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What the what? A Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work? On a Saturday? I know what you’re thinking:
Or, that’s probably not what you’re thinking. Either way, pretty cool right? BUT FIRST…CHECK THIS STUFF OUT1. Strong Body-Strong Mind – Boston, MAWe had such a great response when Lisa and I hosted a SBSM Workshop in Boston last year that we decided to do it again this summer. I’ll be speaking to assessment, coaching up common strength exercises (squats, deadlifts), and how to better “match” your programs to your client’s abilities and goals. Lisa will be discussing how to better manage client expectations, motivation, and how to adopt better mindset strategies for success. The umbrella theme of this workshop is to enhance the SOFT skills of coaching, how to garner a connection, and build rapport with your athletes/clients.
For more details (including itinerary and registration) go HERE. 2. Even More Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint– Dates/Locations AnnouncedDean Somerset and I are currently in the throes of drumming up new content for our staple workshop series. We’ve presented this workshop all over the world – London, Vancouver, Oslo, Prague, Boston, LA, Hoth – and even turned it into a popular digital product HERE so everyone can enjoy it. We’ve already nailed down dates in Slovenia, Houston, and LA this fall (2018) and are also in talks to bring it to Detroit, Philadelphia, Edmonton, Australia, and Singapore in 2019. If you’re someone who’d like to host this event/participate in a tickle fight please reach out to either Dean or myself. Go HERE to register in the announced cities. STUFF TO READ WHILE YOU’RE PRETENDING TO WORKGlutes, Core, and Pelvic Floor Workout System – Sarah Duvall, Kellie Davis, and Meghan CallawayIf you’re a human, trust me, you likely could use some improvement in one – if not all three – of these areas. Sarah, Kellie, and Meghan have curated a lovely resource that women, men, fitness professionals, and non-fitness professionals alike can benefit from. You only have until Monday (7/2) to take advantage of the sale price. Learn How to Fail – DeShawn FairbairnLearning how to fail well – in both life, but more germane to this article, the weight-room – is one of the best traits you can possess. This article is MONEY. What’s the Deal with Eggs and Cholesterol? – PhysiqonomicsWell, shit, an article written entirely as an infographic. Brilliant. Social Media Shenanigans
Did what you just read make your day? Ruin it? Either way, you should share it with your friends and/or comment below.via Blog – Tony Gentilcore http://tonygentilcore.com/2018/06/stuff-read-youre-pretending-work-6-30-18/
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In our previous post, “529 Plans—They’re Not Just for Kids,” which was published prior to the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) bill late last year, we mentioned that the initial drafts of the new tax laws included elementary- and high-school tuition as qualified education expenses that could be paid for with funds from 529 college savings plans. This represented a significant expansion from the previous law, which only allowed tax-free 529 plan distributions for college, university, or vocational school tuition. Now that the TCJA bill has become law, it’s important to note that the actual regulations do allow taxpayers to withdraw up to $10,000 from a 529 plan for each beneficiary to pay for tuition for K-12 schools (including public, private and religious institutions) once in a calendar year. However, while earnings on 529 plan withdrawals are currently free of federal taxes, this may or not be the same in regard to state taxes, depending on where you live. Every state has its own tax law for 529 plans, which may or may not allow for tax-free withdrawals related to K-12 tuition. At the time of this writing, fewer than half of the states have definitively said that they are conforming to the new federal tax rules and allowing tax-free 529 plan distributions for K-12 tuition expenses, while other states are still weighing their decisions. Both New York State and Alabama are disallowing tax-free 529 withdrawals. According to Savingforcollege.com, these states are allowing for tax-free K-12 tuition withdrawals from 529 plans: Alaska, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. The bottom line: Before making any 529 withdrawals for K-12 tuition, you should check to see whether or not you may be subject to state tax penalties. Jonathan Medows is a New York City based CPA who specializes in taxes and business issues for freelancers and self-employed individuals across the country. He offers a free consultation to members of Freelancers Union and a monthly email newsletter covering tax, accounting and business issues to freelancers on his website, www.cpaforfreelancers.com, which also features a new blog, how-to articles, and a comprehensive freelance tax guide. Jonathan is happy to provide an initial consultation to freelancers. To qualify for a free consultation you must be a member of the Freelancers Union and mention this article upon contacting him. Please note that this offer is not available Jan. 1 through April 18 and covers a general conversation about tax responsibilities of a freelancer and potential deductions. These meetings do not include review of self-prepared documents, review of self-prepared tax returns, or the review of the work of other preparers. The free meeting does not include the preparation or review of quantitative calculations of any sort. He is happy to provide such services but would need to charge an hourly rate for his time. via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2018/06/29/tax-reform-and-tuition-distribution-what-you-need-to-know/
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There’s a lot that can go awry with the squat.
