“I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.” – King Solomon

One thing you can count on from me, when it comes to giving you freelance writing advice, is that I’m going to tell you hard work pays off. Freelance writing isn’t for the weak or the faint of heart; you need to plug away, every day, if you want to succeed. That’s a mantra I’ve recited since day one on this blog.

But sometimes, even when you do everything right, things don’t go the way you want them to go. A client goes out of business, or you get sick and can’t write for a week. Time and chance happen to us all.

It’s little comfort to know that this isn’t just the fate of the freelance writer. When you’re the one that chance and time are unkind to, it doesn’t matter that everyone else from the CEO to the street cleaner is susceptible to them, as well.

Time and chance can be more devastating to the freelance writer than to other folks. Most folks can miss a couple of days of work without worrying about losing their job; when a freelance writer misses a couple of days of work, they can lose clients, which has a direct impact on their bottom line.

Still, I wouldn’t be a writer if it weren’t for time and chance. I’ve been broadsided by fate too many times to count, in hundreds of little events, that have pushed me to the place I am today. It hasn’t always been wonderful; at times it’s been downright painful. But it has also made me who I am, and it has brought me some measure of success.

Success as a freelance writer has little to do with being fast or strong or wise or wealthy. Success as a freelance writer comes by meeting the challenges of time and chance head-on. It means taking the bad along with the good, taking the famine alongside the feast.

There is an advantage that freelance writers have over some other careers, however. As a freelance writer, I have a heck of a lot more flexibility. It’s easier to make adjustments when life happens. That’s the trade-off.

OK, I’ve got three quick housekeeping issues today. If you’re not interested, skip down to the header below and get right to the good stuff!

1. First, get on over to my post at Freelance Writing Jobs Business Tips on 53 Sure-Fire Ways to Lose Clients. That, or just subscribe to the feed and keep update on all of the useful tips and advice for your freelance writing business.




2. You should also vote for Angie’s Pangie’s blog over at CD Kitchen. If you don’t know, Angie Pangie is my beloved wife and an amazing cook. Take my word for it, she deserves your vote.




3. I also wanted to remind you that Thursday is the last day to secure your seat at Copywriting Success Summit 2009 at the early-bird discount rate (a $200 savings, 40% off the regular price!).
   
   

   This is the premier online event for writers (from beginners to veterans) who want to generate better-quality leads, win higher-caliber clients and earn more.
   

   If you want to grow your writing business, you’ll want check this out. Grab your seat at this online event before the $200 discount ends. And don’t forget they’re also including all of the sessions from the 2008 summit at no added cost.
   

   Go here now: Copywriting Success Summit 2009

All right, let’s get on with it, shall we?

Michelangelo and Freelance Writing

You probably don’t realize it, but Michelangelo didn’t want to paint the Sistine Chapel. You see, the artist who created the Pieta and David saw himself as a sculptor. Like any artist at the time, he knew how to handle a brush, but his passion (and most of his income up to that point) had been due to his proficiency as a sculptor.

Not only did Michelangelo see himself as a sculptor rather than a painter, he’d never attempted painting a fresco.

It wasn’t Michelangelo’s idea to paint the chapel. It was a scheme, initiated by Michelangelo’s enemies, to trip him up. They thought he’d do a bad job and be discredited. At the very least, they knew his work would be off the market for several years while he worked on the Sistine Chapel. They managed to convince the Pope that Michelangelo was the right artist for the job.

Now, if you lived in Rome in 1508, you couldn’t tell the Pope, “No thanks, I’m a sculptor.”

Inexperience wasn’t the only obstacle Michelangelo faced, however. To paint a ceiling, the artist has to be positioned on his back on top of a scaffold, for hours on end. The scaffold raises the artist within just inches of the ceiling.

For four years, Michelangelo painted in this way.

The details of Michelangelo’s ordeal were chronicled by Ascanio Condivi, one of Michelangelo’s students, and eventually his biographer. For more from Condivi (and the source material for this article), check out Eye Witness to History. Here’s a bit of what Condivi had to say about what happened after the Sistine Chapel was done:

“After he had accomplished this work, because he had spent such a long time painting with his eyes looking up at the vault, Michelangelo then could not see much when he looked down; so that, if he had to read a letter or other detailed things, he had to hold them with his arms up over his head. Nonetheless, after a while, he gradually grew accustomed to reading again with his eyes looking down. From this we may conceive how great were the attention and diligence with which he did this work.”

What does all of this have to do with freelance writing? I don’t think I have to paint you a picture. Here are the lessons I walked away with from Michelangelo’s tale:

• Expanding beyond our comfort zone just might open up new opportunities. Don’t be afraid to try new kinds of freelance writing, especially if you’re new to the game.
• Don’t let your enemies or detractors get to you. Chances are, history will forget their names anyways.
• Being the best freelance writer you can be sometimes means keeping your gaze upward, whether you want to or not.
• Dilligence in the face of difficult or tedious work often yields amazing success. Don’t believe me? Just take a look:

If you’ve spent any amount of time online looking for writing tips, you’ve probably come across the essay 13 Writing Tips by  Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club (and several other novels, as well). In that essay, Palahniuk offers some excellent advice for writers. As with many novelists, however, much of his advice is aimed at the budding novelist, such as tip number ten: “Write the book you want to read.”

