Author Archives: Kim Clark

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Add Value to Your LinkedIn Profile

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Like so many of us, I gradually allowed myself to ignore LinkedIn.  I’m embarrassed to tell you that I logged in again last month, after a two-year hiatus.  I completely undervalued the free, widely used and beneficial resource that is LinkedIn.  It’s time to take another look.

Over the years I built up a solid profile, complete with endorsements, recommendations, a photo and even a SlideShare presentation and about once a year, I’d do an update and refresh.  After my inexcusably lengthy absence, I was happy to discover new profile enhancements that can showcase ambitious professionals and make us look very capable to both  connections and prospective clients or employers.

If you’re job hunting, or if you are self-employed and in constant search of project work, these features can be a real plus.  I think a visit to candidates’ profiles is a must-do for most hiring managers.  My profile strength is now at the All-Star level! Here are my upgrades:

  • LINK.  My favorite new feature is the website link that all professional experience listings now offer.  Click on the link; copy/paste the organization web address into the dialogue box; see the nice image that pops into the visuals box; click continue, then click add to profile and presto!  Your profile will now feature eye-catching images that entice interested parties to explore your affiliated organizations and the expertise that you contribute.  You can also link a photo, document, presentation, or a video and provide good  insight  into the organization and your role there.
  • SPOTLIGHT.  Above your profile photo and headline  job listing, notice the ticker tape of skills spotlight options that you can click on, fill in and add still more  information to showcase your expertise, professional activities and achievements.  I saw questions that  pertained to groups and acitivities that I participated in at school; articles that I might have recently published; and work samples or special projects that I’d like to add to my profile.
  • GROUPS.  Regular readers may recall that in October, I completed first round judging for an organization that presents awards to C- Suite level women in business (there are also mixed gender European, Asian/Pacific and American business awards that I do not judge). The organizers invited me to join the unlisted LinkedIn group for award judges and I was happy to do so.  I plan to follow discussions and find out what I can learn and contribute.  Remember to also join your college alumni group, which can be great resources professionally and personally.
  • UPDATES.  Regular readers may also recall that I recently performed editing, photo editing and self-publishing project management for a history book that was launched in September.  I finally posted that info in the update section on the home page and uploaded the book cover photo.

Other enhancements that may fit your situation might include:

  • HEADLINE. When you add a new employment listing, LinkedIn automatically makes the new job title your headline and for some, this may not be ideal.  Some of the traditionally employed might make a lateral move, temporarily upsetting the upward linear career slope.  Freelance consultants may take a part-time job that likewise enhances the overall skill set,  but may not be worthy of the branding headline.  Consider revising your headline, even if it will not precisely adhere to your official job title. Your mission is personal brand enhancement and LinkedIn, while often viewed by prospective employers, is not your official CV.  Furthermore, consider reordering your list of professional positions to give prominence to what you want to highlight.  In edit profile, click on the up and down arrows to the right of the job title and see a 4 prong icon.  Use that to drag and facilitate your job reorder.
  • URL. Rather than keeping the auto-generated LinkedIn profile URL, visit your profile page, click on edit profile, see the link directly below your photo and click again to set up a customized URL for your profile.
  • CREDENTIALS. On the profile page, click edit profile and beneath your photo and URL, see “add a section to your profile.” Below that, see “view more” and click there, to reveal an array of enhancements you can add to your profile, including certifications, patents, special projects and your professional publications.
  • RESPOND.  When connections celebrate a success— work anniversary, post a good update, move to a new job, or publish a blog post that you find interesting—send a LinkedIn email to comment and congratualte.
  • PURGE. Delete connections that no longer make sense, or those who ignore your questions or other outreach.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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SWOT Your Brand

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Freelance consultants and small business owners rise and fall on the marketplace perception of their brand, also known as one’s professional reputation.  As a result, the brand/reputation merits ongoing enhancement, promotion and monitoring as a component of a strategy designed to support new business acquisition and encourage repeat business—in essence, the strategy you implement to build and maintain a good client list.  The brand can be reviewed and evaluated in several ways, one of which is through the prism of the gold standard of strategic planning, the SWOT Analysis.

Every year, self-employed professionals will benefit from examining the viability of their brand, to become aware of what actions and behaviors enhance the brand and what might undermine that precious resource.  Using the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats metrics will reveal this information.

Strengths: Professional expertise, competitive advantages, prestigious or lucrative clients, referral sources, valued business practices, strategic partnerships, educational or professional credentials, financial resources, influential relationships. This element is internal, within your control.

  • How can you leverage your resources to upgrade the types of clients you work with?
  • How can you persuade inactive clients to call you back for more project work and stimulate repeat business?
  • How can you obtain more billable hours?
  • How can you persuade clients to hire you for more complex and therefore more lucrative projects?

