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Articles About "Earning" Better As a Writer

The least stressed-out writers put strategies into place that earn them high recurring incomes. Here's how to navigate the earning potential of your refined freelance writing business.

5 Ways To Make Your Clients Happier (& Your Writing More Valuable)

March 15, 2017 By FiveFigureSarah 3 Comments

Make Your Clients Happier Writing More Valuable - Five Figure Writer

Fun fact: If you want to charge a high rate for your writing, your writing needs to be worth a higher rate.

There are a lot of ways to get to this point: deep experience in a certain industry (also known as specializing); high demand for what you do in a particular format (another way of specializing); or creating an obscenely valuable client relationship.

Today, I want to focus on that last one: creating an obscenely valuable client relationship. Because even if you have not specialized and you are busy trying out writing topics and formats to see where you want to go with your career, there are plenty of things you can do to make a client relationship more valuable.

That is, there are things you can do to make each assignment you turn in a little punchier and get your clients to say “Wow!” a little more often. 

Before we get started, please note that these are all things you do after you have negotiated a high rate for your work. The negotiating part is a whole separate wild cat, and that part requires you to target better clients, work on your confidence, and negotiate well.

What we’re talking about today is the “value add” that makes you worth the price — not the product description that sells your services. 

These ideas will allow you to step into an assignment and impress clients so much that they have an authentic desire to keep working with you. This is how you get to a level where your clients can’t imagine life without you or that they start to suspect that the other writers they work with just don’t measure up. So, listen up:

1. Add social suggestions to the article (tweets, posts, etc)

Don’t let this get too complicated in your mind; I don’t mean to suggest that you should work for free or be your client’s social media strategist. In a situation where a client wanted to contract you to write tweets as part of their social media management program, you should charge for that.

What I mean here is that after you write an article and you’re knee deep in the topic, it might take about three seconds to add three tweets to the top of the article. But to your client — especially if it’s a small client — you just saved them a half hour of reading through posts, thinking of what to say, and writing it out.

If it takes you five seconds and saves your client a half an hour, it’s win-win.

Here’s an example: One client I work with manages the company blog and runs all of the social media profiles. She’s a busy lady. So, imagine what a relief it is to receive a blog post that has 3-4 tweets just sitting there, ready to go, at the top of the article. It took me about 5 seconds, but it brought a lot of thoughtfulness and value to her day.

Is this a professional social media strategy? Not really. But it is a small task I was able to take off her to-do list because I genuinely care about her stress level. Win-win. If she were to request to always get five tweets, or to want to get on the phone to talk tweets, I’d start talking about a small retainer. But if there’s something I can do in a few seconds to make her life easier, I’m all about it.

2. Add multiple titles with the same keyword (and use keywords)

Even if you got the pitch approved with one article title, go ahead and include 3-5 different titles that use the same keyword.

First, you never know which title will resonate with your client better or which they’ll think appeals to their audience better, so this will save you a lot of back-and-forth about better title options. Second, since every blog post you write for a client needs to have some kind of SEO value to be valuable to them, this practice allows you to show your client that you’re a professional, aware writer.

Speaking of SEO: when you take an assignment, always ask what keyword they’d like to focus the article on. If they don’t have one, it’s up to you to suggest one after you write the article.

If your client doesn’t have a keyword in mind, it’s up to you to suggest one.

If you’re familiar with the industry, the keyword you pick might be obvious. If you’re not, you can use Google AdWords to find a good one. Then include a note in the article about why you picked the keyword. (Note: You may have to create an account and pay for an ad campaign to use the keyword tool, but creating a test campaign can cost as little as $1 or $2, which is totally worth it in my book).

3. Kick off articles with statistics related to the client’s target market

There are a lot of ways to introduce an article, but by far, when it comes to professional writing and B2B writing, statistics are the best way to go.

Why? Statistics are the currency of business. Especially in the B2B world, everyone needs to validate their purchases and decisions to someone else. Since statistics allow people to see just how important or pressing a topic is to the wider world, kicking off an article with a statistical source gives the topic (and the article) an immediate sense of professionalism and urgency.

