lwidmer | Words on the Page

The Tuesday Freelancer: Handling Client Disagreements with Grace

Posted on June 19, 2018June 19, 2018 by lwidmer

Last week I headed in to the local Macy’s to spend a gift card. I found a few things that I took to the sales desk. That’s when things got, well, weird. The salesperson was a younger woman — mid-thirties perhaps — who was dressed in a really neat rocker-chick style, including awesome makeup. She…

7 Time-saving Moves for Freelance Writers

Posted on June 14, 2018June 14, 2018 by lwidmer

What I’m listening to: Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way by U2 I’m hung over from a late night — went to the U2 concert, and didn’t get in until the wee hours of this morning. So today, with a full work day and an weekend already filled up with way too much,…

Marketing Monday (on a Tuesday): No More Weasels

Posted on June 12, 2018June 11, 2018 by lwidmer

What I’m listening to: Get Out by Frightened Rabbit Okay, okay. So it’s Tuesday and I’m giving you a Marketing Monday post. Sue me. We had a long weekend (started on Thursday), and it meant a lot of driving, most of it done by me. When I got back last night, there was no way…

The Freelance Writing Situation (and Removing Yourself from a Bad One)

Posted on June 6, 2018June 4, 2018 by lwidmer

Double post from me on Monday. The reason? I goofed up in scheduling. No biggie. Just go back and read at your leisure. I was on a LinkedIn Group for a good while, but last week, I just couldn’t any longer. It was a group specifically for freelance writers and editors, and I kind of…

The Ethics of Freelance Writing

Posted on June 4, 2018May 10, 2018 by lwidmer

You can’t believe everything you read. I was on Amazon shopping for a microphone about a month ago. I sorted results by Average Customer Review, and bought one based on the 9 glowing reviews one microphone received. Too bad they were fake reviews. Oh, I did my homework. I looked for the “verified purchase” tag…

Writers Worth: When Fear Matters

Posted on June 4, 2018May 29, 2018 by lwidmer

We’ve been talking a lot about what we’re afraid of and what we should do to, well, get over it. What we haven’t talked about is when we have to pay attention to our fears. When our fears matter, and when they deserve some attention. Some fears that are more than just our little egos…

Free Advice Friday: This Job, Not That Job

Posted on June 1, 2018May 23, 2018 by lwidmer

Whew! We made it! Another Writers Worth Month in the books. Thank you to everyone who contributed to probably the best Writers Worth Month we’ve ever had. That includes everyone who commented, shared, lurked. You made this happen, and you made this special. This was the 10th anniversary. It was also the last one. I’m…

Writers Worth: Fear and Your Worth

Posted on May 31, 2018May 28, 2018 by lwidmer

I get by with a little help from my friends. — John Lennon and Paul McCartney The end of the month. This month. Writers Worth Month. This has been a surprisingly impactful event this year. It started with me coming up with a post idea for one person to write about fear. Then it hit…

Writers Worth: Forward Together, Fearlessly

Posted on May 30, 2018May 29, 2018 by lwidmer

It’s Paula Hendrickson’s fault. No really, it is. Paula is the reason we have a month-long Writers Worth event. Paula is the reason I have enlisted guest posters for content. She’s the reason we now have Twitter chats. She’s the reason Writers Worth has become such a large part of my life, and hopefully of…

Writers Worth: Your Freelance Competition

Posted on May 29, 2018May 28, 2018 by lwidmer

Confession Time: I worked a little yesterday. Yea, I know. Yesterday was the post about taking time away. I have a good excuse: I took off early on Friday. And I’d forgotten to schedule this week’s posts. So at 6:45 am on a holiday, I was here making sure this post would be waiting for…

Sharon Hurley Hall

May 29, 2018

Well said, Jenn. Those “insta-experts” really are the worst. I had one of them try to persuade me we should work together on something, but quickly figured out that the draw was being able to promote my decades of experience to make what s/he was selling look better. I walked away fast.

For new writers: it pays to do some research – you’ll soon find the people who really have got the chops like Jenn, Lori, Anne Wayman, Cathy Miller (and me), who are usually willing to point new writers in the right direction. (What we have in common is that there’s nothing instant about our expertise – we all worked hard for years!) If you’re prepared to do the work, then you can build your career without an “insta-expert” in sight.

1. lwidmer
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  Sharon, I had the same experience. I wonder if it was the same insta-expert? The one I had an encounter with was asking for guest posts. Only … those guest posts were there to somehow prove she had more experience than she had (at the time, it was just over a year’s worth). I pushed back when the request came to give free content for a course she was offering — and charging for.
  