However, I’d like to take a look at his first writing tip and tell you how I apply it to freelance writing. Here is that first tip:

Number One: Two years ago, when I wrote the first of these essays it was about my “egg timer method” of writing. You never saw that essay, but here’s the method: When you don’t want to write, set an egg timer for one hour (or half hour) and sit down to write until the timer rings. If you still hate writing, you’re free in an hour. But usually, by the time that alarm rings, you’ll be so involved in your work, enjoying it so much, you’ll keep going. Instead of an egg timer, you can put a load of clothes in the washer or dryer and use them to time your work. Alternating the thoughtful task of writing with the mindless work of laundry or dish washing will give you the breaks you need for new ideas and insights to occur. If you don’t know what comes next in the story… clean your toilet. Change the bed sheets. For Christ sakes, dust the computer. A better idea will come.

As much as I love my business, there are times when I don’t feel like writing. There are times I downright hate writing. I don’t hate it the way that I hated configuring Cisco routers near the end of my IT career, but there are moments when I’d rather be doing just about anything else.

So, I do what Palahniuk recommends, after a fashion. When I’m really struggling with staying on task, staying motivated or just keeping from being totally perturbed at what I’m writing, I write in shifts. I set the timer to write for 90 minutes, and i plow through. When my 90 minutes are up, I stop for fifteen. It’s sort of my reward for being a good little writer.

During my free time, I might read a book, play on Facebook, play a video game or even take a 15-minute catnap. The important thing is to disengage – get free of my writing for a few minutes – so I can come back recharged.I’m not looking for “new ideas and insights” in the way that Palahniuk talks about. I’m just looking for a distraction – something to take my mind away from the writing for a little bit.

I guess there’s one more thought to add to this mix, too. I’m at the place in my writing business where I don’t have to take every project that comes along. I can turn down a project, or pass it on to one of my writers, if I think it’s going to be too monotonous or boring.

So, what about you? Do you use built-in “egg timer” breaks in your day? Do you need them with every project, or just with certain ones?

I’m happy to announce that today is my debut post over at Freelance Writing Job’s Business Tips for Writers.

In recent months, FWJ has expanded from a single blog into a thriving blog network, and I’m excited to be part of the team. I’m taking over duties for Men with Pens’ own James Chartrand, so I realize from the start that I’ve got some seriously big shoes to fill. I trust you won’t be disappointed.

If you’ve never been to FWJ, make sure you stop by the main site and familiarize yourself with Deb and the crew. Also make sure to subscribe to the Business Tips for Writers feed while you’re at it. I’ll be posting twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Thursday.

Do you know what you would do if your freelance writing business tanked tomorrow? Chances are you’ve thought about it. Every small business owner, somewhere in the back of their mind, has a Plan B. Maybe you figure you’ll go back to school and finish your degree. Maybe you figure you’ll take a job in your former career (if you have one).

Now, there’s nothing wrong with any of this, of course. But there’s another kind of contingency planning that’s worth thinking about:

What will you do if you succeed?

I’ve written many times before about the fact that this business can have its ups and downs, and that you’ve got to refuse as best you can to participate in the downs. That’s essential if you’re going to stay in business. But this other aspect – the up times – deserves some attention, too.

Strike While the Iron is Hot

Here’s a good example of what I’m talking about. Maybe August was a slow month for you. Then, BOOM! September 1st hits and you land a gig that will carry you the rest of the way through the month, and make up for August’s leanness. You jump into the project, fat and happy.

Something happens, though. Plugging away at this new gig, you back off on your marketing efforts. You slack off on follow-up sales emails, or you leave off checking the freelance web sites for a week. Human nature is such that success brings contentment, and contentment can, unfortunately, sap your motivation.

Being prepared for success means not being lulled into complacency by your success. It means working just as hard every day at growing your business, whether you’ve made gangbusters that day or whether you’ve made bupkus.Take advantage of your success and keep the momentum going.

Today’s Success is Tomorrow’s Seed

There’s another aspect to this idea of planning for success, one that’s much more concrete. The fact is this: a successful business knows where it wants to go. Whether you want to be the Queen of Long-Form Sales Pages, Bloggerman or CEO of Web Writers Inc., you’ve got some idea of what ultimate success is going to look like.

If you’re going to hit the big time and really reach those goals, however, you need to have a pretty good idea of how to get there, and it should involve being successful today. Today’s successes are the seeds from which those goals will ultimately grow. Leverage today’s success to make tomorrow even bigger.

You can do this in many different ways. Maybe you can actually shave a little bit of money off the top of a payment to do some advertising. Maybe it’s as simple as adding a particularly good piece to your portfolio. Whatever it is, you need to be always thinking about “how can I use this success to power the growth of my business?”

The Inner Monologue

There are enough other folks out there writing about the power of positive thinking, the dangers of negative self-talk, and how you can’t let fear hold you back. These things are all true, and you’ve heard them before; I don’t need to rehash it here.

I will say, though, that you need to let success increase your confidence. Just as much as losing a sale is an ego blow, making a big sale can pump you right up. When you experience some success, be OK with it. Accept it. Let it work against all of that self-doubt you’ve got going on. Don’t get cocky or arrogant, but allow yourself to take credit for your success.

It takes work to become a successful copywriter. You’ve got to put in plenty of time and hard work to not only become good at it, but to get more clients and grow your business.

There are three essentials, I think, to becoming a successful copywriter. While you can get by and even make a living without following all of these things, once you really grasp them and put them in place you’re going to find success is chasing you, rather than you chasing it.

Over the past five years, as I’ve built up my copywriting business to a stable and successful enterprise, there are three basic ideas I keep coming back to, over and over again.

Hone Your Craft

Becoming a successful copywriter means being a good copywriter. By the time you’ve been in the writing business for a couple of years, a healthy percentage of your business should be repeat business. When I look at my books for last month, for example, I can see that 60% of my income came from previous clients.

