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A Lesson in Brand from McDonald’s

Bob Younce — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:07:15 +0000

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 don’t see “McDonald’s.”

Why is that, do you think?

I’m not positive, but I have a theory. Want to hear it? Of course you do, or you’d have stopped reading a while ago. Here it is:

McDonald’s product defines their brand, not the other way around.

If you see a McDonald’s chicken nugget, you know where it’s from. Same holds true for a Big Mac. If they have their way, it’ll soon be the same for the Mocha Frappe’, but they’re not quite there yet.

A freelance writing business can take a lesson from McDonald’s. Your product should be something that’s distinctly your own. It should be a quality product, something that your clients recognize. It doesn’t matter what name is on the shingle (I’ve operated under a few different brands in my freelance writing career). What matters is what’s inside the wrapper.

When a Client Needs Your Help

Bob Younce — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:00:05 +0000

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 keep it that way for now!

Our return flight leaves in a few hours but I’m having troubles sorting out the hotel bills, wondering if you could loan me some money to sort out the hotel bills and also take a cab to the airport about ($2000). I have been to the police and embassy here, but they aren’t helping issues, I have limited means of getting out of here, we canceled our cards already and made a police report, I won’t get a new card number till I get back home! So I really need your help.

You could wire whatever you can spare to my name and hotel address via Western union:

XXXX XXXXXXX (this was actually my client’s name)
272, Coriander Avenue, Docklands, E14 2AA ,
London United Kingdom

Get back to me with the details, would def refund it to you once we arrive! Hopefully tomorrow.

Needless to say, I ran down to my credit union, withdrew $2,000 and had it wired to London immediately. Right after I sent the Nigerian prince his $23,296.

Now, there were several things about this email that indicated it was a scam, not the least of which was that this client has always been extremely professional and would never have used the word “cos.” But, for the three and a half minutes I wondered if the email was real, it got me thinking about something:

What do you do when a freelance writing client needs your help?

I can conceive of a number of circumstances in which a client might need help. They might need to delay a payment, or they might need you to put a rush on a particular freelance writing job.

For me, if the client is a repeat client and they’ve been reliable, I think I’d be willing to help them out (within reason). No, I’m not going to wire $2,000 to London, but I might move their job up on my editorial calendar or work with them on terms. After all, more than one client has worked with me on deadlines or other concerns in the past, so why wouldn’t I?

What do you think? What are you willing to do when a client asks you for something?

Maximizing Your Sales Potential

Bob Younce — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:00:30 +0000

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 websites, you need to spend some time each week trying to get new clients.
Don’t get comfortable. When you have a large, steady client, the need to sell doesn’t seem as pressing. Recognize, however, that few clients last forever. Eventually, their business model changes, or they go out of business, or they may even hire someone else. If at all possible, no one client should make up more than 30 percent of your business.
Expand your market. When you’re first starting out, it’s easy to get hooked into one particular freelance writing niche. If you’ve only written online, try some magazine writing. If you’ve only done articles, try some blogging. I’m not saying you shouldn’t specialize, I’m just saying that you should at least test the waters in other types of writing.
Believe in yourself. The key to successful sales is a belief in the product. Recognize the true value your writing brings to your clients and it’ll be that much easier to bring in new ones.
Consider getting help. Sales just isn’t a strong suit for some folks. If you can work out the details, a salesperson or agent can be the most effective sales tool you can have.

7 New Year’s Resolutions to Rock Your Freelance Writing Business

Bob Younce — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:08:44 +0000

It’s that time again. We human beings have this funny attachment to our calendars, our time keepers and our numbers. Twenty-Ten is not only the rollover of a new year, but the start of a new decade. While I’m an advocate for making every day the best it can be for your freelance writing business, here are 7 New Year’s resolutions that will help you push onward and upward through the next year:

1. Get Control of Your Bookkeeping.

Seriously. Hire an accountant if you need to, but get a handle on it. You’ll be thanking me in 16 months when you’re trying to get your 2010 taxes together.

2. Hone Your Craft.

Becoming a better writer will get you more clients and it will bring the clients you do get back again and again. Try to spend a couple of hours a week just reading about writing.

