Success in Sweatpants

I’ve used the same baseline bid template on Elance for several years now. It has served me fairly well, contributing to the average “1 win for 20 bids” ratio that has been the norm for the time I’ve been a provider on the site.

I may have mentioned it …

I’m getting a lot of “auxiliary design jobs” these days. White papers, brochures, ebooks that need basic formatting and graphic design. I’ve been doing this kind of job for years, and find that my clients …

Tough weekend. It’s hard not to dwell on the “what if’s” of having things go south on me, but being gripped by paralyzing fear doesn’t get me anywhere. So I have to keep moving forward, doing …

An organization I am affiliated with is a change machine. It is really inspiring to see the executives be so willing to break things up and rearrange them, all within the context of the company’s goals …

No progress on the to do list from yesterday. This is the ever present challenge of solo business ownership: When the project schedule is full, we tend to expend the energy available for work on the …

I’ve hit a sticky point in my progress. I’ve been here before. It happens when I am under the illusion that I have plenty of work coming in and I can stop marketing. I know from working with my coaching clients that this is a very common sticky point.

Sure, I …

There’s a quote somewhere in my hard drive, I think from a guy who climbed Mt. Everest, that is about getting clear about what you want, and that once you do, the universe aligns to deliver it. I looked for it and can’t find it, but you’ve likely heard this …

My initial assumption/gut feeling was that my target market is in the technology arena. That is where I have the bulk of my white paper experience, it’s an area that uses white papers a lot, and I have a unique ability to translate technical value to business value—this is a …

Research is still going on. While I’m researching, I’m thinking about how to approach this offer. Another thing I coach my clients about is having a “sales sphere,” a choice of offerings at different price points so that prospects can engage with the least risk (usually the least cost) option …

I’m teeing up a specialized offering line: White papers for marketing purposes. Who am I offering it to?

First, the easy part. It is a business to business offering.

Now…what specific business? This is a toughie. White papers work across a lot of different businesses. The two main areas that I have …