On today’s show I share two timely new resources:

Introducing Deliberate Freelancer Clarity Calls!

These are 45-minute Zoom video chats to talk through 1-2 challenges with podcast host Melanie Padgett Powers.

• Are you feeling stuck in your business and need help reigniting your momentum?
• Do you have a million ideas but need help zeroing in on the best one for you?
• Are you overwhelmed with your to-do list and need help cutting through the noise?
• Are you feeling insecure or uncertain about a proposal, project rate or pricing structure?

Schedule a Clarity Call with Melanie — she can be a sounding board to help you cut through the noise and allow your best ideas to shine through. You can talk through roadblocks to help reignite your momentum. Or you can work together to uncover fresh solutions to client and project challenges.

Clarity Calls are for any creative — any independent business owner — in any industry who is selling services. These calls are for those who are already freelancing and have at least a couple of clients — not someone who hasn’t started yet.

This is a soft launch, with four slots open in May and in June. Each Clarity Call is $149.

Learn more about Clarity Calls!

FREE!

Growth Without Burnout Summit

May 6-9, 2025

24 speakers

Podcast guest and friend Austin L. Church created this amazing summit. While it is especially for freelance writers, much of it is focused on the business side, so I think all sorts of freelancers and solo business owners can benefit.

Learn more and get your Growth Without Burnout Summit free ticket.

Purchase a Growth Without Burnout Summit VIP Pass.

What I Learned This Week:

Schedule worry time.

The Bookshelf: “The Safekeep” by Yael van der Wouden

Resources:

New! Deliberate Freelancer Clarity Calls

Growth Without Burnout Summit free ticket

Growth Without Burnout Summit VIP Pass

Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group

Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee

Today’s guest is Michelle Rafter, who lives in Portland, Oregon. Michelle is the owner of WordCount Editorial Services. She is a former journalist who is now a ghostwriter of books, research reports and articles for CEOs and management consultants. She’s a former newspaper staff writer, wire service columnist and freelance reporter who covered business, enterprise technology and workplace issues.

Michelle has weathered several economic downturns in her longtime journalism and freelance career. She recently updated her blog post “How to Maintain Your Freelance Business in Bad Times,” so I invited her on the show to go through some of her tips. I also crowdsourced questions from the Deliberate Freelancer community so we could address your questions and concerns about the economy right now and how that may be affecting freelance businesses.

Another potentially helpful resource: The American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) is hosting a webinar at 1 p.m. E.T. on Monday, May 19, called “What the Trump Administration Could Mean for Freelancers.”

In this episode, we talk about:

• The turmoil in the U.S. right now and the “tariff economy.”
• How you can make clients happy by going back to the basics.
• How to be a team player and be flexible with clients, while also sticking to your boundaries.
• How to be the freelancer that your clients know they can count on, especially when they’re stressed or in a jam.
• How to break down larger offerings into smaller, more affordable pieces.
• How to bridge your services to a new service or new niche.
• “Low key” marketing versus marketing during turbulent times.
• How to reach out to former clients, as well as following up on past conversations (that maybe didn’t lead to work at that time).
• Invest wisely when deciding to learn a new skill.
• The importance of having an “abundance mindset.”
• The importance of community and reaching out to a fellow freelancer who “gets it.”

Resources:

Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group

Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee

Michelle’s blog post “How to Maintain Your Freelance Business in Bad Times”

ASJA webinar on May 19: “What the Trump Administration Could Mean for Freelancers” (recording available to purchase afterward)

ASJA on-demand webinar: “Canva Tips and Tricks for Freelance Writers”

ASJA on-demand webinar: “Strategies to Sustain Mental Health in a Turbulent Time”

Episode #199 of Deliberate Freelancer: Struggling? How to Get Clients Now, with Rosanna Campbell

Download transcript of episode 205.

Today’s guest is Sara Kobilka, who lives in New York state. Sara is the owner of Renaissance Woman Consulting. Sara has an insatiable curiosity that has driven her career in many different directions that she’s been able to connect in her freelance work. She primarily works in the STEM space.

Sara is also a career coach, primarily for people looking to change industries or disciplines. She hosts LinkedIn sprints to help freelancers and others increase their presence on LinkedIn.

She is passionate about incorporating diversity, equity, inclusion, access, accessibility, belonging and justice (DEIAABJ) throughout her work. In today’s episode, we focus on accessibility — how we can support people with disabilities and embed accessibility into our work.

In this episode, we talk about:

• The current political climate in the U.S. and how it affects DEIAABJ.
• Why the term DEI is limiting.
• The wide variety of disabilities and the five primary categories of disabilities — it’s so much more than a person who uses a wheelchair.
• The “curb cut effect” — how accessibility designed for people with disabilities ends up benefiting the larger population.
• The disability community is one of the only (or only) marginalized groups you are able to join (when you break a bone, suffer chronic pain, have a temporary condition).
• The movement away from the term “invisible” disability.
• Remember: Progress over perfection.
• Areas to start with: alt text, hashtags, closed captions.

Resources:

Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group

Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee

Episode #176 of Deliberate Freelancer: How to Use Conscious Language in Content Creation, with Crystal Shelley

Sara’s website, RenWomanConsulting.com

Sara’s LinkedIn Sprints

Sara on LinkedIn

Sara on Facebook

Sara on BlueSky

Sara on Instagram

Lily Zheng’s FAIR framework

Lily Zheng on LinkedIn

AccessibleSocial.com

The Open Notebook’s list of Diversity Style Guides for Journalists

BetterAllies.com

Meryl Evans’ TED Talk: “The Pandemic’s Influence on Accessibility”

Meryl Evans on LinkedIn

Sara’s blog post “Finding Resources to Support Accessible SciComm Efforts”

“10 Resources to Advance Disability Inclusion and Justice” by Lindsey Mandolini