How to Raise Your Freelance Rates…and Deal with the Losses!

By Terri Lively

Today I was told that my freelance rates were too steep for a project. Rats! The facts are that my rates are steep and I am worth every penny. I say this (and put it in bold) because It’s important to believe that you are worth it if you want to charge a higher rate.

But daily affirmation aside, this client doesn’t think my rate is worth it. This is not an uncommon problem today for freelancers. So today’s topic is how to keep pushing your rates.

An excellent writer, Heather Waugh, sent me this article yesterday. It’s about how Freelancers Don’t Understand What They’re Worth. Check out this infographic:

Source: Community.copypress.com

So how do you raise your rates? I have some tips that might help:

1. Figure out your hourly rate…and stick to it.  All of us have an hourly rate with which we are comfortable. You need to figure out what it’s worth to sell your time to somebody else’s project. If the rate is too low, why not keep your time and spend it on the latest great American novel you are writing in your spare (read: unbooked) time?
2. Use the hourly rate to guide your proposals. I use my hourly rate as the base for all my quotes. I prefer to give project bids over hourly bids because I never want to get into an argument that what took me three hours should only have taken two. Or worse, what took 30 minutes should only be charged 30 minutes instead of the full hour. So using that rate, I come up with a price that includes likely revisions, image searches, posting charges, etc.
3. Google it. Sometimes I get a request for a new type of project, something I haven’t written before or that forays into a new area for me. Then I rely on Google to guide my bid. I type in a full sentence like, “What should I charge to write a 60,000 word novel?” and voila! I get about 10 sources that will give me ranges.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask for more. This is the toughest tip that has the most repercussions. If you ask for more, you might get rejected.  But if you don’t ask for more, freelancing stays a hobby instead of your profession. So ask for more. Fearlessly.
5. Renegotiate. Clearly you wanted the work or you wouldn’t have bid on it in the first place. But please, resist the impulse to say, “Just kidding!” and jump back to your cheaper rate. Instead go back with a question, like “Did you have a budget in mind?” If you are lucky enough to get a number back, go back to tip one and make sure that it’s worth it and try again with a lower but higher than before number. It’s all about pushing the needle up, after all.

So how did I respond to the client today that said my rates were too steep? I did the only sensible thing I could. I tried to renegotiate at a lower rate with my question, “did you have a budget in mind?” And then I kicked myself for asking for so much. Sigh. I suppose that the concepts are always easier to talk about than to live.

So clearly, not getting what you are worth is a trend. But is it a trend that will change? Probably not if other writers do what I did and assert themselves as being worth more and then immediately crumble when they get rejected at their higher rate.

So what do you do to raise your rates? I’d be interested to hear your suggestions in the comments below.

6 Ways to Get More Followers on Twitter

6 Ways to Get More Followers on Twitter.

If I tweet alone in the forest, does it make any sound?

If you are like me, then you would like to have more influence on Twitter. But how do you get more people to follow you on Twitter?

As a content provider, having a robust social media strategy is an important part of our career. So whenever I find a good resource for how to build up my following, I pay attention.

Theses tips from Everyday Social Media Marketing at hswriting.me are easy to do, good to know and an excellent foundation for building up a Twitter following. This is a great quick read that might help you get more of the following you want so that your tweets make a sound in the forest.

Three Ways to Wow Your Clients This Week

Like it or not, when you are a freelancer, you are in sales. Only unlike the traditional salesperson that is typically selling a product or service for an organization, the thing you are selling is yourself…and by that I mean your expertise, your professionalism and your customer service.

Wowing customers isn’t rocket science. You simply need to put your customer’s needs at the center of everything you do.

Here are three ways that you can Wow your clients this week:

1. Send them a pertinent article related to their business that they can use for social media.

Social media marketing is a hungry beast that never turns down a feeding. For most people in business, maintaining social media presence has become one more task in an already overloaded day. Since many of us write for these people because they needed to outsource some of their work, why not take the initiative to ease their load in other ways, too? So when you see an article that might enhance the efforts of your client to build a brand on social media, email it to them with a note that says, “I saw this when I was researching a project and thought it might be a great addition to your Tweets this week.” This will position you as someone that is a valuable resource that provides extra service and strengthen your relationship with the client.

2. Mail a handwritten Thank You note after your next project.

Typically, we don’t bother with handwritten anything in today’s tech-driven world. That’s why this one works so well. Stash Thank You notes in your drawer and periodically send one out to a client after completion of a project. Find something from the project that you want to compliment them for that is genuine and specific (if it’s too general, it won’t seem authentic). I guarantee you that this gesture will keep you in the mind of your client when the next job comes up.

3. Offer a free consultation on their current materials.

Depending on your client, you may have additional opportunities to work with them that just haven’t reached their attention yet. Take the initiative to look at their materials and see if you have any suggestions that your marketing expertise can help them improve. If it’s a brochure, offer a consultation on how to take that online. If it’s a website, share with them your expertise on how to make it easier to read. Maybe you have a great SEO strategy that you can use to make their online marketing have a bigger reach. By setting up the meeting and offering the consultation for free, you are positioning yourself as a consultant rather than just another vendor waiting for the next project.

Too many times freelancers forget that they need to wear their sales hat when dealing with clients. But the truth is, you are always in sales when you freelance. Be sure to use these tips to Wow your clients this week and see where it takes you. It may not result in any new business at the time, but it will make you a more valuable member of their team.

An Important Reminder for Us…and Our Clients!

