Stephanie Guerin-Yodice
As Sumerians developed city-states and defined the borders of kingship towns, agriculture and industry increased to the point of specialization. Specialization occurs in an advanced agricultural society when staple crops experience high yields and grain stores can adequately feed the community, thus freeing people up to develop trades in specific areas: either in commodities, services, or luxury goods. Using obsidian glass as an example, we can trace the development of a commodity to a luxury item through travel and trade networks. Obsidian glass from the upper Anatolian region was a hot commodity to regions that did not have volcanic activity. Communities local to this resource had an advantage in the trading industry because many other regions wanted to obtain the valuable glass that was cut from the hardened volcanic lava. A trader would most likely gather up a local commodity, such as stored grain from Lagash, and travel north beyond Kanya, to Çatalhöyük, in the hopes of trading one commodity for another. Along the way, a bartering system allowed the trader to distribute grain or other valuable commodities in exchange for food and lodging until reaching the foothills of Hasan Dağ.[1] From there, grain could be traded for the obsidian glass, which became available through either mining or local trade networks. Once the trader returned home, the glass was distributed through either a marketplace or personal transactions. Depending on the need or intended use for the glass, an artist could use it in jewelry, a builder could use it to carve intricate details, or a physician could use it to perform surgeries. The journey to obtain the obsidian could take up to three months, so before the trader left, a promissory note was made by imprinting the symbol of grain plus the amount taken with another register, identifying the amount of obsidian glass the trader would exchange for the grain.
The Life of a Scribe: The term dubsar refers to an ancient Mesopotamian scribe, but in modern terminology the people who wrote, recorded, and transcribed the written word would be called linguists, historiographers, artists, revisionists, instructors, and reporters. In fact, the role of a scribe in the ancient world was highly respected and not easily obtained. Traditionally, ancient societies were structured so that children took up the trade of their parents. Boys continued to farm their fathers’ fields, and girls were expected to raise children or take up the artisan craft of their mothers.
Education was not extended to everyone, and the training needed to become a scribe was long and rigorous. Young boys with social status and financial means could be sent to bit tuppi, or a “tablet house” school. There they were taught the style and structure of impressing wedge-shaped markings into clay by first copying short proverbs and simple textual passages. Next, students began the arduous task of transcribing lists consisting of signs, symbols, vocabulary, grammar, and sounds, followed by extensive training in linguistic translation, the number system, lexical text, and the role of a scribe within the community. Once schooling was complete, scribes were employed for a multitude of reasons: by the government, business owners, the royal court of a king, or even their friends and neighbors, but the highest role for a scribe was to become a priest, which during ancient times meant a person highly valued in society and not just held authority in religious matters but also held political importance . The scribes and scholars of ancient Mesopotamia played a seminal role in transmitting knowledge and disseminating ideas.
Astrology: All this record-keeping and administration required much more than the ability to calculate and record day-to-day transactions. State-building demanded an efficient system for measuring long periods of time. Similarly, agriculture required more than irrigation techniques, so the Sumerians invented calendars. Through careful observation of celestial patterns, they divided a year into 12 months according to the cycles of the moon. This interest in measuring long periods of time led the Sumerians to develop a complicated knowledge of astronomy. The zodiac was another invention used to measure yearly time. However, adjustments needed to be made since a lunar month is 29 days and 12+ hours, which does not exactly correlate with a solar year, which is 365 and a quarter days (actually 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 47.8 seconds). To deal with this mathematical inaccuracy, around 2500 BCE an intercalary day was inserted every four years, creating a “leap year” that brought the seasons back to normal.[3]
In a modern society people can use their electronic devices to access weather forecasts, but the people of ancient Mesopotamia looked to the sky to understand their physical environment. Mathematic innovations helped them to chart and map the daily movement of the planets and stars, which allowed them to track the passage of time with a 12-month calendar and a pattern of changing seasons, all of which is still used today. Astrological observation could also predict the best seasons for sowing and reaping crops. The constellations also became important to those early societies, as they were central to folklore and mythmaking. Where modern scientists and astronomers have advanced technology to evaluate the depth of our sky above, people of the ancient world relied on epistemological and metaphysical knowledge.[4]
Through knowledge passed down for generations, the pattern of the solar system was observed, calculated, and recorded because ancient civilizations believed that everything happened for a reason. If people could understand the movement of the sky, they thought that they could interpret their future. In modern times we understand that thunder is created by atmospheric conditions but imagine experiencing thunder and lightning while living in 3000 BCE. This was a very scary and unpredictable phenomenon to which no rational understanding could be applied. When they were unable to explain the reason for thunder and lightning, early societies turned to metaphysics. Other everyday events and rare occurrences also took on a deeply religious meaning for the same reason.
For instance, the movement of the stars and planets assumed names, had personalities, and demanded rituals of worship. The people of ancient Mesopotamia believed their gods and goddesses were personified in the planets and that their movements conveyed their wishes. The gods and goddesses became zodiac signs and were associated with the months of the year. What we call the planet Venus was then called Ishtar, after the goddess of love, war, and fertility. Mercury was Nubu, god of wisdom, and Mars was Nergal, the god of pestilence. Nergal imbued feelings of death and destruction and was associated with the sun that scorched the earth of vegetation. Nerghal would conquer Tammuz, the god of food, so a funeral was held for Tammuz when he died each year when the season changed from summer to fall. [5]
[1] Geologists have identified the glass from this volcano was widely traded throughout the Middle Eastern Region. See Cherratt.
[2]. “Cuneiform Mathematics,” A Library of Knowledge of the Cuneiform Digital Library: Science & Technology, May 5, 2017. Accessed February 7, 2018. http://cdli.ox.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=history_of_science
[3]. “Astral Sciences,” A Library of Knowledge of the Cuneiform Digital Library: Science & Technology, May 5, 2017. Accessed February 7, 2018. http://cdli.ox.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=babylonian_astronomy
[4] “Astral Sciences,” A Library of Knowledge of the Cuneiform Digital Library: Science & Technology, May 5, 2017. Accessed February 7, 2018, http://cdli.ox.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=babylonian_astronomy
[5]. Massoume Price, “Astrology and Astronomy in Iran and Ancient Mesopotamia,” Iranian Chamber Society, December 2001. http://www.iranchamber.com/calendar/articles/astrology_astronomy_iran_mesopotamia.php.


