Pricing Archives - Five Figure Writer

Where to Find These Mythical “High Paying Clients” You Keep Hearing About

October 12, 2015 By FiveFigureSarah

Where to Find These Mythical "High Paying Clients" You Keep Hearing About - Five Figure Writer

Everyone’s crooning about finding clients with bigger budgets and dropping the low-paying, “I’m not sure what I want, maybe you should work on it hourly until I figure it out” kind of clients on newbie writers.

But how do you actually find these mythical check-writing unicorns?

Based on my experience working for myself since 2013, I want to help shed some light on where these people with big budgets hang out and how to find them. This post is 50 percent “How to brainstorm real people who pay for writing,” and 50 percent “How to identify if a project is worth a high rate.”

Spoiler alert: Stop scrambling for money and start looking for real people with real problems.

Step One: Scrap Inbound for Outbound

When inbound marketing became a hot pepper a few years ago, everyone and their mother started a blog and began pushing content.

For tons of businesses, this is a fantastic idea. Their customers are using search to find their products, and excellent content is an important way to meet those needs and start a relationship. Or they need to establish themselves as a thought leader and their content does that one step at a time (possibly even laying the foundation for a book deal). Or they need to sell their clients on what it is that they do and why it’s valuable (such as the case of a content strategist or marketer).

But for 100% writers? Not at all a good idea!

(Don’t throw rocks at me, please, I’m sure there are exceptions to this statement… but I want to rescue the hours you’re spending writing content for your blog instead of writing content for high-paying clients!).

In our minds, it goes something like this:

[Lucrative client reads your (free) thought leadership post about how great freelance writers are], and says, “Wow, I wonder if this smart writer will write this for me?”

In reality, it goes something like this:

[Lucrative client reads headline only], and says, “This is a great topic — I need to get my writer to write about it…” or doesn’t read your blog at all.

When I closely evaluate where my most profitable clients and most enjoyable relationships came from, the trail goes straight to two specific marketing strategies:

I reached out to brands and companies I loved or respected
Clients I helped referred me to their business connections

The common thread here is not blog posts or web hits or resumes. It’s people. It’s relationships. So the best thing you can do to connect with good clients is to stop putting time and energy into writing blog posts and start investing it into emails that build real relationships with real people.

Stop putting time and energy into writing blog posts and start investing it into emails that build real relationships with real people.

High-paying clients have powerful networks and they use them. They pass recommendations and referrals back and forth day in and day out. They are paying back favors, asking favors, and meeting with people who are also successful. They want to be valuable to their network by having a good recommendation (possibly: you!) and they want to work with writers that other people have successfully worked with (again, possibly: you!).

Step Two: Reach Real People With Real Values (That You Agree With)

The post that tipped me off to writing this manifesto is Jake Jorgovan’s “How I Won Fortune 500 Clients Through Simple Outbound Marketing.” In this post, Jorgovan sings the praises of outbound marketing, where you straight up chase after the work you want like a talented yet rabid poodle as opposed to today’s very popular inbound marketing. He points writers toward pursuing trade associations, trade publications, industry awards, and conferences and conventions.

I want to second that and add another layer: pursue trade associations, trade publications, industry awards, conferences, conferences… and brands, companies, and products you love.

When I’m feeling the burn on my empty calendar, I’ll start prospecting with companies I looooooove.

I’ve emailed Alter Eco because I love their chocolate and Coconut Bay because their coconut water tastes like vanilla cake to me. I’ve emailed Liz Ryan’s Human Workplace because their posts are amazing, and Buffer and MailChimp because I use their products.

I start with a genuine connection and a compliment because I know that my love for their product makes me an excellent resource to shine a light on what makes me love them in the copy I write. Then I ask if they need help keeping up with today’s demand for high-quality content.

The brands I’ve listed here didn’t take me up on this offer — but they did appreciate the compliment. Writing those emails also made me feel good about the work I do and the products I like. So even though I didn’t land the business, it was a win-win for my time spent. And, of course, some of the other emails I wrote worked out!

(To get started here, check out Ed Gandia’s insights on Warm Email Prospecting!)

