But I don’t have time for marketing! This is a common complaint shared by many freelance writers. However, you should not let this complaint turn into an excuse. If you do, you could be harming your chance of future success.

Need more time to market your services? Experiment with these three tips:

1. Set time aside every day. For example, you may decide that you are going to work on marketing related tasks every day from 12 to 1 pm. When you have time set aside it is much easier to focus solely on this task, without ever missing a beat.

2. Create a marketing plan. If you don’t have a plan you won’t know what to do next. And when you don’t know what to do next, there is a good chance that you will end up wasting time while making no progress. No matter if you are a beginner or have been freelancing for many years, you need a marketing plan that you can rely on.

3. Set goals. By setting goals, you will find it easier to hold yourself accountable. In turn, you will always save time for marketing.

Happy reading!

From the Writing Forums

• How do You Set Your E-book Prices?
• Business Bank Accounts
• What Accounting Software do You Use?
• What Gets You Through Your Work Day?
• How do You Approach Website and Blog Design?

From the Blog

• Freelance Writers: Stand Up for Your Rates – by LaToya Irby
• Messy Subjects and Verbs – by Rebecca Garland

From the Web

• Fair Wages for Freelance Writing – Melanie Brooks at Freelance Switch
• 6 Freelance Writing Fears and How to Overcome Them – Anne Wayman at About Freelance Writing
• You Are a Better Writer Than You Think You Are – Laura Spencer at Writing Thoughts
• Plan a Marketing Strategy for Your Freelance Career – Jake Rocheleau at Freelance Folder
• How the 80-20 Rule Affects Freelance Writers – John Soares at Productive Writers
• 5 Steps to Freelance Awesomeness – Steph Auteri at WordCount
• Putting the Customer Back into Customer Service – Lori Widmer at Words on the Page
• 10 Ways to Ensure No One Will Read Your Blog Content – Ali Luke at Daily Blog Tips

From the Archives

• Free Business Resources for Freelance Writers
• How to Build a Writer Platform and Make Jobs Come to You
• 3 Types of Business Writing That Pay Big Money
• How to Insulate Yourself From Bad Freelance Clients
• Think Twice About Writing for Revenue Share

Don’t be desperate enough to accept anything.

You might be tempted to accept a lower rate if you’re short on work and you need money quickly. Knowing that type of situation makes you vulnerable, try to avoid reaching the point of financial desperation. Market your writing services even when you don’t need to and money set aside during your good months to fill in future income gaps. Slumps are often a good time to work on your own projects.

Don’t let clients bully you into a lower rate.

Clients may try to negotiate lower rates by quoting a price from another freelance writer. “Don’t you think $450 is a little steep? I have an offer from someone who’d accept $45 for this project.” I always find it amusing when these clients try to haggle instead of just taking the lower rate offer. There must be a reason they haven’t hired the other writer – perhaps because they realize the end-product may lack quality?

Try to work within the client’s budget.

If you’re truly interested in a project, leave room for negotiations. Clients may walk away when they receive a quote outside their budget if they don’t realize you’re willing to work with them. Let the client know that you can better accommodate their budget if you know what they’re willing to spend. For example, the client may want 20 articles but only has $500 to spend. Instead of lowering your rate, you could offer the client 10 articles for $500, for example, if your rate is $50 per article.

Make sure your rates make sense.

When your rates make sense to you, you’ll have an easier time explaining them to potential clients. Experience, education, credentials, and attention to detail are all reasons why you charge what you do. Helping your client understand this may encourage them to hire you for your rate. If clients aren’t willing to pay your rates, it’s a sign that you’ve either priced too high or targeting the wrong customers.

Know when to walk away.

Sometimes I have a hard time turning down projects; I guess it’s the Samaritan in me. But, it’s ok to turn down a project especially if it’s going to cost you, but don’t do it prematurely. Make sure you’ve taken time to understand what the client is looking for and confirmed you can’t work within their budget. It doesn’t hurt to follow up in a few weeks to be sure the client’s needs have been met. There’s a chance they went the cheaper route, were unsatisfied, and are now willing to pay your rate.

How do you handle clients who want you to change your rates?

Writing Forum Daily Discussions

Every weekday I’ll kick off the day with a new question or discussion topic in the forums. For example, today I asked “How do you set your e-book prices?” in the new e-publishing section.