Not only does adding statistics add value to the reader, but it also boosts your client’s view of how the article will be received. In fact, this tip is so powerful that when I first started kicking off B2B articles with statistics, I would regularly get feedback like, “That was your best article yet!”

Find statistics by Googling “[your topic] statistics.” Also, read competitor’s blog posts and look at what sources they cite. You won’t want to use the same statistics unless they’re particularly relevant, but you can review their sources to see if there is anything there that works for your article.

4. Share the article when it’s posted

If you have a few contacts in your network in the industry you’re writing about (or even if you don’t), share the live article. This gives your client more views and shows them that you follow up and participate on your work — you’re not a one and done kind of gal.

This is also why it helps to eventually niche or specialize your writing. When you specialize, you can start building a network within your niche. That way, when you share a post on digital marketing with your network, a bunch of digital marketing specialists will like it, share it, or read it, and your client will see that you’re a valuable connection to their target audience. Otherwise, it’s just your mom and a few friends that will check it out (which is still viewers, so it’s not bad, but it’s not as ideal as a professional network).

5. Subscribe to industry things and let clients know when they’re mentioned

Even if you haven’t specialized, go ahead and sign up for some newsletters and industry information sources whenever you sign on a new client. For example, if you start writing copy for a marketing company, sign up for updates from HubSpot; if you start writing for a local horse riding club (?), sign up for an equestrian magazine or nonprofit newsletter.

You’ll end up on a lot of crazy, random lists, and that’s okay: it widens your perspective of the work you’re doing for your client, will give you tons of great pitch ideas, and will help you keep an eye out for mentions of your client (if they’re big enough) or mentions of things your client is interested in (which all clients have).

Sign up for some newsletters and industry information sources whenever you sign on a new client.

Recently, an industry newsletter I subscribe to linked to a client’s blog post. I didn’t write that blog post, but I forwarded the newsletter to the client and said “Great job, they featured you!” It wasn’t on her radar, so it made her day to see how her work was getting around.

This is another value add that positions you as a professional in your field — a valuable resource that keeps them informed, not just a monkey who delivers words on time. (You do deliver posts on time, don’t you?)

Time to dish: what little things do you do for your clients to make sure you’re the best writer they’ve every hired?

Filed Under: EARNING, WRITING Tagged With: add statistics to articles, being a better writer, being your client's favorite writer, charging more, freelance writing, writing articles

Is Your Brain Ready to Transition Into Full-Time Freelancing?

May 27, 2016 By FiveFigureSarah 2 Comments

Five Ways to Prep Your Brain for the Transition Into Full-time Freelance Writing - Sarah Greesonbach - Five Figure Writer

When you guys pitched in to fill out my survey last month, I was super excited to respond to 30+ individual and interesting questions. One thing that really jumped out was the fact that much of the Five Figure Writer audience wants to transition into full-time freelancing, but hasn’t made the leap yet. In fact, about 75% of you guys are patiently biding your time, filling up your savings accounts, and picking up clients on the side.

(If you want to take the survey, sign up for the mailing list here and you’ll get a link to it).

There’s no shame in that! In fact, it’s the smartest way to do it. Plenty of people start freelancing as an emergency (that was my story) but it’s far, far better to have that runway time to save money, find clients, and generally not be frantic about your business.

So, for all you cube-dwellers building up your writing business on the side, here are five things you can do now to ease that transition:

Get your budget together & save a bunch of money

Let’s get the boring advice out of the way first: budgets and savings accounts are a freelancer’s best friend. I can’t say it clearly enough: cash flow kills 25 percent of small businesses early on. If you don’t get a grip on your spending or build up a bit of a cushion in the bank, freelancing will make you absolutely miserable and you’ll probably end up back in a cubicle.

If you don’t get a grip on your spending or build up a bit of a cushion in the bank, freelancing will make you absolutely miserable.

