by Marty | Sep 3, 2012 | General Pearls of Wisdom, Reviews of Stuff
In August, a miraculous thing happened for me. It took a family, a huge fish, some other huge fishes, and then even more family, and then some extra stuff and then contemplation to figure it out a little more – but it gave me a good look at irony as a nice little motif here, but it had a happy ending and I get to share more fish pictures.
And it all started with my family’s art show.
I know what you are thinking immediately: how does your family’s show depicting 3 generations of art and music compare with all those others out there? And to you, I say pish tosh, mostly because effete people get to say things like that, and I should qualify there. Been practicing forever.
{EDITOR’S NOTE: there used to be 3 links to press releases here, but over time, those press releases were not archived, so the links and the mention of them were removed. Carry on. }
And finally, here’s the clan, accurately portraying the way I think of them (I am dork central, spastically holding 2 drinks…my huge brothers are on your left -I am right next to my dad):
So many months before those poor journalists hurled such positively-spun epithets at my brood, my dad asked me what I was going to do here.
I was a bit perplexed – I wanted to do something appropriate. Art, to me, is often an oddly-shaped prehistoric bird living in my skeleton (but fighting its way out), or maybe more accurately, an inverted funnel that accidentally explodes everywhere…so I have a hard time translating that into terms people can agree with or see the same way. A lot of my art is/was confrontational too, because I think sitting on a fence is not anything even a crow truly wants. It made my stuff primitive at best – hacked, more accurately.
But more to the point, I have not done anything physical with art of a tangible variety in years (decades, probably) so it felt kinda wrong too, to put up shit I did way back in my routinely misspent youth, but don’t do any longer. None of that stuff was very good anyway – not meant for public consumption. My family has practicing artists – I am not of that ilk; I am more of a weekend duffer, and a great appreciator of all things art. I have found little ways to let art bleed into everyday stuff like cooking or copywriting or web design, so I need to have it concentrated less…which means I am not as driven to it every day, like I used to feel. I don’t draw anymore, and simply don’t have enough time to do any of the many things I like to do most often. But I do play a lot of music, or have most of my life anyway, for better or worse. A bit of a hack there too of course, but more time woodshedding, and more public stuff.
So we worked almost immediately on me doing some music for this thing in some way…I have a lot of toys here, and just enough brass left tucked in the sack to get up and play on them in front of people, as if I can.
Being an art show, I went for piano: I started playing that when I was in high school, and still do a bit. I am a noodler, and play by ear. But there is a caveat here, in that I hardly ever play music at all anymore. Family life was more of my drill. When I do get a gig now, I need to play for a few weeks to re-learn everything my muddled middle age likes to forget, be it on drums or guitar or (shudder) singing…but I hardly ever, EVER get called on to play piano for anything. It has been YEARS, and typically it is only a couple wedding songs or something. Pianos are just too hard to lug around.
Still, this was important to my dad and my family, and piano seemed to be the right thing, so I committed to playing for a few hours, figuring I could fake my way through it all.
…and then, I started practicing like a crazy man. (Thanks again going to my wife and son, who had to listen to it for months, and help me to not spaz out because I KNEW I was going to be terrible. They had to hold my hand quite a bit more than they usually do.)
I played for at LEAST an hour a day (going into 3 or even more in the weeks right before the show) – and started writing out a song list. I was trying to remember anything I thought people might know or that I could play (lucky if it was both), and trying some stuff I never had, but thought I could get away with. I worked on a bunch of songs I wrote myself, back when I used to do that…and then started going thru Beatles songs, and Billy Joel and Elton to find shit I could fake. I saw a movie that used Mad World by Tears for Fears, and added it. I remembered a couple mellow Velvet Underground songs I could play on guitar, so added them. I think I came up with about 68 songs in all…scrawled on one coveted masterlist.
But the point is, it mattered to me a great deal that I could do it, and do it at least marginally well – I was representing, as far as I could tell. My family is VERY musically gifted, so I wanted to be semi-good for all of us, as a way to display it publicly…you know? I wanted to display both taste and style – two things I typically could care less about at a gig. So I practiced, daily, for months. Practice, panic, sweat. Practice, panic, weep. Panic, panic, practice.
But it came together, and I was getting pretty psyched. I had not seen a lot of my family’s work, not like this – especially not all in one place.
