Do you spend a lot of time worrying about your freelance writing competition? If so, you should change your ways in 2008. Time that you spend thinking about your competition is time that you could spend increasing your business and profits. When it comes down to it, there are several reasons that you do not need to concern yourself with your competition.
1. There are enough freelance writing projects to keep everybody happy. Even though the market may seem small, this is because you are not looking at the big picture. There is no reason to be envious of your competition. Instead, work hard to find your own projects. Once you carve out a niche, you will be well on your way.
2. Is it really possible to keep track of all your freelance writing competition? The answer is no. There is no possible way that you could keep tabs on every freelance writer in the world. So if you cannot track what all your competition is doing, why track what some of them are doing? Remember, almost every business has competitors. It is your unique features that will allow you to pass them by.
3. You are better than your competition! Not only does this probably hold true, but it is also a frame of mind. You do not have to be the best freelance writer in the world to find work; just good enough to appeal to some clients. And as mentioned above, you need to be confident in your skills. This will show through in your work, as well as when you are communicating with clients.
As you can see, constantly thinking about your freelance writing competition is a waste of time. Instead, concentrate only on what you can control!
This post is going to be a bit different than usual. Instead of offering information on freelance writing, I am hoping to get some feedback from you!
If you read ChrisBlogging on a regular basis, it is safe to say that you are interested in freelance writing. With that being, said would you be interested in enrolling in a freelance writing course sometime early in 2008?
After a lot of research, I have found that courses teaching how to make money online are quite popular. Unfortunately, I have yet to come across any that offer top notch information on starting and maintaining a freelance writing career; this is what I hope to change.
Some basics of the freelance writing course would include:
1. Daily information including tips, hot markets, and updates on my career. The main point of the course will be to guide those who are interested in starting a full-time freelance writing career.
2. Access to the inner workings of my freelance writing career. This will include income breakdowns, the chance to view documents including income spredsheets and many others.
3. Access to me via email and/or instant messenger. I get a lot of emails and chat requests, but simply don’t have the time to always answer in a timely manner. By starting a membership site, it would allow aspiring freelance writers to ask me questions whenever they come up.
4. A monthly fee that has yet to be determined. Again, this is something that I would like feedback on. What would you be willing to pay for the features and benefits listed above?
5. A limited number of members as to keep things personal, and not over saturate the market.
As mentioned, all of the details have yet to be worked out. I am still gathering information and ideas. Any feedback that you can provide via comment or email would be great. Hopefully there will be enough interest to get the freelance writing course up and running in the early part of next year!
Is hiring a freelance writer the same as buying a car in the way that the price is negotiable? Well, this all depends on the writer, as well as how he or she runs their business. Some feel that making freelance writing rates negotiable is part of the industry. Of course, I know just as many writers who like to stick to their fee schedule no matter what.
Consider the following three questions when thinking about whether or not to make your freelance writing fees negotiable.
1. Do you have any wiggle room in your price? In other words, can you afford to negotiate down to a lower price, but still earn a reasonable hourly wage? This is an important question to answer. If you can lower your price but still do well for yourself, you may want to consider doing so. For this reason, it may not be a bad idea to set your freelance writing fees a bit high to start. This way, if the client agrees you are ahead of the game. And if they want to negotiate, you have room to do so as well.
2. Who is attempting to negotiate with you? If it is a client who you have done a lot of business with in the past, you may want to consider lowering your price. After all, some clients are simply better than others. There is nothing wrong with lowering your price for a client that offers a lot of work, and is good to you overall.
3. Are you willing to keep your prices lower for a client? Or will you attempt to raise them to your standard for future jobs? If you lower your price once, a client may expect you to do so on all future work. In many cases, if you attempt to charge them your standard rate on future jobs they may balk and feel that you are cheating them. This is why it is very important to consider the situation and who you are dealing with before negotiating.
What do you think? Are your freelance writing fees negotiable? Personally, I will negotiate with particular clients and am more prone to do so with those that I have worked with in the past. As long as I can still earn a solid hourly wage, slightly lowering my fees in return for business is a trade off that I am willing to deal with.Â
