Canada’s meeting place for freelance writers and creators
Established 2010
Canada’s meeting place for freelance writers and creators
Established 2010
In November 2024, Crystal Fletcher, president of All About Canadian Books (AACB) spoke with Julie Barlow, author of Going Solo: Everything You Need to Start Your Business and Succeed as Your Own Boss about being a self-employed writer. Below is a summary of their discussion.
From negotiating with difficult clients to crafting a marketing strategy, this veteran freelancer shares hard-won wisdom from three decades in the trenches of self-employment.
For many writers and creative professionals, the leap from traditional employment to freelancing feels like jumping off a cliff with a parachute you've never tested. Will it open? Will you soar—or crash spectacularly?
In a recent CFG Books author interview, host Crystal Fletcher sat down with Julie Barlow, co-author of "Going Solo: Everything You Need to Start Your Business and Succeed as Your Own Boss," to unpack the psychological, practical, and financial realities of self-employment. With eight books to her name, including the international bestseller "60 Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong," and a three-decade career spanning magazine writing, translation, and documentary work, Barlow brings a wealth of experience to those navigating the treacherous but rewarding waters of freelance life.
Unlike entrepreneurs who've been launching lemonade stands since age seven, Barlow didn't grow up with self-employment on her radar. Coming from a middle-class, working-class family, the path to freelancing was less about following a childhood dream and more about adapting to economic realities.
"The truthful answer is, it wasn't really on my ideas either," Barlow admitted. "I came of age and finished my university studies at a time where the unemployment rate was very, very high. I wanted to work in writing, and I really didn't have any other options."
This pragmatic origin story might comfort those who didn't grow up with entrepreneurial aspirations yet find themselves considering the freelance path. Sometimes circumstances, rather than burning passion, guide us toward self-employment—and that's perfectly fine.
"I learned later that my father indeed had sort of spotted me as somebody who would probably run her own business someday," she shared. "As time went on, I realized that I definitely had the stuff for it. The people who last as self-employed workers, it's because they've got the stuff, but sometimes you don't really discover that until you're in the process of it."
Her journey from reluctant freelancer to successful author and entrepreneur led to creating "Going Solo," which began as a translation of her husband Jean-Benoît Nadeau's French-language guide for self-employed workers. Originally published decades ago, the book has become something of a classic in Quebec, and Barlow saw an opportunity to bring these time-tested principles to English-speaking audiences.
"The pandemic project. I realized that I was sitting on some valuable material... that had sold very well for decades. And we were just sitting on it," she explained. "I had some time on my hands. And so I just started translating it."
At the heart of "Going Solo" is one fundamental mindset shift that many freelancers struggle to make: seeing yourself as the boss, not as an employee who happens to work from home.
"The philosophy of the book...is teaching you not to think like an employee," Barlow emphasized. "It's very hard for everybody starting out, no matter what business they are. Even from kids who really have a fiber for entrepreneurial stuff—they tend to not see themselves as the boss."
This employee mindset manifests in countless ways: undervaluing your work, failing to negotiate properly, letting clients dictate unreasonable terms, and feeling guilty about saying "no" to projects that don't serve your business interests.
The book addresses this psychological barrier while providing practical guidance on everything from creating a business plan to handling taxes and client management—always with the underlying message that you must "be in the driver's seat."
Perhaps nowhere is the "boss mindset" more crucial than in negotiations. Barlow shared her four golden rules for successful negotiation, starting with the most fundamental: "Everything is negotiable."
"You have to go into a contract keeping that in mind," she explained. "You need to take your time. We all hurry too much. We all say yes, too quickly."
Another critical negotiation principle—particularly relevant for creative professionals—is resisting the siren call of flattery.
"One of the big things to do as a freelancer when you're negotiating is not listen to people who flatter you," she warned. "People want to believe as a negotiating tactic that telling you you're good will make you drop your defenses a little bit. That happens, surprisingly often, part of the whole system of getting people to write because they get exposure."
Beyond these rules, Barlow emphasized the importance of understanding your client's actual needs—not just what they initially claim to want.
"I always, always have to know what they expect. And you can spend a lot of time... I think going too quickly in negotiations is really a problem. You need to spend a fair bit of time digging with people and figuring out what it is that they really expect."
This research phase puts you in a stronger position to adjust your offering to meet their true requirements while commanding appropriate compensation.
One of the most challenging aspects of freelancing—especially when starting out—is turning down work when every instinct screams that you need income. Yet saying "no" to the wrong clients or projects may be the most important skill for long-term success and sanity.
"It is very hard to say no when you're starting out," Barlow acknowledged. "And again, I'm back to the idea that you're that you feel a bit like an employee, you feel like you're a little bit have to go along with what people are saying."
To help reluctant freelancers develop this crucial skill, Barlow shared her list of "ways to say no"—a collection that host Crystal Fletcher called "the list I need!" Among the more straightforward rejections: "I don't have time," "This is not my specialty," "I don't do this type of work," and "The project is not interesting enough." Others address common freelance pain points: "The deadline is too short," "The job doesn't pay enough," or "The job involves more work than I'm being paid for."
But the final and most powerful reason to decline work? What Barlow calls "the bomb": "I don't like the way you are treating me."
She revealed that she recently walked away from a potentially lucrative ghostwriting contract for exactly this reason. "I truly didn't like the way I was being treated. And I walked out on it."
While acknowledging the difficulty of turning down work, especially early in your career, Barlow emphasized that it becomes easier with experience: "It's harder when you're younger, but I think it's good to learn it when you're starting out. I think it's good to heed your instinct and watch out for those points where it's really not in your interest."
