Inkwell Editorial » Getting Clients

Freelance Writers: 3 Indicators That Your Client is Asking Too Much (and Not Paying Enough)

Yuwanda — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:32:56 +0000

The following is a guest post from copywriter Jon Adam Green.

All freelance writers love a new client.

After all, a new client means new business, and new business sometimes turns into repeat business – the stuff that keeps food on our tables even during slow times of year.

BUT . . .

. . . is it possible for a client to ask too much? Could there be a client whose demands go so far beyond what you’re willing (or able) to provide as a writer that you find it necessary to actually end your relationship with that client?

Freelance Writing Insight: My Story of Bending Over Backwards for Clients

When I first started freelancing, I can remember bending over backwards for some clients – even when they were only paying peanuts for my services. By my (naive) reasoning, I should have been happy to have paying customers at all and if doing a little “extra work” for my clients meant keeping them, I was happy to do it.

Long story short: With all the phone calls I was making, spreadsheets I was preparing, and market research I was completing – all of which were completely unrelated to my duties as per the agreement made with my client – I wasn’t writing much of anything.

And I wasn’t getting paid for the extra work.

Freelance Writing Advice for Newbies: Indicators That a Client Is Asking Too Much

New freelance writers need to know that the writer-client relationship should be fair to both parties. Here are some indicators that a client may be over-reaching:

1. You’re not writing anything. If we call ourselves freelance writers, then that’s just what we are: writers.

When you see that the general tasks being performed for your client don’t have much to do with writing, he or she may be asking too much.

Examples of this may be a client who wants you to phone him or her after doing some research for a company presentation, working on a temporary marketing campaign that involves lots of phone calls but very little copywriting, or, in an extreme case, representing your client at an event.

2. You’ve acquired the company brand. It’s not unheard of for clients to give freelancers an email address associated with the client’s business so that they will look official and be able to maintain contact with people working in company offices.

If this just means setting up the email address to forward into your main business inbox and you’re only receiving an occasional note, it’s probably okay.

If it leads to your becoming a primary point of contact for your client’s business, however, you may have a problem. Likewise, if you ever find yourself making phone calls and saying, “Hi, I’m So-and-So with [client’s business],” and the call has little to do with what you’re writing for the client, you may have acquired the company brand.

Wasn’t not being associated with a particular company one of the primary reasons you started freelancing?

3. You’re undervalued. Even when you aren’t being assigned unorthodox tasks, maybe your client is asking you to do more work than what you agreed upon when you first decided to work together.

If this is the case, you’re being undervalued. Never do more work without being compensated. As with all scenarios in which clients overstep their boundaries, you should exercise caution when bringing your dissatisfaction to the client’s attention.

Don’t behave angrily or be overly emotional. Let him or her know that the work you’re doing is not part of the agreement that you both made in the beginning. If you know you don’t want to work with this client anymore, say you have too much work to do and won’t be able to get to them in the coming months.

Or tell them you’ve raised your rates.

Freelance Writing Advice on How to Handle Clients Who Overreach

What I’ve found, however, is that it’s best to calmly explain your concerns and be completely honest about why the client’s demands are troubling you.

Oftentimes, clients are very receptive to your concerns and are willing to re-negotiate. They’ve kept you onboard because they know how good you are, and there’s a good chance they’ll be willing to make some concessions in order to keep you around.

Sure it’s a cliche, but here it is . . .

Honesty is the best policy.

It’s what keeps us freelance writers professional and ensures that our best clients keep coming back for more.

About the Author: Jon Adam Green is a professional freelance copywriter and college English instructor. He maintains a blog at jonadamgreen.com.

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A Freelance Writer’s Life Abroad: Inside Peek at My Life as an American Living in Jamaica for a Year, Part XII

Yuwanda — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:35:58 +0000

In the last post in this series on living in Jamaica as a freelance writer, I promised to try to explain why settling into a routine is important to your income when you live abroad.