Weaknesses: Whatever undermines your brand, the opposite of your strengths, gaps in what or who you know, or deficiencies in the value that you bring to clients.  This element is internal, within your control.

  • Which of your gaps has the most negative impact on the business?
  • Which of your impactful detriments appear to be quickly, easily, or inexpensively remedied?
  • What can you do to shore up those handicaps and minimize your liabilities—are there business practices that you can modify, professional credentials you can earn, relationships you can successfully cultivate?

Opportunities: Conditions that favor the attainment of goals and objectives. This element is external and beyond your control, yet you may be able to position yourself to gain from the benefits created by its presence.  Good information about business conditions in your marketplace helps the Freelance consultant to objectively evaluate and envision the potential of short-term and long-term benefits and what must be done to earn the pay-off.

  • What new developments can you possibly take advantage of to bring money and prestige to your business?
  • Do you see financial reward in offering an additional service or product?
  • Is there a good client you should be able to successfully pursue and sign, or a lapsed client who, with some outreach, could be willing to reactivate?
  • Is there a developing niche market that you can pivot into, with some uncomplicated adjustments?

Threats: Conditions likely to damage the brand, or your ability to acquire clients and generate sufficient billable hours. This element is external and beyond your control, yet you may be able to position yourself to escape or minimize the catastrophe caused by its presence.  This category requires the immediate attention of you and your team, since it carries the potential to end, or seriously cripple, your brand and business.

Developing and implementing a strategy of protective action, for example a brand facelift or a pivot into more hospitable business turf, is absolutely necessary for survival, but inclined to be time-consuming and difficult to bring about.  Staying abreast of what is happening in the industries that you usually serve and the viability or priorities of your largest clients, will give you the resources of time and good information and prepare you to react and regroup.

  • Has a well-connected and aggressive competitor appeared on the scene, ready to eat your market share and client list by way of a better known brand, more influential relationships, a bigger marketing budget, or other game-changing competitive advantages? If that is the case, then do everything possible to offer superior customer service, assert your expertise, step up your networking, enhance your thought-leader credentials and nurture your client relationships (holiday cards really do matter).
  • Will some new technology soon render your services obsolete? If so, what skills do you possess, or what can you learn, that will allow you to successfully repackage your skills, reconfigure your brand and continue to appeal to clients who already like your work?
  • Has an important contact left his/her organization, leaving you at the mercy of the new  decision-maker, who has his/her own friends to hire? Or has there been a merger that resulted in the downgrading of the influence of your chief contact, who may lose the ability to green-light projects that you manage? If your client contact has moved on, absolutely take that person to lunch or coffee and do what you can to make the professional relationship portable.  If your contact has lost his/her influence, ask to meet the replacement, who may employ you at least for the next project if one comes up quickly (but may boot you out for all others, unfortunately).

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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Invoicing Inertia: The Cure

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Freelance consultants are no strangers to cash-flow crunches and as quiet as it’s kept, the problem can be of our own doing, or not doing.  The reason for our cash-flow problem could be a slow-paying or, horrors, a non-paying client (an acquaintance who is a business accountant estimates that 5-10 % of professional services providers’ receivables will be uncollectible in a given year).  But we can be our own worse enemy in these matters and it is time to tame our invoicing inertia.

As example last week, I sent an invoice to a client that was worth four figures and was four months late.  Why was I so negligent, when I had important accounts payable to resolve? Why is it so hard for so many small business owners and self-employed professionals to stay on top of our accounts receivable and send out invoices on time?

In my consultancy, and I imagine this is true for most, client work, both performing it and networking to bring more of it in, are the priorities.  Billable hours are the name of the game. Then there is content marketing activity (this blog!) to send to my preferred social media platform (LinkedIn) and my website.  Other revenue streams—teaching twice /week, which entails responsibilities to my students, and producing a monthly post for the online magazine for women entrepreneurs where I am a staff writer—claim another chunk of time and creative energy.  Being in business requires considerable mental and physical stamina.

The invoice was for hourly work, rather than a project fee, meaning that detailed information was expected (and not unreasonably so).  The very thought of generating the thing nearly made me nauseous, so I found several avoidance-behavior activities that on the surface appeared to be ambitious, but in reality served mostly to enable my procrastination.  Then the client asked me about the invoice.  I was so embarrassed!

