The Initial Plan and Business Model for the Freelancer's Community Co-Operative Website

A Dude on a Chicken

The feedback that I have been getting regarding the Freelancer’s Community Co-Operative Website has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive. That kind of excitement from you all has lit a particularly hot flame under my butt. I want to get this site up as fast as possible, but I am sure you’ll see here shortly that it isn’t exactly the simplest of tasks.

There’s a lot of work on my plate for today, so I’m going to avoid a long-winded (I tried but failed epically, as my daughter would say) post and cut to the chase. As you read through the rest of this post, you will see a basic (and rough) outline of what I have planned for the FCCO site so far. There’s so much more possible, but I’d like all you freelancers/future members out there to chime in with your ideas and suggestions. 

Remember, this is a co-operative and it will follow the 7 Principles of a Co-Op. One of the most important of those 7 guiding principles is that each active member of the Co-Op is as important to the entity as any other member.

A Day in the Life: An A-Hole Attacks, a Process that Kills It and Avoiding A Freelance Writing Trap

Part 1: A Day on Textbroker

After writing the Prologue to "Day in the Life" and expressing the strange occurrence that led to my vision for a Freelancer's Community Co-Operative site, I was at a complete loss for how to follow up and actually start the series with something helpful and meaningful.

So I began to think back to my first few months as a freelance writer, and I remembered the struggles that I went through during those tough times. Struggles that every freelance writer deals with and continues facing throughout their career. The kind of struggles that make a person stronger, wiser and, ultimately, a better writer or designer or marketer, struggles that make a better person.

As I reminisced on the not-so-good old days, a blatantly obvious idea slapped me twice across the face and shook me once for good measure: Contentmills. The starting point for many a successful freelance writer and a great place to begin "A Day in the Life".

A Day in the Life: A Beginning, a Morning Vision and a Tree of Unity and of Strength

Prologue: The First Day of a New Life

The sun is up and bursting through the blinds of my office window. My third cup of coffee sits cold and half full to the right of my laptop I try to jot down notes on this new "A Day in the Life" post that had been rattling around my head for over a week now. Even longer than that, if one thinks back. The idea simply took different forms over the years, but never in such a cohesive state. This new variation that is beginning to form is tangible, usable, but very fragile. I'm clinging to it right now, white knuckled against the fear of losing my grip. 

I look down at the stained paper containing my chicken-scratch notes, and suddenly realize that I have written two dozen phrases with no memory of the task. Phrases like freelance writing jobs, help your neighbor, content marketing, teach your neighbor, social media marketing, love your neighbor, help your community, online community volunteering, writing career, freelance career help, freelance site review, website help forum, freelance blogging jobs,  and on and on and on. Essentially, nothing more than a string of keyword phrases and common moral values, but somehow they strangely hold an astounding amount of meaning for me and, through extension of my own hopes and dreams, my friends here at FWP and all over the Internet, as well.