Freelance Writing on the Road: The Frustrations of Living Abroad (In My Case, Jamaica)

If you’re a Girl a Go Go and plan to take your career on the road – away from your home country – it’s extremely important to build in some “getting settled into a routine” time. From my limited experience here, I’d say give it at least two to three weeks. Following is why, based on what I’ve been through living here in Negril the last few weeks.

At my home in the states, I have wi-fi, a car, cable, a washer/dryer, umbrellas, extra mouse pads, etc. The reason I point all of this out is, you never know how NOT having what seems like the smallest thing can interrupt your work when you live abroad.

Here, I have to pack up every day and go to an internet café to work. So when I got there one day and my mouse was acting wacky, I couldn’t just go to my home office – where I have a supply closet – and pull out another one.

I had to stop work, hop a cab, go the computer store, buy the mouse, hop another cab back to the internet café and start work again. By then, I’ve lost 45 minutes to an hour. And if the rains have come and the internet is acting wacky — which often happens right after a storm here in Jamaica — I can’t just log back on and pick up where I left off. It might be another hour or so before I can get back to work. So that’s two hours or more lost.

If you’re a freelance writer – especially one as busy as I am between personal projects and client work – you know that’s a huge amount of time. And if you have interruptions like this a few times a week, it can really cost you – in lost income.

See what I mean?

Why My Income Has Dropped 25-30% Since I’ve Been Living in Negril, Jamaica

I’d say my income has dropped some 25-30% since I’ve been here. A lot of this has been due to situations like the one I described above.

After a few weeks here, I’ve learned some tricks of the trade that can help you perhaps settle into a routine quicker so you don’t lose money if you decide to take your freelance writing career on the road.

Freelance Writers: How to Settle into a Routine Living Abroad So It Doesn’t Cost You Money

1. Accept What You Cannot Change: I’m a very impatient person; always have been. And when things don’t go my way, I can get testy – especially when it’s f$%#ing with my income.

So the first thing I had to do was mentally accept that I wasn’t in the comfort and convenience of my home in the states. I had to learn to accept what I cannot change. It was like flipping a mental switch – a simple concept – and a very effective one. Once I did this, I relaxed more.

2. Work with Your Environment, Not Against It: Here in Jamaica, it’s the rainy season. It rains practically every day – usually between 1-2:30 pm. You can practically set your watch by it (although, it happened to pour cats and dogs this morning early).

When it rains, the internet signal gets wacky – no matter where you are. So I’ve learned to finish my “must get done projects” before noon or 1 p.m. This way, if I’m not able to get on until later, at least I’m not stressing because I haven’t uploaded my content or gotten a client project off or updated a blog.

Again, this has caused me to relax much more – and to start making more money.

3. Give Yourself Play Time: I don’t work nearly as much here as I work at home. This is for a number of reasons (eg, no internet service in my studio apt here).

BUT . . . the main reason is – it’s friggin’ Jamaica! With the beach a stone’s throw away, beachside cafes with soothing reggae music blaring every few feet and tons of new friends I’ve met, it’s hard to stay glued to a computer for 7, 8 or 9 hours a day.

And this is what people mean when they say “this is living.” This is how some people can be so content with so little – they have friends, family and social outlets that keep them busy (and happy) all the time.

I haven’t been this social since I lived in New York. I’m constantly on the go here – meeting this friend for a rum punch, this one for a beachside lunch and that one for some “fish from the sea.”

Now, I do get my work done; I have to because I have tons of bills. But many days I do what has to be done and scadaddle to “live.” Just in the last week, I’ve seen my income slowly start to creep back up to where it was before I left home (and good thing to, cuz I was starting to worry if it ever would with all adjustment problems I’ve had).

If you’re a travelling freelance writer, whether it’s to another country or the next town over, keep these tips in mind from the time you leave home. You’ll stress less, probably make more money – and enjoy yourself from day one.

Up Next in this Series on Living in Jamaica: Let’s Talk about Money!

