Sure Sign of Cluelessness

Entrepreneur to Freelancer: "I know what I am shooting for, but I don't quite know how to describe it."

Clueless!

Here's another: "I'll recognize it, when I see it."

Clueless!

The ability to communicate an assignment clearly is a fundamental prerequisite to leadership.

Jeffrey Philips wrote an article entitled "Bring Me Another Rock." This article tells it like it is.

(Fewer than normal entrepreneurial articles were written in December, the frequency of this column is being reduced to three times a week, MWF, for awhile.)

How to financially survive in a client driven business

Many freelancers work on custom projects. When you customize, your profits can be eaten up by a client's dissatisfaction with submitted work.

What preventative measures can a freelancer take to avoid client dissatisfaction?

Joshua McGlinn wrote an article for Fast Company entitled "Time is Money - How to Save Both."

Plant Seeds now for Spring bounty

With the economy sagging into a recession, many business owners are uncertain as to how to prepare for the future.

Next Year's success will be due to this year's preparation.

Heather Nolte wrote "Economy Got You Down? 9 Things to Do NOW."

To Be or Not To Be (An Entrepreneur)

Just as I started to write this post, the radio started playing "Staying Alive."

So with the economy on shaky ground and with the political environment about ready to take a different direction - you may be wondering whether or not, now is the time to re-evaluate your occupational plans.

Whether or not you are thinking of closing your business or planning to wait things out, you will probably benefit from reading "How to Recession-Proof Your Career" by Sally Hogshead.

No Presumption of Innocence, Defendant!

You are accused of being a con-artist and a cheat.

The prosecution does not have to establish its case because in this court - there is no presumption of innocence.

This is the Buyer's court and you are the seller. In this court, the seller is presumed guilty.

There are some articles that I almost always skip over and don't recommend. One of thes is the Book Review. But every rule has its exception. If an article could stand on its own even without the Book which is being reviewed then it might just make it to this venue.

Ardath Albee wrote about a book that describes the last century of salesmanship. This book traces many of the traditional methods of salesmanship back to the deceptive practices of a company which was convicted of anti-trust practices before World War I.

Yet their methods of selling became part of the foundation of the culture of American salesmanship. The result is that most Americans find it very difficult to trust any salesperson who they meet for the very first time.

Ardath Albee lists eight of the reasons that twentieth century sales tactics don't work and gives a preview of the tactics which are suggested by the book which she reviews.

Ardath's article is entitled "Salespeople guilty until proven innocent." If you are a business owner or a salesperson, you really should read this article.

Suffer the little owners

Sometimes business owners succeed by accident.

Or maybe that is just by irritated reaction. You see, while outside of the business world I can be tolerant of the follies of others, within the business world I expect a certain degree of professionalism.

Some business owners seem to lack a lot of brainpower. If they have been in business for several years, they must know something - but regarding some of them - "You couldn't prove it by me."

Two of the stupidest attitudes that one encounters among business owners are: 1.) the owner that thinks that he is the expert on every matter, he has ever read or heard anything about and gets upset if a specialist does not do things the way he expects and 2) the one who thinks that a specialist can produce something that will please the owner without the owner taking the time to communicate his desires to the specialist.

PPPLLLLEEEAAASSSSEEE!!!!!!!!

However,

in the real world free-lancers have to try to pull the project along no matter how low the client's IQ may be.

Kristen Fischer wrote an article about dealing with a business owner who won't discuss his wants and then rejects your work. Although Kristin focuses primarily on the writer and graphic industry this article is useful for anyone who is a "creative" freelancer.