It’s not that there isn’t awesome example after awesome example of people doing it. In fact, this website is dedicated solely to getting you there.

It’s just that all this crap gets in the way. And by crap, I mean, my own crap. But your crap is very much like my crap. How crappy is that?

Good thing you’ve found this blog and you’re reading this post. You’re about to learn the 7 things that stand in the way of your freelance blogging career and how to get around them.

Bonus: They’re all your own fears, so they’re totally under your control. 

First, here’s the backstory:

Oops, I Forgot to Be a Freelance Blogger

About a year ago, I quit a darn successful gig in Corporate America. I just couldn’t hack it anymore.

I wanted to live the dream, being a writer. I pictured a day on the beach with a laptop and a story to be told, my fingers pecking away at the keyboard.

The problem is, I never really got to the writing part. Well, not yet, anyway.

I didn’t count on the fear, the stuff that “has to be done first”, or the reality of finding people to pay me. In fact, there were a bunch of hurdles. Some, I hadn’t considered, and others I’d known about but didn’t really think were going to be issues.

Now, here I am to tell you one thing: don’t make my mistakes. Let’s make sure you don’t spin your wheels on stuff you can get through with a little roadmap…

Roadblock #1: Finding Your Niche

If you’re like most people, you’ve got a bunch of different interests. The niche problem comes in deciding which one you want to focus on. Do you want to create a name for yourself as a design blogger or in pet care blogging?

The answer is easier than you think: just try it. Pick a topic and start.

It will take a lot less time to see if one niche is successful than it will to flip-flop endlessly between two or more. There’s a big learning curve when developing content and many people will change topics. Be comfortable with that.

Another option is to find where your interests intersect and focus there. The beauty of this convergence is that you can naturally sway outside of that intersection without alienating or confusing people. “Designing pet care products” could be the foundation of your niche. Writing something broader about design or about pet care would fit with your foundation.

Roadblock #2: Your Authority Complex

You’re just starting out. You’ve never been paid to write. Who’s going to listen to you? The answer is: a lot of people.

You don’t need to know more than anyone else. You only need to know more than your audience.

Think about why you look things up on the Internet. You don’t know much about the topic, or you’re looking for something very specific. If you’re already interested in something, chances are you know way more than the average person about it. So, you are an authority to every person just beginning to learn.

Sometimes, the ultimate expert on a topic completely forgets what it’s like to be doing it for the first time, and talks way over the beginner’s head.

For example, I know how to brew beer… as a hobby. I could write entry level beer brewing tips that would be useful to you if you were looking to brew your own. More importantly, my knowledge will get you started, not cloud your head with “expert” facts about the biochemistry of beer. Experts aren’t always the best explainers.

Roadblock #3: Your Identity Crisis

When you say “I’m a freelance blogger; pay me to write for you,” the first question someone’s going to ask is “What have you written?”

It’s a legitimate question. You have to have some type of writing history to show prospective jobs.

This will take a concerted effort, but you can have it covered in a week. Follow this basic 3-step guide, assuming you’re starting from scratch.

1. Create a LinkedIn profile. Somehow LinkedIn sold its soul to Google and shows up top in rankings when searching someone’s name. Fill out your current position as “Freelance Blogger” or “Freelance Writer”. In your summary, state something in your professional or personal history that gives you credibility to write about what you’re writing about.
2. Write. Yep. Write. Write five articles. Average them at 500 – 750 words. Have at least one that is over 1,000 words. You can write these anywhere and in your spare time. One of my favorite articles was written on the bathroom floor, because that was the only room in the house with heat. True story.
3. Publish. You can submit posts to free content sources or create your own blog. Many writers consider creating their own blog anyway, so now’s the time to start.

This is a hurdle many people struggle with: make my work public? A less public option is to use Evernote to create your post and share it. You can send a semi-private Evernote link to prospective clients along with your proposal.

Roadblock #4: Your Confidence Issues

You don’t think your writing’s good enough, do you? It is… and I totally tricked you into proving it! Now that you’ve written five posts, you’ve got some practice and you’re beginning to develop your voice. Keep blogging. Develop the practice of writing.

Now that you have practice, show people your writing. Show it publicly or submit proposals for pay. You will get rejection, but rejection is an opportunity to refine your writing and become better. The feedback you get when being turned down is perfect to help you improve your writing.

Blogging, like anything, takes practice and a feedback loop to master. You may not be the best writer in the world now, but you’re helping people with the knowledge you have or the creativity you posses. Either way, you’re absolutely “good enough”.

Roadblock #5: You Missed the Starting Gun

You just don’t know where to start finding paying jobs.

This used to be really hard. You’d find a suggestion here and a few sites there, putting together your own list of places to seek jobs. Now, it’s incredibly easy. You can simply download the ultimate list of blogs that pay $50+ per post, and it’s free. (Sophie didn’t even tell me to put this in here. I promise.)

Roadblock #6: You’re Waiting for the Right Time

This is the next huge issue we all face. You think you aren’t ready yet. You think everything has to be perfect. You think, “As soon as I have X in place, I’ll start freelancing.”

What you’ll likely do, though, is find another X to fit that sentence. There is no “perfect”. Start sending blogging proposals now.

How many of these sound familiar?

• “I’ve got five articles, but I know I can do better.” OK, we know you can do better, too, and you will with practice, but start looking for gigs now with those five articles.
• “I’ll start writing articles when my blog is up / is redesigned / has more posts.” Your blog design is fine. The articles you publish now will still be there when you finish your redesign.
• “I don’t want to publish this one yet. It’s my masterpiece and I want a bigger following before I show the world.” You can always re-use your own content for yourself. (Note: This isn’t the case for work you sell to clients. They normally expect unique content.) Also, there’s no rule that says your email list has to be tied to your blog’s RSS feed. You can create an auto-responder series with your best work… like this masterpiece you’ve written.

Roadblock #7: Do You Mean Business?

The final hurdle you’ve got to get over is yourself. The old “life getting in the way” distraction. Life still is and time still marches on… but this is your new job. You’ve got to see it that way or you’ll never get started.

The perfect way to get into the freelance blogging mindset is to treat it like the job it is.

Set a specific writing schedule like your job hours. It can be for a specific time of day or a specific word count. Sit in front of the computer and write. Don’t interrupt your writing for anything that you wouldn’t leave a job for. So, would you get up and walk out of a job for a phone call? To pay the electric bill? To check Facebook? Don’t stop writing for those things either.

I may not understand the depth of your life, but I do understand how even the littlest task can keep you putting off that article day after day. Setting a routine will counteract that.

You’re Ready

These 7 things are within your control. You can do this. The underlying key is to just write… then write… then write. The practice will make you great. Great writers get paid to do it.

Everyone struggles at first to find their zone, but put the work in and you’ll be successful as a freelance blogger.

You know how I’m positive of it? I went through every one of those 7 roadblocks. I even still struggle with a few… but… THIS is my first paid blog post.

You can get paid to blog, too. Just start writing and don’t be afraid to show it to people.

Image: The Blind Glass

OK, now it’s been almost a month and you’ve heard nothing. Should you be worried?

Your follow-up email didn’t get answered. Neither did the follow-up to the follow-up.

As time creeps on, you start to feel like you must have done something wrong. Maybe the editor doesn’t like your post. Maybe they’ll never speak to you again. Maybe you won’t get paid, either.

The tension’s killing you. All you want to know is what happened?

And right now, only your editor knows the answer. But they’re not talking –at least, not to you– so it’s up to you to find out. Here’s how to cope with an editor gone AWOL: 

Don’t Feel Bad About It

You’re not alone.

