty much anywhere freelance-writing-related, including About.com, WritersUnbound, and Parenting Diva.

Seriously, this woman is everywhere.

With one half of my favorite up and coming blog/freelance team about ready to have her first child, I began thinking about project extensions and late work. Of course, I’m not talking about Berry Brewer when I write such a thing – but more from experience!

Whenever I throw my hat in on a job I promise a solid deadline with “No Excuses, No Exceptions.” I’ve had people hire me specifically because of that promise.

From speaking with some of my clients, my understanding is that freelancers are sometimes looked upon as a fickle folk, and deadlines are sometimes eyed with suspicion.

In addition, I’ve contracted with a lot of clients who have hired me to clean up or complete jobs from which other freelancers have mysteriously disappeared, had multiple grandmas pass away, or contracted rare but serious diseases.

Now, I’m not saying that these things don’t come up. Trust me, I KNOW this happens, and I wonder sometimes if I should not include such a stalwart promise as “No Excuses, No Exceptions” because, I guarantee you, if something happens to a member of my family, a project is decidedly second place.

So, when is it ok to ask for extensions?

• When extensions are truly needed.
• When an extension will vastly improve the final product.
• When a client has indicated that they’re not concerned with dates.
• When a client has added a significant piece to your original project.

 Avoid asking for extensions for these reasons:

• Poor planning on your part.
• To take on a (new) rush project.
• To take on a (new) project with better pay.
• Because you simply don’t like the project, and are therefore procrastinating.

Ok, so that last one was for me.

Have you ever had a real life emergency that required an extension on a project? How was it taken by your client?