Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday. Each week we’ll share some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to

This week’s directive is to “spark an idea about purging,” which in my case is kind of like asking a toddler to spark an idea about patience and self-discipline. But hey – it’s “Spark an Idea Thursday,” so I’ll give it the old college try.

The thing is, I could really benefit from some purging:

• I have a basement filled with plastic tubs, each of which contains an incredible assortment of papers, mementos, and miscellaneous items from various stages of my life. Why? Because I find it impossible to throw stuff like that out. Instead of throwing stuff out, I buy more plastic tubs so I can keep all of my crap totally organized. Ridiculous, right?
• I have a “to do” list for this week that could never be completed in a single week. Why? Because I find it impossible to admit that I’m not going to get to everything. Up until 5:55 pm on Friday, I hold out hope that I will somehow miraculously finish everything on the list. At approximately 5:56, I give up and transfer the tasks I didn’t complete to the following week’s list (and repeat this process weekly).
• I have about 10 different ideas for books I want to write. If you follow this blog you know that I really want to get a book published, but the first step is to pick one single idea – which means giving up (at least temporarily) on the other nine. You have no idea how difficult this is for me.

I know that if I could just get better at this whole “purging” thing, I would be more focused.

My life would be less cluttered. I would probably be more productive and achieve more of my goals. So why is it so hard?

As you can probably tell, I don’t have any brilliant ideas about purging, except to underscore its importance. Have any of you struggled with this issue the way I do? Have you figured out any solutions that you’d be willing to share?

I’m all ears.

Traci Feit Love is a freelance writer, editor & communications consultant for businesses that need smart, impressive content. To learn more or to sign up for her free e-course, “How to Get More High-Paying Clients,” visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.

This week’s “Spark an Idea Thursday” theme is about “something you want so bad you can taste it.” The idea is to share “something from deep inside that you have a huge will to accomplish – and what you’re doing to prepare for it!”

So here goes: I want to write a book and get it published.

Wow – that’s a really scary thing to say out loud. Am I the only one who finds it scary to tell other people about personal goals and dreams?

Bookstores and libraries have always been my favorite places. As a kid, I used to beg my mom to drop me off at the library and just leave me there for a few hours. I would wander through the shelves, picking up anything that interested me and reading it for as long as I stayed interested. It was fairly common for me to end up sitting on the floor in the middle of two giant stacks of books, wondering how I was going to pick 8 or 10 books to check out when there were so many to pick from.

I’m still like that. The only difference is that back then, I just assumed that I’d have a few books of my own on the shelves by this point in my life. And now I wander through the bookstore wondering how much longer it will be until that happens.

What am I doing to make sure I achieve this goal?

Well, I’ve spent a lot of time coming up with book ideas, learning how to write a nonfiction book proposal, and researching literary agents. I’ve ghostwritten books for other people, so I know I am capable of writing a book, and I continue to learn about the process of getting published.

But I think the time has come to take the next step. It’s time to get this party started.

So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to:

• select one book idea from my list;
• write a book proposal based on that idea;
• create a list of literary agents to contact;
• write a query letter; and
• send the query letter to the agents on my list.

I’ll keep you updated on my progress – and if you happen to notice a lot of time passing with no status updates, feel free to remind me of this post! Hopefully a little accountability will help me bridge the gap between “wanting” and “doing.”

How about you? What do you want “so bad you can taste it?” Share in the comments so we can help one another achieve our goals (and so I’m not the only one with her hopes and dreams hanging out there for all to see!)

Traci Feit Love is a freelance writer, editor & communications consultant for businesses that need smart, impressive content. To learn more or to sign up for her free e-course, “How to Get More High-Paying Clients,” visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday. Each week we’ll share some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to

This week’s “Spark an Idea Thursday” theme is about “being a lifetime learner,” a topic which is very close to my heart. Keeping your heart and mind open to new things, being interested in the world around you, and learning something new every day are (at least for me) the keys to a happy life.