3. Move Into a New Market.

Writing web content articles is fine, and it can pay the bills. This year, though, why not give blogging a try? Or maybe give White Papers a shot. Who knows, you might just be able to make more money with less work, just by trying something new.

4. Network with Other Writers.

Freelance writing can be a very isolated profession. You need that virtual water cooler. Whether it’s via blogs, message boards, Facebook or Twitter, connect with some other writers this year.

5. Invest in Your Business.

Spend some money on marketing this year. Have those brochures printed that you’ve been talking about for a long time, or have someone fix that God-awful website design. Get some new business cards. Set aside some money for infrastructure, too. Get away from your kitchen table and into an office, or even replace your dying computer.

6. Rethink Your Business Structure.

This might be the year you need to incorporate or start an LLC. If you choose to continue as a sole proprietorship, make sure it’s the best thing for your business first.

7. Make Your Business a Priority

Unless if you’re only writing part time for supplemental income, you want to make a living with your writing. If your writing business isn’t a priority in the same way that working for someone else would be, it will never grow. Yes, you love and need the flexibility being a freelancer affords, but flexibility just means you need to be more diligent about making sure the work gets done.

Freelance Writing Branding That Sells

Bob Younce — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:24:23 +0000

One of the most well-known freelance writing bloggers, and the former writer for Business Tips for Writers is James Chartrand. James Chartrand is a woman. Of course, you already know that, because he told you himself, or maybe because you read Deb Ng’s take on the issue.

I’ve had the privilege to work with James for about the past year and a half on a number of different projects. Early on, I put two and two together and figured out what you all have just learned: he is a she. This didn’t phase me at all, and I felt much better about knowing the true identity of a person with whom I was doing business. (Incidentally, I could care less about knowing the true identity of my favorite bloggers. There’s a huge difference in relationships between bloggers and their readers, and between folks involved in a business transaction.)

For me, the whole story is an amazing study in freelance writing business branding.

Now, I’m going to sidestep the gender issue here, for several reasons. I’m not saying there’s not a gender factor in freelance writing business branding, or anything like that. I just want to ask you all to look at this through a different lens for a moment. In addition to the gender issue, or alongside if you prefer, I’d suggest there are several reasons that James and Men with Pens have done so well:

Distinct Branding Sells

If you’ve had any conversations with James, you know she’s not like other bloggers. She doesn’t write like a “mommy” blogger, and she doesn’t write like a refined “problogger” like Brian Clark either. No, James has a distinct voice. If you have to come up with a few words to describe the James Chartrand brand, they’d be things like: macho, humorous, Canadian. Really, how many freelance writing bloggers fit all three of those qualifiers?

The brand is distinct, and that has contributed to its success.

Quality Work Sells, Too

James’ writing, as well as Harry’s and all the rest at MwP, is decent writing. It’s insightful, entertaining and relevant. More than once, I’ve read posts from the MwP crew that have really helped my freelance career. I know from first-hand experience that the other writing (like web copy, sales copy and ebooks) that they’ve done are decent, too. To customers, Men with Pens and James Chartrand has meant “quality.” A commitment to good work is part of the brand.

No One Is An Island

I’ll also toss this out there. While James is the star of the Men with Pens show, other folks played a big role in making it what it is today. For a long time it was just Harry and James, and then it grew to include others as well. The “James Chartrand” brand received a huge boost from those folks behind the scenes. That doesn’t take anything at all away from James, but it does demonstrate that the whole can indeed be greater than the sum of its parts.

Again, I’m not saying gender isn’t a factor, which seems to be the thrust of James’ post. What I am suggesting is that life is rarely that cut and dried, and that there are other reasons the James Chartrand/Men with Pens brand is so hot.

Oh, and for what it’s worth, I can tell you that there is, in my experience, no James “persona.” The person you interact with as “James” is the same person, even when you know he’s a she.

3 Dynamic Sales Models for Your Freelance Writing Business

Bob Younce — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:00:53 +0000

My previous post about hiring a salesperson for your freelance business generated quite a bit of interest, both on and off this blog. While I could spend days answering questions, I thought it might be more productive to explore the options available to freelance writing businesses, and tell you about how I’m doing it along the way.