Bad clients are a universal freelance experience, but Barlow offered practical advice for identifying warning signs before you're in too deep.
"Prevention is the best medicine," she emphasized. "If you have a bad feeling about somebody, because they don't really seem to understand the deadline, or how long it takes to work...it's a red light."
Other danger signals include vague language like "let's see how things go" rather than clear conditions, excessive jargon or "fancy talk," and the previously mentioned red flag of flattery.
"The golden rule of dealing with bad clients is to get everything in writing," Barlow stressed. Whether through formal contracts or detailed email exchanges, documenting expectations provides protection if things go sideways.
She also warned against letting professional relationships become too casual: "People sometimes will want to get casual as, again, as a negotiating technique, you know, to sort of wear your barriers down... It's important to always just keep things very professional."
When Barlow shared a recent experience with a ghostwriting client who repeatedly refused to sign a contract while using flattery and fancy talk, it illustrated how even seasoned professionals can initially miss warning signs. "I still get caught up in this thing. And I'm at somebody's disposal a little bit... and then I step back to my self-employed entrepreneur self and I got the heck out of there."
In today's interconnected world, client acquisition strategies must blend traditional networking with digital approaches. For Barlow, LinkedIn has become a primary channel for connection.
"A lot of the way I find new clients now is being very present on LinkedIn," she explained. "People reach out to me, or I reach out directly to them as they come up."
Barlow posts about three times weekly on LinkedIn, sharing content related to freelancing and self-employment. Rather than spending hours crafting original content, she uses Google Alerts to find interesting articles and resources to share, making the process manageable amidst her other work.
She's also embraced virtual networking: "I meet people and I set up coffees. I had a virtual coffee with somebody last week...someone I didn't know, someone who'd seen my posts and was interested in what I was doing and set up a coffee."
These digital connections complement traditional networking, creating a more diverse client acquisition strategy that isn't dependent on physical location. "It makes it really easy to talk to people more or less in person, who aren't in my city."
For writers specifically, Barlow emphasized leveraging writing skills in outreach: "As writers, we are less incentive to pick up the phone and find clients, much more incentive to write emails to clients. We can draw on our skills, we're convincing, that's what we do."
Perhaps the most counterintuitive insight Barlow shared relates to the relationship between hours worked and income earned—specifically, that they don't have to be directly proportional. As she notes in "Going Solo," "a self-employed worker who earns $250,000 a year doesn't work 10 times more than someone who earns $25,000."
"An employee will think that if they want to earn 10 more, they tend to get a job that pays better, but also work a lot more," Barlow explained. "The key to being self-employed in the entrepreneurial part of being self-employed is identifying the potential that you have to make more money with what you've got."
This approach requires thinking strategically about intellectual property and revenue streams. For instance, the French version of "Going Solo" was "just sitting there" until Barlow recognized its potential value in English. Similarly, her books on French language and culture generated multiple income sources beyond book sales.
"We made a radio show out of it. We've been working on and off on a film documentary series that will hopefully someday get filmed. But we've been paid in the meantime to do that," she explained. "That's the kind of stuff you need to find—stuff that will generate more income without you starting back at scratch all the time. Otherwise, you're a gig worker."
This mindset shift—from trading hours for dollars to creating intellectual assets that generate multiple revenue streams—marks the difference between struggling and thriving in self-employment.
Barlow brings a unique perspective to collaboration, having written several books with her husband Jean-Benoît Nadeau. While acknowledging it's not for everyone, she extolled the benefits of having a partner in the creative process.
"I think you should always find a way to have second pair of eyes on things," she advised. "You can become so in love with your research and so close to what you're producing that you don't see it anymore. It's like trying to see faults in your own children."
Her collaborative process with Nadeau involves shared brainstorming followed by dividing responsibilities: "If we're writing a book together, we barge and make a plan together really collaboratively, brainstorming and putting the ideas together. Then we tend to split stuff up."
Rather than one person handling research while the other writes, they each take ownership of different sections. "We just split everything up so that we're both doing everything. It creates a lot of friction, which brings a lot of good because we really dig into stuff."
For those who don't have a writing partner, Barlow suggested joining writing groups that provide similar feedback opportunities: "It's a great lesson for everybody to go through. We should always be maybe part of some kind of writing group or something where you're getting feedback from people all the time."
As the interview concluded, Barlow addressed the psychological barriers that often hold freelancers back from achieving their potential.
"We identified three things that typically make it hard for people to sell. One is a belief that they're small... that they don't have the experience, and they don't have what they need to sell what they do. And that's never really true," she emphasized.
The second barrier is geographical limitation—the belief that you can only serve local clients. "Some of the most interesting work I've had has come from strange places and other countries," she noted, encouraging freelancers to think beyond their immediate region.
The final hurdle is underestimating the work involved in selling. "Sometimes it is hard work. And you shouldn't think there's something unusual about having to do a lot of work to sell something," she said, revealing that her first book proposal took six months to write and another six months to sell.
Despite these challenges, Barlow's message remained optimistic: "There are a lot of really difficult things about being self-employed, but they're all manageable... I hope it gives people confidence."
For freelancers at any stage—from those contemplating the leap to veterans seeking to refine their approach—"Going Solo" offers both practical guidance and psychological reassurance. The path may be challenging, but with the right mindset and tools, it's a journey worth taking.
As Barlow's experience demonstrates, success in self-employment isn't about superhuman abilities or innate entrepreneurial instincts. It's about learning to think like a boss, understanding your value, setting appropriate boundaries, and creating systems that allow your business—and your life—to thrive on your own terms.
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