When it comes to being an entrepreneur, continuing to learn new things isn’t really a choice – it’s a necessity.

If you just plod along doing what you’ve always done, and fail to adapt to the changing world around you, you will fall behind your competitors. But what’s even more important is the joy and vitality that come from learning something you didn’t know before. My late grandfather, Hy Perry, taught me that by example (thanks, Grandpop).

When I was very young, he found ways to make learning fun for me. I remember him creating little handmade “awards,” with gold stars and little drawings, and giving them to me as I learned the alphabet, numbers, and (eventually) reading. I still have those little scraps of paper and treasure them more than any of the “real” awards that came later.

My grandfather never stopped learning new things, and as a result, he was one of the most vibrant individuals I have ever met. At an age when most of his peers had stopped trying to “keep up” with new technology, he mastered it. He was using the internet, e-mail, and new software applications before most people my age. He taught the other seniors in his retirement community how to use their computers to stay in touch with their children and grandchildren. He agreed fully (and so do I) with Eleanor Roosevelt’s sentiment that “when you stop learning you stop living in any vital and meaningful sense.”

So the next time you have the chance to learn something new, embrace it. Don’t worry if you don’t catch on right away. When it comes to learning, the process is the point. Enjoy it.

Recommended Reading: You Learn by Living, by Eleanor Roosevelt

Traci Feit Love is a freelance writer, editor & communications consultant for businesses that need smart, impressive content. To learn more or to sign up for her free e-course, “How to Get More High-Paying Clients,” visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday. Each week we’ll share some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to

This week’s challenge is to “spark an idea about following your gut.” Here’s my brilliant idea: follow your gut. Even if it leads you astray (and it usually doesn’t), at least you won’t feel like you betrayed yourself.

In my experience, when you follow your gut, things work out. Here’s one example.

At the beginning of my senior year in college, I began waitressing at an “upscale casual” Italian restaurant. It was a decent job, and I was making good money (for a college student). I worked there for a few months – never late, never calling in sick, never upsetting a customer. Basically, I was a model employee. And then one day, just before I was about to leave for work, my boyfriend (of 2 years) and I had a fight and broke up. This was the guy I thought I was going to marry. I was devastated, but I still got in the car and drove to work.

I did my best to put on a happy face and get through my shift, but it didn’t work. I started crying and couldn’t stop. I went to my manager and told her I was going to have to leave. I explained exactly what happened and apologized profusely. I was in tears and could barely keep from crumpling to the ground.

This was her response: “If you walk out of here right now, don’t bother coming back.”

My brain told me to suck it up, stop crying, and just get through the shift (a very logical approach). My gut, on the other hand, said “[bleep] this job and this [bleeping] manager. Get the [bleep] out of here right now and don’t [bleeping] look back!”

So I did. I threw my apron on the floor and walked out.

I got a new job that was closer to my apartment and paid better. My new boss appreciated my hard work and promoted me after only two months. That job introduced me to sales and management, which turned out to be key skills for me in later positions.

And my old restaurant manager? She got fired a couple of months after I left for (1) treating employees poorly, and (2) doing drugs on the job. The restaurant closed down a couple of months later.

Sometimes, your gut just knows things your brain doesn’t. Listen to it.

What do you think, readers? Can you recall a time when you followed your gut and it worked out well (or not so well)? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Traci Feit Love is a freelance writer, editor & communications consultant for businesses that need smart, impressive content. To learn more or to sign up for her free e-course, “How to Get More High-Paying Clients,” visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday. Each week we’ll share some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to

This week’s “Spark an Idea Thursday” theme is about “homepreneur health.” I have to admit, this is not my area of expertise. But there are a few things I’ve learned about staying (mostly) healthy as a homepreneur, so here they are – my top 3 tips (ok, my only tips):

1. Don’t let the cat sit in your lap for too long. I love the fact that my cat wants to sit on my lap, and I love the fact that she can (since I work from home). But if she stays there for too long, my back pays the price. So after a few minutes, I send her off to her second most favorite place: my bed. It’s a tough life being my cat.

