Reactions to story from The Golden Pencil: The Freelance Writer’s Resource

• 

  How I Got to the 9-Hour Workweek (Part 2)

  http://moolatalk.com/2008/05/16/how-i-got-to-the-9-hour-work...
  147 days ago in money news blog - Just another WordPress weblog · Authority: 12

  How I Got to the 9-Hour Workweek (Part 2) Posted by: in General work pimps PimpYourWork.com In the previous installment of this series, I talked about how I defined work and modified my e-mail habits as my first two-steps to a 9-hour workweek. Step 3: I applied the 80-20 rule. I’ve talked about the 80-20 rule (or Pareto Principle) in the past, so I won’t define it here. I’ll just discuss how I applied it. I made a list of my current paying jobs (blogging) and listed them as how much each paid per hour, including notes on how much I enjoyed these jobs. Here’s what my list looked like: Job A - $50/hr - love this job Job B - $30/hr - like this job Job C - $10/hr - indifferent Job D - $8/hr - love this job and so on… Of course, there’s some personal projects I do that don’t pay much (if at all), but they’re not what I was evaluating here. I was evaluating what I defined as my “paying work”. In the end, I decided to focus on Jobs A, B, and D. Job C and the rest that paid lower, I outsourced (for some reason, my contracts for the lower paying jobs granted me to outsource them). Even if Job D paid the lowest, I loved it so much I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It’s about doing the work that pays well, of course, but don’t ignore some work tasks you love just because it won’t strictly adhere to the 80-20 rule. It’s meant to be a suggestion, not an unbreakable law. Of course, this puts me in a relatively precarious situation. True, the blogs/companies I work for are doing well and I doubt they’re going to let me go any time soon. However, since I rely on only 3 companies for most of my income, what happens when I lose two or all of these gigs? (Hell, that’s what. Even though I do have an emergency fund tucked away.) I found an interesting take on the 80-20 rule on The Golden Pencil. Some of the ideas I concur with (it’s hard to apply 80-20 to more creative tasks, your activities or income sources won’t be diverse, some tasks you just can’t outsource), but I disagree with the others. The 80-20 rule isn’t meant to be a fixed proportion, it’s just a way to look at your situation and see what vital tasks you benefit the most from. Anyway, it’s an helpful read, especially for writers. So if you find that you can’t apply the 80-20 rule to what you’re doing (I can’t apply it to my comics and fiction writing, for example), don’t stress about it. Step 4: I outsourced some tasks. I already mentioned above that I outsourced some of my lower paying jobs. But that doesn’t make sense, does it? Contractual obligations aside, shouldn’t one outsource the higher paying tasks, pay contractors extremely low for them, and pocket the profits while laughing on the way to the bank? Well, no, not for me, and here’s why: I felt indifferent about the lower paying tasks. Not because the pay was low, but because the tasks were either not challenging enough or were too repetitive for my taste. I’d gladly pay someone else to do them if it means gaining hours of my life back. Hours that I have the ability to put into writing fiction (which I haven’t done in over 3 years) and comics (which I’ve done sporadically over the past year). If I’m indifferent about something, I guess it’s not worth the time and effort I put into it. When I outsource, I prefer to pay a fair percentage to the contractor. This makes me sleep superior at night, and the contractors (who need the job more than I do) get paid fairly for their time. I really love the jobs I picked for myself (Jobs A, B, and D) and there’s no way I’m gonna let someone else have all that fun! All in all, only 3-7% of my income comes from outsourcing work. I’ll try to make this higher over the next year as I iron out some business, but I think I got the better end of the deal, since I have more time (which is more valuable to me than money). Apart from paying jobs, I’ve started to outsource some administrative tasks. For now, this includes 75% of client support and handling some of my business email accounts. This has cut off 2 to 3 hours from my average workday. We’re halfway into the 9-Hour Workweek Series. On the next installment, I’ll speak about my schedule experiments and geoarbitrage. Pic Credit: Images from Celine Roque from Blue Rabbit Media and from Steve Woods via sxc.hu Share This Share This Share This
• 

  How I Got to the 9-Hour Workweek (Part 2)

  http://www.pimpyourwork.com/how-i-got-to-the-9-hour-workweek...
  147 days ago in Pimp Your Work - Improving Your Work Day Efficiency · Authority: 95

