Freelance Shorts: Random Advice to Improve Your Writing Biz

With summer bearing down, it’s a great time to reassess your freelance writing business. Anytime is a good time, but if things are slowing down or you’re needing to step away, use the time to find better footing within your business.

Since it’s also a time when my life goes into vacation mode and utter planning chaos (we don’t do things lightly or easily), I thought a roundup of advice from various writers and corners of the internet could be of some use.

I got the idea from Twitter, in fact. So here they are in random order (like my brain feels a bit today):

On Rates

My writing buddy Jake Poinier said this on Twitter last week:

Not trying to be flip: If you can’t remember the last time you were rejected on price (or if you’ve never been), you aren’t charging enough.

That right there. I had a big client this past year who hired me just after I raised my rates significantly. They hesitated. Asked questions. Then they hired me. I was close to losing them, I’m sure, but that’s okay.  I was working hard already and didn’t really need more work. Happy to have them on board, but at my rate. I’ve lost some for the same reason. That’s how I know the new rate is the keeper. It attracts terrific clients and keeps the workload manageable.

On Finding New Clients

My own thoughts in a Twitter conversation could well be useful to you, the freelance writer who’s looking for better clientele:

Start with a pitch to a client whose website and content you’ve read and researched. Then charge like you mean it.

Stop with Upwork, content mills and job postings.

[bctt tweet=”If you want to secure #freelancewriting clients that accept your rate, find them.” username=”LoriWidmer”]

If you want to earn what employees do, answer job postings. When you apply for a job posting, you’re putting all the emphasis on the client being in charge — of your rate, of the relationship, of the work process. Enough.

Get your ass busy and find your own clients. Watch people on Twitter and LinkedIn. Figure out which would-be clients are those you might want to work with. Research them. Read. Follow them. Then reach out to introduce yourself as Paula Hendrickson taught us. That letter of introduction shouldn’t be a sales pitch, but rather an introduction and a conversation starter. Follow the links for help in putting your letter together.

Also, note that the rate comes in there again. It’s that important that you find a great rate. I’d bet my next check that you’re not charging enough and it’s because of The Dance, which goes like this:

I want this gig so badly! I’m going to figure out the rate…. Oh wow, that seems high. I don’t want to chase them away. Let me ask a few writer friends … I still don’t think charging that will win me the gig. Let me lower that ….

That’s The Dance. It’s your brain telling your aspirations to dial it back a bit. It’s usually wrong. Refer to Jake’s advice above. If you lose a client based on rate, it wasn’t your client to begin with.  Very few clients worth keeping will shop on price. They’ll have a budget and will negotiate. That’s different than saying, “Gee, you charge too much.” If they say that, they’re definitely not your client. You charge too much for them, not for you.

On the Never-Ending Project

Who hasn’t been on the receiving end of a project that drags on thanks to clients who let the draft sit on the back burner? Here’s how I suggested one writer handle it:

If it’s been longer than two weeks, send the final invoice. Tell them since you haven’t heard, you can assume things look good, and invoice is due upon receipt, thanks.

It moves them, believe me. You’re going to get revisions back, a note back or a check back. But you’re going to get something. If you don’t, remind them in a week that you sent an invoice, could they confirm receipt, please? Don’t let their indecision and other fires keep you from getting paid. May want to write that into your contract that if you don’t hear back within two weeks, the bill goes out.

On Knowing Your Limits

Michelle Garrett, who runs the popular (and fabulous) #FreelanceChat, boils career choice down to one succinct bit of advice:

This is why I never call myself an “SEO writer” – if someone hands me a list of 20 keywords they want stuffed into a 700-word post, I’m not the writer for that gig.

In other words, don’t take on stuff that you know you don’t want to do. Period. I once had a gig that required me to do math and percentiles. I warned the editor — multiple times — that I can give a good report, but I cannot accurately calculate that because the knowledge isn’t there. I was a Business Comm/Journalism major for a reason.

Say no when you know it’s not for you. Like that gig writing 2,000 words for a penny a word (seriously, that isn’t work — it’s serfdom).

On Moving the Prospect to a Decision

Having a lead on a potential client is exciting. What isn’t exciting is when they are sporadic in communicating, and you’re not sure where they stand after a conversation or two.

My buddy Cathy Miller has an excellent move for finding out if warm leads are interested in hiring. She sends a note similar to this to her prospects who have dragged out the communication without commitment:

I don’t want to be a pest, so let me know.

I use something similar for interview sources: Let me know either way. Something that gives them the incentive — and the space — to respond either way is freeing for you both. You get an answer and can move on. They stop avoiding it. They might actually say yes, too. Just lighting a small fire under them can get them going on whatever project or commitment that they’ve been stalling on.

Writers, what’s your advice for improving the freelance writing biz?
What one move (or more) have helped you boost results and clientele?