Cherish every moment. Chase the good, accept the bad. They’re both worth the same in the end. Make the most of your opportunities. Schedule time to rest and enjoy your life. Why?

I’ve spent the last 3 and a half years as Number 2 to Jeremiah Davis. I’ve learned a lot about how to properly assist someone in a high leverage position. But most of all, I’ve learned that it’s a great gig to have. Here’s why:

Are you planning for 2021? Is it approaching too fast? Is it simultaneously exciting and terrifying? That’s alright. It is for me too. In the days approaching the new year, I encourage you to spend more time leaning back and less time leaning forward. I mean this literally.

My work is heavily influenced by the books and blogs I read. My process for writing is this: wake up, shower, walk, read, write. Reading gets my mind warmed up, it introduces me to new ideas, and it inspires me. I hope you enjoy these books as much as I did.

The reason marketing frustrates so many people is because they can do all the right things and still fail. They can have a great color scheme, effective design, high quality images, and a compelling offer. And they can still be ignored.

Often, I focus on the imperfect 10%. I forget about the 90% that is still perfectly good and enjoyable. The reason we cook, watch sports, and play games is so we can talk. And as my parents and I sat in the backyard, bundled up, we did just that. We talked.

Being a professional in client care looks like developing and presenting the few best options to move forward. As odd as it sounds, great client care isn’t saying, “whatever you want, sir!” It’s saying, “Here’s what I believe is best and why. Let me take you there.”

If we work hourly, we aren’t in complete control of our time. There are even short-term benefits to wasting time. Of course, wasting time rarely pays off in the long run. But when it’s 3pm the day before Christmas Eve, who can blame you for reading a few of your favorite blogs before your holiday starts at 5?

You can take the same principle into your work. If you can decide with who, and when, and how, and with what, and why you will be generous in advance, then when those opportunities arise, you’ll feel great about taking them.

If you’re looking for a breezy, pleasantly cynical description of freelance life, pick up a copy of Carol Wolper’s Adapt or Wait Tables. This book reads like a Saturday afternoon glass of wine with your cool artist aunt.

The commitment I made to my Instagram followers was the linchpin in successfully completing that blogging sprint. After about 12 days of writing in a row, my motivation was waning. The only reason I kept going was because I didn’t want to let down the people I had made a commitment to.

“Marketing is no longer about shouting in a crowded marketplace; it is about participating in a dialogue with fellow travelers.”

Are you feeling fatigued and tired after your work day? Are you having trouble maintaining completely productive hours for the duration of your week? Maybe your brain is telling you something.

Farmers plant their crop. They find it, buy it, spread it, and wait. Not all of it will take root. Most of it will die.

Check out the sample spreadsheet here. You can feel free to copy this spreadsheet into your own account and arrange it for your own purposes. I built equations in that automatically multiply your rates by the number days, and add all your rates into a total. This is designed to be a monthly view of projects, and duplicated every month.

Being a freelancer is tough. For every sip of freedom and flexibility, there are two gulps of inconsistency and anxiety. Meanwhile, we see freelancers online who make a solid living working on projects that they love. How do they do that?

Once you open your doors for business, it’s your responsibility to serve people who want to buy from you. If you claim to be able to solve a problem, you must show up and solve that problem as a professional–regardless of how you feel or what’s going on in your life.

Tim Ferriss’ Ted Talk on what he calls “Fear Setting” was always one of the most encouraging ideas for me as a freelancer. The opposite of goal setting, Ferriss encourages people to imagine the most negative outcomes of their fears.

Saying yes to everything is one of the negative outcomes of imposter syndrome. When clients asked me if I could do things for them, I felt I had to say yes. If I said no, I would be found out! If I didn’t know how to do what they asked, I learned really quickly.

Most people in America never have to pitch. Most people work in organizations where other people do the pitching. So naturally, when you’re developing a pitch for your creative project, you’ll hear imaginary voices from people who never had to pitch.