Saw this on my LinkedIn feed and I’m still laughing. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Typ0s

You work hard on a post for hours. You choose your words very carefully. You make sure that the rhythm of the words is just so to deliver that emotional punch or punch line depending on the tone of the piece. You revise it. Then you revise it again.

Finally you are ready. You take a deep breath, you swallow back your insecurity, and you hit the publish button. The world can see what you have poured your time and energy into, the masterpiece that you are now sharing with them.

Unfortunately, they can also see your typo.

This happens to me all the time. Here’s an example from last week’s post on LinkedIn.com. When I originally posted it the second sentence read:

I have never met Stephen King and likely never will. But I am certain that I know what his least favorite Schoolhouse Rock Video. It’s this one:”

Even though before I posted it, I proofed it and slept on it before hitting publish, I missed the typo. And 4,000 people read it with that huge typo in the first paragraph. The. First. Paragraph.

Nearly every time I publish, I get a comment from my aunt or editor friend about the typos that I missed in my thorough proofing process. Yes, it’s the plural I’m afraid–the word typo rarely gets used in the singular as it pertains to my writing. It’s a condition I like to call Chronic Typo Syndrome.

If you are like me and suffer from Chronic Typo Syndrome, here are the tips I have for catching typos (I know, taking advice from someone with my condition about how to catch typos is counterintuitive, but hear me out):

• Tip #1: Know your shortcomings: Figure out what your common mistakes are and be on vigilant look out for them. For me it is the form/from substitution and also the it’s/its switcheroo (There are actually quite a few more but I have work to do today so I decided to limit my example to these two.).
• Tip #2: Print it out: I know. This isn’t great for the environment or even possible if you are working in your “satellite” office (read: Starbucks). But sometimes seeing it in good old-fashioned black and white on paper can help you spot what you are missing on the screen. Use recycled paper if you are worried about the trees.
• Tip #3: Read it out loud: This one takes time and feels silly, particularly when there is no one there to hear you (does it make any sound?). But it is a great way to see what you actually said instead of what you thought you said. I’m sure this is because reading out loud comes from a different part of your brain than when you read it silently or something.
• Tip#4: Sleep on it. This one is hard for me since once I have an idea I just can’t wait to share it. But every time I give myself a day to sleep on it, the post is always better for it, last week notwithstanding.
• Tip #5: Consider an Online Grammar Checking site. To be honest, I don’t use one of these yet. Based on last week’s blooper, it’s probably time to start. Grammarly.composted this funny meme last week on Facebook:

So true it’s almost not funny, huh?

Clearly, I need some help with typos so I think I might try them. Is it because of the funny memes? Absolutely. So take that, social media advertising naysayers!

Typos are the bane of my existence. I can’t publish a blog without a typo.* It’s like a law of nature or something. This goes for my Facebook posts and comments, too. No matter what I write, no matter how many times I proof it, one will always slip through. This is definitely a theme in my life; I have a third, “happy surprise” child in my home.

Typos can happen for lots of reasons. Sometimes they are because you forgot the rules of the language. Sometimes they happen because you hurried. This is usually the case with my posts.

Sometimes it’s because Word didn’t catch it. But I said in another post, you can’t depend on Word to catch all your mistakes. How many times have you had a “form” make it through the spell check even though the word you meant to use was “from?” Although in Word’s defense, form is not misspelled…

I don’t send my stuff to an editor. I look forward to the day when someone who is a far better proofer than I can catch these embarrassing little snafus before I publish them. But until then, I will rely on my family and friends to set me straight. And maybe the algorithms at Grammarly.com.

What is your best advice for how to find the elusive typos in your copy? Please share what you have learned in the comments below.

Terri Lively is a career marketing professional that has unique experience in the areas of messaging and client relations. She writes for her clients that want to enhance their content. For the past 15 years, she helps create effective marketing materials that communicate their message and get results, across all types of media. More about Terri can be discovered at www.terrilively.com.

 

*For the record I have proofed this 1000 times so if there is a typo, I give up. It was fate.

The Writing Process — Animated

This video is definitely a great spend of 13 minutes of your time. I am already incorporating some of his strategies in my posts (meaning I changed into more comfortable pants and switched out my chair). But I hope to do a better job of using the other techniques he outlines here as well.

May this help you improve your process as well!

“There is no gr…

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” — Maya Angelou

 Honestly, I get what she is trying to say here, but I think she might have forgotten about child birth. But that being said, we all have our stories. It’s time to share them. So to kick off a week this Monday morning, write a short story/blog post/new chapter that you have been meaning to and send it to someone you trust for feedback. 

“Go into the ar…

“Go into the arts. I’m not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”

— Kurt Vonnegut

I could post everyday with important things that Vonnegut has to say…

And Wear Sunscreen!

Goal Setting: Beginning with The End in Mind

Goal Setting: Beginning with The End in Mind

 

 

 

Whether it’s your life, your work, or a personal/spiritual journey, any effort without a goal is doomed to fall short.

This is an article posted by a client of mine about setting goals and how to achieve them this year. As you read through his points think about how they apply to what you are trying to do.

Too many great people end up achieving less than they could simply because they didn’t plan and organize their business. Don’t be one of those great people. Realize your full potential for greatness by simply defining how you want to achieve it!

Word Spelling and Grammar Check: NOT a Ticket to be Grammatically Lazy

Word Spelling and Grammar Check: NOT a Ticket to be Grammatically Lazy.