This is Leslie Lee Sanders. [Say hi, Leslie!]

She had exactly this problem last month. And the month before that. In fact, her editor hadn’t answered an email in 3 months.

On April 1st when my post Don’t Be a Fool: How to Avoid Getting Played by Your Clients went live, Leslie left me a comment that sparked my curiosity nosiness investigative instinct:

My client stopped answering my emails and practically disappeared, or rather I disappeared from their radar, after I delivered ahead of deadline exactly what I promised. I received no acknowledgement of the contract which was signed (by me at least) and may not even get the contracted kill fee…

I have no idea what to do because this person is very well-known and very respected. I’m completely baffled by the unprofessional treatment and feel like a fool at the same time.

I knew Leslie wasn’t a fool about vetting clients or following up with editors; she’d sent me gentle reminders about her guest post for Be a Freelance Blogger. So I asked for more details, and this is what she told me via email:

I was assigned an article from the senior editor… He told me the deadline and I agreed and asked for the contract. A month later he sends me the contract with payment and kill fee terms (25%). It was a couple weeks from the deadline and I had completed the article so I sent the article and the signed contract back to him in the same email as attachments. I haven’t heard from him after several emails and 3 months.

Don’t worry; this story has a happy ending. It just takes a while to get there. Here’s the advice I gave Leslie, and that I’d give any freelancer in her position:

Check for Signs of Life

Look your editor up on their blog, LinkedIn, Twitter, or wherever they have a public profile online.

Leslie told me her editor was still very active online. If your editor’s posting fresh updates, then they’re still out there somewhere within reach of an internet connection.

OK, there’s an outside chance that you’re looking at prescheduled updates from beyond the grave, but more likely your editor’s simply ignoring your emails.

Of course it’s always possible that your emails aren’t getting through. Like I told Leslie,

• Your ed may have changed email addresses – do you get any autoresponse emails like “we’ve received your message & will get back to you”, or do you just get dead silence?
• Not to be condescending, but have you double-checked the spelling of the email address?
• If your emails have been caught by a spam filter, he may not have seen them at all.

In this situation, feel free to email your editor again if you like. Or, since we already know that isn’t working, you might want to try something else.

Connect in a Different Medium

I’m praying to all the gods that you get full contact information for all your clients as soon as you start discussing a project. If you already did, great! Pick up the phone and give them a call.

But if you didn’t, Google is your friend. Try to get a phone number for your editor, or for someone –anyone!– in the same company who might be able to tell you the best number to use.

If you can’t find any phone numbers, or you’re simply too chicken to use them, search out any other way you can contact your editor:

• LinkedIn is good. Connect with your editor if you haven’t already, and send them a message.
• A second email address might help, but it might be one that’s rarely checked, so don’t rely on it to save the day.
• Facebook, Twitter and Google+ aren’t so useful because you have to either send a public message (which isn’t professional unless you word it *very* tactfully) or send it privately and risk it never being seen (a lot of people, including me, don’t check their private messages on social networks very often).
• Snail mail isn’t dead yet. Some people pay more attention to a piece of paper in an envelope than they do to email, so it’s worth trying if you’ve got a postal address for your editor.

Found something you can use to get in touch with your editor?  Excellent. Time to psych yourself up for this conversation…

Forget Emotions and Follow Facts

Nobody likes to be ignored. It makes you sad, angry and frustrated all at the same time, until you just want to scream at your editor and force them to answer you.

You know how silly you feel after you’ve taken your frustrations out on an innocent bystander or an inanimate object?

Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. You don’t want to embarrass yourself like that when you finally manage to get through to your editor.

Fear of seeming pushy or negative held Leslie back from reaching out again to her editor:

I’ve been reluctant to contact him on social networking sites because I don’t want to come off as unprofessional or overly aggressive. Is this my problem?

I do have his mailing address and phone number. Still, I haven’t used those for the same reasons as above. I once tried a friendly communication on Twitter and was ignored, or rather, received no response (however you want to look at it).

If I have to call him, do you think all ties are severed at that point? Do you think that’s a foolish question since I should value my work enough to not want to work with a problem editor?

It’s easy to fall into this trap of viewing your non-responsive editor as a problem you have to fight against. But fighting isn’t what you want, is it?

Try to keep your fears and hurt feelings out of the conversation, and focus on the information you need instead.

Here’s what I emailed back to Leslie:

• If you’ve got a phone number, use it! It’s not unprofessional to follow up by phone if email isn’t answered.
• Keep in mind that your client may not intend to be a problem, so you don’t need to think of this as a confrontation.
• Simply contact your editor and remind them that you submitted your piece. All you want at this point is to find out whether they received it or not.
• If they didn’t get it, offer to resend it. If they did receive it, politely ask whether they still intend to run it.
• You just have to gather your courage and dial. I know you’re worried about your editor’s reaction, but they’re unlikely to start screaming down the phone at you. The worst that can happen is you find out your article won’t be published. Then you can pitch it to another publication, so it’s not really bad news!

The key thing to remember is that your editor is human. Even the most reputable, most professional and most charming editor isn’t perfect all the time. If they go incommunicado, it’s probably for their own reasons and nothing to do with your work, so be kind and chase them up without any drama.

Let’s assume for a moment that you’ve already done all that. If your editor still doesn’t respond to your efforts, you need to know what next steps are available…

Be Persistent (But Don’t Waste Time)

Leslie tried calling her editor, only to find that his extension number was invalid. She emailed me again to say,

I sent him a follow up Tuesday to a Gmail account he has listed on LinkedIn. No response yet. But I fear that I will not ever get a response from him. If you don’t mind, I’d like to hear what you think my next step should be.

Do I contact him via LinkedIn, Twitter or one of his blogs? Do I assume he’s not interested in the piece? Should I assume I’m not getting the kill fee because he hasn’t acknowledged receiving the contract?

At this point, even I wasn’t entirely optimistic about Leslie’s chances of hearing from her editor again. But, as an editor who often gets snowed under with pitches and submissions myself, I knew it was possible her editor simply hadn’t worked far enough down his to-do list yet and would email her back eventually.

To be practical about the situation, though, I suggested, “If you can’t get a response from him within a couple of weeks of concerted effort, assume that your article isn’t going to be published and start pitching it to other buyers.”

If you take this step, email your original editor and let them know you may offer the piece to another market. Be polite and matter-of-fact; remember this is not a confrontation. And tell your editor immediately if your article’s accepted by another publisher!

Don’t be afraid that taking your piece to another market will ruin your relationship with your original editor. One blogger withdrew her submission to Be a Freelance Blogger last month because she’d already sold it elsewhere after I took longer than usual to respond; I congratulated her and invited her to pitch another idea. If an editor likes your work, they’ll want to buy more.

This is business. There comes a point when you have to evaluate the time you spend chasing up an editor against the money that project offers. If you’re adding hours in communication time, eventually it’ll stop being worth your while.

When All Else Fails… Get Someone in Your Corner

11 days later, Leslie and I had a mentoring session together. We talked about her blogging portfolio and fiction writing credentials, then got on to the topic of her non-responsive client. She still hadn’t heard a peep.

I was mystified, and I really wanted to find out how the story would end. So I decided to give it a nudge.

I emailed Leslie’s editor using the subject line “Follow up: Leslie Lee Sanders” and said,

Dear [Editor],

I’m a mentor to Leslie Lee Sanders, a writer who submitted an article to you late last year for [the publication]. Since sending you her article (along with the contract you supplied), Leslie hasn’t heard from you, though she’s followed up by email several times.