Some days I may start multiple discussions, but there will be at least one fresh one each day of the work week. And as always, you’re welcome to start as many discussions as you’d like. Just register on the site to be able to post. It’s free!

Weekly Roundups

I used to run a “Freelance Friday” series here where I’d highlight other posts from around the blogosphere. We’re going to go back to something similar.

From now on, each Friday I’ll do a weekly roundup post. That post will feature:

• Our daily discussions from the forum for the week;
• Blog posts you may have missed here during the week;
• Blog posts from others in the freelance writing world (or related areas).

My hope is that we’ll get AFW members chatting a bit more regularly while also encouraging people to check out other great posts from colleagues each week. What are you waiting for? Register today and head over to the forum to get involved.

I’m not sure yet how it happened. But I suspect it’s a result of a new plugin here which I’m using to clean up dead links throughout the site. I’m assuming it updated a URL and somehow altered that post date when the linked info was changed. I’ll look into it further and will hold off on using the plugin again until I can figure out what happened.

My apologies. If you see anything else that looks strange around here, don’t hesitate to let me know so I can fix it. I won’t necessarily see everything that you see, and things like this occasionally happen when plugins are involved.

Are you comfortable with “face to face marketing?” In short, this is the act of marketing your services to potential clients in person. No matter the setting – from conferences to chamber meetings – you need to be comfortable selling and marketing yourself in a face to face environment.

Here are several tips to keep in mind:

1. Rather than brag about your accomplishments, detail your past work and explain how it can benefit the client in the future.

2. Let the other person do the talking. When selling your services, you may have the urge to do all the talking while letting the potential client do nothing more than listen. While there is nothing wrong with carrying your part of the conversation, don’t go over the top. Instead, let the other party speak so that you can better craft your responses.

3. Ask questions. Not only does this open up the conversation to both parties, but it will give you a better idea of what the person is looking for. You can then use these responses to better focus the conversation on the right details as you move forward.

At first, you may be intimidated by marketing your services in a face to face environment. However, once you become confident in yourself this can be a lot of fun.

New Forums Added

Registered members of All Freelance Writing have access to our writing forums. While we had freelance chat areas before, we’ve now added a section for book chat. There you’ll find a few new forums covering self publishing, e-publishing, and working with publishers.

Not a member yet? Register now. It’s free!

Branding Changes

There will be a minor branding change here at All Freelance Writing and most of my other websites. Rest assured we won’t have a name change here or any big design changes. But within the next week you may notice a reference to this site being a 3 Beat Media property. It is not being sold off. I’m simply in the middle of a business name change for my base business — from J.H. Mattern Communications to 3 Beat Media. The new company branding will be more heavily promoted on my sites and blogs.

You may have already noticed that there are shortlinks below each post here. They all starts with 3bm.co. That domain is tied to the new branding and all of our shortlinks will follow that format.

Other than that, it should be business as usual.

I need a real office space where I feel empowered and professional in order to run my business effectively.  For years I’ve struggled to find the place in my home where was going to create this perfect office set-up.

Freelancing with Family

Over the years I’ve tried any number of set-ups to make this writing career work with my growing family. I started in a shared office with my husband. When my first son was born we moved the two computers into another bedroom. Then my second son was born and we got kicked out of that room, too. We then had two home businesses running out of our bedroom. Naturally we were on different schedules and his music drove me absolutely nuts when I did pretend to sleep with two toddlers in the house.

When we moved, we swore up and down that we would need two distinct working spaces along with the three bedrooms. Naturally, when we arrived in the new house there was a master bedroom, a bedroom for each boy and a small office for my husband who was, at the time, working exclusively at home. Mom, ever the flexible one, got to set up a folding table in the bedroom and pretend it was an office – again.

Settling In

I’ve now been in my house for three years and I’ve had offices in four spots. I worked next to the bed in the master bedroom. I worked in the corner of the master bedroom when we bought new furniture. I worked in the corner of the dining room for a time and briefly, as I was laying hardwood in this room, I worked in the middle of the foyer. But now, the end is very close indeed. I’m going to have the perfect office just as soon as I finish building it.

After staring at a dining room that went almost completely unused, I sold the nicest piece of furniture in my house and cleared out the forsaken dining space. I moved my folding table in and called it my library.

I’m now in the perfect mom spot. I’m literally in the center of the house – I can hear my kids playing above me. I can keep an ear on anything in the oven, and I can stop by and check in on my computer any time I walk through the room.

