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Curator: Surely you knew that museum curators can be independent professionals. It's an interesting life, complete with mother goddesses, problem clients (sound familiar?), and a diabetic male cat named... Susan? Don't ask. She's on Display  Full Story

Detective: IP Chris Horsch is a private eye -- a real one. Turn off your TV and tune in to this story to find out what these guys actually do. The IP PI   Full Story

Diarist: A diary can be a tool for self-expression, revelation, venting frustration, or just fun. But who would have thought someone could make a living helping other people make diaries? Self-Exposure   Full Story

Engineer: When things get hot, consulting engineer Barry Pitts keeps his cool. Consultant of Cool   Full Story

Event Planner: Charrisse Min Alliegro uses her Wall Street savvy to help couples tie the knot in style. Ringmaster    Full Story

Executive: Even in the Internet industry, experience counts. Teresa Kersten has turned her 15 years of work at Apple, Intuit, and elsewhere into a one-woman Silicon Valley market. VP for Hire   Full Story

Healthcare Consultant: People hire personal trainers to keep themselves fit. So do healthcare institutions like hospitals, medical clinics, and advocacy groups. Consultant Matthew McClain is their soft-spoken task master. He Pulls Together Healthcare   Full Story

Hypnotherapist: Hypnotism is all about getting zonked, right? Wrong. Read what a real freelance hypnotist does. The Power of Suggestion   Full Story

Illustrator: Tim O'Brien is a well-known IP illustrator who's also a boxer. When was the last time you met an artist who sidelined as a tough guy? The Canvas Man   Full Story

Landscape Designer: When it's hot in the Hamptons, superstar summer residents hire IP Elizabeth Lear. She Loves to Get Her Hands Dirty   Full Story

Parade Planner: After 25 years in the corporate world, Don Lunday found life much better marching down Main Street. Hit Parade   Full Story

Personal Trainer: As a personal fitness trainer, Jon Giswold doesn't just help you to get buff. He's a problem solver, a mentor, and a motivator. Pump You Up   Full Story

Pilot: Gene Boyle of Moab Utah's Slickrock Air Guides is one part fearless aviator, one part trusted guide, one part showman, and 100% independent professional. Bird's Eye View   Full Story

Producer: Even in the complex film projects of tinsel town, some people work for themselves. Meet John Daly. Film by One   Full Story

Publisher: If you're a CEO, you'd better hope Peter Chapman never writes about your company -- because if he does, it probably means you're getting flushed down the toilet. Banking on Bankruptcy   Full Story

Restaurateur: A good restaurant offers more than tasty food; it exudes a vibe. Funky Frenchman Olivier Boudon helps aspiring restaurateurs make the scene. Restaurateur to Go   Full Story

Stylist: Candy canes in July? Swimsuits in February? A casserole dish with attitude? Prop stylist Judy Singer digs up stuff like this all the time -- and makes a healthy living doing it. A Winning PROPosition   Full Story

Do-it-Yourself Job Creation:They're leaving corporations by the thousands. Sometimes by choice. Sometimes not. They're creating their own jobs -- and changing the face of business.
Full Story

Peter's Principles: When a top book editor decides it's time to chuck a steady paycheck and become a free agent, she seeks advice from a master soloist -- Peter Drucker.  Full Story

Charge Your Clients More: If you're ready to raise your rates (and you should be from time to time), do it. And don't be apologetic about it, either. Just be smart.  Full Story

Gifts from the Gods: What do angels and Twinkies have in common? Believe it or not, they've both been used as financial tools by enterprising free agents.  Full Story

Cough it Up: Getting work is good, getting paid for it is better still. Getting paid on time is best of all. IPs talk about how to get your client to pay the damned invoice already.  Full Story

-- The Buzz --

Bearing Your First Web Child: Just "having a Web site" doesn't make you special any more... especially if it's garbage. If you're planning to lose your online virginity, here's some advice to help you make the most of the (ahem) pregnant possibilities. Full Story

Beating The Night Terrors: No work coming in? Living in your own private horror movie? We feel your pain... no, actually, that's baloney. Only you feel your pain. But we do have some advice.   Full Story

Don't Be Bashful: Nobody's saying you have to cruise the town square bellowing your name and phone number. Nobody's saying you shouldn't, either. But if you expect to succeed in self-employment, you'd better make time to market yourself somehow.  Full Story

Naming Your Business: You can invent a name for your solo business, or simply use the one you were born with. We found that IPs disagree on this issue. Full Story

Teaming Up: For many IPs, working solo is the best part of the job -- but sometimes it makes plain old business sense to take on a partner.   Full Story

Why Can't We Be Friends: Working on-site? Falling in love? Hold those hormones and read this first.   Full Story

Saying No: Nobody likes to turn down work, but sometimes it's necessary if you value other things -- your sanity, reputation, and free time, for example. Full Story

Clients You Can Live Without: Yes, we know, you love your clients. Most of them. Sometimes, however, a client crawls out of your nightmare swamp and almost makes you wish you were a wage slave again. Sound familiar?  Full Story.

Finally Taking Off: Between getting work, doing work, and worrying about money and taxes -- all the usual IP insanity -- who can afford to take off? Well, we found two freelancers who regularly go on vacation -- and have managed to stay in business.   Full Story

On the Edge of the Cliff: Ever had a client who made you want to chuck it all and sell yourself back into wage-slavery? Well, you're not alone. Here are three stories of freelancers who were pushed to the edge -- and lived to tell the tale.   Full Story

The Ten Commandments: If you're looking for a laugh, check out these surefire breaches of business etiquette. Commit them, though, and you'll have more free time than you probably want.   Full Story

Up Periscope: It's ten o'clock -- do you know what your competition is up to? There's more than one way to find out. Full Story

Breaking Out: Three freelancers tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about the great escape from the corporate big house.  Full Story

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From our Shameless Bragging Department...
1099 may be a little weird but we Feel the Love:

Love: We were nominated for a British Academy Award for Interactive Entertainment! (And here we thought this was a business site? Well, anyway, we went to the Awards dinner and did our best to speak English, but the British bird watchers' site beat us anyway. That made us all a-flutter, but we're chirpy again now.)

Love: USA Today named us a Hot Site, and Project Cool named us Sighting of the Day. (Is it possible to be hot and cool simultaneously? Say, are there any IP thermal engineering consultants who can clear this up for us?)

Love: Working Solo's e-newsletter said we're "filled with solid content and an upbeat attitude" and "well worth a bookmark on your browser." (Upbeat? Aw, gee, and we thought we had a lousy attitude!)

Love: The San Jose Mercury News called us a "flashy site worth visiting." (That's a relief... if the chief geeks in Silicon Valley don't like you in this Web biz, you're in trouble.)

Love: Fortune Magazine said we're "a great little online magazine." (Thanks, guys, we think you're a great little offline magazine.)

Love: The Orange County Register and About.com (The Mining Company) featured us too, and we're a featured content partner on Inc. Magazine's new Inc.com site. (We don't have a clever sarcastic remark about this stuff yet, but never fear, we're working on it.)

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Freelancers: When is the best time to get your invoices paid? How about... um... right now? Aquent Fast Cash It brings in the bucks -- fast!

How to Blow an Interview: You're being interrogated... excuse us, interviewed by a potential client. There's standard advice on how to play this... and then there's our crazed columnist's advice. Hey, it's your career, dude. You decide. Full Story

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