As I see it, there are several sales models for a freelance business, all of which have amazing potential and none of which fit every situation:

Sales Model #1: Do-It-Yourself Sales

This is the sales model most freelance writing businesses follow. Most freelance writing businesses are a one-person shop. You wear many hats in your business, including writer, bookkeeper, salesperson, marketer and even janitor.

This model is fine, if you’ve got the time and if you’ve any good at sales. I started out like this, and I did all right. I was able to dig in and get advice from sales greats (like Zig Ziglar) and learn quite a bit on my own.

Some freelancers prefer this model because it gives them more personal interaction with their clients. Some clients are looking for this type of relationship, too, so it can be a win-win.

The problem with DIY sales comes when either A) you’re not very good at it, or B) you don’t have time to do it. Arguably, B is a problem that will work itself out. If you don’t have time for sales, you won’t sell anything, and you’ll have plenty of free time (but little income).

Sales Model #2: Hire a Full-Time Salesperson

Having a full-time dedicated salesperson will be a boon to any freelance writing business. Yes, I realize that it’s all about whether or not they’re any good, but if you hire them on a commission basis, you’ll figure out pretty quickly if they can do the job or not.

The upside to this model is that you’ll have plenty of work, and you have someone who can fill in the gaps when it comes to your skill set. It’s all right if you can’t sell: you don’t have to.

There are some problems with this model, too. This model works best if you’ve got some capital to invest to get the ball rolling. In addition, it can be very difficult finding someone who’s familiar enough with the freelance writing marketplace to be effective.

Sales Model #3: Share the Sales Load with a Partner

This is what I’ve done. My business partner (who also happens to be my wife) is a dynamo when it comes to sales. Before we were married, she sold real estate. She had plenty of experience with sales, and was good enough to have made a living doing it.

Your partner can take any number of forms. You might partner with a freelance graphic designer, for example. You might partner with a PR company. In my case, my partner also handles the bookkeeping. She does some writing, too, but only on topics she really enjoys. We have a real synergy, and not just because we’re husband and wife. If you’re fortunate enough to find that kind of partner who can also do sales, you’re in great shape.

There are downsides to this model, too. Partnerships are a wonderful arrangement for small businesses, but they don’t always last. All of the dangers of running a business partnership are present. Should the partnership be dissolved, your customers probably don’t know you very well, and will likely follow your partner after the break. I won’t even get into the mess it can be when those partners also happen to be married (or related, or friends, or have any other personal connection beyond the business).

I can’t tell you which model is best for you. What I can tell you is this: if you’re not any good at sales and don’t have someone else out there pounding the pavement, your business is eventually going to die. You need to be able to close the deal or have someone that will close the deal for you.

Miracle Gro for Your Freelance Writing Business

Bob Younce — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:00:31 +0000

I’ve had some interesting conversations recently with other freelance writers. I’ve heard from some who have apparently been hit pretty hard by the recession. These freelance writers talk about “weathering the storm” and about “becoming smaller and more efficient” or even the famous “feast or famine” story that every freelancer has told at one time or another.

Usually, I offer sympathy. I hate to see folks, especially talented freelance writers, sit idly by while their business comes screeching to a halt. I’ve been there, and I know it completely sucks.

I don’t tell them, though. I don’t tell them how my business is doing. I don’t tell them that October was a record month for me, as were September and August. November’s books aren’t closed, but November looks to be the same. Most of the time, folks are just venting or having a down day. No need to rub their faces in my success, and tomorrow they’ll probably be feeling better anyways.

That is, of course, unless they ask me. “How’s business?” they say.

“Booming. Never been better.”

“How’s that happen?” comes the query.

I’d love to take credit. I’d love to tell them that my amazingly superior writing skills have mystically attracted customers from across the universe to grow my business and increase my bottom line. Unfortunately, that’s not true at all.

“I’ve got a hot-dog salesperson,” I reply, almost embarrassed. “She keeps selling it and I keep writing it. In fact, I can’t write all of it so I’ve had to outsource more and more.” That’s the plain truth of it. I’m a decent writer, but that by itself doesn’t have clients banging down my door.

I recognize that most freelance writers don’t have the resources to hire a salesperson out of the gate. I certainly didn’t. I had to fight and struggle and pull to get my clients in the early days. Some of my biggest clients weren’t actually end clients, they were other freelancers who could sell better than I could.

