Lessons learned

Day 29 / 30-Day Writing Challenge

Lessons learned from the 30-Day Writing Challenge. First and foremost is Behind the Scenes at Orozco Ink needs to benefit the reader. Why would someone (other than good friends and relatives) bother to read this?

This next one is really about a lesson being reinforced, rather than learned. Show up and write. Start tip-tapping on those keys. Doesn't matter what comes out ... it doesn't need to be submitted or posted or emailed. What matters is the doing. The priming of the pump. 

You know, I learn by observing others. How do they run their business? What do they make a priority? What are they charging? Where do they get jobs? I like learning from others. 

And, just think ... I have one more day to learn more lessons from the 30-Day Writing Challenge. 

Below, apropos of nothing, my cat Nella is one of my lessons from the universe. She's semi-feral and really doesn't like anybody or anything. Sometimes she really hurts my feelings. 

Time to Invoice

Day 16 / 30-Day Writing Challenge

Entrepreneurs learn lots (and lots) about themselves while making a living. What they're good at, and what they're not so good at, what they enjoy, and what they shy away from.

For me, the number one thing shied away from is invoicing. I am not comfortable billing for my work. Funny, huh? The actual billing, plugging in the numbers, is fine; it's the asking for the money that's the issue. 

Why? 

Who knows? It's probably an amalgamation (wow! how often does the opportunity to use that word show up?) of factors like my parents' attitude toward money, gender roles, self worth, etc. 

Having a regular invoicing day/period helps with the discomfort. I bill at the end of the month via email. Clients can expect an invoice from me the first few days of a month. Most pay right away. I've had to chase down a few payments, and, by the way, that wasn't uncomfortable at all. 

My generic invoice, pictured below, is an Excel worksheet. My sister helped create it. 

Most of my clients pay by check. One paid me a large sum in cash. That was nice, albeit a little nerve wracking. A few have paid via PayPal, which extracts a fee, so the client needs to pay more than the billed amount. 

30-Day Writing Challenge is half-way finished. Now for the final stretch. 

Today is the first day of the rest of my [writing] life

Today starts a 30-day writing workout. This is the plan: post for 30 days straight on Behind the Scenes at Orozco Ink. Here's why: I need to write more.

Really, for someone who makes their living as a writer I'd really like to write more often.

Ever read the right side of Behind the Scenes at Orozco Ink? The "About Me" part? Where I blab a bit on how my blog is a place for me to work on my writing. Well, recently that's serving as an excellent example of a farce!

It's time to get back to this blog's basics, which are an outlet for writing and telling the back story of making a living as a writer. Read the post What's so funny about peace, love, and billable hours? That's more the spirit of Behind the Scenes at Orozco Ink.

I'm a big believer in practicing the basics, honing one's skills. This will be fun (she says trying to convince herself as her feet get colder and colder). The next basic I'm going to tackle is sending out query letters.

See you tomorrow!

See the following photo, that's me with my five charges! The photo is more than a few months old. Which reminds me of something else -- I need to get professional photos of myself. 

What’s in a Name?

I chose the name Orozco Ink for my business because I like the play on words between “ink” and “inc.” The “ink” part related well to the business of writing, and I thought the “inc.” gave it an official tone. Kind of, anyway.

I still really like the name.

Well, it is funny how confusing a name can be. I never considered the following: A call from a potential client looking for a calligrapher to do some menus. A very friendly man he was, by the way. We chatted a bit about mix-ups and how confusing the English language can be.

Another interesting call I received was someone looking for a tattoo artist. Of course, now that I think about it, “ink” is much better suited to a tattoo artist than to a writer who uses a laptop.

And, FYI, I don’t even have a tattoo.

Dreams Do Come True

The difficult part about having your dreams come true is keeping your dreams in the forefront of your mind. That's why experts in the field (motivational speakers, life coaches, sales managers and the like) suggest keeping pictures of your goals in front of you, like on the bathroom mirror, or writing affirmations. You have to remind the noggin just what it is you are after.

Above, doesn't the new mixer look beautiful. This is before any mixing soiled the beautiful machinery.

One of my purely materialistic aspirations has been a Kitchen Aid mixer. (BTW, I wish for world peace and like to think I do my part to make the world a better place.) The Kitchen Aid mixer, I must confess, is 100 percent vanity and indulgence. It is not as if I bake frequently or that particularly well. I wanted that appliance trophy, and have wanted it off and on for about the last 15 years.

My husband received a notice his air miles were about to expire. I thought we could get a couple of magazine subscriptions, at least, out of the deal, so I dusted off his account and pin numbers and did a little online shopping.

My eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw the Kitchen Aid mixer at 40,000-and- change points/miles. He had a few miles to spare, and I thought I'd cough up the tax and shipping in cash. Can you believe we weren't charged anything extra for tax or shipping?

Dreams do come true, and sometime better than we imagined.

Breaking the Blog Hymen

The PLAN is to blog my true self—or how I hope to portray my true self; I'm not going to go on about polishing off a bag of potato chips because my mom bugged the hell out of me when I took her to Trader Joe's—so I can conduct my writing business without feeling totally robbed of creativity. And it is OK if my clients see the blog because they pay me to write what they want written. They don't pay me to indulge my inner artist. And it's not like I'm going to bite the hand that feeds me and bag on my clients or anything. If they want me to do that, they'll have to pay me!

The FANTASY is for the blog to be a smashing success—it becomes one of the hottest read items on the Internet (all through word of mouth), gets optioned into a book followed by the inevitable screenplay. I get paid tons of money and of course I use a fair portion of it to make society a better place, such as healthcare for all, making sure everyone has access to a fabulous education, and a clean environment. Miraculously, through the whirlwind of all that excitement I turn into a raving beauty, or at least that gash of a frown line bisecting my forehead disappears.

The REALITY is I'm making a commitment to blogging three times a week. And knowing me, it just may be three times on a Saturday night just so I can say I did my blogging for that week. I'll probably even turn the computer on and off in between blogs for that authentic feel (don't want my computer to think I'm lying/cheating).