  PimpYourWork.com In the previous installment of this series, I talked about how I defined work and modified my e-mail habits as my first two-steps to a 9-hour workweek. Step 3: I applied the 80-20 rule. I’ve talked about the 80-20 rule (or Pareto Principle) in the past, so I won’t define it here. I’ll just discuss how I applied it. I made a list of my current paying jobs (blogging) and listed them as how much each paid per hour, including notes on how much I enjoyed these jobs. Here’s what my list looked like: Job A - $50/hr - love this job Job B - $30/hr - like this job Job C - $10/hr - indifferent Job D - $8/hr - love this job and so on… Of course, there’s some personal projects I do that don’t pay much (if at all), but they’re not what I was evaluating here. I was evaluating what I defined as my “paying work”. In the end, I decided to focus on Jobs A, B, and D. Job C and the rest that paid lower, I outsourced (for some reason, my contracts for the lower paying jobs allowed me to outsource them). Even if Job D paid the lowest, I loved it so much I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It’s about doing the work that pays well, of course, but don’t ignore some work tasks you love just because it won’t strictly adhere to the 80-20 rule. It’s meant to be a suggestion, not an unbreakable law. Of course, this puts me in a relatively precarious situation. True, the blogs/companies I work for are doing well and I doubt they’re going to let me go any time soon. However, since I rely on only 3 companies for most of my income, what happens when I lose two or all of these gigs? (Hell, that’s what. Although I do have an emergency fund tucked away.) I found an interesting take on the 80-20 rule on The Golden Pencil. Some of the ideas I agree with (it’s hard to apply 80-20 to more creative tasks, your activities or income sources won’t be diverse, some tasks you just can’t outsource), but I disagree with the others. The 80-20 rule isn’t meant to be a fixed proportion, it’s just a way to look at your situation and see what vital tasks you benefit the most from. Anyway, it’s an helpful read, especially for writers. So if you find that you can’t apply the 80-20 rule to what you’re doing (I can’t apply it to my comics and fiction writing, for example), don’t stress about it. Step 4: I outsourced some tasks. I already mentioned above that I outsourced some of my lower paying jobs. But that doesn’t make sense, does it? Contractual obligations aside, shouldn’t one outsource the higher paying tasks, pay contractors extremely low for them, and pocket the profits while laughing on the way to the bank? Well, no, not for me, and here’s why: I felt indifferent about the lower paying tasks. Not because the pay was low, but because the tasks were either not challenging enough or were too repetitive for my taste. I’d gladly pay someone else to do them if it means gaining hours of my life back. Hours that I can put into writing fiction (which I haven’t done in over 3 years) and comics (which I’ve done sporadically over the past year). If I’m indifferent about something, I guess it’s not worth the time and effort I put into it. When I outsource, I prefer to pay a fair percentage to the contractor. This makes me sleep better at night, and the contractors (who need the job more than I do) get paid fairly for their time. I really love the jobs I picked for myself (Jobs A, B, and D) and there’s no way I’m gonna let someone else have all that fun! All in all, only 3-7% of my income comes from outsourcing work. I’ll try to make this higher over the next year as I iron out some business, but I think I got the better end of the deal, since I have more time (which is more valuable to me than money). Apart from paying jobs, I’ve started to outsource some administrative tasks. For now, this includes 75% of client support and handling some of my business email accounts. This has cut off 2 to 3 hours from my average workday. We’re halfway into the 9-Hour Workweek Series. On the next installment, I’ll talk about my schedule experiments and geoarbitrage. Photo Credit: Images from Celine Roque from Blue Rabbit Media and from Steve Woods via sxc.hu Share This
• 

  Why the Pareto Principle is a Useful Tool for Freelancers

  http://www.contract-worker.com/why-the-pareto-principle-is-a...
  149 days ago in Contract Worker - Freelancing Experiences · Authority: 88

  Summary: In a certain sense, the 80-20 Rule is useful to freelancers, because it makes them think about a future where they can achieve more with less effort. My corporate-warrior dad made me avoid business management terms like the plague. So I had no idea what the Pareto Principle was all about, until Debbi Mack guest posted on The Golden Pencil. Apparently, some people believe that “20 percent of our efforts result in 80 percent of the benefit received”. I do think that the Pareto Principle makes sense, despite what Debbi writes. The people I consider successful make most of their income from a few choice efforts. Yet I imagine that Debbi was talking about those starting out, where hard work and constant practice are required for any kind of success. I can’t imagine working constantly, pushing yourself to your practical and mental limits, only to end up with a future that requires the same amount of activity to put the same amount of bread on the table. I’m not saying that freelancers (or anyone for that matter) should avoid hard work like the plague, nor they should they actively seek for that magical 20% that supposedly grants 80% of the rewards (I suspect on these two points Debbi and I would also agree with each other). My point is that the Pareto Principle could be a valuable goal for freelancers, because it forces to them to think about the future. A future where their acquired skill, experience, and distinctiveness can command higher prices for what’s essentially the same amount of work. In other words, the 80-20 breakdown may be wrong, but the implication behind it is a powerful idea: work for less, get more returns. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming of—and working towards—a setup where our efforts our significantly maximized. Image from searchenginepeople.com Share This
• 

  100 Percent User-Generated Content? But What About . . . Me?

  http://writing4hire.blogspot.com/2008/05/100-percent-user-ge...
  150 days ago in Writing for Hire · Authority: 11

  For its June issue, Budget Travel decided to let readers provide all the content. Yes, the magazine solicited about 2,800 pitches from readers and hired 324 contributors, who were paid "normal fees" and travel expenses for companions--"something we don’t do for professional writers," according to editor Erik Torkells. I was stunned to see this. Amateur writers getting paid at the magazine's usual rates to write its content? Plus companions' travel expenses? Was this bad news for the professionals who want to write for magazines? Like, the "reality TV" version of magazine journalism, in which "real people" do the writing instead of the pros? And how come they're getting paid more?! (sniff) But not to worry. Torkells wrote in a blog post for FOLIO: "Making this issue was neither cheap nor easy." Torkells said the issue "would’ve been a mess" without an "extraordinary amount” of editing. "Editing non-professional writers is never easy, especially when you’re asking them to write long," he said. Whew! I feel better already. PS--I've had the pleasure of making a guest appearance today on The Golden Pencil, where I go off on a bit of a rant about the 80-20 Rule. Please stop by and let me know your thoughts.

Advertise on Technorati

Advertise on Technorati