There are many ways to start tinkering with your finances before you transition into full-time freelance. I prefer the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Plan and EveryDollar app, which helped my husband and I figure out a bare bones budget, organize and minimize our outgoing expenses, and save up $6K for a safety net (note: technically this is out of order of the FPU plan, but it was a necessary departure for the health of my business). You might enjoy a different finance guru or program, but it’s vital that you actually find one and use it to guide your decisions before you’re broke and waiting on a client’s check.

Financial stability (not necessarily security, which is a long-term concept) is about more than freaking out over late checks. It’s also about your attitude and your sense of desperation when you pitch new clients. If you have three or four month’s of expenses in the bank (and low expenses, at that) you can take your time with clients and make sure it’s a good fit and a good rate instead of jumping on low-paying work because your rent is due.

Embrace a farmer’s schedule (AKA 100% 24/7 is a myth)

One thing non-freelancers seem to assume about quitting their day job is that the transition into full-time freelancing means you’ll suddenly wake up filled with caffeine energy every day, ready to give your best to every client, crank out words, send newsletters, be on Twitter, and all that jazz.

In reality — and I wish someone had passed this along sooner — everything about freelancing goes in cycles. Much like a farmer, there are times of reaping and there are times of sowing. There are low income months and high income months, low referral times and high referral times, and, yes, there are low energy months and high energy months.

Everything about freelancing goes in cycles — there are times of reaping and there are times of sowing.

When you are tired and burnt out during your hustle, take it as a sign to take a break, not crank it out, so that you can get a feel for what it’s like to have cycles of high productivity and low productivity.

Start living by the phrase, “A man has as much luck as he has seeds in the field,” and practicing the art of reaping and sowing: write emails to people just to make connections, not to ask for any favors. Follow people on Twitter just for fun, not for business. And write things (and work with people) to spark creativity, not to build up your client list or land gigs.

Understand that confidence is a result, not a cause

Hands down the most popular topic, question, or concern in the survey was about confidence: How do I charge someone? How do I get my first gig when I’m not sure what I’m doing? Who’s going to hire me just because I want to write?

Listen, I had the exact same darn questions when I first got started. I was unprepared but dreadfully curious about how people got into this freelancing thing. And then I got laid off, and you know what? I wasn’t curious any more, I was desperate, so I just made it happen.

This is so, so important to understand: confidence is a result of doing good work and having good customer interactions. It is not a cause of those things. If you wait until you feel confident to pitch that client, send that email, send that proposal, or send that invoice, you will never. get. anything. done.

Confidence is a result of doing good work and having good customer interactions. It is not a cause of those things.

Is it scary and weird to start charging people money for something you love to do? Yes, at first. But once you do it for a while you start to build up that confidence that takes you to the next level, and the next, and the next. But if you don’t step up without confidence (and with fear and butterflies and maybe even some grasshoppers in your stomach), you’ll never reach the point of having actual confidence.

Five Ways to Prep Your Brain for the Transition Into Full-time Freelance Writing - Sarah Greesonbach - Five Figure Writer

Find something bigger than money

There’s no denying that money is a big motivator for freelancers. Like I said in the budget section, cash flow can make or break your business, so income will always be a sign of the viability of what you’re doing. But despite your dreams of rolling in the dough and taking on a housekeeper or private chef, money only takes you so far in the freelance game.

I started this wanting to prove I was worth more than a $50K salary, and I did that. But pretty quickly after achieving that income goal (as well as earning five figures in a month), I lost my gusto again. I learned pretty quickly that beyond a certain ego factor, money isn’t enough to get me out of bed every morning.

Money isn’t enough to get you out of bed in the morning, and it’s not a compelling reason for people to work with you.

Money also isn’t a compelling reason for people to work with you. Think of hiring a lawyer or doctor for a huge moment in your life. Who would be more attractive, the one who got into it for the money, or the one who got into because they realized law/medicine was their ultimate calling and they find themselves renewed with every client or patient they help? Money doesn’t inspire others to join your cause or support your mission; you need a bigger “why” to make your business attractive to you and your clients year after year.

