Running my own full-time freelance business taught me a lot of things—especially how to save money. Granted, I knew how to conserve finances before, but there’s nothing like not knowing when your next assignment is coming in the door or whether your clients are going to pay on time to kick that saving habit into much higher gear. Several years of working as a reporter also helped prepare me for running a lean full-time freelance operation. Because as some of you may know, reporting jobs generally don’t pay well. So in addition to learning how to write and report during my newspaper years, I also perfected the art of living on a shoestring budget without feeling like a pauper. If you have the benefit of planning ahead before going... [Read more]

In big business, there’s a practice called Lean manufacturing that makes companies more efficient and profitable. And while your business may only employ one person, there are some valuable lessons that a business of any size can learn from this philosophy. Often referred to as Lean, the goal in very simple terms is to create more value with less work, fewer resources, and less waste. In other words, the goal of Lean is to find efficiencies and eliminate any practices or resources that do not help create value for the customer or client. This management philosophy comes primarily from the Toyota Production System (TPS), which turned one of the world’s smallest automotive manufacturers into one of the largest and most successful ones. According... [Read more]

There’s nothing like a little play to unleash your creative side, and nothing like tapping your inner child to get you there. Do you remember what it was like to sit outside in your sandbox and build sand castles? What about the smell from a box of 64 Crayola crayons, and afternoons you spent coloring in a new coloring book? Or all the buildings you used to build with Legos and Lincoln Logs—remember those? Just thinking about these things conjures up so many fond memories of my childhood. What about you? By now, I bet you’re wondering what all this has to do with freelancing and life as an independent contractor, right? And you’re probably wondering why I’m focusing on something like tapping into your inner child on... [Read more]

Gone are the days when you could graduate from college, find a respectable employer, and remain at the same company until you received that 50-year anniversary gold watch, a generous retirement package, and a nice pension. And even if the old-school work model was still available, I suspect many of us wouldn’t even be interested anymore. Most freelancers and independent contractors I know love the freedom of self-employment and enjoy the variety that the traditional workplace could never provide them. And while full-time company jobs used to represent security, a glance at recent headlines quickly underscores the fact that there’s no longer that kind of guarantee. In fact, there just might be more security for those who freelance... [Read more]

Good Monday morning readers! Today, I’m shining the spotlight on Emma Johnson, a freelance writer who specializes in business, finance, and money topics. She’s written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Psychology Today, USA Today, and dozens of other publications. Her “Launch Your Life” multimedia series on MSN Money explores personal finance topics of interest to people in their 20s and 30s. Emma also is frequently interviewed by the media about money and business topics. Most recently, she was interviewed on the TODAY show. With all of the emphasis on the economy and readers’ insatiable interest in all things financial these days, I thought Emma would be the perfect person for this interview. How... [Read more]