When you connect with people based on these interests, you meet out-of-the-way, hard-to-find people who powerful enough that they have good jobs (Chief Marketing Officer, Demand Director, etc) but not famous enough that a genuine, complimentary email will bore them. And that’s where the magic happens.

Step Three: Look For Painful & Costly Problems That You Can Solve

Jonathan Stark has an excellent, free resource called Expensive Problem that walks you through this concept better than I ever could (if you sign up for his newsletter, you’ll also get a fantastic proposal template). For writers, though, there’s a tl;dr version: how expensive is the problem you’re going to solve for your client?

If you’re writing for someone who runs a hobby food blog, you’ll never make more than $10 a post because the blog owner isn’t making money on it either (and, after all, “they could just do it themselves”). Oprah herself could write the post and it will simply never be worth more than $10.

But what if the person you are writing for sells three $750 products for every new blog post that goes live? Suddenly that post is worth $2250, and they’ll gladly pay a fraction of that cost (say, $200) to get it off their to-do list and have it be done by a professional.

This is the relationship you’re looking for: a project where you add value and make people money. If you don’t do that, you may land the job or the client, but it won’t be for long because the money will run out.

There are approximately three people in the world who will to spend more money on a writer just for the luxurious experience of spending more money on a writer.

There are approximately three people in the world who will to spend more money on a writer just for the luxurious experience of spending more money on a writer. The rest of the world expects to get more when they pay more. And if it isn’t obvious that they’re getting more, they simply won’t pay for it.

Step Four: Accept Responsibility for Getting Paid More

Look, accountability sucks sometimes. But the reality is that if your clients aren’t paying high prices…. it’s because you let them.

If your clients aren’t paying high prices…. it’s because you let them.

Pricing is all about positioning and boundaries. Position yourself for higher rates (Leah Kalamakis wrote an article that will help you see this process in action), then say “No!” when people want you to work for less (Ross Simmonds helps you see why that’s valuable).

Build up a huge savings so that you don’t blink when you have to say “No!” and you have the time wealth to pursue better opportunities. Replace low-paying clients with clients you have a passion for and clients who have expensive problems. Anything in between is what’s known as a rut and you’re choosing to stay in it.

Was This Helpful? Help Someone Else!

Hopefully this gave you some creative ideas for connecting with people who value what you do more than your current clients. If this sets you off on a new path of high paying clients… let me know in the comments where you went & what you did to make it happen!

The Refined Writer’s Guide to Setting a Freelance Writing Rate

August 24, 2015 By FiveFigureSarah

RefinedWritersGuideSettingARate-FFW

I started writing online for free and for $10-15 personal finance posts. These opportunities were instrumental for me in realizing I could make money online and finding out that I would love to write for blogs. Now, though, my blog posts start at $125-$650+ and I don’t often consider exceptions.

How did I get there? And how do I charge $125-$650+ for 500-800 word blog posts? A careful combination of confidence, experience, and critical thinking.

These free and low-paid opportunities were instrumental for me in realizing I could make money online and finding out that I would love to write for blogs.

I gained the confidence to charge this much by 1) writing thousands of words to learn the craft, 2) reading hundreds of blogs to understand business of writing, marketing, freelancing, and negotiation, and 3) becoming (relatively) financially secure before entering into harder negotiations. Here are the basic principles I used to come up with a more refined pricing system.

1. Write Free and Unpaid Until You Can Charge For It

On my particular path, I maintained a full-time job until I was laid off and jumped into freelancing full-tilt. This allowed me almost two years of writing for myself on my blog and writing for free and low-paying sites on career, personal finance, and food. By the time I needed to charge for my writing, I had hundreds of clips of websites that had published my work.

2. Spend Your Free Time Reading

“Read everything!” is long-time stereotypical advice from famous authors and Internet writers alike, and I’m going to reinforce it. The answer to just about anything you could ask is out there, whether you start with trusted websites and resources or you type in a simple web search.

Research the benefits of hourly verses per-word verses project-based pricing (this article will help a bit with that). Look for client scripts for all the awkward conversations you’ll need to have. Find a branding or marketing blogger who speaks to you and read through the archives. The first hoop you have to jump through as a well-paid writer is how much hustle and research you’re willing to put into the craft. That’s what will separate you from free and low-paid hobby writers.