  That right there is sleazy. Yes, you can sell your expertise to someone who’s willing to pay for it. Selling someone else’s work that you’ve no intention of paying for? Yea, no.
2. Sharon Hurley Hall
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  Lori, I’m guessing it’s the same person. That sounds like the identical approach.
3. Jenn Mattern
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  I know which scenarios you’re both talking about, and it’s definitely the same person. See insta-experts? We talk to each other. Word gets around about you. And your equally-new friends can only get you so far when you’re building an awful reputation for yourself among more experienced colleagues.
  
  This same person came to me for a guest post… just a few weeks after I’d already published one on the site. I shot them down in no uncertain terms.
  
  This is the same one who, when Lori told them “no,” said no one else had a problem contributing to things… right after I’d also told them “no” about it, so yeah, someone else did have a problem. They lied to justify them using more experienced colleagues. They made a point to ride other people’s coattails, and quickly moved to the whole “buy my shit; I can teach you how to succeed with my whopping ONE year of experience!” spiel. Honestly, that’s not the worst I’ve seen. I saw one selling a course with only six months under their belt. And a colleague pointed another to me (was it you maybe Lori?) where the person giving career advice (I don’t think they were charging in this last case) admitted they’d JUST STARTED. It’s truly nauseating sometimes, and we notice these red flags. I feel awful for new writers exposed to all this garbage when they’re trying to find legitimate sources to trust. It’s equally the fault of sleazy marketers teaching writers to sell without real experience under their belts, and Google’s repeated failures when it comes to online “authority” and making it easier in the past few years for con artists to game the system. But that’s another issue all its own.
4. lwidmer
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  Oh, I remember that one, Jenn. Yes, I’d mentioned that one to you. In fact, Twitter is littered with the same “Look how much I made on my first try” tweets. Great! Now replicate it monthly and we’ll talk.
5. Jenn Mattern
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  I really feel for new writers these days. It’s crazy to see what they’re exposed to (that we weren’t), and I almost can’t blame them for falling for the BS, because it usually comes from the loudest people — the ones newbies see first. But they do have to try harder. And they have to be careful not to over-rely on any single source. And if someone’s approach doesn’t work for them, they need to be much more willing to walk away and do something else. This is one of the biggest issues I see around this — they come to me not right after they realized so-and-so’s advice is getting them nowhere; they come to me months, sometimes a year or more, later because they assumed something was wrong with them and they had to stay someone else’s course. And that’s fine. Not every legit expert’s strategy will work for everyone either. But when I see newer writers struggle with this, it’s nearly always after they’ve been following one of those same two people.
  
  I didn’t mention this in the post because there’s so much I could say about insta-experts that it slipped my mind. But basically, like you said, it’s about years of hard work. Those who build visibility quickest are often the most suspect — promoting themselves is fine, but if you don’t already know them like some of us did before they skyrocketed in popularity, you don’t see how they really do that. In one of the two cases I mentioned, it was largely using black hat tactics — buying undisclosed links, doing link exchanges to rank well (offering nofollow links while demanding dofollow ones — a link scheme that you can be penalized for), using fake followers to initiate public discussion when others aren’t talking about them (one who’s no longer around thankfully even did that here on Lori’s blog — they commented under multiple names to support themselves when literally NO one else could support their variety of selling newer writers out)… the black hat list for some of these folks is long.
  
  The newer variety (which is pretty old in the marketing and PR community, but writers have been slower to catch up) often involves “tribes” (a term I despise). It’s largely about that circle-jerk variety of promotion. It can involve automatically promoting content from certain people in your little play group before you’ve actually read it (which is completely irresponsible and makes you an untrustworthy source of information). It’s such a gross development in professional networking.
  
  The folks new writers should be paying the most attention to are:
  
  – Offer plenty of information without locking everything behind a pay wall.
  
  – Are willing to answer questions like Sharon said — especially if they’re running sites for other writers; if they can’t handle even basic questions from community members without nickel & diming everyone, that’s a serious red flag. (Though if you go to them with generic questions like “where can I find gigs,” you need to get off your lazy ass and search first, and you probably won’t get much of a response.)
  
  – Are ideally focused on a similar specialty to yours. Someone writing for magazines primarily isn’t who you should be learning from if you want to be a freelance copywriter, and vice versa.
  
  – Have been at it a while (when I accepted guest posts, I have a 5-year rule — if you hadn’t been earning your living freelancing for 5 years, you weren’t in a position to offer career advice; that’s the point where about half of small businesses fail in the U.S., and to advise on others on careers you should be proving you can manage a sustainable one).
  
