Craigslist is both a huge benefit to writers and an opportunity to get into a lot of trouble. I have some advice on protecting yourself here.

I’ve got a run-down on how to find a financial planner, here. I’ve got to recommend looking into financial planning for freelance writers, if only because it’s harder to plan for your retirement if you can’t just dump a certain percentage of your salary into the company 401(k). And I’m sure as heck not depending on Social Security — are you?

This article is a little resource-lite, as half the internet seems to have wandered off in a snoot.

My advice for freelancers regarding naming your business goes entirely contrary to the article I posted here. As a freelancer, your brand should be you. Your business name should be your name. It’ll make your life a heck of a lot easier, too.

I’ve got an article up at WHY magazine (which is also running a contest for freelancers this month!) about collaborative software. And I must say, they do a helluva job on layout. It’s a flash site, though, so you’ll have to do a bit of clicking around to find me.

I have some information up on Hubpages on the bare basics of writing a business plan. Do freelance writers need a business plan? Well, perhaps not a traditional one. It can be a document that you don’t show to anyone else — just a list:

• Your current goals
• How you plan to market your skills
• What makes you a valuable writer

There are a number of options for finding a mentor here, but for freelancers, you might simply contacting writers who you have noticed in the publications you intend to work with. Some will say yes, and some no, but it’s always worth a shot.

Hubpages has had me work on a number of stories based around the idea of jobs you can do from home. Today I discussed some tips to get started with tutoring here.

I wrote a short piece about generating buzz with the help of bloggers. It’s up here.

A short excerpt:

These days, it seems that if there’s no buzz about you online, you don’t exist. But there are several ways to get that buzz, and most of them are free. Blogs – websites listing commentary about a given topic – are often the easiest solution. Most bloggers are always looking for new material to write about, and they tend to be easy to contact.

Many employers have started hiring through PEOs, or Professional Employer Organizations, especially if they’re looking for a short-term employee on a specific contract. If you’re considering working through a PEO, or even just need to know what they are, I wrote a short article about them here.