I’ll Write Your Brochure Today, CHEAP

I’ve been wanting to take a picture of a handwritten sign near my house for several days. In bold black marker, it reads, “I’LL BUY YOUR HOUSE TODAY!! CA$H” plus a phone number.
This marketing technique is intriguing to me. What kind of consumer will respond to this entreaty? Someone with a missed payment, fearful [...]

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Lamenting the loss of direct deposit: Chores I didn’t count on

Before I quit my day job to become a professional copywriter, I had a regular job and a regular paycheck. Every 15 days or so, I’d get an email or an invalid check or something to tell me that, once again, I could buy groceries.
But now checks come v-e-r-y  s-l-o-w-l-y to my post office box. [...]

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Favorite Freebies from the World’s Cheapest Copywriter

Since leaving my jet-setting, executive-type sales/marketing position at a technology company, I’ve become ultra cheap.
 
Not just kind of cheap. I mean really, almost insanely cheap.
Example 1: at first I budgeted 3 trips a week to my favorite coffee shop, but then I discovered that I can buy 25 tea bags and make chai at home [...]

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Estimating a writing project

Yesterday someone asked me how I determine a cost estimate for a writing project if I’m not charging by the hour. This is a tough problem, and it’s important professional writers learn how to do it well. With my 60 days of experience, I’m still learning.
I try to break down a project into several time [...]

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What weekends are like when you run your own business

Yesterday afternoon (Friday), I sat for a moment in the crisp, cool afternoon sunshine that makes San Diego autumn so amazing. I made a list of things I need to get done over the weekend, plus some of the chores for Monday.

I need to work on three things for my biggest client: help him [...]

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I just can’t ditch my Miata

I don’t really need a car now that I work from home as a freelance copywriter. I should rely on public transportation and start using Flexcar, a car-sharing program that covers insurance, maintenance, gas, etc.
I just ran figures through the Flexcar owning-vs-Flexcar comparison, and they said, “For the same price as owning and driving your [...]

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What does an accountant do, anyway?

I received a cold call from an accountant agency that specializes in small startups. That would be me in a nutshell, of course. I made an appointment, and the representative is coming by today at 2.
I’m so amazingly clueless about accounting and taxes that I don’t even know what one would do for me. My [...]

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Pharmacy error in my favor: Collect 30 pills

Because I had to sign up for a very meager health insurance program with a huge deductible when I started my new business (self-employed people have crappy options as a whole), I had to pay a recent prescription out of pocket. I was scared to death to go to the pharmacy, and my fears were [...]

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What I didn’t read at Borders last night

Last night I eschewed my blogging responsibilities (meaning I haven’t written back to the people who wrote kind comments lately). I had been in my house alone for two days, spending almost every hour in front of the computer.
I had to get outside for a while. No, really. I was scaring the cat.
I ended up, [...]

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A free 2:04-Minute Timer

Ok, so I did a search to see if I could download a 2-minute timer that didn’t cost $10 like the one from David Allen’s website. I found a couple that required .Net Framework, and since I couldn’t figure out what that is, I created my own little timer in PowerPoint. Then I downloaded a [...]

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