What one of the things I love most about freelance writing is that I only need a few tools to get my job done. I can work nearly anywhere and any situation. I prefer my laptop and an internet connection, but if I have a pen or pencil and some type of paper, I can be just as productive. Because there are only a few
With the start of June right around the corner, we’re nearly halfway through the year. Just one more month. When I realized how fast time was flying by, I went back to review some of my business goals and resolutions for 2012. I decided it was time for an early mid-year check-in. Why spend another month waiting when I can start improving things today? Basically,
I consider writing for a living to be a pretty sweet career opportunity. And if you’re reading this blog, I imagine you do too. But as great as freelance writing can be, it does have limits. You’re essentially charging people for your time, even if you don’t bill on an hourly basis. You can’t mass produce freelance work the same way you can with products.
There is no better feeling than being bogged down with multiple projects. Sure, this is going to bring stress to your life – but trust me, it feels good. Of course, there are issues involved with having this much work on your plate. Not only do you need to keep track of all your deadlines, but you don’t want to stop marketing your services. After
It’s not exactly old news – I believe Jenn even has an entire ebook on the concept – but the best marketing is the sort that brings your clients directly to your door with the minimal amount of effort on your part. Sounds lovely, right? I won’t lie to you and tell you it’s as easy as clicking a button or signing up with some
A few months ago, I read an intriguing article about how Target can figure out a woman is pregnant long before she ever tells her family or friends – by analyzing on her shopping habits. Who knew habits were so insightful? In the article, the author, Charles Duhigg, analyzed his own habits and noticed he had a habit of eating chocolate chip cookies every afternoon.
Very little hurts a freelance writing business as much as poor productivity. For example, if you feel too overwhelmed with client work, you might run out of time to seek out new clients (leading to a later lack of work). Or you might get so caught up in writing that you neglect important administrative duties. Or you might just work so many hours that you
There are many misconceptions surrounding cold calling, from the effectiveness to the best techniques and more. You don’t want to overlook this method of marketing your services because of a myth that was started by somebody you don’t even know. It Never Works Let me be the first one to tell you that this is a lie. Simply put, cold calling can help you drum
Guest posts are one of the hottest strategies for increasing online visibility. Like most marketing strategies, there are different opinions on how to do it right. I am not a fan of the do it this way, not that way mantra. You need to find what works for you. However, there are two sides to the guest post story – the side of the guest
I recently came across a fun writing toy and I’ve just spent the last hour playing around on it. It’s not earth-shattering, nor is it going to change the world, but it does illustrate a point rather nicely. Your voice is a secret writing weapon, so use it. Here’s the toy: https://www.codingrobots.com/iwl/ “I Write Like” is a website where you essentially paste a chunk of
When you are starting your freelance writing career, finding new clients always seems like a daunting task. How does a writer find new potential clients and how do we approach them once we do? Do we send them an e-mail or do we call them? Do we attach our CV’s or do we just concentrate on sending our best samples? I was always confused as
Today we have a few tips for “getting the goods” in print writing. Let’s begin with finding guidelines so you can craft a query… Getting The Guidelines When you are writing for print, the guidelines for the publication are the golden rule you need to follow. Problem is…not every magazine puts these on the web for you. So where do you find them? Here are
Last month, the Freelancer’s Union launched a neat website – WorldsLongestInvoice.com – which totals unpaid invoices from freelancers all over the world. The current total unpaid invoices is just a couple thousand dollars away from $16,000,000 and the site has only been live for a little more than week! Dozens of writers have added their names to the list. For example: Lanelle: $300 for Content
Starting out in freelance writing is an exciting time. Dreams of typing all day in a sunny coffee shop and nonchalantly telling people you write for a living are seductive. The alternative stereotype is also appealing to many: getting up at noon and working in your pajamas, perhaps in bed. Surely this career is bordering on perfect. However getting started as a freelance writer is
You wake up, get that cup of caffeine, go through your morning ritual, then work through your daily ritual of writing. Marketing? Yea, that doesn’t happen because you’re busy. Yet if you have fifteen minutes to play Facebook games, you have plenty of time to locate new clients and more projects. Just fifteen minutes – that’s less time than it takes to run to the
