I was in a random restaurant and asked about WiFi. Server said they had it but she thought I’d need a password—which she didn’t have. Standing in line, I turned on my NOOK and connected. It didn’t occur to me to not try after she told me about the password. That is rarely necessary in a public place.

bridging the technology divide

After I downloaded what I wanted, got my food and sat down with my mom, I went back to the counter. I told her I got on, didn’t need a password. She said, “Really?” I said, “Yeah, unless it’s not your signal I’m using,” and watched her expression briefly as she tried to parse the exchange, before I returned to my seat.

what perplexed me

It wasn’t that she didn’t know. The problem I have is that she is a young person who had no clear knowledge of what her place of employment offered the customers. Soon as I walked in and saw the coffee shop tables in one area, I had an idea. And that’s why I asked.

My next contemplations were about finding a way to insure that employees knew what they had to offer clients. What they could take advantage of at their places of employment. These little things are selling points — no small matter in the business world. If it were my business, I would want my people to know about my free WiFi, just like they know the drinks and how to prepare the food and run the cash register.

it’s just good business

It’s not the first time I’ve encountered such apathy from this restaurant, different location albeit. I hope it’s not an anomaly of the chain, only a small few locations. In business you never want to overlook the easy selling points. If I invest in anything for my customers, I want workers to know about it when someone asks about it.

Don’t you want to maximize the benefit from your offerings to your clients? Would you put up signs? Or, just make sure that your first line employees had accurate, detailed answers for the easy questions?

Freelance is the life! I work when I want, doing the jobs I want to do. I’m going to be so successful! Isn’t it grand! Well, yes and no.

Like most things in life, freelance is what you bring to it. To get the best results, you should be bringing your A game to whatever work you do. That means doing the administrative stuff behind the glamor of say freelance writing. Yes, I’m smiling.

One of the things I really like about freelancing is that it challenges me to be creative about how I get the attention of folks who may be in need of my services. Consider the following.

Doing the Work of Freelancing

You are in charge. You have to solicit the work, impress the clients, attract the attention of the people who will potentially pay you.

As the person in charge, you need to develop and use creative business and marketing plans so that you can stand out from the crowd. To be prepared, you also have to recognize that this plan is going to change from time to time.

You can work when you want. Strategically though it’s a good idea to be at work when your potential clients are at work. Try to want to work when your target audience is at work. If it’s not in your plans, try to at least be available to them at their convenience.

It’s great to have your information online and easily accessible, like your blog, website, portfolio, video or whatever you’ve chosen to post. But it’s even better to have times when people can contact you. Determine your schedule of availability and be present. And make sure that people know when you’re available.

Don’t forget to play. You remember that old saying about all work and no play? The one I remember says something about Jack being made dull. I don’t know about that but using the all work method can definitely burn you out. Plan your work time and your play time, too. The balance is important from the beginning. So know where your time is spent as well as you know where your money is spent.

You can accept only the jobs you want. To save your time and the time of your potential clients, state the jobs that you accept. In your offerings, it’s important to be as specific as possible. And, update your services regularly to reflect skills you acquire, and to remove services you decide not to offer.

I Hope I’m Stating the Obvious

Yes, you are the boss. You call the shots, fire the clients, outsource when you need to. You’re the creative genius driving your business forward. You are the diplomat whose responsibility it is to keep your income coming in. And it’s your fault when business grinds to a screeching halt.

Remember these two guides to navigate through business landmines. They’re not even hidden and yet people manage to trigger them from time to time. Honesty, clarity and integrity are keys to getting this part right.

1. Don’t offer to do things you can’t do. Most of us know this but I’ve heard the horror stories from employers about people who take creative license when listing their skills. You can’t recover from this easily. Once your inability is revealed, you’ll likely be seen as a fraud. That’s how I’d see you. If I did it, it’s how I’d feel.
2. Don’t say yes to things just because you were asked. If you’re anything like me you really like to be accommodating. That’s a good thing, but temper it with common sense. Make sure it’s feasible to say yes; even if making sure means that you have to postpone a response to check your schedule. You don’t want to disappoint a client with delays if you don’t have to. Sometimes they can cost a client more than you know.