3.7 Solutions to WACC Problems
WACC1 represents the current capital cost. The capital weight for each component is multiplied by its respective cost, and the numbers are aggregated. Here again are the earlier assumptions.
| Long-Term Debt (LTD) | $100,000 | Corporate Tax Bracket | 40% |
| Preferred Stock | 10,000 | Interest Rate in Debt | 8% |
| Common Stock @ Par | 10,000 | Cost of Preferred Stock | 9% |
| Additional Paid-in-Capital | 40,000 | Cost of Retained Earnings | 12% |
| Retained Earnings | 40,000 | Cost of Common Stock | 14% |
| Total Equity + LTD | $200,000 |
If the firm increases its equity, the solution will depend on whether the company did so by means of internal (WACCRE) or external (WACCC/S) equity. The outcomes will differ. The solutions are also provided below.
| WACC1 | WACCRE | WACCC/S | |
| RE | 40 | 40 + 10 | – |
| C/S | 50 | – | 50 +10 |
| Total Capital | 200 | 210 | 210 |
Problem #1:
WACC1 = (100/200) (.08) (1-.40) + (10/200) (.09) + (40/200) (.12) + (50/200) (.14) = .0875
Problem #2a: Increase in retained earnings (internal capital)
WACCRE = (100/210) (.08) (.6) + (10/210) (.09) + (50/210) (.12) + (50/210) (.14) = .089
Problem #2b: Increase in common stock (external capital)
WACCC/S = (100/210) (.08) (.6) + (10/210) (.09) + (40/210) (.12) + (60/210) (.14) = .09
Obviously, if one uses external, rather than internal, equity, the WACC will be higher.
In either case, the WACC is higher because the firm is increasing its weighting in “expensive” equity. That is to say, the WACC would rise because the component, which was increased in proportion to the total capital, bore a greater cost than the initial WACC.
Should the firm choose to use debt, rather than equity, its WACC, ceteris paribus, would decrease relative to the initial case (problem #1); this WACC would work out to be 8.34%. Its solvency ratios, however, would also deteriorate, and, in a very bad case, the potential resulting reduction in creditability (“default risk”) could cause incremental debt capital costs to increase. (Interestingly, this would result in higher equity costs as well because equity is junior to debt. We will discuss this notable effect below under “The Levered Beta.”).
- What if the company raised capital by issuing more debt?
- Since debt is cheapest, the WACC would decrease. The percentage of debt relative to total capital would incerase.
- What if the company reduced capital by buying back stock? What would the new WACC be?
- If the company buys back stock the equity will be reduced. In Problem #2b, the percentage of common stock relative to total capital was 60/200 = 30%. Let’s say that the company buys back $30,000 in common stock. Now the new common stock percentage would be 30/170 = 17.6%.


Main Body
6. Application Assignments
Free
- Use tracking app/Google Maps/Bing/other app or site to create route around UGA’s Campus, Athens, or a location near you. Pick a friend and choose several points to walk around. Submit: a picture, list of points, and screenshot of the route in the Application Assignment Dropbox (eLC)
- Use tracking app/Google Maps/Bing/other app or site to create route around UGA’s Campus or Athens. Organize a group of friends or family and take them on a walking tour of the campus, highlighting the buildings, traditions, athletic facilities, etc. Use a tracking app to log the route. Submit: a picture, list of highlights, and screenshot of the route in the Application Assignment Dropbox (eLC)
- Explore and report on at least four possible, practical, and reasonable ways you can increase your free-living physical activity (increasing number of steps they take daily beyond workout) or incorporate small bouts of exercise in your everyday living (e.g., parking in the back of parking lot). Submit: a word document and pictures of doing the strategies in the Application Assignment Dropbox (eLC)
- Explore and report on at least three (local) community opportunities for walking (that are available to students) by listing and describing the specific opportunity, and its value as a walking site. Submit: a word document and picture walking at one of those sites in the Application Assignment Dropbox (eLC)
- Create a series of pictures or a (short) instructional video that could be beneficial to the Activity course content. Submit: pictures or a video in the Application Assignment Dropbox (eLC)
Charged
- Participate and complete a 5K race. Submit: a copy of your results or the link to the results in the Application Assignment Dropbox (eLC)
Additional course-related opportunities need approval and can be proposed to the instructor


124 Myron plays the organ at church; Harriet practices her song for the Senior Class Specialty
May 7, 1935
Dear Corinna,
Today is Karl’s birthday—he has just become 40 years old. So now Life Begins for him. I tried to get a chicken to send him but no-one will sell any at this season so I just sent him a card. It is raining again—a thunder shower this time—just a fierce one. Richard Olson plowed our garden this morning and Daddy did all the rest of the digging so now if it’s nice tomorrow I shall get my seeds into the ground.
Myron played in Church Sunday night as I didn’t feel good—he tried to get Mrs. Robertson to come and play but she wasn’t well either, so Myron had to. He said he made no mistakes.
Harriet is to be a gypsy in the Senior class Specialty and She and Donald Nordlie are to sing “Little Gypsy Sweetheart.” I didn’t think I’d spend the money to go this time but now I s’pose I’d better. Myron is in the Orchestra of course.
I read about the Amphion Chorus in TIME—it must have been good—it said they were butchers, barbers, and bakers—93 of them.
We had read all about Colleen Moore’s doll house in H’s school paper. Weren’t you the lucky one to see that!
Gloria has written to Russy but H never gets at writing her share—she is the busiest person I ever saw. Tonight Gloria will deliver her papers while H practices the gypsy song.
Now the sun is coming out and there are puddles of water all over the place—a river at the edge of the lawn. Who says Minnesota isn’t an ideal place to live in?
Did you read the article about Norway in the last Nat’l Geographic and the one about the Tuatara in New Zealand? I liked them both so much.
The teachers are making Harriet’s costume. I’m glad of that. I know they did it just to save me. I shall miss every one of those that are going—they are really a part of Atwater after being here so long. I think it will be hard to adjust ourselves to new faces and ways next year but I suppose that will be good for the children.
The thunder is rumbling off in the distance now and the birds are lovely with their singing. I saw a ruby crowned Kinglet in the apple tree this week. Nat’l Geog. has had good accounts of birds in the last issues.
Marjorie came over to sleep with H last night. After H went to sleep, Marjorie couldn’t get to sleep and she got lonesome for her mother. She dressed in the dark and went home about 9:30. None of us heard her. You can imagine our surprise and worry this morning. I called Betty and she said she was lonesome. Well we had a good laugh about it. It will be hard for Marjorie to meet the world, I’m afraid. Love from Mother.


165 Outcome: Costs and Revenue in a Perfectly Competitive Market
What you’ll learn to do: calculate and graph the firm’s fixed, variable, average, marginal, and total costs.
In this outcome, we learn how perfectly competitive firms make their one important decision of how much to produce based on the firm’s costs.
The specific things you’ll learn in this section include:
- Calculate and graph the firm’s average, marginal and total revenues
- Determine the profit maximizing output level and price using graphs and demand schedules; is able to calculate and graphically illustrate where marginal revenue equals marginal costs
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
The learning activities for this section include:
- Reading: How Perfectly Competitive Firms Make Output Decisions
- Self Check: Costs and Revenues in a Perfectly Competitive Market
Take time to review and reflect on each of these activities in order to improve your performance on the assessment for this section.


12 Demonstration: Melting Styrofoam Cup
Supplies:
Styrofoam cup or container
Acetone (nail polish section of grocery store)
Small tub to catch mess
Question: What do you think will happen when I add this liquid (acetone) to the cup?
Directions: Over the tub, pour a small amount of acetone into the sup. The cup should start “melting.”
Theory: Acetone is hydrophobic (water fearing) and separates the bonds in styrofoam releasing air which gives the appearance of melting.
Grades: 1st – 4th
Time: 5 minutes
Clean up: Styrofoam “goo” can be placed in garbage.