2. Don’t forget that there’s a world outside your house. When you work, sleep, eat, and hang out in the same place every day, it’s amazing how easy it is to completely lose touch with the outside world. From a mental health perspective, that’s not good. So get out of the house – take the dog for a walk, take your kid to the playground, whatever works for you. As long as it requires real clothes and actual shoes, it’s a good activity.

3. Keep healthy foods in the fridge. When you work this close to your kitchen all day, you’d better make sure your kitchen isn’t just a collection of sugar-loaded temptations. You need fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. You need water, not soda. I’m starting to sound like the school nurse so I’m going to stop now.

What else, fellow Freelance Parents? What have you learned about staying healthy? I obviously need your suggestions!

Traci Feit Love is a freelance writer, editor & communications consultant for businesses that need smart, impressive content. To learn more or to sign up for her free e-course, “How to Get More High-Paying Clients,” visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.

This week’s “Spark an Idea” theme is about sharing something you’ve learned (either directly or by example) from another blogger that you really respect and enjoy. There are so many great bloggers that it was hard to choose one to write about – which led me to think maybe I should write about other bloggers more often (so I think I will!). For today’s post, I decided to go with someone who has taught me a lot in a very short period of time: Scott Stratten, known on Twitter as @unmarketing.

Yesterday, Scott posted a new video entry on his blog, in which he writes about five people he thinks you should follow on Twitter (check it out if you have time). In that spirit, here are the top five things I think freelancers can learn from him:

1. Be yourself. Watch a couple of Scott’s videos and you’ll feel like you know him. That’s because he doesn’t seem afraid to be exactly who he is. I think a lot of freelancers get so caught up in appearing “professional” that they end up being totally bland and forgettable. Remember, there are a lot of freelancers out there. If you want prospective clients to think of you the next time they have a project, you have to stand out somehow. You have to be memorable. So try to inject a little bit more of who you really are into your public persona (note: if “who you really are” is someone no one in his right mind would hire, you should probably keep that to yourself).

2. Make the most of your strengths. Scott is a speaker, and he’s great on camera. So his blog posts are in video form (rather than the more traditional written format). Great idea. Are you making the most of your strengths, or are you trying to do what everyone else seems to be doing? Don’t be afraid to be a little bit unconventional if it means you’ll be better able to show off your talent.

3. Promote others generously. In yesterday’s post, Scott shares what he likes about five people he met through Twitter. The point of the post is not to say how great he is, but to say how great others are. This is not only a nice thing to do, it’s good business. When it comes to freelancing, although competition for work can be fierce, there will be times when you’re just not the right person for a particular job. When that happens, recommend someone else who would be a better fit. Both the client and the other freelancer will appreciate your referral. Maybe next time the other freelancer comes across a project that would be perfect for you, she’ll pass your name along.

4. Be passionate about your work. In everything Scott does, you can feel the passion and enthusiasm. Are you passionate about your work? Isn’t that the whole point of freelancing – getting to do what you love on your own terms? If you’re feeling less than enthusiastic about your freelance work, maybe it’s time to reconsider your career path (for your sake!).

5. Don’t be shy. This is perhaps the biggest lesson for me personally. As a writer, I’m most comfortable in front of my computer. But that doesn’t mean I should stay there. Freelancers have to find their own work, and that means putting ourselves out there. I’ve started to do this a little bit on Twitter and on my personal blog (The Breadwinner Mom), but I need to push myself a little harder to meet people in real life. When you’re a freelancer, you’ve got to market yourself, so you’ve got to push past the shyness. Maybe I’ll try to set an example by doing a video post at some point (oh my god that’s a really scary idea…maybe we’ll just pretend I didn’t say that).