A freelance writing business will die if it doesn’t have an effective salesperson. That doesn’t have to be a separate employee; most freelance writers have to learn to sell, and some are quite effective.

If you want your freelance writing business to really grow, you need to either hire a hot-dog salesperson or become one yourself.

Disaster Recovery for Freelance Writers: Production

Bob Younce — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:30:35 +0000

One of the trickiest areas to handle when disaster recovery strikes your freelance writing business is the area of production. You have clients that rely on your product in order for their businesses to function and grow. If you have a client who intends to launch a website using your copy and you can’t complete the copy because of a disaster, the client may be in a world of hurt. She has to go back through the search process to try to find a writer who can do what you were going to do, and do it quick.

Fortunately, there are some ways you can help your clients out and demonstrate to them that, even in a time of crisis, you will meet their needs.

It all starts with communications, of course. As soon as is reasonably possible after a disaster, you need to assess the status of open projects and begin communicating with your clients. Let them know what’s going on, and what business impact it could have in terms of delivery.

Subcontractors

Beyond that, however, you have several options for providing your product to a customer even during a disaster. If you’re a growing freelance writing business and part of your business model includes subcontracting with other writers, you may be able to subcontract the job out. You might break even if you do it this way, or you might even lose a couple of bucks. All worth it to keep clients, I promise you.

Make sure, of course, that you let the client know about the change. Many clients want your writing, and not a close imitation. However, as long as you’re confident in your subcontractor, your client may be as well. What you don’t want to do is have the writing bounced back on complaints that the work is not the same as previous work.

Also, a disaster isn’t the time to choose a subcontractor, by the way. If you don’t have one when the disaster strikes, you need to go another route.

Referral

Another route you can go is referral. Rather than subcontracting the work to another writer, you can connect the client with another freelance writing business. This is a viable option if you don’t have an established relationship with other writers already.

The danger, of course, is that the client will like the new writer better, or that the new writer will offer to cut her rate in order to steal your client. It’s a risk, to be sure, but no riskier than not providing the product to your client.

Delay

I’ve saved the most obvious option for last, because I don’t think it’s always the best. It’s the one most freelance writers go for during a disaster. I’d suggest to you that this is, in the long run, often as detrimental as hiring out the work.

Asking a client to push back his deadline isn’t uncommon. If you don’t make a habit of doing it and the client’s business process won’t be severely impacted, you may be able to easily get the client to push back a deadline. However, if you frequently push deadlines back, you don’t want to be forced to during a crisis.

Next time, we’ll take a step back again, look at the whole disaster recovery process, and recommend some specific resources you can use to get ready for when disaster does strike.

Work at Home or Small Business?

Bob Younce — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:30:42 +0000

One of the most important factors in determining the trajectory of your freelance writing career is how you see yourself and what you do. I’m not suggesting for a minute that positive thinking always leads to success – I’ll leave that whole concept to other folks to debate. What I am suggesting is that how you picture your work and your business will, in some part, determine what kinds of choices you make. How you talk about what you do reflects what you hope to get out of your work.

Here are two of the most common models I’ve seen freelance writers talk about over the years:

Work-at-home freelance writer

There is a whole segment of the population that labels themselves WAHMs – Work at Home Moms. This category, in my mind, actually includes more than just moms (there are dads, too) and more than just folks with kids. For whatever reason, though, there are a ton of moms who see themselves in this light. Freelance writers are only a small segment of the work-at-home population that includes everything from professional eBay-ers to in-home craft businesses.

These folks got into freelance writing for a number of different reasons. Some wanted to be able to stay home with their kids. Some live in an economically depressed area and sought out freelance writing after they couldn’t get a job locally. Work-at-home freelance writers often (but not always) consider their work a secondary source of income, one that supplements their spouse’s income.

Work-at-home freelance writers tend to see themselves as employees. They might work for a hundred different customers, but they will talk about those customers as “bosses.” If you ask a work-at-home freelance writer what his vision is for his business, he might tell you that he wants to “provide for his family,” or “make a little extra money on the side.”

Small business entrepreneur

There’s another type of freelance writer, however. This category includes folks that talk about themselves in business terms, such as “small business owner” or “entrepreneur.” They are often men (although many women I know also identify themselves this way, too). They talk about their work in terms of their business. They probably work from home, but don’t really talk about that aspect of things.