There’s one cue, however, I believe has carryover to pretty much anyone and it’s almost guaranteed to make your squat look and feel better. Stack the RingsIt’s not lost on me there’s an easy Lord of the Rings reference to be had here, and I’m going to try my best to be professional and abstain and…. Fuck it. One ring………..to bind them. Okay, with that out of the way, what do I mean when I say “stacked rings?” and how how can that possibly help your squat? I had to audit myself a few years ago when it came to coaching the squat. After being introduced to the concepts of PRI (Postural Restoration Institute) and listening to other strong dudes like Chad Wesley Smith speak on the topic, I wondered if cueing people to “arch, hard!,” and to” sit back” were the right things to be saying to the bulk of my athletes/clients when they were getting under the bar? Very few were competitive powerlifters and even fewer were geared lifers. I.e., none wore squat suits when training (which require an aggressive arch and sitting back to reap the benefits). To be clear: There are still many very strong dudes (and coaches) who advocate squatting with a hard arch, and that’s their prerogative. The thing to appreciate, however, is that what works and is ideal for a geared lifter won’t necessarily (read: rarely) ever translate well to a non-geared lifter. If I were to balance the “I want to be brutally strong AND not shit my spine on this next set” teeter-totter, I’d opt for not arching (aggressively). Like this. The ribs & diaphragm are pointing in one direction (up) and the hips & pelvic floor are pointing in another (down). Put simply, this is We’re placing a ton of shear load on the spine. What’s more, this will invariably force the lifter to initiate the movement by sitting back (rather than down, you know, like a squat). As a result, often, the chest will fall forward, and the cue we default towads is “arch, arch, arch, chest up, chest up, chest up, you crap you’re going to fall on your face, too late.” This only feeds instability. A better approach, I believe (again, for non-geared lifters) is to tone down the arch and adopt what’s been referred to as the “canister” position or to “stack the rings.” Giving credit where it’s due, the first person I ever heard use this phrase was Dr. Evan Osar. A simple analogy he used was to think of your pelvis as one ring and your rib cage as a bunch of other rings. We want all those rings to be stacked. This will nudge us into a more stable, joint-friendly environment Now, a minor glitch in this way of thinking is that some people think this infers going into posterior pelvic tilt, where we flatten out the lumbar spine. This is not what’s happening. As you can see in the picture above, my hips are still behind the bar (still very important) but there’s less of an aggressive arch. Telling people to posteriorly tilt their pelvis towards spine neutral is different than telling them to flatten out their spine. From there it’s a matter of owning the canister position and to squat down rather than back. Maybe this quick 3-minute video will help: [embedded content] Want More Tips Like This?Yeah, I thought so. My friends Dr. Sarah Duvall, Kellie Hart, and Meghan Callaway released a stellar product this week – Glutes, Core, and Pelvic Floor Online System – and it hammers home points like the one above. It’s often necessary to break down movement(s) into their respective parts to make certain we’re getting motion from the right areas and that we’re using/engaging the areas we want to use/engage to perform exercises well. GCPF is a 12-week online course that will teach you how to assess movement and how to implement the correct drills and exercises to help you (or your clients) get stronger and to move better. TODAY (6/29) is the last day to get it at it’s FULL sale price. You can still get it at a discount until Monday (7/2), however today is your last chance to get it at $200 OFF. It’s a great resource and one I feel will help a lot of people. —-> I Like Saving Money, Tony. Thank You <—-Did what you just read make your day? Ruin it? Either way, you should share it with your friends and/or comment below.via Blog – Tony Gentilcore http://tonygentilcore.com/2018/06/stack-rings-better-squat-performance/
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Are you reading this and thinking that you’d love to work for yourself? Well, read on. I am going to share with you how to leverage something that you are passionate about into a successful freelancing career. The Root of PassionPassion has become such a nebulous term that we use it with great frequency without always thinking about its meaning. So, I decided to check out its origins by reviewing its etymology. According to the Online Etymology dictionary, passion (n):
