Five Figure Writer

The freelance writer, refined.

Five Figure Writer’s 2017 Freelance Writing Year In Review

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FiveFigureWriter-YearInReview

As I sip this sour, twice-brewed decaf Earl Grey Tea from Carytown Teas, I have to wonder why I tried to squeeze a second drink out of old leaves. But maybe that’s a metaphor for the months I wish I’d performed better, focused more, or made more progress in 2017….

But you know what? Ain’t nobody got time for that, especially not when there’s kids, hydration, Netflix streaming, and piles and piles of books to read. Let’s focus on the awesomeness that was 2017 with this freelance writing year in review:

Most Popular Posts

These posts were clicked on with the tippy tops of little fingers all over the world:

  1.  The Struggle Is Real: Freelancing With Chronic Illness (Or Babies, Or Laziness, Or Whatever) 
  2.  Where to Find These Mythical “High Paying Clients” You Keep Hearing About
  3.  Stop Clicking, Start Improving: How to Fight Off Information Overwhelm

My Favorite Posts

These are the posts that are not on the previous list that I wish were more widely read:

  1.  5 Ways To Make Your Clients Happier (& Your Writing More Valuable)
  2.  10 Mistakes That Will Completely Blow Your Freelance Career
  3.  How to Write for a Business

Biggest Loss

My most favorite client I’ve ever had (in every way: pay, frequency and type of writing, topic, and client contact, everything!) moved on to a different writer during and after my maternity leave.

What can I say, it hurts!

It’s a lesson everyone learns at some point: sometimes it’s not your fault and people move on. I just focus on the fact that they’re in good hands (working with a writer who is very talented and who must be a personal contact or much lower cost or offering a different kind of consultative writing relationship) and move on with my super classy head held high.

Biggest Win

A long-term client I’ve been courting (over a year of inquiries!) sent me an email that was right out of my dreams: “We want you to be our primary writer with X posts per month.”

Runner up: I may have sold a comic strip! Stay on the lookout, because I could be getting paid to make fun of the hilarious online freelance writing and editing life we all know and love. It’s no Dilbert, but it is a dream come true.

Most Interesting Project

Thanks to my last minute and random attendance at DYFC a few years ago, I connected with a brilliant UX/IX designer named Jane Portman. I was surprised and delighted to my toes that she contacted me about editing her most recent book, Your Productized Consulting Guide, which we wrapped up in December. After writing hundreds of short-form articles, it was really satisfying to sink my teeth into (and bring order to) something long and complex.

Weirdest Project

I niche, but I also take on “interim” work when my niche is slow. This year, that meant writing thousands and thousands of dollars worth of content on…. womp womp… FTL/LTL trucking, shipping, and inventory management systems.

I learned so many fun things (like how flowers get from South America to us!), and it really made me appreciate how much writing prepares us to think, research, and become short-term experts on so many topics. It’s truly amazing how our writer brains work!

Earnings

Now for the juicy part! I came in just over $53,000 this year. I’m very proud of this number, as I worked an average of 6 hours per week (if you include the hundreds of hours I spend on emails, administrative tasks, networking, and writing my personal blogs, like right now). If you don’t count those hours and only count paid work, the number drops even lower.

Now, my weeks didn’t really look like that. I took off a good three months starting in early April to bring forth human life and I didn’t get back “in the game” until June-ish (as you can see from the drastic income drop). When I did get back to work, there were a couple of seriously crazy 15 hour weeks (is it so wrong that 15 hours is like a marathon to me??).

But, frankly, that is just freelance life! If God has blessed you (or is about to bless you) with a baby, there’s simply no other formula you can use to stay in business: do a LOT of work in advance and save a ton of money.

In August, I was beyond blessed (again) to reconnect with a client I’d worked with on and off right when they were ramping up work. I worked an obscene amount to have a $12K month. That right there is the same lesson I’ve already shared: make connections and keep them going even if there’s no immediate work to be had.

Biggest Expenses

My business has always been bootstrapped, but there are some things I pay for yearly because they bring me a huge ROI:

  1. Freshbooks is about $220 per year
  2. Web hosting and URLs from Big Scoots is about $180 per year
  3. Calendly is about $99 a year
  4. PicMonkey used to be free, but I upgraded so I could make an image template for one client and it’s about $76 per year…. cheaper than spending 5 hours learning Photo Shop!