May I ask the status of Leslie’s submission? It would be a relief for her to know what happened, and to be able to move forward whether the piece is to be published or not.

Thank you,
Sophie Lizard

Just a couple of hours later, I received a reply from Leslie’s editor. Even better, so did Leslie!

He’d been distracted by other projects. He still planned to publish her piece. He apologised for the delays.

Touchingly, he admitted he’d put off responding to her messages simply because he wanted to have some kind of progress to report when he contacted her. He felt embarrassed because he hadn’t done anything with her work yet.

The editor didn’t know what to say to the writer in this situation, so he’d procrastinated. A simple, no-pressure message from a third party [in this case, me] was all it took to prompt him to act.

And Leslie? She was just relieved to know what was going on. This was a dream gig for her, and she was so happy it was going ahead that she didn’t care about the delay.

6 Steps to Stay Sane When Your Editor Stops Answering Your Emails

This was a long story, so let’s run through the survival steps again. If your editor suddenly stops answering your emails after you submit a post,

1. Don’t feel bad about it
2. Check for signs of life
3. Connect in a different medium
4. Forget emotions and follow facts
5. Be persistent (but don’t waste your time)
6. When all else fails, get someone in your corner. I’m here if you need help.

Have you ever been through a communication blackout with one of your editors? How did you handle it?

Images: Leslie Lee Sanders, deadstar 2.1, BrittneyBush, Search Engine People Blog

Kidding aside, I do know the MOST important sales tactic, and I learned it the hard way. Take advantage of my experience to save yourself a lot of stress and regret…

My first business sucked! Definition of sucking: Not making enough money for your time.

I had no problem finding customers, or providing quality services. But I still wasn’t making enough money.

Dealing with potential customers just took FORR-EVV-ERR. I had trouble communicating my value, identifying their needs, and collecting their money quickly.

So I used this basic strategy to fix my business: 

Simple 3-Step Troubleshooting Strategy

1. Identify the Problem. My problem was a sales problem! If you think about it, you can define sales as “any interaction with a potential customer that can affect your revenue.”
2. Define Your Focus. For me it was selling faster and creating good products and services –something that makes the customer happy. Period. Anything else is subjective.
3. Create a Plan to Execute. This is the secret, and this is what ALL great freelancers do! They all have some kind of plan or strategy. A plan helps you focus on making quick sales, while still providing value and making the customer happy.

Here’s the plan I made to win new clients over faster:

Step 1 – Build Trust and Rapport

This is the first step in any new relationship.

If you’re reaching out to someone for the first time, you need to do one of two things: offer to help them or establish a friendship. If you don’t, they will just think you are trying to sell them something (which you are).

It’s good practice to think of all potential customers as friends – friends that you truly want to help. This will ensure you are providing value and building trust.

Step 2 – Set the Agenda

Once they show some interest in your services, it’s time to set the agenda. This is the first step in the deal-closing process, and it’s your way to take control of the situation. You do this by telling the potential customer what to expect from you at each stage.

Step 3 – Figure Out What They Want

This is where you get the customer to tell you EXACTLY what they think they need and what they’re willing to pay you for it. You can always adjust their expectations, and try to convince them to change their target price or their service choices. But first, you need to get an idea of where they stand.

Think of some questions that will get the customer to tell you what they want. You can make the questions detailed or simple; more detailed information may give you a deeper understanding of what is important to the customer.

I don’t like asking them for a specific budget, because that can be limiting. If price is super important, it will come across in the other questions. And start by quoting high, because you can always do it for less if they say no.

Step 4 – Show How You Benefit Them

Once you have a good idea of what they want, and how much they are willing to pay, you need to show them exactly how you plan on meeting and exceeding their expectations.

Explain everything you’ll do for them, and how awesome the results will be. If you can tailor the benefits to what you know they need, then they’ll be dying to hear the price.

Step 5 – Propose and Close

At this point, you want the customer to feel totally comfortable because you understand their needs. Now you just need to deliver a custom proposal based on those needs, along with a quote.

Remember, this is all very liquid. In fact, plan on making some changes to your first proposal 9 out of 10 times. If you quote them 5k they could say “Holy shit, that’s a lot of money!” Or they could say “Sweet, when do we get started?” I’ve seen both reactions.

That first response is no problem at all. They’re still ready to buy. They just need something a little cheaper; so offer them a package with fewer features, and work with them until you find their comfort zone. You’ll have built up enough of a relationship by now that they probably won’t go somewhere else to buy, as long as you keep up the good communication.

Once I put this plan into action, I doubled my customers per month. If you implement just one step from this plan, I GUARANTEE you will close more deals.

Even if your freelance business is already making a killing, you can always find room for improvement. The best entrepreneurs and sales people are always looking for new ways to be more efficient. And you should too!

Leave a comment to tell me about your sales strategy, or how you improved your business. If it’s really awesome, I’ll promote it.

Image: Richard.Asia

Your new client’s hired you to propose creative ideas to ramp up their company blog. The blog has a few subscribers and plenty of informative content, but the content is just OK.

Nothing featured on the blog stands out. Nothing inspires you to read more or share it.  How you can help this client increase their readership and build their brand online?

Look for the Story Behind the Brand

Whether you’re crafting a pitch, creating copy for a website, or offering fresh ideas for a blog, approach all of these outlets as different ways to tell a good story. 

Readers enjoy stories. They like to share content that they can connect with, stories that move them emotionally.

As writers we have the natural ability to tell stories, but how can we kick it up a notch and make sure all of our work wins over new readers and new clients? How do we tell stories that move others to share our work and love our client’s brand?

Consider these storytelling techniques when you approach your next piece:

5 Ways to Tell a Story That Stands Out

1. Action.  Once I was describing how an artist approached his craft, and found myself describing his artworks instead. I rewrote the story to describe a specific scene in which the artist went to work creating a piece. Think about showing us an action scene in your story. Use emotive action vocabulary and an active voice to describe the scene.
2. Emotion. What is the emotional appeal of the blog? A story where your client has helped someone succeed, overcome a challenge, or created positive change in a community can resonate well with an audience. For each story, try to center on one emotion, and then craft the story to evoke this emotion in the reader. Spend extra time editing out parts that distract from the emotional center of the piece.
3. Theme. Does the blog have a larger purpose or message behind it? What are the themes? Brainstorm a list of themes that the client can focus on to reach the right audience. For example, a tech blog may want to build out a community theme including posts focused on teaching coding to youth or giving back to the community. Make sure the desired themes come through clearly in your posts for your clients.
4. Soul. We love to connect with others when reading. Telling a person’s story can be a great approach for any blog. When writing another person’s story, make sure to show us the soul or the personality. How does this person speak? What are his or her unique attributes? Use descriptive language when writing a person’s story to help draw the reader in. We want to feel like we know the person when reading his or her story.
5. Artwork. Visual storytelling can be a great way to compliment stories. Depending on the client, you may want to include multiple visuals in each blog post. For example, a design, landscape, or food blog will typically include many enticing photos. Avoid describing the visual in your blog post. Find at least one powerful visual for each story, and use the visual to complement your words.

Tell Your Own Story to Succeed

As freelance bloggers our writing is our number one way to help us stand out online. When a client looks over your website and portfolio, you want them to enter your story. Here’s how to get them hooked.

• Sum up your story. Add a one-liner that’s tailored to your ideal clients. For example, “A Midwestern girl with a love for all things mobile” or “A nonprofit blogger strengthening the disabled community”.
• Use your About page to reveal a personal story about who you are as a writer.
• Link to pieces that show your own storytelling style. Show your natural voice in your web copy. Your style will appeal to the right clients for you.

