Disaster Recovery for Freelance Writers: Communications

In many ways, making sure your freelance writing business data is safe in the event of a disaster is the easiest part of disaster recovery. Really, it’s just a matter of determining a workable solution (such as an online backup subscription) and turning it on.

Today I want to look at something a little more difficult and nebulous. I want to talk about disaster recovery for your business processes and systems. By “processes and systems” I simply mean the basic day-to-day things you do to keep your business going. These activities fall into two categories: communications and production. We’ll take a look at each one individually.

Communications

Perhaps the most important aspect of disaster recovery is communication. You can always recreate data, in a worst case scenario. But if you can’t communicate with your clients after a disaster, your business is going to take a severe hit.

Simply put, your business needs a way to get information to your clients when an emergency strikes. If you’re in a car wreck and unconscious in the hospital, your client needs to know that you won’t be delivering that eBook on Thursday. If the client doesn’t know what’s going on, they may take their business elsewhere. Even if the client likes you and is understanding, once the business is gone you run the risk it will stay gone.

In this case, it’s a matter of having someone who’s familiar enough with your business to be able to identify where a given project stands and communicate with your clients when you can’t. An administrative assistant can do this, if you have one. Many freelance writers don’t, however. Hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA) can be a way to address this issue, as well as handle some of your other business tasks.

For other freelance writers, a spouse or other family member may be able to step in. Regardless of who is going to be handling communication in your absence, it’s worth it to take a few minutes ahead of time and brief them on your record keeping system. Provide them with access to your business email account, your contacts database and your editorial calendar. If possible, send them a weekly update to your editorial calendar so they know where exactly everything stands.

Next time, we’ll look at the production aspect of your freelance writing business and how to keep the words flowing in the event of a disaster.

Where Do You Spend Your Marketing Dollar?

What you’ve heard is true: you have to spend money to make money. Yes, you can get your freelance writing business started without really putting up much cash. You can do like I did, and start writing for a friend, or you can hire on to one of the larger content creation shops like Demand Studios. Both are viable, free ways to get into the freelance writing business.

However, if you want to grow your business and move into new and different types of opportunities, you need to spend some cash. Specifically, you need to spend some money on marketing. But, where do you spend it so as to get the most bang for your buck?

Here area few places you can drop some coin that will, ultimately, increase your freelance writing business income:

1. Get some business cards. I won’t go into all the merits here (click the link if you need convincing) but I will say that a business card with a quality design can bring you both attention and new business.

2. Put up a website. A website gives you a way to display your writing portfolio online, and you can direct folks to it via social media, your email tagline or even your business card. You can get web hosting for a few bucks a month. You can put up a blog on your site if you want to try to create attention or if you’re trying to break into the blog writing market, too.

3. Hire a professional designer for your website. You might have a good eye for design, but your website will look amateurish unless you hire a real professional. If you can’t afford a designer yet, do the best you can, but this should be a priority.

4. Join a freelance marketplace. Elance and Guru both come to mind. Both offer very limited “free” memberships, but putting a little bit of money into an actual membership can really pay off.

5. Educate yourself. I’ve been talking a lot about Seth Godin and Zig Ziglar lately, I know. Don’t worry, I go through phases with these sorts of things. The point is, learn what you can from marketing and sales experts, as well as from other freelance experts.

The One Way to Keep Your Freelance Clients Coming Back for More

I’ve already told you how to lose your freelance writing clients. There are plenty of things you can do to tick clients off and send them packing. Unfortunately, when you do, they take their business elsewhere. There are plenty of other freelance writers waiting in the wings.

Still, not all clients that don’t come back stay away because they’re unhappy. Sometimes, you’ll work for a client with big ideas and dreams. They really like your work, and want to hire you to do a bunch of it. They’ll laud you with praise after you give it to them. After a little while, though, they stop coming back.

What happened? Sure, it could be you screwed up and don’t know it. Some clients speak with their feet instead of their lips. But, especially if the client seemed satisfied with the work, there’s probably another reason.

In many cases, they just ran out of money.

Now, you might not think there’s anything you can do about that. After all, you need the client to give you money. If they don’t have any, there’s nothing you can do for them. But, that’s only true to an extent.

Those of us who write primarily for the web usually create content that generates revenue. It may not be sales content; it might be brand-building, perhaps, or traffic generating. If that content doesn’t do its job and generate revenue, your client can’t afford to keep coming back.

Let me say that again, this time in big, bold letters so that the people skimming this article don’t miss it:

If your writing doesn’t generate revenue, your clients can’t afford to keep coming back.

Now, I’m not just talking about sales writing. If your SEO articles don’t attract search engines, if your blog posts don’t engage the reader and establish your client as an authority in their niche, or if your ebooks don’t provide real value to those that buy them, your clients won’t make money.