Accept “what you like” as a calling, not a fluke

As you try out different forms of writing as a part-time freelancer, keep your eyes peeled for what you actually like to do. Don’t punish yourself and assume that whatever you hate most is what will make you the most money — that’s a false value you’re bringing with you from the traditional working world, where the crappiest jobs often get the highest paycheck. It will also completely drain the life out of you.

For example, I spent more time than I want to admit thinking I had to write high-volume SEO blog posts and deliver social media strategy instead of white papers. Three years in, I’m finally unashamedly making white papers my specialty, and I won’t touch social media with a 10-foot pole (except for myself, of course). It took time to understand that some writers love social media and I hate it, and some writers don’t like writing white papers, and I happen to love it. These aren’t flukes — they’re signs that propel us toward our best work.

When something comes easily to you and you love it, don’t dismiss it.

When something comes easily to you, don’t dismiss it. If you love something, it’s not necessarily because the thing is awesome, it’s because you love it and you’re meant to do it. We all have unique talents and interest. You owe it to the freelance community to think about what you really, really love and focus on it.

What freaks you out about the transition into full-time freelancing?

These are just five of the lessons I’ve learned in almost three years of exclusive freelancing that would have been very helpful to learn early on. What other questions do you have for me about making the transition?

Filed Under: EARNING, WRITING

How Normal People Make $150 an Hour Writing

April 28, 2016 By FiveFigureSarah Leave a Comment

When you first start freelancing, you’re grateful just to get out of “working at Whole Foods” territory of about $15-25 an hour.

After all, when you do your salaried employment math, it comes out to about that much after taxes, right? And who ever heard of a writer making $150 an hour writing?

Pish posh. (Yes, pish posh.)

Freelancers should never charge less than $50 an hour for their services. And I’m going to take it a step further and say that $50 an hour is the minimum you should ever charge. Like, even for your best friend or your best friend’s boss’s nephew.

How Normal People Make $150 an Hour Writing - Five Figure Writer - Sarah Greesonbach

I say $50 minimum (and up to $150 and above) not as a fancy, 40-years expertise, award-winning freelance writer. I say this as a former English teacher (with the matching sad salary) who learned how to write about different topics in different formats using the Internet and a few library books.

Success as a freelance writer is possible with hard work, persistence, and writing talent — and today I’d like to share the four fundamentals I’ve picked up over the last two years that help me make $150 an hour writing (or more).

Because at the end of the day, what’s awesome is not my hourly income rate. What’s awesome is that my hourly income rate allows me to work 10-15 hour weeks, take doctor’s appointments when I need to, take days off when I need to, and generally write my own script for what I do in the day.

Isn’t that why you started freelancing? Isn’t that why we all work a job in the first place (“working for the weekend” comes to mind)?

Well, freedom isn’t free. It comes from upping your hourly income so you can spend as many (or as few) hours working as you want or need to in a given week.

Let me put this out there: this post is mostly a soft-shoe for the Make $150 an Hour Writing mastercourse coming out in May. However, a discerning eye could totally read this post, do some extra research, and DIY the crud out of this topic without needing video, instructables, webinars, and candor from me.

So, here goes. The four pillars of making $150 an hour writing that lets you work the way you want to work:

Positioning Your Attitude & Pricing Like a Professional

First, to the dismay of all the literal learners in the group, you need to accept that high-income earners don’t charge by the hour. Like, at all. We charge by value or we charge by project. We exchange expertise for money, not time for money.

We charge by value or we charge by project. We exchange expertise for money, not time for money.

The name of the course still stands, though, because we’re focusing on what you’re earning, not charging. I earn $150+ for my hours of writing, but I never bill $150+ per hour (and frankly I don’t know any clients who would pay that).

I have a few retainer clients for whom I bill a low hourly rate for meetings and very time-focused things when I’m stuck in that corporate box, but otherwise I charge exclusively by project rates. It’s better for my clients and it’s better for me.