Product Update

Back in November, I decided to run a promotion on my biggest product, the B2B Booster Shot. It did really well, so much so that I’ve made about as much from that course ($1300 or so) as I have in five years of selling Life After Teaching eBooks! The products (and audiences) are completely different, but it makes me smile.

Let me tell you, I am so proud of this course. It’s just so beautiful, and it was such a good feeling to be teaching again and completely draining my brain in an effort to help other people. I can’t say if I’ll run a promotion again (this one was an effort to get a solid first cohort through the course so I can go back and revamp it), but I look forward to tweaking and continuing to promote it through 2017.

Right now I’m featured on The Horkey Handbook, The Write Life, and AWAI Online. I don’t know if I have the energy to do a “promotional circuit,” but we’ll see how much time I have to devote to it in the coming months.

Best Decision

Completely unplugging during my maternity leave. It was a difficult and sometimes dark time for me, so it’s really a gift that I had the luxury to be 100% offline and just dealing with life for 8+ weeks. That’s more than many people get, and I’m very grateful.

Runner up: Hiring an in-home nanny. Our nanny is so loving and gives the little man her full attention for 12-15 hours per week. We’re paying full-time rates for part-time care, but it’s important to me that Benedict is cared for by someone who knows and loves him. So far so good!

Worst Decision

Moving my desk (aka “office”) into the bedroom. I’d rather the bedroom be a place 100% disconnected from work, but in a 2BR apartment that’s a luxury we don’t have right now. They just opened a co-working space in my building (!!) but I’m trying to exchange work for rent instead of adding $250 to my bottom line each month. I know that’s a steal, but it’s simply not something we can spend money on when we’re spending $800+ on childcare.

Okay, that’s a wrap! Now tell me about your year:

3 Freelance Writing Secrets You Need to Keep to Yourself

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Secrets Freelance Writers Need to Keep to ThemselvesI don’t have a lot of secrets online. I write about how much money I make, my faith in God, and the things that scare me. But when you are embarking upon a career in freelance writing, you’ll soon find out that there are some things that the world doesn’t need to know.

And I’m not just talking about what keeps you up at night or what you ate for breakfast. I’m talking about strategic things that 1) make you smarter when you don’t share them and 2) make you look like a newbie when you do.

In a world where vulnerability and disclosure are hot, hot, hot, here are three secrets you actually need to keep to yourself if you want to be a successful freelance writer:

Secret #1: That you can write anything for anyone

Now, I can absolutely write anything for anyone.

I’ve written tweets, slogans, white papers, blog posts, blog post intros, webinars, webinar abstracts, and data reports, and I’ve written them for my niche (human resources) as well as marketing, construction software, shipping and logistics, website design, data security, cloud solutions, medical surgery foam (seriously), and more.

But do you know what’s on my portfolio and my LinkedIn profile? I write white papers and articles for HR. That’s it. And that’s why I can propose projects and rates (and project rates) that blow my $20-an-article rate of the past out of the water.

It’s not crazy to say you can write something and be able to do it. In fact, if you’re a writer, you’re just good with words. You can make them dance in any format on any topic in any place on Earth…

But the minute you say that — the minute a client reads that on your website — they drop you in a big, bottomless cavern known as “generalist.” And generalists don’t get paid much.

The minute a client reads that you can write anything for anyone on your website, they drop you in a big, bottomless cavern known as “generalist” — And generalists don’t get paid much.

It’s far, far better to niche in both topic and format and say so. It will take a little time, and it will take a little trial and error, and yes, you will have to turn away business, but that’s the only way to command a higher rate and actually enjoy the work you do.

(Spoiler alert: Your niche will change over time! And that’s okay!)

Secret #2: That you’ve been writing and reading since you could crawl

Again, I was a writer when I was a toddler.

I wrote a short story about an iguana in elementary school. My favorite hobby in middle school was correcting my older brother’s papers. My idea of a good time in high school was taking an apple and a book, biking up the street, and reading for hours in the outdoors.

But that wholesome, beautiful story about a young woman’s weakness for word wrangling has absolutely nothing to do with marketing manager with $15,000 to spend on content this quarter. In fact, it distracts that manager from the job she needs to get done with soft, meaningless, Nicolas-Sparks-style words.

