You have GOT to be kidding me...

Grrrr!

Now I am a little ticked off. The customer is always right, right?

What if the customer can't make up his mind? I 3/4 of the way through a project , which at fiirst seemed fine - I had done work for the client before, and now he wants articles on alcoholism. SO I write eight articles on various aspects of alcohol abuse, dependency, stats, etc.

He responds that he wanted articles to encourage people to go into rehab. I rewrite six of the articles. He responds that he needs the articles to target young people and encourage them not to drink. I rewrite four articles.

Sigh. Then he tells me that I am not doing enough research, and tells me to go to a specific website, which is basically a lot of bulletted lists. So I practically copy the lists, and send them back.

Ah, yes. That was what he wanted. "This is real research" he says.

Funny, it's the exact same info, you nut, just in a dry list form. All my user friendly text had exactly the same information, but he doesn't even see that.

Once again, the lists and bullet points rule. Good luck on holding anyone's attention with that!

Grrrrrrr.....

Seriously, this SEO stuff will kill me. I'm up till all hours, worrying that Matt Cutts will read the SubmitEdge.com posts - I better kill myself now. Learning as you go is all well and good, but I am in overdrive!

Who is Matt Cutts? He's the guy who makes sure evil people don't try to trick Google. I think he's responsible for making sure you don't type in 'dog show' and get a porno clip.

Something like that.

Anyway, I just posted on his blog in hopes that someday, if I have a question that I don't think he will totally laugh me out of the park by asking,I will have hung around the fringes long enough that he might take pity on me. One can only hope.

Matt, if you read this, I'm depending on you.

Leaps and Bounds

Hello, World Wide Web!!!!!!!

It's 7:00 AM, and I have been up since 6:00...and I went to bed at 2:00, which seems to be happening more and more these days!

Summer has arrived and school is out, and I LOVE my munchkins but if they don't quit squabbling I'm going to lose my mind! I can't get anything done, 'cause every five minutes I have to settle some type of dispute.

I think I found a solution - daycamp. Twice a week, 8-5, local trampoline and tumbling institute. That way I can get caught up and hear myself think.

The baby, after merrily cutting teeth # 1-7 without a hitch is miserably stuck on #8, and I must go buy some green onions for him to chew on (or so I am instructed by an old and wise friend).

Now for the part you want to hear: How is the freelancing coming?

Excellent! - (except for the 2:00 AM thingie)

I have contracted work closing in on $2K per month, and still quite a few little jobs on the side. I've picked up some new clients, and continue to have a wonderful working relationship with my old ones - a whopping 2/3 of my business is repeat.

RECAP: (Client's names changed to protect their privacy. Nicknames are creative, LOL!)

Acne Guy. This is monthly work, 30 articles, easy, written to specific keyword phrases and only about 300 words long, almost $7 each. (approx $45 per week)

Health Guy. He has a trickle of work for me to do, so far centered around such issues as diabetes, cancer and aloholism. 350+ words each, $10 each. ($40+per week)

SEO Man. Ten articles a week, 6 month contract. 500 word posts, 1 each per day on search engine optimization for news site and blog. $8 each. ($80 per week)

Pearl Lady. Five articles a week, 300-500 words, about pearls and fashion for linking to sales site. $10 each. ($50 per week)

Mom Blog. Three articles a week, comments on the blog, proofing as needed. ($50 per week) I GET MY NAME ON BLOG ARTICLES

The 'How To Guy'. 15 or more "E-How" style articles per week, 200-300 words $5 per article. ($75+ per week)

The UK Gentleman. Editing and tagging press releases and annual reports on energy companies @ $12 per hour for approx an hour per day. ($50 per week)

The SAHM. Two batches weekly of one 800 word article plus two 500 word rewrites for $25 per batch about Stay At Home Moms (get it?) and debt management. ($50 per week)

The VA. Work for paralegal who runs virtual assistant firm - 5 articles per week approx $10+ per article ($50+ per week) MY OWN BYLINE!!!!

Baby Dude. 5 or more articles per week on baby related keywords at 3 cents a word = $12 per article ($60+ per week)

Wow, I hadn't sat down and added it up. And a lot of those are lowball estimates where the clients have indicated they will have more work for me than that, so we are looking at upward of $550 per week, maybe as high as $700.

Holy Guacomole. Now I can afford avocados.

:) Slainte

~Grace