For many of us, we associate passion with “strong emotion, desire” or something that we are deeply attached to. When it comes to one’s profession, being passionate can be linked to a profound sense of satisfaction or even the sense that you have been called to do something. For many of us, we became freelancers, amongst other reasons, because we were passionate about something. Define Your PassionFor anyone who has not launched a freelancing career, but who is serious about it, it is important that you define what you are passionate about. Think elevator pitch: As clearly as possible, how would you define your passion? Some passions are self-explanatory like accounting, event planning, writing, graphic design, or software engineering. However, you may find that your passion doesn’t fit so neatly into a category. That’s perfectly ok. You may be passionate about a number of things or some hybridity of things. The most important things are that you are clear about what you can do as a freelancer and you have a realistic understanding about how well you can do it. Why Passion MattersThe reason why passion should factor into how you carve out your freelancing business is centered around stamina. If you set out to do something that you are lukewarm about or that you are not truly motivated to do, there is a strong possibility that it will fizzle or others will be less inclined to use your services because they may have concerns about how vested you are in your work. Freelancing can be one of the most rewarding things that you have ever done. Paradoxically, it can also be one of the most frustrating. Passion can help you meander through those famine spells in the feast or famine paradigm. Caring deeply about what you do anchors you to keep doing it, even when you don’t feel like it or the reward is more internal than external. Once you have articulated what you are passionate about, it will be easier for you to express this as you think about marketing and advertising your freelancing venture to others. Aim to be the G.O.A.T. FreelancerIf you are a sports fan then the concept of the “Greatest of All Time” (G.O.A.T) will not sound unfamiliar. In may ways, it is an example of hyperbole because how can anyone measure the concept of all time? Hyperbole aside, being the absolute best at what you do is a laudable goal. If there is one thing that I have seen hurt newly launched freelancing careers the most, it is mediocrity. Imagine the meh or blah emoji. Mediocrity is passion’s kryptonite. The best way to offset this is to become a sponge and learn as much as you can about your industry and field. What are the best practices? What are the trends? What are the new rules or regulations? Ask yourself: How can I get better? Most importantly, spend time on task. If you were to do an impromptu survey of people who have been freelancing for 5 years or more, I surmise that they will tell you that they became better at their craft by doing it. Keep in mind, this is not about perfection; when you are passionate about what you do, you will make the sacrifices, make the commitments, demonstrate consistency, and fully execute to become successful. Remember, most G.O.A.T.s have! via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2018/06/28/how-to-leverage-your-passion-to-launch-a-successful-freelancing-career/
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I’m in Europe for the next two weeks traveling. Fear not. I’ve still managed to queue up some stellar content for you in my absence. Today Dr. Sarah Duvall is pinch-writing for me talking about a topic that’s relevant to anyone who likes to lift heavy things: Squats (and how to make them feel better). Her new resource, which she developed alongside fellow coaching superstars Kellie Hart and Meghan Callaway – Glutes, Core, and Pelvic Floor Workout System – is on sale starting today (6/28) and runs through 7/2. It’s stellar and I think you should check it out. Are You Engaging the Right Muscles When You Squat?Several months ago Tony and I met at Caffe Nero to talk shop. After a combined 30 + years of working with people, we have both come to the conclusion that strength is your friend! It’s your friend for rehab, for life and for aging. In other words,
It can get a little tricky, because I’ve often found for patients with tightness or pain that we have to first make sure the right muscle is doing the work before overloading. A great example of this is doing squats but primarily loading quads and low back instead of balancing the lift with glutes and abdominals. Or doing deadlifts but primarily feeling them in your back, never your glutes or hamstrings. So you’re lifting and trying to get stronger, but in reality if you’re experiencing the above you’re overworking a subset of muscles instead of the intended target. That’s why you should always know what muscles you want to work and where you should feel it. Educated lifting! Let’s take a second to break down the ever-elusive squat a little further. There are so many varieties from goblet to