Interview with Jeffery Zbar
Interviewed by Jenna Glatzer

Jeffery D. Zbar is a home-based journalist, author and speaker in the SOHO! (small office/home office) and teleworking fields. He is the founder of Jeff Zbar's Goin' SOHO!, an organization that promotes working from home and teleworking. He is the advertising columnist and alternative officing feature writer for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, is a contributing editor to Home Office Computing and Entrepreneur's Home Office, and is a monthly columnist for Writer's Digest. He is also the author of Home Office Know-How (Upstart Publishing, 1998), Your Profitable Home Business Made E-Z (on CD-ROM from Made E-Z Products, Inc., 1999), and Home Office Success Stories, a free ezine on working from home (HOSS Home Office Success Stories).

What sparked your interest in writing?

My English teacher, senior year of High School.  I never enjoyed writing before I took her course in expository writing.  We had to write our thoughts every week and read them in front of the class.  I really enjoyed it and got a great response, so I set off to go to the University of Florida (go Gators!) for journalism.

How did you make your first sale?

While I was in college, I met with editors at a local business publication, and they paid me $35 to write about the growth in the real estate market near Gainesville.  I'm a big believer in internships, and I think it's important for college students to take advantage of those kinds of opportunities whenever they present themselves.

My next freelance assignment, after college, was for a lifestyle publication.  I was paid $400 to write about people who buy homes to renovate and resell them.  I did a bunch of interviews and was tickled pink at the outcome.  I still have the clip... from 1988.

Were you ever a staff writer?

Right after I graduated, I became a full-time staffer at a small weekly publication.  I was an assistant editor, which meant that I did everything from writing headlines to delivering layouts to the printer.  I was there for two years and had an editor I not-so-affectionately refer to as "The Sloth."  His predecessor was a wonderful, smart South African man, but I didn't feel I was learning anything once The Sloth took over.  

I really feel that, as a journalist, you have to partner up with your editors.  If you can't take away anything but money, why bother?  You have to find something of value in terms of feedback and responses.  I have one editor now who's a real pain in the ass, but you know what?  Ninety percent of his questions are sound.  

What made you decide to take the leap to full-time freelancing?

Well, I was very dissatisfied with the staff job.  I felt it was going nowhere.  Right out of journalism school, I was very happy just to have a job, but as a long term prospect, it wasn't great on a number of levels.  First, it was a religious publication and I didn't want to get pigeonholed into becoming a "religious writer."  

Also, I'd already had a taste of freelancing.  My wife (Robbie) and I didn't have any long term debts, no kids-- no real expenses except a car payment, so I could afford to take the leap of faith.  

Robbie and I talked about it, and I felt I could do better on my own than with the company.  We went out to Manhattan, because it's the center of the journalism universe, and Esquire Magazine offered me $17,000 to work as a fact-checker.  Well, that wouldn't even pay the rent.  So we came home and I put out the feelers. 

How did you do?

February of '89 was my first month of full-time freelancing.  I was working on an Apple IIe with the floppy diskettes, faxing and mailing in submissions.  In '93, I got my first PC and modem... what a dramatic change in my ability to multi-task!  

I made $6,000 my first year.  I was thrilled.  My wife was ready for an annulment, and my in-laws figured she'd married a bum.  But, two or three years later, there was parity between our incomes.  Now, she works two to three days a week and her income is the gravy.  Mine pays all the expenses.

That must be exciting.

Well, the real satisfaction comes from being around for my family.  I figure, we only go around this world once.  I don't want to have latch-key kids.  The most important thing I can do is to be there for my children.  From my home office, I can watch my three kids playing outside, getting feisty with the neighborhood kids, playing hockey... 

My daughter Nicole is 8 going on 13.  In two years, she won't want me around anymore.  I'll be cramping her style.  I don't look at that with melancholy, just realism that it's time to seize my opportunities now.

On days when my wife works, she's out from 6:30 in the morning until 9 at night.  I take care of the kids, getting them dressed and off to school, then I work, and we have a "mother's helper" come to watch them while I work in the afternoons.  It's tough, but it's better than the alternative.

Was it easy to build your career?

Success doesn't come without sweat.  Milton Berle once said, "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door."  It's an effort we have to take on.  I used to feel lesser than friends who are attorneys and making more money than I was, with a more secure future.  Now, we're very happy with where we are, and I don't look back.

In the beginning of my career, a very uppity woman said to me, "I've never known a starving writer before."

I said, "Well, I won't be your first."

How do you get your work-- queries, phone proposals?

I don't really solicit new work anymore.  I have 8 steady clients.  I'm a contributing editor for Entrepreneur's Home Office, Writer's Digest, and Home Office Computing.  SOHO (small office/home office) is a niche I've built for myself.  I made my own opportunities by becoming an "expert" in the home office field.  On Star Trek, when Jean Luc Picard wanted something to happen, he'd say, "Make it so."  That's what I did.

