Soloists not alone

22 | TIPS FOR SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESS

| AUSTIN BUSINESS JOURNAL | SEPT. 18-24, 2009

austinbusinessjournal.com

STRATEGIES NICK SIMONITE | ABJ

Freelance writer and editor Leila Kalmbach works on a manuscript at a local coffee shop.

Soloists not alone LEIL A K ALMBACH s scary as unemployment statistics are during this recession, they leave out a large group of job seekers: the self-employed — many of whom, these days, could be accurately characterized as self-unemployed.

For freelancers and independent consultants, even the good times are a perpetual job search. And lately, it’s starting to feel more like a merry-go-round.

I’ve been a freelance writer, editor and proofreader for about three years. I’ve been lucky in the last few months to have some clients who have remained steady, but others have significantly reduced the work they give me, and still others have disappeared altogether.

For me, the biggest change this year has been that very few clients want to commit to anything in advance. Most line up a contractor only when the work is ready. Everyone seems ready to jump ship at a moment’s notice.

A

Demand shrinking, supply growing I’m not alone. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, more than 10.5 million Americans are selfemployed full time.

By most accounts, the pool of freelance work is shrinking as companies cut their freelance budgets. Many are paying less than they did a year ago for the same work.

“What I see are a lot of companies attempting to do things in-house,” said Patti DeNucci, owner of DeNucci & Co., which connects pre-screened freelancers and consultants to clients. “They’ve already let people go; so many are trying to do the work of two or three people and

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Freelance workers find staying connected is key

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

trying to DIY what they should be outsourcing.”

Compounding this shortage of work, many laid-off workers are turning to freelancing, either as a temporary solution or because getting laid off was a push in the direction they’ve wanted to go for years.

Gorkana, a network of public relations professionals and journalists that sends frequent mass emails about personnel moves, has seen a massive upswing in the number of professionals wanting to include alerts that they are available for freelance work. Gorkana has doubled the number of posts by freelancers that it allows on its alerts, U.S. Director of Operations Rob Ingram said, because “we’ve been inundated with journalists wanting to post.”

To stay competitive in such a tough market, many freelancers and consultants are doing everything they can to stay afloat. For some, this includes compromising their prices and taking work that is not a good fit for their strengths and interests.

But Julia Kennedy Jayes, a freelance writer and marketing consultant, warns this is a bad strategy for the long term.

“I’m not just taking anybody and everybody who needs something,” she said. “Taking on a client who’s not a good fit … detracts from my business overall and from theirs.”

Be social Instead, Kennedy Jayes stressed that to stay successful in difficult times, freelancers and consultants must have a strong network that they call on when they “feel like crickets are about to start chirping.”

Kennedy Jayes’ approach in such moments is fi rst to reach out to mentors and past collaborators, and to let them know she’s looking for new work. Next, she contacts clients she has strong, long-term relationships with to touch base and see how they’re doing. She also reaches out to others through social media.

“You end up creating opportunities that a client might not end up following through on otherwise,” she said. “You can push people past the tipping point to commit to doing something if you’re constantly connected with them.”

Vikki Loving, an executive recruiter and executive career and team coach, recommends that freelancers searching for new opportunities not post their résumés on Web sites such as Monster, but that they go directly to social media outlets to tell others they’re available.

“The social marketing piece is something that was icing on the cake two years ago, but now it’s the cake,” she said. “I think we’re all less than one degree away from someone who needs us.”

Kennedy Jayes and Loving may be right that social media is the best way to keep in touch with clients, but the important piece is to keep in touch, period.

In my business, I turn to old-fashioned email. I send out a short email newsletter each month to clients, business contacts and friends that tells the story of a particularly embarrassing or expensive typo. For me, this is a way to keep my name in front of potential clients, remind people of the importance of proofreading and editing, and showcase my writing skills, while also sharing some SEE FREELANCE, P25

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SEPT. 18-24, 2009 AUSTIN BUSINESS JOURNAL

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STRATEGIES | 25

austinbusinessjournal.com

Small business development centers are OK with the Pinch I had a great college experience recently that I’d like to share.

No, it didn’t involve beer pong, foosball, hazing of freshmen or being ignored by countless girls. That was my college experience over 20 years ago. This one involved real, live, intelligent students (yes, there are some of those around), responsible faculty and a small business client of mine.

