All Recent Posts

Is Your Freelance Marketing Message Clear?

As someone whose freelance writing business relies on new media and nontraditional marketing channels, I’m fascinated by how local small businesses market themselves and how they grow. It’s interesting to me to see, for example, the local bakery grow from a simple little shop into a company that produces pies for every grocery store in a 100-mile radius. I think my fascination comes, in part, from the fact that the way I get my clients and grow my business is very different than a local marketing model. What are you telling potential clients about your business? At any rate, there is a local heating and cooling company about a mile... [Read More...]

A Lesson in Brand from McDonald’s

Go into your local McDonald’s. Take a look around. (If you’re like a lot of freelance writers, you’re already there taking advantage of the newly-free wireless provided by AT&T and McDonald’s. If not, well, you’ll have to take a look around next time you’re there.) I want you to take a look at the walls, look at the signage, look at the menu. Look at the brochures, and at the product packaging. How many times did you see the word “McDonald’s?” You didn’t. You might see the occasional “mcdonalds.com” label on a drink cup, and you see a lot of big yellow m’s. But you... [Read More...]

Business Realities for Freelance Writers

When you first get started freelancing, it can be a world of flowers and unicorns. Someone’s actually paying you to sit at your kitchen table and do something you love! You feel like the cat that ate the canary. For some folks who’ve come into a freelance writing career after being laid off from their first career, it seems like a true Godsend. Still, there are some stark realities you’re going to have to face, and fast. Here are some that tend to hit the hardest, and that you need to be ready to face: If you don’t work, you don’t earn That basic principle of sowing and reaping applies to your freelance writing business.... [Read More...]

Do You Have Perfect Pitch?

While folks come into the freelance writing world through several different paths, the fact of the matter is that they often enter by either working for someone else, or through a relatively low-paying gig with a bigger firm. Yes, there are writing majors who jump into writing for print right out of college, but there are a lot more work-at-home moms who start with Demand Studios or someone similar. Eventually, though, you get to the place where you want to earn more. To do that, you have to convince clients that your writing is worth more than what you’re currently getting paid. That means finding new clients and pitching. The type of pitch... [Read More...]

When a Client Needs Your Help

I received a strange email from one of my freelance writing clients last weekend. Rather than trying to describe it to you, I’ll just copy and paste the whole thing here for you to read: Hi, How you doing? We made a trip to London (United Kingdom) unannounced some days back, Unfortunately we got mugged at gun point last night! All cash, Credit card and phone were stolen, we got messed up in another country, stranded in London, fortunately passport was back in my hotel room.  It was a bitter experience and i was hurt on my right hand, but would be fine. I am sending you this message cos i don’t want anyone to panic, we want you to... [Read More...]

When to Refuse Work

A freelance writing business rises and falls on your willingness and ability to do work for clients. Turning down work is like turning down a paycheck. In the early days of your business, you’re likely to take just about any freelance writing job that comes your way. Yet, knowing which gigs to take and which gigs to let go is an important part of maturing as a freelance writer. So, how do you know which jobs to turn down and which ones to work? There are, in my estimation, three good reasons to turn down a freelance writing job: 1. The Job Violates Your Ethical Code Maybe it’s writing a sales page for a weight loss product that hasn’t... [Read More...]

Maximizing Your Sales Potential

Love it or hate it (and it’s usually one or the other) a successful freelance writing business has to involve sales. You need to find clients who want to pay you to write if you’re going to stay in business. Accordingly, you want to make as many sales as you can. That’s a given. But you may be going about it all the wrong way. Here are a few tips to get you pointed in the right direction when it comes to maximizing your sales potential: Just do it. If you don’t get out there and try to sell, you won’t sell anything. Whether it’s submitting queries to magazines or wading through one of the online freelancer... [Read More...]