You don’t get repeat business if your work is crap, if you don’t meet the client’s expectations or if what you write doesn’t give your client the desired results. Sometimes, this is as simple as taking the time to review and edit your work before you send it to a client. In other cases, you might need to spend some time learning more about the particular type of writing you’re wanting to do.

Being able to identify the areas you’re weak in is essential here. One of the best ways to do that is to take a look through your list of past clients. For example, do your blogging clients keep coming back while your sales letter gigs seem to be one-offs? Then maybe you need to spend some time getting better at writing sales letters.

Build Your Portfolio

One of the biggest assets you have in terms of getting new clients is a strong portfolio. When you’re first starting out, your portfolio is probably going to be pretty thin. It’s important, as you go through those first couple of years, that you set aside some of your best work and include it in your portfolio. Make sure, of course, that the client for whom you did the work is all right with you using the piece for your portfolio.

I don’t advise writing material solely for your portfolio, unless you really want to break into one type of copywritng and can’t seem to land any gigs in that area without a sample. The reason is simply this: it’s untested. Until you’ve given the work to a client who has said, “hey, this is exactly what I was looking for,” you can’t be sure it’s enough to entice a new client.

Learn from the Experts

One of the reasons many of my readers visit my humble little blog is because they want to learn something from someone who’s already in the field and doing well. Spending time reading writing blogs and books can only help you improve your craft and get more sales. You might even benefit from a writing coach, or a mentor of some sort.

In 2008, one of the most amazing experiences I had was going through the material from the Copywriting Success Summit. There was so much here that I could barely digest just a small percentage of it, but what I learned has been invaluable.

The 2009 Copywriting Success Summit is coming up in just a couple of months. This live event is being held in October, and is something you must not miss. I promise you that attending this summit and putting the things you learn into practice will add fuel to your copywriting fire and help you grow your business.

None of these three things are easy, and none can be done overnight. That’s why they pay off so well. In the end, a copywriting business is only as successful as the hard work you’re willing to put into it.

You might not realize it, but Internet writing is a lot like earning a PhD in History. Now, I know that grad school isn’t the first thing you think about when you think about Internet writing, but bear with me for a little while.

The best way to explain to you what I’m talking about is to tell you a story about my friend, Phil. Phil is a nurse in the real world, but in his spare time he likes to study history. He’s what you’d call an “armchair historian.” He reads books on history, watches the history channel, and is, in many ways, very knowledgeable about a great number of historical subjects.

Because I have a graduate degree in History, Phil likes to ask me questions. For example, just a few weeks back he posed this one:

“Do you think the economic devastation in Germany after World War I helped to create the environment that allowed Hitler to come to power?”

To which I answered, “I really have no idea. I’ve never given it much thought.”

“But you’re a historian!” Phil replied. “You’ve got the degree and everything. You write a history blog. You’ve even got a bumper sticker on your laptop that says ‘Everyone remain calm… I’m a historian.’ How can you not have any idea?”

This part is always a little difficult to explain to folks. “My area of study is pretty narrow, Phil. I’m into 19th-century U.S. History. Specifically, my research has been in Antebellum Southern intellectual and social history.”

To which, as usual, I received a puzzled look. I continued: “You’re a nurse, right Phil? You work in the Infant ICU. I bet you can tell that a preemie is in distress almost before the machines tell you. But do you think you could do the same with a geriatric patient?”

“Well, yeah,” came the answer. “I mean, it might take me a couple of weeks in that unit to get the hang of it, but yeah.”

“And it might take me some time studying German history between the World Wars to answer your question.”

———

In the world of Internet writing, there are countless opportunities. There is web copy, keyword articles, blogging, sales page writing and white papers just to name a few. In my business, I’ve done each of these types of writing. Some I enjoy more than others. Some pay better than others. Some I’m better at than others.

At some point, however, you have to pick a specialty. What will your bread and butter be when it comes to your Internet writing? Michael Stelzner knows his specialty: it’s writing White Papers. That’s even the name of his site. James Chartrand knows, too. He writes about the writing business, whether he’s doing it at Men with Pens or whether he’s doing it at one of the many other sites he writes for. When the Pen Men ran a contest last year, it even focused on business. That’s James’ Internet writing specialty. Sure, Michael and James do other writing and they do it well, but you can tell where their passion lies.

For me, it’s blog writing. It’s writing content for people that is conversational, authoritative and still packs a punch. Yes, I do a lot of other writing, but that’s where my passion is and where my greatest talents lie. When I get an order in, that’s the writing I keep for myself rather than passing along to my writing minions.

So, what about you? What’s your Internet writing specialty?

As I’ve taken on writing coaching clients these past few months, it’s been really interesting to talk with aspiring writers, and watch as they try to wrap their heads around the business of writing. I’ve found that most folks only need a very little help when it comes to the technical side of writing. Most of my coaching clients wind up learning a lot in two specific areas.

How the Writing Business Works

I recall, before I started writing for money, how I had this very distinct image of the professional writer. Like most people, I thought of the novelist. I pictured a cabin in the woods, overlooking a crystal clear lake, with a dedicated artist furiously banging away on her keyboard, creating the next bestseller.

It’s funny, because that image really isn’t what most writers’ lives are like. Oh, sure, there are some successful novelists who live that way. But most of the people who make their living from writing do it in a home office, at their kitchen table, or at a local coffee shop. In my case, it’s all three.

So, one of the things that happens in my coaching is that the illusory wall comes down. My clients get a chance to look behind the scenes, to see what the writing life is really like. I’ll walk them through a particular project, from start to finish. And more often than not, their reaction is one of surprise as they see that the writing business is a lot like many other small businesses.

