WHEN Thursday, Sept. 21, 7-10 p.m. WHERE Richard Hugo House Alice Room 1634 11th Ave. Seattle, WA 98122 MORE INFO Email us, or call (310) 659-5668. PRICE $65 ($50 for ) more info

Course Details

Ah, the wonderful world of self-employment. No more Monday morning staff meetings. No more onerous commute. Instead, every day is casual Friday and every cup of coffee is home-brewed. But if you think being your own boss means sleeping in till 1 p.m., taking three-hour lunches, and waiting for the phone to ring, think again. The best freelancers know working solo means hustling for clients and running their own show like a well-oiled machine.

If you long to work independently but have the business sense of a Boston Terrier, take heart. Whether you write, edit, design, or photograph, you don't need an MBA or a five-figure loan to leave your day job in the dust. In this class, you'll walk through the typical workday of the successful freelancer, starting with that early morning email check and ending with those last-minute revisions before bed. I'll cover the essentials of running a creative business, from building a client base and working with agencies to naming your price and cherry-picking your projects. You'll learn how to beef up your portfolio, even if you're starting from scratch, and dazzle would-be clients without being a total pushover. You'll also learn how to spot a cash cow, a deadbeat client, and a contract from hell. And we'll strategize on ways you can create a buzz for yourself as an independent contractor, whether you're wooing corporate goliaths or creative mom-and-pop shops.

In this 3-hour seminar, you will learn:

• How to transition from full-time employee to full-time freelancer
• The most effective ways to structure your workday (and avoid procrastination)
• How to create a niche for yourself and land reputable, paying clients
• How to set and negotiate competitive market rates
• How to weed out contracts and projects you'd live to regret
• How to handle the inevitable ebbs and flows in your project schedule
• How to get legit—business licenses, insurance, taxes, and more
• How to promote yourself on a shoestring
• How to stay sane, solvent, and successful

Instructor Bio

Michelle Goodman's Courses

Michelle Goodman has been freelance writing and editing for more than a decade. She has written about alternative careers, human mating rituals, and pup culture for publications such as Salon, Bust, Bitch, The Bark, Seattle Times, San Francisco Bay Guardian, a couple of book anthologies, and a handful of websites that sank like the Titanic during the dotcom bust. To keep a roof over her head, she also wrangles print and online text for high-tech empires, book publishers, and peddlers of new-age philosophy. Back when web startups were handing out $1/word assignments like candy, Michelle penned reams of self-employment advice for sites such as Guru.com and Techies.com. Her first book, The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Advice for Thinking Outside the Cube, is due out from Seal Press in January 2007.