Freelance Writing

As of late, I have been receiving a few emails a week from freelance writers who are frustrated with the work being offered on bidding sites such as GetAFreelancer, Elance, etc. Although I do not bid on nearly as many jobs as previous years, I still like to keep up with what is going on within this industry. From what I can gather, the majority of jobs being posted are of low quality and those that seem promising are being awarded to those offering the lowest rates.

If you are not finding any jobs on these sites, there is no point in spending a lot of time on them. Instead, you should rethink your marketing plan so that you can begin to increase your freelance writing workload. Believe it or not, there are other ways to find work. This is not to say that you should do away with bidding sites altogether, but you should definitely consider other options; especially since these services seem to be going down the tubes.

The main reason that many aspiring writers stick with bidding sites instead of other options is because it is the easiest thing to do. In other words, it is much easier to bid on jobs than to write a query letter or cold call local businesses. But guess what? If you want to achieve a high level of success, you need to break out of your comfort zone and begin to search for jobs in other ways. Soon enough you will realize that bidding sites are good for nothing more than finding small jobs from time to time.

The bottom line: if you are relying on bidding sites and nothing more you are probably going to find it difficult to earn a decent living as a freelance writer. You can still check these sites everyday for new jobs, but do not rely on them to make or break your career. Instead, revamp your marketing plan so that you are generating new leads in many different ways.

No matter how much you love your career as a freelance writer there is a chance that you will burn out sooner or later. The fact of the matter is that this happens to everybody; no matter what career path you choose. And in my opinion, freelance writers are more prone to burning out because they work from home and do not have as much personal interaction as others.

If you are worried about burning out, keep in mind that there are many ways to protect yourself against this and deal with this situation if it does occur.

1. Do your best to talk with like minded professionals day in and day out. You can do this via email, instant messenger, phone, or in person. While it may not be feasible to meet with clients on a daily basis, you should attempt to leave home for a work related purpose at least once per week. Take a lunch break with friends, head to the store for office supplies, or go to the bookstore or coffee shop. No matter what, you should try to get out from time to time.

2. There is nothing wrong with taking a day off. When I first started working as a freelance writer I never wanted to leave my computer. Of course, I learned over time that this was a mistake. This does not mean that you should take a day off every week, but you should not feel guilty if you do so every once in a while. Personally, I do not take off many days, but if I begin to feel burnt out it is something that I consider right away.

3. Start a new project that will break up your day to day freelance writing tasks. This is one of the best ways to avoid burn out, and something that I definitely endorse. I have several projects in line that are not the same as my usual freelance writing load. These projects give me the chance to make sales calls, meet other people, and forget about my writing work for a few hours per week.

Freelance writing burn out is something that you will have to cope with at some point in time. As long as you take care of this problem so it does not linger, it should not have any long term negative effects on your career and/or income. 

At the beginning of the year I made a few posts about setting freelance writing goals. This past weekend I took a closer look at my list, and was surprised at what I saw: at this point, I am only on track to complete about one third of the goals that I set forth in January. As you can imagine, this is quite disappointing. After all, when you work hard day in and day out you expect to reach your goals. Unfortunately, this does not always happen for one reason or the next.

Things Change

The number one reason that I am off track is that my freelance writing workload has changed drastically since January. Not only do I have more steady clients, but I have also picked up a few large jobs. In turn, I have been left with less time for the projects that I thought I would be able to complete. It is obvious that I made the decision to move forward with these new projects as opposed to staying on track with the goals that I set for myself. Is there anything wrong with this? Some would say yes, some would say no. While I do not like scrapping goals, it is never as hard when you have new ones to chase that are every bit as desirable.

Should I Keep Chasing Old Goals?

Even though many goals that I set have been abandoned, the question remains: should I keep chasing them in the long run? The best way to answer this question is to look over each goal, and decide how important it is to you. I did just that this weekend, and found that some goals were worth keeping on my list whereas others were best left off for now.

Of course, when you get rid of old goals because your vision has changed, it is important to add new ones. After all, you need something to chase after, right? Without goals, you will go through the year not knowing what you want to accomplish.