When I got down there (rented a car, and drove solo), I went in when they were moving in the art and played on the piano a bit. Mine here at home, is a cabinet grand built in 1908 (rebuilt by me a few years ago)…it is a bit of a chore to hit it properly, but I do love it so. The low range just punches you in the chest – sounds like heaven probably tastes, to me. But the art center had a Steinway grand, that even though it was just a little out of tune in a couple spots, it played like butter, comparatively. I looked like butter, so it was a good match.
I played it for a bit and it felt really good to me though, and so did my head, really – I felt I was adequately prepped, I had my list, the axe was a good one, and I was ready to go…I even determined a few things that this piano would allow me to do that mine kind of make tough…trilly stuff, and happy tinkles. It seemed like everything was a lock – so I decided to go fishing that night.
As I have mentioned out here before, my buddy Darin is an amazing fisherman and guide, and is generous as hell with boat time for me in Florida, taking me out every time he can when I am down there. This was no different: we had arranged our night before I even left Atlanta. Fishing around Sanibel Island is truly spectacular – I can’t recommend it enough. And Darin is an expert, so going with him is even better than simply going out. We have a lot of fun out there.
I got to his house a bit early, but we went straight out on the water with enough gas in the tank to cruise for a while before the bait came up. Truly beautiful stuff…and I was sending my son iPhone videos, asking him what he was doing while I was forced to be out on the boat (he loves the water and fishing as much as his old man).
So after Darin and I checked out the sunset, we caught some bait (ballyhoo!) and went to work.
I dropped the first bait down, and literally within about a minute (not stretching that one either), tied into a big old tarpon.
I love this game fish a TON – and this guy, though not my biggest one ever, was super strong, and a great fighter – he jumped out of the water at least 6 times while I tired him out. I got him to the side of the boat (after about 3 false positives, where he got up there and then took off again), and we decided to haul him in for pictures.
The way you grab a big tarpon if not using a gaff, is with your thumbs under his bottom lip, and your fingers curled into his mouth – you grab and hold. This guy was somewhere between 50 and 80 pounds I would think (about 5 feet long), and I have only held a couple this big before…so while Darin was getting the camera out, this palooka decides to try to wiggle out of my arms, and his full weight came down on my right thumb.
I dropped him onto the deck, and saw stars for a minute – but quickly picked him back up for the pix, because we wanted to get him back into the water ASAP. Darin snapped one, and I tried to move the fish and my hand screamed at me – I knew something was wrong, so held it a different way as you see in this pic. But adrenalin was high, the night was just starting, we got our pix, so we got him back into the water.
He actually floated back up, and we had to motor over to him to help revive him. I grabbed him in the water, flipped him over and held him in the current until he pulled away from me (again, strong as hell-a feeling hard to describe to you, but immensely powerful to experience). He was fine.
But this was not all the night had for us out there by Sanibel Island – we caught a bunch more fish, including some snook, which are my all-time favorites. But these were not ordinary snook, in the 20-25 inch range: some of these were just monsters.
After a couple decent sized fish, my thumb was obviously not OK. The tarpon had jammed it bad, and it was hurting more every passing minute – but the fish were hot, and I did not want to stop. In this picture, I am trying to hold the snook with my thumb in its mouth but pain made me switch to my never used left hand…I look like I am going to puke, but I am only trying to figure out just how badly I am hurt (this snook was not too big, but I still couldn’t hold him), and panic is rising in me a bit.
…and then, I caught the bad boy.
I knew from the first hit, this was a big fish – and his fight was epic. But about halfway thru it, my thumb quit completely, so I was trying to reel in with a club that was dangling useless digits. I was incensed: I had a huge fish on, and could not get it together to land it properly. The pain was making me spaz out…I got the fish within a few feet of the boat, and begged Darin to take to pole from me, because I could not even hold it right, and started fearing this fish would rip it from my paws. Darin did – and he would not let me let this great fish go…netting him in short order. So technically, I did not actually swing him over the side: Darin did it for me, because my thumb made it impossible to think, much less reel. But biggest snook I ever caught (damn right, I caught him – only a fool would not claim a fish like that!) – he was a beauty. Note, I am holding him lefty, and we could not really get a good pic of him, because my left arm was too weak to hold him dangling full-length, so I’m holding the tail, which put a bend in him (and yes: we let him go like the rest, and he was also fine).
But at this point, my thumb was such a problem, I actually stopped fishing. Sat on the bow, and watched Darin reel in a few.