As I worked on the detailed, multi-page invoice, I thought about what I might do to simplify the process, so that I could easily generate scheduled invoices and would be motivated to do so.  Invoicing for a project fee is much easier than the hourly rate version and it was project fee invoices plus the job income  that sustained me while I neglected the hourly invoice.  Here’s what I recommend (my business accountant friend approves):

Collect in advance

Whether the assignment is paid by hourly rate or project fee, collect a percentage at the contract signing or email-documented agreement (20 % – 35 % of the project fee, or an estimate of the first months’ billable hours).  Discuss with the client a mutually agreeable invoicing schedule and honor it.

Create two all-purpose invoice templates

In the top left of a Word document, type in your name and/or DBA as the vendor, tax I.D. and contact info. This will become the permanent part of your template.  Below that, type in separate lines  for the client name, date, project deliverables, total amount of the project fee and the amount of the invoice.  All you’ll need to do is copy the template, drop in the specifics and presto! You’ll have an invoice to send.

The hourly rate template will have a cover sheet that is similar to the project fee template, but with the lines for rate (the dollar amount you’re charging/hour) and hours (total billable for this invoice) substituted for the project fee info.  A second page of the hourly rate template will have lines for four “week of” headings, ready for you to insert the dates and specifics of your weekly client work.

Either invoice can be used for retainer contracts.  If you are brought in to work a standard number of hours per month for a particular client, or you’re asked to perform predictable functions as needed throughout the year and you can reasonably estimate how often you’ll be asked to perform those services and your cost to provide them, then you can calculate invoice amounts in advance and determine a retainer fee.  If this is the case, then suggest a retainer arrangement at the next contract signing and bolster your income security.

BTW, it is not unusual to invite a client to pay the year’s (or quarter’s) retainer in advance. Offer some attractive incentives for yearly or quarterly advance payments, like a good discount or service add-ons.

On all invoice templates, indicate how the check should be made out (your name or DBA) and indicate that the invoice is due immediately (although it is accepted practice to pay invoices within 30 days). Finally, state that it is a pleasure doing business with your client.

Invoice on time

Whatever the agreed-upon payment schedule, be sure to follow it (not more than one week late). When you honor the invoicing schedule, you communicate to clients that getting paid within 30 days, if not sooner, is what you expect and deserve.  Timely invoicing also benefits your clients, who will be able to better manage their own accounts payable and cash-flow.  If you start to bring in more lucrative assignments, investigate the process of accepting credit card payments.  You’ll be paid faster, but a small processing fee will be deducted.

Invoice as marketing collateral

To date, my invoices are created on an unembellished Word document, but that is about to change.  I plan to align my invoice design with my other marketing collaterals.  Very soon, I’ll design an invoice PDF that contains a scan of my (lovely) business card, that will appear at center top.  All the other info will be written as described here.  You can also investigate free invoice templates in an online search.

In our hyper-competitive business environment, where clients hold the keys and seem to be looking for reasons to cancel projects that Freelance consultants depend upon, it is imperative that we project professionalism.  All interactions with clients, from the first meeting, to the excellence of our work and concluding with an accurate and timely invoice, must reflect well on our brand.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

 

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5 Customer Survey Questions That Work

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Every once in a while, it makes sense to address your client feedback metric, so that you will receive some lived-experience insight into your operation’s strengths and weaknesses.  You need to learn what can be done better, which service delivery or other operational processes might be simplified and what clients would like to see more of.

The smartest way to begin the client feedback process is to decide what you want to know and what purpose that information will serve.  Are you trying to develop new products or services, so that you’ll be able to give clients what they want before they know they want it? Or is business dwindling and you’re in damage control mode, attempting to win back clients?

Some market research questions are best explored through the eyes of clients and others around the conference table with your leadership team (or maybe your front-line staff, who have loads of on-the-ground experience that they’d love to share). Let’s examine when it makes sense to query your clients and when you’ll learn more from in-house research.  Given below are five standard yet very clever survey questions, some that apply to clients and others that apply to you and your team:

  1. What are the challenges that clients (in a given industry or category) are facing?
  2. Which of these problems is our organization equipped to address?
  3. What solutions are we offering now and what can we/should we add, re-tool, or quit?
  4. How effective are our solutions—what do clients most often hire us to do?
  5. What do we do next?

Note that questions 1 and 4 would best be put to your clients and that questions 2, 3 & 5 involve business strategy and would be addressed in-house, once you’ve spoken with selected clients to figure out questions 1 and 4.

How you conduct the client survey deserves some thought, as well. It might be best for Freelance consultants and small business owners to run a low-key survey by setting up an environment that enables comfortable and candid conversation.  Consider making the process informal and perhaps even seemingly impromptu.  Larger companies may feel comfortable running a formal focus group, perhaps facilitated by an outside market research firm.

Question 1: What are the primary challenges facing your client’s organization?

Whether the client comes to you or you go the client, start by asking a “how are things going in your office” question, or inquire about the next big project or objective (whether or not it would involve your organization). Find out what’s going on and let the client talk.

