What if we told you that all freelancers are leaders?  The idea might seem counterintuitive at first: After all, freelancers provide services or products to our clients. We’re not leading or managing a team in a conventional sense. But leadership isn’t just about managing a team. It’s how you position yourself, how you talk about yourself, and how you show up every day in your work.  In this episode, Wudan talks with Cynthia Pong.  Cynthia is an award-winning career and leadership coach,...

Career transitions often come with an element of fear. For freelancers, this might be a fear of rejection or of losing stable income. It might show up as a little voice in our head that says: “But what if I fail?” Fear is meant to protect us, yet it can also hold us back from trying new things and thinking expansively about our businesses.  In this episode, Nicole Tsong joins Wudan to talk about confronting fear while making big career swings.  Nicole is a former journalist-turned-podcast...

Welcome to Season 8! We’re calling this year the “Year of Expansive Thinking.” This season will focus on how to think big about our businesses, ourselves, and what we think is possible.  In the first episode, host and executive producer Wudan Yan answers questions from guest co-host Pam Moore about her businesses.  Pam is an occupational therapist-turned-award-winning intuitive eating coach and journalist based in Boulder, Colorado. Wudan tells Pam more about how her business has changed...

This episode is a cross-post between The Writers' Co-op and Freelance Cake, a podcast for ambitious freelancers who want to get more results with less effort, hosted by Austin L. Church. Austin had Wudan on his show to talk about how she cultivated a mindset of 'always be negotiating,' and how she got to a place where negotiations felt comfortable and conversation-like, rather than potentially contentious.

A preview into what this upcoming season holds! For updates, subscribe to thewriterscoop.substack.com Join our inclusive and psychologically safe Slack community as an All-Access Patreon at www.patreon.com/twcpod

If you’ve been listening to The Writers’ Co-op since the first few seasons, you’ve heard us say: The magic is in the mix of work you get. Slower work – work that is recurring, or on a longer contract or time period – can make us feel both steady and fulfilled. But sometimes, we just need money now. That’s where fast freelancing comes in.  Ideally, you have a mix of both in your business. Too much fast work, and you might burn out. Too much slow work and that could build resentment or put you...

As freelancers, we’ve probably all worked with clients who couldn’t pin down exactly what they wanted. Maybe they never had a clear vision for the project, or maybe they constantly changed their mind—and your scope of work. The experience can be incredibly frustrating. Yet, even these clueless clients need (and deserve) help from freelancers. In this episode, Wudan talks to content marketer and strategist Sara Gates.  Before Sara started her freelance business, she did a bit of everything...

A very overdone and true statement about freelancing is: “You’re running a business!” Businesses of all sizes have things like income targets, goals, creative direction—and even business plans! While some of those terms can sound a bit like “corporate speak,” these ways of doing things and problem solving in the corporate world can also be applied to your freelance business.  In this episode, Wudan talks to Melody Burdette. Melody is a freelance content strategist and copywriter based out of...

Most of us who work for ourselves probably don’t love marketing but know that it’s a necessary task to attract more clients. Some take a more traditional approach—constantly sharing work and services on social media or socializing at conferences. But that might not work for everyone. In this episode, Wudan talks with Ruxandra (Rux) Guidi. Rux is a narrative journalist working in print and audio based in Tucson, Arizona. Her work is published in the BBC, NPR, Marketplace, High Country News,...

Most of the time, freelancers who work with clients do not own the rights to the creative work that's produced. Even retaining a modicum of your rights is frequently a prolonged legal battle that results in very little. But some freelancers who want ownership over their work are turning to another source of income: newsletters.  Creating a newsletter is like running your own mini publication. There are questions about when to publish, how frequently to publish, how much to charge your...

Determining rates can be really tricky for freelancers. We need our clients to agree to a price for a project, but we can’t sell ourselves short and leave money on the table. Naturally, freelancers might wonder: How much can I charge before I price myself out of work?  In this episode, Wudan talks to freelancer Kat Boogaard.  Kat is a Wisconsin-based writer focused on blog content for software clients in the productivity, project management, and business ownership spaces. You can follow her...

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...

If you consume media, are a media worker, or just happen to pay attention to what’s happening to the media landscape, you might have heard that the industry is having… a bad time, to say the least. Hundreds of reporters and media employees have been laid off this year as newsrooms are shutting down or downsizing.  Some who are affected by these cuts try to move on to another full-time job, but other times, a layoff can lead to the freelance life. In this episode, Wudan is joined by guest...

A big reason why many of us feel drawn to freelancing is because we love the freedom and flexibility that it offers:  we can work when, where, and how we want. Still, even as freelancers, we might feel pressure to adhere to working a “full-time job” – a 40-hour, or even longer, week, despite not needing or wanting to. But we have the power to opt out. We can work when it suits us best, setting boundaries with ourselves and our clients to make this possible.  In this episode, Wudan talks...

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. We usually believe success is measured by hitting societally-defined milestones or accumulating fame or wealth. But what happens when our personal goals differ from what others expect from us? And what constitutes success when our values and milestones are constantly changing? How can we ultimately come up with a...

Season 7 (!!) will launch shortly, after a month-long break. Wudan will be hosting and executive producing the show moving forward, after Jenni resigned at the end of last year to focus on her family.  The next season will feature conversations between Wudan and co-hosts, who will help us all to navigate ways to reduce our workweek, building our own audience, redefining success, and so much more.  If you've got ideas for future episodes, or would like to be a guest, get in touch at...

Today we’re playing an episode from July 2021 with freelancer Emma Diehl. This was from our third season, where we coached other freelancers.  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. After Jenni and Emma met for their coaching...

Today we’re running our last live episode of the season! Jenni will be stepping away from TWC to focus on her family and health, and Wudan will carry on with managing the community and future iterations of the show. If you haven’t joined our Patreon program yet, please do – the Slack channel is always growing and a great place to find work, get advice, and meet other freelancers.  Today’s episode is a Q&A. We talk about how to break into this industry if you don’t have a ton of...

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...

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're filling up your time with assignments that don't pay well, or where clients mistreat you.  In this re-run from May 2020, Wudan and Jenni address reasons why you might say no to a freelance assignments (including if the pay rate is lower than you'd usually charge, if the project presents ethical dilemmas, or if your schedule is too full to allow you the time you...

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. If you haven’t done so yet, please...

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...

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. Despite the pandemic, 2020 has been his most lucrative year yet. In...

Let’s be honest: No one is perfect at running a business. We’ve all screwed up. We’ve all been too pushy or not pushy enough. We’ve all reacted too quickly when a situation doesn’t go the way we want it to. In both Wudan and Jenni’s coaching practices (and in our own businesses), we’ve helped our clients navigate and reflect on their relationships with their clients, and that’s what we’re doing in this episode, too. Complaining about a client outcome that didn’t go your way can feel soothing...