Regular clients, look away now. You know this already. For everyone else: I’m off on holiday, so don’t expect to hear from me for bit. I’ll be back in three weeks or so.

I won’t be completely out of touch, so if you were thinking of dropping me a line, don’t let the fact I’m not in the country stop you. I’ll be checking my messages while I’m away – I’m just not entirely sure when or how often. So don’t expect an immediate reply.

It’ll be quiet here till I’m back, but if you’re desperate for updates then check Flickr. I’ll probably upload photos for safekeeping as I go.

There are lots of important decisions to be made when going freelance. Like what sort of office chair to buy. And what to put on your business cards.

One of the trickier ones is working out how to position yourself. Do you want to be totally upfront that it’s just you on your own, or would you rather project the air of a slightly larger business?

At its simplest, this comes down to whether you talk about “me” or “we”.

So, for instance if you’ve decided to go down the route of personal branding – you are the business and you’re happy to admit it – you’d probably trade under your own name and have an “about me” page on your website.

Alternatively, if you’ve decided you want to be a little more vague about the people working in your business, you’ll have to think up a name for the company and call the equivalent page on your website “about us”.

Neither of these is the right or wrong approach. Plenty of people take the “me” route and lots go down the “we” road –  I haven’t noticed either approach resulting in noticeably more successful businesses. So in some respects, it doesn’t really matter which you choose.

But in others, it does. And if you’re starting out, it’s worth taking a bit of time working out which is right for you. It makes those other important decisions – like what to put on your business cards and website – a whole lot easier.

As you’ll have noticed, I picked the “me” option. This is why:

• I don’t have any intention of employing people. I’ve consciously decided I don’t want to bring more people into the business. Should I reach the stage where there’s more work than I can handle, I’ll look to other (carefully chosen) freelancers.
• I’ve decided to sell my skills and experience. On this site and when I talk to prospective clients, I try to explain what it is that I can offer them. It’s about how my particular experience and abilities are useful to them – and that means I have to talk about me.
• I want clients who I like and who like me. While I can maintain a good working relationship just about anyone, the clients I get a real buzz out of working with are the ones I get on with best. It’s easier to build this sort of partnership when I’m open about who I am from the start.
• My name was already out there. I’ve been working in this business for a while and have had a blog or website for several years. That gave me the beginnings of a profile – online and offline. Why waste that by starting from scratch under another name?
• I wanted to be completely honest with potential clients. The thing about being a one-person “we” is that you have to explain it’s just you at some point. That’s not to say this is a difficult thing to do – I just feel more comfortable not having to bother doing it at all.

There are some downsides, of course:

(more…)

This week I’ve mostly been reading about usability, excessive flying and events for writers that are happening vaguely near me. Here goes…

• If you’re anything like me, you probably feel odd consulting an online dictionary instead of an old skool printed one. Well, Slate has a good piece about the symbiotic relationship between search engines and online dictionaries – and how easily it could be unbalanced.
• Are you in Brighton or Oxford? I’ve spotted new events for writers in these creative cities. WriteClub is an informal gathering where Brighton writers can meet each other. And Ben Werdmuller organised the first Oxford Writers’ Group last week. I think the next one’s penciled in for 19 October, but check Ben’s site for more information.
• Usability consultant David Hamill has written a really good article about, er, usability. He uses some easy to follow, practical examples to explain what usability is about and why it matters. Go on, have a read. (I found this piece via Helen Baker on Twitter.)
• Finally, a chap called Brendan Ross is spending a month flying from place to place in the States. He’s bought an unlimited pass with the airline jetBlue, aims to never leave airline property and is writing about the experience for Wired magazine. It’s an entertaining read, if not particularly aimed at us writers.