Note and Hints: Students may be curious to touch the “goo.” Interestingly, it is very cold as an exothermic reaction but no harm if they want to explore.
Image Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIhvJozNplE
Media Attributions
- sty


Challenge It
In this challenge activity, you will complete a project that incorporates many of the key skills learned in the Access Unit. For this project, you are a Database Administrator responsible for managing data on student athletes at South Puget Sound Community College. You will create an Access database from scratch that includes:
Tables
-
- Students
- Sports
Queries
-
- Student Scholarships: Which student athletes have a scholarship?
- Tennis Training: Which student athletes are on the Tennis team?
- Student Athletes in Health Sciences: What student athletes are in the Health Sciences field of interest?
Forms
-
- Sports
- Students
Reports
-
- Student Listing
- Open Access and select Blank Desktop Database. Save the database in your data files folder, and name it Lastname_Firstname_Access_Challenge and create the database.
- Create a new table titled Students, with the following fields and data types. Ensure the StudentID is the primary key and close the Students table. Save and close the table when completed.
|
StudentID |
Short Text |
|
First Name |
Short Text |
|
Last Name |
Short Text |
|
Field of Interest |
Short Text |
|
|
Short Text |
|
Sport |
Short Text |
|
GPA |
Number |
|
Graduation Year |
Short Text |
|
Faculty ID |
Number |
|
Scholarship |
Yes/No |
- Import the Excel spreadsheet data titled Access_Challenge_Import1 and append it to the Students table. 52 records should import into the Students table. Be sure to resolve any import errors before continuing.
- Import the Excel spreadsheet data titled Access_Challenge_Import2 into a new table in the current database. Ensure the first row contains column headings is checked, keep the default field imports, and assign Sports as the Primary Key. Name the new table Sports. Open the Sports table to verify there are 6 records. Once you have verified the table is correct, save and close any open tables.
- Create a relationship using the Sports and Students tables using the Sports field to join the two tables. Enforce referential integrity and select both cascade options. Save and Close the relationships window, resolving any error or warning messages.
- In the Student table, add yourself as the last record, filling in all of the required fields. You can make up the data for everything except sports and scholarship. For sports, type in “tennis” as your sport. For scholarship, check the box for yes.
- Create a new query using Query Design that answers the question: Which students have a scholarship? Include all fields from the Students table, include criteria to indicate those students that have a scholarship, and sort the query ascending by Last Name. Do not display the StudentID or GPA fields in the query. Run the query to verify the query pulls 29 records. Save the query as Student Scholarships. Close the query.
- Create a new query using Query Design that answers the question: Which students are on the tennis team? Include the following fields from the Students table: First Name, Last Name, Sport. Include criteria to indicate those students that have a sport of tennis. Sort the query ascending by the Last name field. Run the query. Save the query as Tennis Training, and close it.
- Create a new simple query using the Query Wizard that answers the question: What student athletes are in the Health Sciences field of interest? Include all fields from the Students table, Detail format, name the query Student Athletes in Health Sciences, and modify the query design. Add criteria to only include those students with a Field of Interest in Health Sciences. Run the query to verify there are 22 records. Save and close the query.
- Using the Form Wizard, create a Form based off of the Sports table. Include all of the Fields from the Sports table, tabular format, and name the form Sports. Open the form to view or enter information. Add a new record to the form with the following information:
- Sport: Cross Country
- In Design view, resize the Sport label and control so that you can see the entire label. Apply the organic theme with Blue colors, and Arial font. Save and close the form.
- Using the Form Tool, create a Form based off of the Students table. Apply the organic theme with Blue colors, and Arial font. In Design View, change title in the form header to Student Athletes, and add the Puma image (right click and save as an image).
- Resize the image and form header if necessary to ensure both the title and image display. Save the Students Form and close the form.
- Create a report using the report wizard from the Students table. Include the following fields: First Name, Last Name, Field of Interest, Sport and Scholarship. Add a grouping level based on Field of Interest. Sort ascending by last name, then first name. Apply the Stepped layout, portrait orientation and adjust the field width so all fields fit on a page. Title the report Student Listing and preview the report.
- In Design view, apply organic theme with Blue colors, and Arial font. Insert the same image of the Puma from above into the Report Header. Resize the image and header if necessary to ensure both the title and image display. Save and close the report.
- Save and close all database objects, and take note of where your database is stored. Close out of Access and submit your entire database per your instructor’s instructions.


Chapter 4: Pain Assessment
Gillian Spring
Background
Pain assessment and management are not one-size-fits-all. Pain is an individual experience and should be treated as such. It is important to have many different tools and assessment approaches in the nursing “tool kit” to assess and treat all types of patients.
The Social Determinants of Health in Relation to Pain Management
- Evans et al. (2019) studied the pain intensity experience of older Black adults living in a low-income area of Los Angeles. They determined that age, financial struggles, pain-related chronic conditions, living alone, and depression lead to an increase in pain intensity (Evans, 2019).
- Janevic et al. (2018) studied pain intensity across a diverse patient population and discovered that White adults experience less pain-related disability than Black adults. Their study showed that socioeconomic disadvantages also have a negative impact on the prevalence of chronic pain, regardless of patients’ cultural backgrounds (Janevic et al., 2018).
- Disparities in pain treatment include poor or unfairly operated social, economic, and health policies for people in low income brackets (Booker & Herr, 2021). Patients in rural or impoverished areas have limited access to the health care services they need to manage chronic pain (Booker & Herr, 2021). Therefore, their pain is left untreated and becomes unbearable.
- Bierman and Lee (2018) discovered that racialized individuals who have faced lifelong stressors are at an increased risk of clinical depression if they experience severe or chronic pain.
Barriers to Adequate Pain Management for Racialized Patients
The burden of pain is unequal across cultural groups (Meints et al., 2019). Health care providers (HCPs) may lack knowledge or have implicit biases about spiritual and cultural practices for pain management.
HCP Barriers
- HCPs may believe myths, such as the idea that Black individuals experience less pain than White individuals due to biological differences (Hoffman et al., 2016). Not only does this myth contribute to racial disparities in health care, it can also lead to inadequate assessment and treatment of pain (Hoffman et al., 2016).
- Unconscious biases, stereotyping, and false beliefs may contribute to the improper assessment and/or mistreatment of pain among racialized patients (Meints et al., 2019).
- A general misunderstanding or lack of knowledge regarding effective pain management strategies may also cause HCPs to under-assess and under-treat pain (Slatyer et al., 2022).
Cultural Factors
- Each faith and culture may have a different understanding of what pain means and how it should be treated. There are also gender differences among cultural groups, which influence pain expression as well (Can et al., 2019).
- Certain cultures believe in stoicism and not showing or reporting pain (Bautista et al., 2021).
- Certain countries do not have access to opioids. Therefore, patients may not know they are a treatment option (Bautista et al., 2021).
- Various cultures view pain as a sign of healing, penance for sins, or a manifestation of a higher power. Therefore, they do not wish to treat pain (Bautista et al., 2021).
- Many patients of different cultural backgrounds also have a fear of side effects and addiction to certain pain medications (Can et al., 2019).
