All posts with the ‘ practical advice ’ Tag

I got to teach a workshop at GeekGirlCon last weekend and had a lot of fun! I’m always a little bit nervous about the kind of crowd I’ll get at a convention; negotiation seminars aren’t usually what folks are looking for at a con.

I shouldn’t have worried; the GeekGirlCon crowd was awesome!

They came out in force and asked a ton of great … Read More

Ever wanted to negotiate a raise in your day job or with a client and not known what to say? This week’s Good Advice column is for you!… Read More

That’s right, don’t ask for it.

But that goes against this blog’s near evangelical belief in the value of questions, you say!

You can’t get something if you don’t ask for it, you say!

Katie, you’ve finally gone off the deep end, you snicker.

But I mean it. If something is really important to you, don’t ask for it.

Demand it.… Read More

Talking to so many independent creators, I hear a lot of interesting ideas about how copyright law works and what it does. Very interesting ideas.

To be fair, law is not known for its clarity. And thanks to the internet’s obsession with copyright, it’s not always clear what’s helpful explanatory information and what’s one person’s bizarro idea of how the law works.

Here are … Read More

You should raise your rates.

Hourly, flat, all inclusive, cost-plus; you should raise them.

You should especially raise them if, after reading those first two sentences, you have a long list of reasons why you shouldn’t raise them.

Here’s why:… Read More

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve heard that Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal fame got a nasty cease & desist letter from an attorney representing the website FunnyJunk. The letter, aside from being rude and priggish, demanded $20,000 for some unarticulated harm. Inaman has responded by raising over $100,000 for charity.

(If you have been hiding under a rock, or aren’t a … Read More

This week’s Good Advice post comes from the Practical Skills Department — you’ve got a contract and you know what changes you want, so how do you get those changes made?… Read More

Last month I posted a piece about what to do when clients are awful. Turns out lots of people like advice on how to deal with crappy client situations! So this week, I’m taking submissions from The World’s Longest Invoice tumblr and suggesting what you can do to avoid similar non-payment crises.… Read More