Now I get to pick and choose what I want to take on when publications solicit me.  There are no publications I'm dying to get into, so I don't have to bend over backwards for anyone.  They have to offer me strong benefits.  

I write a lot of columns now, which is great, because in two to three hours, I have a piece written, mostly from my own experience and knowledge.  I have a wealth of information on these topics.  I don't mean that I'm trying to knock them out fast, but when you can get paid the same amount for a couple of hours work versus the time spent researching and conducting interviews for articles, wouldn't you?

What do home-based freelancers need to know about taxes?

You can deduct a home office expense only if you have a separate space that is used regularly and exclusively for work.  It can't be a kid's playroom that doubles as an office at night.  

If you claim a loss for a few years, you can lose your business status, because the government will consider you a hobbyist.  But if you're making a bona fide attempt at a home-based career, you can deduct for all of your equipment.  For example, this phone call is deductible because it's on a dedicated business line.

We have to take advantage of these tax breaks.  My best advice is to get a good advisor.  Don't go it alone.

Do you face a lot of stereotypes as a stay-at-home dad?

Less so than in the past, but some people still don't "get it."  I take a little ribbing, but I really don't care.  When someone calls and hears a kid crying in the background, instead of disdain, usually I hear more of a "I wish I could work from home" tone at the other end.  My clients all know my situation-- I don't hide from anyone.  

But, of course, I handle my business very professionally.  I have caller ID, voicemail, a second line for fax... there's no excuse for anything less than professionalism in this line of work.  I have no tolerance for home-based workers who tell me, "I have to go-- my husband needs to use the phone."  There's too much information and too many tools available for people to get away with that, unless it's financially impossible.

If you want to get paid as a professional, you have to act like one.  Take it seriously.  It behooves no one if you do this "little thing on the side."  If you don't take yourself and your work seriously, you're destined to fail.  Keenly focus.  Aim high, shoot higher, and move higher next time.

In your last "Writer's Digest" column, you mentioned that inexperienced writers should "be humble where appropriate" when negotiating fees.  How does a writer know when he or she has earned the right to ask for more?

Tough question.  I had a steady job paying me 50 to 60 cents a word.  I wouldn't have left it-- they were one of my top clients.  But they decided on their own to raise their rates to $1 a word.  They understood that if you want top quality writers, you pay for them.  

If you want to raise your rates, don't go to your most loyal customer and demand that they double your rate, unless you're prepared to walk away.

Money isn't the end-all, though-- rights and exposure are very important.  Right now, Time Magazine couldn't entice me to write for them, but a big SOHO publication could.  Even if they offered 75 cents a word, which is below what I usually get, I might take it if it offered very good exposure and shared rights.

You have to break out the scales and weigh the pros and cons.  There was a website claiming 2 million users every month that wanted me to write for them at 50 cents a word... but they wanted all rights.  So I turned them down.  I don't sell all rights to anyone anymore.  Especially columns-- those are my thoughts and opinions, and they have value.  You have to do a gut check, and if something is wrong for you, don't look back.  It's done.  If I had taken that job, I wouldn't have slept nights.

Choose your battles.  Check the Contract Watch at ASJA.  There's a lot of movement with the issue of rights these days.

Any advice for negotiating rights?

One of my jobs is with the Sun Sentinel.  I write two columns for them-- one is marketing news, and one is work-at-home.  They wanted all rights to both.  I figured, I don't need to keep rights to the marketing news column, because it's news.  I can't sell it the next day.  I had no need to keep those rights.  However, I wanted to keep rights to the work-at-home columns, so I negotiated for that.  

I put out my first book by repurposing those columns.  It's important to keep all the rights you can.

Are there any down sides to your job?

Not at the level I am now.  I used to sit by the mailbox, waiting for a check to come in.  The only problem now is that it's 9:33 p.m., and once I get off the phone, I still have a whole night's work ahead of me.  You have to learn when to say "when."  There's definitely the potential to overwork.

I've made a habit to sit down every night with my family for dinner.  At crunch time, I have to sequester myself.  My wife understands-- she closes the door and doesn't bug me when I'm on a strict deadline.  It's a juggling act-- I used to work all weekend, but now, by the time my kids wake up, I'm out of the office.  I don't want my kids growing up remembering seeing only the back of dad's head on Saturday afternoons.

You have to find a balance.  This can be a very lucrative, successful business if you can manage it.  

Final thoughts?

I call myself a "SOHO Evangelist."  I want everyone who possibly CAN work from home TO work from home.  We don't have a lot of opportunities to make an impact on this world.  Take your opportunities when they show up, and share the gospel.

Visit Jeff's site at www.goinsoho.com or contact him at jeff@goinsoho.com. 

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