- Spirituality and spiritual care in pain treatment may be very important to some patients, but they may be uncomfortable sharing this information with their HCPs (Booker, 2016).
- Cost and lack of insurance coverage for some medications, supplements, and therapies can also hinder effective pain management (Booker, & Herr, 2018).
- Patients may use metaphors to explain pain, and this could be lost in translation and shift the focus from the pain to understanding the word or phrase (Bostick et al., 2021).
- In their research, Robinson-Lane and Booker (2018) discovered that Black patients may experience a genuine mistrust of the health care system due to past experiences. This mistrust could lead to a hesitation to seek care or share information with health care providers, which could lead to undue pain and suffering (Robinson-Lane & Booker, 2018).
Pitfalls of Pain Assessment Tools
HCP should be mindful of the potential barriers that some pain assessment tools have. Pain is subjective and is difficult to assess with a standardized tool. Therefore, assumptions, implicit biases, and stereotyping may occur within the assessment process. For example, the face scale may not be useful if the image has a crying face, as patients from some cultures believe in stoicism and do not show emotion while in pain (Booker, 2016). This could deter the patients from expressing their pain fully. Furthermore, some pain scales use colours, which could impede the results, as certain colours have specific meanings for some individuals (Lor et al., 2021).
Culturally Responsive Practice Points for Health Care Providers
- HCP must be aware of the prominent ethnocultural communities within their areas of practice and familiarize themselves with how this may influence care provision and assessments, especially pain assessments (Brady et al., 2017).
- HCP can use self-reflection to revisit past encounters with racialized patients experiencing pain and examine how culture influences pain assessment and management (Bostick et al., 2021). Self-reflection is an important aspect of a HCP’s lifelong learning.
- For pain management to be effective, it is essential for the HCP to establish a trusting relationship with the patient. The HCP must ask questions about the patient’s understanding of pain and desired treatment plan (Bautista et al., 2021).
- It is beneficial for the HCP to genuinely acknowledge and appreciate the patient’s personal beliefs, values, and life patterns related to pain management (Robinson-Lane & Booker, 2018).
- There may be many cultural reasons why a patient chooses a specific pain treatment or declines pain medication. It is the HCP’s duty to provide the patient and their family with the necessary evidence-based information for decision making and to respect the patient’s wishes regardless of their decision (Can et al., 2019).
- The HCP should strive for holistic care provision, including cultural and spiritual dimensions in their daily assessments (Brady et al., 2017).
- It is important for the HCP to supplement subjective reports of pain with additional probing questions relating to the pain experiences (Slatyer et al., 2022) and objective findings of pain such as wincing, guarding, and rubbing certain areas.
- The HCP should use words like “hurt,” “aches,” “sore,” and “throbbing” to inquire about pain (Robinson-Lane & Booker, 2018).
- When they are assessing pain, it is important for the HCP to link the pain to how it affects the patient’s daily activities and functioning (Bostick et al., 2021).
- The HCP may need to accommodate and adapt aspects of care and assessment to align with the patient’s values and preferences (Robinson-Lane & Booker, 2018).
- Involving the family in pain assessments can also help. Families may pick up on nonverbal cues that the HCP may miss (Booker, 2016). Families may be able to provide guidance to HCP regarding their loved one’s preferences regarding touch and environment (Booker, 2016). Families can also be included in providing non-pharmacological pain relief such as light massage and applying warm or cool compresses (Booker, 2016)
- It is essential for the HCP to discuss and clarify common misconceptions about pain management. It is also vital for them to involve families and patients in treatment and management plans with the common goal of pain control (Booker, 2016).
Please view the following link for further information on cross-cultural pain assessments:
References
Bautista, C., Amatangelo, M. P., Baby, P., Cassier-Woidasky, A. K., Dycus, K., Edoh, E. I., . . . & Wessol, J. L. (2021). Cultural perspectives on pain assessment and opioid use: International neuroscience nursing research symposium conference proceedings. Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, 53(3), 149–156. DOI: 10.1097/JNN.0000000000000585
Bierman, A., & Lee, Y. (2018). Chronic pain and psychological distress among older adults: A national longitudinal study. Research on Aging, 40(5), 432–455. https://doi.org/10.1177/0164027517704970
Booker, S. Q. (2016). #Blacklivesmatter: Leveraging family collaboration in pain management. Nursing2020 Critical Care, 11(2), 1–7. DOI:10.1097/01.CCN.0000480749.23473.b6
Booker, S., & Herr, K. (2021). Voices of African American older adults on the implications of social and healthcare-related policies for osteoarthritis pain care. Pain Management Nursing, 22(1), 50–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmn.2020.09.001
Bostick, G. P., Norman, K. E., Sharma, A., Toxopeus, R., Irwin, G., & Dhillon, R. (2021). Improving cultural knowledge to facilitate cultural adaptation of pain management in a culturally and linguistically diverse community. Physiotherapy Canada, 73(1), 19–25. https://doi.org/10.3138/ptc-2019-0027
Brady, B., Veljanova, I., & Chipchase, L. (2017). An exploration of the experience of pain among culturally diverse migrant communities. Rheumatology Advances in Practice, 1(1), 1–14 https://doi.org/10.1093/rap/rkx002
Can, G., Mushani, T., Rajhi, B. H. A., & Brant, J. M. (2019). The global burden of cancer pain. Seminars in Oncology Nursing, 35(3), 315–321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soncn.2019.04.014
Evans, M. C., Bazargan, M., Cobb, S., & Assari, S. (2019). Pain intensity among community-dwelling African American older adults in an economically disadvantaged area of Los Angeles: social, behavioral, and health determinants. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(20), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203894
Hoffman, K. M., Trawalter, S., Axt, J. R., & Oliver, M. N. (2016). Racial bias in pain assessment and treatment recommendations, and false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(16), 4296–4301. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1516047113
Janevic, M. R., McLaughlin, S. J., Heapy, A. A., Thacker, C., & Piette, J. D. (2017). Racial and socioeconomic disparities in disabling chronic pain: Findings from the health and retirement study. The Journal of Pain, 18(12), 1459–1467. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5682226/pdf/nihms902349.pdf
Lor, M., Kim, K. S., Brown, R. L., Rabago, D., & Backonja, M. (2021). Comparison of four pain scales among Hmong patients with limited English proficiency. Pain Management Nursing, 22(2), 205–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmn.2020.08.001
Meints, S. M., Cortes, A., Morais, C. A., & Edwards, R. R. (2019). Racial and ethnic differences in the experience and treatment of noncancer pain. Pain Management, 9(3), 317–334. DOI: 10.2217/pmt-2018-0030
Robinson-Lane, S. G., & Booker, S. Q. (2017). Culturally responsive pain management for Black older adults. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 43(8), 33–41. DOI: 10.3928/00989134-20170224-03
Slatyer, S., Myers, H., & Kelly, M. A. (2022). Understanding nurse characteristics that influence assessment and intention to treat pain in postoperative patients: An integrative literature review. Pain Management Nursing, 23(5), 663–671. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmn.2022.03.003


5.1 Electrical Current
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Describe an electrical current
- Define the unit of electrical current
- Explain the direction of current flow
Up to now, we have considered primarily static charges. When charges did move, they were accelerated in response to an electrical field created by a voltage difference. The charges lost potential energy and gained kinetic energy as they traveled through a potential difference where the electrical field did work on the charge.