As in, how I prepared myself financially to live abroad – and some things I wished I’d done.

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Living life irie, mon!
Yuwanda
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Freelance Writers: 3 Reasons Not to Panic — and Advice on What to Do — When Things Get Slow

Yuwanda — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 22:26:33 +0000

It’s summer and a lot of freelance writers are experiencing dry spells. If you’re new to the game, this can cause you to panic. You may be wondering if you made the right decision to start this career and if you can make a go of it.

To be sure, you definitely want to know when things are going to turn around. Well, following is some sage advice to relieve your mind if you’re worried right now.

I’ve been doing this since 1993 and have seen all the economic cycles as a freelance writer. And I’m here to tell ya, you have nothing to worry about. Following is why — and some ideas on how to weather this nerve-wracking time.

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Freelance Writer Resume Tips: How to Put Together an Effective One to Start Landing Freelance Writing Jobs

Yuwanda — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:12:07 +0000

Today is Freelance Friday Tips day. And, as the economy is still in the dumps and causing many to look for work as freelance writers, I thought I’d focus on the all-important freelance writing resume.

I get a lot of questions from wannabe freelance writers about transitioning from full time to freelancing. Most want to know about putting together a “writer’s resume.”

I personally don’t believe in having a “writer’s resume,” so to speak. I like to call it a professional profile.

Why I Don’t Believe in “Freelance Writing Resumes”

The reason I prefer professional profiles to resumes is . . .

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Yuwanda
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Freelance Writing Jobs: The Type of Writing Where One Page Can Make You $1,000

Yuwanda — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:03:16 +0000

The site I’m recommending for today’s Freelance Friday Tips was chosen for a couple of reasons, ie:

I. Make $1,000 for Writing One Page: Yep, there is a type of freelance writing job where you can make this amount of money – believe it or not. It’s writing white papers. The site featured today explains what white papers are, how to write them, and a whole lote more. If you want to start out as a “high-end” freelance writer, this is one niche to look into.

The site also featured some interesting insight into how to grow your business using social media, ie . . .

II. The Power of Social Media: Do you believe that you can grow your site’s traffic exponentially JUST by using social media? I have to admit, I haven’t had a great amount of success with social media. But I think that’s my fault, not because social media doesn’t work.

The case study cited on this site not only proves that you can drive tens of thousands of visitors to your site – in only a few short months – it tells you how and why you should really invest in this form of marketing.

Social Media Marketing Tip: . . .

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To subscribe, simply look for the subscriber box to the top right-hand side of the page. There’s one on every page of the site. Of course, your contact information is protected — it is never sold, rented, leased or compromised in any way.

Why Subscribe? Get Real, First-Hand Advice from All Types of Freelance Writers

You get first-hand “freelance writing stories from the trenches.” I routinely relay my freelance writing experiences — everything from setting rates, to how to market, to knowing when to say no to a project. Also, I answer questions – in great detail (no fluff here!) — from other freelancers writers. Recent posts you may have missed by not being a subscriber include:

Why I Turned Down a $2,000 – $3,000 Freelance Writing Job That Could Have Led to Even More Work; and

How to Get Freelance Writing Jobs Advice: How a New Freelance Writer Landed a $150 Gig with No Experience, No Samples & No Website – 4 Things She Did Right.

I look forward to having you as a subscriber.

Hope you’re having a fabulous beginning of the week. I’m so stressed with my impending move to Jamaica I can barely think straight. I’ll get it together soon though.
Yuwanda
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Advice for Freelance Writers and Internet Marketers Who Make Their Living Completely Online: How to Protect Your Income When Technology Problems Strike

Yuwanda — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:30:40 +0000

Today’s “Throwback Thursday” post is very timely, as I seem to be at the mercy of intermittent internet service like never before (it happens to all of us from time to time, no?).

Just to clarify, there’s internet service all over here in Jamaica. So, if it goes down at one place, you can go someplace.

Freelance Writers / Internet Marketers: Have You Ever Been Forced to Become an “Internet Signal Whore”?