Your personal history and soft, meaningless, Nicolas-Sparks-style words distract your prospective clients from the jobs they need to get done.

Instead of talking about how young you were when you got your first red pen, talk about your years of experience and the projects you’ve worked on. Talk about the results your clients got, or the things your clients don’t need to worry about when their writer is on-time, polished, and thoughtful.

You don’t have to sterilize business and be all about the analytics all the time, but the time for sharing who you are and building a connection is after you land the work based on what you can do for them (and after they have paid you ;-)).

Secret #3: Why you can’t make that meeting/take that assignment/be their slave

Sometimes my calendar is booked because I’m going to a doctor’s appointment. Sometimes it’s booked because I don’t have nanny coverage. And sometimes it’s booked because I’m going to be eating a delicious snack. Do you know what my clients hear from me?

“I’m so sorry, but I’m unavailable at that time.”

Same goes for a project that 1) seems like it’s going to be a pain in the tookus, or 2) will conflict with my ethics, or 3) will make me roll my eyes too hard every day for several weeks as I try to schedule 5+ subject matter experts and their entourages.

Over-sharing about your calendar is both annoying to the person you’re scheduling with (seriously, they don’t need to know) and chafes at your professionalism. In fact, it’s just an example of how new freelance writers can get caught up in the negative worldview of freelancers. You think:

Everyone knows freelancers are unreliable, so I have to prove to them that I’m reliable by giving them every detail about my calendar and every legitimate excuse I can. 

Or:

Everyone knows freelancers are desperate for work, so I have to explain in excruciating detail why I won’t take this particular assignment and how grateful I’d be to be considered again in the future. 

Nope! Stop. Sometimes the most B-A thing you can do is sit quietly and say, “I’m sorry, that’s not going to work for me.”

What are your secrets?

So, what about you? Do you have any secrets you’ve kept from clients from day 1? And what other secrets do you think freelancer writers should keep close to the vest?

10 Mistakes That Will Completely Blow Your Freelance Career

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10 Mistakes That Will Completely Blow Your Freelance Career - Sarah G - Five Figure Writer

Are you shaking in your ankle boots about starting a freelance writing business?

You’re right to be afraid.

As good as it can be (and I’ve found it to be very good), freelance writing can go badly quickly and for a lot of different reasons. But in my personal experience and my research about freelance writers, I’ve come to find that what most people are afraid of — getting paid — is not what usually sinks the ship. Successful freelancing is made up of tiny wins and tiny mistakes that collectively make your business blow or grow.

Before you make these mistakes yourself, let me save you a few minutes (and a few tears and a few thousand dollars). Here are the top 10 mistakes that will stop your freelance career before it starts:

1. Trying to work every day

Blow: Much like freelance income comes in seasons throughout the year, writing comes in seasons throughout the week, not throughout the day. If you try to finish your deadlines the day they’re due, you’re going to end up sitting at your desk frustrated and blocked.

Grow: Try to finish deadlines 2-3 days in advance. Leave enough room in your week that you can have a bum day or two where the writing doesn’t flow and still come out on top.

(Pro tip: this is also how sick days and vacations work as a freelancer).  

2. Not delivering on a deadline

Blow: If you’re flippant about due dates, you won’t be successful as a freelancer. Even if you’re working with the most chill customer in the world, eventually your lack of punctuality and reliability will translate into a lack of income.

Grow: When it comes to deadlines, give them and meet them always. If you ever won’t meet a deadline, communicate it days in advance. If you ever don’t meet a deadline, apologize profusely and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Be a stickler for deadlines. Even if you’re working with the most chill customer in the world, eventually your lack of punctuality and reliability will translate into a lack of income.

3. Getting on the phone with anyone who asks

Blow: I wince when I see someone offer a free 15-minute consultation with whoever wants one. Don’t you respect your time? Don’t you have things to do? If you give away your time like that, you won’t have enough time or mental energy for paying work.

Grow: Before you get on the phone with a.n.y.b.o.d.y. ask them what they want and what kind of budget they have. You don’t have to be rude or awkward, just hit them back with something like, “I’d love to chat! To make sure there’s a good fit here, I’d love to hear more about the project and what kind of budget you’ve set aside for it. If it makes sense to meet, we can schedule a call for early next week!”

Not only does this protect your time, but it also positions you as a professional in high demand.