How to Spend Your Tax Refund

Now, let me start out by saying this: if your freelance writing business is making enough money, there’s a good chance you may not be getting too much back in your tax refund this year. In fact, freelance writing businesses that are really shakin’ are going to instead have to pay in taxes – not just right now, but once a quarter. We’ll get into that at a later date. The reality is, though, that many freelance writers, especially those with children, find themselves in a bit of a “sweet spot” when it comes to taxes. They can expect a decent tax refund for one of two reasons: 1. They made enough money to fall... [Read More...]

Prepare Your Family for Your Freelance Writing Business

If you’re serious about your freelance writing business, you need to know that it’s going to take some serious changes to your life to be successful at it. Whether you’re coming into freelance writing from another career, or whether you’ve been a work-at-home mom or dad, it’s a whole different ballgame. Not only are you going to need to make some adjustments, so is your family. To make the transition easier on everyone, here are some basic things you can do: Talk with your family Let them know what kinds of changes are coming. If freelance writing is, initially, going to reduce your income, let them know that they’re... [Read More...]

Do You Have Clients or Bosses?

// We talked last time about your business self-image. We talked about whether you see yourself as a business or as an employee, and why being a business is both preferable and more realistic. Today, I want to look at one part of that issue: how your business self-image affects the way you deal with customers. When folks first get started freelance writing, they’re often just looking for a job. Look at the success of the Freelance Writing Jobs blog network in the search engines if you don’t believe me. Now, I don’t object to the idea of freelance writing jobs. But, it’s important how we think about that last word: jobs.... [Read More...]

What is Your Freelance Writing Business Self-Image?

// The vast majority of freelance writers are self-employed and the sole employee of their business. Many of those freelance writing businesses don’t really even see themselves so much as a business, but as a writer who works for someone else. There are some folks, for example, who write exclusively for Demand Studios and think of themselves as more of an employee. This isn’t too different from how many contractors see themselves. After all, when I worked in Information Technology as a network admin, I didn’t really think of myself as a sole proprietorship. After all, I had a single client who provided my entire paycheck.... [Read More...]

Create A Freelance Writing Discount Structure

The freelance writing business is, by its very nature, a different beast. Many freelance writers, at least in the beginning, think about what they do more as a freelance writing job rather than a small business. If you don’t believe me, just think about the success of this website. Note that it’s the Freelance Writing Jobs network, not the Freelance Writing Business network. This difference is important in a number of ways. Small businesses have expenses; employees don’t. Small businesses have to do marketing; people who have jobs don’t. Small businesses often have sales or offer discounts – employees don’t.... [Read More...]

What to Do if You Get Audited

// We’ve been talking about IRS tax audits and your freelance writing business for the past few posts. While there isn’t much you can do to prevent an audit, once an audit starts there are some things you can do to be sure it goes your way. Here are some of the most effective tips to follow when your freelance writing business gets audited: Get Organized From the moment you’re notified that you’re being audited, you need to start pulling your stuff together. Create a filing system that you understand (if you don’t already have one) and get every piece of paper where it needs to be. You want to be able to provide... [Read More...]

When Your Freelance Writing Business Gets Audited – What to Expect

// Last time, we talked about some of the types of tax audits your freelance writing business could face. Today, I want to cover some of the things that you can expect at your tax audit, so that you can become mentally prepared for when it happens. Next time, we’ll cover some specific tactics for handling your audit. Here’s what you can count on at your audit: There will be stress. Audits are time consuming and they’re stressful. It feels like you vs. them, only they get to make the rules. You’re going to get asked about events that happened years ago, about things you probably don’t even remember. There will be... [Read More...]

When Your Freelance Writing Business Gets Audited

// Freelance writing businesses are as susceptible as any small business to an audit. The very thought of the IRS honing its sights in on you is enough to make even the toughest among us break out in a cold sweat. The IRS tends to see small business owners as guilty until proven innocent, and it can really cause untold amounts of stress. Over the next few posts, I want to explore the idea of a tax audit for your freelance business. We’ll talk about the types of audits today, and we’ll go from there into looking at what you can expect when you do get audited and what you can do to prepare for an audit later on. There are a few basic... [Read More...]