My client, Alan, participated in a program with a small business development center.

He got some amazing advice and paid ‌ nothing. Pennypinchers take note.

The SBDC program is sponsored by the Small Business Administration. Go to www.sba.gov and look for the link to SBA resource partners at the bottom of their page.

Each state has a main ofďŹ ce and numerous regional centers. For example, the Texas State University SBDC has ofďŹ ces in Austin, Round Rock and San Marcos. It serves 12 counties within the 79-county service area of the South-West Texas Border SBDC

regional ofďŹ ce. The regional ofďŹ ce in San Antonio directs the activities of 10 satellite SBDCs from Victoria to El Paso.

So how did Alan make use of the SBDC? Here’s his story, with a few tiny facts changed for conďŹ dentiality.

Alan’s company sells a small device called the Cell Phone Detonator. The device helps concerned citizens perform a very useful service. When aimed at a person talking loudly on a cell phone in an inappropriate place, the device causes the phone and the person’s head to simultaneously burst into ames. As you can imagine, the device has been selling like hotcakes.

Now Alan wants to expand into a new market with a product called the Ring-Tone Detonator, which can be programmed with a database of the most annoying ringtones.

The Ring-Tone Detonator is alerted whenever one of those annoying ring tones are played within a 100-foot radius and sends a signal to the offending phone, causing it

go up in ames.

So for free, the students at the SBDC helped Alan make a key marketing decision. They did a report that would have cost Alan thousands if he had gone to an outside consulting ďŹ rm.

SBDCs are generally associated with universities. They want to give their business students a shot at helping business owners make decisions. Sure, they’re younger and have little or no real world experience. But an academic analysis of any problem — be it marketing, whether to sell your business, buy another company, restructure or hire a key manager — can be very helpful. And the price is certainly right.

Pennypinchers take free consulting when they can get it, and the SBDC program is a great source for anyone.

and its owner to simultaneously combust.

Before making the investment, he went to the SBDC for help. “How can I be sure there’s a market for this product?� Alan asked earnestly.

The students — grads and undergrads — researched the exploding GENE cell phone market. They MARKS | conducted surveys, interviewed industry professionals and people who PENNY ride subways, and tested the product on a sample group of seventh-grade PINCHER Jonas Brothers fans. And then they put together a report for Alan.

Not surprisingly, they found that there are millions of people who would genuinely enjoy watching the owner of a phone with an annoying ringtone and the phone itself

GENE MARKS, a CPA and author of “The Streetwise Small Business Book of Lists,� heads The Marks Group www.penny pinchingtips.com, a technology and financial consultancy.

FREELANCE: Doing good work, whatever the pay is, can be one’s best advertising FROM PAGE 22 of my personality — I’m a sucker for a hilarious typo.

Regardless of how freelancers choose to keep in touch with clients, networking is key to success in this economy.

Be adaptable For many, what makes a freelancer unique is her ability to adapt her business to current trends. Loving, for instance, started a successful second company eight

months ago offering consulting for people who have lost their jobs.

This adaptability has helped Chris Douglas, a coach, trainer and consultant who has been doing organizational work for large corporations for 20 years. He recently started teaching a meditation class for individuals interested in stress management. “When you’re being forced to change, you think, ‘Maybe I should do something I really love,’� he said.

For freelancers and consultants who are having a hard time making ends meet,

Douglas recommends looking at where their passions and strengths intersect. He believes people who are passionate about their work will eventually ďŹ nd ďŹ nancial success.

For this reason, Douglas has a different take on freelancers lowering their prices. “I’m rarely saying no to the opportunity to speak,� he said. “If I’m doing good work, no matter what I’m getting paid, I’m actually doing advertising.�

For Douglas, the bottom line is that the work he takes must be a good ďŹ t for him.

Douglas’ advice resonates with me, and

it’s something I hear commonly from other freelancers: The silver lining in the recession is that when we’re forced to search for work more actively than before, we’re also forced to think through what type of work we should be doing.

As Douglas put it, “If this economic difďŹ culty drives a number of people to work that’s more meaningful to them, then it truly is a blessing in disguise.â€?

LEILA KALMBACH is a freelance writer and editor in Austin. Find her at www.eyeforink.com.

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