I’m unpacking my brain. Unpacking all the wonderful-but-stressful bits and pieces from the last year: all the highs and lows of running a business, plus personal milestones like planning a wedding and moving into a new home. Unpacking the signatures, the paperwork, the timelines, the accomplishments and failures. Piece by piece, little by little, emptying […]
Over the last month, I’ve talked to a handful of freelancers and entrepreneurs who thought there was no way around high PayPal fees. Guess what: there is. And if you’re not using it, you are losing hundreds or thousands of dollars each year. It’s called PayPal Business Payments. If you select this option when invoicing […]
You should focus on growing your email list more than your Facebook page. Because of my journalism background, I tend to share research when it offers new or insightful information we can all act on. This research falls into that category, as Fast Company explains in their summary of the Forrester report. But it caught […]
Most of us have at least a handful of unfinished projects: a half-written novel on our virtual shelf, a blog that never made it past the first three posts, a body that isn’t quite as healthy or fit as we want it to be. Sometimes we make conscious decisions to put aside these projects when […]
This question from a reader hit my inbox recently: One thing I’ve noticed that you don’t often share on your blog … that I am always curious about, is what, if anything, you feel you had to sacrifice to get there. You talk a lot about hustling and working really hard … But aside from […]
Fifteen months after launching The Write Life, a website and community for writers, we’ve turned the corner toward profitability. Because of that momentum, and because I’ve been inspired lately by income reports from Pinch of Yum‘s food blogger duo, Kindle author Steve Scott and passive income evangelist Pat Flynn (who launched a niche site on […]
I remember when I got my first smartphone nearly five years ago. I’d put off the purchase for quite a while, and when I finally gave in to the upgrade, I couldn’t believe the difference it made in my life. Taking email everywhere was life-changing: I no longer had to wait at home near my […]
I spent last week at a writing retreat in rural Virginia called The Porches. Unlike writing residencies and colonies I’ve attended in the past, The Porches isn’t an official program; it doesn’t have an admissions process or board of trustees. It’s simpler, and for that reason, arguably better: a beautiful, historic farmhouse where writers go […]
Know how we’re always talking about why you should launch your business as a side gig, while still working your full-time job? How investing in yourself and your business while continuing to earn from your day job is a smart way to prepare for full-time entrepreneurship? Now there’s a study that shows that businesses that […]
Because we’ve had so many visitors and personal obligations lately (mainly, a wedding), it’s been more obvious than usual that I have a flexible work schedule. In a country full of 9-to-5 workers, people tend to notice when you shift your workday to start at 1pm because you’re sight-seeing in the morning, or when you […]