If you are going to become a freelance writer, you should learn what it means to invest in your business. But before you do that, you need to look at what you are doing as a legitimate operation. Even though you may not have a company name or products to ship, you are still running a business. And in order to achieve success while continuing to grow, investing in what you do is very important.
What does it mean to invest in your freelance writing business? For me, this means taking a certain amount of my profits and throwing it back into my freelance writing career. How can do you this, you may ask? Here are three ways to invest in your freelance writing business.
1. Buy magazines, books, and memberships that will help you to succeed. This can include everything from books on copywriting to a membership to your favorite freelance site.
2. Invest money in bidding websites such as Elance. This may look like a waste of money at the onset, but as you begin to win jobs you will quickly make up your investment.
3. Take the time to set up a legal entity such as an LLC, corporation, etc. This is not mandatory if you are a freelance writer, but it is something to consider. At this time, I am looking strongly into doing this not only for my freelance writing career, but also for other opportunities that I am developing.
When investing in your freelance writing business, it is important to be careful. You want to make sure that you do not invest too much money as to leave yourself empty when it comes time to pay the bills. Additionally, you only want to invest in areas of your business that will help you to achieve a higher level of success. In other words, be smart about how you spend your money.
There is nothing wrong with putting money back into your freelance writing business. After all, this is how you will grow your operation over the years. Do you think that the biggest and most successful companies keep all of their profits for themselves? No; they invest in new employees, new technology, and much more.
As a freelance writer, consider how you can invest in yourself. Once you do this with success, you will find that your business is in a much better place. Â
I have said time and time again that following up with freelance writing clients is very important. After all, if they are not thinking about you they may turn to somebody else for the next job that comes up. But what if you get the feeling that a client is ignoring you? What should you do then?
Simply put, there is a fine line between following up with a client and annoying the heck out of them. Personally, each follow up email that I send is based on my past dealings with that particular client. In other words, there is no standard on how often you should follow up. For the most part, I like to check in with past clients at least once per month. This is nothing more than a quick email letting them know that I am available, and would be glad to help with any new projects.
If you have followed up three times without any response, there is a good chance you are being ignored, to a certain extent that is. At this point, you may simply want to move on. If the client needs something from you, they will get in touch. Until then, you should go about your business with clients that you are actually servicing at the time.
Remember, things do come up from time to time. For instance, I finished a very large ongoing project for a client at the end of June. They told me to follow up every so often, so once a month I would do so. After three months without a response, I pretty much figured that they had moved on. But just when I forgot about them, I received an email explaining a serious situation they had at their office. I replied that it was no big deal, and a couple emails later I had a new $1,000 job on the table.
All in all, following up with your past freelance writing clients is important. Just remember two things:
1. You do not want to go overboard with the number of emails you send.
2. Situations do arise that may hold a client back. Give them time to respond to your follow-ups.
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After posting my October freelance writing income yesterday, I received several emails asking the same question: how do you earn so much money? While this is not an easy question to answer, I am going to attempt to do so anyway.
First off, you have to realize that I did not earn over $7,000 my first month as a freelance writer. In fact, it took me three months to break the $1,000 mark. The bottom line is that you need to start at the beginning, and build your career month to month. It may not seem like you are making any progress, but over time this will change. By carefully charting your monthly income you will be able to see just how much progress you are making.
Moving on, I have built my income up to a high level because I provide quality service to my clients. This includes both content and customer service. I take the time to make sure that every client is satisfied. And of course, doing this means offering a high level of customer service. You need to constantly be in touch with your clients, providing updates, making sure that they are taken care of, and always getting what they want.
Repeat work. Does it get any simpler than that? When a client is always sending work your way, you will have a much easier time increasing your income. This allows you to hold steady at your current income level, and then increase it by adding new clients to the mix.
Finally, always make sure that you are working hard and putting your all into every job. When I started out as a freelance writer I was working 10 hours a day or more, and only making half of what I do now. All of this hard work has led to me being able to work shorter days, while earning much more money.
Above are just a few of the reasons why I think I earn a decent freelance writing income. Hopefully you will be able to put these tips to good use. Of course, the way that you run your freelance writing business will not be the same as me. Do what is best for your situation, and you will reap the rewards in the end.Â