Don’t forget that your pitches are the prime time to show (and sell) your storytelling skills, too!

What’s at the heart of your freelance blogging story? Tell me your tale in the comments.

Image: chefranden

Note from Sophie: Want to learn more about how to build and sell a story? Check out 4-Week Journalism School to pick up the reporting and storytelling skills you need to earn real money as a writer! Training starts on May 8th. [That's an affiliate link, btw.]

I’m just talking with a hot potential client on Skype. Bear with me and listen in for a moment…

ME: Yep, I’m available from the first of the month.

CLIENT: Great, and how much do you charge?

ME: For this project it’ll be $400 per week… Or, you know, I could probably make it $300…

Go ahead. Tap me on the shoulder. Tell me I’m an idiot. Stop me.

I wish somebody had.

That conversation actually happened last summer, and my pathetic negotiation fail cost me $100 per week for 3 months. That’s more than $1200, and I gave it up for no reason at all.

What went wrong?

Here’s how you can avoid falling into the errors I made that day: 

Screw-Up #1: Pricing On the Spot

You don’t have to quote a price as soon as a potential client asks your rate.

Take the time to make a considered calculation of your fees.

Make sure you’ve gathered all the information you need, then tell your prospect you’ll call them back or send them a proposal by email.

In this conversation with my client, I’d already got all the details of the project and I knew how much to charge: $200 per post for 2 posts a week is $400 per week. But I could still have given myself time to compose a clear, confident proposal instead of blurting it out right away.

Even if you’ve got a good idea of the rate you want, remember that you need to manage your whole portfolio of current and upcoming projects, not just this one gig. Take into account your other commitments and your revenue from existing clients, then figure out

1. how much time you can commit to this project, and
2. how much you need to charge to make it worth doing.

Otherwise, you run the risk of burning out from too heavy a workload, or simply emptying your bank account while you work on a low-paying project.

Screw-Up #2: Precise Pricing

You might think your potential client wants to hear one precise figure from you when they ask your fees. Nope. It’s totally fine to quote a price range, or a minimum price, if you’re not ready to pin down your exact fee yet.

What I’ve done with many other clients is to say something like, “For projects like this I usually charge between $100 and $250 per post.”

And heck yes, I wish I’d said that to this client too, so that I could get a better handle on his expectations. What’s worse is that after quoting a precise fee, I fell victim to the worst negotiation mistake of all…

Screw-Up #3: Fear of Your Own Value

Afraid that your potential clients will back off, or hang up on you, when they hear your rates? You’re not the only one. A year ago, I’d just raised my rates to more accurately reflect the value of my blogging services, and I was nervous.

Fear makes you second-guess yourself and undercut the rates you’ve set for your services. That time, I got so panicked that I haggled in my client’s favour!

Then, of course, dropping your prices too much makes you look and feel desperate. I’ve been there.

A few weeks later, though, I’d grown into my new pricing model and learned a priceless lesson: if you’re nervous about what your client thinks of your rates, you’re doing it wrong.

They’re your rates. You choose them and you charge them. Simple.

If a prospect decides they don’t want to pay your rates, they can either make a counter-offer or walk away. Your job is to let them walk if they want to, not to make the counter-offers for them like I did!

The secret is to stop stressing over any one prospect too much. There will always be other projects, so you don’t need to drop your prices to get this one. You’ll be amazed how much confidence you gain in negotiations by saying “Hmm, no thank you.”

Know your value. Feel it. Own it. Never be afraid to say it out loud. If you’re really scared, maybe you should do the woo-woo self-help thing and stand in front of a mirror telling yourself “I’m a 100-dollar-a-post blogger” until you can say it with confidence.

OK, so I’m not good with the woo-woo, but you get my point. Another big mistake almost everyone makes when they’re nervous is the one where your mouth keeps moving and sounds are coming out, but the connection to your brain is patchy.

Screw-Up #4: Doing All the Talking

Silence is not a bad thing in a negotiation. It means, “I’ve said my bit for now and I’m waiting for you to put together your response.” If I’d only stated my price to that client, and then shut the fudge up, I’d be $1200 richer right now.

Make friends with silence. Get comfy in it. Shutting up is a psychological tactic that’s used by everyone from therapists to politicians to performance artists, because it works so damn well.

They say nature abhors a vacuum, which might explain why we feel compelled to say something –anything– to fill a silence. I was silly enough to keep talking and haggle myself out of $1200.

This works whether you’re quoting a rate or waiting to hear one: Carol Tice once got a $200-per-post gig raised to $300 simply by pointing out that it would be rush work… and then waiting on a silent phone line… until the client offered the extra $100 per post of their own accord.

Silence just works. Try it and see.

Your Turn

This week, there’s homework –and the chance to win a mystery prize worth $60 to help you negotiate your freelance blogging rates like a pro.

Use the comments box to share the worst mistake you’ve ever made in price negotiations with a potential client, and what lessons you learned from your experience. I’ll choose one winner on 2nd May. The comment with the greatest insight wins and as always, I’m handing out bonus points for shameless honesty, so let it fly!

[You want to talk screw-ups? The moment I offered a prize for the best comment, my blog comments had a technical hiccup. My testers tell me it's fixed now, so if you experience any weirdness when you submit your comment please email sophie@beafreelanceblogger.com and let me know.]

Images: Images_of_Money, Mike Poresky

That’s your fear breaking out, and it sucks. I know my many fears surface on occasion, but guess what?  Star Wars taught me how to beat them.

For thousands of years before the Star Wars trilogies, the Jedi fought the Sith, a terrifying force who built an empire relying solely on their powers from the Dark Side. Because of their dangerous legend, Yoda is careful to warn young Anakin Skywalker (later known as Darth Vader) in Episode I that the origin of the Dark Side is fear.

Just as the Jedi had to deal with the Sith for thousands of years, freelance bloggers have to deal with their own Dark Sides on a daily basis (which, on a bad day, can feel like a thousand years).

We always have some sort of mental or physical fear we need to overcome. Let’s look at the top three fears that most freelance bloggers have, and how to battle them with the dedication of a Jedi. 

Fear of Ignorance and Inexperience

1% inspiration, 99% perspiration

Your fear sounds like this: “I’m not an expert.” Or, “I don’t know enough.”

Sometimes the best-paying blogging markets aren’t ones you know about, and instead of going for them you back off. For example, I have lots of first-hand experience using social media, but I feel like I can’t write about it in-depth like the “experts.”

Tara Mohr, an inspirational speaker and writer for women, recently addressed this topic on her blog in a few different posts, and in various articles around the web. She says, “Again and again I see talented people with ideas they want to share – books they want to write, talks they want to give, businesses they want to launch – holding back because they think they ‘don’t know enough’ about their topic.”

In other words, if you were a Jedi who just let the Dark Side keep intimidating you, you wouldn’t be much of a Jedi.

“Immeasurable contributions are lost because many of us think that [formal training/work experience] is the only kind of legitimate authority,” Mohr writes. She believes that if you’re called to do something, you will inevitably make valuable contributions despite your so-called lack of expertise.

So when you’re encountering this fear of not being an expert, stop and ask yourself this question:

Do you feel called to be a freelance blogger?

If your answer is no, you need to re-evaluate what it is you really want to do.  But if your answer is yes, then start acting like a freakin’ Jedi would and attack that Dark Side head-on with a wicked Jedi mind trick.

