If you work from home, you know the kind of day I mean. You made the calls. You revised those drafts. You sent out the emails. Where is everybody!?

As much as you used to relish a slow day when you were corporate, it’s a little different when you’re playing boss to yourself. Your mind gets to wandering. Should I head out to the park? Should I hit the mall? Should I… file for unemployment?

For a freelance writer, designer or web marketer who works from home, a day without contact from the outside world can bring on anything from sluggishness and inertia to a panic attack. Such fun games the mind will play when the two of you are left alone for long periods of time! But here’s a little secret about slow days. They’re the perfect opportunity to catch up on everything that went out of your head the minute the phone stopped ringing.

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Popularity: 10% [?]

Join Me for a 4-Month Exercise in Productivity & Profit Building

The above sounds so corporate-bland, doesn’t it? All it means is that I’m setting a goal for myself to make X amount of income by the end of 2008.

The goal will continue on indefinitely, but December 31, 2008 will be the “check point” where I assess how it’s coming along, and if I can meet or maybe even exceed my goal. If I find that I’m in excess of my goal, super! Maybe I’ll set a higher goal and then try to reach that next.

If I miss my target income, then I’ll know that what I need to do is hire teams of people and set up automated systems that do the work for me - so that I CAN use my time more profitably.

Are you with me here? Do you want to try it?

Let me explain this process. It’s not new, I did not invent it; it’s just something that’s a really smart thing to do but we all tend to forget.

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Popularity: 27% [?]

Did you ever notice how every project that you’ve ever worked on with a team has experienced some type of delay or another?

The reason these delays happen has to do with the fine art of buck-passing.

I’ll give you an example that happened to me today.

I’m working on a team of three: me (I’m functioning as the copywriter/web designer), the client, and the VA.

I finish up every part of the project that is in my power, and make ready to attend to other clients on my list. Before I shift my focus to the next client, I write an email to the two aforementioned parties. In the email, I explain to the VA that once I get the updated shopping cart/ezine signup form code from her, I can pop that in the page templates and then we can go live with the new website.

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Popularity: 61% [?]

I thought I would share a job resource that was a great source of revenue for me when I was doing offsite freelancing five years ago.

(I no longer travel to clients - Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing operates as a strictly telecommuting freelance enterprise).

When I left my corporate job in 2003, I got my advertising portfolio together and headed to The Creative Group in the hopes that they might help me break into pharmaceutical advertising. The Creative Group is a job placement firm (a subsidiary of Robert Half International) specializing in freelance creative positions such as copywriting, web and graphic design, and proofreading.

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Popularity: 41% [?]

About a week ago, I got a call from the local animal shelter telling me there was a 2-year-old boxer dog available for adoption. I had put my name on their list hoping to find a dog for my parents, who had just lost their beloved boxer to kidney failure.

I got to the pound, and there was a beautiful boxer dog, perfect in every way. Young, healthy, vibrant, with a pretty face and that famously goofy boxer expression. He was shy and bashful when I opened the door to his cage, but he gave me paw when I asked, and covered my face with kisses when I bent down to introduce myself. I quickly called my parents on the cell and encouraged them to “grab this one while they had the chance.”

My parents, being the old fogeys they are, had reservations. “Is the dog good looking?” “Do you think we’ll be able to handle a young dog?” “What if he runs off?”

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Popularity: 63% [?]

Admit it: if you’re a freelancer or online business consultant, sometimes you let prospective clients fall through the cracks. Let’s say, for example, that a friend of a friend contacts you with a vague request for your services. You mean to reply and ask them to be clearer on their needs. But time slips away and before you know it their email is at the bottom of the heap along with that Cialis spam that you meant to delete two months ago.

Even if you always manage to snap up the hot prospects… forgetting, procrastinating or blatantly ignoring the less than stellar ones is bad policy. It lets others know that you’re not walking the talk you spout regularly on your blog… and it’s just an un-smart way to do business.

Let’s review some possible reasons why you’re not answering every query that comes your way:

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Popularity: 100% [?]

Two years ago or so, I began to realize the immense value in outsourcing portions of the marketing to other service providers.

For example, when I first arrived on the web, I was handling every aspect of article distribution for my clients; writing the articles, researching the best places to submit them, and then opening new article accounts.

As my client base grew, I learned that this was not the best use of my time. So I gradually began assigning portions of the work to others who specialized in this area so I could focus strictly on the writing. My clients are aware that I do this; it pleases them, because their work gets done faster.

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Popularity: 11% [?]