back to front squats and everything in between. You’ll want to pick a variety that feels best for you, but I’d like to share a couple tricks for squatting in a way that targets your glutes and abs. This will be especially helpful if you primarily feel squats in your quads and low back. Let’s work from the ground up at 4 key areas of the body. #1. Keep Your Toes Firmly on the GroundSomewhere along the way the cue to lift the toes got popular. This is an easy way to shift your weight back to help get the squat more into your hips instead of your knees. When we make cues too easy they often miss the mark. It’s true that you want to sit back into your hips, but the body follows patterns and when you pick up your toes you set off a flexion chain in your body that can increase hip flexor activation and decrease abdominals. Give it a try now. Pick up your toes for a squat and focus on how much you feel your abdominals. Now, give me a nice short foot (big toe down, arch engaged, weight spread evenly between the ball and heel) and see if this grounded foot turns your abs on more. Those hardwired neuro patterns are hard to break, and having great foot placement sets the tone for the rest of the body. [embedded content] So how do you sit back instead of coming forward onto your knees? Try practicing your squat by sitting back to a box or chair. This will help train the pattern without picking up your toes. #2. Sit Into Your GlutesYou want to feel your glutes lengthening for your squat. It’s not a deadlift, your knees will bend, but it shouldn’t be all knees. Two signs you’re not lengthening and sitting into your glutes:
To fix the folding in half, try holding on to something when you squat, like suspension straps. Then you can practice sitting back and down into those glutes. [embedded content] #3. Neglecting to Keep a Neutral SpineHow we initiate a motion sets the tone for that exercise. So if you arch your back to start, then your brain gets the signal, “this is a back exercise.” If you lengthen your glutes to start, then your brain gets the signal, “this is a glute exercise.” Sitting the tone is important! It’s much easier to do something right from the start than it is to play catch up. Wait, are we talking about life or squats? See if you can spot the difference between initiating for the glutes lengthening vs the low back overarch? [embedded content] #4. Head AlignmentLet’s do a test. Look up at the ceiling and squat. Did you feel how you wanted to overarch your back? Now, put your chin to your chest and squat. See how you wanted to tuck your bottom? Our body follows our head. You’ll never see a gymnast look the opposite way for a flip. Playing around with head positioning and where the eyes are looking can dramatically change a squat. If someone is having lots of trouble keeping their abs engaged, I might have them look down just a pinch more. If they are really having trouble sitting into their glutes, I might have them look up a pinch. The real takeaway from this is to know where you should feel an exercise and make sure that is what’s working. When you’re doing squats, you should feel both your glutes and quads working, as well as your abs and low back. A balanced squat works everything, and working everything means you’ll be able to do more and get stronger without getting hurt because the effort is shared. Want to learn more about where you should be feeling an exercise and which muscles should be working? You’re in luck! Three expert coaches in the fitness and rehab industry came together to build an incredible 12 week workout program to help you reach your fitness goals. Everyone – women AND men, powerlifters AND CrossFitters, Batman AND Care Bears – can spend more time developing their glute, core and pelvic floor strength and integrity. Sarah, Kellie, and Megan are phenomenal coaches and have put in a ton of work to make this a resource that can equally help (and be applied) fitness professionals and general population alike. Fitness Professionals: to be able to assess and write effective corrective and training programs to address things like pelvic floor dysfunction, rectus diastasis (which effects males too), incontinence, and many other “intricate” issues that aren’t easy to train around (much less talk about). General Population: to show you the basics needed to feel great and to set yourself up for as much success as possible if or when you choose to attack the iron. Batman (in case you’re reading this): to fight crime in a more efficient and timely manner. This program is thorough AF and the beauty is that it requires minimal equipment and can be done at home or in a gym. I’ve performed a few of the workouts & movements myself and lets just say its highlighted a few glaring weaknesses on my end. What’s more, I’m learning a lot. This WILL make me a better coach. The price is heavily discounted – $200 OFF – for two days only (6/28 and 6/29).