I strongly urge you to take a look at the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of 2008. Hopefully you did a better job than me of staying on track. If you didn’t, there is a good chance that your workload and vision has changed over the first few months of the year. 

Beyond the Rhetoric is the official blog of fellow freelance writer Michael Kwan. When I first started working on my blog over a year ago, it was Beyond the Rhetoric that showed me the way. Although Kwan strays away from freelance writing topics more than me, this is one of the details that make his blog so great. Although it is not my style, I personally enjoy when other bloggers break away from content on their main topic to discuss other areas that they enjoy.

There are several reasons that Beyond the Rhetoric is one of my favorite freelance writing blogs:

1. Kwan offers information that is backed up by real life experience. From what I can gather, he spends most of his time writing on “tech” related topics. While this is not my cup of tea, it is obvious that he does quite well in this niche. It is always nice to take advice from bloggers who are achieving a high level of success, and can offer anecdotes from their personal career.

2. After reading a few posts at Beyond the Rhetoric you will agree that Kwan’s writing style is smooth and simple to follow. Once again, this makes for an enjoyable experience when reading one of his posts. As you can tell from my blog, I prefer simple, easy to read content; and this is just what Kwan delivers.

If you enjoy my blog, you will definitely benefit from signing up for the Beyond the Rhetoric RSS feed.

Although the internet and email have a lot to offer freelance writers, it is important to remember that the phone is still a tool that should be used from time to time. I am just like everybody else in the way that I primarily communicate with clients via email. But with that being said, I always offer to speak with them on the phone as well. Why do I do this, you may ask? Well, here are two of the top reasons:

1. Speaking with a client on the phone helps to build rapport. In other words, email is such an impersonal way to communicate. While email is commonly accepted, by offering to talk on the phone a client gets the feeling that you are really interested in learning about who they are and what they do.

Do not go overboard when offering to call a client. Simply give them your phone number, and let them decide whether or not a phone call is necessary.

2. A conversation that would take 10 emails and hours worth of computer time may only take a couple seconds on the phone. If a new client is having a difficult time explaining themselves or need a question answered right away, I always turn to the telephone. It is always easier to clearly and efficiently communicate when you are speaking with a client in real time.

As you can see, offering to speak with freelance writing clients on the phone brings forth many benefits. Some clients never take me up on this offer, and that is fine. But at the very least, they know that I am willing to converse on the phone if necessary.

I recently had a conversation with a fellow freelance writer who was in the process of hiring an assistant. While this is something that I have never thought about, having an assistant could be a good idea for many freelance writers. I regularly converse with writers who work with a part-time assistant, as well as a few who employ a full-timer.

What are the benefits of hiring a freelance writing assistant? This is a question that you need to answer before you decide for or against this.

1. If you are having a difficult time staying organized, hiring a freelance writing assistant may be the answer to this problem. Those who do not work as a writer find it hard to believe that there is so much information to keep organized. But as you probably know, nothing could be further from the truth. I spend several hours each week on administrative tasks such as accounting, clearing out email accounts, etc. As you can imagine, being able to pass these tasks off to an assistant would free up more time for writing.

2. Your freelance writing assistant may be able to act as the middle man between you and your clients. One of the writers I referenced above as having a full-time assistant never personally communicates with clients. Instead, she lets her assistant do all of this for her. I recently asked her if clients dislike this. Surprisingly, she said that none of them have an issue communicating with her through an assistant.

3. Perhaps the biggest benefit of hiring an assistant is that they can help with marketing related tasks. This can include everything from website maintenance and development to following up with leads to implementing an email marketing campaign. Although I do not have an assistant, this is one area that I wouldn’t mind getting some help.

Of course, hiring a freelance writing assistant is not all full of benefits. Here are three drawbacks of doing so:

1. When you have an assistant, you will lose touch with both the industry and your clients. I like communicating with clients on a day to day basis. It allows me to stay familiar with their wants and needs. Additionally, it is important to me to know what is going on within the industries of all my clients. With an assistant this would be quite difficult.

