It’s doubtful that anyone will send you questions to build your authority on right away, especially if you’re just starting your blog. Here’s were using your real-life experiences come in.

Formulate Your Own Questions and Answers

Just keep an open mind, and eventually you will witness someone—sometimes yourself—dealing with a problem. If it’s someone else, you don’t even have to approach them with an answer. Indeed, he or she may find your unsolicited advice insulting.

What you can do is, try to break down the problem yourself, and come up with an insightful solution. Take the time to list down the quick fixes and common answers, then try to come up with something new. It doesn’t have to be completely different. Sometimes all it takes is literally a new way of looking at things.

If you’re the one experiencing the problem, you’re in a better position to analyze the solution—after all, you came up with it—and see how effective it is. In the case of someone else, if you can, try to discuss the problem with him or her. Not only are you actually helping that person deal with their problem, you can use that discussion as fodder for your authority-establishing resolution.

Authority-Establishing Resolution

Armed with something to write about, you can concentrate now on presenting the question or problem, and answer it with your insightful solution. Here’s where you really have to take your time, concentrating on explaining the various aspects of the problem, and following it up with a concise, comprehensive, and effective resolution.

Then, after showing that you can deal with an everyday problem and resolve it with unusual or distinctive methodology, you can now start asking your blog readers to ask you their own questions, or share their own problems.

Granted, for this to work, your blog needs some significant exposure to get any appreciable amount of replies to sift through. Yet you only need one call for help to work on, and continue to build your reputation as an authority who can solve the problems of your readers.

You don’t even have to use the traditional question-and-answer format. If there’s anything I’ve learned from building up a significant blog readership, it’s that readers are always looking for answer and solutions to their own problems. That’s definitely a need I’ve always tried my best to fill. Sometimes all you need to do is write about a common problem, and come up with your own compelling solution. That definitely goes a long way in attracting new readers, and more importantly, people who believe that you have authority as a freelancer in your respective field.

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We know that, like us, you’re extremely busy. Those deadlines won’t meet themselves, right?

However, for the sake of our sanity, is it too much to ask that you be more certain with your revisions? There’s nothing wrong with asking for changes. That’s why you’re paying us to work on your projects, and that’s why we prudently agree to a specific number of revision rounds. And we’re also willing to be reasonable. Though we may have agreed on 3 draft rounds, it’s probably ok to ask for one more, “polishing” round.

But don’t take advantage of our generosity, and ask for changes that reflect your own lack of planning. Don’t ask for changes that are extremely drastic, taking the project into an entirely different direction. A perfect example would be commissioning a brochure, slowly guiding us towards a medieval theme with each round of revisions, then suddenly ask for something completely different, wanting a sci-fi feel instead.

Fine, we can start relying on the original agreement, and dress you down for even thinking of asking for such an extreme change (beyond the revision limit of course), but we’d really rather not argue and start quoting emails to prove our points. Let’s keep the peace!

We always try our best to meet your requirements. All we ask is that you have a clear vision for your project and commit to it; no wimping out at the last minute wanting something else.

Sincerely Yours,
Your Freelancers

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A great stylish reinterpretation of current movies.

Find out why the Elements of Style is a great resource for programmers.

Writing tips from Orson Scott Card. You know, the writer of Ender’s Game?

Some terms you may consider using in your next composition.

The recession in the US will continue? Here’s what you can do, by Andrew Rutledge.

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Appropriately named the stealth camera bag (to give this item more drama to attraction attention obviously), this home project not only protects your camera, it conceivably keeps it off the radar of any sharp-eyed thieves. The complete how-to is available here. If anyone’s tried doing the same thing for other electronics like laptop, PDAs, or even mobiles, I’m all ears.

(image from Wired How-To Wiki)

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For non-programmers, if-then-else was how developers told the computer to handle various scenarios, depending on what was true or not. For instance:

If condition A is true, do A

Else if condition B is true, do B

Else if condition C is true, do C

….

Else do X

You can use the same structure to get more out of your email. Instead of going back-and-forth with a series of short messages, why not just account for all possibilities in one email?

The structure is quite similar:

If this is true, here’s the info you need/here’s what we can do

Else if this is true, here’s the info you need/here’s what we can do

Else if this is true, here’s the info you need/here’s what we can do

….

Else here’s the info you need/here’s what we can do

Do you see the similarity? Let’s look at a sample email to make things a bit clearer:

Hi Jason,

Thanks for your interest! Will you send mock-ups or scans of the project requirements to me? You can have anything shipped to 123 Street, City, US, or send any scans to this email address.

Regards,
Rico M.

As you can see, the above message attempts to account for all possibilities, and presents information relevant to each likely scenario. Aside from minimizing those wasteful back-and-forth emailing, your contacts will be grateful for receiving the info they need promptly

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This is a useful skill that keeps your work effective. That makes sense, because by focusing on techniques that work, you increase your chances of properly fulfilling your projects’ objectives. Yet this also carries a very significant danger: by relying on a set of proven methods, you run the risk of accidentally limiting yourself to it.

