Customer Reviews

My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

As someone who has just recently embraced the freelancing lifestyle, I've been reading everything I can get my hands on. Out of all the books I've read, I'd probably put this one at the top of my list. The author does a great job of mixing irreverent humor (the best kind) with her years of practical experience.

The book did a great job of covering everything you need to know ranging from a freelancer's tax issues to dealing with frustrating clients to setting up your work environment. I finished the book with a hit list of to-do's that hadn't even crossed my mind.

Another thing that helped this book to stand out was that its advice wasn't confined to one type of freelancing. As someone who freelances in multiple arenas (writing, speaking, etc), I found other books to be frustratingly narrow.

Enjoy!

Ken Clark
Author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Out of Debt

As a freelancer for 16 years, I was skeptical at first that this book would teach me anything I didn't already know. I started out around the same time Goodman did, in my twentysomethings, and was just as green at the time (she and I both spent too much money on neat new business stationery). But I'd been waylaid along the route by a grad-school stint, and then got sucked into teaching, so her real-world advice has helped me refocus on the freelance goal, identify (and correct) a few re-entry missteps, and build on my niche expertise (even if you don't think you have one, you most likely do).

Plus, this book is a terrifically fun read. It's like sitting down with one of your gal-pals to talk shop instead of gossip. Although filled with practical, usable suggestions, Goodman writes with humor and pathos, sharing some of her own horror stories (such as a gig that dragged on so long, she ended up making a few cents per hour on it) and hewing to a no-nonsense, colloquial tone, with subheadings such as "Problem: Your Client Is a Bloodsucker" and "Ebbs Are for Amateurs."

I often receive e-mails from budding young freelancer-wannabes seeking advice. Now all I have to do is give them this book.

This book provides good information and resources for freelance writers that aren't covered elsewhere. However, the appeal of this book is somewhat limited by these factors:

* It will be relevant mostly just to other writers, and much less applicable to other creative freelancers as implied by the subtitle.

* If you are a new freelance writer or are exploring an escape from a corporate job, first read one of the other books about getting started as a freelance writer. This book will be more helpful to someone who has at least a little experience, in part because the practical information is less well structured than in other guides such as those from Peter Bowerman or Steve Slaunwhite.

* The author's very informal writing style and bleep-worthy language get tiresome after a while, so you'll learn to skim for the useful information.

Still, given the increasingly complex and competitive freelance market, this book is worth a look for any freelance writer.

I am currently working on the client side of the freelance equation and must say that Michelle has it exactly right. I am dealing with two freelancers at the moment...one of which has read this book...or at least seems to have...and one who seriously needs to.

I am also considering ditching the day job and going freelance myself. This book pulls no punches with the reality of freelance life and offers a great deal of straight forward advice on how to be successful.

Last but not least...Michelle has an irreverant style that has me actually laughing out loud at points. If you cannot handle a reference to a company blowing its financial wad...you might need to pass this one up.

I have been in business as a freelance designer for over 30 years. I went back through this book a second time and made a list of all the plum ideas I found. I keep this list as a bookmark in the book for fast reference.

My favorite sentence in My So-Called Freelance Life is, "Nobility, to me, is using your crative talents to invent a job for yourself and getting paid a decent wage to do it." And, that's the premise of the entire book, finding your way to creatively earn a living outside of the traditional workplace--and sustaining your ability to do so.

I read Michelle Goodman's My So-Called Freelance Life as as much a motivational book as a how-to guide from freelancers (which it is). Goodman adeptly covers the nuts and bolts of freelancing (taxes, accounting, finding clients), but does so in a way that really motivates the reader to feel like each of these potentially daunting tasks is achievable--and she does so with the humor of someone who has been there, done that. Because of that, I see this book as equally valuable to newbie freelancers, old pros and folks (like me) who have popped in and out of freelancing over the years.

I very much appreciate Goodman's willingness to talk about her own mistakes as well as her successes--this is not one of those obnoxious, "I've done everything perfectly, be like me!" type of books. She's learned by doing and that's apparent--intermingled are stories from other people's real world experiences to help you understand the many ways to live the freelance life. What I also like is that it's very much written for my generation (Gen X), in a tone that is the way I speak. So many business books feel like their audience is the Baby Boomer generation (understandably so), and the tone and references don't resonate with me. Finally, lest I give the impression that this book is all motivational, lofty ideals, it's actually very much full of practical advice that will have you pulling out the calculator to crunch your numbers and examine where you're at and how to get where you want to be.

Note: I read the Kindle edition, so I was annoyed to find that the graphics in the book hadn't been reformatted so that they're easily readable on the Kindle--I wish the publisher had taken the time to do that. As they are in the Kindle edition, the graphics are teeny, tiny and very hard to see.

This an excellent book. Michelle has been to Freelance Hell and back, and she's not afraid to tell it like it is. And she's funny!

One of the best selling points is that, unlike so many of the "I've had a successful career that's made me wildly rich, let me talk down to you about how to do it in three easy steps," Goodman doesn't sugar-coat it, and she DOESN'T talk down to you.

What she does do is break down the freelance business into easily digestible parts that will have you thinking, "Hey, I can do this freelance Sh**!" That's because you can. But it's not a simple one-two-three.

I'll let her explain it. She does a better job than I can.