Work at Home or Small Business?

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?

Understanding the Freelance Writing Market

There have been some amazing discussions lately going on right here at FWJ about writing at content sites, and about other aspects of the freelance writing market. They have to do  with working for corporate content producers like Demand Studios.

There is some controversy about Demand, and about freelance marketplace sites like Elance, and about the rates writers can make at these sites. There are freelancers – a vocal minority, it would seem – that object to FWJ (or anyone else) promoting these kinds of writing sites. They argue that rates are too low, and that it “devalues” the entire market.

While I won’t go into the merits and flaws of any site today, I do want to look at this part of the argument. I think it’s plain wrong. This idea of “devaluation” is, frankly, a myth.

You see, the freelance writing market isn’t special. It works just like the other markets in a free, capital-based society. The same principles that determine the price of bread, or a car, or brain surgery determine the price of freelance writing.

Here are three basic market principles, and how they pertain to the freelance writing market:

The product (your writing) is worth whatever a buyer is willing pay for it.

I know this is going to be an ego blow to some folks, but the bare fact is this: not everyone writes as well as everyone else. Some people are better writers than others. In the efforts to grow my business, I’ve paid $3 for an article. The result was atrocious. I’ve paid $10 for articles, too, and that work was better. To me, it’s worth paying more for the product if I know it’s a quality product. People who pay for your writing services are no different.

Some products (types of writing) are more valuable than others.

Not every type of writing is worth the same as every other type of writing. A 1000-word sales page is worth more than five 500-word keyword articles to the buyer, even though the time it takes to create them might be the same. Those keyword articles bring them traffic; that sales page brings them money. This is part of the reason that some folks, such as Michael Stelzner, choose to specialize. (For more on this aspect of the issue, check out the debate, Generalist vs. Specialist: Which Is Better in a Tough Economy? between Peter Bowerman and Michael Stelzner later this month.)

A buyer never pays more than she has to.

This is the area where the critics almost – almost - have an argument. They argue that freelance writers who work for lower rates bring down the market. They argue that those writers should be charging more – because the product is worth more.

That part of the argument is true. Unfortunately, some folks don’t know how much their product is worth. In some cases, they may not have the desire or talent to get better rates, simply because they’re not asking for them.

That’s a whole separate discussion, of course, but the short answer is this: sometimes, buyers get a good deal. However, this doesn’t devalue the market. Just because you can buy a particular toaster for a better price at Best Buy than you can at Sears doesn’t mean Sears won’t sell their toasters. In fact, they sell plenty.

Devaluation is a myth, folks. Yes, low-paid writers (good ones, anyways) need to ask for more for their work. But even if they don’t, it doesn’t create some huge drag on market prices.