Comments on: Freelancer’s Survival Guide: Expectations https://kriswrites.com/2010/05/13/freelancers-survival-guide-expectations/ Writer, Editor, Fan Girl Sat, 10 Oct 2015 07:35:57 +0000 hourly 1 By: Prasenjeet Kumar https://kriswrites.com/2010/05/13/freelancers-survival-guide-expectations/comment-page-1/#comment-142673 Sat, 10 Oct 2015 07:35:57 +0000 https://kriswrites.com/?p=1950#comment-142673 Hi Kris,

I have been following your blog for quite some time and stumbled upon this wonderful article. Gosh, I didn’t realise that the expectation that your business may take 5 or 10 years to be established too is an unrealistic expectation ( it actually sounds realistic). Thanks for pointing out that. I don’t know what your friend did exactly to sabotage his business, but I have a feeling that he stopped taking any proactive steps that would have taken his business to the next level in the hope that every business takes five years to succeed.

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By: Kris https://kriswrites.com/2010/05/13/freelancers-survival-guide-expectations/comment-page-1/#comment-1004 Mon, 17 May 2010 20:40:48 +0000 https://kriswrites.com/?p=1950#comment-1004 In reply to Dave H.

Let me say first, Happy Birthday, Dave! Welcome to the Gemini group. There’s a bunch of us. 🙂

Thanks for letting me know that you belong in the group I intended this for. That means a lot. I appreciate it. I love the analogy of jumping the fence or tunneling under it. Nice.

I’ll think about LLCs. I always hesitate to jump into the murky legal waters, since I’m not a lawyer. But let me see what I can come up with, and what my lawyer friends think, and what those who’ve done this already have to say. Thanks for the suggestion.

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By: Dave H https://kriswrites.com/2010/05/13/freelancers-survival-guide-expectations/comment-page-1/#comment-1003 Mon, 17 May 2010 19:22:41 +0000 https://kriswrites.com/?p=1950#comment-1003 I had most of my birthday expectations forcibly removed years ago. My 50th is coming up later this week, and I’ll be perfectly happy to treat it like any other day. I figure any day I can still wake up and inhale is a win.

I just spent the past four days reading back over the Freelancer’s Survival Guide, and I have to say thank you, Kris! Talk about managing expectations. I was one of the people you set out to help by publishing the Guide online. I was downsized (or whatever euphemism they call it these days) last summer and started screwing up my courage to jump blindly into freelancing. I was “saved” at the last minute by a call from a previous employer who wanted me to come back to work, so here I am back in a job I left out of boredom four years ago. As you might guess, I’m not terribly enthusiastic about staying, but after reading the Guide I have a better idea of what to expect – and what kind of questions I need to find answers for – before I jump the fence and hightail it off into the sunset. (Actually I think some planning, goal-setting, and discreet burrowing under the fence over a period of time might be the better way.)

I’m curious about something I haven’t seen mentioned yet in the Guide: do you have any thoughts on a freelance writer forming a corporation, LLC, or other virtual entity? Other businesses can find clear benefits (especially when it comes to liability) by doing so, but I wonder what you and your network of experts think.

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By: Brad R. Torgersen https://kriswrites.com/2010/05/13/freelancers-survival-guide-expectations/comment-page-1/#comment-1002 Sun, 16 May 2010 03:40:57 +0000 https://kriswrites.com/?p=1950#comment-1002 My wife turns 50 in two years. If you ask me, 50 is damned sexy. What this comment has to do with writing is anyone’s guess. ;^)

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By: Alastair Mayer https://kriswrites.com/2010/05/13/freelancers-survival-guide-expectations/comment-page-1/#comment-1001 Sat, 15 May 2010 02:21:18 +0000 https://kriswrites.com/?p=1950#comment-1001 Hey, fifty ain’t so bad. Harry Stine used to say that if you reach fifty without growing up, you don’t have to. Works for this over-fifty kid. 😉

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By: Kris https://kriswrites.com/2010/05/13/freelancers-survival-guide-expectations/comment-page-1/#comment-1000 Fri, 14 May 2010 18:31:41 +0000 https://kriswrites.com/?p=1950#comment-1000 In reply to Randy.

LOL, Randy. Thanks. 🙂 I think I might do that…

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By: Randy https://kriswrites.com/2010/05/13/freelancers-survival-guide-expectations/comment-page-1/#comment-999 Fri, 14 May 2010 16:07:07 +0000 https://kriswrites.com/?p=1950#comment-999 Happy 24th, Kris. (Someone needed to say it.) Better late than never.

Now go to a vintage clothing store and treat yourself to a Krystle Carrington shoulder pad dress.

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By: Brad R. Torgersen https://kriswrites.com/2010/05/13/freelancers-survival-guide-expectations/comment-page-1/#comment-997 Fri, 14 May 2010 00:43:50 +0000 https://kriswrites.com/?p=1950#comment-997 When I was 19 I fully expected to be writing novels for a living by the time I was 29. Wow, did that expectation get steamrolled by reality.

Growing up, my mother dispensed this mantra: try your best, but don’t be surprised when you fail. In hindsight, it was a terribly confusing piece of advice. Her heart was in the right place, and I realize she was trying to send two motherly messages at once. Can’t blame her for that.

But I’ve modified that message when I dispense it to my own daughter: put forth your best effort in all you do, and if you fail, learn from that failure and try again! And again! And again!

Failure doesn’t have to be permanent. Failure should be the temporary resting state between successes.

In re-approaching my long-held desire for a fiction career — roughly three years ago — I decided to take the mountain climber’s approach: aim for the highest observable peak, and keep scratching and clawing until I got there, then immediately aim for the still higher peak that would reveal itself, and so on and so forth.

My only expectation was a self-directed one: not allowing rejections to discourage me and thus slow or halt my production, as had happened previously, and led to a long drought.

In the meanwhile, the view I’ve managed to obtain — of the publishing world, via workshops and networking with professionals — now seems so random and chaotic, I’ve practically abandoned all expectations where houses and markets are concerned. I focus entirely on the creation of new prose and making and keeping weekly and monthly goals related to production. Almost all else seems entirely out of my hands.

My wife’s father was a technical writer and publisher, but he longed to write novels. He never succeeded in selling any, but he never stopped trying either. So far as I know, he died with manuscripts still out to market. That’s how I’d like to go out, whether I’m “successful” before I die, or not.

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By: Kris https://kriswrites.com/2010/05/13/freelancers-survival-guide-expectations/comment-page-1/#comment-996 Thu, 13 May 2010 23:21:07 +0000 https://kriswrites.com/?p=1950#comment-996 In reply to Mark Terry.

Great points, Mark. Thanks.

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By: Mark Terry https://kriswrites.com/2010/05/13/freelancers-survival-guide-expectations/comment-page-1/#comment-995 Thu, 13 May 2010 23:18:50 +0000 https://kriswrites.com/?p=1950#comment-995 Terrific post. I just finished collaborating on a nonfiction book with a couple doctors and in one of the chapters we discuss a concept along these same lines, which is to say: when your own beliefs get in the way of living your life. Not just your career, but your life. For instance: my house isn’t clean unless I vacuum every day.

Having this thought in your head, wherever it comes from, makes you freak out if the house isn’t cleaned, puts pressure on you to do the work even if you don’t have the time.

Other things are: a good father provides for his family.

It doesn’t take into account other aspects of being a good father.

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