You’ve done a good bit of work in the marketing bootcamp series already, so today I’m going to take it easy on you (just don’t get used to it!). You’re just going to read an article, go through a formula to set your own freelance writing rates, and then compare those rates to the target market you chose previously (to determine if they’ll realistically pay your rates, or if you need to refine your market a bit before we get heavy into platform-building next week).

Background

It’s important that your freelance writing rates mesh with your target market. Why? Because they have to be able to, and willing to, pay you! Simple, right? A common mistake writers make is to obsess over low paying clients. Guess what. If they can’t afford you, they’re not your target market, and they’re not worth the time of day as far as you should be concerned professionally. Get over it. It’s time to move on to bigger and better things.

Exercises

1. Read my post on All Freelance Writing: Setting Freelance Writing Rates the Right Way.
2. Use that guide to crunch some numbers and set your own writing rates (or find out why your current rates might be holding you back).
3. When you’ve figured out the rates you should be charging, compare them to some of the research you did yesterday. Are those rates in line with the competition you discovered? Are the clients you listed likely to be able to afford you? If not, it’s time to find another market (go back to yesterday’s steps and see where you went wrong – you probably won’t have to change the target as much as you think).

That’s it for today! The next few days over the long weekend will be easier ones to get us geared up and good to go for getting your professional site online (our big project for you in the coming week).