5 Freelance Mistakes I Made (& what to do instead)

I turned down a steady gig recently. Two actually. And I don’t regret it.

The first one was a no-brainer. The pay was there, but the workload was a bit much for what was expected. I would have lost money — and time — if I’d kept that client. So I politely declined further assignments.

The second was a bit more complicated. The pay was there, then it wasn’t. I’d agreed to X with the owner, but the project manager came to me with a surprisingly low pay rate — $3,500 less than the owner and I had discussed. Then the pushiness started. I was receiving contracts and NDAs and being introduced to my team lead before anyone mentioned pay.

Buh-bye.

It was relatively easy to let both of these clients go. I’m swamped, and have been for nearly two years. The time I have left over after working on my current clients’ projects is sparse. If anyone else is going to fill that space, they’d better bring their best offer.

What a switch from my freelance writing career just 12 years ago.

Twelve years ago, I had it fairly together, but there were times I struggled. There were months that I made a few thousand, months I made quite a few thousand. It wasn’t steady, nor was it ongoing work all the time. While I had a few good clients (and still have those same clients), the rest was pieced together as I found the work.

That’s not the way to do it.

And plenty of freelance writers are doing just that. Just look at the social media posts:

• “Get more Fiverr and Upwork clients”
• “Turn your writing skills into income”
• “Get paid to write guest posts”

What kind of pay do you think you can demand with those gigs? (And don’t try selling me on how you earn six figures sitting in your underwear writing content mill articles — you’re in your underwear because you have no spare time to dress.)

The problem in a nutshell:

[bctt tweet=”#Freelance writers are not aiming high enough.” username=”LoriWidmer”]

They’re doing what I used to do — settling for what came along. They weren’t building a brand, name recognition, or even a network.

That’s where I differed a little from the crowd. I was already ten years into building the network and name recognition. The brand was sorting itself out, too. But it could have happened faster.

Some of the mistakes I made that you don’t have to:

Marketing to the gig.

I was smart not to make this my entire approach, but I did this far too often. I would meet with someone at a conference, hear what they needed, then pitch myself just to that.

The better way: Build a connection by partnering. Become the partner they trust by putting yourself in their shoes. Have they tried this? Where are their frustration points? Make suggestions on how they can get more mileage from their written pieces. If you’ve been doing this for any length of time, you know what to suggest. Maybe they have a tag line that just isn’t hitting the mark, or they are too busy loading blog posts with keywords to ensure the content works. Help them see that. The more you show you’re on top of the industry and your own role, the better your chances of winning over the ones you want to work with.

Saying ‘yes” instead of ‘no.’

SO many of the gigs I accepted turned out to be time sinks that paid less than they should have. I took what was in front of me and said ‘yes” to please them — probably more than to please myself.

The better way: Say ‘yes’ only when it works for you. The pay, the work involved, the number of revisions, the expected turnaround time — all of that matters. You need to know the scope of that gig  — and how well you think you’ll get along with that client — before you agree to working with them. Make your decisions based on facts, not emotions.

Not changing the approach.

Guilty as charged. I relied on my pitch, my LOI, and my past experience without realizing that maybe the client in front of me needed to see more. Or different. Or hear something that related to their core business.

The better way: Mix it up. Stop sending those blanket emails and start reaching out in more personal ways. Make damn good use of social media as a way to get a conversation going. Find unobtrusive ways to make that contact part of your network. Stay in touch, nurture the relationship. Don’t expect a single thing other than a connection. Some of my best clients have come from contacts in my network who referred me to them. Take the time and spend the energy strengthening your business relationships.

Waffling on price.

I’m in good company here, I suspect. That hot prospect in front of me would always make me think that my price, which was fair, would be too high. I shudder to think how much money I left on the table, especially when one contact, who did hire me, said “Oh, that’s not a problem at all” to a price I’d adjusted slightly. Damn! Should have gone higher!

The better way: Set your price. State your price. If the client is not far off your rate, you can negotiate. If they are, you’ve saved yourself a lot of time. Say “I charge X” and resist the urge to include “but” or “sorry” in that sentence.

Aiming for the middle.

It was tough reaching out to those household-name companies, I’ll admit. I was sure they wouldn’t need a writer. I avoided them on the list of contacts I’d made.

The better way: Go for it. Right now, I work with three household-name companies because I realized they need outside help just as badly — if not more — than the mid-sized and smaller companies do. They have tons of projects going on, and too few hands to finish them all. Why not you? Find that marketing person to connect with, build that relationship, and secure that client.

Writers, what mistakes did you make in your career?
How did you correct it? What worked better for you?
What mistakes do you see newer freelancers making? What advice would you give them?