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39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cure for the Common Freelancer, September 28, 2008
This review is from: My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire (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.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Your FABULOUS So Called Freelance Life, October 1, 2008
This review is from: My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire (Paperback)
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.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great guide for creative peeps..., March 31, 2010
This review is from: My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire (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.
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