Tired of clocking in and losing out? Want to pursue creative, fulfilling work on your own time and also make a living in the process? My So-Called Freelance Life is a how-to guidebook for women who want to avoid the daily grind and turn their freelance dreams into reality. Michelle Goodman, author of The Anti 9-to-5 Guide and self-proclaimed former "wage slave," offers tips, advice, how-to's, and everything else a woman needs to pursue a freelance career. Confused as to whether you should tell your clients that the odd gurgling sound during a conference call is emanating from the infant sleeping on your shoulder? Goodman answers all of the unusual questions that may arise for women exploring the freelance world. Far more than your normal business guidebook, My So-Called Freelance Life blends candid, humorous anecdotes from a wide variety of freelancers with Goodman's own personal experiences as a creative worker for hire. Whether you're a freelance first-timer or a seasoned creative professional, copyediting queen or web guru, My So-Called Freelance Life is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in freelancing. "
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"Since we're all sh**ing our pants over the current economic situation, this book couldn't come at a better time. "My So-Called Freelance Life" saunters its way through the ins and outs of becoming a successful solo professional, whether you're a newly graduated 20-something trapped in a monotonous cubicle job or a new mom looking for flexible hours. Having accumulated a great deal of experience on the topic, Michelle Goodman (author of "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide") leaves no paperweight unturned, explaining how to get started, maintain a budget and schedule, gather/weed out clientele, and legally cover your a**. Goodman includes a bevy of relevant links, contacts, organizations, and advice on everything from negotiating your hourly rate to when to quit working for the Man. While her book thoroughly covers every fundamental career intricacy you can imagine, wit and hilarity are also seated firmly within. (She even quotes Peter Gallagher on "The OC," thus actualizing the poetry of my heart.) Not only is this book an incredible guide on how to get started, but it's also inspiring and oddly comforting. "You can't hitch your entire creative career on one big break--or one fat failure," Goodman writes, "you have to keep moving forward, reaching for bigger and better." It's a book you will feel compelled to keep in your personal library (probably between your college dictionary and your religious tome of choice), or you can be like me and sleep with it in your arms."
—"Bust Magazine"
"I love this book! I've never had a 9-to-5 job, but it took me years to burn through my conditioning as a woman (that taught me my work wasn't worth much), my conditioning as a Gen Xer (that taught me I shouldn't take my work seriously), and my general fear of organization and success. "My So-Called Freelance Life" would have saved me half a decade of bumbling around. A must-read for established and hopeful creative professionals."
—Ariel Gore, author of "How to Become a Fam
—"Bust Magazine"
"I love this book! I've never had a 9-to-5 job, but it took me years to burn through my conditioning as a woman (that taught me my work wasn't worth much), my conditioning as a Gen Xer (that taught me I shouldn't take my work seriously), and my general fear of organization and success. "My So-Called Freelance Life" would have saved me half a decade of bumbling around. A must-read for established and hopeful creative professionals."
—Ariel Gore, author of "How to Become a Fam
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Kali Readwin
Format:Paperback
This book came recommended to me by a friend, and I'm so glad to have read it! I zipped through it in a couple of days and it allowed me to get my ideas all sorted out. It was sort of like having a really fun mentor that always had time for me!
It's loaded with the author's real-life experiences, useful resources, tips, amusing tales, reality-checks and fair warnings. If you're thinking about freelancing part-time or jumping in full-time, give this a read first.
It's loaded with the author's real-life experiences, useful resources, tips, amusing tales, reality-checks and fair warnings. If you're thinking about freelancing part-time or jumping in full-time, give this a read first.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars
48 reviews
43 of 44 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cure for the Common Freelancer
Sep 28 2008
By Toni V. Martin
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
If you're like me, you probably fell into your freelance lifestyle, rather than deliberately planned and strategically designed a solo career. Which is why Goodman's book had me at the title! This is a well-written, hilarious, solid resource for creative types who still have a 9 to 5 and want to switch to working for themselves, or those of us who kinda already are but not as professionally as we might like.
