Webinar: Government Relations for Creative Entrepreneurs
As a creative entrepreneur and organization co-founder, Tracey Arial has thirty years of experience learning about grants, obligations and services established by Canada’s Federal Government.
In this webinar, Tracey will take you through five ways to think about government relations, particularly when it comes to the heritage, industry and taxation ministries. Knowing about copyright, income averaging, ISBNs and public right payments helps increase your confidence in reaching out to federal politicians and bureaucrats.
This one-hour session will be conducted using the Zoom platform. It’s scheduled for Tuesday, October 19th from 7 to 8pm Eastern Time
The cost is $5 for Canadian Freelance Guild members and $15 for non-members. Your link to the session will be sent to you one-half hour before the start time. Please make sure you have the most up-to-date version of Zoom in order to enter the meeting.
You can register for the webinar right here.
And you can find more information about the cost and benefits of membership in the CFG on this webpage.
CFG podcasting webinar now available for streaming
If you’re looking for some professional development now that summer is over, check out the CFG’s library of webinars. The latest one, on podcasting, was recently uploaded for streaming.
CFG member and avid podcaster Shauna Rae hosted the webinar back in July. It included a lively Q&A session with Fawnda Mithrush, the program manager of the Alberta Podcast Network and a longtime podcaster.
If you’re a CFG member and missed this event, you can click here and log in to the CFG website to launch it in your browser.
This webinar and the others in the CFG’s professional development series — including ones on pitching, freelance taxes, interviewing and more — are also available for purchase by non-CFG members. Click here for the podcasting webinar and view the full library right here.
The non-member fee for webinars is $20, but you can contact the CFG’s Don Genova at organizer@canadianfreelanceguild.ca to find out whether discount codes are available.
For more information about the cost and benefits of membership in the CFG, click here.
Shauna Rae and Fawnda Mithrush chat podcasting in the CFG’s latest webinar.
The Born Freelancer Takes a Good Look at Taking a Good Look
This series of posts by the Born Freelancer shares personal experiences and thoughts on issues relevant to freelancers. Have something to add to the conversation? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.
The single greatest asset we freelancers possess is our own good health.
Without it we can’t work. If we can’t work, we’re in big trouble. No paid sick days for us.
Therefore, it makes good sense to maintain as healthy a lifestyle as possible and to monitor and safeguard our most precious asset to the very best of our abilities.
Spending so much of our work day in front of a screen should make our vision health a priority, and yet it’s probably one aspect of our health too many of us take for granted. I know I did.
Until recently.
It was during the editing of my last column, about anger and creativity, when I first noticed it. Bright flashing lines at the edges of my vision.
I looked left, the flashes were on the right. Looked right, they were on the left. Up, they were down. Down, they were up. Uh oh, Houston, we have a problem.
At first, I tried to ignore them. I was probably over-doing it, I thought. I’ll get a cold wet cloth and put it over my tired closed eyes as soon as I get through editing.
The next morning, a Saturday, they were more frequent and brighter. I typed the symptoms into Google.
Read the rest of this post »
Canadian Journalism Forum creates new awards for reporting on mental health of young people
The Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma has partnered with the Canadian Mental Health Association to offer a new award for journalism that reports on the mental health of young people.
The Mindset Award for Reporting on Young People’s Mental Health will be offered annually to celebrate excellence in stories about the mental health of children, youth and young adults. The award comes with a prize of $1,000, with potential Honourable Mention prizes of at least $250 each.
Work published in 2021 will be eligible to be entered for the new awards, which will be offered for work published in both English and French. Freelancers who have published journalism on young people’s mental health in national or local Canadian print, broadcast or on-line news or current affairs media will be eligible to apply for the awards.
Applications open on January 11, 2022.
The Forum already offers an award for workplace mental health reporting. Applications for that award open on January 10, 2022.
You can find out more about both awards on the Forum’s website.
How To Connect In Business Webinar Now Online
Nicholas Boothman already dazzled some of you at the end of June with many helpful tips to use while connecting with new clients or networking opportunities.
He shared how to use the ABCs of face-to-face communication: Attitude, Body-language, Conversation, Communication and Convincing, to create instant connections, gain confidence, make friends, ace interviews, and get people talking.
Nick’s webinar “How To Connect in Business” is now available for streaming on the CFG website.
This webinar costs just $5 for CFG members and $20 for non-members. You can buy it from this link on the CFG Pay-Per-View website, hosted by Dacast. If you’ve never registered on that site before check out the step-by-step guide below. If you’re a member, check your email for a discount code, sent out late last week.
1. When you arrive at the link, click on BUY.
2. Login or Sign Up.
3. If you’re a CFG member, click on Add Voucher.
4. Add the voucher code and proceed to payment.
Your video should then start playing. You can return to the original link any time in the next 28 days to watch or re-watch the video.
If you have any problems getting into the system or viewing the video, please let us know at organizer@canadianfreelanceguild.ca. And stay tuned for new webinars and exclusive discount offers from the Canadian Freelance Guild in the coming weeks.