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday. Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to

This week’s “Spark an Idea” theme is about creating a “wow!” experience. I love this topic because I believe it’s the foundation of a successful freelance business. And it’s fairly simple: to impress your clients and create a “wow!” experience, you have to deliver more than you promised to deliver.

This may seem unfair at first glance. Why should you have to provide more than the services the client paid for? Well…you don’t have to. You could just deliver exactly what you promised to deliver, and that’s totally fine. But don’t expect the client to be overly impressed.

The fact is that clients expect you to do what you said you would do.

That’s why they’re paying you. Think about it: if someone agrees to pay you $1200 for a project, and then pays you $1200, are you amazed? No – you’re glad they came through, you’re relieved they did what they said they would do, but you’re not thinking, “holy crap! this is the absolute best client ever!”

The same concept applies to your services. Do what you’re supposed to do and the client will be satisfied. Do more than what you’re supposed to do and the client will be thrilled. You want your clients to be thrilled – every single time. When they believe they’ve gotten more than they paid for, they will tell their friends. They will give you awesome testimonials for your marketing materials. These are priceless.

Remember: every project is a marketing opportunity.

Instead of viewing extra work as “unpaid labor,” think of it as an investment in your business. The time you spend on the client’s basic project is for the client’s benefit; the time you spend going above and beyond is actually for your benefit since it will ultimately grow your business.

If you commit to creating a “wow” experience for every client on every project, you will grow your client base. You will be able to charge more for your services. And you will eventually be able to turn down projects that don’t appeal to you. Isn’t that worth the extra effort?

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday. Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog! If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

When you’re a work at home parent, you can often miss out on the recognition of a job well done. There aren’t any company newsletters touting your accomplishments and there aren’t any high five hand slaps when you announce landing a new client.

But that doesn’t mean you should keep your accomplishments to yourself. In fact, sharing your good news with family and friends can be motivating. Receiving that positive reinforcement will keep you plugging along so you can reach your next goal. Even those who are hearing about your successes will be motivated to take that first step or to continue their path because they have seen YOU become successful.

Finding people to support you in your business is vitally important, whether it be an offline group of friends or an online mastermind group. Heck, even tooting your own horn on Twitter will likely get you some positive feedback.

There’s nothing I love more than to visit the Mom Mastermind forums and find threads about the successes other members have found. After being a member for over two years I consider these women my friends but I can also learn something new or just marvel at how clever they can be.

Finding a life or a business coach who offers one-on-one coaching can also fulfill that need to be validated and they can give you action steps to keep you motivated. My life coach is my biggest cheerleader who can also “tell it like it is” to get me off the couch and back to working.

At the very least, come here and leave a comment about what you’ve accomplished this week. You don’t have to wait for something monumental to happen before you toot your horn. Take pride in the small things you accomplish because they will put you on the road to accomplishing bigger things

This week’s “Spark an Idea Thursday” is about making “real life” connections with people you know online. I don’t actually have a lot of experience with meeting online friends in real life, but I’d like to do better with that. So I thought I’d take this opportunity to launch a new initiative: the Smart Solopreneurs Meetup Group. Keep reading to learn how you can get involved (even if you don’t live in the Greater Boston area).

I love Meetup.com. I’m the organizer for a local moms’ Meetup group in my town, and I’m amazed at the number of members who have joined our little group. I’ve met people I never would have met otherwise, and they’re such cool people, too!

So when I learned about the topic for this week’s Spark an Idea Thursday, I decided to organize a new Meetup group for all of the awesome freelancers, solopreneurs, and other small business owners out there. I live in the Boston area, so that’s where the in-person events will be (at least at first). But some of the events will be online (teleseminars, interviews, etc.) and if the group takes off, we’ll expand the live events to other cities – so I encourage you to join no matter where you live!

If you’d like to take part, just click here to join the Smart Solopreneurs Meetup Group! Hopefully it will be a great way for us to connect and learn from one another. I can’t wait to get started!