You don’t have much time to take advantage, so I encourage you to do NOW. —> Hurry! Click Me <—-Did what you just read make your day? Ruin it? Either way, you should share it with your friends and/or comment below.via Blog – Tony Gentilcore http://tonygentilcore.com/2018/06/engaging-right-muscles-squat/
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I am honored to be speaking on stage amongst some of the pioneers in the fitness and business space this October at RISE 2018 in San Jose, CA. Tony’s Coming to the Bay Area – Whoop, WhoopI’ve never been to the Bay area and am pumped for this opportunity. Yeah, yeah, I just Googled Mapped it and San Jose is 55 miles from San Francisco. Close enough. Either way I’m totally coming a day early so I can visit the Full House houses. After that I’ll mozy on down to Palo Alto and try to make a cameo appearance at Stanford University to hang out with my boy Cory Schlesinger (<— Epic beard and an even epic(er) strength coach. You should follow him on Instagram HERE) and attempt to beat him in a game of H.O.R.S.E. After my victory parade I’ll head to San Jose, either in a Nissan Sentra or a tank (whichever is a cheaper rental), to take part in what will inevitably be an amazing weekend hanging out with like-minded fitness professionals. I’ll be presenting on the third and final day, first thing in the morning actually. My presentation will be: The Shoulder: From Assessment to Badass. I.e., How to improve overhead mobility and shit. <— a working sub-title. There are many outstanding presenters lined up for the RISE 2018 weekend including Molly Galbraith, Mark Fisher, Craig Ballantyne, and Pat Rigsby (to name a few). If you’re a gym owner, studio owner, personal trainer, independent trainer, strength coach, or, I don’t know, a one-legged pirate, and you’re serious about taking your fitness business to the next level this is an event that can’t be passed up. Register ——–> HERE. Early Bird Rate Is In Effect ——-> HERE. (same link as above, but marketing research suggests you’re 136% more likely to click this link). I’ve Got 5 TICKETS to Giveaway for FREEAs a presenter I’ve been given five tickets to give away.
[NOTE: One ticket has your name written all over it Matt Damon, Gal Gadot, Nolan Ryan, and/or He-Man.] To that end, everyone who signs up within the next two weeks will be put into a raffle where I’ll randomly pick five names to win a FREE ticket to the event. Pretty sweet, right? All you have to do is go HERE to register and your name will automatically be put into the drawing. Easy peasy. I’ll then notify the winners via email in a few weeks. Hope to see you there. Did what you just read make your day? Ruin it? Either way, you should share it with your friends and/or comment below.via Blog – Tony Gentilcore http://tonygentilcore.com/2018/06/win-free-ticket-rise-fitness-business-conference-san-jose/
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This is a post from a member of the Freelancers Union community. If you’re interested in sharing your expertise, your story, or some advice you think will help a fellow freelancer out, feel free to send your blog post to us here. Small, flaky, needy, poor... nonprofits really can’t provide you much income, and they can’t pay, right? Let’s stop here. Because the more people who think that, the more business for me and my friends! Oh, alright. I’ll give it up: nonprofits are a great market for any freelancer at any level - and for real, paid work, not just to build an early career pro-bono-based portfolio. Remembering a little economics goes a long way here: Businesses (in the USA, at least) are often divided by size. There’s the small sole proprietor (maybe you?) on one end of the scale to the largest are C Corps on the other, and whole bunch in between. Put simply, you and Apple are both in business, but few would confuse you. By contrast, nonprofits divide by mission, like education, healthcare, environmental and much more. Discerning their ability to hire you, at first glance, is more difficult. You may not realize that some of the biggest employers in your town are nonprofits, because they don’t look like your image of a typical nonprofit. For example, here in Philadelphia, some of the biggest employers are nonprofits. The University of Pennsylvania is a 22,000+ employer with a budget of more than $8.75 billion. They’re only one of a number of major nonprofit universities, hospitals, and social service providers and other significantly sized nonprofits in our community. Plus, know that 30% of nonprofits are not 501(c)3s! There are nearly 30 other kinds, like credit unions, mutual insurance companies, chambers of commerce, and labor unions, just to name a few. (See them here) What’s that mean for you, the freelancer? Easy. Nonprofits can be a major source of revenue. To start, nonprofits use a lot of the same services as business, but sometimes with a different twist.
