Let me begin by saying there are legitimate reasons to be wary of the ever expanding digital universe – a glut of junk information, loss of privacy, time wasting, and addiction. But there are also irrational fears at work based in part on our inherent resistance to change. Read more.
Posted in Business, Home Office, How to, Personal historian, Resources, Self-employed, Tips
Tagged Business, digital resources, digital universe, How to, Personal historian, small business, success, Tips
Thinking of giving up your current job and starting up your own business? Here are a few big mistakes I made and lessons I learned. Maybe they’ll save you some anguish. Then again maybe you’re smarter than I was. 
In 1980 I left my job at TVOntario, an educational broadcaster, and hung up my shingle as an independent documentary filmmaker. I had a passion for documentaries, a willingness to work hard, and a creative bent. What I didn’t have was two cents in my bank account. That was my first mistake.
The early years were tough. I had to borrow money from friends and get odd jobs to pay the rent and buy groceries. The effort expended on survival left little time or energy for filmmaking. Eventually I went on to be a successful documentary filmmaker but it was a lesson well learned.
Lesson 1: Don’t start without money in the bank. You’ll need enough cash in hand to cover at least a year of living and business expenses. The first couple of years will be lean.
My next big mistake.
Although I was enthusiastic, I had no documentary film experience and no body of work. Few were willing to take on an eager but inexperienced filmmaker.
Lesson 2: Gain experience and have something to show potential clients. Enthusiasm is important but clients also want to know that you can deliver. If you have little experience, highlight aspects from your previous work that indicate you can do the job.
For example, I drew on the fact that I had a Masters of Education degree. As part of that degree I had taken a course in the production and evaluation of educational media and had made a short animated film. I pointed to my work at TVOntario as a producer and as a writer of educational materials. It was a stretch but it illustrated that I was competent and had some “media” experience even if I hadn’t made a documentary.
Mistake number three.
I launched into my new business with no plan, no advice, and no clear idea of what was involved in being an independent documentary filmmaker. Not something I’d recommend to others. Had I known what to expect, it could have saved me from a good deal of heartache.
Lesson 3: Have a plan. Seek advice. Know what you’re getting into. You don’t need to turn this into a year long research and development project. But tempering your enthusiasm with a little dose of reality will serve you well. Trust me!
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Photo Credit: Alex E. Proimos
Posted in Business, How to, Self-employed, Tips
Tagged business start-up, documentary, Filmmaking, How to, lessons learned, mistakes, self employed, small business, start-up, Tips
I’m a “ham” at heart so I love to get in front of an audience, big or small. But when it comes to an important presentation where I know I’ve got to make a good impression, I can feel the pre-presentation jitters creeping in. Over the years I’ve learned some practical steps to calm myself. Try these the next time you’ve got to make a “big” presentation…Read more.
Posted in How to, Marketing, Personal historian, Presentations, Tips
Tagged Business, control nervousness, How to, Personal historian, Presentations, self employed, small business, Tips
In this Monday’s Link Roundup there’s lots of practical advice. In particular, I recommend Freelancing: a Complete Guide to Setting and Negotiating Rates. It’s useful no matter what kind of service you provide. For something to feast your eyes on, take a look at Best Bookstore In The World? It’s stunning!
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Posted in Monday's Link Roundup
Tagged Ancestors, Anne Frank, Apple, best bookstore, Business, China, death, Diary of a Young Girl, digital afterlife, fake Apple products, freelancer, freelancing, Google, How to, iPhone, iPhone 5, link roundup, negotiating, offerings, Qingming Festival, rates, setting, small business, strengths, supercharge, Tips
No clients knocking on your door? Feeling discouraged? Thinking of quitting?
I’ve been there and know what that feels like. It’s no fun. So what can you do to get through the gloom and doom?
Here are a few things I’ve learned along the way.
Things happen – both good and bad. That’s life. Accept the fact that as grim as your present situation is, it will change.
When you catch yourself listening to the voices of gloom and doom nattering in your head, switch channels. Your thoughts are just thoughts. They’re not solid objects. Just let them pass without becoming caught up in them.
Take some time to examine your intentions.
What were your intentions when you started your freelance business? Was it to make a lot of money? Serve your community? Supplement your income?
How have your intentions changed? Do changed intentions require you to re-evaluate your marketing approach? Maybe your intentions are different and you no longer have the same passion that you started with.
Stepping back and examining your intentions may provide a clue to your present dilemma.
Looking at colleagues who are successful can lead to feelings of envy or incompetence. Likewise, identifying with others who are struggling like yourself can be demoralizing. You begin to think, “Why bother? It’s all hopeless.”
The quickest way to spiral into gloom and doom is to compare yourself to others. Avoid comparisons.
Close the door to your office, disconnect from your beeping electronic devices, and indulge in things that bring you real joy. Forget about your business for a couple of weeks. It’ll still be there when you get back.
Returning to your work after a complete break gives you more energy and gives you fresh insights into your business.