Although charges do not require a material to flow through, the majority of this chapter deals with understanding the movement of charges through a material. The rate at which the charges flow past a location—that is, the amount of charge per unit time—is known as the electrical current. When charges flow through a medium, the current depends on the voltage applied, the material through which the charges flow, and the state of the material. Of particular interest is the motion of charges in a conducting wire. In previous chapters, charges were accelerated due to the force provided by an electrical field, losing potential energy and gaining kinetic energy. In this chapter, we discuss the situation of the force provided by an electrical field in a conductor, where charges lose kinetic energy to the material reaching a constant velocity, known as the “drift velocity.” This is analogous to an object falling through the atmosphere and losing kinetic energy to the air, reaching a constant terminal velocity.
If you have ever taken a course in first aid or safety, you may have heard that in the event of electric shock, it is the current, not the voltage, which is the important factor on the severity of the shock and the amount of damage to the human body. Current is measured in units called amperes; you may have noticed that circuit breakers in your home and fuses in your car are rated in amps (or amperes). But what is the ampere and what does it measure?
Defining Current and the Ampere
Electrical current is defined to be the rate at which charge flows. When there is a large current present, such as that used to run a refrigerator, a large amount of charge moves through the wire in a small amount of time. If the current is small, such as that used to operate a handheld calculator, a small amount of charge moves through the circuit over a long period of time.
ELECTRICAL CURRENT
The average electrical current is the rate at which charge flows,
where is the amount of charge passing through a given area in time (Figure 5.1.1). The SI unit for current is the ampere (), named for the French physicist André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836). Since , we see that an ampere is defined as one coulomb of charge passing through a given area per second:
The instantaneous electrical current, or simply the electrical current, is the time derivative of the charge that flows and is found by taking the limit of the average electrical current as :
Most electrical appliances are rated in amperes (or amps) required for proper operation, as are fuses and circuit breakers.
(Figure 5.1.1)
EXAMPLE 5.1.1
Calculating the Average Current
The main purpose of a battery in a car or truck is to run the electric starter motor, which starts the engine. The operation of starting the vehicle requires a large current to be supplied by the battery. Once the engine starts, a device called an alternator takes over supplying the electric power required for running the vehicle and for charging the battery.
(a) What is the average current involved when a truck battery sets in motion of charge in while starting an engine? (b) How long does it take of charge to flow from the battery?
Strategy
We can use the definition of the average current in the equation to find the average current in part (a), since charge and time are given. For part (b), once we know the average current, we can its definition to find the time required for of charge to flow from the battery.
Solution
a. Entering the given values for charge and time into the definition of current gives
b. Solving the relationship for time and entering the known values for charge and current gives
Significance
a. This large value for current illustrates the fact that a large charge is moved in a small amount of time. The currents in these “starter motors” are fairly large to overcome the inertia of the engine. b. A high current requires a short time to supply a large amount of charge. This large current is needed to supply the large amount of energy needed to start the engine.
EXAMPLE 5.1.2
Calculating Instantaneous Currents
Consider a charge moving through a cross-section of a wire where the charge is modelled as . Here, is the charge after a long period of time, as time approaches infinity, with units of coulombs, and is a time constant with units of seconds (see Figure 5.1.2). What is the current through the wire?
(Figure 5.1.2)
Strategy
The current through the cross-section can be found from . Notice from the figure that the charge increases to and the derivative decreases, approaching zero, as time increases (Figure 5.1.3).
Solution
The derivative can be found using .
Significance
The current through the wire in question decreases exponentially, as shown in Figure 5.1.3. In later chapters, it will be shown that a time-dependent current appears when a capacitor charges or discharges through a resistor. Recall that a capacitor is a device that stores charge. You will learn about the resistor in Model of Conduction in Metals.
 The current needed to run your calculator can be as small as . How long would it take for of charge to flow from the solar cells? Can solar cells be used, instead of batteries, to start traditional internal combustion engines presently used in most cars and trucks?
CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING 5.2
Circuit breakers in a home are rated in amperes, normally in a range from to , and are used to protect the residents from harm and their appliances from damage due to large currents. A single circuit breaker may be used to protect several outlets in the living room, whereas a single circuit breaker may be used to protect the refrigerator in the kitchen. What can you deduce from this about current used by the various appliances?
Current in a Circuit
In the previous paragraphs, we defined the current as the charge that flows through a cross-sectional area per unit time. In order for charge to flow through an appliance, such as the headlight shown in Figure 5.1.4, there must be a complete path (or circuit) from the positive terminal to the negative terminal. Consider a simple circuit of a car battery, a switch, a headlight lamp, and wires that provide a current path between the components. In order for the lamp to light, there must be a complete path for current flow. In other words, a charge must be able to leave the positive terminal of the battery, travel through the component, and back to the negative terminal of the battery. The switch is there to control the circuit. Part (a) of the figure shows the simple circuit of a car battery, a switch, a conducting path, and a headlight lamp. Also shown is the schematic of the circuit [part (b)]. A schematic is a graphical representation of a circuit and is very useful in visualizing the main features of a circuit. Schematics use standardized symbols to represent the components in a circuits and solid lines to represent the wires connecting the components. The battery is shown as a series of long and short lines, representing the historic voltaic pile. The lamp is shown as a circle with a loop inside, representing the filament of an incandescent bulb. The switch is shown as two points with a conducting bar to connect the two points and the wires connecting the components are shown as solid lines. The schematic in part (c) shows the direction of current flow when the switch is closed.
(Figure 5.1.4)
When the switch is closed in Figure 5.1.4(c), there is a complete path for charges to flow, from the positive terminal of the battery, through the switch, then through the headlight and back to the negative terminal of the battery. Note that the direction of current flow is from positive to negative. The direction of conventional current is always represented in the direction that positive charge would flow, from the positive terminal to the negative terminal.
The conventional current flows from the positive terminal to the negative terminal, but depending on the actual situation, positive charges, negative charges, or both may move. In metal wires, for example, current is carried by electrons—that is, negative charges move. In ionic solutions, such as salt water, both positive and negative charges move. This is also true in nerve cells. A Van de Graaff generator, used for nuclear research, can produce a current of pure positive charges, such as protons. In the Tevatron Accelerator at Fermilab, before it was shut down in 2011, beams of protons and antiprotons traveling in opposite directions were collided. The protons are positive and therefore their current is in the same direction as they travel. The antiprotons are negativity charged and thus their current is in the opposite direction that the actual particles travel.
A closer look at the current flowing through a wire is shown in Figure 5.1.5. The figure illustrates the movement of charged particles that compose a current. The fact that conventional current is taken to be in the direction that positive charge would flow can be traced back to American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin in the 1700s. Having no knowledge of the particles that make up the atom (namely the proton, electron, and neutron), Franklin believed that electrical current flowed from a material that had more of an “electrical fluid” and to a material that had less of this “electrical fluid.” He coined the term positive for the material that had more of this electrical fluid and negative for the material that lacked the electrical fluid. He surmised that current would flow from the material with more electrical fluid—the positive material—to the negative material, which has less electrical fluid. Franklin called this direction of current a positive current flow. This was pretty advanced thinking for a man who knew nothing about the atom.