Lots of ways exist to get a basic knowledge of the markets you want to blog for. You can quickly use Google or Wikipedia, ask friends and family what they know about the topic, ask your client about some of their favorite related blogs or websites for inspiration, or draw on your personal experiences related to the topic. Tom Ewer got a well-paying blogging job with WPMU.org simply because he leveraged his personal experience with using WordPress.

If you truly feel called to blogging about a specific market that you’re not an expert in, remind yourself that you can still make valuable content and then jump in full Force (using the Light Side, of course).

Fear of Being Completely Worthless

One among millions, or one IN a million?

Another very typical fear that freelance bloggers encounter is that they are only one among millions of people who claim to be bloggers.

It’s all too typical to feel like others are better writers than you, and that you don’t deserve blogging clients, when you see their phenomenal work.

Personally, I deal with SAD (seasonal affective disorder) during the winter months, which can be pretty debilitating. If it’s been overcast for several days in a row, I notice a significant lack of positive thinking about myself and my blogging skills. This mentality even flows over into other areas of my life where I no longer have the motivation to wash even one dish.

However, there are some steps I take that always get me back on my mental feet. I first simply refuse to believe that I’m worthless – seems simple, but lots of people don’t do this. If this step doesn’t do the trick right off the bat, I do something that makes me feel better physically, like exercise or soak in a bath.

Finally, I remind myself that though others may actually be better writers than I am, I became a writer and blogger for a reason. When I remember that I became a freelance blogger so I’d never have to work for anyone else again, I can easily conquer my SAD-induced fear of feeling worthless, so I can move forward with my business.

After all, there was more than one Jedi in the Old Republic, each with their own unique set of skills.

If you focus on what makes you feel like a worthwhile person and blogger, this acuity can help you feel confident in yourself all over again. It also helps prove to potential clients that you have faith in your writing abilities and can deliver them the content they need, no Jedi mind tricks required.

Fear of Rejection

“Another rejection email, Lord Vader…”

Rejection is probably the most crippling fear for freelance bloggers. You don’t want to do the work of finding clients just to be refused the job.

I think about this a lot, too. Instead of contacting potential blogging clients, I think about how I could instead be spending my time cleaning the house, working on my blog, pitching magazines, or even just relaxing.

But then I remember that even Anakin Skywalker himself was once rejected.

By the time Anakin was discovered at nine years of age, he was considered too old for Jedi training. The Jedi Council considered his mind too full of fear and hate, and certainly not malleable enough to properly understand and implement the Jedi ways.

And yet what happened?  Anakin became a powerful Jedi under the guidance of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Yes, he eventually embraced the Sith ways and became Darth Vader. But the point is that he became one of the most famous names in the Star Wars universe, all because he didn’t let rejection stop him.

If you think you can be one of the brightest stars in the freelance blogging industry, rejection should be considered just one more step towards your destiny of having so many blogging clients you don’t know what to do with them all!

So pull out that lightsaber and slice through your fear of rejection. You’ll find success more quickly when you embrace rejection as part of your journey to Jedi-like blogging mastery.

When it comes to dealing with freelance blogging fears, just remember some final words of wisdom from our beloved pointy-eared Yoda:

“Do or do not. There is no try.”

Dealing directly with your fears is the only way to get past them; merely “trying” will get you nowhere. Just like a Jedi who maintains the fight against the Dark Side, you’ll progressively become better at fighting your fears the more active you are in doing so.

May the Force be with you, bloggers.

Images: Maximus_W, leg0fenris, Kalexanderson

That said, why is it that some people seem to luck out and secure the “cream of the crop” jobs, while others apply time and time again without seeing any results?

In fact, it might not be your skills that are preventing you from getting hired.  If you’re making any of the following mistakes, your odds of gaining new clients go down significantly – so get your act together ASAP!

Mistake #1: Not following instructions given in the listing

I’ve been working online since 2007 and in that time, I’ve both built a freelance writing career finding jobs on freelance job boards and used these resources myself to hire writers for personal and corporate projects.

So as somebody who’s seen both sides of the job board coin, let me tell you that one of the most frustrating things you can do is to not follow instructions that are explicitly stated in the listing.

Often, when I post a job, I’m looking for somebody with specific experience – which is why I’ll ask applicants to describe their past work on the subject or to share examples highlighting their work in a certain way.  And yet, at least half of the responses I receive come from writers who have copied and pasted a template response into the message.

Yes, having stock responses makes it easy to apply for more jobs in less time – but you aren’t likely to get any jobs at all if you frustrate the person doing the hiring.  If a listing asks you to provide some specific information or take some certain action, do it – no ifs, ands or buts.

Mistake #2: Not matching your tone to the listing or the client’s website

Let’s say you’re applying for a freelance gig with a legal firm you found on your favorite job board.  I’m hoping you wouldn’t start your application with, “Whaddup, legal dawg?” but I’ve seen stranger things happen.

So, let’s kick this mistake to the curb once and for all.

Freelance writers need to be able to handle drafting content using a wide variety of tones and voices.  Your first chance to show off your ability to do so comes in your job listing response, so make it a habit to check the hiring company’s website and match the tone of your application to what you find on their pages.

Mistake #3 – Not including relevant samples with your query

If you take nothing else from this article, make it a point to remember that the people posting writing gigs on freelance job boards can receive hundreds upon hundreds of responses to their listings.

As a result, it’s up to you to distinguish yourself and show these hiring agents that you’re the right person for the job!

One of the easiest ways to do this is to include blog post samples with your response letter that are as closely targeted to the job you’re applying for as possible.

Say, for example, that you’re applying for a job writing mobile app reviews for a tech blog.  In this case, sending samples from your past work in the personal finance niche might show off your writing abilities, but it still forces the reviewer to make the mental leap of determining whether or not your style will translate to this second niche.  And again, the fewer mental leaps that hiring agents need to make, the better your chances of securing job board gigs will be!

If you don’t have relevant samples in the niche you’re applying to, you can always write up a quick sample article to send along (though doing so for every job you apply to could become tedious).

If you’d rather not take this extra step, consider adding a statement to your response message that spells out any past experience you have with the new field and explains how well your writing style will translate.  Doing so will take the guesswork out of matching things up on the part of the reviewer.

Mistake #4 – Addressing your query generically

This one goes back to traditional job seeking advice, so you probably already know that it’s best to address all of your application materials to an actual person – rather than to a generic, “To Whom It May Concern” title.

To do this consistently, you may need to do a little digging, as job board hiring agents don’t always include their full names on their posts.

But I’ve always found that the extra time needed to either search the hiring company’s website for a contact name or reach out to company representatives for this information is time well spent, as it lets me form a more personal connection with application reviewers right off the bat.

Oh – and can we all agree to stop addressing responses with “Dear Sir”?

Maybe it’s a petty, small thing, but as a lady who does an awful lot of writer hiring, it’s a huge turnoff!

Mistake #5 – Using unprofessional contact information

Let’s just nip this one in the bud…

If your application comes from an email address like “sweetbaby69@yahoo.com” or “highman420@gmail.com,” I’m deleting your response without reading it.

If you want to be taken seriously as a professional blogger, step up and register for your own writer’s website URL.  Then, use a customized, domain-specific email address like “sarah@arborbusinesswriting.com” to send your job board response messages.

Building a website is cheap and easy to do these days, so there’s no reason not to take this important business step.

Mistake #6 – Not applying right away

Usually, when people post to job boards to hire writers, they do so because they need help – and they needed it yesterday.

I’m totally guilty of this, but it’s often difficult to plan ahead and source writers before you need them.  As a result, if I get a great response within the first hour or two of my listing going live, I’m not going to sit around and wait to see who else replies.  I’m going to hire that writer so that I can get back on track as quickly as possible!

