Good strategy!

Luckily, my main clients pay 75¢-$1+ per word—even the regional one would pay way more than $75 for a similar length article. Bear in mind that I chose to do the $75 article in order to build my reputation in a different field, so it was a strategic thing.

Gabriella, thank you for this! I’m sure plenty of folks reading here could use that info.

It’s so odd that if you make six figures, this is available to you. I would think people below that threshold would need it more. Strange!

Well Paula, starfish are resilient, too. If that’s any consolation!

Yea, that’s really low — I’d not make them a frequent client, either. If they offered more higher-paying projects throughout the year it might justify working with them, but I suspect at those rates, that’s just a pipe dream.

I know you — you’ve got the talent. There have to be markets out there willing to pay you what you’re worth because $75 per article isn’t even close.

That brings up another issue: I haven’t applied for a PPP loan, but a friend who investigates white-collar crime for banks reached out to me and told me that the admin has really opened up PPP loans to smaller businesses, and she really encouraged me to apply. I haven’t done it yet. Not sure I will.

But here’s what she said: As of last week, the SBA has a fast lane for the self-employed. Using the greater from returns in 2019 or 2020, if your line 31 is 100,000 or more, you can apply now. The maximum is $20,832. Basically 100,000÷12 months times 2.5. It’s mostly forgivable by filling out the correct forms. “There’s $284 billion in PPP available. Billion with a B so there’s money for lots of businesses.”

Then the pandemic hit.

By mid-March, number 4 temporarily ceased publication; it resumed by autumn, but editors were doing everything in-house until last month when they finally assigned a few profiles while stressing that it was only because they were for a big, special issue. I soon realized 5&6 had taken everything in-house, but didn’t get official confirmation until late spring. That left only 4 “arms.”

At some point, number 3 went from being weekly to bi-weekly (less often at points when the publisher didn’t have enough ad revenue to pay freelancers).

Yep. Down to 3-1/2 arms.

I’ve been marketing all along. I had two potential clients totally ghost me AFTER sending me contracts and W9s to sign.

Thanks to Sharon connecting us, as of January I have a new client who has contracted me to write monthly blog posts.

That brings me up to 4-1/2 arms, plus random pieces here and there – like a client I wrote one article for in October and am about to do a second one in April (it’s a low-payer in a niche where I’d like to build more credits, so while I get something aside from money out of writing for it, I can’t afford to make it a frequent client at just $75 per article).

I guess that means my octopus is looking more like a starfish, but at least starfish are good at regrowing their arms.

That’s a lot of clients, David! Hey, everyone’s mix is going to be different based on the projects they’re handling. I think last month I may have taken on 10 or more projects, but they were a mix of short and long ones. Twenty wouldn’t work for me because of the complexity of some of the projects.

Keeping that many clients happy is a juggling act, I’d bet!

But I hear you. It’s the time it takes, isn’t it? It’s never great when one or two clients make up the bulk of your work. They disappear — you’re scrambling.