The Characteristics of a Successful Writer

The other thing my clients often experience first-hand is a realization of what it takes to be a successful writer. They learn things about themselves, about what it would really take to make their living by writing. While working on a project together, one of my coaching clients described it this way:

Before this project, I would sit and write as my schedule allowed, and if I did not feel like producing much, I did not. This project made me realize that when there is time, there must be productivity. For me, transitioning from working a “day job” to being a productive writer is about being able to “turn on” the switch when I have the time to sit at the computer, focus on results, and produce.

And that, truly, is one of the first lessons you learn when you begin writing professionally. Back when I worked as a Network Administrator, I could blow off a Friday afternoon if I wanted to, usually with very little consequence. Today, if I blow off work time it has to be made up, and sooner rather than later. While it’s true I have more flexibility working for myself than I did when I worked for someone else, I also have to take things more seriously.

As many of you know, I’m a big fan of the folks over at Men with Pens. One third of that dynamic trio,James Chartrand, is one of the hottest name in the freelance writing business right now. He’s featured regularly on Copyblogger, and is also a regular contributor at a number of other sites.

One of those sites is Freelance Folder, where I’ve also been a regular contributor. Freelance Folder is for us one of the hottest sources for advice and information for the freelancer, whether you’re just starting out or whether you’ve been around the block.

Well, I’m excited to let you all know that James Chartrand and Mason Hipp, the current brains behind Freelance Folder, have joined forces to put together an indispensable book. If you want to:

• Overcome your limits as a freelancer
• Discover your true freelancer potential
• Grow your business
• Land more clients
• Add value to your services

Then this book is for you.

I’ll be offering a review of this book within the coming days, but I wanted to get it out there right now so you can have quick access to this awesome book. If you enjoyed Write for the Web, you’re going to absolutely LOVE The Unlimited Freelancer.

Happy new year to my freelance writing friends, old and new. I trust the holidays have found you well, and wish you success in 2009.

I have to say, I’m excited about what the new year is going to bring. If 2008 was any indication, 2009 is going to be the best year for my freelancing business yet. While there may be some tough economic times in the world, there’s no business I’d rather be in.

Why am I so optimistic? There are a bunch of reasons, but I get the most encouragement by looking back over the last year. In the past 12 months, here are some of the amazing things that have happened for me:

• I started this blog, which has grown my freelance writing client base by leaps and bounds. It’s also allowed me to meet so many interesting people, network with other writers and given me the opportunity to help other writers achieve their own dreams.
• I began my coaching program, which has allowed me to help a great group of writers get their start in the business.
• I’ve grown the business to the point where I’m regularly outsourcing work, allowing me more time to focus on the business itself.
• I’ve increased my business revenue, as well as my personal revenue, by a significant factor.
• Ive been able to work together with my wife, bringing her in as a partner behind the scenes of the business.

There’s plenty more, too, but those are just the things that come to mind.

2009 promises to see all sorts of new and exciting things. While I’m still in the process of refining my business (a process that truly never ends) I am thrilled to think about some of the irons I’ve got in the fire, and some of the projects that are yet to come.

I also want to take a minute to thank everyone who has regularly read this blog, and helped me reach each milestone. As of today, I’m happy to have just shy of 1,000 RSS and email subscribers, and I’m happy that you’ve joined me on this journey.

Here’s to hoping we all have a very bright future in 2009:

photo credit: Shermeee

There’s money in SEO writing. If you can do it right, you can make a killing. Understanding the inner workings of search engines, knowing the right keywords to pick and being able to insert them into your writing is a valued skill.

If you write on the Internet at all, chances are you do at least some SEO. If you surf the Internet at all (who doesn’t) you’ve seen perfectly-optimized SEO pages.

You’ve probably also noticed that, in many cases, perfectly-optimized SEO pages suck. The writing is contrived, sentence structure is awkward and those keywords – usually in various formats – are repeated ad nauseum. In other words, good SEO is often terrible writing.

Now, this isn’t always the case. You can optimize a page without having to make the SEO so in-your-face noticeable. (If you want to know more, go to SEO School. Naomi will tell you all there is to know about good SEO.)

What happens, though, when your client wants the SEO to be so thick you can cut it with a knife?

You have two choices: take the gig or don’t.

If you take the gig, you’re going to have to get pretty damn creative. Chances are you’re still going to wind up with a piece of work that’s less than stellar, at least in terms of its readability. But, hey, you’re not an artist, right? You run a business, and businesses need to make money. Besides, if you don’t write it, someone else will.

If you don’t take the gig, you can go on with your own writing integrity. You can take satisfaction in the fact that you’re not contributing to the wealth of crappy writing on the Internet. By keeping your high standards, you help raise the overall quality of information on the Internet.

A few months ago, I took a gig that had some very specific SEO requirements. The keyword density was very high, so much so that I’m pretty sure Google won’t catch the page on those keywords (although MSN or Yahoo search might). I went along my merry way, wrote the article, and sent it to the client.

The client loved the article. Unfortunately, I hadn’t hit the SEO requirements, so the client bounced it back to me for a revision.

I realized, as I began writing the revision, just how intense these SEO requirements were. The client wanted specific word pairings that just didn’t work linguistically. (A similar example would be the keyword, “Tobacco Virginia.”)

At this point, though, I didn’t have much of a choice. I reworked the article, trying to preserve the quality as best I could. The result wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great either.