If you see a hot job listing, don’t wait to apply.  Make it a priority to check in to your favorite boards at least once a day and then drop everything (as much as possible) to respond to the gigs you really want.

Sure, you might encounter listings that won’t hire until a few weeks later, but if you catch a hiring agent who’s pressed for time, you’ll set yourself up to be in the right place at the right time by applying right away.

Mistake #7 – Not demonstrating your enthusiasm for the job

Finally, remember that people want to work with the people who want to work with them!  It’s human nature to gravitate towards those who demonstrate interest and excitement for our projects, so make it a point to state exactly why you’re interested in a particular job in your response letter.

You don’t have to go over the top here, but you should make it a point to let the reviewer know what exactly about the position interests you and how specifically you plan to help the hiring agent.  As an example, try something like this:

[Your topic] has always been something that’s fascinated me, and I’m sure I could put my past experience and knowledge of the subject into practice in articles that will help your blog to attract even more highly-engaged visitors.”

Simple, sweet, to-the-point and guaranteed to make your application stand out from the tons of more generic responses the listing reviewer will receive.  Give it a try today and see if your application success rate doesn’t immediately improve!

Obviously, these are just my experiences – so your mileage may vary.  However, they’re mistakes I’ve encountered repeatedly when hiring out thousands of dollars’ worth of paid writing work, and avoiding them has helped me to secure as much as $5,000 a month in job board work.

I’m guessing there’s at least one thing in this list that you can use to improve your own job board success.

Which mistake is your worst habit? Can you think of any other job board mistakes to avoid?

Images: Jill, boltron-

Of course you’d love to buy lots of exciting books and training courses and whatnot, but you haven’t got a ton of cash to spare.

That’s why you’re here, learning to make money from your blogging services. And while you learn, freebies are awesome!

But… sometimes freebies aren’t awesome. Sometimes free stuff is just junk that sucks your time, clutters up your memory, and ends up in the recycle bin.

This list is not about that kind of free stuff.

This list is solid. I checked out every single thing myself, and if it sucked, it got cut.

So here are the survivors, the worthy, the genuinely useful… 52 totally free resources for freelance blogging success.

If they cost anything, it’s your email address or maybe a tweet – no money involved. You’re welcome.  

Some of the freebies on this list also offer stuff you can pay for. That’s your call. I’ve marked affiliate links with an asterisk (like this*). Cool? Cool.

The list is so big it started giving me scroll blindness, so I’ve split it into a few sections for different purposes:

Free Resources to Get You Hired

The one thing you want more than anything is to get hired for good pay and published on well-respected blogs.

I’m creating an ultra-effective new training resource for you on how to find and win those higher-paying gigs, but until that’s ready, here are four ways to get yourself work on paying blogs:

1. The Ultimate List of Better-Paid Blogging Gigs: 45 Blogs That Will Pay You $50 or More - Yep, this one’s mine and it’s exactly what the title says it is: a list of blogs that pay freelance contributors at least $50 per post. Help yourself!

2. This free video series on guest blogging* by blogging superstar Jon Morrow will help you to get published on paying blogs, build your portfolio with bylines on famous sites, and break into new blogging markets.

3. Alexis Grant’s database of freelance bloggers is open to anyone with professional blogging experience. Fill in a short application form to get added to the database, and Alexis will email you when she has a suitable gig available.

4. 10 Query Letters That Rocked is a resource from The Renegade Writer that’s intended primarily for writers pitching to magazines, but it’s equally useful to freelance bloggers who want to boost their pitching power.

Free Ways to Improve Your Blogging

To get the highest-paying gigs, it helps if you blog like a superstar! There’s a ton of information out there about how to blog, so I’ve picked out just a few of the best free “better blog writing” resources for you:

5. Headline Hacks* by Jon Morrow gives you 52 headline templates that you can use for any kind of blog to get your posts noticed, read, and shared. [Jon's own posts go viral almost every time!]

6. Unleashing the Ideavirus by Seth Godin is about getting your audience’s attention and how ideas go viral – deeply relevant to bloggers, especially if your work involves content strategy as well as writing.

7. Why Headlines Fail by Psychotactics’ Sean D’Souza teaches you how to write headlines that get results (and avoid writing ones that don’t). Killer headlines are vital if you want to make money blogging, so grab this guide to make yours rock.

8. The (Nearly) Ultimate Guide to Writing is a free ebook from Write to Done, with writing tips suitable for bloggers and freelance writers. If you want to pick up some A-list blog writing tactics, this is a good place to look.

9. HubSpot’s Free SEO Crash Course explains the basics of on-page search engine optimization, social media, and Google’s algorithm changes in 3 simple videos to help you write and promote your posts in a way Google likes.

Free Marketing Resources

If you want to get paying gigs, you’ll need to market your services. And if right now you’re thinking ugh, I don’t like marketing, then you also need to redefine what marketing means to you!

Long story short: marketing is the difference between a hobby and a business. This is important, so here’s a stack of resources to help you develop marketing strategies that work for you and with you.

10. Google Authorship is one of those things you might have heard about, but may not have set up yet. If you want to see your photo and byline appearing next to your work in Google search results, this is how to do it.

11. This series of posts on Copyblogger gives you a detailed explanation of what all that Google Author stuff is about, how it changes Google search results, and what it means for you.

12. The Naked Marketing Manifesto by Firepole Marketing’s Danny Iny is an awesomely clear guide to marketing your services by being yourself to attract your ideal customers, instead of chasing after jobs that aren’t even right for you.

13. Marketing 101 for Freelance Writers is an easy-to-follow course by Carol Tice of Make A Living Writing. It’s delivered by email, no complicated tech stuff, and it teaches you how to promote your services to clients. Check it out!

14. Internet Marketing for Smart People is a free 20-part course from Copyblogger that teaches you marketing principles as well as the content know-how that separates the expert bloggers from the hobbyists.

15. The Get More Cash video series from Firepole Marketing was one of the first things I found online that really made me believe there was an easier way to freelance. Since then, I’ve increased my hourly rate by more than 200%. I strongly recommend watching the whole series!

16. International Freelancers Academy has a huge pile of useful free stuff –from blog posts and training videos to full-day live events online– that helps you get to grips with marketing your freelance business.

17. The Social Triggers newsletter covers the psychology of engagement and why readers or customers respond. Derek Halpern explains it in simple terms so you don’t need psychology or marketing experience to understand.

18. Chris Brogan’s newsletter is something I look forward to every Sunday, sitting down with a hot Ovaltine to read his friendly email about how business, marketing, and people work. His down-to-earth stories bring the insights home.

19. Conversion Psychology by Gregory Ciotti is a free ebook that summarises a stack of psychology studies and explains their relevance to the way people make choices. Apply this knowledge when you deal with clients and when you write!

20. Find the Core of Your Value Proposition is a short worksheet by copywriter and conversion expert Peter Sandeen that will help you pinpoint your unique value as a freelance blogger.

Free Images and Editing Resources

When you blog a lot, you tend to use a lot of images to accompany your posts. Some clients will want you to source great images from their paid stock libraries, which is always fun.

But whether it’s for your own website or for a client, there’ll be times when you need an image you can use –or create– for free. Here are a bunch of free ways to find and make the images you need.

21. Flickr’s Creative Commons search lets you limit your search to images under different types of Creative Commons licence. Be sure to give an appropriate credit and link back to the source!

22. Stock.XCHNG offers you a small range of royalty free images under specific terms of use. It also displays images you can buy from iStockphoto, which can get annoying while you’re looking for your free images.