I use this only to illustrate how dire it was: I was in the thick of big snook biting (which is like an angel’s handjob to me), and opted to watch for a while rather than living it. It’ll never happen again, I am sure – and if I didn’t have to play the next day, I would have ignored the pain completely. Taped it down. Chewed it off. But each fish I caught was making it worse, so I just had to stop and sit down to panic a bit more. Then I tried to fish, but the tides were shifting and things started to slow down anyway. Needless to say, we ended shortly after that…it was late, we had landed big fish and actually had pix of a few, and I was now looking kind of pathetic and pale, and mumbling things incoherently about pianos, and total idiots, and woe-is-megasms.
Darin offered the whole time to take me home (half-mockingly), reminding me that fish for him, can be a near weekly thing: he was super cool to offset my spaziness. But I didn’t want to leave, even though I was thinking it was probably better to go, and not risk really doing some damage by tempting myself anymore with these horribly beautiful fish.
Driving home was amazingly hard – try that sometime without ever using your thumbs. Try most anything for that matter. 🙂
But the next morning I awoke at my friend’s place to find I could not even bend my right thumb any longer: that fucking tarpon apparently wrecked my gig completely. Months of practice, done. Family depending on me, done. Cue massive irony swell, with Satan giggling as he rides his surfboard on the crest of my crestfalleness.
Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttttttttttt.
I went over to my folks’ house, where my mom, Parkinson’s and all, was busy cooking everything on the planet. She catered the whole evening, which was an amazing feat for anyone to do as well as it went, much less solo – but with her physical issues it was monumental, really. She fed hundreds of people cooking everything in her kitchen with her sister and carting it over to the art center… and it lasted all night long – and people absolutely loved her food. So I had offered to come over and help – but as I drove over there, I just kept trying to figure out how to tell them what happened. They also have a beautiful baby grand, which my mom even had tweaked for me to practice on – so I was going to see if I could play anything at all.
I got there, and made a few jokes about it -but was only trying to downplay it. I sat at the piano and tried, and it did not look good at all, feeling even worse – I was about 7 hours from the gig, and just could not play without the lightning and laser show going off in my hand. The location of the issue could not have been worse – I kept downplaying it as much as I could, but I was totally freaking out in my head.
My uncle was there, and he has a good number of years being a coach, so he came over and worked on it, which helped a ton…and he told me to start icing it no less than every 1-2 hours for about 20 minutes. I made a mitten out of a plastic ice cube sheet and a rubber band, and did what I was told. I helped my mom with a couple things, but was so wrapped up in my private panic and so useless without my right thumb, I was good for nothing that wasn’t focused on ME, and not doing too well with those things either. She didn’t need me at all anyway, but still.
We carted stuff the rest of the day, and I kept my regimen of icing it down and babying it, and my uncle massaged it a couple more times. I was so distraught about everything, I actually ran right into a truck on the way back to my parents’ house to get changed for the gig – I even dented the rental. Luckily no one hurt, so I simply got out of there as fast as I could and went on with it, but was wondering what the hell was going to go wrong next.
Turns out only one thing: I got there and left the song list in the car, and sat down to play before realizing I would not be getting up for a few hours in a row. Ironic bliss showers over me once again.
But by the time I started to play, I was doing it in part, just to see if I could. I was so worried about my thumb, I forgot to be nervous about playing at all, and sailed thru about 2 1/2 or 3 hours before I even took a break. I was winging stuff, and doing what I remembered from the list – but it just kind of fell into place, and felt perfect. Slightly painful, but emotionally fulfilling to say the least. I can’t say what it sounded like, but it seemed to be going over well.
I took a break, and my nieces both played – they each have waaaay more talent than me, and both can sing like angels. We then switched around for the rest of the night, taking turns entertaining the masses. I was outclassed, but proud to be there.
At the end of the night, my thumb was turning purple and swelling up again – but I did not care anymore, I had made it thru.The show ran for a month, and just ended…but I heard it was a very successful opening night for the art center, too.
The end result, was they sold some art, mom fed half the city, everyone represented well, hundreds of people came and saw it (thanks again, all you kind people) – and I learned even a tarpon is not going to keep me from hamming it up whenever I get access to an open stage. I suggest to hide the mics if you see me coming – not all of them are friendly art shows. 🙂
by Marty | Jul 21, 2012 | Finding Freelance SEO Copywriting Work, Freelance SEO Copywriting Tips
As an SEO copywriter, you should be well aware of all the changes Google has been releasing – especially in the recent past. The fact they now give these algorithm changes cute animal names does not mean they cannot wreak a lot of very un-cute havoc on your (or a client’s) web business. There are penguins and pandas throwing out monkey wrenches in some of the older (?) content development and content promotion areas – the two things directly affecting an SEO copywriter’s daily efforts. So how do you create content these days, and appease the animal farm those Orwellians keep throwing in between us, and the SERPs?