After finishing the work, it occurred to me: there was a third option I’d missed. I could have challenged the client’s requirements from the start. I could have pointed out the difficulty of the awkward word pairings, and offer other suggestions. Maybe the client would have taken the suggestions and let me do the work, maybe not.

I’m not an ar-teest, not by any stretch of the imagination. However, I do believe that great writing matters online. Just because we web writers don’t have the kind of editorial gatekeepers that print writers have doesn’t mean we can just let quality go. There has to be some kind of middle ground between using the tools we need (like SEO) and creating something that’s readable, clear and correctly uses the language.

Today, I’m hesitant to work gigs with more than just basic SEO.

What do you think? Am I being a snob here? Am I being unrealistic? Or is it sometimes worth it to sacrifice a sale in favor of the quality writing principle?

Image by elblogdeffuentes

I don’t know about you, but I’m about done with all of this talk about a “faltering economy,” “economic downturn,” and, worst of all, “recession.”

My state, Michigan, hasn’t really ever recovered from the hard times that started after 9/11. Back in 2005, I recall newspaper headlines declaring that Michigan was in a “one-state recession.” Times are tough here, and have been for a long time.

Am I worried about this situation? Sure. I’m worried for my friends, my extended family. I see people around me getting laid off every day, and my heart goes out to them.

But I’m not worried for myself.

The thing is, you see, I choose not to participate in the recession.

What do I mean by that, exactly? I mean, simply, that I’m not going to allow the recession to affect my income or my lifestyle. You see, there are a few facts about running a freelance writing business that can, if you’re smart about it, make your business recession-proof.

Freelance writing clients are worldwide

Right now, my biggest clients aren’t based in the United States. While I have clients in the U.S., my client base spans the globe. I haven’t had a client in Michigan in some time – further proof that my state is in dire straits.

Unlike my good friend who runs an appraisal business just down the road, the local economy doesn’t affect me as directly. If the local market dries up, I can get work from Aussies, Canadians, Brits and lots of other folks. I like working for local clients, but they aren’t my bread and butter by any means.

Freelance writing gigs aren’t tied to a specific industry

I have the same sort of flexibility when it comes to industries. Michigan is, of course, tied very closely into the auto industry. If you’ve been watching the shenanigans in Washington as of late, you know the auto industry is in trouble. That makes for a lot of economic devastation in my community.

Here again, though, I don’t work with just one industry. I have clients in real estate, technology, food service and even some related to the auto industry. But should any one of those areas take a dive, I have plenty of others to choose from.

A freelance writing business model has to be flexible to succeed

Now, I don’t want to paint some kind of rosey picture here. Hard economic times do affect the way I do business. I may have to spend more time searching for clients. I might have to chase down a client or two for payment. I might have to offer deeper discounts than I’d like.

But the business I’m in allows me the flexibility to do those things. I can make adjustments, on the fly if I need to, to insure that my business continues to be healthy and to thrive.

Freelance writing is about creating opportunities

Even when the markets all dry up, there is still potential for success. As a freelancer, I can use my ambition, imagination and creativity to come up with new ways to succeed. The possibilities are endless, it’s just a matter of identifying the ones with the greatest potential for success and then executing them effectively.

This is what being a freelancer is all about, folks. Expanding your horizons, breaking into new markets, adjusting your business to the times and making your own way is how you get ahead as a freelancer.

Freelancing not for the faint of heart. It’s for those folks who are willing to do what has to be done in order to come out ahead, recession or not.

photo credit: eob

Something has occurred to me recently that has really changed my perspective on communicating with my freelance writing clients.

Before I tell you what it is, though, Let me start off by telling you a story.

When I was a younger man, I was horribly shy.

No, strike that. Shy isn’t the right way to say it. I had plenty of friends, and was pretty outgoing in most social situations. I was very involved in student groups, even taking leadership roles.

My problem was that I couldn’t seem to talk to a pretty girl to save my life. I’d get all nervous, tongue tied. I’d be scared to death that I’d say something stupid, embarrassing or awkward.

And then I would say something stupid, embarrassing or awkward.

It was 1994, and the Internet was still a young pup (at least, the public side of the Internet was). Everyone that was on the Internet was on AOL or, like me, Prodigy. The web was still fairly new and something of a novelty; online services were where it was at.

Now, today we take for granted the online dating services. Match.com, eHarmony and all the others hit us with TV and radio ads. Back then, however, the best you could find was a sort of “classified ad” section on your online service.

And I did find it. And I used it. You see, I discovered that I could write to pretty girls all day long. I never had to worry about getting tongue tied, or that my shirt would be buttoned wrong. To make a long story short, that’s how I met my wife. If I’d have had to meet her in person first, chances are I’d have chickened out and we would never have met.

(And, yes, I know the whole “we met online” thing is old hat today. But, in 1994 it was still a bit of a novelty. It was fun to watch, as the years went by, the changing reactions people would have to us “meeting online.” In the early days it was a confused “huh?” After a while it became “ooh, that’s interesting. How do I do that?” Eventually it was “I have a friend who met her husband that same way.” Finally, today it’s “You got lucky. She could have been an ax murderer!”)

At any rate, here’s my point: I’m much better at writing than I am speaking. When I write, I can carefully craft what I want to say into a cohesive whole. I’m much more likely to close a deal in writing than I am in person or on the phone.

What does that have to do with clients? Plenty.

You see, most of my writing clients aren’t writers themselves. I realize that’s pretty obvious in itself, but hear me out.

At times, it’s easy to become frustrated with clients. Communicating with them about specs, project details and even costs can be challenging via e-mail. So, some clients prefer to talk on the phone or meet face-to-face.