2. Anytime you hire somebody to work for you, it means one thing: you have to pay them. Are you willing to give up some of your profits in order to bring an assistant on board? This all depends on how much money you are making, as well as how you like to run your business. Of course, before you can make this determination you need to get a better idea of how much you would have to pay an assistant, either part or full-time.

3. Just as clients can burn you by not sending payment, an assistant could do the same. Unfortunately, it can be much worse when an assistant tricks you because they will be working from inside your business. They have access to your client base, accounting system, and much more in many cases. For this reason, you need to make sure that you trust your assistant 100 percent. If you do not, this type of relationship will never work.

So what do you think? Will you ever hire a freelance writing assistant? I never think too much about hiring an assistant, but can definitely see the pros and cons. At this time I am not having any trouble getting my work done, including administrative tasks. With that being said, my freelance writing business is expanding quickly and I am diving into other areas such as affiliate marketing. For now, I will probably work solo. But just like anything else, you never know what will change in the future. 

No matter what line of business you are in, increasing profits is something that should be of interest to you. When it comes to the freelance writing industry, there are quite a few ways that you can increase your profits. Believe it or not, you have more options than simply increasing your rates; even though this is something to consider (as you will see below).

Listed below are three of the best ways to increase freelance writing profits. If you can implement any of these into your business, it is safe to say that your monthly freelance writing income will begin to increase.

1. Churn out more work. The faster you write the more work you will be able to take on. And when you take on more work, it only makes sense that this will result in increased profits. If you are going to exercise this option, make sure that you keep quality in mind at the same time. Yes, writing faster can increase profits, but if you are not turning in high quality work you are going to lose clients.

2. Charge more money per project or per hour. This may sound easy enough, but increasing your rates can be tricky to say the least. When doing this, you need to keep a few things in mind.

First off, make sure that you do not increase your rates to astronomical heights. If you do this, you are going to price yourself out of the industry. As a general rule of thumb, be careful that you do not increase your rates more than 15 percent at a time. Of course, you know better than anybody else what your clientele is willing to pay.

Additionally, you should be prepared for clients to ask why your rates increased. You should have a prepared answer such as “I always increase rates at the beginning of a new year.” Even though it may not seem fair to you, clients are always going to ask why your rates increased, and whether or not you can cut them a break.

3. Look into other ways that you can make money as a freelance writer. As of late, the most common option is starting a blog. There are a couple of ways that a blog can help you to earn more money. First off, the blog itself can produce income through the sale of private ads, Google AdSense, etc. To go along with this, you may be able to use your blog as a way of finding new clients. This year alone, my blog has brought in clients who I have billed for more than $3,000. As my readership continues to grow, I am hoping that this trend continues.

These tips should allow you to increase your freelance writing profits. Remember, minor changes can go a long way in helping you to earn more money.

Cold calling companies to sell your freelance writing services is not as difficult as you may think. Personally, I feel that this is one of the most effective ways to drum up new business. The main reason that most freelance writers opt against this is simple: they do not want to take the time to cold call companies, and even more so, they are a bit shy about making these calls. If you can get past these mental blocks you should be able to increase sales.

The question is: how do you approach companies about your freelance writing services without getting hung up on? Below are three tips for increasing your success in this area.

1. Find out who to speak during the first call that you make. In most cases, there will be one person at a company who can hire you to work on a freelance basis. Of course, this can change based on the size of the company, as well as many other factors. But no matter what, you need to make sure that you are speaking with the decision maker. This will go a long way in increasing your chances of receiving a project. When you get stuck conversing with somebody at the bottom of the totem pole, it is going to prolong the process because they will have to get permission to hire you.

The best way to find the decision maker is to ask the first person that you speak with; most likely a receptionist of some sort. Try something such as, “Hi, my name is Chris and I am calling from Acme Co. I am trying to get in touch with the person at your company who is in charge of hiring freelancers.” At the very least, this should put you on the right path to hunting down the person in charge.

2. When you get the chance to speak with the decision maker, you need to make your time count. They may not have a lot of time to speak with you, so make sure that you are quick and to the point. Tell them who you are, what you offer, and how you may be able to help them out. Once you get a good conversation flowing, you will be able to work other details into the conversation such as your industry experience and great rates.

