As you probably know, I believe very strongly in getting paid a certain percentage of a project’s price before getting started. This is not something that you have to do with established clients, but for first time jobs, you definitely want to look into this. But just like anything else concerning payment, there are some potential problems with receiving prepayment. Personally, I have encountered two issues in the past on several occasions.
1. What is your plan if you receive prepayment, but the client does not like what you turn in? You have two options if this is the case. 1. You can work with the client until they accept your work. 2. You can refund the money, and part ways. The problem with number two is that you may have already spent or transferred the money that the client prepaid. To avoid this issue, make sure that you always have enough money in your PayPal account to cover refunds. Although refunds are few and far between, you still want to be prepared if this situation comes up.
2. Many clients confuse prepayment for full payment. You need to be 100 percent clear in the wording that you use. If you are asking for prepayment for the entire cost of the project, that is fine. But if you are only asking for 50 percent, you need to make sure that the client knows this. There is nothing worse than sending an invoice for the remainder of the payment, just to have the client say that they already sent the whole thing. To avoid this, make sure you and the client are on the same page.
Remember, this is not to say that you should avoid prepayment. But it does mean that you should be careful about what you are doing. Yes, prepayment is a good thing, but only if you do it right.
One of the most exciting times of my freelance writing career was day one. Although that was many years ago, I can still remember some of the tasks that I completed. In my opinion, the way that you start your freelance writing career will have a lot to do with the success that you achieve later on. Additionally, if you get off to a good start there is a much better chance that you will stick with this career choice for the long haul.
So what should you do on day one of your freelance writing career? Just like so many things within this industry, the answer to this question is based on opinion. In other words, the things that I did on day one may not suit your career. But at the same time, maybe they will.
Here are three general things that you will definitely want to take care of during your first day on the job:
1. Make sure that you are organized. There is nothing worse than having to stop what you are doing because your details and paperwork are not in order. Since you probably won’t have a lot of work to complete on day one, you might as well get organized.
2. Do you have a business and marketing plan? If not, this is a great day one task. You may not think that a freelance writer needs these plans, but nothing could be further from the truth. With a business and marketing plan in hand, you will have a track to follow as each day goes by.
3. Spend some time learning about the freelance writing industry. This can be done by reading posts on popular message boards such as Absolute Write or Digital Point, or by simply perusing freelance writing websites. Just remember one thing: you do not want to spend hours on end researching and learning what others are doing. While this is a big part of a successful freelance writing career, you need to make sure that you are putting time into building your own business as well.
Just like any career, your first day as a freelance writer will be full of unexpected twists and turns. If you have no idea where to start, the three general tasks above should keep you busy on day one.
In the past, I have talked a bit about how to market your services, find new clients, etc. Although I have never been one to use cold emailing in my freelance writing career, many readers have told me that I should give it a try. Personally, I have always thought that cold calling was a much better way to find clients. But since I have never given the email method a try, my assumption is a bit premature.
My main concern with cold emailing is that the recipient will think that I am nothing more than a spammer. Not only do I hate to find spam in my inbox, but it really slows me down due to the high volume of emails that I receive. How do some of you guys and gals get around this? Or don’t you worry if your recipient thinks of your mail as spam? Personally, the best way I can think to avoid this is to personalize the message as much as possible, including the subject line.
Over the next few weeks I am going to give cold emailing a try. If it works to my advantage, I will surely add it to my current marketing mix. On the other hand, if it is a complete failure or people begin to show displeasure with my unsolicited mail, I’ll back off.
In the meantime, if anybody has tips on how to achieve maximum success with cold emailing, leave a comment or send me a quick email. I promise I won’t call you a spammer!Â