We all need support.
Thinking that you can do it all on your own is a recipe for disaster. Make sure you connect with people who can provide practical advice, a shoulder to cry on, and inspiration.
No one said it would be easy establishing a new business. Overnight success rarely happens. Unrealistic expectations about your success will inevitably lead to disappointment and doubt.
Be prepared for the long haul. It’ll take a couple of years of hard work before you begin to see the fruits of your labor. Knowing this will help keep you from despair when times are tough.
Last but not least, laugh more! Some days the old saying “If I didn’t laugh, I’d cry ” sums it up. We need to lighten up. Grim determination and a furrowed brow won’t make work easier.
If you need a quick fix of laughter check this out.
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Photo Credit: The Waterboy
Posted in How to, Personal historian, Self-employed, Tips
Tagged advice, Business, freelance, freelancer, freelancing, health, Home, Home Office, How to, lessons learned, personal care, Personal historian, small business, survival, Tips, work
Annie in the plum tree.
Groan. Don’t you just hate puns?
Anyhow, my cat Annie is a source of inspiration for my life and business. Previously I wrote 6 Lessons My Cat Taught Me About Time Management. I might add, she was quite pleased by the positive response that article received.
Here are some more of Annie’s pearls of wisdom.
1. Take time to play. Every day Annie insists we play at least once if not twice. If I’m not available, she’ll make up her own games. She’ll race madly about the house, dive into a stack of newspapers, or climb the plum tree. She knows the wisdom of the old saying “All work and no play makes…”.
Make certain to build play time into your daily schedule.
2. Exercise caution in any new situation. Annie doesn’t immediately take to new things. A new chair, plant, or visitor is carefully and gingerly approached, sniffed, and either tentatively accepted or rejected until she feels more comfortable.
Whenever you embark on a new project or work with a new client, you could emulate her behavior (well maybe not the sniffing part). Take time to do your homework and assess the situation before plunging in.
3. Claim your territory. Annie has claimed the backyard as her territory. She defends it vigorously from other cats. And for the most part they now leave her alone.
It’s important to claim your space in the business world. Be clear on what you’re offering and to whom. Then stand up and stand out!
4. Be curious. All cats love to explore. And Annie’s no exception. In the summer she spends hours in the backyard, peering into flower beds and checking out the next door neighbor’s yard. She comes in at the end of the day, tired and stimulated.
Curiosity is a tonic that keeps your business fresh and relevant. Be curious about your competition, potential new products and services, and interesting marketing ideas.
5. Be gentle but strong. Annie is petite, soft, and gentle. That is until she feels threatened by another cat. Then she puffs herself up to twice her size and lets out a blood-curdling scream. It seldom goes any further than that. The other cat receives the message and retreats.
I’m not suggesting you puff yourself up and start screaming at people who upset you. Even though this might satisfy the “inner cat” in you. What I am saying is that you must be clear that you will not be taken advantage of or treated poorly. Stand up for your rights!
6. Break the pattern. Annie’s a creature of routine. She has her favorite chair and set times for eating. She loves a snuggle while I’m watching a little TV at night. But she also mixes it up. She’ll decide to move to a different spot to sleep or skip the snuggle and be on her own.
It’s useful in our business to avoid becoming stale by doing the same thing over and over again. Follow Annie’s example and change things now and again.
Annie has looked this post over and approved its content. Whew! She can be so demanding.
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Photo by Dan Curtis © 2012 all rights reserved
Posted in Business, Self-employed, Tips
Tagged advice, Behavior, Business, Cat, Home Office, How to, Pet, self employed, small business, Tips, wisdom
For first time visitors to my Monday’s Link Roundup, welcome. This is an eclectic list that features articles I find engaging, whimsical, and educational. And I hope of interest to other personal historians, biographers, videographers, family historians, and memoir writers. Enjoy!
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Posted in Monday's Link Roundup
Tagged benefits, Blog, books, Business, copyright, digital, firing, freelancer, How to, illegal, immortal, journalist, legality, link roundup, literature, Marketing, media coverage, No, online, photo use, publicity, publishers, saying no, small business, Tips
For many newcomers to the business of Personal Histories determining what to charge is a challenge. There are no set industry standards and fees range from next to nothing to $100+ an hour.
It doesn’t really matter what other personal historians charge for their work. We’re all different. One size does not fit all. So here’s what to do.
Let’s imagine your calculations point to monthly expenses of $4,000. If your only source of income is from your personal history work, you’ll need to generate at least $4,000 of income every month or about $1,000 a week just to meet your expenses.
Use good time tracking software and determine how much of your time is spent on non-billable activities such as research, marketing, bookkeeping, file management, and so on. A good rule of thumb is 20% of your billable hours. So if you work a 40 hour week, you’ll be spending about 8 hours a week on non-billable items.
This means you need to charge a little more than $3o an hour for the remaining 32 billable hours in order to bring in a $1000 a week. (40 hr. work week minus 8 hr. non-billable items)
Being self-employed means both flush and lean times. To ensure that you can bridge those downturns in your business, build in a profit margin. Consider anything from 10% to 30%.
