I’ve been writing professionally since 2000, freelancing since 2003. Friends, I’ve seen some shit.
Maybe you’ve struggled with the same issues over your freelance career. Some of the things that frustrated me are pretty universal, I suspect.
The know-it-all freelancer
I’ve had a lot of people tell me what I’m doing wrong in my freelance writing business. Sometimes that “advice” is unsolicited, which makes it all the more maddening. One writer whom I’d barely spoken with in the past felt it necessary to point out things I was doing wrong as she was pumping me for information (because she was lousy at masking her real motive). Another put me down in public (more than once) and others have told me exactly how wrong I was in private forums.
Maybe you’ve had the “well-meaning” advice hit you, or maybe someone adopted the “you stupid cow” attitude online when you disagreed. Doesn’t matter. No really; it doesn’t matter.
Dealing with it: Ignore it. Look at your bank balance. Look at your happy clients. Ignore people who are too busy “fixing” what isn’t their business while their own business waits for their attention.
The freelance naysayer.
You can lead a horse to water, you know? Over the last few decades, I’ve witnessed freelancers make excuses, bitch about market conditions (the old “freelancing is dead” proclamations), whine about not being able to find decent work, or all of the above. You’ve seen it, too. For every one of us who are working at building networks and client relationships, there are many, many more writers who want to blame someone else for their lack of success. I have yet to find a scenario in which a writer can’t make a better living by trying. For every reason why we can’t there are examples of writers in worse situations who simply are.
Dealing with it: Don’t fight a freelancer who wants to wallow in self-pity. Let them wallow. Move on with your life. Because again, it doesn’t matter. Not to you. Trying to convince them otherwise is a fruitless exercise. Trust me. I’ve tried.
The freelance fudger.
Right now, I could name a few freelancers who claim that six-figure income and who, I’m betting good money, don’t make it all via freelancing (if they make that much at all). Their motivation seems to be, well, earning six figures from teaching others how to do it while not exactly being transparent about their income sources. I won’t name them because that’s their karma, not mine. Can you make six figures freelancing? Hell yes. I have. But ask yourself if you need to or want to.
Conversely, we’ve all seen the freelancer who claims that they’re making oodles of money working for $5 an article. Fat f*cking chance. Do the math. There’s no way anyone has the time needed to get more than $100K writing so many articles.
Dealing with it: Set your own earnings goal — one that you’re happy with and that will give you ample income. Ignore the noisemakers. They’re out to separate you from your money.
The beggar.
Want to appear to be desperate to any potential client? Contact them a lot. Make many suggestions without looking at what they seem to be doing already. Keep in touch too often. Overwhelm them with questions.
Look, you may well be desperate. But desperation makes you overreach. It makes client recoil.
An example: A lighting store near us has two salespeople, both women. The first visit, we met #1, who was a fast talker and nearly pounced on us as we entered the building. However, she also had a ton of knowledge that we needed, and when we asked her to slow down her speech, she complied instantly. The second visit, there was salesperson #2, who practically leapt over her desk to greet us. She knew we were working with #1 (we greeted #1 first and said we had questions). Still, #2 followed us to the lighting showroom and did a brain dump, then started printing out information we didn’t need as the #1 was trying to talk over #2 and get why we were there, while convincing her colleague that she’d already established a working relationship with us.
At that point, we didn’t want to buy from either of them. But #1 was clearly stuck in a situation where this colleague was trying to steal her sale. But the end result was that we were turned off completely.
That’s what it’s like when you let your desperation show.
Dealing with it: Act like you don’t need the job. Behave as you would if you were busy — in other words, ask questions about the project, clear up details about what they want/need, if they’re open to suggestions, and talk a little about projects you’ve done that are similar to theirs and how you can deliver value for them. Devise a follow-up schedule. Avoid contacting them more than once every three or four weeks, though contacting them after you talk to reiterate what you heard from the conversation is acceptable and, dare I say, expected. And watch your language. Reread it all to make sure you’re not slipping words in that indicate how badly you need the work.
Success starts inside your own head. Shift your perspective, create a mindset that you are a valuable resource, and keep your mind open to adapting to changing situations. You don’t have to know everything (there’s no way you do, either). But you can overcome a negative persona by putting energy into building a process that works for you.