Preconceive This

Preconceptions suck. They’re usually wrong, for starters, and in the context of a negotiation, they can mean that you waste a lot of time combatting what the other person thinks they know about you rather than dealing with the actual issue. Common preconceptions in negotiating include: women don’t negotiate; artists are bad at business; freelancers make a pile of money because they don’t have overhead expenses; large businesses have a pile of money to spend because they’re large businesses; and the other side is probably hiding something sinister from you. But not matter how unhelpful preconceptions are, they persist. And when you find yourself the victim of one in a negotiation, it can stall or even ruin the deal. Rather than give up and roll over, try these things the next time you think the other side has ass.u.me.ed they know all about you.

Framed

Let’s say you’re a single person looking to adopt a French Bulldog. In a bizarre Because This Is A Hypothetical turn of events, there are only two dogs for you to choose from.… Read More

Being Powerful

In negotiation, people confuse “having power” with “being a jerk” fairly regularly.

Go to a third-rate negotiation training and they’ll offer the unhelpful advice of “don’t share information,” “always be aggressive” and “don’t call back if it’s after 4:00 in the afternoon; wait 24 hours and then send an email.”

This advice is bad.  It is The Rules for business relationships.  You can contort yourself … Read More

Resolutions

A brand shiny new year, people!  Full of god-knows-what and well-I’ll-be-damned!

THIS!  This could be the year you do that thing!  Or give up the watchacallit!

If you haven’t settled on a resolution yet, I’ve got one for you.  It will improve the quality of your business relationships, reduce your stress levels, and maybe even make you more money.

I don’t want to go so … Read More

Just Do It

One of the many side benefits of writing this blog is that I get to hear about a lot of really cool projects that people are tackling.  A book idea they’re hashing out with a collaborator; an anthology contribution; a brand new webcomic.

But all too often when I hear about one of these projects, the creator will tell me, “But I can’t use any … Read More

Terms & Conditions

You're having a great conversation with a potential client: the deadline is doable, the work is actually interesting and the pay will be in real dollars, not "exposure." And then she starts speaking another language. "Now before we begin, you'll need to sign our standard NDA and MPSA and we should probably have some sort of SOW in place, you know to better define the deliverables. Once that's done Procurement can issue the PO; our terms are net 45, is that going to be a problem?"

Freelancepalooza Podcast 2010, Part the Second

Here it is, the second installment of Freelancepalooza Podcast 2010.

And if you didn’t catch Part the First, well here you go:

By the way, here is a collection of the some of the sites, posts and resources we mentioned throughout the podcast.

Outright, the online accounting resource Dylan & Erika love.

Traveling & don’t want to keep 942 receipts?  Look up the per … Read More

Freelancepalooza Podcast 2010, Part the First

Last year I talked Bill Mudron, Dylan Meconis & Erika Moen into doing a live two hour podcast about being independent artists on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

But they must have forgotten.  Because when I asked them to do it again this year, they all said, “Yes!”

So here is the first part of our conversation about working for yourself as an artist.  We … Read More