Freelance Writing

In order to make small, lower paying freelance writing projects worth your while, you may want to consider spreading them out over the course of a week or two. When I first started my career as a freelance writer, this is not something that I wanted to do. Instead, every project I received, I would try to send back to the client as soon as possible. Over time, I found out that this was not the best option.

Here is a rundown of what I do when I receive an inquiry from a client for what I deem a “small” project.

1. Ask for exact details including the size and nature of the job, while also quoting a price. Obviously, this information is needed so that I can accurately classify the size.

2. After processing all of the information, I give the client a timeframe for completion that suits my “spread it out” style. In most cases I do not receive any resistance from the client for taking a few extra days.

3. I draw up a schedule for completing the job over the course of a week or two. This allows me to put a little bit of time into the project each day. In other words, it helps to ensure that smaller projects do not bog me down.

Take this situation for example. I was recently offered a job writing 10, 300 word articles at $10/each. This is far from being a high paying job, but why turn it down? Based on the steps above, I accepted the job but told the client that it would take five business days to get the work back to them. This allows me to write two articles per day over the course of the week. Since it will only take me about 10 to 15 minutes per article, it works out to no more than 30 minutes out of my day. Personally, I would rather take 30 minutes per day for five days than 2.5 hours all at once.

In the end, I will receive $100 for what is only a maximum of 30 minutes of work per day, for five days. By spreading out smaller freelance writing projects in this manner, it will allow you to accept more work and earn more money. 

Personally, I do not know much about American economics. With that being said, I have taken the time to stay up to date on the current situation in the United States. While it is hard to predict the future, a lot of so-called experts feel that a recession is on the way. Like most, this worries me for a number of different reasons.

Over the past week or so I have talked to a few other freelance writers, and they feel that the downturn in the economy will eventually have an effect on the freelance writing industry. I guess that I agree with this to a certain extent, but I do not know enough about the economy to make an educated prediction. Will the freelance writing industry slow down because companies and webmasters will no longer have the money to spend? This makes sense, but again, predicting the next turn is next to impossible.

What do you guys and gals think of this? Are you worried that things will slow down across all industries, including freelance writing? While only time will tell, hopefully some of you readers will have some better insight on this. I am not going to sit around and worry about the possibility of losing a lot of business, but it is obviously a concern for millions of people. Hopefully, things will get worked out before the economy slips even further. What is going to happen next? And will we (freelance writers) be affected?

If you are a freelance writer, it is safe to say that you rely on the internet day in and day out. Personally, when I do not have internet access, I begin to go through withdrawals. Although my ISP is reliable most of the time, every so often I am without access for a few hours.

Since you never know when your internet could go down, make sure that you always have a backup plan. For me, this consists of trying to stay ahead of all my work by at least one day. Why is this a good idea? Take for instance a project that may be due on Tuesday. If you complete it on Monday, you do not have to worry about rushing things on the due date. There would be nothing worse than needing to send the completed work to the client, but not being able to access your email. If you are ahead of yourself by at least one day, you can usually afford a brief outage without stressing too much.

Although technology and the internet are great, it can be frustrating when you lose access. As somebody who relies on the internet 12 hours per day on average, it is important to have access all day, everyday.

The bottom line: make sure that you never put yourself in a position where an internet outage could cause you a major problem with a client. Instead, try to stay ahead of your work. If for some reason you lose access for an extended period of time, you can always phone clients who are expecting to hear from you. 

If you are a freelance writer, you are sure to lose clients from time to time. This happens to the best writers in the world, and it is not something that you can avoid. With that being said, you should not simply let a freelance writing client walk away. This is not to say that you should stalk them, but you should do a few things before ending the relationship.

1. Try to get an explanation as to why the client wants to stop doing business with you. Last week I had a client drop me, but he also explained in the same email that it was not my fault. The client was more or less a middle man, and the person on the other end of the deal was hanging it up. While it was a shame to lose this client, at least I know that it was nothing I did wrong.

Remember, a client may leave you simply because they have no work available at the time. This is quite common when working with webmasters. Once you produce the appropriate content for them, they may not need your help anymore.

2. Make sure that the client knows you are willing to work with them again in the future. Using the same example as above, I let the client know that while I was disappointed, that I would also love to be considered for future work. Believe it or not, if you show your interest, this will often times work out to your advantage in the future. This morning I woke up to an email from a client that I last worked with in May 2006. You never know when somebody will come back to you in the future.

3. If they tell you they no longer want to do business because of something you did, try to make things right before ending contact. After all, you always want to make sure that your clients get what they pay for. You may not see eye to eye with them, but you should at least offer to make things right before going your separate ways.