Goodman covers the fun stuff like getting your online portfolio up and hobnobbing with fellow freelancers. She talks about the icky stuff--like recordkeeping and invoicing and working with a tax professional. And she keeps it real, with discussion on how to not "sell out" creatively while keeping your bills paid and maintaining the work/life balance. All the while, Goodman freely admits her mistakes as proof that it's never too late to get in shape, businesswise. Her popular 1st book, The Anti-9-to-5 Guide, website of the same name, and columns and writing gigs give her advice plenty of street cred.
I have shelves of books on the freelance writing lifestyle, many of which are dear to my heart and great references (Bowerman's "Well Fed Writer" is one example). But "My So Called Freelance Life" is now #1 with a bullet because it's a targeted blueprint to laying the foundation and building my writing business, delivered in a hip, conversational tone that spoke directly to me.
Goodman covers the fun stuff like getting your online portfolio up and hobnobbing with fellow freelancers. She talks about the icky stuff--like recordkeeping and invoicing and working with a tax professional. And she keeps it real, with discussion on how to not "sell out" creatively while keeping your bills paid and maintaining the work/life balance. All the while, Goodman freely admits her mistakes as proof that it's never too late to get in shape, businesswise. Her popular 1st book, The Anti-9-to-5 Guide, website of the same name, and columns and writing gigs give her advice plenty of street cred.
I have shelves of books on the freelance writing lifestyle, many of which are dear to my heart and great references (Bowerman's "Well Fed Writer" is one example). But "My So Called Freelance Life" is now #1 with a bullet because it's a targeted blueprint to laying the foundation and building my writing business, delivered in a hip, conversational tone that spoke directly to me.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Your FABULOUS So Called Freelance Life
Oct 1 2008
By SJS
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I read Michelle's last book, The Anti 9-to-5 Guide, and loved it, so I was eager to read this her new one. I have to say that she did not disappoint. Her candor is refreshing, as is her contemporary yet tried-and-true advice for those of us in the freelance trenches. Some stuff in here I'd never thought of, like renting a spot in an office co-op to avoid climbing the walls with loneliness.
I'd recommend this book for new and experienced freelancers alike - in fact, I've already bought a copy for a friend.
I'd recommend this book for new and experienced freelancers alike - in fact, I've already bought a copy for a friend.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great guide for creative peeps...
Mar 31 2010
By Barbara Bell
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Goodman dishes on what it's like to be a creative professional in this guide for freelancers. She covers everything structurally (business plan, anyone?), as well as important (licenses and lawyers?) and unimportant (do you really need 1,000 sheets of letterhead on your first day?) issues.
Broken into three categories:
You Fled the Cube, Now What?
Sell, Baby, Sell
Your So-Called Life
and followed by the epilogue and web resources, Goodman dishes it to her readers straight. She doesn't pretend to know it all or have been the star student in her learning process, but she does impart her knowledge in an approachable way.
She even suggests that if you can't take the rejections that come in with selling yourself and your work, for a quick pick-me-up, you should Google "famous rejections." I LOVED that piece of advice.
Goodman also breaks down game plans into do-able pieces. What would you do to write for your favorite magazine? She has suggestions on how to make this happen. She lived it and learned it, and she shares it with us here.
Broken into three categories:
You Fled the Cube, Now What?
Sell, Baby, Sell
Your So-Called Life
and followed by the epilogue and web resources, Goodman dishes it to her readers straight. She doesn't pretend to know it all or have been the star student in her learning process, but she does impart her knowledge in an approachable way.
She even suggests that if you can't take the rejections that come in with selling yourself and your work, for a quick pick-me-up, you should Google "famous rejections." I LOVED that piece of advice.
Goodman also breaks down game plans into do-able pieces. What would you do to write for your favorite magazine? She has suggestions on how to make this happen. She lived it and learned it, and she shares it with us here.
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 48 reviews
4.5 out of 5 stars
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