The Freelance Writing Compromise You Shouldn’t Make

I remember when I was first starting my freelance writing business. I don’t always remember fondly, though.

It was rough. Finding clients seemed like this secret step that only insiders who’d found clients could manage. Sort of like those job listings for entry-level positions, but you have to have a year or two of experience before they’ll consider you for the job. How the hell do you get experience when no one will hire you? But I digress a bit.

Finding clients back in the beginning was a mixture of luck, timing, and compromise.

That last one: I did that far too often. And I’m betting you did, too.

The compromise I made was on rate. I would worry, sweat, grow anxious, lose sleep all because I knew I’d have to tell the prospective client my rate. I asked friends for advice. I did the math. I added 20 percent, then I’d subtract 20 percent.

Inevitably, when the time came, I went low. Too low.  Every damn time.

How do I know? Because almost to the client, they wouldn’t hesitate: “Oh, that’s no problem.”

No. It should be a problem. That rate should be high enough that they hesitate, that they mentally calculate, weigh the odds, reconsider my background, then maybe push back a little. It should be a point of negotiation, not the easiest part of their day.

Don’t mistake those clients for the ones who would argue your rate if you told them the work was practically free. Those are people who are looking for freebies, and they won’t mind at all making noise, insulting you, or telling you off if they think you’re going to want real money for your efforts.

But the other clients? Yes, they should be hesitating. If they don’t, you’re priced too low.  And you should have your minimum acceptable rate handy for any negotiation.

[bctt tweet=”If you compromise this, your #freelancewriting business will stagnate.” username=”LoriWidmer”]

That’s right — stagnate. Let’s consider this scenario:

You’re hired by a global company to handle four thought leadership articles per month. You tell them your rate — $1/word. They snap it up instantly. Dammit! Should’ve gone higher. Still, you’re content because you’re writing four 1,000-word pieces and making about $4,000 monthly.

However, fast-forward three years. You’re still charging $1/word because you just haven’t screwed up the courage to give yourself a raise. How much money have you made?

By my calculations, $144,000 over three years. That’s a pretty decent chunk of change.

Ah, but what if you’d charged them $1.25/word?

Three years of that would have netted you $180,000 in three years.

By hemming and hawing about your rate, you lost $36,000. Damn. Did you really?

Let’s assume you’ve already stated the $1/word. You’re still making decent money, but it’s not where you could be. Let’s say you gave yourself a raise at the end of that first year — you’re now charging $1.15/word. And you’ve increased your annual earnings from this client to $55,200, or $165,600 in three years. Not bad.

But let’s not stop there. How about you give yourself an annual raise of 15 cents per word? By year three, you’d be making $1.30/word, or $62,400 per year. From one client.

I hear you — But Lori! What if my client cuts the number of projects they give me?

That could happen. But you have done something smart; you’ve established a higher rate that clients are paying, which makes it easier to justify that rate to a new client. Another thing you will have done — you’ll have decreased your workload and lost just $3,600. And you’ll have freed up some time to find another client who will pay that same rate, meaning you’ve lost nothing, but gained a higher earnings.

I was talking with a writer friend yesterday who told me that another writer she knows charges $400 an hour for his services, and he’s swimming in clients.

You can charge more. You really can.

Don’t be so quick to compromise on your rate. Your talent and time are both worth more than you’re charging now, I’d bet.

Writers, when have you stood your ground on your rate? What happened?