4. Hiding from the phone

Blow: My favorite way to make money is to get an assignment by email, nail it, and send my invoice. What’s not to love, right? But the reality is that phone-only freelancing often turns into a fight for the lowest price.

Grow: I may or may not be Internet-famous for my fear of the client phone call, but there’s no denying the fact the phone is just not optional sometimes. Getting on the horn is a powerful way to build relationships with your client, and it allows you to be a consultant and a strategist instead of just a writer bot. Be very careful and particular with who you spend time with on the phone, but do get on it from time to time.

5. Working for free

Blow: Everyone seems to think it’s normal to work for free to “prove you can do it.” That’s obscenely incorrect. If someone wants you to write for free and they plan to use your sample, it’s a scam, and you should run away screaming. The only conditions under which it is acceptable to work for free are as follows:

  • You don’t need any money ever
  • You don’t think you’re good at writing
  • You hate yourself
  • It’s a nonprofit you love and you don’t need any money

Grow: If you have absolutely no experience, write for yourself for free. Make up an assignment (perhaps for a big, beautiful brand you love) and complete it and post it to your portfolio. Don’t let someone else decide the terms for the work you do unless they’re paying for it.

If you have absolutely no experience, write for yourself for free. Don’t let someone else decide the terms for the work you do unless they’re paying for it.

6. Charging hourly

Blow: When I sent my first invoice, I was absolutely overjoyed to transcribe an interview and write a blog post for $35 an hour, making a total of about $114.

That’s amazing — especially for my first freelance job — but if I kept that up, I would have had to work 2.86 hours for every $100 I earned. If I had to do that now, I’d be working hundreds of hours every month instead of tens of hours every month.

Grow: There’s just no way to stay in the game or make a full-time income working part time if you charge hourly. Project rates are the way to go, 100%.

7. Using a Gmail address forever

Blow: Gmail. Or Hotmail, or iCloud, or anything that’s not customized. Nothing says rookie like sending an invoice from “SammyFinkle87@gmail.com.”

Grow: If you want people to take your writing seriously, eventually you will need to pony up for a real email address and URL like YourName dot com. Whether or not your clients want to see it (and they do) it will go a long way towards giving you some self-respect.

(Pro tip: Ditto for an invoice processing software. I’ve used FreshBooks since day 1, but you should find and use whatever software you jive with.)

10 mistakes that will blow your freelance career

8. Going it alone

Blow: If you’re like me, avoiding people is right behind making more money and working from home on the list of things that attract you to the freelance life. But going it alone has a way of making the lows of freelancing even lower.

Grow: Forget the office life sentence that you’re stuck with whoever’s in the cubicle next to you. When you work online, you make your own rules. Find people who’s blogs you love and send them an email. Follow someone really funny on Twitter and get to know them.

Whether you hire them or just follow their blog, go out of your way to find peers to bounce ideas off of and mentors to look up to. You won’t progress without them.

9. Working with a baby nearby

(Now that I’m a mom, I get to have an opinion on this!)

Blow: Trying to concentrate on paying work with a baby nearby almost drove me insane. At any given nap time, I could have had 3 hours to work…. or 20 minutes. That kind of irrational schedule-shifting made it really hard to concentrate or write good pitch emails (or remember what I did or had to do from day to day).

Grow: Coincidentally, when I started having a nanny come by 4 hours a day 3 hours a week, my income skyrocketed and my sense of inner calm (almost) returned. There’s no substitute for focus. My son’s nanny is the best $600 we spend a month.

(Pro tip: Plenty of moms work from home without a nanny. That may not be you, though, so don’t set yourself up to bomb at freelancing just because you can’t fit it in during naps.)

10. Writing for everyone

Blow: If you can help “anyone” write “anything,” then you’re riding the unnerving carousel horse of Freelance Death. Well-paying writing is a speciality and an acquired skill, not something you’ve “been doing since you were three” or “that your mom totally knew you’d be good at one day.”

Grow: Niche. Niche, niche. Not right away, but within a year or two of writing, you need to niche or you can kiss high-paying work goodbye. And stop saying what an early start you got as a writer unless you’re explaining why you write to your grandmother.

Now for the comments

What are you most afraid of when it comes to starting a freelance writing business? Let me know in the comments and I’ll see if I can’t allay your fears.