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.

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.

Winning the Fight but Losing the Customer

People in the marketing world either love Seth Godin or they hate him. I personally enjoy him; he has a new-millennium sort of wisdom, but he delivers it in something of a folksy way.

At any rate, I ran across this post of his last week. Go ahead and go read it, but the gist of it is that sometimes, in business, it doesn’t matter if you’re right. If your customer is unhappy, she’s unhappy. No amount of arguing can change that. If you want her to remain your customer, you need to acknowledge that she’s unhappy.

This got me to thinking about revisions.

I rarely get asked for revisions. I always offer at least one revision for any given project. Customers want to know they have recourse if they don’t like the product. On top of that, it doesn’t happen very often. If I get asked to revise one project in a hundred, that’s probably a lot.

In many cases, the revision represents a change in project requirements. It’s more of an “oops, I  needed to have these three keywords” or “hey, can you write this in Top 10 format?”

My instinct, when I am asked for a revision, is to recoil. I could argue with the customer. I could tell him that he’s changing the scope of the project, that my time is valuable and that I don’t appreciate being asked to do the work twice. Technically, all of those things are true.

But you know what? I don’t usually do that. Once I get over my goofy artistic pride (”WHAT?!? Did the Pope ask Michelangelo to revise the Sistine Chapel?!? This is OUTRAGEOUS!”) I usually just do the work.

And you know what? Those customers – the ones that ask for revisions – almost always come back. In fact, they come back over and over again. And usually, they don’t ask for revisions again.

So, what about you? What’s your revision policy? Will you only revise if you didn’t meet the project specs, or do you allow for customer error? I look forward to hearing how everyone approaches the issue!

(Oh, and if you’re interested in more Seth Godin, here are three of his best books to get you started):

Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers

All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World

The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)

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.