Questions 2 and 3: Which challenges do you want to solve? How will that be done?

Given the expertise and resources you have, coupled with the client’s inclination to contract for the necessary billable hours, which additional client challenges might you be asked to take on (or what can you cleverly propose to be hired to do)? Can your organization successfully deliver the desired outcomes, or will you need to subcontract some portion? Can you learn how clients are managing these responsibilities now? Is there a competitor who gets hired to do that work , or is nothing being done because the client isn’t sure what to do, or lacks the budget to complete the job?

Question 4: Have our solutions satisfactorily resolved the clients’ challenges?

What project did the client hire you to do? What are the projects that your organization is most often hired to do? How does do clients feel about your performance—is your expertise and ability to deliver the service trusted and respected by clients? Does it seem that you’ll receive more business from several of your clients, on a similar project or another type?

Question 5: What do you do next, based on client responses?

Now here is the judgment call for you and the team. The essence of the process is interpreting the data compiled.  What can you realistically do, based on the responses from clients in questions 1 and 4 and the opportunities and strengths within your organization, as noted in questions 2, 3 and 5?

Remember, it is most likely possible to beta test a new or re-tooled service  with a trusted client who would receive a reduced project fee in exchange for helping your organization to perfect the business model.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

 

 

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Freelancers: We Are the Future

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Presented for your perusal are relevant statistics and observations gleaned from the third annual “Freelancing in America” survey, conducted by the Freelancer’s Union.  According to the organization, “Freelancing in America” is the largest and most comprehensive measure of independent workers conducted in the U.S.

Who we are

In 2015 55 million of our fellow citizens, representing 35% of the nation’s workforce,  participated in the Freelance economy to greater or lesser degree and we earned $1 trillion.  The survey found that 63 % of us were Freelancers by choice, rather than by necessity, and we enjoy this way of working.  Freelancers reported feeling positive about our work and 79 % preferred Freelancing to traditional employment.  We’re much more likely than our traditionally employed counterparts to feel respected, empowered and engaged in our working environment.  The survey assigned categories to different types Freelancing:

  1. Independent contractors (35 %, 19.1 million) — Full-time Freelance Consultants whose only income is derived from client work.
  2. Diversified workers (28 %, 15.2 million)– Freelance Consultants who regularly do client work, but provide themselves a guaranteed income floor by working part-time (maybe as an adjunct professor at a local college or maybe as a bartender and possibly both!).
  3. Moonlighters (25 %, 13.5 million)– those who take occasional side projects along with their traditional employment.
  4. Freelance business owners (7 %, 3.6 million)– Full-time Freelance Consultants who put together a more-or-less permanent team to form a consultancy, so that more complex and lucrative client work can be taken on.
  5. Temporary workers (7 %, 3.6 million)

What we like

Flexibility is a huge perceived benefit for the majority of Freelance Consultants and 60 % felt that a Freelance Consulting career is a respectable choice.  Further, more than 50 % of workers who left full-time employment to join the Freelance economy were able to earn more money within the first year of Freelancing.  46 % of us raised our project fees/hourly rates in 2015 and 54 % said they planned to do so in 2016.

Serious challenges

Money is an issue for Freelancers.  Survey respondents reported that adequate billable hours, negotiating fair project fees or hourly rates and receiving timely payment of invoices (or receiving full payment of accounts receivable) could be problematic.  On average, full-time Freelance Consultants obtain 36 billable hours/week. When the billable hourly rate or project fee is considered inadequate,  cash-flow is impacted and there can be a struggle to meet financial obligations.  As a result, the survey also found that debt is a real concern for us Freelancers.

Access to health insurance and retirement benefits remain major concerns.  Full-time Freelance Consultants rank medical and dental insurance as a primary concern; 20 % of us have no health insurance.  Of those who had health insurance, 54 % faced increased premium rates or deductibles in 2015 as compared to 2014.

Surprisingly, the matter of retirement funding was not addressed by the survey.  Freelance Consultants, unless we are moonlighters who have full-time traditional employment or we’re married to a spouse who receives that important benefit, must completely self-fund our retirement and many millions of us do not have the income to build a worthwhile retirement account. Please see my recent post on retirement planning for Freelancers Exit Strategy: The Retirement Plan

Shaping the future

As traditional full-time, middle class paying employment continues to disappear, the ranks of Freelance Consultants can only increase, making us a fast-growing segment of the American workforce.  Sadly, politicians have paid no attention whatsoever to either our special challenges or our voting-bloc potential.