3. You are going to be told “no thanks” more times than not. But this does not mean that the lead is necessarily dead. When I get turned down, the first thing that I ask is whether or not they mind a follow up in a month or so. Most people will say yes, even if they are not interested. At this time, I usually ask for an email address as well. Many times, a follow-up email a few weeks later will result in a job; even if only a small one.

Cold calling is never an easy thing to get used to. But once you begin to achieve some success in this area, you will become addicted. Use the three tips above anytime you are trying to sell your freelance writing services via a cold call.

If you want to get hired as a freelance writer, you need to offer something that a company wants. In other words, what sets you apart from the other freelance writers who are undoubtedly attempting to land the same jobs as you? There are many details that you can tout as unique selling features, and you should definitely know what works in your advantage before you speak with a client for the first time.

Industry Experience

Industry experience is perhaps the best selling feature that you can have. Personally, if I have experience in an industry I always make sure that the potential client is well aware of this fact. Of course, if I do not have experience I do whatever I can to mask this downfall so that it does not sink my chances.

When I first started working as a freelance writer it was difficult to find industries in which I was experienced. But as my career moved forward, this became much easier. Now, I have written a wide variety of articles in many industries which allows me to confidently apply for more positions.

Money

Unfortunately, some clients will base their decision based primarily on money. While these clients may look at what else you bring to the party, they want to make sure that your rates line up with their budget. To increase your chances of winning more jobs, consider setting your rates a bit below the industry average. Yes, this means that you will make less on each job, but at the same time it should allow you to find more work. Of course, this is just a suggestion. You may not have any problems charging a premium for your freelance writing services, and finding clients who are perfectly fine with this.

Professionalism and Customer Service

Make sure that you are professional and customer oriented at all times. When a potential client gets in touch with you, answer their questions as soon as possible. By showing that you are interested in their success, you will have a better chance at winning them over from day one. Nobody wants to work with a freelance writer, or anybody for that matter, who is only interested in their own success. Be professional and show that you care from day one.

All in all, you need to give a company a reason to hire you as a freelance writer. The three unique selling features above are a great place to start.

What qualifications do you need to become a freelance writer? When compared to other careers, the answer to this question is left wide open. In other words, there is no concrete set of qualifications that you must meet in order to become a freelance writer. I know writers who hold a masters degree, as well as some who never graduated from college. Additionally, I spent two years in sales before becoming a freelance writer and many others have done the same in other industries.

Of course, there are some qualifications that will work to your advantage when starting a freelance writing career:

1. A good command of the English language is very important if you want to become a freelance writer. Clients are not going to pay for broken English, or content that does not make any sense. Sentence structure, grammar, and spelling are all very important. Luckily, these are the basics that most aspiring writers learn at a young age.

2. Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit? If so, you will have a much better chance of achieving freelance writing success. Remember, being a freelance writer means that you are going to join the ranks of the self-employed. When it comes down to it, many people are not cut out for this; they need the stability of a corporate environment and regular paycheck. Will you feel comfortable working for yourself and relying on your skills to get paid?

3. The willingness to work hard may be the most important qualification. You can be the best writer in the world, but if you do not work hard to find clients and give them what they want, you are going to fail. The freelance writers who have the most success are not always the ones with the college degree and loads of experience. But often times they are the ones who will not take no for an answer, and will go above and beyond to satisfy clients.

4. Speaking of satisfying clients, you need to make sure that your customer service skills are up to par. Remember, your clients are the ones who will be paying you. On top of that, you are their single point of contact. When you treat customers with respect and give them what they want, you will find that they are more than willing to form long term relationships.

5. Do you have any samples that you can use when getting your freelance writing career up and running? There are two ways that you can get what you need. First off, search far and wide for anything that you can use as a sample. Some new freelance writers use articles that they wrote for a college newspaper, or a sales letter that they put together at a past job. If you cannot find any samples from your past, create a few today. This takes nothing more than choosing a topic, and then putting together a killer article.

As you can see, you do not need a lot of qualifications to become a freelance writer. There are some things that will help, such as the five areas listed above, and luckily each one of the points is easily attainable.