Identify the Filters
In both Panda (which is believed to be content-related) and Penguin (which is more link-related), how you present and promote your content determines a lot about whether or not you get whacked. So this means logically, there are going to be thresholds and limits that will signal whether you are a good witch or a bad witch.
It gets very difficult to isolate individual aspects of what makes one site or page rank over another – but this is in fact, your job, so suck it up.
In Panda, the larger target Google seems to go after are the sites known as content farms, where (as one example) an algorithm determines new topics and cheap writers fill it in as fast as possible. Basically, in my opinion, Panda looked to clean up all the crap Google had caused for itself by making it possible to get paid to rank really crappy, MFA (made for AdSense) sites. The SERPs were getting heavy with these low-rent middle-man specials, so Panda uses some pretty broad strokes to cull some of these sites out.
Though properly identifying the specific aspects of Panda are (of course) Google-shrouded, it is generally believed that thin, excessive content that is unsupported on a site makes it vulnerable…and this drove a lot of sites’ growth over the last 5 years for sure…it was very common to take a list of keywords and build out a page for each to try to bring that power in.
So here is an obvious signal for you to use: if thin pages in bulk on your client sites don’t work so well any longer, no more thin, unnecessary content that makes a page out of every keyword. Instead, look to consolidate the ideas and erase the thin from the approach. Research – both the subject matter and the audience, so you can find better ways to connect. Spend more time on each page and with each topic, and make something that actually answers to a visitor with a face.
Instead of looking at one or three keywords that a page is answering to, look to the larger ideas and let it spin out a little more freely. Use synonyms and all related terms liberally – you want to increase conceptual context. In doing so, you will tend to open up new long tail possibilities, which is nice. Spend more time and money on creating less, but infinitely better content.
Is this a sure-fire defense against a Panda penalty? No way – but it should help you to defend against it. As more signals become clear (or more clear to you), you can refine your approach further, incorporating these new signals into every page you develop, sidestepping the critter poop along the way.
In Penguin, (with a broad stroke for brevity) excessive (or even just overtly purchased) link tactics have shown to be a detriment that can get your site aggressively filtered. Obviously, this means if your link strategies used tactics that were against Google’s terms of service, the risks for doing so have grown to be a huge risk. If you only know of strategies that employ purchased links or publicly advertised processes, chances are pretty good that you are inviting Penguins into the compound. Whether or not they do any damage to your sites is dependent on lots of moving parts no doubt – but again, here is a pretty well accepted signal to fold into your approach.
In the same way you can bring your on-site efforts to a higher shelf with just a little effort, the same holds true for link efforts. It is easy (and deceptively affordable) to blast links out in groups of hundreds or even thousands at a time. Slow and steady may not get you tons of links every week or even every month – but if you target better sites and make the process manual all the way, you are going to separate your efforts from those who do not go the extra distance. You may have less sites linking in, but if they are of a higher caliber than the competition, you are sending out a signal about your site that clearly sets it apart: we have a quality level our competitors can’t touch.
Ignore the Critters
It is never really going to be a good idea to ignore the search engines when creating content that you want to work well in the engines, but it does help you to create better content to conceptually start from there. In my experience, people get really obsessed with keywords, and SERPs, and traffic reports, and potential…and they forget that it all stems from user engagement. Sure, they need keywords to associate the context and connect the dots, but believe it or not, I still get occasional comments about the keyword density…and some people still use this measure to evaluate a page’s effectiveness. C’mon people – they are moving quick out there, let’s stay with them. I will lend you a chalkboard if you need it.
Keywords need to be natural, and most people struggle here. Instead of allowing them to flow out naturally, they more often have an article that they like and want to add their keywords to it, or increase the power of the page by increasing the number of times the keyword happens (density, you whore). So it comes off stiff – the flow and natural feel of the page gets waylaid for some hopeful SERP bump, be it client or vendor inspired. I know you have read these pages before – they are everywhere…because mechanically gaming the engines is WAAAY easier than engaging the people, for realzies. Zoo or no zoo. But true engagement resonates, and carries on its own power.
