Back in July, we set off on a journey, talking about how to ramp up your established freelance writing business. With so much beginner advice clogging the airwaves, I thought it might be a good idea to move beyond beginner stages and into building a stronger freelance writing career.
Today, we’ll be covering the last point in that original post: how to run a professional business.
Honestly, if you heed any of the advice in the previous posts on this topic (each one of those words links to a different post), you shouldn’t need much more. But I would be remiss in my duties and a freelance writing blogger if I didn’t give you a few more pointers on how to boost that freelance career just a smidgen more.
So let’s see how to keep things professional.
Price appropriately.
Yes, some of this is a bit of a repeat of the other posts, but they’re repeated because dammit, they’re that important. Do not undersell your work. If you don’t know what to charge, find the most successful freelancers and ask them what they charge. Weigh your experience (and your targeted clientele) against that. For example, if you write for the food service industry, that’s a specialty. If you write generally, but have high-end, household name clients, that demands a higher rate. If you’re working for the local Chamber of Commerce, you’re simply not getting them to pay $1/word. And maybe that means you re-evaluate who your ideal client is.
Just don’t give your talent and time away.
Set earnings goals.
This one move, coupled with reporting to an accountability partner, puts you on much firmer footing for earnings. It just does. If you show up every day thinking “I have to earn something” without knowing how much you want to earn, the likelihood of earning decent money diminishes significantly.
Become a client partner.
Shift from someone who delivers writing to someone who helps that client see deeper into the project. Yes, you can write the article they want, but what if you suggest they also build out resources that can help their clients understand how that topic impacts them? Or instead of just a website refresh, you suggest pages that could get them more bang for their Google search buck? Clients — the smart ones — love it when their writer finds a nugget they can capitalize on, or gives suggestions that makes them look good. Don’t just listen and type — think.
[bctt tweet=”Become that valued #freelance partner your clients need.” username=”LoriWidmer”]
Look one step ahead.
Not just with client project needs (great upsell potential), but also to your own business. Are there gaps looming in the next few months that could cause cash flow problems? Fill them now.
Look for those opportunities. That news article that could be an e-book. The trends in an industry that people will be talking and tweeting about. Anything that looks like an emerging trend or a topic that could gain traction, get on it. Get in front of editors and clients and pitch some ideas on where they could get some mileage out of those trends.
Improve your services.
Why aren’t you writing more on that topic? Or why haven’t you written in that area a bit more? Also, what skills are you weak in that you could use some refresher courses in? Where can you expand or improve that can help you earn more and boost your professional image? For example, if you write website content for Company A, you now know enough about their company to propose e-books, webinar content, blog posts, and more. And hey, you’ll look really smart proposing those things to them (see my second point).
Take a management course.
You read that right. You don’t need employees to learn how to manage. You’re managing a lot already — invoicing, marketing, product, quality control — take a course from a reputable source (try Coursera.org) and learn some new skills. Learning how to manage helps you perceive yourself as just that: a manager. The more businesslike you become, the more attractive you are to the high-level clients.
Optimize. Don’t maximize.
We all make the same mistake at the beginning: We strive for perfection. Well, perfection is a fickle bitch. It never quite shows up when you need it. And just look at the time you’ve wasted chasing it.
Right now, commit to delivering your best work in that moment. No one really needs the ultimate in blog posts, anyway. Strive for accurate and compelling. It’s a much easier target to hit. Deliver what your client asked for and when they asked for it. Assume revisions always. That helps you break loose of that need to be perfect. Clients tend to change things, so perfection ripped to bits will sting much more than if you consider it a first draft.
Keep your opinions separate.
In a landscape of everyone sharing everything without filters, you, my freelance friend, should refrain as if saying it out loud would sting like a swarm of hornets. It will, if it offends clients or would-be clients. No one listens to political opinions. No one cares how pissed you were that customer service had you on hold for 22 minutes. Having strong opinions or hissy fits in public tend to mark you as difficult. If you want to overshare, create a different account under an unrecognizable name. Or get together with friends in real life and spew to your heart’s content. Just keep your professional demeanor intact.
Writers, what advice can you give the not-so-new freelancer on how to run a professional business?