The Marketing Conference for Creative Freelancers: Finding and Keeping Work in a Tough Economy
Saturday, March 27, 2010
8 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Bastyr University (Directions)
14500 Juanita Drive NE
Kenmore, WA
Proceeds from this event will be donated to Northwest Harvest.
TOPICS AT A GLANCE
Download a complete agenda (PDF, 222 KB)
• “Diversify or Starve! How to Stay Busy in a Tough Freelance Market”
• “Price Negotiations and Personal Brand Value”
• “Effective Job Search Techniques for Social Networking”
• “Working with Contract Agencies”
• "Starting and Maintaining a Freelance Business: Share Your Approach"
Today’s economy makes it challenging for creative freelancers to find work. At the same time, this is a great opportunity to polish our skills and look for new, creative ways to promote ourselves.
For almost a year, Nancy Gerth and Cheryl Landes have been talking about hosting a conference to help freelance creative people like ourselves achieve these goals. And now our dream has become a reality! We invite you to join us on Saturday, March 27, at Bastyr University to learn valuable tips for surviving and thriving in this challenging economy from various experts.
During the last presentation of the day, we have set aside some time where you can network with your peers and share ideas on starting and maintaining a freelance business.
Seminar Topics
Diversify or Starve! How to Stay Busy in a Tough Freelance Market
Michelle Goodman, Freelance Writer, Careers and Self-employment
Savvy freelancers know that diversification is the key to staying busy. Branching into other industries, technologies, and skill sets can make the difference between staying self-employed and returning to the cubicle. But if all your professional contacts know you as a technical writer, how do you get them to see you as a technical editor, copywriter, or web designer too? In this session, freelance writer and author Michelle Goodman will discuss how to identify markets that are a natural extension of your current skills, break into them, and promote your various niches on your website and marketing materials. She’ll also talk about avoiding the freelancer’s kiss of death: spreading yourself too thin.
Michelle Goodman is a Seattle-based freelancer who writes about careers and self-employment for ABC News, Entrepreneur, the Seattle Times, Yahoo, and others. She’s author of My So-Called Freelance Life: How
to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire and The Anti
9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube. For more information, see Anti9to5Guide.com.
Price Negotiations and Personal Brand Value
Jeff Barlow, Principal and Creative Director of Jelvetica
In an economy of shrinking budgets, it’s important to be valuable to your potential customers. This presentation will cover how to approach the subject of money with budget-conscious clients, and how to build your value by creating a personal/company brand.
Jeff Barlow specializes in idea generation and brand-building. His work and ideas have been featured in Communication Arts, the HOW International Design Annual, and the HOW Self Promotion Annual. His annual report and non-profit work have also been honored by Creativity 27, Print magazine and other publications. His strategic and design experience includes work for Expedia, The National MS Society, The Make-A-Wish Foundation, Nickelodeon, and Disney.
But creative strength is only a part of his success. In addition to being a skilled designer, he has bridged the gap from being just the creative lead to acquiring the skills needed to be a successful business operator—because creativity is most valuable when it’s backed by keen business sense, collaborative client relations, and meticulous project management ability.
Jeff is also currently the president of the Seattle chapter of AIGA (the professional association for design) and is responsible for leading the 700+ local members in the use of designing as a professional craft, a strategic business tool, and a cultural force.
Effective Job Search Techniques for Social Networking
Ed Marshall, Principal, Marshall Documentation Consulting
During the past five years, social networking has grown rapidly in popularity. Today, it’s an essential component in promoting small businesses and finding work.
In this presentation, Ed Marshall, an independent technical communications consultant who has used social networking successfully to land paying projects, introduces us to some of most popular, helpful professional and social networking sites, such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. He also explains how to use each site for expanding your job search beyond your immediate network to:
- Advertise that you are looking for work
- Post your resume
- Collect recommendations
- Research companies
In addition, Ed covers these topics:
- Best practices and examples for using social media safely
- Lesser-known tips for effective online resumes, profiles, and snapshots
- The advantages of having your own Web site and blog
Ed Marshall is an independent technical writing consultant and sole proprietor of Marshall Documentation Consulting, with more than 22 years of experience. He specializes in APIs/SDKs (application programming interfaces/software development kits), Web services products, and other types of documentation aimed at developers. Throughout his career, Ed has developed expertise in using tools to "let the computer do the work," such as advanced tools for editing files, comparing files, and searching and replacing text in files.
Ed is a popular speaker at a variety of professional development conferences, locally and nationwide. His previous appearances include events sponsored by the Society for Technical Communication (STC), WritersUA, and DocTrain. Contact Ed at ed.marshall@verizon.net.
Working with Contract Agencies
Cheryl Landes, Owner, Tabby Cat Communications
More creative jobs are becoming project-based or on contracts through placement agencies that can range from one month to a year or more. In this session, Cheryl Landes, an experienced contractor, will provide tips on how to work with agencies that place creatives on contract assignments. She will also describe the current climate at the agencies and how job seekers can navigate this intricate maze so that their resumes will be noticed and presented to the hiring clients.
Cheryl Landes, an award-winning technical writer and STC Associate Fellow, is the owner of Tabby Cat Communications in Seattle. She has more than 19 years of experience as a regular, full-time employee and contract technical communicator in several industries: computer software, marine transportation, manufacturing, HVAC, energy metering systems, and the trade press. Her experience as a technical writing and indexing contractor through agencies spans 15 years for clients in the Northwest and Northeast. She is also a published travel writer with more than 100 articles and three books: Beautiful America’s Seattle, Beautiful America’s Idaho, and Those Wild Northwest Days.
Cheryl is a member of the Board of Directors for the American Society for Indexing (ASI). She is active in two STC chapters, Puget Sound and Boston, and three international SIGs. She speaks frequently at ASI and STC meetings throughout the United States and Canada.
Starting and Maintaining a Freelance Business: Share Your Approach
A discussion facilitated by Nancy Gerth, Nancy Gerth Indexing, Sagle, Idaho, and Cheryl Landes (Nancy pictured at right; Cheryl’s picture in “Working with Contract Agencies” session)
Here’s a chance for you to network and learn from your peers. Using the information from our speakers today, we will guide each participant in creating a personal marketing plan for 2010. Bring your laptops or work on paper.
In the last part of the session, we will share stories about marketing techniques that have worked for us in the past. This should be quite a brainstorm!
After teaching philosophy at the college level for 10 years, Nancy Gerth designed and documented a fully integrated five-module accounting software package. She has written, edited, published, and indexed (where appropriate) books, manuals, grants, instructional material, magazine and newspaper articles and poetry (unpublished). An indexer since 2005, Nancy has a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, and a M.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell University. Nancy is currently president of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the American Society for Indexing (PNW/ASI).