Making the Perfect Freelancing Office

At this point, it’s just a matter of creating the perfect library setting in my 144 square feet of dining room space. I started with the wood flooring. For about a year I had an old folding table on a new hardwood floor.

Then I moved in an antique secretary I grabbed on Craigslist to dress up the corner. I added some valences to the tall windows along the wall and picked up an excellent chair from Pier One for Christmas thanks to my husband.

My grandmother’s antique marble coffee table makes an excellent end table and the round pedestal table and antique chairs I scored off Craigslist have been refinished and are a great spot for the boys to work on book reports and color (or play Legos) while Mom does a bit of work. In a pinch they can also be used for family meals.

After two years of planning and adding bits and pieces to the dream office, I’m finally on the last big project. I’m creating a wall of built-ins including my desk. The bookshelves have been in place since December. They span a twelve foot wall with space at one end to give headroom over the desk, or rather where the desk will go. My tired, old folding table is sitting there now, holding the spot where I’ll be installing the base cabinets and then the countertop that will serve as the top of the desk.

I am, as I write this, admiring the perfect set-up that is almost complete. I have about three hundred books at my finger tips. I have soft throw pillows and blankets waiting on my chair behind me for the chances I’ll have to read one of those books. My walls are a rich merlot and my floor is oak.

It might have taken me six years, but the home library set-up I’ve dreamed of is finally within reach. It’s a heady experience. The toughest part will probably be letting go of this old table – we’ve been through a lot together after all, and these are our final months together.

It will be a bittersweet moment when the project is complete.

Are you in your ideal working environment?

If you’re about to launch a “commercial” writing business (writing for companies, and the subject of TWFW), or are 1-2 years into one that’s plateaued, you need to check out this program. It’s solely focused on commercial writing, NOT magazine writing.

As I told Peter directly, I think he offers some of the best resources around for freelancers. His products and services are always top-notch, and judging from the testimonials from past series’ participants, this is no exception.

Details and testimonials can be found at http://wellfedwriter.com/groupcoaching.shtml. (Note: This is the first series he’s done since May of last year and he says he likely won’t have another for at least 6-8 months).

There aren’t many available spots, so sign up now before the coaching series fills up!

Living Expenses/Taxes/Savings Ratio

This “live on the rest” budgeting system isn’t something I made up. I’ve read about it over and over in personal finance books, so I can’t take credit or give it to anyone else for that matter.

The gist is that you live on 70% (or some other percentage) of your income. The other 30% goes toward taxes and savings. When you get paid – or when you pay yourself – immediately set aside 20% for taxes and 10% for savings. And then, you live on the remaining 70%. If your monthly income is $4,000, you would set aside $800 for taxes, $400 for savings and you live on the remaining $2,800 left for your living expenses. It makes a big difference in how you budget, physically and mentally.

I mention the mental budget because we often make plans for our money long before we ever receive the money and even before we commit to a paper budget. If you’ve planned your spending based on one amount and what you’re actually able to spend is a much lower amount, adjusting is going to be painful. But, when you have more realistic expectations of your income, the budgeting process is much easier.

Tweak the System

For me, the system works best when I pay myself a set amount each month. That way, I can work with a lump-sum amount. But, you may have to work up to that point if you pay current month’s expenses with the current month’s income. You also budget this way on a payment-by-payment basis. Just split up your payment, 20% in an account with taxes 10% to savings and 70% in your primary checking account. If you’re faithful about splitting up your payments, you won’t have to play catch-up later on.

These numbers are generic and can certainly be adjusted, especially if you’re in a higher tax bracket. You can use an average tax rate calculator to calculate your Federal tax rate, then add 15.3% to compensate for self-employment taxes, and don’t forget to consider your state taxes. If you’re trying to pay off debt, you might use a 65/20/10/5 ratio where 5% of your income goes toward debt payments.

At first, the system may be painful. The mere thought of only getting 70% of your income is undoubtedly depressing. But, it’s pretty close to how things work when your employer deducted taxes and benefits from your pay. Believe me, you’ll be happy you did it this way. When it’s time to pay your estimated taxes, the money is already there. And though retirement may be while away, it’s a big goal to prepare for. The sooner you start and the more disciplined you with saving, the better off you’ll be when it’s quitting time.