  – Have strategies that are compatible with you. If you’re a high-anxiety type, someone who constantly pushes pitching and cold calls won’t suit you as well as someone who focuses on inbound marketing and PR, and vice versa.
  
  – Writers who are honest with them — not just those who constantly boast and try to make themselves look important, but those who come out and tell you equally about their struggles so you see they’re human and they understand where you are or have been. Someone who only toots their own horn has a little too much hot air to burn off.
  
  There was a time when you could simply rely on who others were recommending rather than who was hyping themselves up. But those days are over too. I watched this a while back with a newer group of writers who came in. It became a constant game of promoting each other to maximize exposure until they could get on others’ radar. It was gross. It was obvious. But if you didn’t know how they were all connected, it would look like natural, legit promotion. These are the types who go beyond exchanging links to calling each other experts long before any of them are. Some of those folks are no longer freelancing already. Some spend their time parroting one of the biggest BS artists around. I had one of them ask me for advice privately only to share it on their blog w/o permission the next day (no credit — sharing it as if it was their own advice). I’ve had them try to use me in a way like Sharon mentioned (and I know Sharon’s been hit by this group too) — they get more experienced pros to provide content so they can monetize it and market based on someone else’s expertise. I watched some give advice that left out bare bones legal issues that any amateur would know — basically advising newer writers to do something they can’t legally do because this person had no real expertise.
  
  This is the kind of thing you’ll pick up on, but only when you’ve been at it for years. In the meantime, you have to learn to trust your gut. And you have to exercise common sense. It’s usually pretty clear if someone is speaking from experience versus just parroting some advice they heard somewhere for example. And not everyone’s every experience will apply to you. It’s okay to get email marketing advice from one place, and pitching advice from another for example — no single freelancer can teach you everything you need to know. This is why I frequently tell writers, you need to start with the fundamentals. Then you’ll know where you have gaps to fill. But you’ll also get much better at sniffing out the bullshit.
  
  See? This is a topic I can talk about way too much. 😉 It’s been terribly sad seeing what’s happened to the freelance writing community in recent years — mimicking many of the sleazy marketing bubbles I’ve spent a long time countering in the PR community. It’s not something I originally thought I’d see repeat itself. ‘Tis the cycle I suppose.
  
  I think I’ve only told Lori so far, but I’m planning to do more to counter some of this nonsense moving forward. While I already have an extensive collection of free resources at All Freelance Writing, I’ve been wanting to add courses for a while. And now that I just finished a big market directory overhaul, that’s the next big project on my list for that site. It’ll begin with a free course (resource for readers, and a way for me to let people test the course platform). And it’ll directly target a topic I’ve seen far too many insta-experts sell courses and e-books on.
  
  That won’t be a one-off either. If I see an insta-expert selling expertise they don’t have to the detriment of new writers, I’m going to be working harder to make sure they have free resources available to teach them instead. If it’s one small thing I can do to help discourage this crap, I’m going to do it. While I have no issue with pros selling things — they deserve to be compensated when they put a lot of effort into a valuable resource — I do have an issue with those who exist primarily to make a buck off newbies’ backs. And that’s an area where I have the advantage of not needing to do that. While I’ll have more paid and free e-books coming, and paid and free courses, I can keep making beginner-level material free (only charging when people move up and need something more advanced that involves more effort on my part). Most of my income on my freelance writing site doesn’t come directly from readers at all. And it was designed to work that way so I could always focus on creating for readers over creating for sales. I remember a colleague (not a newbie) talking to me about one of those notorious insta-experts a while back — they saw an email tied to some other content and were like “Well, I guess so-and-so’s going to be selling a new product next week.” It had become so obvious that everything this person was writing “for readers” was all about the pre-launch for the next sale. I couldn’t live with myself running a skeazy business like that, constantly pretending to care about a larger community when in reality the interest is shoving the next product down their throats. No thanks. The ones you want to learn from are the ones who teach and encourage because they care about making a difference and giving back to a community that helped them. And frankly, when you do that, there’s still a lot of money to be made without selling readers out constantly. Lori is a good example. Sharon is a good example. Peter Bowerman is a good example. These are people who have long been involved in the community, helped newer writers out, and have real expertise backing up what they teach.
  
  And this comment is probably longer than my post now. 😉
6. Sharon Hurley Hall
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  But so valuable, Jenn. 🙂 Looking forward to hearing more about your course.
7. Jenn Mattern
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  Ugh… I need to stop speed-typing in little comment windows. Missed so many typos here. Sorry about that. 🙁
8. lwidmer
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  LOL It may well be longer. But it’s needed info, so thank you, Jenn.
  