Making this transition can be difficult. The world runs hourly, even though they’re all stressed out because of it. But when you really buy into the value of project or value based pricing, you simply can’t go back. Start with this free eBook from FreshBooks and go from there.

PS The course covers way more (like actually transitioning clients into a project rate), but it’s too much to get into for a simple blog post.

Writing Quickly (Not Badly)

This principle actually proves the first principle. When you charge based on value or the project, when you work faster, you make more money.

Read that again.

You’re rewarded for being fast and efficient. It’s the American Dream.

When you charge based on value or the project — working faster means making more money. You’re rewarded for being fast and efficient. It’s the American Dream.

Compare that to the corporate world where finishing early means getting more work assigned to you (for no more money), or in the freelance hourly billing world where working quickly nets you less income because you can’t bill as much.

The trick here, of course, is that you’ve got to be a fast and efficient writer. However, the fact that you are already freelancing means you know how to hustle and work your hardest whenever possible. How can you write faster? By taking care of a few productivity basics that I’ll dig into in the course:

  • Writing based on templates and outlines (such as the classic 5-paragraph essay from high school)
  • Understanding and applying your unique flow state factors so you’re “in the mood to write” more frequently
  • Using technology to help you move through your work faster (like FreshBooks, Google Drive, and Calendly)
  • Eating better to enhance concentration and mood (no, seriously)

How Normal People Make $150 an Hour Writing - Five Figure Writer - Sarah Greesonbach

Getting Clips & Crafting a Designer Portfolio

For established writers, getting clips and crafting a designer portfolio is more nuanced. You’ve written for clients and they don’t want you to link to their site because it’s ghostwritten, or you have tons of clips and you don’t know how to organize them in the most professional way possible.

In this part of the course we’ll talk about brainstorming spec work, creative strategies for getting published in this contributor-happy world, and designing a portfolio that helps you land clients you want instead of the clients that you’re getting now.

The goal is to remove barriers between pitching clients and them saying “Heck, yes, this is a writer we want to work with.”

All in all, the goal is to get your portfolio up and running and as professional as possible so that you remove barriers between pitching clients and them saying “Heck, yes, this is a writer we want to work with.” Here’s a great collection of resources on getting your writing portfolio up to speed:

  • 7 Great Portfolio Sites for Freelance Writers (The Write Life)
  • Create a Killer Writing Portfolio (Quietly)
  • Create Your First Writing Portfolio (XO Jane)

Finding Clients & Treating Them Right

All the preparation and project pricing in the world can’t help you make your goal income if you don’t actually find clients and keep them. That’s the focus of the final week of the course where we’ll outline all the different ways to find clients (from content mills to elite networking) and highlight which are most worth your time.

I can’t stress enough how important this part of the process is. If you attract clients who want to call you at all hours of the day, they could never pay you enough to make up for the disruption in your lifestyle. Finding and keeping the right ones is a huge skill to master.

I’ve already covered where to find these mythical high-paying clients. In the course we’ll expand on that concept and put more juice in the “Oh, I never thought of finding a client that way!” engine with specific examples for specific niches.

Most importantly, we’ll also look at how to maintain relationships with your clients to give them the experience that goes along with a higher writer price tag. Like, how to make better conversation in those awkward first 5-minutes of a call and how to get comfortable being yourself (and reaping the rewards of being yourself) in your business.

Make 150 an Hour Writing - Mastercourse by Sarah Greesonbach

Take the Next Step

If this resonates with you, I want to invite you to download the course summary and consider signing up for the real-time course.

It starts May 16th (enrollment closes May 15th) and runs four weeks through June 10th, 2016. It’s all by email, video, and PDF download, so you can complete the work on your own time and then catch up with the class for live Friday webinars. The lessons take your talented, normal self through the rigamarole of strategic freelance writing and into a place where you can maximize your hourly income and work on your terms.

Until then, tell me: What are you charging right now? How much do you think you should be charging?

 

Filed Under: EARNING, WRITING

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Freelance B2B writer. Building things and breaking them. Making money with words since 2013 (& teaching others to do it since 2016). Warning: there be opinions here.

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