Then there’s the work that businesses don’t have. The most obvious? Fundraising. Yet be careful here. More than 35 states require you to register with them if you do any nonprofit fundraising related freelance work or consulting in their state. If you do any work that touches fundraising, check, even if you don’t think your work will require it. The same job in one state may require registration, while in others, it doesn’t. Still, I can hear you now… “that’s all great, but nonprofits don’t pay. That’s why they’re called ‘nonprofits!’” Actually, they don’t pay bad. Remember, “nonprofit” only means that it has no shareholders. Their “profits” (or “surplus” in nonprofit-speak) gets plowed back into the organization, not distributed to owners - because there are no owners. (A nonprofit’s board guides the organization and does not own it.) While some nonprofits have a sacrificial mentality, more enlightened ones pay as much for freelance work as any business of their size. They may ask you for a “nonprofit rate,” but who can blame them for asking? If you want to give them a break, it’s up to you. Personally, I find that small businesses are stingier than any nonprofit I’ve worked for. (Want some stats on this? See this Bureau of Labor Statistics summary) Yet before you jump headlong into nonprofit freelance work, there’s an essential point to keep in mind: mission is paramount. To hire you, a nonprofit may expect you to have at least some care about, if not enthusiasm for, their mission. There’s a lot of legal issues I won’t (nor am I qualified) to get into on this point. But consider that if you love their mission, you’ll probably do better work for them - especially if you’re in marketing, fundraising or program delivery. I could go on and on, but suffice to say that yes, nonprofits ARE a great market for freelancers - but let’s keep it between you and me! Matt Hugg is nonprofit consultant’s consultant at NonprofitConsultant.Zone a business and educational resource for consultants and freelancers to nonprofit organizations. He is author of “The ThinkNP Guide to Nonprofit Consulting: A Practical Workbook for Your Success,” (available on Amazon). via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2018/06/27/nonprofits-make-good-freelance-clients-2/
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Pssst... we've got a secret - there's a PPO plan in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania that accepts freelancers. Freelancers Union used to be known for its one-of-a-kind group health insurance in New York featuring PPO coverage and a national network. The Affordable Care Act put an end to that plan by reducing the options that are available to associations and groups such as ours. But the need for great health insurance hasn't gone away. We've heard loud and clear from our members that they miss having ready access to a PPO plan with out-of-network coverage. That's why we found a way for savvy freelancers and small businesses to access PPO coverage. How does it work? Your freelance business hires an organization to manage your HR needs - including benefits. You pay them a monthly fee and put yourself on their payroll. Now you've gained access to all of their group benefits along with the employees of all their other clients. Finding an organization like this to serve individual sole proprietors can be tricky, but Freelancers Union has found one in NY, NJ, CT, and PA and you can learn more about them here. To enroll, you'll need a freelance business with a separate Tax ID number and the financial ability to maintain a minimum payroll throughout the year of about $1,950 per month. And you'll need to connect over the phone with someone from our partner to discuss your business and the details of the HR services they'll provide to you. While we know that this solution won't work for every freelancer and we're actively advocating with policymakers for more options, we've heard great things from the members already enrolled: “Great benefits, good price, fantastic service and advice.” “You can get a wide provider panel and hospital options, in and out of network coverage, a national plan and it's also not constantly threatened to be taken away, I hope, like Obamacare plans.” “Great insurance coverage and service” via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2018/06/26/how-freelancers-in-new-york-can-access-ppo-health-insurance/
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I recently consulted with Freelancers Union member Robert E. McGrath as he self-published his book, What is Coworking?: A Look at the Multifaceted Places Where the Gig Economy Happens and Workers are Happy to Find Community. I am also working with another client who is a member of Freelancers Union. Like most of the authors that my company works with, these men have decided to share their wealth of expertise with others by writing full-length books. They are among a growing population of people who are entering into the realm of book writing. Ranging from freelancers and retired professors to social media influencers and self-taught entrepreneurs, book writing is no longer reserved for those who have literary agents or large publishers chasing them down and offering them 6 figure advances. Book writing now belongs to the people, as it should. And it is one of the reasons why I strongly encourage people to tell their stories or to share their expertise even if writing is not in their wheelhouse. And as most people who have worked with me can attest, my objective isn’t to convert people into clients; instead, it is to preserve the powerful art of storytelling, especially in this day and age of quick tweets and IG posts. With advances in self-publishing, writing has become