85 % of survey respondents said that they planned to vote in the 2016 election cycle.  If that statistic can be applied to the entirety of Freelance Consultants in this country (and I feel it is unrealistically optimistic) it would represent nearly 47 million voters, more than enough to influence a presidential election.  70 % of survey respondents would appreciate candidates and political representatives addressing Freelancer needs, because no matter how lovely things may be for the chosen few who command lucrative project fees, Freelance Consultants (and most part-time workers) are vulnerable.

The holiday season approaches and that means drastically fewer billable hours will be available to the vast majority of us, as many clients limit work from about December 15 to January 2.  We will not receive holiday pay for Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s Day.  How do we fund our retirement accounts and buy health insurance when it may be all we can do to cover basic living expenses? We need political representation, advocates and activism.  The Freelancer’s Union is what we have now.  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/business/freelancers-union-tackles-concerns-of-independent-workers.html

Thanks for reading,

Kim

 

 

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The Rewards of Awards

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I’ve just spent a month as a  preliminary round judge for a prominent international business award’s Women in Business category.  I’ve judged the preliminary round four times now and I still consider it a great honor to have been invited to do so.  The judging is done online.  Entrants in my queue were mostly from the U.S., but a handful were from outside of the country.  The entrants are top of their class in every way and all are prominent leaders in their organizations.

Many are employed by Fortune 500 companies and others are founders of their own enterprises, for-profit and not-for-profit.  They are amazingly capable, brave, ambitious and so very fortunate to have had their considerable talents recognized, encouraged and rewarded.  Reading their approximately 700 word entry summaries gave me a glimpse of how effective leaders set priorities, rally their teams and achieve extraordinary goals that not infrequently have national and global impact.

The awards were first presented in 2002 and there are several thousand entrants each year.  There are numerous award categories within the Women in Business segment, including Executive of the Year, Maverick, Young Entrepreneur and so on. There are other award categories that recognize men for significant business achievements as well.  The entry fee is less than $50.  Entrants obtain access to all of the judges comments, which are no doubt instructive.  Basically, you don’t walk away empty handed if you enter, but do not win, an award.  It appears that highly successful Freelance consultants need not shy away from the awards and in fact, would be wise to include an award strategy in their brand development activities.

Nominating  yourself for a business award is one heck of a clever business promotion strategy.  Getting  your brand story in front of a panel of judges, who are often well-connected movers and shakers, is a wonderful way to get on the radar screen of influential players who may have a need for your talent, or may know someone who does.  Plus, if you’re able to read the judges’ comments, you’ll get some helpful feedback that can be considered coaching.

If you do get lucky and win an award, you will be called to the podium to make your acceptance speech–your  chance to shine, however briefly.  Not only that, but the award sponsor always gives quality PR to winners in every category. You’ll get an electronic version of the award to upload to your website and social media profiles.  You’ll have a reason to send press releases of your own to media outlets, right along with the awards sponsor.

Winning a business award is surpassed only by winning an A-List client to add to your roster.  Awards bring prestige, credibility, visibility, new clients and good referrals to your business.  The application process is likely to be time-consuming,  but I dare say that you’ll be the better for it regardless of the outcome.

Step 1 is to identify an award that you have a reasonable chance of winning. Pursuing a small local award in your first attempt is advisable.  Step 2 is to join the association or professional group that sponsors the award and Step 3 is to attend  organization events, get to know people and join a committee.  In about two years, once you’ve built some solid relationships, Step 4 is to nominate yourself for an award or ask a fellow member to do so.  If you can win an award or two at a smaller organization, then investigate Awards given by larger and more prestigious groups.

Be aware of the obligations that are attached to nominating yourself and especially, of becoming a finalist.  Finalists may be expected to buy a table at the awards luncheon or dinner and that will mean perhaps ten $35 or $50 tickets.  If you win, there is also the price of the award itself, which may cost $100 – $300.  If you nominate yourself you’ll have to buy at least one ticket and if you’re a finalist, then you must also look fabulous, dressed in a great suit, with your hair cut and color in good shape and your make-up expertly applied.  Consider it all as a marketing expense and take it off on your taxes (you can make it work).

When in business, investments must be made and whether you are a Freelance consultant or Executive Vice President at a multinational corporation, in this millenium we must recognize that we have a personal brand to develop and nurture. Accolades and financial rewards are bestowed upon those who package and present themselves well.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

 

 

 

 

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Write an Effective Business Letter

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All writing is about the intended reader (that is, the audience).  Whether it’s a book, song, movie, opera, website, marketing brochure, grant proposal, or fundraising letter, the one priority for the writer to keep in mind is that the intended recipient matters most.  Writing is a basic means of communication and we have many reasons to choose to express our thoughts or requests in writing, rather than verbally.  Usually, we write to make our thoughts official, to communicate with someone whom we do not know, or to communicate with a large number of people.

