Words on the Page

Top Tips Writers Series #2: KeriLynn Engel

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Prove It To You by Kris Allen I love when this blog introduces me to new people. KeriLynn Engel is one of those people. When Keri signed up for my newsletter, we struck up a conversation. What I learned was this is a woman who is bright, eager to learn, and…

Free Advice Friday: 10 Hard Facts About a Writing Career

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Skinny Love by Birdy Quite the busy week. I’m deep into a sizable project and doing well with it. I’m hoping to deliver it to the client by next Friday, when I suspect we’ll go through a round or two of revisions. After that, I may have another project in the…

Writers and Attribution

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: One by Ed Sheeran It’s been a busy start to the week. Like I expected, the work is flowing in. I’ve already hit my target for this month, and October is looking just as sweet. Today, I’ll be working on a large project, finalizing plans for another large project, and marketing…

Top Tips Writers Series #1: Cathy Miller

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Daydreaming by Middle Brother Today starts a series that, to me, is just brilliant. I can’t take credit for it. In fact, credit goes to Valorie, who’d suggested an article on the ten best tips from freelancers to newer freelancers. Valorie, we’re doing one better: we’re asking successful freelancers to offer…

Home

Posted on by lwidmer

What I’m reading: A Good Hanging by Ian Rankin What’s on the iPod: The Miracle (of Joey Ramone) by U2 (Free album available on iTunes right now) Home. What an absolutely fantastic week away. Southern England is a treat for the senses. The place is all about walking and being outdoors — trails everywhere, and…

What Breaking Bad Has Taught Me About Writing

Posted on by lwidmer

I’ll be back in my chair tomorrow. When I do sit down, I have a full day ahead of me with at least two projects. I don’t like leaving in the middle of things, but that’s the way the projects rolled this time. Some things can’t be helped. As I was once again watching the…

Writing Link Love

Posted on by lwidmer

I should be back at the desk next Wednesday. Meantime, here are some favorite posts by some great writers: The Three-Day Rule by Walt Kania – a great plan for any freelancer to live by. Self-Publishing for Freelancers: Don’t Forget Phase Two – Yo Prinzel shows us how to be brutal with our beloved manuscripts. Want to…

4 Ways to Collect Without a Contract

Posted on by lwidmer

What I’m reading: Pigs Will Fly by P. G. Wodehouse Right now, I’m in southern England, hopefully relaxing. I know I’ll be coming home to a number of client projects — I’m just not sure how many. Right now I have two, but there are at least that many more in talks right now. It’s…

6 Ways to Keep Writing Work Coming In

Posted on by lwidmer

What I’m reading: Pigs Can Fly by P. G. Wodehouse This time tonight I’ll be boarding a flight to England. Meantime, I have this morning to wrap up projects, get another project in good shape, and yes, market. Always market, right? Because any time away from the career means a hit to the wallet, I’ve…

Riding the Writing Excuse Train

Posted on by lwidmer

What I’m listening to: Bloodstream by Ed Sheeran Lots of work at my door right now, and naturally, I’m about to head out of the country for a week. As I’ve always said, if you want work, just plan a vacation. I’m not so busy that I haven’t been able to interact on forums and…

Eileen

One of the biggest reasons I see for a freelance business to flounder (and almost exclusively in women) is a lack of confidence. It may not be politically correct to say this, but I’ve observed that men freelancers tend to quote higher prices with the unexamined assumption that they’re worth it (even if they aren’t). They also are more fearless when it comes to moving into new markets and taking their business to the next level. Women freelancers, however, for a bazillion cultural reasons, have a tendency to lack a comparable sense of self-worth … and it shows. So sometimes they/we use every excuse in the book, when really we're just afraid. (I count myself among them; this is something I’ve had to work at.) There are several antidotes to this, in no particular order. 1. Get a mentor 2. Feel the fear and do it anyway 3. Stop looking for excuses to fail and look for ways to succeed 4. And definitely move out of your comfort zone.

I have been mentoring a freelancer for several years now, and she has come a long way in terms of skill since she began. She’s really, really good, and has a natural instinct for business. But she was stuck in a rut with a client that had her on a treadmill, scrambling to keep up with a large, ill-defined workload for a weekly pittance. She knew she was worth more than that, but fear and lack of confidence kept her on the treadmill. That and the fact that she really really really needed the money, and was unwilling to risk losing what little business she had in order to get better quality clients. But practically the minute (okay, the same week) that she snapped and jumped off the treadmill, she landed several top quality new clients that have her working far less hours for far more money. Lesson learned: she may feel the fear again, but from now on, she’ll move forward anyway.