23. You don’t need money to get professional quality images from places like iStockphoto, Bigstockphoto, Fotolia, or Dreamstime. They all offer one or more free photos to download each week. iStockphoto also gives you free illustrations, audio tracks and video clips. [That's at least 4 resources in one list item. Score!]

24. Morguefile gives you a range of free images that are meant to be used as source material by creative artists. To use a Morguefile image unaltered with a blog post, contact the photographer.

25. Recite makes simple yet effective images out of your text. Type a quote or phrase into the input box, then choose a look with one click. You can save the image to your hard drive or share it straight to Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. Here’s an example that took me about 30 seconds to make.

26. Pixlr is an online image creation and editing service that’s free to use. It can do most of the things Photoshop does, from adding text and creating layered images to applying filters and effects.

27. Easel.ly helps you make your own infographics. It gives you ready-made templates you can customise with your own text –and if you want to, you can change any element of the template to suit you.

28. Gravatar is a free online service that lets you associate your email address with a specific photo of you. Then, when you post or comment on a blog, your photo can be automatically displayed next to your name. An image makes your text more convincing, and a vast proportion of the blogosphere is Gravatar-enabled, so get yours set up today!

Free Research Resources

As a freelance blogger you need to research all kinds of stuff, from statistics that help prove your point to the names and contact details of specific employees at big companies. These good people all provide freely accessible and searchable information online:

29. LinkedIn has a useful search engine that will help you find and contact editors, marketing managers and PR people for the blogs and companies you want to target as clients. Plus, a LinkedIn account is part of a professional freelance blogger’s online portfolio these days, so keep your own profile up to date!

30. The United States Census Bureau is a one-stop shop for statistical info on all kinds of stuff from population to economics and lifestyle in the USA; very handy if you need a couple of quotable stats to give your blog post some authority.

31. If your post is focused on another region, there are plenty of useful sites that cover other countries, like the UK National Statistics Publication Hub or Eurostat for European Commission statistics.

32. BrainyQuote is an easy-to-browse, easy-to-search site full of pithy quotes on a huge range of topics. It’s great for finding that perfect quotation to highlight your post’s key message.

33. Wikipedia may not be perfectly reliable, but a good Wikipedia entry includes references to the supporting evidence. So don’t base your post on the entry itself, but follow up those footnotes to find the original sources.

Free Tools and Technical Resources

I’ve tried a vast number of tools to boost my productivity. Some of them worked and some of them didn’t work for me. These are the ones that did.

34. Online Stopwatch is a very simple website with two tools: a stopwatch and a countdown timer. If you’re not ready for a full-featured time tracking system yet, this is a good way to keep an eye on your work hours.

35. Time and Date gives you time conversions around the world. Whether you need to know the time right now at your client’s location, or find out how many days there are until your next deadline, you can do it here.

36. Word Count Tool is a website where you can paste or type in your text to get an instant word count. Handy if you’re working with a content creation tool or content management system that doesn’t count words for you!

37. MailChimp is an email service provider that you can use to send group emails to your clients and leads, or to create a newsletter for your blog. Their “Forever Free” plan lets you email up to 2,000 recipients.

38. Evernote saves all your notes-to-self and articles or URLs of interest in one place that you can access online. Useful as a swipe file for all the interesting stuff you come across, and for works-in-progress.

39. Trello lets you drag-and-drop your task lists into order. It starts with 3 lists (To Do, Doing, and Done) but you can add more, give tasks deadlines, and create separate boards for different clients if you want to.

40. WordPress.com isn’t what I’d use for my own professional blog or website, but it’s a completely free way to start your own blog and gain experience in the basics of WordPress without anyone watching when you screw up. When you need to use WordPress.org for your clients or for your own blog, you’ll find that the interface is similar enough to give you confidence.

41. HTML Dog teaches the kind of basic HTML you might need to know if your client wants your posts marked up in code, and you can continue studying right up to advanced coding for fancy websites.

42. EchoSign is a service from Adobe that you can use to email your client a link to an in-browser document (for example, a contract) that they can sign digitally using their mouse or stylus, or by typing in their name.

43. Harvest is a simple time tracking and invoicing app that lets you start and stop timers on different projects, send invoices and receive payments (via Paypal or by giving other instructions in your invoice).

Free Business Inspiration and Motivation

44. The Traffic Toolkit from Think Traffic is much more than a guide to getting blog traffic. There’s a whole bunch of useful stuff in this kit, from the “6 Ways to Earn $1000 a Month Online” video to the business plan template for bloggers.

45. How to be Legendary is an awesome manifesto by Johnny B Truant that’s full of ideas to get you working towards something and reaching your goals. Essential reading for, well, almost anyone!

46. A Writer’s Bucket List by Dana Sitar at DIY Writing gives you “99 things to do for inspiration, education and experience before your writing kicks the bucket”. Check out the career section in particular.

47. Love the Grind is an email newsletter I read every time it arrives in my inbox. Rob Hatch shares tips to make you more productive at the essential work of your business: sticking at the less-fun tasks along the way to greatness.

48. LittleZotz Writing Adventures in Freelancing by Lauren Tharp is an awesomely entertaining and educational guide to freelance writing as a job and as a lifestyle. With hand-drawn comic book images!

49. How to Alienate All the Right People is a fun guide to marketing against the grain, by Gary Korisko of Reboot Authentic. If you’ve ever worried that you don’t fit in or you need to “tone yourself down”, this is your kick in the pants.

50. The Everyday Courage email challenge series from Jen Gresham at Everyday Bright starts with a video on courage-building, then gives you a small, simple bravery-boosting challenge to complete each week.

51. 20 No Bullshit Ways to Make at Least $30 Tomorrow is an instant-income resource from Megan Dougherty at Paying For Life, showing you ways to fill small income gaps quickly and keep your head above water.

Free Bonus

52. Me. I’m your freelance blogging resource, and you can ask me anything. Email me or leave me a comment, whatever works for you. It’s free. [If you want more than free tips, you can also book a live one-to-one mentoring session.]

Look at that: now you’ve got 52 free things to help you rock the freelance blogging world.

Don’t waste them!

Image: comedy_nose

You know your topic and you’re well versed in WordPress. You think you’re all set.

However, as you’re filling out your personal tax forms –it’s that time of year!– you think “Oh wow, I’m going to have to keep track of the money coming in and out and fill out tax forms for this business!”

So you scrap the idea and curl up in a ball on the floor sucking your thumb, convinced that the world is against you and that you’ll never be your own boss if the thought of accounting and taxes scares the Dickens out of you…

Umm, it doesn’t need to be like that. Let me walk you through an easy way to track your finances and prepare for your tax forms.

A little caveat here: I know about accounting and taxes in the United States, so anything in this article is related to the rules in place in the USA.

The thing to know is that all bookkeeping really boils down to is keeping track of the money you’ve spent, and categorizing the spending so you know where your money’s going. However, you also want to make sure that you can take the amounts you spent and put them on the tax forms.

A Simple Way to Track Your Finances

Since you’re just starting out, you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on accounting software.

What you can do is set up a simple spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel or Google Docs to track your finances.

Here’s how:

1. Label the first tab “Money In”
2. On this tab in the first row, label the columns as follows:
   • Date Charged
   • Client
   • Amount Charged
   • Date Paid
3. Label the second tab “Money Out”
4. On this tab in the first row, label the columns as follows:
   • Date
   • Vendor (who you bought from)
   • What was purchased
   • Amount spent
   • Category

“What is this Category thing?” you may be asking.  As I mentioned, you need to be able to translate your spending onto a tax form, and the category column is the way to do it.  The categories you should use are:

1. Advertising
2. Commissions
3. Contract Labor
4. Insurance
5. Legal and professional services
6. Office supplies
7. Rent
8. Repairs and maintenance
9. Taxes and licenses
10. Travel
11. Meals
12. Ask accountant

So what you do is use one of these categories for each of the transactions on the “Money Out” spreadsheet. The Ask Accountant category is used when you have no idea how you should classify it, and need to get some help.