You are the boss in your freelance business. And you have to make choices and take actions that will keep you in the mainstream of things. The work of freelance can be rewarding. But it’s also a challenge you must rise to daily in order to have the success you desire.

Writing is an important skill that can make you quite valuable. You can increase your value by learning complementary skills. However, it doesn’t mean that you should lose focus of the job that you were hired to do.

It’s important to continue to learn, in whatever work you do. As a writer, you learn how to complete articles quickly and cleanly. Anticipating the needs of articles will help you to get done beforehand any research you need. You know too that language is fluid, dynamic and therefore guidelines change. You need to keep up with changes and that’s a lot.

So Why Learn Other Things?

If you knew one thing, only one thing, better than any in your field, I wouldn’t necessarily bid top dollar to hire you. Wherever I work, I find that employers are of the same mindset. Why is that?

It helps to know how other departments work to improve the flow of projects. Knowing a little about design will help when you have to write the ad copy for 1 inch positions. Or, how to write the article so that the preview section to come from the first paragraph. Or, how to edit so that you can write your articles to need minimal revisions by the editors. These related skills will usually come into play somewhat throughout your work experience.

How Much is Too Much?

Most people run their businesses to maximize profits. Makes sense, right? It can get out of hand when the boss wants you to put on the multiple hats you wear at the same time. Unless you’re in a one-man operation, you need to focus on your one job. Sometimes employers forget or don’t understand that it’s a good practice to have people focus on their primary responsibilities.

Signs that things have gotten out of hand include:

• Deadlines constantly needing revisions – when deadlines are repeatedly being extended and you’re being singled out, there may be too much on your plate
• Work requiring more revisions than usual because of mistakes – many things requiring your attention concurrently makes you want to rush; things can easily get missed
• Bad stress from juggling multiple jobs – when you have several full jobs, it can be stressful to have to switch gears throughout your work day; bad stress can be physically debilitating
• Dread on Sunday for what’s coming on Monday – when your weekend ends early because your job takes your attention away from relaxation, something needs to change at home, at work or in your routine

Basically only you know when you are pushed to extremes. Even if you’re financially compensated for doing all different jobs (and this is highly unlikely if you’re being asked to do them all) at some point work starts to flag. After a point, it is counterproductive and if you care about your performance, it can be quite frustrating.

What’s an Employee to Do?

There are things you might to to pre-empt and solve problems at a job. Make an honest assessment of your skills before and while you’re working at a job. Always, do what you do to the best of your ability. Understand that in most companies there is some overlap and cross training. With that, there are things that you can do to minimize your being over-stretched.

1. Never say you can do what you can’t. And be specific about how well you know your skills. In other words, when you’re a writer don’t say you’re also a professional web designer if you’re two weeks into learning HTML.

2. Bring your healthiest self to the job. Get rest and exercise and proper nourishment. Being alert on the job will help you to think clearly, and be able to trust your work choices.

3. Something more difficult to do, don’t always say yes to get along. When you can’t, say you can’t. Early on in one of my jobs, I said yes to everything and all deadlines. I eventually learned how the company worked and what to say no to, and when to adjust deadlines.

Some companies don’t understand that one person doing three jobs is not the best circumstance, and should only be short term. Sometimes in those companies, there are bosses who are receptive and able to separate jobs, hire and pay people to do them.

4. Ultimately your best work will be done when you are in a good work environment. When your work environment is not good, when you can’t work with others to make the situation better and you know you’re doing everything you can individually, it may be time to leave. When you know it’s time to go, I suggest that you begin your exit strategy by searching for the work and the environment you need.

Make sure your choices are made based on earnest assessments of all factors.