What type of freelance writing income do you strive to earn? If you work as a freelance writer on a full-time basis, it is safe to say that you are hoping to earn at least as much as you would at a 9 to 5 job. The problem is that many aspiring writers have a difficult time breaking the income barriers that they set up for themselves. This is a very common problem among newbies, and the main reason that many quit before too long.
Before you start a freelance writing career, you should have two questions on your mind:
1. How much money do I need to get by each month?
2. What is a realistic monthly income goal?
Let’s start with the first question because it is definitely the more important of the two. Generally speaking, as long as you are making enough money to cover your bills you will be able to sustain your freelance writing career until you begin to earn more. For example, if your bills total $1,500/month you need to make sure that you earn at least that much money. Of course, if you have some cash in the bank you can make less and still get by.
Moving onto question number two, you need to set a realistic monthly income goal to work towards. Even when you are making enough to cover your bills, you will be thinking about how much money you would really like to earn. After all, who wants to spend all of their income on nothing more than bills? Without going into all my monthly expenses, I strive to earn at least $4,500/month from freelance writing alone; this does not include other internet related ventures. This gives me more than enough money to pay my bills, invest some, and save the rest for whatever I want. Luckily, I usually earn at least a few hundred dollars more than my monthly goal.
One quick note: read over question number two above once again. Do you notice the word “realistic?†Sure, it would be nice if I could earn $15,000/month through freelance writing. But guess what? At this time, that much money is not realistic. Maybe in the future it will be, but not right now. The bottom line is you do not want to set goals that you have no chance of reaching in the foreseeable future.
When working for yourself, there are always going to be barriers standing in your way; especially when it comes to income. By answering the two questions above, you will be able to take the first step to breaking the freelance writing income barrier.
From what I have read, as well as my own findings, there are two ways to look at the number of blogs or websites that you own. First off, you can attempt to start one or two “major players†and put all of your time and effort into them. Your other option is to start several websites, and build out from there.
Obviously, there are pros and cons to each way of doing things. Let’s take a look at owning one or two main sites. The nice thing about this is that you will not have to spend time updating an abundant amount of sites. To go along with this, you can concentrate all of your free time on one site. In turn, this focus should help success to come sooner rather than later. The downside of this, if you are interested in making money, is that you will have to turn one big site into your revenue generator. Many feel that starting one main revenue generating stream is more difficult than several smaller ones.
On the other side of things, managing a group of blogs or websites has its own set of benefits and drawbacks. The main benefit is that you can earn less with each one, and when added together it can make for a solid income. On the other side of things, do you really have enough time to update a network of sites? For instance, could you effectively manage 10 blogs? Some people say yes, and if this is their full-time job they may be right. But jumping from one site to the next, and keeping track of all the details, can make for a difficult time.
Personally, I am divided on this subject. At this time, I have less than 10 sites, but am quickly closing in on double digits as more and more of my projects get finished. This is not a huge problem because I feel that I have enough time to manage them. But at the same time, I suppose that drawing the line is in the near future.
With all of that in mind, how many blogs or websites do you manage?
If you want to earn a living as a copywriter, you need to learn how to approach business clients. In other words, you need to cold call on businesses as opposed to hoping that they find you; which very rarely happens. Luckily, there are a few things you can do that will make calling on potential business clients easier.
First things first, you need to make a list of the businesses that may need your service. Even more so, narrow down this list based on the industries that you are most comfortable serving. For instance, I do a lot of work within the insurance industries. Naturally, if I were to actively look for new work, I would start with insurance companies and agents in my area.
Moving on, you need to have samples to show potential clients. If a company is interested in hiring you, before they do anything they will ask for samples. This will not only show them your skills, but it will also give them an idea of what to expect. Remember, not all clients are going to know as much about copywriting as you do. In many cases they will want to see a few samples so that they know what to ask for, etc.
Finally, the actual approach is the most difficult part of this process. There are two routes that you can take; with one being considerably easier (and less effective) than the other. Most copywriters decide that email is the way to go. They find an email address online, compose a great letter, and hit the send button. There are three problems with doing this.
1. You never know if you sent your email to the right person. And if you didn’t, there is not a very good chance that it will get to the person in charge.
2. Many businesses do not like receiving unsolicited email from those trying to sell a service. In fact, they may see it as spam and become angered. This will pretty much kill any chance that you have of winning a new client.
3. Simply put, the response rate via email is much lower than when calling prospects on the phone. When you make a phone call you will at least be able to find out who you need to speak with. From there, it is up to you to get them on the phone and sell yourself. With an email, you will never have this chance.
From the above, you can probably tell that the other way to contact prospects is via the phone. Again, when you call instead of emailing you can be rest assured that you will at least learn who you need to speak with. This will allow you to leave a message for the appropriate party, or call them back at a later date.
It is safe to say that you will get to speak with more prospects when you use the phone. Although this may be intimidating at first, over time you will learn that cold calling is not that difficult.
As a copywriter, the more businesses that you approach the more success you will have. Just like any sales job, this is nothing more than a numbers game. Make a list of potential clients, put together a portfolio, and start calling!