more egalitarian, which means that everyone reading this blog has access to platforms that will publish his/her work. So, you may be thinking: Me? Write a book? Why? How? You have something of value to say, so make the timeOne of the best ways to preserve one’s cultural milieu or to share one’s expertise or to introduce one’s ideas and kernels of wisdom to others, especially to complete strangers, is through words. Unless you plan to hire a ghost writer, the value you place on what you have to say is by far one of the most important factors in determining whether or not you complete your manuscript. Your average 200-page book is 50,000 words. If you factor in life’s responsibilities, it is important that you are realistic about how much time you can consistently dedicate to the writing process. The antidote to this is being proactive. Realistically, sketch out a writing schedule and give it the same importance and consideration that you would a critical business or personnel endeavor. There is a strong possibility that you already have the baseline content: PowerPoint presentations, blogs, personal notes, best practices material, manuals, etc. This content can be the springboard for a book. Lastly, it is also helpful if you have an accountability partner who can check in to make sure that you are actually writing and staying on task. Create realistic benchmarks, such as a chapter per month. If you are committed to the process and build in these safety nets, you will have the stamina to write a full-length book. There is probably an audience for your workAs you think about your book idea and concept, you want to ask: Who am I writing this text for? Beyond your immediate circle of family members, friends, and peers, are you writing about a topic that potential strangers want to read? It is not vain to think that your narrative (fiction or non-fiction) is worthy of an audience. I firmly believe that most of us are gifted with stories. Our life experiences, expressed through our stories, make us human. Because of this, you would probably be amazed by the diverse book topics and audiences that exist. If you are really curious, check out the books section on Amazon.com. Yes, some of these authors are professional writers, but many of them are not. Some of the books are about serious topics and required years of research and others are lighter hearted. (And some people even use pseudonyms, so if you want to write, but under a pen name, go for it!) Self-publishing has changed book writingFor better or for worse, self-publishing has changed how we think about authorship. There was a time when publishing a book was an elitist endeavor reserved for professional writers, poets, historians and those who were deemed worthy of the resources and marketing budget of a major publishing company. Often the criteria for publishing was based on the bottom line: Can this person write a profitable book? The pendulum has swung and although this is still an important question, there are those who have decided to write books not as business endeavors, but because they want to preserve their ideas for posterity’s sake or their thoughts may be too controversial for mainstream presses or their topic may only be of interest to a niche audience. Regardless of the impetus, self-publishing, also known as print on demand, has opened doors that were once closed to many. Keep in mind that with the amount of stamina, time, creative energy, and financial resources (e.g. editing, typesetting, and book covers) that go into writing a book, it is important that you don’t enter into the space without having a clear sense of what you are getting into. However, you will probably find that book writing can be a deeply rewarding experience and it’s worth the sacrifice. Because writing is a deeply personal endeavor, only you can decide if you are ready. If so, happy writing! via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2018/06/26/why-you-should-consider-writing-a-book-yes-you-2/
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This is a post from a member of the Freelancers Union community. If you’re interested in sharing your expertise, your story, or some advice you think will help a fellow freelancer out, feel free to send your blog post to us here. For almost as long as we’ve told stories, we’ve heard how proud and regal lions are and how they rule the animal kingdom. But the truth is not quite as simple. Take lions and hyenas, for example. These two species have long been competition in the African savannah. Contrary to what popular stories would have you think, lions will steal a lot of their meals from hyenas. The hyenas are not too happy about this of course, and they will put up a big show and fight back. They will also try to steal food from lions, but they’re usually less successful. The relationship between lions and hyenas is one of rivalry and stealing from the other what you can, but in the end both benefit. Stealing food from someone else is a lot less tiresome than having to hunt it down yourself. Of course, in business we have competition too. What do we do about them–ignore them, steal from them, watch them with a suspicious eye? The good–and the bad–of competitionCompetition is born from the idea that there’s scarcity–there’s not enough for everyone. We have to steal from our competition or prevent them from getting the clients we’re chasing. We have to get more than them, and if we can get everything, even better. “Crush the competition” is an often-heard mantra in the business world. We’re told that competition is a good thing, and that is certainly true. Without competition we would have much less innovation, prices would be higher and choices less. But killing the competition