Suppose you decide on 15%. That would mean adding an additional $4.50 (15% of $3o) to your hourly rate bringing it to $34.50.
You may prefer to charge by the project. If so, estimate the number of hours to complete a project and multiply by your hourly rate.
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Photo by iStockphoto
Your small business is like your car. It needs regular servicing to keep it running smoothly.
With the year rapidly drawing to a close, now’s the time to give your business a tune -up.
Here are 8 tips that’ll have your company running like a Rolls Royce in 2013.
Take a hard look at what’s not working in your business and drop it. It might be a marketing approach that has failed to generate leads. Or it might be fees that are too low to sustain your business.
Similarly, look at what’s working. How can you do more or improve on your success? Maybe your speaking engagements have been a great way of getting new clients. Consider offering more.
Finding it hard to find the surface of your desk? Are there file folders and books stacked on the floor? Actually, it’s beginning to sound a lot like my office.
You’ll feel more organized and on top of things once you get rid of extraneous stuff. You don’t have to be a fanatic about it. A little order and spaciousness can go a long way. Set aside a few minutes a day and you’ll be surprised how much you can accomplish.
Just to let you know I’ve started my own decluttering. I do have a desk!
If you keep your receipts in a shoe box, it’s time to consider a bookkeeper or an accounting software program.
It’s critical that you have a clear picture of income, expenses, and profit. Without an ongoing snapshot of your financials you’ll never be able to accurately assess your company’s health.
Being a successful small business owner requires constantly upgrading and learning new skills. Look for webinars, tutorials, expert speakers, and courses that will make a difference to your performance in 2013.
For some great online training sites of interest to personal historians click here.
There’s a wealth of information and support to be found in professional and small business associations. For example, if you’re a personal historian and haven’t yet joined the Association of Personal Historians, make sure to join today.
Without a road map you’ll never know where you’re going. Look ahead at the coming year and write down your goals. Keep them realistic. Grandiose plans are sure to fail and will leave you discouraged.
Check out Really Simple Goal Setting for some excellent help.
If you don’t have a website or blog, get one. If you have one, it’s time to take a critical look at it. How fresh is the content? How easy is it to navigate around the site? What’s missing? What can be discarded? How professional does it look?
You can find more on building a successful blog here.
A healthy business needs a healthy owner. It’s easy to neglect your own care when working hard to make a success of your business.
Make certain to schedule time for you in your day planner. Whether it’s going to the gym or for a walk, meditating or reading a book, you need to give yourself permission to relax and recharge.
For more articles on taking care of yourself check these out:
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Posted in Business, Home Office, How to, Personal historian, Self-employed, Tips
Tagged Accounting, Bookkeeping, Business, Company, declutter, evaluate, Finance, Home Office, How to, improvements, New Year, Personal historian, planning, self employed, small business, take stock, Tips, tune-up, year end
If you don’t know where you’re going…you might not get there. ~ Yogi Berra
Recently I walked a labyrinth. I don’t do this regularly. But I was attending a silent weekend Buddhist retreat and outside the retreat center was a large labyrinth.
You can find business lessons almost anywhere.
I became aware that walking the labyrinth was akin to establishing and running a successful personal history business. There is a beginning with all the anticipation of the journey ahead. And there’s an end goal of a flourishing business. And the distance between these two points is not a straight line but a series of intricate interconnecting paths.
What does a labyrinth have to teach us about running a successful personal history business?
You need to know where you’re going and how to get there.
In a labyrinth, just as you’re about to reach your destination, the path veers off and you find yourself moving away. But you trust if you keep following it, you’ll eventually reach your goal. And you do.
Similarly, in your personal history business you need to have a clearly marked path. It starts with having in place a workable business plan that will give you confidence to get through through the inevitable twists and turns your business will take.
Like the twisting path of the labyrinth, you’ll encounter setbacks in your business. It’s easy to get discouraged. But if you have a solid business plan and are committed to reaching your goal, then you’ll be encouraged to continue, knowing that success can be yours.
Walking a labyrinth is in part an exercise in reflection. The mind is focused on the path, allowing some of the busyness of your life to settle. You can see more clearly.
Running your personal history business can seem overwhelming at times. There’s so much to do and so little time to do it. But successful business owners take time to examine where their company has been, where it’s going, and what changes need to be made to keep on track.
Make time to reflect on the health of your business.
Having a sound and wise path to follow in life and in business is the trick to happiness. There is no one path. You’ll need to determine what’s right for you. Once you’ve chosen your path, set out with joy, courage, and humbleness.
And remember what Yogi Berra said, “If you don’t know where you’re going…you might not get there.“
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Photo by Jim Champion
Posted in Business, How to, Personal historian, Tips
Tagged Business, Business plan, guidance, home business, How to, Labyrinth, Meditation, Personal historian, self employed, small business
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