It is never a good thing when a freelance writing client leaves you. But unfortunately, this is sure to happen from time to time. Use the three tips above the next time a client tells you that they have no more work available. 

Although most of my freelance writing clients are as honest as they come, I have had some run-ins in the past. Unfortunately, this is part of the business. If there were not dishonest clients in every industry, it would be much easier for companies to succeed. But as you can imagine, this is never going to change.

Just recently, I rehashed a dishonest freelance writing client from the past. For me, this was a very unique situation, and one that is quite perplexing to say the least.

Back in mid-2006, I contacted a client that I regularly worked with at my past job. They are a web design and hosting company, so I figured they may have some freelance writing work available. Since I had always worked with them in the past, and they seemed to be honest, no bad vibes ever crossed my mind.

After working on my first project for them, the project manager got back to me and said that their client had put the job on hold for the time being. While this can be frustrating, it had nothing to do with me. Nothing until they told me that I would not be paid because their client disappeared. Since we agreed on a price of $450 for the entire project, I was angry and disappointed at the same time. After all, this is a decent chunk of change for any freelancer.

For a couple of weeks I kept in touch with the client, but eventually gave up. Not because I didn’t want the money, but because they simply did not want to pay. At the time, I chalked it up as a mistake, and figured that I had learnt my lesson.

Fast forward to last month. On a whim, I checked the website that I wrote the copy for a year and a half prior. And guess what? My copy was being used on almost every page of the site. As you can imagine, this infuriated me to no end. Not only did they refuse to pay me upon completion as discussed, but when they decided to use my content, they did not have the decency to get in touch and offer payment.

After calming down, I sent a quick email to my contact at the company. Luckily, he still works there. A couple days later he responded stating that he would look into my claim. Since they did not use all of my content, I received an email this morning asking, “What is your rate per word?” While I understand that they do not want to pay for the entire job, this time I am not going to let things go quite as easy as the first time. It was one thing when they duped me out of payment, but to use my words for who knows how long without paying is unacceptable.

As you can see, there are dishonest clients out there. While it is impossible to avoid them all, try to learn from my story. Even if you think that you know somebody, you can never assume that they will treat you right.

There are two ways that you can look at the work and people you deal with in your freelance writing career. You can strive to find projects, or you can strive to find clients. Do you know the difference? Do you know which one is better? Simply put, your goal should be to find clients. The difference is that a client comes back to you time after time. While there is nothing wrong with a one time project, it will not help you to sustain your freelance writing income in the long run.

Here are several things that you can do to help build long term relationships with freelance writing clients:

1. Instead of only working with small time webmasters, seek out larger, more established companies as well. They are often times the clients who need your help on a regular basis. This does not mean that you should turn down small clients, but you need to consider what they can offer you over the long haul.

2. While a professional relationship is important, you will want to get personal as well. Call your clients on the phone from time to time, or email them to talk about something unrelated to work. For instance, do you know that one of your clients is a big football fan? If so, send them a quick note after their favorite team wins a big game. This can go a long way in building a long term relationship on both a personal and professional level.

3. Always remember that your freelance writing clients are in charge. Sure, you are doing work for them, but in the end they have the final say on every detail. They can decide to quit working with you for any reason or no reason at all. Never give a client any unnecessary reason to stop calling you. For example, you may think that being rude to a secretary or assistant is no big deal, but if your main contact finds out, it could be the end of your relationship.

These three tips will help you to cultivate long term relationships with all of your freelance writing clients. While some clients are not looking for long term help, this is something that you should always have in mind. The more work that a client sends your way, the busier you will be and the more money you will earn.

With every freelance writing project you accept, you will have to negotiate a deadline with the client. Personally, most of my clients are easy to work with in this area. In other words, they are flexible and willing to work with me to make things as easy as possible. With that being said, I have had some freelance writing clients that are a pain in the neck as far as deadlines are concerned.

Here are five tips that will help you to meet each and every freelance writing deadline.

1. Never agree to take on a new job if you do not think that you will be able to complete it on time. The main culprit of this problem is taking on more work than you can handle. I have done this in the past, and the end result was long work days in order to meet every deadline.

2. Keep a list of every freelance writing deadline that you have. This will help you to keep track of what is due, and when you need to have it to the client. I do this both in paper and electronic form.

3. Try to spread out your deadlines. In other words, if you have five projects lined up, try spreading them out across the course of a week. This is much more manageable than having to finish and send all five projects on the same day.