As you continue to market your freelance writing services, you will find that some people don’t have any need for you – at least for the time being. To give yourself the chance at a future project, it is important to provide any connection with both your email address and phone number. The more times you give out your phone number the better chance there
It might be the hours I keep, but there are some things about this business that just strike me as funny at the most unusual times. I’m sure it’s not a condition isolated to this working-mom-freelance-writer-person, so let’s see how many of you have the same random bits of humor that I do: I’m a Mystery to Advertisers Everywhere I don’t know why, but it
As a freelance writer, you’re used to getting paid for your work. But as a business owner, you’ll undoubtedly make some payments to your own contractors. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you outsource work to other freelancers and businesses. Make sure your business can afford the payment As with all expenses, be sure you have enough money to pay the
Last week, I was faced with a somewhat common situation. After sending out a few cold emails, I got two responses. One client hired me on the spot, based largely on the samples that I provided. However, the other company wanted to see more of what I could do for them. They asked if I could provide a free sample, based on their particular needs,
It’s amazing what a three-day weekend can do to your morale when it comes to picking up that virtual pen and getting back to work on Monday. I won’t lie to you – my schedule sucks sometimes and this is definitely one of those days. My day started at 6 am, I was in a meeting on a Monday morning at 7:30 where I learned
From my last post on Payment Policies, Anne Wayman gleaned that there are basically four ways for writers to charge: per hour, per word, per page, or per project. Pricing methods might differ, but the price should equal about to about the same. In other words, your hourly, per word, per page, or per project rate are just different ways of saying the same thing.
I’ve run into some interesting situations while doing print writing. As publications started to develop their presence online, there were some opportunities to make a little more money here and there. What? More money? Do tell, right? Some magazines also offer partial (or full) articles on the web as well as in their print version. And some of them will pay more for it. This
Last week, I decided to make a few cold calls. Believe it or not, this is something I miss when I don’t get around to it as often as I would like. After a few calls, I got a business owner on the phone. What ensued was something I had never experienced before. With this call, I had to first get through the receptionist. She
[This post is part of a series on how you can maximize your ebook sales.] Almost every book includes an author bio. There’s a reason for this. The author bio tells the reader why he or she should care what the writer thinks. It tells the reader that the writer knows their stuff. This is often clear with non-fiction and how-to books; the author’s bio
The wall. The block. It exists for all of us, and in my tired brain it seems to be hitting harder than it used to. Normally I don’t run out of things to say when I hit writer’s block – I run out of energy to say them. How can I get fired up to write something amusing or brilliant when I’d much rather be
Having a standard payment policy not only makes you appear more professional, it also makes it easier to manage your business and get paid. With a documented payment policy, you don’t have to come up with payment terms each time you do a project nor do you have to rely on your client’s payment terms. I considered my own payment policy and looked at a
More so today than ever before, freelance writers are in position to obtain new business through cold emailing. However, this is anything but a simple marketing strategy. In fact, it takes a lot of time and determination to make a success of this technique. Here are three potential cold email problems you are sure to face at some point in time. 1. No replies. Put
Those of us who have found success working in freelance writing or freelance anything are bound to have at least a little bit of arrogance. After all, we’re the ones who’ve figured out how to make the system work for us. We’re not cogs in a giant machine anymore – or if we are, it’s by choice. We’re successful business owners. Ah, independence. Declaring Arrogance
Being a writer is one thing, having a writing business is another. Read any business book, magazine, or blog and you’ll quickly figure out that growing your business means reinvesting your business profits. Big businesses do it all the time and they even have a fancy finance term for it – retained earnings. Growing your business isn’t the only good reason to reinvest your freelance
[This post is part of a series on writing sales copy for your book—see the first piece in the series here: The Truth About the Back of your Book.] We’re always told not to judge a book by its cover… but most people are referring to the front of the book. It’s flip side is a different matter. Without well written sales copy to convince