  I would much rather see a writer hire a business coach than plunk down hundreds for questionable content. I remember one other insta-expert actually charging for “courses” that turned out to be old blog posts that were readily available. Maybe save some cash and just cut-and-paste it yourself?
  
  Great list of what to look out for. Exactly what I’ve seen, too.
9. Jenn Mattern
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  But Lori… don’t you know how hard it is to lump all that old content together? I mean… they saved someone having to *gasp* SEARCH!
10. Cathy Miller
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  Well said by you, as well, Sharon. And thank you for the shout-out. We’re a regular mutual admiration society. 😉
Paula Hendrickson

May 29, 2018

Pretty sure I know one of the two insta-experts you noted, Jenn.

The one I have in mind is someone I’d connected with on LinkedIn many years ago, probably about the same time they were launching some of their first courses. The messages were innocuous at first, but I soon started seeing inconsistencies and that braggadocio bubble to the surface. A condescending boastfulness, really. They’d noticed that I write for couple of pretty well-known publications and told me they’d written for one of them too. Small world, huh? Not really. That publication has a searchable database going back several decades, and this person’s byline was no where to be found. I causally mentioned that I couldn’t find their byline anywhere on the database, and boy did they reverse course fast. “It was so long ago I can’t remember – it must have been for….” that publication’s rival. Sorry, but you wouldn’t forget writing for either one of those and you certainly wouldn’t confuse the two if you had.

Not too long thereafter, they sent a spammy message inviting me to take their course. Seriously? I’d already checked the credits this “expert” claimed to have, and the few that checked out weren’t that impressive, and it was clear they’d only been freelancing a handful of years. So I replied asking to be removed from their mailing list, pointing out that I had far more experience than they did, so I wasn’t really in their target demo of gullible newbies. (Okay, so I probably didn’t say “gullible newbies” but I implied it.)

Later, I leaned this same person (who’d once posted to a LinkedIn Group that they would NEVER work for less than 50-cents a word) was a regular contributor to one of those websites Jenn mentioned that’s the online-only arm of a major business publication. A publication I turned down because their pay rate was pathetically low.

1. Jenn Mattern
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  I remember you telling me about that one Paula, and I’ve heard similar stories about them from other colleagues, and have had similar interactions myself. If I’m guessing right, it’s the same person who contacted Lori to give her unsolicited webinar advice after they’d done ONE. And it would be the same person who told me one of their clients was out of my league (when they paid less than half what I made on a typical article at the time). Always assuming they’re a step above everyone else. Thankfully that doesn’t account for the vast majority of freelance writers though.
2. Paula Hendrickson
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  Probably – this person was sort of simultaneously fishing for contacts while insinuating that I’m not up to their caliber. Yeah…right. Who was the one fishing? Not me.
3. lwidmer
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  Right there, Paula. When someone is telling you they can help you earn oodles of cash and they’re taking low-paying work, why would you trust them? Oh right — you wouldn’t.
Jenn Mattern

May 29, 2018

I can’t believe I have to add this, but on a related note…

Sometimes the folks posts like this are about see themselves in it. And there’s a long history of them jumping on the posts full of support. It’s a way to distance themselves by the content — after all, if they’re supporting the message, newbies won’t assume they’re the subject.

It’s just something new writers need to be aware of.

Devon Ellington

May 29, 2018

Good points. One of them accused me of not being a “real” freelancer because I work across topics instead of niche. Not even worth engagement.

1. Jenn Mattern
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  Ick. I’m sure their ignorance will take them far.
  
  I believe wholeheartedly in specializing. But where some get that concept wrong is thinking it only means choosing a niche or industry. It doesn’t.
  
  Some specialize in an industry. Some specialize in a niche. Some specialize in certain types of clients (like taking on subcontracted work from marketing firms). Some specialize in certain project types (or groups of project types).
  
  For example, I specialize in blogging and marketing & PR copy (not direct sales copy) for solopreneurs and creative professionals.
  
  The other mistake is thinking you can never make exceptions. You’re always the one who gets to choose. For example, sometimes I work with middlemen clients for their own small business clients. Sometimes I work with mid-sized companies (including some I’ve been with since their solopreneur days). Once in a while I’ll even take on a corporate client if the project feels like a good fit.
  
  Most freelancers I know who think they’re absolute generalists aren’t. They just haven’t though enough about what they primarily take on and how they market themselves. It’s often less about them changing the kinds of projects they do and more about them changing the way they think about the kinds of projects they do. But no one needs a niche in particular to specialize.
2. lwidmer
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  Seriously? They accused you of not being a real freelancer? Clearly not someone who knows how much you do in one day. Between you and Jenn, I’m always feeling like a slacker.
  