In other words, you suddenly realize that what you did for project X is almost exactly what you did for project Y. This is understandable, since you stick to certain methods. Unfortunately, this is also repetition. People will see a distinctive style at best, and consider you repetitive at worst.

The trick is to take a clear look at your current projects, understand their realities, and adapt your style to it. This of course shouldn’t mimic the mail merge functionality of your word processor; applying your creative skills to every project isn’t just a matter of filling in the same fields with different kinds of data.

Rather, this adaptive approach has to be holistic. Again, it’s not a matter of just substituting elements, but also making changes to how these elements relate to each other, all in the name of communicating your client’s message. A perfect example would be a designer who “violates” the principle of visual flow. In such a scenario, the designer could intentionally make certain parts on a composition hard to understand, to fulfill a client’s need to cause confusion for the customer.

In short, it’s good to stick to a set of fundamental techniques that are proven to work. Yet to avoid creative repetition, you sometimes have to stop followin your formula and try something new. Ultimately, it’s all about effectively getting your client’s message across, in the medium of his or her choosing. That indicates your proficiency as a freelancer, and not how well you stick to a set of rules.

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A pity too, that all my old friends will be out, enjoying themselves. At least they were kind enough to not rub the salt on my productive-solitude. Realizing that I will be working on a Friday night has made the benefits of working exclusively as a freelancer that much clear. At the same time, it reveals at least one pitfall.

Right now, I balance my freelance career with a (currently) stable day job. But it remains my dream to be able to support myself properly through only freelancing. Being in control of your own schedule does have it benefits, the least being able to tailor a time management system that keeps you free for those important dates or engagements.

At the same time however, freelancers face a great challenge. Their time-management must be effective. An unstructured schedule is bad for the office worker, but it’s even worse for a contract worker, who is free form the support systems who have no problems keeping him or her on track. Like the boss trying to meet his own deadlines, or the human resources department.

I may be home on a Friday night, and that honestly sucks. I want to be with my friends, enjoy the booze and just have fun without any worries. At the same time however, the experience is reminding me just exactly what I need to practice on to be a good freelancer, and make that leap for freelancing exclusivity that much closer.

Just to be clear, you don’t have to keep your Fridays free if you don’t want to. I’m perfectly fine with that. After all, the ability to structure your schedule to meet your needs or wants is something capable freelancers have an easier time doing.

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Photoshop Disasters reveals the how lazy graphic artists can be.

What do you think of the new Alka-Seltzer campaign?

Are desktop wallpaper monthly calendars a must-have? Would you be bothered making them?

The writer(s) responsible for Al Franken’s online copy deserve(s) a lot of money for a job well done. Note the clear tone and easily scannability of the senator-hopeful’s proposals.

Kudos to the creator of Arthemia, a great Wordpress magazine theme that’s also a perfect framework for porfolio sites.

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Focus

Granted, the more liberal environment of the USA helped Barack Obama somewhat. But you still can’t discount Obama’s focus on the relevant issues. He rarely played the race card, because he knew that in the end, the electorate was more interested in what he would do as president, rather than the color of his skin.

For freelancers, Obama’s approach exemplifies communication that goes beyond the superficial. Pressed for time, clients usually go with their first impressions when choosing a freelancer to work with. Yet I can assure you that such a professional relationship only grows when the client can see that the freelancer does a good job.

Simplicity

Obama and his staff also understood that a message must be kept as simple as possible. A very good idea can be wasted, if it’s expressed in a hard-to-understand manner. Good ideas only work when the recipient of the message can immediately comprehend it. This may mean tweaking the same message for different audiences.

Another factor to consider is how Obama’s campaign were very deliberate with their actions, especially when it came to what the President-Elect would say on national TV. Ironically, the most effectively simple messages are the result of careful planning. That’s because when you consider your target audience, you also consider how to best connect with them.

The same is true for freelancers and their clients. The most effective communication is whatever’s the easiest to understand, especially given how everyone is busy nowadays. Invariably, the most comprehensible messages are the simple one. So do away with any wordy pitches. Keep things as simple as possible.

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Over the past two weeks I’ve played around with a Nokia E71 loaner. Right now it’s the next phone I’m willing to spend my hard-earned cash on.

A common argument against high-end, do-everything phones is that not everyone can maximize all those features. A sentiment I agree with, but this smartphone model is a significant exception. Obviously, what makes the E71 stand-out is its QWERTY thumboard. In other words, you’re talking about a keyboard shrunk small enough to fit within a compact smartphone.

Even though I will use all this phone’s features (and any geek will tell you that there’s no shortage of them), I’d recommend this to anyone who needs an easy way to record ideas. The thumboard may take a little getting used to, but in my case, I was tapping down ideas left and right after a couple of days. Sometimes I even write down entire articles on this phone, and transfer it to my laptop via Bluetooth.

That’s right, this somewhat pricey smartphone could be better than your typical notepad and pen. Simply because what you write down on the E71 can be immediately transferred to a computer for editing. Compae that with pen and paper, which still requires encoding, especially if your handwriting is terrible.

Oh, and by the way, the E71’s keyboard also facilitates “wordy” jobs like replying to email, filling up its built-in to-do list or calendar with details.

(image by Technograph)

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