When you are creating new content, the engagement should be focused (as always?) on the user…ignore those Googley zoo beasts as best you can. Like I said up top, be aware of the signals they are using (TEST!) so you can ensure you are not crossing the line unknowingly (which is getting tougher, so good luck), but focus 100% on that end user and your content should improve, and work better for you and your clients.
by Marty | Jun 18, 2012 | Freelance SEO Copywriting Tips
If you are a freelance SEO writer or other type of freelancing professional, you are probably going to have to create a statement of work at some point along the way. So this post is going to look at these things a little bit: what statements of work are, why they are important, and how to create one.
Why On Earth Do You Need a Statement of Work?
A statement of work is like a contract. It is a written agreement between two parties regarding a project or deliverable – something along those lines. It is a document stating that one party agrees to perform services for another and it typically defines some of the parameters of the project and its scope. Importantly, it also often contains things that are NOT involved in the project.
You need a statement of work sometimes because it clearly states what you and the client are mutually agreeing to – what the project definitions are. By having a single outline document to which you both agree, it reduces the potential of scope creep, missed deliverables, or other potential misunderstandings along the way. You might look at them like a contract – but they are typically lacking some of the starch and legalese that contracts imply. Plus, they’re probably not as binding…I can’t say to that, as I have never had to take either through a court battle. But it seems that the omission of the legally binding terms found in contracts makes it less enforceable.
But you’ll often need a statement of work if you don’t have a contract, or you don’t have relationship with the client (you don’t know if they will flake on you or not) or you feel the need to protect yourself as a project begins – you want to define your understanding of it, clearly, and define the responsibilities of all involved parties.
So if you freelance with any regularity, it is a good idea to get one together whenever you need it – and then keep it around as a template for any more that may come along. Less and less of my own clients ask for this kind of document to get something going these days, but knowing how they work and how to use them allows me to be attractive to those clients who are more used to this approach – like agencies, and larger corporate clients. Some folks ask for it in an initial consultation, so I can answer: “Sure – let me get that right over to you.”
What Should a Statement of Work Template Include?
I am sure there are some formal guidelines to these documents out there somewhere, but I go with what works. So apologies if this is not the “correct” way – it has been correct enough for me. It likely varies a bit, depending on the nature of the project you are covering.
Typically, I would section it off, so you can include a brief look at all relevant aspects of the agreement. This generally includes an overview, a list of deliverables, a list of any tonal/branding considerations, a list of technical considerations – e.g. how each deliverable will be sent, a timeline or calendar of scheduled events, a list of other considerations or details, a list of projected delivery dates and payment milestones, and finally, a list of things defined as being “out of scope” for the effort.
- Overview/Executive Summary: A generalized look at the intentions of the effort – such as “to build content bringing more visits to this site because of XYZ.” Usually about one to two paragraphs, explaining the overall effort – used to indicate a full understanding of scope.
- Deliverables: This is the heart of this document really, which are the items you’ll be creating to answer to the needs outlined in the overview. Bullet out each deliverable, stating what it is and why it plays a part in the overall strategy.
- Tonal Considerations: You want to spec out details of the tone that you identify as important to the voice of the project. This may be from info the client sends, research you perform independently or most often a mix of both.
- Technical Considerations: These are details about the deliverable files – any specs on the way they need to be delivered. If you are writing, identifying in it is a word document or a coded html snippet would be something you clarify here. Again, this is a point where you clarify that you and the client are talking about the same thing, and share the same expectations.
- Timeline: a calendar-related schedule for deliverables – this avoids issues later, and gives a nice foundation for everyone to rely on and trust. It also alerts all teams involved of expected due dates – this is crucial to better coordinate larger efforts.
- Other: It is important for a workable template to have an “other” category as a catch-all for the details a project might carry with it. Each project is certainly unique, so in this section, you can add the oddball details and let them be what they are. You might add what the client’s expected role is, or anything required here to keep the project on schedule. A brief mention of dependencies can help to illustrate the need for ongoing communication throughout the project.
- Out of Scope: This is a crucial part of the document, allowing you to define things that you will NOT be doing during this effort. Not so necessary on smaller things, it can certainly save your ass in bigger projects. I do like to address this – it is also a place to feed ideas to the client about future work…you mention cool ideas that you will not be doing here, but make sense.
