What I’m reading: The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson
What’s on the iPod: Hell and Back by The Airborne Toxic Event
There’s nothing like working outdoors to center you. We spent the weekend accomplishing various things, one being leveling the ground near the house. Six hours of digging and hauling sod and dirt made me realize how much the T-25 workouts are actually helping. Thanks to a wonky thyroid, I’ve lost zero weight in the year and a half I’ve been exercising so hard. However, it would seem I have some serious stamina. I even made dinner after all that time in the sun.
Yesterday I wrote. I had to finish up a project draft for my newest client, and I’ll be starting a second one today. Plus, there’s the work my regular blogging client has. It’s always nice to work with him.
It’s also nice to see fellow freelancers helping each other out. Thank you all for reaching out to Tracy on Friday and offering her suggestions, support, and even work possibilities. You’ve proven my notion that we writers don’t compete with each other because we don’t really need to. There’s plenty of work to go around, and each one of us brings something different to the job.
The help you gave her inspired me. I was thinking about how Tracy was trading up from a dead-end career, looking for something better. Her journey is just starting, and she’ll trade up a few times along the way. In fact, I doubt she’ll stop trading up.
I didn’t.
It’s that realization that helps your business grow, too. Today you’re charging $50 an hour. But once you’re working at that rate, maybe it becomes clear to you that you need more. So you go up to $75, maybe $100 an hour. You lose a few clients, but they’re soon replaced with better ones.
We’ve all made trade-ups. Here are some that have worked for me:
Trade up to a more serious approach. I stopped letting my passive approach to finding work (job listings and paid job boards) slow me down. Dump the lazy way and teach yourself how to contact client prospects directly.
Trade up to more targeted marketing. At the start of my career, I would send the same query out to four magazines at once. The result — four different rejections. Now, with everything from my magazine queries to letters of introduction, I personalize. Find a personal way to reach prospects without the sales pitch and the hit-and-miss, one-size-fits-all marketing message.
Trade up to a more confident attitude. What’s the hardest thing we struggle with at the start of a freelance writing career? Accepting that what we do has value, and being able to assert our business needs with clients. I remember taking jobs because they were offered. No more. It has to fit both of us, and the terms have to be in line with what I can reasonably accept. Own your business, writers. Don’t let clients tell you how it’s going to be run.
Trade up to a better rate. I remember $35-an-hour jobs, if I’m being honest (for a temp agency). I remember taking jobs that paid far less than my current per-word rate. I remember the hassles clients in that pay scale would give me. The minute I charged more for my work, the better the clients. Problems all but disappeared, and my skills were clearly valued. Increase your rates — that goes for you long-time writers. When was the last time you gave yourself a raise?
Trade up to improved business practices. I used to waffle and cave in when clients would counter my rate with “That’s too high” or “I can’t afford that.” Now, I decide if I have any negotiating room. The client doesn’t decide that for me. I run my career like the small business it is. That includes paying taxes, chasing invoices, and being tough when I’m owed money. Don’t wait six months for that missing money to appear. If it’s not there in one month, find out why. If it’s not there in two months, that means late fees. If it’s not there in three months, that’s the litigation threat and the ten-day grace period for the late-payers to get that bill paid before it hits small claims court. Be tough when you need to, professional always, and protective of what you’ve worked so hard to build.
Writers, what habits have you traded in for new ones?
How has that helped your business?
These beat any sports trade I've seen, Lori. 😉 I traded up to select business writing services. I hated copyediting, so I don't offer it. I created blogging packages so I contract for a minimum of 3 months (so far clients have all gone for the 12-month package).
Sure, on occasion I will do the smaller "one and done" for existing clients, but I find by being selective, I enjoy and benefit from better projects.
Selective is good, Cathy. No sense being our own bosses if we're doing things we don't like doing!
I spent most of the day Saturday hand-trimming hedges and cutting several (but not all) weed trees out of the hedges on the property line. I'm covered with scratches and bruises. I have four yard bags overflowing, two trash cans stuff beyond capacity (marked with an X so it's collected with the yard waste, not the trash), and a big stack of 3" diameter trunks, aka "branches" lined up to haul out for collection, but looking at the backyard you'd be hard pressed to tell I'd done anything. Ugh.
Right now most of my work is still feature writing, and sadly the clients set those rates (but Favorite Editor just assigned a piece at $1/word so at least our rates are aligned). But when asked my hourly rate or a per project rate I've begun stating the rate I deserve instead of worrying about what they'll think. Sure, one potential client said she'd have to think about it, and another just said "thanks for the info!" so he was probably only asked my rate to compare it to what other writers quoted. One of these days someone will bite! Until then I'll stick with features instead of underbidding what a job is worth to me.
Yep. That's another part of the writer's worth equation: How much the job is worth to YOU.
Amen, Paula!