The first hoop you have to jump through as a well-paid writer is how much hustle and research you’re willing to put into the craft. That’s what will separate you from free and low-paid hobby writers.

3. Negotiate Harder By Saving Up a Nest Egg

It’s a simple economic issue: if you are desperate for cash, any and every project will look like a “must do” for you. You will bend to lame project requirements, contracts, rates, and clients, all the while letting good opportunities pass you by because you couldn’t wait it out.

It’s a simple economic issue: if you are desperate for cash, any and every project will look like a “must do” for you.

I worked without a nest egg for over a year, relying on month-to-month income to achieve my financial goals and pay my bills. This time period correlated with my lowest-paying work. The day I saved up $6,000 (a little more than three months of my minimum required freelance income) just to sit in my bank account “in case I had a bad month,” I reached a new level of confidence in negotiating with new clients. My new negotiating reality was that I didn’t need the work as much as they needed a writer, and that allowed me to hold out for better terms.

There will always be someone willing to compete on price and drive it lower and lower. But if you have financial security you can quickly evaluate a lead for this kind of behavior and move on quickly — leaving yourself more time to find high-paying clients and contribute to relationships that will benefit you in the long run.

4. If You Want to Reach Aggressive Income Goals, Charge By Project

Many writers charge by the hour and by the word, and that’s perfectly acceptable. As long as you are receiving money for the work you do, it’s hard to go wrong with how you charge. But if you want to take your writing (and income) to the next level, you should charge by the project.

As long as you are receiving money for the work you do, it’s hard to go wrong with how you charge. But if you want to take your writing (and income) to the next level, you should charge by the project.

What Is a Project Rate?

First, let’s de-mystify the project rate.

The project rate, per-word rate, and hourly rate are all interconnected (after all, once you decide a project rate you can easily calculate a per-word rate or hourly rate based on that number). But we all know how important packaging is.

People don’t value other people’s time — we tend to think we’re all equal hour-by-hour — but they do value the work you do. Pricing by project shields your hourly rate from prying eyes that might judge it and puts the value of what you do front and center.

People don’t value other people’s time — we tend to think we’re all equal there — but they do value the work you do. Pricing by project puts this value front and center.

How Project Rates Make You More Money

When I was first laid off, I started out with a $35 per hour rate. Compared to jobs I had in the past, this was an excellent rate. However, the reality of the freelancing system is that anything less than $50 per hour will not allow you to sustain a business long-term.

When I switched to project pricing, I freed up tons of time, stress, and value for both my clients and myself. Instead of charging $150 per hour and spending 1+ hours writing a blog post (which likely wouldn’t go over well on an invoice), I charge $125-650+ for a single blog post and aim to finish it as efficiently as I can.

Lower-cost blog posts (bylined, company blog, easy subject matter) almost always require less of my time. Higher cost articles (ghostwritten, popular publication, difficult subject matter) almost always require more of my time. But the higher the cost of the article, the more the ultimate value to the client, too.

Setting Real Prices

Here’s a short guide to my perspective on getting started with per-post pricing:

$50 and under per post

You meet the standards of an English-speaking writer, but you do not have a specialized breadth of knowledge about the topic. You can pop these articles out fairly quickly but the articles end up on small websites. Deadlines are beginning to seem maybe a little important.

**Annoyingly, the bell curve of people hiring skews very hard towards this $50 and under crowd, which is why so many new writers fall prey to the content mill**

$50-$75

You have a few clips but you do not have a specialty or topic. You’re trained in the basics of writing online, but you’re still developing your voice and figuring out what value you provide to the person who hires you. Deadlines are very important, but you miss or reschedule them sometimes.

$75-$125

In this range, you have established yourself as an efficient writer and nurtured a few important relationships and well-paying one-off jobs. You are on the path to specializing and getting more and more refined about how your work contributes to your client’s bottom line. You are building your business around deadlines.

$125+

You are a laser-focused professional writer who has recurring clients and picks and chooses them carefully. You know the value of what you deliver (whether that be website SEO, thought leadership and influence, networking, or marketing results) and you structure your business around deadlines that you never miss. Once you throw in ghostwriting and specific publications you can trend higher and higher in this category.

We’ll address how to climb this pricing latter in a different post, but for now this is information to digest.