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LinkedInCan freelancers REALLY make 6 figures a year?
I won’t keep you in suspense. The answer is yes.
There’s a lot of hype about this, of course. And unfortunately, the hype has caused many would-be freelancers to be cynical about their earning potential.
Some years ago, while speaking to a roomful of writers at a local conference, I encountered one young man who kept rolling his eyes during my presentation.
When I asked if he had a question or comment, he told me that he just didn’t believe that you could earn lots of money from freelance copywriting. He said it all sounded like a scam.
I can’t blame him for thinking that. I see all those get-rich-quick ads on the Internet too, and they make me roll my eyes.
Are you gambling with your freelance future?
This last weekend, I went to Las Vegas to visit family and enjoy a little R&R.
I’m not a gambler and have no illusions about winning a jackpot, but I do enjoy some of the games there.
While feeding money into a slot machine at Bally’s, I started thinking about freelancing. (Slots don’t take any brain power, so the mind naturally wanders.)
It occurred to me that many of the freelancers I talk to are gambling with their future because they just don’t know how to intelligently play the game.
So here are a few of the things that popped into my mind as I doubled my money, then lost it all over the weekend.
8 rules for setting your freelance copywriting fees
Setting fees causes most copywriting freelancers to break out in a cold sweat. Besides getting clients, it may be the most stressful thing copywriters have to do.
Ask for too much, and you’ll drive clients away. Ask for too little, and you’ll lose respect and reduce your income. To make matters worse, no two clients are ever the same. Some are willing to pay more, others less.
So what’s a freelance copywriter to do?
Over the years, I’ve struggled with this, made every possible mistake, and discovered these 8 rules for setting professional-level freelance copywriting fees.
1. Don’t underprice yourself. This is probably the most common mistake freelancers make, especially early in their career. There are at least four reasons this happens.
First, fees vary widely from writer to writer. There is no industry “standard.”
Second, most freelancers don’t make their entire fee schedule public. This makes it impossible to separate truth from hype about what copywriters actually charge.
Third, too many writers are brainwashed into thinking that their work has little value.
Fourth, many writers charge ridiculously low fees. This distorts the perception of both clients and writers and can make even moderate fees seem high by comparison.
The freelancer’s short guide to getting paid
Recently, I wrote about freelance contracts, the point being to weed out bad clients at the beginning of a project and improve the odds of getting paid.
But what happens when a client doesn’t pay on time or refuses to pay altogether?
Let’s begin by looking at the right way to invoice for your freelance services.
After you’ve completed your work, make sure the client is happy and has received everything you have promised. This is important because you may think you’re finished when, actually, the client has a few extra changes to make.
Also, if you send documents by email, there’s always the chance they will get caught in a spam filter or may get lost in a client’s in-box.
Once you’ve confirmed the project is truly finished and your client is satisfied, send your invoice within a few days. There’s something irritating about sending a bill too soon, but you don’t want to drag it out either.
I create my invoices in OpenOffice from a template, save them as a PDF, and email them as an attachment. I add the words “Please confirm receipt” at the top of my email message and use the delivery status notification and return receipt features in my Thunderbird email program. Again, you want to be sure the email gets through.
In most cases, your invoice will be paid on time. But if it’s not, here are some tips:
7 elements of a solid freelance copywriting contract
Freelance copywriters can be a bit shy about the business end of freelancing, especially when it comes to contracts.
That’s because most freelancers are writers first and business people second.
But contracts are an essential part of any copywriting business. Why? Three reasons:
1. A contract helps you set a businesslike tone at the beginning of a project.
2. A contract specifies and clarifies your responsibilities and the obligations of your client, primarily the work you will do and what the client will pay.
3. A contract acts as a screening device to weed out bad clients.
For me, that last point is the most important.
Are you the job type or the freelance type?
If you want to make a career of copywriting, should you look for a full-time job or strike out on your own as a freelancer?
Good question.
With the economy the way it is, there’s a lot of curiosity about freelancing. So much so that I created a copywriter information center on my business site with quite a bit of information about this.
Over my career, I’ve done both the job thing and the freelance thing and have come to the conclusion that freelancing is what I like best.
I earn good money, set my own hours, and don’t have to deal with the stress of traffic, corporate politics, and an office full of idiots and suck-ups.
Oh, and no ties. I hate ties. I work in jeans and Hawaiian shirts (which I love but my wife thinks are ugly). Yes, I know I’m wearing a tie in my publicity photo, but I did it just that once. And with therapy, I’ve recovered fairly well.
But that’s just me. What’s best for you?
15 little secrets your freelance clients won’t tell you
Do you remember that episode of Gilligan’s Island when Gilligan discovered a bush on the island with seeds that make it possible to read minds?
No? Well, I do. And it was a disaster.
At first, it was an amusing trick. But pretty soon, when everyone knew what everyone else was really thinking about them, it got nasty. Even Mary Ann got pissed off.
Well, I think it’s for the best that we can’t read minds. Too much truth isn’t good for anyone.
But it would be nice if you could swallow just one little mind reading seed to get a taste of what some of your clients might be thinking about you.
Would you like to give that a try? Here we go …
CrowdSPRING cattle call: “Work for FREE, suckers!”
If you’re a designer, you’ve probably heard of CrowdSPRING. If you’re a writer, you’re going to hear of them soon.
They’ve been around since 2008 and have billed themselves as a way for freelance designers to access a worldwide market, and an affordable way for small and medium-sized businesses to get logos and graphic design quickly and affordably. Now they’re expanding into freelance writing services.
Sounds great, right? That depends on your point of view.
From the point of view of hobbyists, stay-at-home-moms, out-of-work creatives, students, and desperate freelancers, CrowdSPRING probably sounds like a pretty good idea. From the point of view of a professional, the idea is pernicious and borderline unethical.
What CrowdSPRING is really doing is sounding a freelance cattle. They’re automating the spec work concept. They want to convince you to work for free … and like it!
Here’s how it works.
11 quick ways to kickstart your slow freelance business
How long has it been since someone called with a paying project? A week? Two? Welcome to the life of freelance copywriting.
Unpredictable workflow goes with the territory. One week you’re scrambling to write all the sales letters, brochures, and web pages you’ve been hire for, the next you’re knocking around in your skanky old bathrobe waiting for the phone to ring.
Don’t worry about it. Even the very best freelancers go through times when business is slow. Depending on your reasons for freelancing, you might even consider these mini-vacations a perk.
Then again, if you’re like me, those occasional slow periods can also freak you out. Sure, I have plenty of money in the bank to tide me over, but I’m happier when I’m working. And frankly, so is my wife. She is no fan of that skanky old bathrobe.
So what can you do?
Down time gives you the ideal opportunity to do a little marketing. In fact, there are some quick and easy ways to kickstart your slow freelance business and generate paying copywriting projects.
Translating freelance “Client Speak” into plain English
Freelance copywriters face many challenges, especially when they just start out. One of those challenges is understanding the special language used by business clients, which I call “Client Speak.”
Client Speak shares many common traits with standard English, with one notable exception: All the words have a different meaning.
This may sound like it would cause confusion. But all it takes is a little experience, and you’ll be able to translate Client Speak all on your own.
Here are just a few examples of common phrases and their English translations.
“We’ve already invested a lot in this.”
Translation: We’ve wasted a pile of money on cheap writers and trying to do it ourselves. We’re screwed. I mean, totally screwed. Now we’re looking for someone with serious expertise to save our ass for dirt cheap.