is not always the answer. Companies focused on growth above all are concerned about competition and want to be the only kid on the block. But that growth mostly benefits only their shareholders. In fact, over-competition can be bad for everyone. When a company is forced to compete against a stronger rival, one of the tactics they use is price competition. And when one supplier starts dropping prices, the others often have to follow suit. This leads to a race to the bottom, losing quality along the way and benefiting no one. The winner is the one that can hold their breath the longest. But we can also take the position that there is enough for everyone. There is enough for everyoneAmericans throw away almost as much food as they eat. The situation is not much better in Canada where I live, where every person wastes or loses 396 kilograms of food annually. (That’s compared with 415 kilograms in the United States and 249 kilograms in Mexico.) The truth is, there’s enough for everyone. Whether you’re producing food, or providing consulting services, or building websites, there are enough clients out there for all of us. In fact, there are more clients than we need to build a very successful business. The problem is not one of not enough clients for everyone–the problem is standing out in a crowded marketplace and finding the ideal clients for your business. And your competition makes it look so easy. They land the clients you wish you had, they seem to have a bigger and better market presence than you have, and somehow they just seem to be more successful. So we have to beat them at their own game, right? Wrong. Living by someone else’s rulesWhen you start building your business based on what your competition is doing, you’re losing sight of the most important thing in your business: Your clients. A business’ priority should be to serve their clients, not beat the competition. In fact, when your competition becomes more important than your clients, you’ve probably already lost the race. Here’s the problem: not only have you put your competition at a higher priority than your clients, you’re also behind the competition because you can only follow what they’ve already done. Effectively, going into reactionary mode and trying to beat what the competition is doing is sentencing your business to live by someone else’s rules. And that’s not a great way to run a business. But does that mean you should ignore your competition? Should you ignore your competition?If you believe there is enough out there for everyone, and that you shouldn’t build your business based on what the competition is doing, you’re heading in the right direction. You’re building your business based on serving your customers–the people who actually provide the revenue you need to run your business and pay yourself. But does that mean you should ignore the competition? I believe you can–mostly. Here’s the deal: I have many “competitors” and so do you. We already know that building a business based on what they are doing is a bad idea; we’re losing focus of our customers and playing follow-the-leader is not a great business strategy. To succeed we need to stand out from the competition–not necessarily beat themIn fact, rather than play in their sandbox, we can build our own sandbox. We can make it so different and so attractive to our clients that they (our clients) will be happy to come and play with us. The competition may be wondering what the heck just happened, but the important thing is not that we beat them–the important thing is that we have enough of the right kind of customers we are ideally positioned to serve. So on the one hand I don’t care what the competition are doing–I’m going to focus on serving my customers better. But to do that I must understand what the current offerings in the market look like–so I have to understand what my competition is doing. Not necessarily to beat them, but so that I can do something different. So I do look at “competition” every now and then. I look at what they do–not with jealousy–but with respect and trying to understand how what they are doing is attractive to their clients. I will adopt (and adapt) what I perceive as best practices and learn from what they’ve been doing. But I don’t care to try and compete with them–it’s far more important to me to serve my clients. So I don’t quite ignore my competition–I learn from them where I can. But I do need to understand them so that I can make sure I don’t look quite like they do, that I don’t quite use the same words, and that I stand out enough so that my ideal clients recognize me when they see me. So stop worrying about the competitionYou can spend a lot of your time analyzing your competition and trying to figure out how to beat them. If you’re in a large enterprise you may have the resources to that and it may be appropriate for you.
You can (and should) compete. If you don’t you will never challenge yourself to be better, to break through your own limits. But we don’t need to compete by focusing on our competition. We can focus on the end goal – and see who keeps up. Neville is an ex-software developer, multiple startup survivor, turnaround CEO, consultant and solopreneur. He developed the Tornado Method to help freelancers, solopreneurs and small business owners deal with overwhelm and build a more successful business-without losing their life in the process. via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2018/06/25/stop-worrying-about-your-competition/ |
AuthorI have 5+ years experience working as a medical transcriptionist. When I am not working, I enjoy sports like playing basketball or judo. I love making friends and connections. Archives
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