The Modern Editor - Editing Tips for Freelance Editors

*Content warning: This episode discusses depression, anxiety, and eating habits.*

When you’re a freelance editor and wear all the hats in your editing business, you can get too much on your plate very quickly. It accumulates fast, sneaks up on you, and suddenly you’re stretched way too thin. Your energy, motivation, and capacity quite literally burn out.

In this episode, I talk about my recent experience with burnout, some warning signs and symptoms to look out for, and provide you with some tips that helped me return to my version of normal. You’ll hear the following:

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It’s the million-dollar question: Where does all our time go? To help answer that question, I’m going to walk you through my process for figuring out where our time goes, what we spend our time doing, and how we can “earn” some of our time back.

Here’s what we’re going to cover:

• What’s a time audit, and how I use it to see where my time is spent
• Getting real with the results of your time audit. Is this really how you want to be spending your time?
• How a time audit can help you discover areas you can redistribute your time

Discussed in this episode:

• Toggl
• Harvest

Connect:

• Book a free 15-minute call
• Join the Freelance Editors Club
• Tara on Instagram
• Tara on Facebook

Are you constantly moving in your editing business and forgetting to take the time to reset? It’s time to put on your CEO hat so that you actually review your business as a freelance editor! Listen in as I walk you through my monthly process of how I review my business in order to stay organized and wrap up each month.

We’re going to cover a lot in this episode, but keep an eye out for these highlights:

Discussed in the episode:

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Tax season—that time of year dreaded by most. And while filing your taxes as a freelance business owner is a much different ball game than doing them as a W2 employee, if you get organized, stay organized, and follow my tips, tax time will go smoother than you think.

In this episode, you’ll learn the following:

• 04:37 – My number one tip to keep your finances organized from the beginning
• 08:07 – What’s a deduction, and what the IRS considers an expense
• 11:38 – A surprising expense that can be deducted from your taxes if you work from home (I had no idea!)
• 15:43 – Books are considered a business expense?! (Use your common sense and good judgment and ask your accountant first)

Discussed in the episode:

• California AB5
• IRS estimated taxes
• IRS Employer Identification Number (EIN) application

Connect:

• Book a free 15-minute call
• Join the Freelance Editors Club
• Tara on Instagram
• Tara on Facebook

It’s always helpful to get a glimpse into how others approach their editing projects. No two editors are the same, and there isn’t one right way to get the job done. So whether it’s for new tips, things you haven’t thought of, or just to make your process more efficient, I’m sharing ten prechecks I do at the beginning of every copyediting project I take on.

In this episode, you’ll learn the following:

• 03:35 – The number one rule I check for and we should all be following in 2023
• 05:58 – One tool in CMOS that is going to be your best friend
• 08:30 – How to get your hands on my 60-page Elevate Your Editing Resource Guide, which includes 300+ commonly confused words
• 10:43 – A quick way to switch out straight quotes and apostrophes for curly

Connect:

• Book a free 15-minute call
• Join the Freelance Editors Club
• Tara on Instagram
• Tara on Facebook

Whenever a new type of technology emerges, there’s always an initial surge of panic, followed closely by people worrying it’ll take over their jobs and their livelihoods are in jeopardy. Usually, once the panic has worn off, we can see a little clearer and be able to do our due diligence and learn more about the new trend.

Some juicy highlights from the episode are below:

• 04:55 – What the heck is ChatGPT?
• 07:58 – What can we use ChatGPT for?
• 10:19 – The outline for a romance novel created by ChatGPT
• 11:43 – Where does ChatGPT get its content?
• 18:00 & 19:50 – My opinion on whether or not ChatGPT is ethical

Connect:

• Book a free 15-minute call
• Join the Freelance Editors Club
• Tara on Instagram
• Tara on Facebook

As a follow-up to Episode 17, Goal-Setting Part 1: Reflection, this episode will take you through my process of creating intentional goals but with a slight twist (hint: it’s not actually about the goals).⁠ I’ve found this process incredibly effective, and it’s completely changed how I approach goal-setting in my editing business. My hope is that these tips will take the ick out of goal-setting and perhaps even make it fun.

In this episode, we’re going to discuss some of the following:

• 07:47 – How I use the Wheel of Life to help me set goals
• 13:39 – How many goals should we set for each month, quarter, or year?
• 17:20 – The most important part of this whole goal-setting process

Connect:

• Book a free 15-minute call
• Join the Freelance Editors Club
• Tara on Instagram
• Tara on Facebook

Trends in business are constantly changing, especially in the online business world and in freelance editing. It can sometimes be hard to keep up as a freelance editor. Based on current trends I’m seeing in the editing industry, I’ve created a short list of my predictions and hopes for freelance editors for 2023 and what you can expect to see more (or less) of.

In this episode, you’ll learn the following:

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Around the end of every year, this buzz phrase starts getting tossed around in abundance: “word of the year.” If you’ve never heard this buzz phrase before and are starting to freak out, don’t sweat!

In this episode, I talk all about choosing a word (or words), why it can be important for your business, and how to do it in a way that will actually help you reach your goals. 

Check out some highlights below:

• 02:57 – How I coincidentally chose the word “community” for the year 2020
• 06:54 – One thing I’ve learned from choosing words over the past three years
• 09:32 – Why having a word of the year helps me make big decisions in my business (and how I came to this realization)
• 16:43 – Why it’s imperative to write your words everywhere!

Connect:

• Book a free 15-minute call
• Join the Freelance Editors Club
• Tara on Instagram
• Tara on Facebook

Reflection, no matter when it’s done, is an important tool when it comes to prioritizing and setting goals. After reviewing the reflection process, I share some thought-provoking questions to help you pause, reflect, and analyze before you start setting new goals. Grab a pen and paper for this episode!

In this episode, we’ll talk about the following:

• 01:50 – Why there’s no perfect time to reflect or set goals
• 03:18 – Why many of us skip the reflection process before setting our goals
• 04:16 – How to detach your self-worth from your goals
• 09:45 – One of my favourite questions to ask myself when self-reflecting

Connect:

• Book a free 15-minute call
• Join the Freelance Editors Club
• Tara on Instagram
• Tara on Facebook