4. Give yourself enough time to complete your projects so that you are not working your fingers to the bone on deadline day. There is nothing more stressful than having a project due, but not having it done in advance. Finishing work early, if only by a day, will help immensely.

5. Obviously, you will want to plan for the delivery of the project. In today’s day and age this is not too much of a problem because you will more than likely use email to send completed work. But in some cases, you may be forced to use snail mail. If this is the case, you need to factor it into your schedule. After all, it will take a few days for your mail to reach your client.

With these five tips, you should never miss a freelance writing deadline! 

* The following is a review, and is based on my own opinion.

If you have ever tried to sell real estate without an agent, you know just how difficult it can be. After all, this means that you are responsible for everything from marketing to paperwork and more. Luckily, with the help of the internet, selling by owner is no longer as difficult and time consuming as it used to be.

At Obares.com you can take advantage of free fsbo listings. Not only will this help you if you are selling your home by owner, but it will do the same if you are in the market for a new property.

The main benefits of this service include:

1. A database that is easy to search based on numerous factors including location.

2. Home listings that include everything from pictures to a description.

3. Loaded with extras such as mortgage calculators, legal forms, and basic buying and selling tips.

If you are thinking about selling your home by owner, give Obares.com strong consideration. After all, the more help you can get the quicker you will sell your home!

Every time that I accept a new freelance writing project I get excited. After all, I love writing, and new projects give me the chance to get creative. With that being said, every project has to come to an end sooner rather than later. If not, your clients are sure to get upset with you! The question is: what do you do with a project upon completion? You may think you know the answer, but there are some details you may be forgetting.

The obvious first step upon completing a freelance writing project is to send it off to the client. But before you do this, consider the steps below instead.

1. Always, always, always proof your work before sending it off to the client. I made a big mistake with this in the past, and will never do so again. Upon completing a feature article for a decent sized publication, I proofed the work and emailed it to the client. Little did I know, I sent the wrong file which was full of mistakes. Although I usually don’t have two files, for this project I did. As you can imagine, the client was not happy when he saw all the typos, etc. Of course, I explained the situation and sent him the correct file a few minutes later. Even though I didn’t get burnt by this mistake, it did show me that proofing is an important part of the completion process.

2. You never want to email a completed job to a client with a note reading nothing more than, “Here is your project. Thanks.” Instead, put together a nice email saying how much you enjoyed the project, as well as any pointers and/or tips that the client may enjoy.

3. There is no better time to ask for more work, or pitch a new project idea. You do not want to be overbearing with this, but definitely add this somewhere. Remember, it is repeat work that will keep you busy while also keeping a nice flow of income.

Taking the three tips above into consideration, here is a sample email that you could send along with a completed project.

Mr. Tony Smith:

Attached is the project as we discussed. It came out great, and it was a joy to work on. This article is sure to elicit a response from all the readers who purchase your magazine for real estate related information.

While putting this project together, I came up with a few other ideas that may fit in well with your publication. Would you be interested in discussing them? Let me know when you get a chance.

If you see any changes that need to be made, be sure to let me know.

Thanks again, and as always it is a pleasure.

Sincerely yours,

Chris

As you can see, sending a completed freelance writing project to a client is more extensive than a few words and an attachment. If you play your cards right you may be able to earn another job.

When speaking with freelance writing clients, you need to listen and listen well. While you may think that this goes without saying, some people have a difficult time taking direction from clients. To be a successful freelance writer, you need to learn how to listen to clients and then translate what you hear into the successful completion of the project at hand.

Many freelance writers have a difficult time listening to clients because email has more or less taken over their business. When it comes time for them to speak on the phone or meet a client in person, they are either intimidated or so excited that they jump way ahead of themselves. As you can imagine, this can be an easy trap to fall into the first few times that you personally speak with a client.

The best thing that you can do is to calm down, keep your mouth closed, and listen to your client’s needs. Of course, when appropriate you will also want to lend your insight and answer any questions that are being asked of you. Generally speaking, you want to be a useful piece in the conversation without interrupting and making the client feel inferior. Believe it or not, this is easier said than done.

The first few times that I talked to freelance writing clients on the phone I was quite nervous. This led to jumpiness, speaking out of turn, and often times getting ahead of myself. Basically, it reminded me of all those bad public speaking classes that I had to take in high school. Over time I became more comfortable speaking with clients, and now I know exactly how to act.

All in all, it is important to listen to your freelance writing clients. If you are not communicating by email, it may take some time for you to catch onto your “part” in the conversation. But remember, everybody makes mistakes. Do your best to communicate well and listen to everything your client has to say. After a few phone calls or meetings you will be a pro!