Navigating crossroads in our careers isn’t easy — not when we’re traditionally employed, and certainly not as freelancers, where we pick the rules. The possibilities can seem endless. One assignment, one client, or maybe even one email can completely change what we decide to do next. While considering making a big career shift, we can sometimes feel stuck, and the next steps might not feel immediately obvious.

In this episode, guest host Simone Stolzoff joins Wudan to talk about how to navigate big career transitions.

Today’s episode features freelance writer and workflow consultant, Anna Burgess Yang. Anna talks about how she condensed her workweek down to about 3.5 days while still earning enough to support herself and her family. She also shares tips and tricks so that you, too, could shave hours (or even days!) off your week.

Welcome to Season 7 of the Writers’ Co-op! To kick off the season, we wanted to dedicate our first episode to a word that often shapes how we view both work and ourselves: success.

In this episode, Jenni and Emma talk about some of the trickiest parts of freelancing, including marketing. If you’ve asked “How do I sell my services in a way that feels authentic?” or “ how can I make myself stand out in a sea of people who are offering the same things?” – then this episode is for you.

Today’s episode is a Q&A. We talk about how to break into this industry if you don’t have a ton of experience or want to change your niche, where your energy is best focused during slow work seasons, the things we’ve learned from taking long leaves of absence from work, and how many hours a freelancer can reasonably spend on creative projects in one day.

It’s rare to have a perfect relationship with a client. They might do small things that bug us, like scrub all of our oxford commas and em-dashes. But there might be other things they do that bother us more: Maybe they don’t listen to your feedback. Or they micromanage or do something that seriously hinders your ability to work. Or their expectations and scope change constantly. It’s all frustrating, but when do you make the choice to bail on a project, and when do you stay? How do you know when you’ve had enough?

Saying no is just as critical to running a freelance business as saying yes. You can’t say yes to the right opportunities if you don’t say no to the wrong ones.

Today we have a new episode for you, which is about pacing your workdays. This episode was inspired by a tweet Jenni sent out about a month ago, asking about how people shape their days. In this episode, we dig into why pacing can change throughout seasons of your career, and we talk about ways to investigate if your pacing is working for you right now. We also talk about “fast” and “slow” work and whether either really says anything at all about quality.

This episode is a re-run from May 2020. Making connections with other writers, editors and creatives is essential to building a freelance business that lasts throughout the years. When a gig ends or a client runs out of budget, having a strong network can give you a starting point for finding new work. But we know that networking can be challenging, too. It often feels forced or inauthentic, and it can be tough to know where to start with building a network if you don't think you have one already. (Chances are, you do. But we'll get to that.)

This episode is a re-run from October 2020. If you want to talk about running a 6-figure freelance writing business, Matt Villano is the person to call. He has been a full-time freelancer for 25 years and during that time he’s written for publications such as The New York Times, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and many others. He also specializes in copywriting, editing, and branding for a host of companies and nonprofits.