I don’t mind face-to-face meetings or phone calls, especially when they result in more business. But I also know that my strengths aren’t in those situations. My strength is in writing – which is why they’re hiring me in the first place.

So, I naturally prefer to negotiate on my terms – in writing. But I realize that this, in many cases, puts my clients at a severe disadvantage. So anytime a client requests a phone call or meeting, I try to accomodate it.

And these days, I try to be more understanding of those requests. After all, some clients probably feel about written communication the way I used to about verbal. They’re not sure what to write, and when they do write it comes out awkward. In other cases, they’re just playing to their strengths, and I can’t begrudge them that.

So, what do you think? I know freelancers on both sides of this issue. There are some who will not – under any circumstances – take calls or meetings. Others prefer it. How about you?
photo credit: Foxtongue

I’ve been struggling a bit with how to end this series.

You see, it isn’t that I don’t have any more writing advice; I’ve got plenty of ways to help you supercharge your writing. I mean, that’s what this blog has always been about: helping Internet writers reach their dreams.

But so much of what I could tell you from here is very specialized. I could tell you how to make your writing pop. I could tell you how to blog with passion. I could tell you how to bid for work at specific freelance sites. While all of this is useful, though, I don’t think you need it in order to start your freelance writing business.

There’s really only one more thing you need from here.

You need to jump in.

You see, the best teacher in life, whether it’s in your freelance business, as a parent or even playing poker is experience. We human beings tend to learn best by doing. Yes, there are certain big-picture principles you need to have in mind; that’s what this series has been about. But until you apply them, until you actually get out there and start putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) you’ll never really make any progress.

So, let me give you a simple roadmap from here, incorporating the ideas from the rest of the series. If you want to start your freelance writing business today, here’s what you need to do:

1. Make a plan for your education. Buy Rockstar Freelancer and Write for the Web. Subscribe, at a minimum, to Copyblogger, Men with Pens, Freelance Folder and, of course, The Writing Journey.
2. Start to improve your writing. Invest in a mentoring relationship, or join a writing group.
3. Make your business plan. If you need help, Sign up for Online Business School.
4. Create your portfolio. Do it like I do, with my blog. You might even be able to make some money blogging on the side.
5. Get out there and look for work. Get to Freelance Writing Gigs and, bid on some projects at sites like Elance.
6. Be ready to spend some money. Yep, you can start your business for next to nothing. But the more you can invest, in the above components and in things like marketing and equipment, the faster your business is likely to grow.

I’ve said it before: writing is a skill that can be learned. You don’t have to be naturally gifted to have a successful freelance writing business. You just need to have the desire, some know-how and be able to put those things to use in an efficient way. These six steps are the best way I can think of to get started on that path to a successful freelance writing business.

photo credit: Derek Farr ( DetroitDerek )

For a couple of weeks now, the discussion has been going back and forth between Men with Pens and Freelance Parent about the costs of starting up a freelance writing business. One side argues that you can start up a freelance writing business on the cheap, with a couple hundred dollars or less. The other side argues that a freelance writing business has the same kinds of startup costs that any other small business has – and that you’re going to put out ten times that amount or more.

I’d encourage you to follow those debate threads. Each side makes some good points, to be sure. If you pin me down and force me to offer my opinion, I’ll say that any small business, whether they’re freelance writing, plumbing or basket-weaving, can benefit from a significant cash investment in the beginning.

Now, for my part, I started out with no investment. I fell into the freelance writing business quite by accident. I put nothing but time into the business in the beginning, and I did just fine.

(Of course, that’s part of it, isn’t it? If you don’t have cash, you need to have time. Ideally, you’ll have both.)

However, it wasn’t until later on in my freelance writing business, when I was able to invest some money in some tools of the trade, some new office equipment and some marketing that my business really took off. It also helped that I found a mentor who’d been where I had been who could teach me a thing or two.

If I were to start my freelance business today, I’d spend some money. I’d make sure I had the right computer and the right work environment. I’d hire a writing coach for at least three months, and I’d buy Freelance Rockstar Freelancer and Write for the Web. I’d spend some money on marketing. If I wanted to make money blogging, I’d get into Blog Mastermind. I’d probably even hire a Virtual Assistant to help me keep organized.

So, what are the real costs of starting a freelance writing business? I can honestly say I’d put them somewhere between $0 and $20,000. Am I trying to play both sides of the fence here? I suppose I am.

The real cost of starting a freelance writing business is this: It is the amount of capital you can raise, spent in the most efficient way possible. For every dollar you can’t spend, you have to make it up in blood, sweat and tears.

Starting capital doesn’t guarantee your success, just like the lack of capital doesn’t guarantee your failure. But having some startup cash for your freelance writing business does increase your odds of success.

Follow The Journey: Other Posts In This Series

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Introduction

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Education

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Honing Your Craft

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Planning

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Building Your Portfolio

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Finding Work

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: A Jump-Start

How to Start Your Freelance Writing Business: The Costs

photo credit: (UB) Sean R

We’ll pick back up on this series later in the week, folks.

In the meantime, I want to tell you about a great way to get your business off the ground. The guys over at Men with Pens are running a contest with a top prize of almost $12,000 in writing business resources, including a month of coaching from yours truly.

Go Enter The Men with Pens Sticky Business Contest today!

(Incidentally, it’s Harry, James and Charlie at Men with Pens who are responsible for my new theme today, as well. If you like it as much as I do, get over there and have them design your site.)