Questions? Ideas? Suggestions? Please share in the comments!

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday.  Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers.  We invite you to

This week’s “Spark an Idea Thursday” theme is about improving your workspace, and there are a lot of ways to do that. I could tell you to get more organized, to eliminate clutter, or to get new technology. I could tell you that you need a more ergonomically correct chair, a second monitor, or even a bigger office.

Instead, I’m going to borrow a piece of advice from American Idol: Make your workspace your own.

In case you don’t watch American Idol, let me explain. The judges are always telling the contestants to take a song that someone else made famous and “make it your own” – meaning that the singers should inject their own personality, artistry, and sensibilities into the song. I think the same general idea could apply to your workspace.

I’ve seen a ton of offices, cubicles, and desks that look so generic it’s impossible to tell who actually works there (if anyone). They may be neat, clean, and organized, but where’s the personality? Where’s the fun?

At this point you may be thinking, “fun? we’re talking about work here.” That’s true, but if you’re going to spend a lot of time working every day, why not work someplace that makes you feel comfortable and happy?

I’ll be honest – my workspace is definitely not the neatest or the most well-organized (understatement alert!). But when I sit down at my desk, I’m happy to be there. I see pictures of my daughter and husband, a few books that I absolutely love, my favorite coffee mug, and a bunch of writing notebooks that I hand-picked for their cool covers. I see a few cards I got for Mother’s Day, and a bunch of my favorite pens (yes, I have a favorite type of pen, and I order them in bulk so I never run out).

In short, my workspace feels like it’s all mine, and that makes me happy.

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday’.  Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers.  We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog!  If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

Tamara and I have written about goal setting  several times on this blog. We’ve even talked about making (and not making) various goals that we’ve set for ourselves. While neither of us is necessarily a “law of attraction” type, we’ve both realized the power of truly stating our goals. Tamara once told me that she felt like all we had to do was say something out loud, and it would happen.

While things haven’t truly been that simple, I think they have been made easier by the mere fact that we do set goals.  For us, they’re important so that we can recognize our own progress. If we’ve set a goal for making a certain amount of money or acquiring a certain number of new clients, then when we get to the end of the month, it’s pretty easy to see if we’ve succeeded or not.

• Give yourself measurable goals. “I will acquire X number of new clients by July 31st.” This gives you a timeframe to work under and makes you more productive.
• Use positive wording instead of negative. For example, “I will work only on projects I enjoy” instead of “I won’t work on projects I hate.” It’s a little thing, but it changes your focus and outlook and actually makes you more likely to reach that goal.
• Break bigger goals down into objectives. Instead of creating a goal in July that says, “I will finish a 90,000 word manuscript by Dec. 31st,” look at how you can break that down. Maybe consider writing a certain number of words a week until you’ve gotten to 90,000 and add in time for rewrites and edits. By Dec. 31st, you’ll have reached your goal with several successes in between.
• Don’t be too easy (or hard) on yourself. If you set goals that are absolutely impossible, then you are setting yourself up for failure. On the other hand, if your goals are too easy, you’re selling yourself short and won’t get as much as you can out of your performance. Set goals that are a little outside your comfort zone but that aren’t unattainable, and then work toward them.

I have a lot of other thoughts on the subject, but I don’t want to get all new-age-y and make Tamara roll her eyes. (Use visualization…there, that’s all I’m saying.)

Anyway, we really, really have seen the benefit of setting goals in the past. In fact, this Spark and Idea Thursday has made me think that it’s really time for us to go back and revisit those we set at the beginning of the year. If I remember correctly, this is the month that we’re supposed to set ourselves up a 401(k) plan…

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday.  Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers.  We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog!  If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

Most freelancers know that making clients happy is just plain good business sense. Happier clients return for more business, they don’t baulk when you tell them your prices, and they recommend you to other professionals in need of similar services.