- Budget: I always like to ensure my budget for the details will be clearly written as a shared reference point -again, it helps to avoid confusion. Talk about exactly what their money is going to cover – and specify how you’ll calculate any overage (be it hourly, flat rate, etc.).
- Signatures: The whole point of this document, is two parties agreeing on something – so you need both to sign-off on it. A signature page does not always require a physical signature (entering: sig on file and having the info elsewhere works) but it give you a place to stop the project – make sure you are both agreeing to its terms and conditions (signing off on the shared understanding of each here). Have offline contact info listed in the document, so you can correct anything that hinders the signing and enactment of it.
So that’s it really: just start with a good template that points out milestones and understood specifics in direction and production, and fill in the blanks. It does not have to be too overly formal – but I do find a cross between formal writing and casual tends to hit it well for most things on these docs. When in doubt, lean toward the more formal approach than a casual one: it is always better to spell it out, clearly and deliberately. I also find that the section on “Out of Scope” items is essential to a lot of projects – stating clearly what you are not doing can be a great way to avoid issues. Let’s say you are assigned half of a marketing effort, for example, you’d want to define the items in the other half as being NOT your responsibility, even though they are required for the project to be successful…it shows you and the client agree that these are not your tasks.
Finding Statement of Work Templates
OK – you probably got a good handle on what they are, so now where can you find them? You might start here:
But really, if you uniquely brand a Word document (use a logo in the header and add footer contact information) you could literally copy the bullets above, and simply make them work for your project(s).
In case you are still struggling to see what I mean, I created a little template here from an old one I did back in 2001…Free Statement of Work Template. If you use this one, at a minimum replace all the CN references with your business name, and use it to create something specific to your efforts. Be careful to look it over really well, so any information in it is specific to you and not a holdover from this template.
A semi-formal statement of work shows you are considering the deeper details of an effort and are a professional, so even if they are not requested, most people are not going to mind if you want one used. They do serve as protection against misunderstandings that can get tense and costly for either side or both.
Use Them as You Need Them
The idea behind creating more paperwork here is, by having a single point of reference in a SOW document (as they are often called), you can stay focused on the project and avoid issues for both you and the client. You can deflect scope creep. You can stay on budget, or know when it is OK to bill more and how much to charge (a good detail to add under the “Budget” section – “This project is budgeted for $X for [deliverables]; with any extra time being factored in at a discounted rate of $X/hr/day, etc.”). You know what they want their deliverables to be, in what format using the proper tone and on which calendar dates.
In a nutshell, it protects you both to honor the project by spelling it all out, and allowing you to sign-off on agreeing to it.
I personally, have not had to use them in a looooong time (most of my clients have been here with me for years) – but a conversation with a friend recently and a close shave on a project brought them to mind, so I thought I would share my experiences with them anyway.
One time, I had a fine SOW in place (as well as a contract), but the client jumped mid-stream anyway…and the amount was too small for me to justify pursuing in small claims (where I am sure I would’ve won)…I simply let it go. Not so sure I would let it go today, but I know more now, and am a bit more protective of my time than I have been in the past. Luckily, as I said, I hardly ever bust one of these out any longer – most of my work is arranged in an email or Skype call with people I trust a lot.
If you are trying to sort these out, and found this post but need more help – just shoot me an email or comment below, and I will do what I can to help you sort it out.
It may be a hassle-ly bit of paperwork, but ultimately, it can save you from heartache and can keep your work life much easier to deal with. It is definitely a document you need to be familiar with and comfortable producing quickly as needed – some clients do ask for them, so you want to take it in stride, and say “Sure: let me tweak one out, and I’ll have it to you this afternoon.”
If you have a decent template that has worked for you, you will find it only takes an hour or so to make sure something like this is complete and accurate to the new effort, with all the new client details (be sure to edit it well!). The difference in having it later on can be illustrated in something simple, like a date or tone expectation to be reiterated or re-established in some way – but many times, it is used as the basis to argue why you won’t do something – because it is clearly out of scope from the stated plans. A project likes to bubble all over the place sometimes, so this is one document that helps to protect both parties involved from the effort spinning out of control.
Hopefully, you have never heard of Stephen Pierce. And unless you either frequent internet marketing dens of inequity or have accidentally answered the phone, chances are good you haven’t (we hope). But there are a lot of people that have heard of him, and as a result, many of them end up with a lot less money and no good explanation for it. I will let my friend the Salty Droid tell you all about it in his recent posts: