Raising Freelancer Rates for Blog Posts: Lessons in progress

I've now been a freelancer without any other job for 11 months. I decided to use the new year as a reason to revisit my rates. My hope is to standardize some things and also get some of my original clients up to a more reasonable rate now that I've proven my worth.

Going up?

Freelancer rates, at least for writing, have been and will always be a bit convoluted. It's impossible to know how much effort one blog post will take versus another, which one will take you into a research spiral and which one will fly onto the paper in a mere thirty minutes. We have to average that effort to come to something reasonable.

In searching for "standards", I find that most sites that speak to rates are vague or confusing. I also find that they list very large ranges, which I understand. I've decided that I mostly need to come up with my own system and learn as I go.

Right now the majority of my clients are for ghostwriting blog posts, so that's where I focused my standardization. Here's what I decided:

Short (< 600 words): $75
Medium (600-800 words): $100
Long (800-1200 words): $125

You will not find this transparency other places. If you find it, please tell me!

These are "base rates" of course, which you always have to stipulate ... because someone could ask for writing on a topic that takes a ton of research, or I could just come to realize their work continually takes much more effort because they are pickier and ask for more revisions ... but this is where I plan to start for all of 2015.

I will likely come up with some other standards as I pursue more web copywriting and editing work. I really enjoy the editing the most. Helping someone say what they want to say, but better, it's the most rewarding work. For me anyway. I also think it is my best work. People have lots of ideas--stories to tell and thoughts to share--and I love getting to help them put their words out there in a way that's clear and engaging. But I digress ...

This is just a newsy/update-y post because it's been too long (again). I want to write a post about Third Eye Blind lyrics, so I felt I had to write one about business first. Now, on to Third Eye Blind ...

Winning Repeat Clients - Tip #4: Find Appropriate Times to be Personable

I've been quiet, yes. The shortest explanation is that I've been moving and doing things that lead up to moving.

Today I'm posting a 4th tip for turning your clients into repeat customers:

Find Appropriate Times to be Personable

It's not exactly rocket science that being personable can lead to better relationships, but the way you do it can make a big difference: for better or for worse.

The most important thing is to follow your client's lead. Some clients will want to learn about you and share about themselves. Others will prefer to stick to business.

I'm reminded of my experience with a certain financial planning company when my advisor insisted on having 10 minutes of small talk any time we were on the phone together. I didn't want to EVER be on the phone with him, but he would insist on quarterly calls, then insist on asking about acting, and writing, and volleyball ...

I am not the type to want to small talk with a stranger, and when it comes to customer service or any service, the more I can do online or for myself, the better. Many people my age or younger will feel the same way. If a little small talk happens naturally, that's cool with me, but this felt forced and he always asked the same exact questions. He never picked up on the fact that I wasn't into it, and the more I asked if we could just communicate via email, the harder he pushed for quarterly meetings on the phone. In the end, I moved all of my assets to another company and it's mostly because of this guy.

So, don't be that guy.

Seriously, do you not
sense my annoyance?

On the other hand, some personal connections can make work more pleasant and fun, and also can help with business. I have one client for whom I write blogs, website pages, newsletters, and books. We've worked together for over eight months now (wow, I hadn't done that math before!) and we have become friends. It was clear from the beginning that he wanted me to personally understand his passion for his business and the voice he wanted in the writing. He wants me to be excited about the topic and grow a passion for it too.

At first, I was resistant. I mean, after what you've read so far in this post, you're probably not surprised. My instinct is to be all business because I tend to focus on the task at hand, and expect others to want the same. Slowly I realized that with this client, allowing the personal connection in was helpful not only to him, but also to me. I was able to write better for him in a way that really connected with how he wanted to represent his business.

The point here is that learning a bit about your clients shows them respect and that you want to understand them and their needs. Especially if they are personally passionate about what they're asking you to write--which is generally the case for me, and I would think for many freelancers that work for individuals.

I hope these stories illustrate this tip well enough--I don't want to go overboard by now explaining what I want you to infer. Lastly though, I want to say that it's important to remember what you learn about your clients so that you can be personable when you want to. You may talk to 10 different clients a day (sometimes I have those days), but they still expect you to remember your discussions/emails/messages with them. I need to work on this one myself, any suggestions for a good tool?

P.S. - I cut my hairs and got new headshots!

Winning Repeat Clients - Tip #3: Teach Your Clients to Fish

It's been almost two months since I posted on this topic, so I'm overdue for another tip. Today's tip for converting freelance clients into repeat customers:

Teach Your Clients to Fish

You want to create value beyond what your competitors provide so you can either win more business or get paid more. A great way to do that is to help your clients do things on their own that you're now doing for them. That may sound contrary to a successful business model, but bear with me here ...

First, if you help your clients with grammar/formatting/writing stuff like I suggested in tip #2, they are going to start providing you with better written content ... hopefully. Say you charge 2c/word for editing and then you teach your client that one space between sentences is really the current trend and get them to start only using one. Well, now you can still charge 2c/word, but the same edit will take less time because you're not looking for this pesky little change over and over.

(Side tip: You can use Find features for spaces to quickly find these changes. You can search for "  " and replace with " ".)

If you could teach yourself out of a job by offering your client some better ways here and there, you've got bigger problems. You can create more value (and make more money) with your time and energy if your client learns to avoid some of the more common writing problems.

Another example, say your client is sending you 1000-word blog posts on topics that should really be kept to 600 words or less. You could keep editing them down to about 800 words at your 2c/word rate, or even keeping the same word count, without ever telling your client what they're doing wrong. I mean, you've only signed on for editing.

OR, you can explain to your client that you think shorter posts would work better in this instance. Suggest ways to keep the posts shorter or things that can be left out. Show them an example with a recent post and suggest they aim for less content the next time. You might be lowering your pay per post if you're charging on word count, but you're adding value to your client in a way that will keep them coming to you over your competitors.

In the end, you want to feel good about the value you're providing and if you keep your clients happy, you'll keep your clients.

When it's a good idea to use the "Public" privacy setting on a Facebook post

Officially I am a writer. But as a freelancer in charge of my own marketing/sales, I'm also becoming somewhat of a social media expert. So here's a short lesson that I wish everyone knew ... some of you already do, I know.

Pay attention to the privacy settings on your Facebook posts. This is not a "be safe, don't spread your info too wide" lesson (you can find those lessons out there, but they won't be from me). This is a lesson in using the Internet for maximum effectiveness.

For me, as I imagine is true for most, most of my personal posts are set to be shared with "Friends" (see pic). But here's the thing--if you post something you WANT to be shared beyond your friends, you need to change it to "Public." Otherwise it can never go past your little circle.

For example, you post a stray animal in need of a home, a link to a fundraiser, a link to your new blog (assuming you want maximum readership) ... change it to "Public." This means that while it will still only go to the news feeds of select friends decided by Facebook's crazy algorithms, it has the potential to be shared beyond your friend circle. It will be on your public profile and if a friend shares it, it will go to all of THEIR friends as opposed to just all of your MUTUAL friends.

Oh, and perhaps more importantly (because it's more common), if your friends comment, their friends may see that they commented. If your post is restricted to your friends, that won't ever happen.

I'm trying to change the situation when a friend says, "Please share!" and I want to help them ... but they have it set to just their friends. So I tell them, please change privacy, and then they do, and then all is right with the world. This is my attempt at a broader message and some hopefully helpful advice 

Did I get anything wrong, fellow social media gurus? I was going to say something about making sure to change it back with the next post, but I think Facebook changed that a little so I don't want to comment without more research. But generally, check! Don't want to make something public on accident.

Why I quit Fiverr

Welp, I touted Fiverr as one of the few freelancing sites I would suggest using in an earlier post ... mostly for its ease of use and "getting into the game."

I now retract that suggestion. 

Here's what I said originally:

"Fiverr is different [from oDesk and Elance]. It's more like a shopping site. You offer something for $5 (called a "gig") and people can buy it. For example, I have gigs for 500 words of editing, 50 words of copy writing, and some other fun things I've tried over time ... like providing feedback on online dating profiles. The best thing about this site is that the jobs come to you. No searching, no cover letters. The worst thing about this site, and this actually angers me, is that it takes 20%. So not only do you often end up working too hard for $5, but then you only get $4. Then you transfer it to PayPal and lose another small percentage. It should really be called Three-point-ninety-two-err. 

You might be wondering why I still use this site. Well, it's great to have tiny jobs that fill in the cracks. If I can ever drop a site because I'm just that busy, Fiverr will go first. I honestly think it's highway robbery for them to take 20%. I do pause my gigs pretty often when other work is keeping me busy (it's super-easy to do) ... but when I'm not, it's nice to have those little jobs."

For a little context, in about a year I've made $1000 on Fiverr overall, meaning I've made $200 for Fiverr. That's a lot in the context of these small gigs and most of it was within a few months. I had earned a Level 2 rating, which is a bigger deal than it sounds like. The only thing higher is Top Seller, which is decided by Fiverr staff on a one-by-one basis.

So first, I noticed a dramatic drop in my Fiverr jobs lately. No logical reason. I don't know what they changed and I didn't worry about it much because $3.92! Life goes on. I left my gigs up for what few small jobs might trickle in.

Recently I got one of those random and infrequent jobs, not for editing like I used to get DAILY, but through my gig for help with online dating profiles. The client wanted help with texting a girl. Yes, I know ... not exactly one of my typical clients, but I felt for him and I tried to help. He kept saying that Fiverr messages were not that convenient for real-time chatting, so multiple times I offered my Skype username. I know this is against Fiverr policy, so I said "S kype," which keeps the little warning from popping up.

I think because I did it like three times (he kept ignoring me), I got flagged. Notice I was not trying to make money outside of the site, but just do my job more easily. I got multiple emails saying my account was flagged. The next day I got emails that my Level 2 status had been removed, and then my Level 1. I had no activity on Fiverr during this time, just emails trickling in from them berating me for trying to use the best tool to do my work.

I also love that they try to say the policy is "to keep our community safe." Um, shenanigans ... it's because you don't want people skipping out on giving you your 20%. At least be honest about that.

Okay, despite all of that, it's Fiverr's prerogative to set its own policies and percentage takes. I know that. I chose to continue working with the company until now, and that's on me. I also think it might just be a bad place for freelancing, but perhaps not other things (like, oh, offering to sing a personalized Christmas carol in your underwear on video for $5). I'm just saying that going forward, here's a full list of reasons I will no longer user Fiverr:

• High percentage take (20% is well above industry norm and just ridiculous).
• Payment is slow. Most typically it takes two weeks to receive payment after a three-day period before order is considered "complete" (client can mark it complete sooner, but most don't bother), and then 11 days for payment to "clear." Enjoying floating my money, eh? Of course you then have to withdraw to PayPal, so if you want it in your BANK, that's another three business days.
• Being hard-nosed about not letting people chat outside of Fiverr. Until they have a fast and easy chat tool, that's not reasonable.
• Giving PayPal as the only reasonable option for withdrawing money, which then results in additional fees. Elance and oDesk charge their 10% or less fee and then send money directly to my bank for FREE.
• People can order gigs and you have no way of saying "No" without going through a cancelation process, which dings you. So Rando Brando can order my editing gig for $5 then ask me to write him 500 original words (minimum $25) and ... no easy way out.
• No way to cancel your account online. That's just ... annoying.

So, Fiverr, enjoy that $200 I made for you with little effort on your part, but the party is over. You know, that party in my wallet that you crashed and I didn't kick you out at first but now I am. That one. Buh-bye.

Winning Repeat Clients - Tip #2: Give Them Something Extra

Last month I posted tip #1 on this topic. It may sound trite, but communication is key. You can't get away from it. Now, onto today's tip:

My little gift to you ...

Give Them Something Extra

Your ultimate goal in a service industry is to provide value for your customers. If you make yourself more valuable than the next guy, clients will come back. Giving something extra not only adds value, but it also communicates that you care about your clients and are invested in their needs.

I'm going to cover two common ways that I give a little something extra in the context of editing clients (as opposed to writing clients):

1. Provide a bit of coaching
2. Find a small way to go beyond the scope of the work

Coaching
Most writers make the same mistakes over and over and simply taking the time to provide a bit of coaching can really make you stand out. As with any feedback, you need to be careful with its delivery. A few things to avoid ...

Be careful not to bombard them. If the client is consistently making eight different mistakes, pick two to share with them. No one wants to read a long list of things they did wrong from a stranger. Plus, it's not likely they can even take in eight corrections and be expected to really improve on them. Pick two, explain them well, and move on.

Be careful how you word it. Again, you don't want to upset anyone. In general, avoid any sentence that starts with "You," because it could come across as an accusation. Here's an option for wording:

"I noticed a couple things that pop up in your writing and 

wanted to explain why I changed them the way that I did."

Be specific. People are most likely to understand your suggestion and actually learn from it if you provide a specific example from their writing. Copy and paste the applicable sentence from the document you edited, then show what you changed and why.

Going Beyond
Ever heard the phrase, "under promise and over deliver"? It's truly a great way to keep clients happy. Finding yourself on the wrong side of what was expected can really rub someone the wrong way, even if you did a great job. Doing a little extra can help keep you on the right side of expectations.

I tend to find these opportunities without looking for them. For example, say I've been tasked with proofreading a document (and am only being paid a proofreading rate), but then I find an opportunity to completely reword a couple sentences in a way that I really think adds value. Most likely the writer in me will want to make these changes anyway.

Some things to consider here ... if a client only asks you to proofread, he may really only want you to proofread. Be careful with new clients. If you want to err on the side of caution, you can include only true proofreading in the document, but then suggest the reword as a comment in the document or in an email. This gives the client the option of using your suggestion, but still gives him a proofread version of the original just in case.

Okay, obvious perk to going beyond is that you're likely to have a happy client. Less obvious perk is that you're showing your client what you can do beyond proofreading. Next time maybe she will hire you for true editing. So you've just solidified a new client and also laid the groundwork for an increased rate ... just by doing something your itchy little writer fingers probably enjoyed anyway.

That's it for today! Any thoughts on these ways to give a little extra? Have you tried other tactics? Let me know below!

A freelancer's vacation: not so free?

Clearly not writing

I just returned from my first vacation as a freelancer. While I was away I learned a lot about my new "free" life.

I've always been really, really good at taking vacations. In my nine years as an IT Consultant, I never once had trouble forgetting about work and knowing that things would move along just fine without me. I actually find it a bit funny when people think they HAVE to check in on work if their jobs are similar to any of my consulting projects ... you know, when the worst thing that can happen for example is that those requirements don't get written by the arbitrary due date that only exists so that the Project Manager can say we have a goal, GASP!

Of course, for the sake of my coworkers, I did my best to leave things in a good state when I closed down my work PC on that last day before taking off (ew, bad flash backs of pre-Mac days), but whatever was done was done, and whatever wasn't would be handled by someone else or waiting for me when I got back. The world most certainly would not cease to exist.

Unsolicited advice from me: When you believe you are always needed at work and that you have to do everything you are asked, people will expect you to always be there and do everything you are asked. No one ever expected this of me because I didn't let them. One of my "secrets" to work-life balance.

Vacationing as a freelancer was very different. First, if I don't work, I don't get paid. Compare that to four weeks paid vacation, which I enjoyed for nine straight years--and always managed to use up each and every year (implied unsolicited advice #2!). As you might imagine, I can't really afford a two-week, unpaid vacation at this point in my adventure. Second, I work alone (mostly). No one to auto-forward my work emails to in my absence for things to be handled for me.

So, I expected to work some over my time away, to make a little money and keep projects moving, but two things got in the way. One, the distractions of family and my completely adorable two-month old niece who has stolen my heart.

Wouldn't you be distracted??

Two, unexpected connectivity issues during week #2. This is what it boiled down to:

• During Week #1 (full connectivity), I got much less done than I planned/wanted. This created more of a backlog of the things that "had" to get done for Week #2, and just created a general feeling of unrest/stress heading into Week #2.

• During Week #2 (very limited connectivity), I got almost nothing done. Every time we went into town I felt like I had to work first and felt rushed to finish whatever I felt "needed" to get done so that I could enjoy time in town with my family. I basically felt at least a little stressed about work until I got to the Denver airport on my way home and was able to catch up. 

This is what I learned:

I care too much about my clients! I left corporate America largely because I didn't care about telecom or cable or collections, so even if I liked some of the people, I didn't care about the end goal of my ultimate client (the big, bad corporation)--but I do care about my writing and editing clients and their end goals. Most of them are passionately pursuing something creative and depending on my help. This is one of the best parts of my job, but it complicates my vacations. That's why I need to ...

1. Plan better for time away, just like I would have at my old job. Tie up loose ends. Tell everyone I can think of (clients) that I will be gone and lean towards assuming I WON'T be available rather than I will be ... even if I think I will be. 



Excuse me cow, I need to get to town for internet access.

2. Put up an auto-reply on email. Would have helped my stress levels immensely to have an automated and professional explanation of my time away. I'm still kinda shocked at myself for not doing this in the first place.
3. Turn down work heading into a vacation. It's okay, I will still have money to eat (I think). Plus, my clients may depend on me, but I'm also not the only writer/editor out there. Again, the world will not end without me! They can find other help as needed, but they deserve advanced notice so they can plan.
4. Plan for enjoyable work on vacation. I did spend a good bit of vacation time editing a novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. Editing is my sweet spot and how I got into this mess in the first place. If I'm going to work on vacation, I should try to plan such that it's work I really like. That way when I get back, I have more time to catch up on everything else.

So, my free(lancing) life is not so free when it comes to vacation. Of course you give up some freedoms when you say goodbye to a high salary, paid vacations, full benefits, and on and on ... but I'll trade those freedoms any day for the flexibility and the joy that I get from freelancing. D'aww.