While this idea is something many of us incorporate into our business practices on a regular basis, I was a bit overwhelmed recently by just how productive word-of-mouth and recommendations can be. It started with a single client I picked up through Guru.com, of all places. He ordered a bundle of SEO articles – pretty standard stuff done at pretty standard prices. The work exceeded his expectations, and not only did he order more articles, but he also recommended me to a friend of his in need of web content.

Here’s where the “pyramid” came in. His friend then recommended me to two more people, who, in turn, recommended me to two more of their own. Needless to say, it was a pretty busy few weeks during that time, and many of them are now regular clients. Good stuff, all around.

This type of experience is one that we find to be the most effective type of marketing there is. It costs us nothing more than our standard good work, and takes no more time than a few extra minutes on the phone call to exchange pleasantries.

That’s why, when we work with particularly good clients or merchants, Lorna and I like to return the favor. We’ve been known to plug everyone from our VA to our web designer here on the blog, and we’ve also recommended those whose work we really enjoy. In fact, we sometimes consider ourselves “experts” when it comes to choosing another freelancer for any sort of business needs; because we have so many contacts gained through our social media outreach practices and because we commonly use freelancers (especially smaller, WAHM ones), we know who’s good at what and what kind of prices they charge.

While I haven’t tracked the results of our recommendations to see if the pyramid idea holds as strong for others, I do like to think that a kind word of praise here or there results in more business for our peers. It’s the least we can do for a community that has been so integral in our own success as a freelance writing company.

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday.  Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers.  We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog!  If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

While money is certainly not the only motivating factor for freelancing, it is a big one. If I could realistically live the life of a SAHM instead of a WAHM, I think I’d be OK with that. Unfortunately, the need for cold, hard cash is a reality here in Freelance Parent Land. I recently used that to my advantage, and the payoff (pardon the pun) was really worthwhile.

I guess that in order to tell this story properly, I will have to admit that my life involves a fair amount of debt. Both my husband and I attended a very pricey university, and I was crazy enough to go back for that Master’s Degree. We should probably pay off our student loans right around the time we start putting our own kids through college. Yeah, that’s a fairly depressing thought.

A couple of months ago, I decided to use those student loans to motivate myself to see what I could do with my freelance writing business. I set a rather ridiculous goal to try and pay off one of my husband’s student loans. The goal was $13,000 in five months. I started last November and had hoped to pay the entire thing off by the first day of spring.

Having that goal made me much more productive. Whenever a job came in, Tamara and I would determine if it was something she wanted or not. When neither one of us has the time or inclination for a particular project, we turn to our writers to see who would be a good fit. For those five months, however, anything that didn’t go to Tamara “defaulted” to me. As a result, I put in far more hours than I ever had before, and I got myself on track to pay off that debt.

Having that student loan bill as motivation was really inspiring. I could watch each month as the next statement came in the mail, reflecting all the extra payments I had made. Rather than having the money just disappear (as is common when there’s no true set purpose for it), I was able to funnel it right into the perfect place. In fact, I would find myself doing “mental math” from time to time. “So, if I take this project for $800 and those other two for $400, that’s an extra three months’ payments on the student loan…”

I have to confess, however, that one thing did get in the way of my plan…one client left me on the hook for about $3,500. We’re still working to recoup that money, and it has been quite a lesson. Not only did that mean that I had $3,500 less for my overall goal, but it knocked a lot of the wind out of my sails and derailed my progress. Remember, I was trying to earn $13,000 above my normal pay.

In the end, I paid about half of it off, which is still quite an accomplishment. It was a lot of extra work, but it’s the kind of thing I can see doing every once in a while…maybe when we get close to paying off the next student loan, for example, I’ll kick it back into high gear for a couple of months. The point here is that by finding one place to focus my financial efforts, I was really able to motivate myself to stay quite focused and to get more done than I ever had before.

That said, I would absolutely love to know what types of things you all do to get that extra motivation! What ideas can you spark?