(Figure 5.1.5)
We now know that a material is positive if it has a greater number of protons than electrons, and it is negative if it has a greater number of electrons than protons. In a conducting metal, the current flow is due primarily to electrons flowing from the negative material to the positive material, but for historical reasons, we consider the positive current flow and the current is shown to flow from the positive terminal of the battery to the negative terminal.
It is important to realize that an electrical field is present in conductors and is responsible for producing the current (Figure 5.1.5). In previous chapters, we considered the static electrical case, where charges in a conductor quickly redistribute themselves on the surface of the conductor in order to cancel out the external electrical field and restore equilibrium. In the case of an electrical circuit, the charges are prevented from ever reaching equilibrium by an external source of electric potential, such as a battery. The energy needed to move the charge is supplied by the electric potential from the battery.
Although the electrical field is responsible for the motion of the charges in the conductor, the work done on the charges by the electrical field does not increase the kinetic energy of the charges. We will show that the electrical field is responsible for keeping the electric charges moving at a “drift velocity.”
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19 Freelancing as Entrepreneurship and Consulting as Business Models
Elizabeth Mays
“You’re gonna have to serve somebody.” —Bob Dylan
Introduction
You don’t have to create your own media outlet or technology company to be an entrepreneur in the journalism or communications space. You may want to sell your services on a contractual basis to companies who need them. Freelancing is one valid means of entrepreneurship that is ideal for those who don’t want the commitment and rigidity of a full-time job, but want to work in the industry on their own terms.
From the Field
My Freelancing Story
By Elizabeth Mays
When I graduated from grad school, I started my career as a freelance writer and editor, and for three years I did nothing else. My ability to sustain this line of business didn’t just happen. I had laid the groundwork before graduating. While I was in grad school, in my spare time between work, school and homework, I sent lots of queries out to magazines (it was the 1990s). Occasionally, an editor would respond: “We’re going to use your article, and we’re going to pay you this much.” I was studying to be an actor, and I had a professor who used to say “If you’re working, you’re good.” I was working, I thought, so I must be good at this writing and editing thing.
After graduation, I moved to New York. I was still straddling acting and publishing, until I was struck with a paralyzing health issue on the eve of an audition for “Rent.” I was temporarily debilitated. Then, just after I’d recovered, I got a phone call from a New York magazine publisher I had pitched a story to while I was in grad school. “We’re going to use your article, and we’ll pay you this much,” she said. “Oh, and can you do this other story for us too?” In that moment, I knew I was a writer, not an actor.
I eventually found some more writing and editing gigs, most of them much less glamorous (including a stint as a certified professional resume writer). Magazine work wasn’t all that glamorous either–the jobs I got offered were sometimes 1- to 2-day turnarounds with a dozen interviews to coordinate. But for three years, I did nothing but freelance to earn my income as a sole proprietor.
One of the many misconceptions I had about freelancing was the amount of control I would have have over my time. Yes, I got in my share of hikes in wine country. But ultimately, it was essential for me to be working on the client’s timeline, and the highest paid jobs went to the earliest bird on call, so I made sure to be the earliest bird on call.
Eventually I burnt out and I took my first “real job” in journalism, then another, moving up the ladder until I once again couldn’t stand working for someone else anymore. I quit my job days after the crash in the late 2000s to do my own thing. I had once done an eloquent eulogy for a family cat that died, so at the time, I thought I would sell pet eulogies. As you can guess, that didn’t pan out. However, that business turned into a successful business that I still own today. Before leaving my job, I had made my preparations and formed the business (an LLC this time) before jumping ship. I easily found my niche in two areas: editing (where there was less competition than in writing) and resume writing (a position that thrives when the economy crashes).
Freelancing was a flexible career as I went back to school and earned a second master’s degree, which added multimedia and digital media entrepreneurship to my skill set. I was offered a job before I graduated, and ended up in a stable education job for more than six years, during which I quickly realized that I wanted to work for myself again. Although I had a full-time job, I bootstrapped my business as a “side hustle,” working four freelance gigs on the side at any one time. I worked nights, weekends and holidays, squirreling away every dollar I could as a cushion to go back out on my own. Finally, one of those gigs turned into a part-time client, with the same client offering me a second gig at a second business. Together, it was enough to venture back on my own.
I’ve gone from sole proprietor to small business corporation, but I’m still a consultant. My next focus will be to figure out a “scalable entrepreneurship” piece of my business: that is, a product that does not rely on me performing a service, but that can be sold without my interference in the transaction. Think classes or books. The goal will be to provide a passive stream of revenue alongside all the consulting I do.
Rules of Freelancing
I’m often asked how to keep a constant stream of incoming projects as a freelancer. The secret is delivering value. Put yourself in your client’s shoes. What do they need from you? In my experience, these are some rules to live by, whatever your niche:
- Deliver reliably (do what you say you will) on your commitments.
- Be on time.
- Be thorough, not sloppy.
- Communicate.

- Anticipate your client’s needs.
Creating Value: What’s Your USP?
When I was a resume writer, I used to ask people, “What’s your magic power?” By this, I meant the thing they did differently and better than everybody else who performed essentially the same work function. For a business, the term for this is “unique selling proposition.”[1] A USP explains how your product is different from and hopefully better than the competition’s. This is similar to a “unique value proposition,[2] which focuses more on the benefits people receive from working with you. As a freelance consultant, you are your business, and you’ll need to figure out the USP or “magic power” that is your service offering. This can be a unique thing that you do, or the way that you do it. For instance, you might be a journalist with a certificate in programming; a broadcaster who knows how to do animated explainer videos; a communicator who specializes in conveying the messaging of clients in a certain industry; or a photographer who does two-hour turnarounds.
Why does anyone buy an iPhone over an Android? A certain brand of cereal or cleaning product over another? Because different brands vary in perceived strengths and weaknesses in the marketplace. You as a professional should have a brand too (and know what it is). To figure this out, do the following exercise.
 Now, why would an employer reach out and choose you instead of them? Why would you choose you? Think about other individuals you know who do what you do professionally, or peers who are graduating from the same classes you took and are entering the same industry. Ask yourself: What do you do differently? Is there a facet of your approach or demeanor, or a specialized skill set you have that makes you more effective? Your USP or “magic power” can be a hard skill, a soft skill or a combination of skills.[3]
How Freelancing Is Different
When you’re a freelancer, you’re almost always a consultant–a solopreneur or personal service corporation who takes on gig projects as they come to you.
This doesn’t mean you will be a sole proprietorship. You can still set yourself up as a corporation if you want to put another layer of distance between yourself and your business entity. As a company, it can still be just you performing services. In theory, this makes it less likely, albeit not impossible, for someone to sue you for personal assets if they perceive your company has wronged them. Business insurance is another worthwhile step. This is especially relevant if you do something risky. No matter how careful you are, a career in content comes with the potential for someone to accuse you of libel, privacy invasion, copyright violation, errors and omissions, or other hazards. Depending on your personal income situation (as well as whatever is decided in potential legislation on tax reform) being a business could have tax advantages, or if you have the wrong type of business, it could leave you paying higher taxes and/or double-taxed. A CPA and fiduciary are best to guide you through the ramifications and provide advice for your personal situation.
Consulting is the act of performing a service in your expertise in exchange for payment. While you may have expenses, you are generally being paid for your time and services.
This is different from a business in which you manufacture something and sell it to people. But even if you’re mainly a consultant, you can still scale your business by adding ongoing streams of revenue that supplement your work for clients. Scalable entrepreneurship means you are creating something once and passively selling it numerous times, with no interference in the transaction. Example: You create a book once and place it into Amazon for sale. Royalties come in and begin to add up. Or, you create a software as a service. The system autobills people for a monthly subscription to use it.
Even a technology startup might still provide consulting services to other companies until it finds firmer footing and has regular SaaS (software-as-a-service) revenue coming in.
Setting Up Your Business
Regulations vary from state to state, but generally, you will need to fill out some paperwork before you conduct business. This paperwork will vary regionally (check with your local chapter of SCORE or the commerce authority for specific requirements in your state). Here are just a few of the items you may need to file:
- A trade name or name you are “doing business as”
- Articles of incorporation
- State sales tax license
- City sales tax license(s)
- Tax licenses in other states where you may have nexus
- Federal EIN application (to get a federal employer identification number)
- Employer unemployment identification number
- Business bank account
- New hire paperwork (sometimes even if you’re hiring yourself)
- You may need to publish documents like your articles of incorporation in a local newspaper.
- Professional licenses (for some occupations)
- Proof of insurance (sometimes required to get certain contracts)
- Your state or municipality may have additional requirements
Here is one example of what’s necessary to start a business in the state of Arizona.[4][/footnote] There are likely similar resources available from the Commerce Authority, Corporation Commission, or similar governing body for your state.
A sole proprietorship is the simplest business structure, and in some states you don’t even have to do any paperwork to become a de facto self-employed sole proprietorship. (Again check your local regulations.)
If you are not a sole proprietorship, you will need to decide on a structure for your business (S corp, LLC, C corp, etc.–see Chapter 6). There are many options to choose from and each has its own headaches and dramatically different ramifications as to the percentage of your revenue that will go to taxes and the legal distance between you and your business. There are tradeoffs on all these counts. I strongly recommend consulting an accountant or lawyer to help with your business formation. (Quality business setup services can run as little as $400-$700.)
If you are not a sole proprietorship, you will need to get an EIN from the federal government. This is an employer identification number that is used for things like corporate tax reporting, payroll and unemployment taxes, and more. You may also need this to set up a business bank account. Having it helps to separate your personal expenses from your business expenses too. Depending on your structure, you may also need to file articles of incorporation, and apply for state and local sales tax licenses in the regions where you do business. Local regulations may require you to have a professional license depending on the nature of your services. And you may need various types of insurance.
Once you’re set up, you’ll need to track your revenue and expenses and report and remit federal corporate taxes, federal personal taxes, state corporate taxes, state personal taxes, state and municipal sales taxes, federal and state payroll taxes for any employees you may have, and federal and state unemployment taxes. Plus, you’ll pay into social security (the taxes the employer usually pays) on the income you receive.
If you don’t have time for all this, or the confidence you can manage it accurately, it’s wise to enlist an accountant.  Freelancing brings with it a big level of responsibility, and there can be serious consequences if you’re not responsible. The good news is, for all this extra hassle and taxation, when you’re your own boss, you are paying for some of the company overhead that is “the cost of doing business.” Often, you can deduct legitimate business expenses and reduce the profit that you will pay taxes on. (Again, consult a CPA.)
Exercise
Research what’s involved to legally set up a small business in your state. Produce a to-do list of the required tasks that must be done, in the order they must be completed.
Pricing, Charging and Billing for Your Time
You might think that when you work for yourself, there are no limits to the income you can make. That’s not exactly true. If you’re the only person at your business, the hours you have available to work are finite. To get your maximum salary, multiply the number of hours you could feasibly work by how much you feasibly bill for those hours.
Do the math and you’ll see you can’t take on large projects that aren’t worth your time. Also keep in mind that every freelance project has an administrative overhead that you may or may not be able to bill the client for. So you have to charge enough to make each hour worth your time.
When you’re making those calculations, don’t forget that the government could take at least 30% of your profits in taxes (the exact percent depends on your business structure as well as your other personal income–again, consult an accountant). So you may need to set your hourly rate higher than you would at a regular employer.
Here’s how to calculate your hourly rate. If in the real world your time would be worth $15/hour, add an extra percentage of that based on the extra taxes you pay for being a self-employed business owner. Then, divide your monthly health insurance costs (which you’ll have to pay yourself since you don’t have an employer) by the number of hours you work each month to find each hour’s portion of health insurance. Then do the same with any other overhead costs you have. Tack all those on to get your hourly rate.
Here is a great infographic[5] that portrays how to calculate your freelance rate. Or, use this calculator[6] to figure out your cost of doing business.
Speaking of billing, don’t forget to do it. When I was an in-house magazine and website editor, I often found that I would have to remind freelancers to bill me. They were so busy doing their job as writers that they either forgot to bill me or couldn’t find time. Or, they really dreaded billing because it dragged on their creative energies. This can be a recipe for disaster. You never know when the contact you work for within a company might move on, making it more effort for you to remind other people at the company of what you’re owed. Don’t forget to bill in a timely way!
Exercise
- Figure out your freelance hourly rate, using the methods and calculators above.
- Design an invoice for your mock company.
Contracts for Freelancing
One good way to make sure you get paid for your work, and to clarify expectations and minimize the potential for misunderstanding on either side, is to have a contract. They’re a helpful reference point to protect you if something goes sideways–at least you have documentation of what both parties agreed to. If you ask for a contract and a company doesn’t want to give you one, they’re probably shady. Save your talent for another gig.
A good freelance contract will protect both you and the client. But it will probably be biased to whoever creates it. That’s why even though the person commissioning your work will send you a contract in this business, it can be helpful to have your own to offer as an alternative. It’s worth it to have a lawyer draft a template you can use repeatedly.
While I’m not a lawyer, I can tell you from experience handling freelance agreements as an editor (and having had my own drafted by a lawyer) that the following points (in addition to others) should generally be among those addressed in your freelance content contract:
- Scope of Work: What the work or project is that you’re agreeing to, with enough specifics of the expectations to refer to later if there is a dispute. This is often referred to as the “scope of work.” It can be helpful if a project runs longer than expected due to client delays, or if the client chooses to grow the project and wants you to do more than originally agreed to. Or if the client sells their company and the new owner suddenly expects you to do something more or different for the same price.
- Compensation: How much you’ll be paid for the work, when, and how, and whether or not revisions or modifications they ask for are included in the fee, or additional. (Tip: You want them to be additional.) You might also include a clause re. terms for late payment–perhaps you charge interest or a late fee.