Yes, you need to do all of the other customer retention stuff. Meet deadlines, communicate effectively, and everything else. But at the end of the day, if your work doesn’t produce the desired results, it doesn’t do you a lot of good. Your client might feel plenty of warm fuzzies about you and give you a glowing recommendation, but they won’t give you any more cash.

10 Tips on Freelance Writing Sales from Zig Ziglar

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

Choosing Your Freelance Writing Business Structure: Corporations and LLCs

Last time, we took a look at two of the most common business structures for a freelance writing business: the sole proprietorship and the partnership. That post has had several comments, and there’s a good discussion going on about the merits of each of these structures. Feel free to read that post, and to jump in to the discussions if you’re so inclined.

My approach in that post, as well as this one, is to give you the big picture on the types of structures available to you in your freelance writing business, to point out some of the pros and cons, and let you sort it out for yourself. It’s not my desire (at least not in these posts) to make a recommendation to anyone, so don’t construe what I’ve written as advice. Think of it more as sorting through the details to give you some framework from which to make your own decisions.

Today, I want to look at corporations and LLCs.

Corporations

A corporation is a unique entity, legally separated from its owners. A corporation can enter into a contract, be taxed and even sued. A corporation is owned by shareholders. Shareholders elect a board of directors to make the day-to-day decisions of the corporation, and the corporation doesn’t dissolve when ownership changes hands.

For the freelance writing business, a corporation is very rarely a viable business model. Corporations have the advantage of being able to raise cash through the sale of stock, and while most freelance writing businesses could benefit from spending some money on marketing, most of us don’t have the kinds of cash flow concerns that warrant a sale of stock to fix. Corporations limit your liability for debts of the company, but the LLC is a much less complex way to limit your liability. In addition, incorporating can result in a higher tax burden, as the dividends the company pays to shareholders are not deductible. You can actually wind up being taxed twice for the same income under the corporate model.

I should probably at least briefly mention the S-Corp. The Subchapter S Corporation model attempts to alleviate this tax burden, but the requirements are usually so specific as to be difficult for a freelance writing business to meet.

Limited Liability Companies (LLC)

The LLC is a hybrid business structure. It gives you the limited liability of the corporation combined with the tax benefits and the flexibility of a partnership. In the LLC model, the business owners are members of the LLC. The LLC has a built-in duration, which can be continued when it expires. An LLC is possible only when the company meets two or fewer of the characteristics of a corporation, including:

• Limited liability to the extent of assets
• Continuity of life
• Centralization of management
• Free transferability of ownership interests

Forming an LLC can be a good business structure for a freelance writing business. The LLC lets you have limited liability for the company, so that if it tanks your personal finances don’t have to do the same. In addition, the LLC features pass-through taxes, saving you the double-taxation situation that can arise from forming a corporation. Finally, an LLC requires quite a bit less in the way of paperwork than the corporation.

So, what kind of business structure best fits your freelance writing business? That’s for you to decide. Corporations seem to be fairly rare in our world, as do partnerships. The real choice seems to be between sole proprietorship and the LLC, and there are many individualized factors that can tip the scales between the two.

Getting Paid for your Freelance Writing

I think we can all agree that we’re not in the freelance writing business for purely noble purposes. The fact of the matter is you want to make money with your writing. In fact, you should make money with your writing. It’s what puts food on the table, clothes on your back and a roof over your head.

One of the essential parts to being successful in a freelance writing business (or any small business) is getting paid. With most of your clients, that’s not a problem. The vast majority of clients I’ve worked with pay, and they pay fast.

Still, it happens. Sometimes, you don’t get paid. A client goes under, or just disappears. You’re stuck, sometimes with days or weeks worth of work completed, with no dough to show for it.

So, how do you get your clients to fork over the cash? Here are a few tips that should increase your successful collection rates:

• Understand that not all clients are created equal. You need to focus on high-risk clients in your payment and collection processes.
• Use a contract. If you don’t have a standard freelance writing contract, you should. The contract will set your terms for payment, and is your best legal recourse if the client should refuse to pay.
• Recognize that small businesses sometimes just fail. Less than half of all small businesses make it to five years. Less than a third make it to ten years.
• If you’re doing a sizable project, consider getting a business credit report. The Dunn & Bradstreet report is pretty standard, and will run you around $60 for the basic report. If the client doesn’t have a business credit report (pretty common for small businesses) ask for upfront payment.
• Consider offering a discount for upfront payment.
• Use an escrow service for high-risk clients who aren’t willing to pay up front.
• Watch out for signs of trouble. If you can’t get ahold of a client during a project, flags should go up. Radio silence often indicates business trouble. (On the other hand, it could just mean your client has gone camping for the weekend without her cell phone. Don’t make too many assumptions here.)
• Create a watch list for clients that pay slow. Take quicker action with them. Call them within a couple days of invoicing.
• Follow the law. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act sets limits on what you can do in the process of trying to collect money owed to you. Find out what those rules are and follow them.
• Consider a collection agency. If you’re frequently hitting the no-pay wall, hire someone to handle these accounts for you.

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.