Follow The Journey: Other Posts In This Series

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Introduction

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Education

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Honing Your Craft

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Planning

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Building Your Portfolio

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Finding Work

Now, I won’t pretend to know it all when it comes to landing freelance writing work. After all, my first gig was one that the client approached me about, rather than the other way around. In fact, some of my more successful long-term client relationships have been that sort: people who sought me out because they believed I could meet their needs.

Still, you can’t build a business by expecting people to show up on your doorstep. I’ve said before that opportunities aren’t made, they’re painstakingly crafted. To be successful, you’ve got to get out there and make some sales.

Freelance bidding sites

You know these sites. Elance, Guru, Scriptlance and so on. These sites offer a place for clients to post a project and freelancers to bid on those projects. I’ve had some success over time with this kind of activity, and my work on these sites has led to at least a couple of long-term clients.

I could (and probably will, one day) write a series on these sites. There are so many different elements that it’s hard to know where to begin. Rather than trying to do that here, let me just offer four of the most important things I’ve learned about bidding sites:

• Ignore the abysmally low bids. Just because someone else is working for $2 an article doesn’t mean you have to. It just means you have to demonstrate added value to get those higher rates.
• Customize every bid. Yes, it takes time. But you really need to engage the potential client if you’re going to capture her interest. Speak directly to her needs, both written and unwritten, in your bids.
• Showcase your best work, and plenty of it. Include links to your freelance writing portfolio, and attach a relevant sample to your bid. In my case, a link to this blog increases sales by a significant factor.
• There are plenty of different styles of work at these sites, from copywriting to SEO articles to blogging. Pick one and focus on it to maximize your success.

Freelance job sites

There are a number of these out there, but many of them have the same info every day. Two of the ones I check regularly are John Hewitt’s PoeWar and Deb and Jodee at Freelance Writing Jobs. These sites have plenty of potential, but they’re also more competitive. Whereas you might find a dozen gigs a day with eight or ten competitors at Elance, you’re going to find 20 gigs a day with 200 or 300 competitors at these sites.

Beyond that, though, these sites offer a different type of work that what you’ll find at the bidding sites. Here you’ll find a higher concentration of blogging gigs, for example. You’ll also find more long-term assignments and actual “jobs,” if that’s the thing you’re looking for.

Cold calls

I’ve done cold calling, to be sure. If there’s a niche that you’re an expert in, or perhaps have a special knowledge of, it’s all right to contact webmasters of those sites and offer your services. Your rate of success with cold calls is going to be lower than it is with the other methods, but it’s something to try. You may find that you have a knack for this type of sales (I don’t) and make a killing.

Networking

If bidding sites have provided me with some of my long-term clients, networking has provided me with the rest. Whether it’s using social media to connect with other freelancer writers who are looking to outsource, or whether it’s a client’s recommendation to a colleague, word of mouth is still one of the best ways to land clients.

Networking is a bit tricky, though. You can spend all day networking and never land a client. You can network with someone in your field just for fun and wind up forming a long-term partnership. For me, it’s hard to know early on what kind of fruit networking will bear. While you can’t rely solely on networking to get you writing gigs, don’t count it out altogether.

———-

So, what about you? Where do you find your freelance writing clients?

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Introduction

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Education

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Honing Your Craft

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Planning

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Building Your Portfolio

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Finding Work

Photo by EveryNobody

As several folks mentioned in the comments from the previous post in this series, having a good business plan doesn’t mean that your business is going to succeed. Now, NOT having one can have a seriously detrimental effect on your business, and even put it under. But the way you execute that plan has a lot to do with your success.

Today, I want to talk about the next step on your writing business journey. Once you’ve built that business plan, you should naturally start trying to land a writing gig or two. I’ll talk next time about where to find writing work, but for now I want to focus on something that will help you immensely when it is time to do that:

Building your portfolio.

A good portfolio is, in my estimation, one of the most important assets of your freelance writing business. It displays the quality of your work, demonstrates the depth of your skills and gives potential clients a reason to choose you.

In the print world, a portfolio generally takes the form of “clips.” Clips are, in many cases, articles that you’ve written that are literally “clipped” from the newspaper or magazine you’ve been published in. The challenge with online writing is that much of the writing you do will be “ghostwriting” – that is, you won’t get the byline.

This was one of the challenges I faced early in my freelance writing career. I started out writing in one niche for a single client. When it came time for me to branch out, I found that I had no work samples to show prospective clients. In my case, I worked around it by getting permission from my client to refer potential clients to my articles on her website. But I’d have been much better off if I had a solid body of work I could point to.

So, let’s get practical for a few minutes. What makes a good freelance writing portfolio?

A good freelance writing portfolio is accessible.

If you want to showcase your talents to a prospective client, you need to make it easy for the client to see your work. That means reducing the number of clicks required to see your portfolio. That might mean you set up a website with work samples. It might mean you keep copies of some of your work as MS Word documents, to be attached to emails.

My best portfolio tends to be right here. This blog is one of the most important resources for my freelance writing business. I found that, once I started including a reference to my blog on my freelance writing bids, my sales went through the roof. In fact, bids that included my blog outsold bids that didn’t by a margin of 2 to 1.

However you do it, though, you don’t want to make your client look under every rock on the Internet for your work. I’ve been published all over the web, including some big names in the writing business like Freelance Folder and Freelance Switch. While I could send clients links to those articles, it’s much more convenient for the client if I include them as attachments.

A good freelance writing portfolio is diverse.

Every freelance writer has his favorite style of writing. Certainly a part of what you can do to market yourself as a writer is to brand yourself as the expert in a particular niche or style of writing. Still, the Internet is a funny place. What’s popular today may not be tomorrow. To make it over the long haul, you must have a diverse set of skills. On top of that, having a diverse set of skills means that you have a more diverse set of potential clients.