The Born Freelancer on Harnessing Your Creative Anger
This series of posts by the Born Freelancer shares personal experiences and thoughts on issues relevant to freelancers. Have something to add to the conversation? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.
It’s part of the darker side of the creative process, rarely put under the public microscope.
The late great Christopher Plummer, in a 2011 CBC Radio interview recently rebroadcast on the always engaging “Writers & Company” claimed — and I am paraphrasing — that anger is an absolute necessity for any kind of meaningful artistic activity.
That struck an immediate and responsive chord within me.
Now I don’t appear to be an angry person.
Indeed, I don’t feel like an angry person. I believe myself to be a pretty even-keeled, well-balanced kind of individual.
Well, for a writer anyway.
But almost all of us have the capacity for anger at times. I know I do.
So what do I do with mine?
Lean in closer.
It’s one of my best kept secrets.
When angered I use it to help drive my creativity and increase my productivity.
Anger – the deep dive
Event: Let’s Talk About Podcasting
The CFG’s burgeoning Audio/Podcast Community invites you for a casual conversation about networking for podcasters. This meeting will most interest those already working in the audio/podcast medium or seriously considering it.
Our guest is Fawnda Mithrush, the program manager of the Alberta Podcast Network and a longtime podcaster.
Fawnda will talk about how the Alberta Podcast Network began and how it has evolved. She is also the executive director of Litfest Alberta and the YEGPodfest. She’ll answer your questions after her presentation.
Following Fawnda is “Ask/Offer“. Folks can stay on and introduce themselves and ASK for something they need or OFFER a skill or volunteer to help someone.
This event is scheduled for Wednesday, July 21st from 7 to 8pm Eastern Time. The one-hour session will be conducted using the Zoom platform. It is free for Canadian Freelance Guild members and non-members alike. Your link to the session will be sent to you shortly before the start time. Please make sure you have the most up-to-date version of Zoom.
You can register to attend this online event right here. Your link to the event will be sent just before the start time.
2021 Rory Peck Awards open for submissions
Freelance video journalists living anywhere in the world can now submit their work for the 2021 Rory Peck Awards.
The awards come with a cash prize and focus on international news and current affairs, with one category dedicated specifically to local journalists and field producers. Work submitted must have been broadcast in the past year.
The awards have been celebrating the work of freelance journalists working in news and current affairs worldwide since 1995. They were established in memory of freelance cameraman Rory Peck, who was killed in Moscow in 1993.
The deadline for entries is Wednesday, August 4. For more information or to submit your work for an award, see the Rory Peck Trust website.
Webinar: How to Connect in Business in 90 Seconds or Less
CFG’s The Business of Freelancing Presents:
How to Connect in Business in 90 Seconds or Less
Presenter: Nicholas Boothman
Tuesday, June 29th, 2021
7 – 8pm Eastern Time
In this webinar, Nicholas will share with us how to use the ABCs of face-to-face communication: Attitude, Body-language, Conversation, Communication and Convincing, to create instant, trusting connections, gain confidence, make friends, ace interviews, get people talking, and most importantly, learn how to make the best of the most important 90 seconds in any business or personal relationship.
Whether you are selling, managing, negotiating, planning, collaborating, pitching, or instructing, the secret of success is based on creating instant rapport with other people.
About Nicholas Boothman
Nicholas Boothman is a revolutionary best-selling author with over 3 million copies in print. He learned how to establish instant rapport with strangers while working as a fashion and advertising photographer. A Licensed Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, today he is a consultant to individuals, groups, and corporations.
CFG members = $5
General Public = $20
Please let us know if you will be attending on this registration page. A link to the Zoom URL will be sent to you half an hour before the meeting. Check your spam or junk folders if you don’t receive the email with the URL.
Please log in ten minutes before 7pm ET so we can start promptly. You should have the latest version of the Zoom application downloaded to your computer ahead of time or use the Zoom webpage when prompted.
A recording of this webinar will be made available, but it will still cost $5/$20 to view it.
Questions? Contact CFG Vice-President Montaha Hidefi at montaha.hidefi@yahoo.com.
The Born Freelancer on Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone: Busting The Myth
This series of posts by the Born Freelancer shares personal experiences and thoughts on issues relevant to freelancers. Have something to add to the conversation? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.
Some of the most frequently accepted words of advice in the many self-help books I have read — designed to bolster self-confidence and creativity — is to “step outside your comfort zone.” In other words, to challenge yourself in new ways in order to encourage growth and combat stagnation.
What freelancer does not wish for those things?
This pandemic would seem the perfect time to “step outside of our comfort zone.” With so many gigs disappearing and so much free time available, what better use can we make of it?
In theory, this is all well and good.
But in practice, “stepping out of your comfort zone” taken to its extreme can be a problem.
I would posit it is far more advantageous to reimagine your “comfort zone” as a positive construct well worth remaining in and to reframe “stepping out” of it as simply expanding and enriching it.