We write to express our point of view or to make a request.  We may write to persuade the reader to take a particular action based on information that is presented or to consider a new perspective and modify his/her opinion.  In other words, writing is selling. Writers will benefit from the following guidelines:

  1. Purpose: Why are you writing?
  2. Audience: Who is the reader (audience)?
  3. Outcomes: How can you persuade the reader to care about your subject or request?

The first question is actually about you, the writer.  What motivates you to write? Are you in search of funding for a project that you would like to advance and so you must write a business or grant proposal? Might your objective be to write a sales or marketing letter that will be sent to those who you feel are potential customers for your product or service? Are you producing content for a website or other promotional material that will communicate your expertise to potential customers and give them the confidence to contact you? You will be an effective writer only when you develop the self-awareness and confidence to acknowledge what you would like your written material to achieve, so that you will choose vocabulary that reflects your intent.

The second question ensures that you tailor your message and vocabulary to resonate with your intended reader or audience.  The successful writer will consider the point of view of the reader and craft a message that is likely be understood and accepted by that reader.  If it is a proposal that you will write, then you must address the interests of several stakeholders who will be able to speak favorably or unfavorably of your request.  Grant applications and business proposals always include financial information as well as operations and marketing information, for example, to satisfy those three important decision-making constituencies.

The final question addresses the perceived benefits that the reader or audience can expect to derive from what you have written.  Here, the writer must tightly focus on the readers’ priorities and preferences and consider the outcomes attached to the expression of the thoughts or creative expression, or the relative value of your request.  What will be in it for the reader if s/he buys your book, devotes time and money to attend a performance of your music, or approves your grant or proposal?

The writer is advised to utilize a communication style and vocabulary that are familiar and reassuring to the reader or audience,  as a way to build confidence, encourage acceptance and approval and result in mutual success.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

 

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Exit Strategy: The Retirement Plan

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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 15 million Americans were self-employed in 2015. That’s 15 million talented, ambitious, disciplined and self-confident citizens of our nation who’ve taken charge of their professional and financial future and they (we!) are to be congratulated.  According to the Bureau, self-employed business owners and Freelancers represent 10.1% of the population and they are surely the Talented Tenth.

Now for the bad news—self-employed professionals are not eligible for employer-sponsored benefits of any kind, unless they employ full-time workers and are therefore compelled to provide certain benefits that they would also receive.   Otherwise, the 15 million self-employed do not receive paid sick time, holiday time, vacation time, or employer cosponsored health insurance or retirement benefits.  In addition to the self-employed, there are many more millions who work in traditional employment on a part-time basis only, making them unable to receive employer-sponsored worker’s benefits.  Income inequality, anyone?

Let us consider the retirement fund matter, one of the two benefits issues that workers are able to self-fund (health insurance is the other).  If your finances allow you to set aside money that will be used to support you when you’re too old to work,  you will be wise to do so ASAP.

Examine your spending patterns.  How much are you spending on items that you want, but don’t need?  I don’t recommend that you deny yourself all gratification—we all deserve little luxuries every now and again—but some activities and purchases might perhaps be scaled back, allowing those funds to be redirected to prudent investments.

Budgeting a limited income is stress-producing.  Even those who work full-time may be forced to under-fund their retirement accounts, despite the employer matching contributions.  Wages have stagnated for 30 years and living expenses have done nothing but increase.  As a result, many of us are unable to save enough money.  Many elect to utilize money they’ve managed to save for a down payment on a house, rather than saving for retirement.  Financing one’s life 20 or more years from now must take a back seat.

According to the Government Accountability Office,  in 2015, approximately 50% of Americans had no retirement account whatsoever and 29% of those age 55 and older had neither retirement savings nor a pension.  Social Security is not a good fall-back option. The average monthly pay-out to retirees is only about $1294.  For the overwhelming majority, that’s not enough to carry one through more than half a month.

I consider the retirement picture in the U.S. as both a looming national emergency and a national embarrassment.  Corporate governance laws enacted during the administrations of Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George Bush (son) that brought us globalization and the transfer of good paying jobs to other countries, in the process destroying for all time the ability of so many American citizens to earn a comfortable living employed in benefits paying full-time jobs, is the primary reason for this crisis.

The computer age has done the world no favors, either.  So now you can play with Snapchat on your Android while on break at your $12/hour job.  Yes, there have been magnificent technological advances that have helped in many fields, medicine comes to mind.  But are those benefits worth the livelihood of millions?  That’s a good question for the ethicists.

If at all possible, please start a retirement account.  Here are two options for Freelancers and those who work part-time at one or more locations:

myRA is a starter retirement account created by the Department of the Treasury. There are no fees associated with opening a myRA account and you can decide how much you’d like to contribute each month, according to your budget. Automatic withdrawal contributions can be set up through your bank account or paycheck.