- Independent Contractor Status: The fact you are an independent contractor, not an employee, that you will pay taxes directly to the government on the income received, and that you have control over the when, where, and how of your work.  On your end, it gives you lifestyle control (in return for losing all these benefits and paying your own taxes–at a notably higher percentage on self-employment income).
- Rights: A contract will generally specify what rights you’re selling–if you sell all rights, that means you can’t re-release the content you produce somewhere else, whether that’s for your own website or for someone else who’ll pay you to republish it. And the publisher gets to keep reusing the content in ways that may gain them further revenue. So if you sign away all rights, make sure the fee is worth it. At minimum, you may want an exception that lets you put the work in your own online portfolio. Often you will be selling First North American Serial Rights, which give the publisher the right to be first in publishing your work in North America. Then the copyright reverts back to you.
- No Infringement: In the contract, you’ll probably have to warrant that you’re creating original content that doesn’t infringe on anyone else’s rights (copyright, etc.). You may also have to certify that you’ve ensured the information is accurate. Sometimes there will be a clause that says the company will not pay your legal fees if something you send them gets them sued. Sometimes there will be a clause that says you’re not responsible. At minimum, it is good to have a clause that indemnifies you if the company edits something in a way that causes legal difficulty for them or you (an inexperienced editor changes something in a way that makes it defamatory, for example or adds a photo they took from the Internet without having the rights). Note that you can be held legally responsible for work you do as a freelancer. You should be extra careful to be accurate and abide by media law and ethics. And you may want to consider errors and omissions insurance depending on the nature of the content you produce.
- Confidentiality: You may have to agree to a confidentiality clause.
- Non-Compete: Some contracts will have a “non-compete” clause. I tell my students it’s almost never worth it to sign one of these as a freelancer, unless it’s at a major media brand. As an example, at a magazine I once worked at, most of the writers signed a clause that if they quit or were fired, they would never work at another lifestyle magazine in that metro. That meant if they left the company, they either had to find another profession, or move out of the state to find work. Don’t put yourself in this position.
- Non-payment: What happens if they don’t pay you, or don’t pay you in a timely way? It’s good to have a clause that reverts any rights to you if this happens so that you can try to sell the work to someone else.
Again, not a lawyer. But as a business owner, these are the bare-minimum things I expect to see in content-related freelance contracts.
Marketing Yourself as Freelancer
We’ll talk more about marketing in a future Chapter, so we won’t go too in-depth here. But there are several things you will definitely need in your marketing arsenal as a freelancer:
- Website (You can build something cheap and easy on WordPress.com, or use a platform like Wix, Squarespace, or Weebly.)
- Opt-in (It’s critical that people be able to give you their email when they land on your website, so that you can identify and communicate with the people–aka leads–who are potentially interested in your services.)
- Email marketing (You’ll need a tool like MailChimp or similar to send emails to your audience.)
- Professional social media presence (People need to be able to research, find and connect with you — the professional you — on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other networks.)
- Content marketing (Content could be anything from blog posts to emails to a podcast to YouTube videos or more as long as it’s engaging, relevant, and effective at reaching and engaging your target audience.)
- Networking (If you get into freelancing because you don’t like to interface with people, well, you may still have to do some of that in order to find clients.) Local industry groups are a low-pressure way to tap into a network if you’re not naturally social.
Ways to Fail at Freelancing
Freelancing isn’t right for everyone, and there are plenty of ways to fail at it:
- As a freelancer your income threshold is capped at the number of hours you work times the amount you charge for them.
- Taking on a bad contract that traps you in a situation that isn’t a great deal for you (for instance, a non-compete or an exclusive contract) can be detrimental. Be careful about what you sign.
- Freelancing is the delicate balance of finding work and doing the work. If you spend too much time cultivating potential clients, you won’t have time to do the work you have. Likewise if you spend too much time working alone, you won’t have time or energy to add to your client roster.
- Every client you take on has an administrative cost. So shoot for steady clients rather than one-time gigs.
- You’ll have periods of feast and famine as a consultant and you must be like the fabled ant, not the grasshopper[7] if you want to win the long game. Keep your monthly bills (business and personal) as low as possible and resist the urge to live large.
Weathering the Lifestyle
You might think that freelancing will give you freedom. And it does, to a certain extent. But even though you’re not necessarily out of work if your client fires you, it can be scarier in that you probably won’t have the protections of unemployment insurance or a pool of vacation days to cash out for a few months off.  When you lose a client, you’ll have to find a new one to replace them. And that process may or may not be instantaneous. When you’re a freelancer, it’s critical to have a financial cushion, which will help you weather the periods of feast or famine in freelance work.
The secret to longevity? Stay in it. I once had an acting professor who had had a more successful career than most. One of my friends asked him what the secret was to making it as an actor. His answer? Just stay in it long enough. You can’t compete if you don’t play. If you want to be a freelancer, stay in it. Your clients will come and go. That’s okay. Keep looking for work, doing good work and billing for that work, and you’ll be fine.
Exercise
Pretend for a moment that you have no choice but to work for yourself. What would you sell as your product and service? (Tip: Think about this in the context of where you perceive a need, problem, or opportunity in the marketplace and where that opportunity aligns with your unique talents and passions.)
Suggested Readings & Additional Resources
- SCORE.org[8] offers workshops, templates and resources, and can pair you with a mentor in your area.
- IRS small business and self-employed tax center[9] offers resources to help you start and structure your business and report taxes appropriately.
- Small Business Administration[10] has tips for getting started as a small business.
Elizabeth Mays’ clients include the Canadian nonprofit the Rebus Foundation, software company Pressbooks and others. She is also an adjunct professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication who has taught audience acquisition, business and future of journalism, and editing. Reach her on Twitter at @theeditress.
Leave feedback on this chapter.
- Unique Selling Proposition, “Small Business Encyclopedia,” Entrepreneur, https://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/unique-selling-proposition-usp. ↵
- Value Proposition, Investopedia, http://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/valueproposition.asp. ↵
- Parts of this paragraph are from “What’s Your Magic Power” by Elizabeth Mays and made available with permission under CC BY license here. ↵
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Choose Your Own Adventure! Co-Designing and Sharing Information with Children in Healthcare
Explore the Cafeteria
Melissa Ngo
Cafeteria
You’ve arrived at the cafeteria to get a bite to eat!  In our cafeteria, staff, volunteers, students and families are welcome to have a break in a shared space. The big windows show that outside, there are lots of trees around. There is a door that leads outside where you can walk to Spiral Garden. You can click and drag the image below to look around the cafeteria. You can also click the blue and white plus signs to find out a little more information. There is also a scene description available if you click the ‘i’ icon in the bottom left corner of the image.
You might be asked to wear a mask when you come into the building. If you have to take off your mask and then put a new one on again after you eat, we have a few tips for you! Here’s a video of our therapeutic clowns, Dr Flap and Nurse Polo, who can tell you the ‘do’s and don’ts’ of putting on and taking off a mask. You might see them around when you come to Holland Bloorview – they are here to make you happy!
Choose where you want to go next!
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