Breaking Free of the Freelance Low-earnings Rut

Freelance writer, is  your struggle too real sometimes?

I ask this because in conversation with another writer, I realized that for far too many writers, breaking out of their current earnings level is a battle they wage daily. In the feast/famine cycle of freelancing, famine has settled in for the long haul.

Are you one of those writers? Are you looking to be invited to the feast?

Believe it or not, that’s entirely up to you. [bctt tweet=”Any freelance writer struggling to make a decent wage has the ability right now to change that.” username=”LoriWidmer”] You can be part of the feast, and you can make that feast cycle last a long time. Here’s how:

Charge more.

Okay, it’s not quite that simple. But it starts there. If you have an earnings goal of, say, $3000 a month, increase it. $5000 a month is your new goal.

Did you just have a panic attack at the thought of not hitting that target? Good. That means you’re in the right frame of mind for the next step:

Look harder for new clients.

For some, that’s going to mean putting a bit more thought into whom they’ll target as their next freelance client. Let’s say your current focus is pet care. Specifically, pet care magazines.

Couple of things amiss with that specific focus:

• The rates the magazines pay
• The limited number of those magazines
• The narrow focus

Okay, so how are you going to fix any of this? Easy enough, it turns out. You’re going to branch out.

Magazines

Instead of the consumer-facing magazines you’re used to writing for, try the trade magazines. Every single industry has trade magazines. If someone is selling a product or a service, they read a trade publication. Type this into your search: “Pet care trade” and boom — you’ll see options for pet care shows and associations. Choose associations. Look at the magazines attached to those associations. They need content. Get in touch. Why? Because generally, trade magazines pay more. Getting someone to write from a non-consumer angle (and I argue that you’ve just changed who the consumer is) isn’t as appealing to other writers. Foolish writers, unlike you who are about to make bank on their folly.

Go beyond magazines

Don’t hyperventilate — you can do this. It’s like selling an idea to a magazine. The difference — you’re the idea.

Those pet care magazines you love to write for — pick one or two up. Flip through it, but note the advertisements. Note who’s being quoted in the articles. Those are your potential clients.

Now send them a letter of introduction. If you haven’t read it yet, this post about LOIs by Paula Hendrickson transformed my marketing efforts. Read it, write your own letter, then use it to get in front of clients. And don’t forget to follow them and interact with them (in a non-salesy way) on social media.

Go beyond pet care

Hear me out. It’s not about leaving pet care behind — it’s about making pet care your core focus, but branching out into the manufacturing of pet products, say, or the management of large-scale pet care operations, or the science side of pet products, or the professional groomers side, or … Every single thing that has anything to do with caring for domesticated (or even wild) animals is now your playground. Go on, experiment. Try working with clients in any area of your choosing. It’s all still within your comfort zone, but it’s taking you into new, more lucrative areas.

Look at other types of writing

It wouldn’t hurt for you to familiarize yourself with some of the more requested types of writing that clients may ask for. Search the internet for samples of case studies, white papers, ebooks, sales sheets (sometimes called sell sheets), email blasts. Just review the samples you find. If you have time, try putting one or two together using your own business, or a made-up client business as the subject. The more you get used to what’s out there that clients will pay big bucks for, the more comfortable you’ll be in getting beyond your current famine rut.

A word about raising your rates:

You will lose a client or two when you raise your rates. But there’s this unusually magical thing that happens when you do so — your time is quickly filled up by clients who don’t blink at paying what you’re charging. You get busier. Your name recognition among people in the industry goes up. And you become that sought-after freelancer who knows the business.

If you’re terrified of losing those current clients, do this: Raise your rates for new clients. Keep your current clients paying at the rates they’re paying. Then, once you get more clients paying at your higher rate, you’ll feel better about approaching your existing clients about increasing your rates. And remember — you’re not asking their permission to do so. You’re informing them that a rate hike is coming. You can negotiate with them, but remember it’s your business, your earnings. You decide that.

For magazines, you’re probably stuck at their rates. So it’s time to weigh each gig separately: Is the pay in line with the amount of work? (If you’re researching heavily and making 35 cents a word,  for example, it’s not worth it.)Is the work easy? Do you love it? Is it a nice break from more complex jobs? Does it take up too much of your time?

You, writer stuck in the same earnings rut, can start today with a better path to more earnings. You can enjoy doing this freelancing thing much more, and you can grow your freelance writing career with a few simple shifts in where you look for and how you attract new clients.

Writers, what shift did you make that made a difference in your earnings and clientele?