If you change jobs, the myRA account is not affected. If you must take money from the account, there is no financial penalty to pay and no additional taxes are taken out. Like a Roth IRA account, myRA is funded with after-tax income. The maximum annual myRA contribution is $5500 and $6500 for those age 50 or older. The maximum amount that can be held in a myRA is $15,000.  Once the $15,000 limit has been reached (or before, for that matter),  the balance can be rolled over into a traditional retirement account.  https://myra.gov

Self-employed 401(k) profit sharing-plan (Solo 401 [k]) is funded with pre-tax dollars.  You can make contributions as both an employer (because you employ yourself) and as an employee (because you are employed by your sole proprietorship or single person LLC entity). Wearing your employer hat,  one contribution can be up to 25% of annual net profit, or $33,000 ($39,000 if 50 years or older) per year .  A second contribution of maximum $18,000 annually ($24,000 annually for those 50 years and older) can be made while wearing your employee hat.

Better still,  it’s possible to hire your spouse as an employee under this plan and s/he can contribute in the same way as you do,  meaning that your spouse can also contribute up to $53,000 ($59,000 if age 50 years or older) per year .  Open your Solo 401(k) account before December 31 if you’d like to make a tax-deductible contribution this year.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

 

 

 

Survival Strategies , , Leave a comment

Doing Business As

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To forge a successful career as a Freelance consultant requires courage, resilience, possession of marketable skills, relationships with people who are willing and able to help you get hired into one money-making opportunity or another, an affinity for selling, the discipline needed  to set goals, a talent for big picture thinking and setting strategies, and an understanding of human nature and motivation. The ability to attract good luck and dodge bad luck helps, too.

Precious few Freelancers are able to just “go to the office” everyday and take on the usual work.  In order to generate an acceptable number of billable hours, we understand that multiple revenue streams must be created and that we must learn to recognize the marketability value of segments of our overall skill set and learn to  package, promote and sell those segments to prospective employers, as well as target clients.

Take my revenue streams, for example. When asked, my short form elevator speech is that I’m an external consultant who provides business strategy and marketing solutions to for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. What that means in reality is that I’ve facilitated strategic planning meetings at not-for-profit organizations; edited a book and also served as its photo editor and project manager (it was published by the sponsoring organization); developed curriculum for a series of 90 minute sales skills training workshops; periodically teach business plan writing; and was made a staff writer at an online magazine targeted for women entrepreneurs.

Yes, I continue to do the business strategy and marketing assignments, but the fact is that there are always assignment gaps and I’ve learned to branch out and offer related skills that enhance my brand as they allow me to make some much-needed money.  In my experience, it is the ability to leverage your additional competencies that help a Freelancer to create and sustain a profitable business venture.

My friend Adela is a busy educational consultant who works with college bound high school juniors and their parents to first identify suitable colleges for the student and next to navigate the application process.  Her business seems to be quite lucrative, yet she nevertheless teaches Spanish at a local college (Adela was born and raised in Mexico and came to the U.S. to attend Harvard University).

Jackie, a friend of many years, launched a small, full-service fitness center that became very successful in that highly competitive market.  Yet Jackie has continued to teach fitness classes and train clients at a large downtown gym. Why? Not only does she earn a few extra dollars that a mother of four can always use, but also gets to observe sophisticated fitness center management from the inside and also receive instructor training in new fitness techniques that she can evaluate for inclusion in her own gym. Sometimes you can get paid to research the competition!

My friend Carole toggles between Freelance marketing for technology companies and corporate positions in that sector.  She’s a Lotus alumna who’s also worked for tech giant EMC, distinctions that command respect and open doors in the tech industry.  In between corporate gigs, Carole goes out on her own to develop marketing strategies for tech start-ups.  A couple of years ago, she was offered a position as director of marketing at one of those start-ups, but when the inevitable reorganization occurs, she’ll re-enter the Freelance life.

Now you, Freelancer friend, what else can you do to create additional revenue streams for yourself and if possible, enhance your skill set or obtain useful competitive information?

Sometimes an opportunity that is outside of your brand and strictly for cash-flow may present itself and I suggest that you discreetly take it anyway.  As long as running into prospective clients is not a danger, if time and energy allow, a pragmatic Freelancer understands the necessity of promoting cash-flow whenever possible.  Build up your retirement account, or use the money to attend seminars that provide professional development and potentially good networking.  It’s all about doing business as a solvent and successful Freelance professional.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Professional Development , , , Leave a comment

Fixing Your Epic Fail

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You’ve got to know when to hold’em, know when to fold’em. Know when to walk away, and know when to run.   “The Gambler”, written by Don Schlitz and made famous by singer Kenny Rogers

The Horatio Alger story remains the ultimate creation myth of the United States. Start out penniless.  Be clever, ambitious and ready to work very hard.  Recognize opportunities that others ignore.  Have the courage to take risks.  Summon the self-confidence and determination to stay the course in the face of disappointment.  Succeed wildly.  Make millions of dollars.