But as any freelance writer will tell you, when you’re on deadline, the last thing you want to do is become an internet whore, flitting from one location to the next trying to log on, meet deadlines, answer emails and still keep your sanity!

And if you’re an internet marketer, you have to write content, upload it to different sites, answer questions from affiliates, create new products, etc. Again, you just don’t want to feel so vulnerable and have your schedule interrupted so much.

This is the only thing that’s kinda wigged me out since I got here to Jamaica. But, I’m adjusting slowly.

Today’s Throwback Thursday posts gives you some concrete advice on what to do if your website goes down. It’s reactive and proactive advice that will hopefully help you avoid some problems

It’s Not a Matter of If, But When, Your Site Will Go Down — Some Concrete Steps to Take to Protect Your Income & Save Your Sanity

It’s not a matter of “if” your website will go down at some point, it’s “when.” So having a plan can make you weather those tense minutes, hours, days (pray tell not days!) with your sanity intact.

Good luck!

Note: You can read today’s installment of my freelance writing life abroad at http://bit.ly/dzQ2og.

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Yuwanda
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A Freelance Writer’s Life Abroad: Inside Peek at My Life as an American Living in Jamaica for a Year, Part III

Yuwanda — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 18:48:04 +0000

In yesterday’s post on living abroad in Negril, Jamaica as a freelance writer, I told you some things I don’t like about living here – one of them being the iffiness of the utility services sometimes. As I sit here writing this post, the internet connection at the café I’m at keeps going off and on.

In fairness, this has happened to me in the states as well; it’s just that here in Negril, it seems to happen more than in the states. At any rate, this has changed the way I work since I got here.

Case in point: yesterday I had a short client project due. It’s a client my SEO copywriting services firm writes for on a weekly basis. Projects are always due on Wednesdays by end of day. I almost always do the project or (go over it if one of my writers has turned it in) on Wednesday mornings or early afternoon; this is in plenty of time to get it over to my client by day’s end – as they are three hours behind us in the U.S. (I was on EST).

Yesterday, I did the same thing. Twenty minutes after I turned the project in, the power went out where I was working. It was out for hours.

3 Ways Living in Jamaica Has Changed How I Work as a Freelance (SEO) Writer

It was as if God was reminding me, “Remember, you said you were going to bunch write when you moved to Jamaica so you could stay ahead and never miss a deadline.”

Lesson learned. That was a close call.

Following are three ways living here in Negril has changed how I will work moving forward.

1. Deadlines are 48-72 Hours Ahead: For example, the client project due on Wednesdays is now due on Mondays in my mind. I’ve moved it on my calendar and have put my writers on notice.

2. Bunch Write: As mentioned above, my writers and I will start bunch writing for regular clients. For example, take this client whose project is due every Wednesday. They commission a blog post and an SEO article to be used for article marketing.

We will now write two week’s worth of posts and articles at one time. This allow us to always have content “in the can,” if for some reason the power is out for days at a time here (which hasn’t happened anytime recently that I’m aware of). When the power goes off, it’s usually for a few minutes or a few hours at a time.

Why not write more, eg, a month’s worth of blog posts and articles at a time? Because the client could cancel their contract at any time. They are under no obligation to pay us for prewritten content. This brings me to the next point, ie . . .

3. Client Contract Changes: Moving forward, clients will be required to give us a week’s cancellation notice. Hence, if we’ve pre-written at least that much content, they will be required to pay for it. This allows us to stay ahead without the worry of getting stuck with pre-written content.

FYI, this is a good idea for any SEO writing firm – especially for clients with “standing content orders.” Just last week, I had a client cancel a standing order. We were writing two blog posts every day (including weekends) for them. Because I was preparing for my move to Jamaica and New Media Words was going on vacation, I’d prewritten 8 days worth of content for this client to stay ahead and not have to work any during my vacation.

When they cancelled the order, the client graciously offered to pay for any content we’d already written. I think he was kinda shocked though that we’d written that far ahead. They paid for the content though – even though they were under no obligation to.

So this was kind of a lesson learned for me. See, even after all these years, there’s always something to be learned as a freelance (SEO) writer.

These are the top three ways I’ve changed/ will change the way I work since moving to Jamaica. There are others, which I’ll discuss in tomorrow’s post.

My Golden Girl Has Gone: RIP Rue

Rue McClanahan died. The reason I mention this is, The Golden Girls is my favorite comedy show of all time. I watched it almost every day at home. A good friend of mine bought me the entire DVD set for Christmas this past year (thanks again Vin, love you!).

I don’t have cable here in Jamaica (on purpose). I brought the DVDs with me and this morning as I slept in with a toothache, I popped one in (right after popping an extra-strong Ibuprofen I got from the pharmacist yesterday until I can get to the dentist on Monday) and promptly forgot my pain.

Years ago in New York City, I pursued acting. I love this show because I know a little about what goes on behind the scenes of a TV show. Not only is the writing is brilliant, the acting and kismet between those four women is amazing. You couldn’t recreate it in a million years.

The nuances each actress brought to her character made that show. No matter how good lines are, it’s the actors who breathe life into them. And those four women were masters of the trade.

I will miss Ms. McClanahan. I still get teary over Estelle Getty’s (Sophia) and Bea Arthur’s (Dorothy) deaths. Now Rue . . . my heart is breaking. RIP “Blanche.” I hope to be half as saucy at your age. Good thing we still have Betty “Rose” White. If anyone is capable of carrying on the legacy these four left behind, she is!

Yuwanda
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“Writing Is My Passion; I Just Need to Learn How to Earn Money Doing It!”

Yuwanda — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 21:16:16 +0000

A few days ago, I received an email from a friend. Through a family tragedy, we recently got in touch again. I told her about my moving to Jamaica and a little about how I manage to support myself (freelance writing) while being able to indulge in my dream of travelling.

This friend is highly educated and worked in the public school system for years. She could easily become a freelance writer. She wrote:

I’ve never been interested in traditional jobs, even though I’ve had to do a few. They destroy my body, mind and spirit. But writing is my passion. I just need to learn how to earn money doing it. . . . I’ve spent thousands of dollars purchasing internet businesses, none of which have worked. I’m so ready to find something that does.

If Writing Is Your Passion, Here are 5 Things You Can Do to Make Make Money as a Freelance Writer

Her email inspired this post because it always astounds me how and why so many lose so much money online. In fact, I have a book on my list of books to write entitled Why Most People Never Make Money Online.

Now that I’m here in Jamaica, believe me, I’ll be turning out much more product. But, I digress.

If writing is your passion, here are 5 steps to take to make money doing it.

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P.S.: Life in Jamaica

Until I get my new site about living and working in Jamaica as a single woman, freelance writer, American transplant, web entrepreneur, etc., I’ll be blogging about it here on InkwellEditorial.com in separate posts (almost) every day.

Photo Credit: Passion, Art Print by Paul Scaletta

I WILL NOT send it to newsletter recipients because I don’t want to overload anybody’s inboxes. Here is where you can read about my life as a transplanted American freelance writer living in Jamaica. In a couple of weeks (maybe longer), my new site should be up and going, then I’ll start blogging there regularly.

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Why I Turned Down a $2,000 – $3,000 Freelance Writing Job That Could Have Led to Even More Work; and

How to Get Freelance Writing Jobs Advice: How a New Freelance Writer Landed a $150 Gig with No Experience, No Samples & No Website – 4 Things She Did Right.

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Yuwanda
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Get SEO Copywriting Training: In addition to learning how to start an SEO writing career and earning $50,000 to $75,000 your first year, you’ll learn 4 ways to make money online using your newly acquired skills.

Get full details on the SEO copywriting training this ecourse offers. Next class is June 14th and has limited enrollment.

P.P.S.: Want an easy, fast way to get started in affiliate marketing, making as much as $50, $100 or $150/day?

Get How to Make Money Placing Ads on Free Classified Ad Sites (ie, Backpage.com). If you want to make some easy money promoting affiliate products on free classified ad sites, this ebook is for you. I’ve personally sold tens of thousands of dollars of e-products (my own and affiliate products) doing this since January 2009.

SEO Copywriting: How to Give Good Customer Service When You Never Interact with Clients

Yuwanda — Tue, 18 May 2010 18:02:16 +0000

Today, I have to get something off my chest. It was inspired by a trip I took to D.C. this weekend.

My friend and I drove to the nation’s capital. If you’ve never taken a trip there by the way, well worth it. Washington, D.C. truly does our country proud as a “capital” city. It’s especially gorgeous at night. But, I digress.

As it was a 10-hour drive, we of course stopped in a few restaurants along the way. We rented a car, stayed in a hotel and stopped for gas – all places where customer service is part and parcel of doing business, right?

As a previous waitress (did it for 14+ years), I have to say I was appalled by the lack of customer service – everywhere from restaurants to gas stations. As one of my friends said to me recently:

Yuwanda, it’s a dying art.

As a previous “public servant,” I’m not one of those picky people because I know what a**holes some people can be. Hence I’m inclined to agree with him. This brings me to freelance writing – particularly SEO copywriting. As in:

How do you give good customer service when you never see your clients, practically never speak with them on the phone and never network with them?

SEO Copywriting: Work in Your Pajamas and Never Interact with Customers

Since I started providing SEO copywriting services in 2007, I can count the number of times on two hands that I’ve spoken with clients on the phone – and usually this is just for the initial consultation.

Of course, as I work in my pajamas most days and my clients are all over the world (Ireland, Canada, Iceland (yes, Iceland), the UK, Australia, etc.), I’ve never met any of them – not even via Skype.

Almost all of my work and correspondence is done via email. But customer service is still top of mind for me. After all, you do business with humans, not machines.

Following are some simple things I do to make sure customer service is part of my SEO writing business – so my clients know they’re doing business with a real person — and that I value them as real people, not as simple invoices in my PayPal account.

I literally had to go track down a waitress at one restaurant to serve us. So this graphic seem apropos (and no, we didn’t do this).

Web Writers: How to Give Good Customer Service When You Never Interact with Clients

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Hope you’re having a fabulous beginning of the week. I’m so stressed with my impending move to Jamaica I can barely think straight. I’ll get it together soon though.

Yuwanda
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Freelance Writing Advice: Wanna Get Clients Without Having to Compete with Tons of Other Freelance Writers? Here’s One Way to Do It

Yuwanda — Thu, 13 May 2010 18:56:24 +0000

About a week ago, a freelance SEO writer contacted me worried about the upcoming slow season. I called her and one of the things I told her about was another freelancer who had contacted me via email and said she’d had success networking at her local Chamber of Commerce.

So she followed up, writing in part:

You mentioned you’d spoken with another freelancer who has the (happy!) problem of too much work found by attending Chamber of Commerce events. I’d love to learn more about that, the specifics of how she did this. I’m a tad gregarious by nature and find I do get lonely sitting here in my lovely office (with purring kitty on lap) at times, so attending Chamber events appeals to me.

I had thought attending Chamber events would be best for an actual SEO company, not someone who writes for SEO companies . . .
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Networking at Chambers is one of the ways I used to get freelance writing jobs. I’ve written about it before, which brings me to today’s Throwback Thursday post, which discuss why every freelance writer should join a Chamber of Commerce – especially if you’re just starting out. And, I tell you what to look for in a chamber before you join.

FYI, things have picked up for the SEO writer above. They always do – if you market consistently, which is what I told her.

Note: If you’ve found success as a freelance writer via this networking method and want to share why/how you did it, please leave a comment or shoot me an email detailing your success (info [at] InkwellEditorial [dot] com). Thanks!

Yuwanda

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