I keep, at any given time, more than two dozen work samples in my portfolio. It includes the best examples of my sales writing, blog writing, website copy, SEO keyword articles and several other types of writing. I also try to vary the niches, as well, showcasing some of my areas of expertise and interest.

A good freelance writing portfolio showcases your best work.

It should go without saying, but your portfolio needs to be error-free. Even if it’s work you’ve published already, it’s worth an extra proofread to make sure everything is as it should be. Simple grammatical or spelling errors can cost you potential clients.

Along that line of thought, it’s important also to realize that, by including something in your portfolio, you’re saying “I can do this again.” As such, the work you do for a client needs to meet that same level of quality. There’s nothing more frustrating for a client than to see great work in the portfolio followed by a substandard deliverable.

So, what about you? Do you have a freelance writing portfolio for your business? If so, what kinds of things do you include, and what form does it take? Feel free to include a link to your portfolio in the comments section.

Follow The Journey: Other Posts In This Series

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Introduction

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Education

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Honing Your Craft

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Planning

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Building Your Portfolio

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Finding Work

Today I want to continue talking about how you can get started with your Freelance writing business. Before I get too much into it, though, I want to send you off to read about why these tough economic times really are the best time to start your freelance writing business (Make sure to come back, of course, when you’re done reading it.)

Let’s talk some about planning, shall we?

One of the biggest reasons small businesses of any sort, including freelance writing businesses, fail is because they don’t have a solid business plan. I can tell you from personal experience that this is the case, because it happened to me.

it was 2000. Our second child had just been born, and I was working at a power plant as a Network Administrator. I had just been hired from a contract position to full-time, and was in a great place in terms of my career.

Still, I was already showing signs of IT burnout. I wasn’t happy with my job. I’d been selling computers and fixing computers on the side for years, so we decided in July of 2000 to start our own computer business. I quit my IT job, rented an office, and hung my shingle.

Six months and $30,000 of credit card debt later, my business folded. I went back to the IT world, defeated.

There were many reasons my business failed. One was the economy; in the fall of 2000, the economy started a downward trend. That’s a factor that can’t be ignored, but it probably could have been overcome.

No, the bigger component to my failure was this: I didn’t plan my business. I didn’t have an organized marketing campaign, a thorough understanding of the local market, specific business goals and milestones that I was working toward, an understanding of inventory control or any sorts of overall strategies. I just took out some ads and hoped people would call me.

Needless to say, this wasn’t the best of strategies. I had some folks call me (mostly through word of mouth; I wasn’t yet a skilled copywriter). But it wasn’t nearly enough.

So, how do you plan your freelance writing business? Just like you plan any other business. You study your market. You write a business plan. You develop specific strategies, goals, and tactics.

Now, I could go through how to do this, but let’s be honest: it’s been done. I’m not going to be able to tell you anything about writing a business plan you can’t find elsewhere. So, instead, let me point you to the best resource I’ve found for planning a business: The Small Business Association Small Business Planner. Give it a look, especially the sample business plans.

Follow The Journey: Other Posts In This Series

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Introduction

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Education

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Honing Your Craft

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Planning

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Building Your Portfolio

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Finding Work

photo credit juhansonin

Last time, I talked about the importance of becoming educated if you want to start a freelance writing business. I talked about becoming educated about business, about the nature of freelancing and about writing itself. I want to use that last concept as a jumping-off point for today’s post.

You see, in my mind, there is no more important task for the freelance writer than really understanding her own writing, seeing where it fits in the larger context of things, and improving her craft.

I’ve said it before: one of the great challenges that the Internet presents is preserving quality writing. You see, great writing matters online. There are plenty of websites out there with poorly-written content that serve only to attract search engine visitors and send them on their way. While this may be a successful business model for some, to make your living as a freelance writer you need to move beyond this kind of writing.

Honing your writing craft is a part of that process. It takes a dedication to quality, and a commitment to continual self-improvement.

Let me give a real-life example. One of the newer areas of freelance writing I’ve been exploring lately has been writing sales letters. Six months ago, when I sold my first sales letter, I can honestly say that my first attempt was pretty sad. I had a lot to learn about how sales pages work, about the progressions involved, and about the kinds of voice that a sales letter needs in order to convert.

So, what did I do? I worked at it. I researched it (we’re back to education here, of course). I discovered that there are a number of approaches to sales letters. I found one that fit my personal writing philosophy and my style, and I practiced. Today, I’m writing sales letters on a regular basis, and they’re vastly improved over those first efforts. Not only that, I’m getting positive feedback that they’re working.

So, how do you do it? How do you go about honing your craft, in preparation for starting your freelance writing business?

There are plenty of ways to improve your writing, but here are some general principles you should keep in mind:

• You write. Plain and simple. Write every day. Write many kinds of things, test out different ideas, and see what you’re capable of and interested in.
• Beyond that, you need to be willing to critique your own writing. Set your writing aside for a day or two, and come back at it. Slash it up with a highlighter and pen, and then rewrite it. Keep doing this until you feel like the finished product is something worth selling.
• You also need to be willing to put your work out there for others to critique. Join a writer’s forum, post to a ratings-based article directory like Helium, or find yourself a mentor. Find people who are willing to give you some honest feedback about your writing, and be willing to accept that feedback.

Like most things in life, becoming a great writer is less about being inspired, and more about being dedicated to the task.

Follow The Journey: Other Posts In This Series

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Introduction

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Education

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Honing Your Craft

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Planning

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Building Your Portfolio

How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Finding Work

photo credit: liveandrock