The most admired American heroes are the success stories, the big money makers. Paul Allen and Bill Gates, college drop-outs who pulled all-nighters to build Microsoft.  Madam C.J. Walker, a widowed young mother and one-time laundress who in 1906 created a hair care product in one of her wash tubs, out-maneuvered endemic sexism and racism, and became America’s first female and first non-white self-made millionaire (her line is now at Sephora).  Madam Builds an Empire

Striving is the template for life in this country.  Never give up.  Just do it.   However, quiet as it’s kept, certain dreams simply will not pan out because they cannot.  Some ventures are ill-conceived.  Some are very good, but the resources to launch them are not available.  For others, the timing is wrong and one either misses the market, or is too far ahead of the curve and prospective customers do not yet have the desire for the product (or service).  In these instances the smartest action is, sadly, to scrap the dream and walk away.  It is so painful, humiliating, even un-American.  Success is our brand and the whole world knows it.

One of the biggest questions we will encounter as we build a life is, when do you hold on tight to your dream and keep pushing forward through rejection and disappointment and continue to invest time, passion and money into an idea that might be doomed (or not) and when do you give up?

Failure, at some point, is inevitable.  It is demoralizing and damaging, if only to the ego.  It undermines self-confidence.  Repeated failure unravels and destroys a life.

According to behavioral psychologist James Clear, who studies and writes about performance and creativity, failure can be classified in three categories:

  1. Failure of tactics
  2. Failure of strategy
  3. Failure of vision

Clear categorizes Failure of Tactics as Stage 1 and identifies it as HOW mistakes are made.  According to Clear, Stage 1 Failure occurs as a result of poor planning, preparation, or execution.  The Vision may be sound and the chosen Stategy reasonable, but operations issues bring it all crashing down.  His remedy for Stage 1 Failure is to:

  • Examine the process of product and service delivery (service packages, sales distribution, quality control and customer service, usually)
  • Identify system failures in the sales process/ buying process as articulated by customers and employees.
  • Adjust systems and practices that impede an efficient and desirable customer experience and employee efficacy and morale

Stage 2 Failure results from a Failure of Strategy and Clear calls these WHAT mistakes. Stage 2 Failure occurs when the chosen strategy is unable to deliver the desired results.  Since there is no way to know in advance which of your presumed reasonable products, services, or proposals will succeed until there is a beta test, Clear recommends that after due diligence has been done, roll it out and monitor the progress.  His remedy for Stage 2 Failure is:

  • Launch the beta test quickly
  • Do it cheaply
  • Revise rapidly

Throw it up against the wall and see what sticks. If your strategy isn’t doing the job, have Plan B ready and give your concept another try.  Keep costs low to minimize the financial strain of do-overs.  Ideas are meant to be tested, it’s all about trail and error.

A Failure of Vision constitutes Stage 3 Failure and it reveals the most basic reasons of WHY the plan failed. In this scenario, the purpose for taking the action was poorly understood.  Was there no measurement of demand for the product, service, or action taken? Did you overestimate access to target customers? Did you not acknowledge that you’d rather not commit the time and money necessary to build the business or carry out the initiative?

Some of us fail because we get pressured into taking certain actions by those whose motive is to continue a tradition or to exert control.  In these scenarios,  actions are taken to follow the expectations of others, rather than one’s own priorities and preferences.

For example, the brother of a good friend, because he was the only son, was expected to take over his father’s highly successful business.  But according to my friend, her brother was not cut out to run a large and complex business.  He lacked the necessary drive. Unsurprisingly, her brother eventually crashed the business.  Their father spent more than a million dollars trying to bail out his son, but the business went bankrupt.

If you’ve done your homework and can be reasonably confident that your vision is sound and you’re willing to invest your time and money testing Stage 2 issues (launch strategy) and perfecting any Stage 1 challenges (operational glitches), then ignore those who would dissuade you to abandon your vision.  Maybe you’ll never be wildly successful, but if you feel compelled to do what you can to realize your dream, then carry on! Avoid Stage 3 Failure in this way:

  • Determine your priorities and purpose and be clear about what you’re willing to do to make it a reality
  • Identify and stand by those parts of your dream that are non-negotiable
  • Accept that there may be naysayers

Thanks for reading,

Kim