All posts with the ‘ communication ’ Tag

Emerald City Comic Con is the start of convention season in our house so I thought I’d take the opportunity to write about how you can use conventions to improve your negotiations and expand your career.  Conventions provide a ridiculously wonderful opportunity to gather information about your industry and make important connections. That’s right: networking!

If you aren’t a cartoonist or even mildly interested in … Read More

There comes a time in every freelancer’s career when one has to write a very particular type of letter.  A Cease & Desist letter; an Eff You letter; a Pay Me Now letter; a Stop Selling My Art on the Internet You Lousy Bum letter.

A nasty letter.

Here’s how.… Read More

You’re negotiating.

You’ve prepared, thought about your interests, studied up on the other side, and asked open ended questions to elicit helpful information.

And it is sucking. Hard.

The other side is being jerkish, and every time you try to steer the conversation to problem solving, they drive right back to arguing over details.

You are now trapped in a back and forth about shaving … Read More

This week’s Good Advice question comes from that murky period of time before you start hashing out details of a job — the “Are you available?” time period. Your availability, or lack thereof, is just as valuable as the cash you can make from the job, but is often a lot harder to negotiate.… Read More

Negotiations aren’t neat and tidy events that happen at the beginning of an engagement and stop as soon as the contract is signed. Negotiations happen all the time and in all sorts of situations, but if you don’t realize you are negotiating, things can get messy pretty quickly.

Here’s how to recognize negotiations that don’t announce themselves with neon signs and some advice for handling … Read More

For many people, figuring out how to handle emotions is the most difficult part of negotiating.  I often get people asking me how they can “turn off” their emotions when in conflict. There are also folks who complain that the other side is unreasonable because they are “too emotional.”

If you are one of the people struggling to get rid of emotions in negotiation, I … Read More

Remember that Jump to Conclusions mat from Office Space?  You have one living in your brain.… Read More

Another Thanksgiving and another super fun podcast on freelancing!… Read More