Freelance writers who see themselves this way often came into the field from another direction. They might be professionally-trained writers: English majors, or out-of-work journalists. They might be someone who started a small business doing something else and found out they could make more money copywriting than whatever it was they started doing.

This type of freelance writer tends to see herself as a businessperson or an entrepreneur. In fact, that’s how she talks about her work – in business terms, not in terms of a “job.” Customers are “clients,” not “bosses.” If you ask a small business writer what her vision is for her business, she might tell you “to grow my client base to the point where I have a steady flow of business” or even “to become the McDonalds of the freelance writing world.”

Which is better?

To be honest, I’m not sure either model is always better. For some folks in some situations, the work-at-home model is just fine. For others, an entrepreneurial approach is better. I tend to gravitate toward the second category myself, although I’ve been in the work-at-home camp too.

I do think that seeing your freelance writing business as a business has significant advantages, and is a key element of growth. However, entrepreneurs tend to lose sight of some of the reasons they started freelancing in the first place – to be able to spend time with their families.

I don’t have all the answers on this one. What do you all think?

10 Tips on Freelance Writing Sales from Zig Ziglar

Bob Younce — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:40:37 +0000

A successful freelance writing business means being able to sell. You need to sell yourself and your product, and you need to be able to close the deal. If you can’t sell your freelance writing effectively, you’re eventually going to have to look for other work. That’s just the cold truth.

In the world of sales, there are few names bigger than Zig Ziglar. Over the past four decades, Ziglar has traveled more than five million miles giving his messages of life improvement and his perspective on how to win over the customer. He has shared the platform with three presidents, and figures as divergent as Paul Harvey and Dr. Robert Schuller. He’s also been recognized in congress for his dedication to the free enterprise system.

Here are some of the lessons I’ve learned from Ziglar over the years:

1. Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude

How you approach your business on a moment-by-moment basis will play a huge role in whether or not you succeed. Positive thinking doesn’t make sales, but negative thinking can kill them.

2. If you don’t see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner

Self-image is key. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else is going to believe in you, least of all not potential clients.

3. Focus on relationships and not transactions

This is especially true in the freelance writing business. Your customers are not just buying a product: they’re buying you. Freelance writing is a very personal skill, and you need to be able to establish trust and reliability if you’re going to seal the deal.

4. Interpret your benefits, not your features

This is part of basic copywriting principle, yet many freelance writers forget about it when it comes to promoting their own services. Your customer doesn’t want to hear about how your writing is readable; they want to hear about how it will increase their sales, or establish them as an authority in their niche.

5. Every choice you make has an end result

Some choices in your freelance writing business will be good, others not so much. You can’t always predict the result, either. The main thing is being aware that your actions have consequences and doing what you can to make positive, beneficial choices.

6. Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street

Selling means getting rejected. Sometimes, customers pick the other guy. Depending on how competitive your particular niche is, you might experience a lot of rejection. Getting back up on the sales bicycle after a failure is essential.

7. People don’t buy for logical reasons, they buy for emotional reasons

Part of sales is being able to appeal to the emotions. You need to be honest here, of course, and not promise that your product can do something it can’t. But you need to be able to connect with customers on a level that makes them feel something good about you and your product if you’re going to succeed.

8. Success is dependent upon the glands – sweat glands

Yes, you need to learn to become more efficient, to work “smarter.” That’s even one of Deb’s mantras here, and I don’t disagree. But real results require real work. Learn better ways to sell, but don’t forget to sell altogether.

9. When you do more than you are paid to do, you’ll eventually be paid more for what you do

Going the extra mile isn’t just good customer service; it’s also a sales tactic. Don’t let customers abuse your generosity, but do try to do a little bit extra if you can.

10. The way you see people is the way you treat them

If you see your clients as ignorant schmucks, you’re going to treat them that way. People aren’t dumb; they can tell when you’re looking down at them or despising them. Your clients aren’t schmucks, and they aren’t just a meal ticket, either. They’re people, good people, who need your help and who are willing to pay you for it.

Want to get more Zig Ziglar? Here are a couple of places to start:

Zig Ziglar’s Secrets of Closing the Sale

See You at the Top: 25th Anniversary Edition