  You’re right — not worth your time.
Devon Ellington

May 29, 2018

I considered taking a long absence (perhaps permanent) last year. I was discouraged, burned out, exhausted. But I couldn’t imagine not writing. I just wanted to approach things differently.

A lot of the advice wasn’t working for me.

So I sat down with people I trust and we figured out a plan, most of which we’ve implemented in the past year. I’m still tired, but it’s working better for me.

It doesn’t stop the insta-experts from getting up in my face, but that’s their problem, not mine. My way is ONE way, not THE way. And when it doesn’t work, or there’s an obstacle, I adjust. I learn, I grow, I evolve.

I listen to people who know more than I do (and there are plenty, you among them).

Then I make the best decision I can and give it another shot.

1. Jenn Mattern
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  I know that feeling unfortunately. I’m glad you figured out a plan forward that works for you.
  
  And what you said is really the key. You learn. You grow. You evolve. Nobody knows everything. And everyone makes mistakes, regardless of how long they’ve been at it. But mistakes only stop you if you stop learning from them, or if you’re determined to repeat them. If I ever get to that point, I’d definitely walk away. No real point in moving forward then.
2. lwidmer
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  “My way is ONE way, not THE way.” Amen!
  
  Advice works when it fits the person, place, and circumstance. What worked for me ten years ago probably wouldn’t work for me today.
3. Jenn Mattern
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  That’s a great point Lori. Even though we tend to see cycles in some way, markets constantly change. The best part? New markets seem to arise all the time. What worked well for me when I started would never work as well for someone now in that same specialty because it was a specialty I carved out for myself when no one was yet. Once something saturates, it takes a totally different approach to getting in. It can be done. Just differently. Or with a new specialty to make your own. And new folks are sometimes surprised to hear this, but there are still untapped markets out there where clients go with generalists out of necessity because there aren’t any specialists yet. You can be THE person clients in these areas turn to first.
  
  It all comes back to fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals.
  
  When you focus on fundamentals, you can adapt to changing markets, competition, industry trends, and pretty much anything else thrown your way.
Cathy Miller

May 29, 2018

Jenn, picture me in the standing O position. This is the tell-it-like-it-is post that first brought me to your site’s shores. It boggles my mind that it’s almost 10 years ago. As you know, I started my freelancing business after 30+ years in the corporate world. As you said, you do the math. 🙂

I encountered the freelance “manager” I’m pretty sure you’re talking about. Maybe it was my *ahem* advanced age that had me catching on to her lack of credibility fairly quickly. I do not have the journalism background my fine colleagues like Sharon and Lori do, but I’m old enough to appreciate real professionalism. It saddens me to see such a loss of standards.

As I approach 10 years of freelancing, I am so grateful for all you do.

1. lwidmer
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  It makes me just ill, Cathy. I really worry about the world if the ethics and the care we take to do our jobs right are being ignored by other writers who are more concerned with making money than with acting ethically.
2. Jenn Mattern
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  Lori, you have no idea how much what you just said actually reflects back on my other post this month. That’s a big part of one of those opportunities that was taken away where I had a chance to make a huge difference. And professionally, I have no bigger regret in my life.
3. Jenn Mattern
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  Thanks Cathy. You know… I realized the other day the site itself will be 12 years old in barely more than a few months. It feels like yesterday, but that makes me feel so old. LOL Think of it all as more experience Cathy. It’s what sets you apart from the insta-expert lot. 🙂
  
  The manager one I had in mind was a guy. There are just too many to keep track of these days. LOL
4. lwidmer
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  Oh, but you’ve accomplished quite a lot, Jenn. I think we all have regrets, no?
5. Jenn Mattern
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  Not like this.
lwidmer

May 29, 2018

I just wish every single new writer could memorize this:

“You fell for their act. And now you’re comparing yourself to something fictional.”

Think about that. Someone is puffing up their importance, embellishing their resume, and selling it to you. Just because they say it doesn’t make it true (post-truth era my ass).

Do your thing. Look for advice from more than one source. Don’t rely on one person who overdoses on exclamation points to be your savior. Chances are they’re out to save only themselves.

1. Jenn Mattern
  
  May 29, 2018
  
  Amen.
  
  The weirdest thing about it is that I rarely see these same people hype themselves up in the same way for freelance prospects. They tend to share the least info publicly to build their image (rates, service details, and such), so who knows what they’re saying privately. But it’s like two very different public personas, where they just assume new writers are going to be gullible. I wish fewer proved them right.