It’s no secret that I’ve been in a slump all summer, after losing two long-term, big ticket retainer clients who took the work in-house. But using your post as a checklist, I can see that I’m NOT getting in my own way. There may be a little room for improvement in terms of thinking creatively about markets, but otherwise, I’m doing what I’m supposed too … and I have every confidence that at some point soon, business will explode. My success is entirely within my own hands; if “the market” has slowed down, there’s still a way to bring in clients, and I’ll figure it out.

Cathy Miller

Excellent post, Lori. There are times I think we all fall into making excuses rather than doing something different. When I catch myself doing that I want to deliver a slap on my silly head.

At this stage of my career, it is easy to stall. I try to examine what really is at the core of it. Stepping outside my comfort zone is usually the answer. The trick is in the doing.

Anne Wayman

Eileen, you're absolutely right imo, at least here in the USA… and once we reach some sort of maturity I believe self-confidence is mostly a matter of habit… and choice… (feel a blog post coming on).

Yeah, like Cathy says being willing to step, push, jump, creep outside whatever comfort zone I think I have 😉

Lori, where are you going? And I love that train!

Jake Poinier

Good stuff, as always, LW. I've been freelancing long enough that I've seen more than my share of up, down, and sideways markets and industries, so I have to chuckle at "freelancing is dead," or its corollary, "there aren't as many high-paying freelance jobs anymore." Pffft.

For example, I remember the fear that the glut of writers from shuttered magazines and newspapers was going to cause all sorts of problems with prices and competition for projects. If that has happened, I'm not seeing it. Same with the supposed onslaught of the Millennials.

The fear of growing stagnant was one of the reasons I wrote my books last year–way outside of my comfort zone. But lo and behold, becoming an author is part of the reason I've got 2 speaking engagements this year and 1 in March 2015, and that has done a great deal for reenergizing my mindset.

Have a great trip!

Paula

Right now the thing getting in my way is procrastination. But the other day I figured out why I procrastinate, especially during weeks like this when I have a family event to organize and prepare for on top of my regular workload: I'm procrastinating because I know I work best under pressure. The cleaning will get done. The cooking will get done. The yard work will get done. I will fit interviews and articles around it. I always get things done. Knowing I have all that ahead of me makes me appreciate quite before the storm. Once the momentum starts I'll keep going.

To piggyback on another part of your post, Lori, I have a strange relationship with the word "excuses."

I've had chronic foot and skin problems since childhood. The ones involving skin issues or minor surgeries were obvious, but the more painful structural and nerve problems weren't diagnosed until much later. So my childhood was spent asking people to slow down, or complaining about how much my feet hurt. When I was little, my older siblings said I was making excuses so Dad would carry me. Or they said it was in my head. I wasn't making excuses. I was in pain.

I also have hyper-sensitive skin. Contact with lots of common items can cause reactions that take weeks, sometimes months, to clear up. When I say I can't do dishes at your house without rubber gloves, it's not an excuse. Or if my sister and I are out for lunch and there's fresh lemon or lime to squeeze on food or in tea, I have to ask her to do it for me because I don't carry disposable gloves with me. (I inherited my fussy skin from my Grandma – when we went to her house she'd leave tomato slicing and dish washing to the rest of us because she knew her triggers, too.)

That's why today I try to distinguish between a real reason for not doing something and an excuse. At first it can be hard to see the difference between the two, but go to a neighborhood meeting and you'll see people who'd rather complain about a problem and blame it on outside factors than coming up with ideas on how to solve the problem. They're making excuses, and they're usually the first to accuse other people — including the police officers and city officials — of making excuses for why they haven't already fixed problems they weren't even aware of before the meeting! That's a reason, not an excuse. Point that out to one of the gripers and they'll say, "Stop making excuses for them." Love the irony.

Those people would never make it as freelancers!

Lori Widmer

Eileen, your response should be printed out and posted on walls wherever there are freelancers. Best advice ever, and I see exactly what you're seeing. Also, I see another side of it — companies, run by men and women, don't take female freelancers seriously. Why? I suspect because we've created our value in their eyes, and it's based on our own trepidation.

Great stuff. Thank you.

Cathy, the trick really is in the doing, isn't it? I have a friend who plans all day, every day. Her life is about to change, must change, she keeps saying. I've been hearing that for 14 years now.

Jake, I remember that same fear. I didn't share it nor see it because not every journalist can, or wants to, transition into corporate writing or trade writing. Plus this job takes discipline and a ton of work. Not everyone is cut out for that.

Anne, I love that train, too. 🙂 We're headed to southern England for a week. He went to school there when he was a wee bairn, and he wants to revisit the memories.

Paula, super life lesson! Thanks for sharing it. It's true — there's a real difference between excuses and true reasons.

Gabriella F.

Lori, I swear you wrote this with me in mind given our conversation recently over the client who wanted some skills I didn't have.

When you're right, you're right. If the client wants to hire me, I'm going to take the job–though my comfort zone is soooooo cozy!

Thanks for the push.

Eileen

Lori, I can't say that I've experienced prejudice from companies against me as a female freelancer. But I did have someone tell me early on, a relative who works with executives as a consultant, that nobody would take me seriously if I wasn't charging at least $50/hour or the equivalent – and this was back in 2001. It was some of the most valuable advice I ever got.

@Paula, I hear you about "excuses." I have a chronic health issue which, while not debilitating, requires me to manage my energy and stress very carefully. That's one of the biggest advantages to freelancing: I control the schedule and just about everything else. So "I'm too tired to focus" is not an excuse, it's a signal that I need to manage my needs better and maybe even take a nap. Can't imagine working a 9-5 job.

@Gabriella, if another professional (client) thinks you're good enough, choose to believe him/her!

Lori Widmer

Gabriella, I swear this thing was written days before that conversation! But it does sort of mirror that, huh? No, this was a LinkedIn Group discussion that triggered this.

Eileen, I've seen it directly and indirectly. I remember one interview subject talking down the conversation to so basic a level a kid could understand. The minute I brought out a few acronyms, he relaxed and started talking shop. In other cases, I've had clients argue the snot out of my rate, but pay the male designer or male writer his rate without question. Sadly, I saw it at the magazine where I worked. Women got offered $300-400 an article. Men were offered $800-1,200 an article. No difference in what they were writing about, either.

It sucks, but there are still people out there who think and act like this.

Lori Widmer

And I love the advice you got early on. It's true $50 an hour doesn't sound like a professional when stacked against someone charging $125-150 an hour for the same work.

Paula

What? Did that magazine publisher not think some freelancers might know each other and compare rates?

One of my first regular clients was a national business magazine published here in town. Only after I got to know an assistant editor who quit after 10 months (and who is now one of my best friends) did I learn they paid local writers far less than writers from out of town, regardless of their level of experience.

Next time anyone balks about my hourly rate, I'll try this: "I feel a professional plumber is well worth the $75 per hour they charge, don't you? They provide a good value for that price. As I do for the rate I charge. But plumbing is a science – all plumbers know how plumbing systems work and they all use the same basic tools and materials. Writing is a skill, even an art, that gets better with time, making experienced writers exponentially more valuable than beginners. Supply and demand is part of the price, too: There are a lot more plumbers in the phone book than professional writers.

Paula

What? Did that magazine publisher not think some freelancers might know each other and compare rates?

One of my first regular clients was a national business magazine published here in town. Only after I got to know an assistant editor who quit after 10 months (and who is now one of my best friends) did I learn they paid local writers far less than writers from out of town, regardless of their level of experience.

Next time anyone balks about my hourly rate, I'll try this: "I feel a professional plumber is well worth the $75 per hour they charge, don't you? They provide a good value for that price. As I do for the rate I charge. But plumbing is a science – all plumbers know how plumbing systems work and they all use the same basic tools and materials. Writing is a skill, even an art, that gets better with time, making experienced writers exponentially more valuable than beginners. Supply and demand is part of the price, too: There are a lot more plumbers in the phone book than professional writers.

Lori Widmer

Paula, it's so strange how some clients, magazines included just don't understand how to treat good contractors. They do think we don't talk. And shame on the one that pays local writers less! I can almost hear them justifying it by comparing cost-of-living indices or something equally irrelevant.