When the end of the year comes, and it’s time to do your taxes, you can send the file to your accountant, who will add up all the categories and use the totals to complete your taxes. The tax form used by small businesses is usually either the Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ. [Learn more about the differences if you're not sure which form you need.]

Well, what if you want to do your own taxes? The answer to that would take a little longer than this post, but here’s an overview that will help get you started (and hopefully Sophie will invite me back so I can expand on the topic).

Your Taxes and the Dreaded 1099

A word of warning: make a note of any vendor with whom you spend more than $600. Most likely, you’ll need to send this person a 1099.

This is a tax form that tells the IRS that you’ve spent more than $600 with this company or person. Whenever you start using a new vendor, you will need to give them a form W-9, which asks them to give you the information that you will use to complete the 1099 that you will send to them, along with a copy to the IRS.

Speaking of 1099s, you will be getting a few from the people that you work for. You may want to be proactive and fill out a W-9 and send it to new clients as soon as you sign them on.

A W-9 is an IRS form that you give to your clients with your name, address, and your Taxpayer Identification Number (which you get from the IRS if you signed up as anything other than a sole proprietor, otherwise it is your social security number) so that they can send you a 1099 for what you billed them. You can use the 1099s you receive to help make sure the amount of revenue for the year is correct.

The sum of the 1099s you receive should be the same as what you have billed those customers. This is the lower limit to the total amount you will enter on your tax forms as your revenue; you’ll also need to include any revenue for which you have no 1099.

OK, tax time comes along, you’ve totalled all the amounts by category as listed above, and are all set to fill out your tax forms. So what form do you use?

If you are working by yourself, or have set yourself as a LLC, your business income and expenses goes on Schedule C, which rolls your net income on to your individual return. Take a look at this article for more information about self-employment taxes (yes, the feds come for us too). Or, here’s an article about the taxes you may face if you decide to register as a sole proprietor.

So, you’re ready to go with your finances for your blogging career. If you’re still nervous, don’t be afraid to ask questions. A good accountant will take your concerns seriously, and answer your questions in a way that you can understand.

Now, go out, live your dream, and earn some money!

As a CPA, I’m required to include some legalese, so here it is:  In accordance with Circular 230 Treasury Department Regulations, we are required to advise you that any tax advice contained in this article may not be relied upon to avoid penalties under the Internal Revenue Code.  If you are interested in a written opinion that can be relied upon to prevent the imposition of tax-related penalties, please contact the author.

Image: Images_of_Money

Most people learn from their own mistakes. Some learn from other people’s mistakes.

Why is this important?

This is one way you become an authority, a go-to person, an expert.

According to my Encarta dictionary, an expert is “someone who is skilled or knowledgeable about a particular subject, skill, training, or who is experienced in a particular field or activity”. We’re all experts of something, be it parenting, football, writing, or Twitter.

So where do your past mistakes come in?

Mistakes are often caused by bad judgment, ignorance or lack of care – all fixable problems.

How great would it be to help your readers by blogging about the mistakes you’ve made, preventing others from making the same mistakes and showing them the valuable lessons you’ve learned? This could be a perfect way to start or expand your freelance blogging career.

Think about it, would you rather take advice from someone who has read a lot on a subject or from someone who has been there, done that, and made a few mistakes here and there, steadily learning over time?

In the words of writer and speaker, Scott Berkun, it’s important to recognize, “You can only learn from a mistake after you admit you’ve made it. As soon as you start blaming other people (or the universe itself), you distance yourself from any possible lesson.” With that in mind, here are 3 key things you need to understand before using your mistakes to teach lessons to others.

1. Making a mistake once helps you avoid making it twice

If you touch a live electrical wire, you’ll probably experience a shock.

That trauma ensures you won’t do it again in a hurry.

Compare that to someone who has never touched a live wire and never would. Thanks to warnings from others, they know better. Same concept applies to blogging using my method.

2. Hindsight helps you understand how the mistake was made

That means you can see what you could have done differently to avoid the mistake altogether or for a better outcome.

Let’s use the electrical wire metaphor again. By now you understand touching a live electrical wire with your bare hands is probably not a good idea. You look back to understand why it happened and how to avoid that mistake in the future:

• It happened because you failed to make sure the electricity was shut off before trying to DIY.
• To have a better outcome in the future, you now know to make sure the electricity is shut off first (or to hire an electrician instead).

3. You can’t fully understand a mistake until it’s in the past

The more time has passed, the more you distance yourself from the impact or “shock” of the result, so you can look back at the situation with a clearer mind and sensible thinking.

Let’s use another example: say an editor rejected your article. It’ll take time for you to digest how, when and where you went wrong, especially when you’re still upset over being rejected. By allowing enough time to pass and the initial emotion to wear off, you can look back and realize your mistake was failing to follow the submission guidelines, or pitching at the wrong time. Lesson learned.

Once you understand those three things, you’re now ready to blog about your mistakes.

How to Become a Go-To Blogger

By using the simple what-not-to-do method of teaching, you can begin writing informative and uniquely tailored blog posts, showing your readers how they can avoid problems.

Your blog posts can evolve into you giving valuable tips, knowledgeable detail, and friendly assistance about your subject. Here’s what classifies you as a go-to person and why:

Failures and successes in a particular subject result in better lessons

Or, failing and then succeeding at a particular lesson works too. Doing it wrong then getting it right is proof that you’ve learned the very lesson you’re teaching, which makes you more of an authority. Simply getting it wrong but refusing to make it right will have less positive impact on your credibility.

Your mistakes result in more than one lesson or angle worthy of a blog post

In order to be a go-to person and truly be influential, one mistake and one lesson will not cut it. Your mistakes should have taught you many lessons in a particular area, until you almost feel you could write a book on the subject.

The more information you have to offer in your field, the more people will learn from you and consider you an authority. If your lesson stops at “don’t touch live wires” why would anyone return to you for more information?

Your lesson’s impact increases with its value

How do you know if it carries value? Ask yourself these questions:

• Are people actively looking to learn more about the topic?
• Is it a hot-button topic or issue?
• Is it timeless?
• Have many guest posts, articles, books and blogs have been written about it?
• Do you get a lot of questions about it?
• Before becoming an expert, did you have questions and seek answers on the topic?
• Is there plenty of information currently available about it?
• Do you offer your own unique angle on the topic?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, then your lesson has value. If you answered yes to all of those questions, then it may be even more valuable.

A lesson on a common subject like bringing traffic to your blog, or writing great headlines, can be highly valuable to your readers if it comes with your unique knowledge and originality, adding to the information already available.

The Simple What-Not-To-Do Method

Here’s how to write amazing blog posts about the lessons you’ve learned, using the what-not-to-do method of teaching:

Details of your mistakes are not necessary

Make sure the majority of your blog post expresses the importance of the lesson and does not go into detail about your mistake, unless the mistake is absolutely critical to understanding the lesson. It’s easy to ramble on about what you did wrong; keep your posts free of talking more about yourself than actually helping the reader.

Be clear about how each particular lesson will help the reader

Sometimes it works to use a numbered or bulleted list of instructions to be clear on your lesson. Other times, a very specific and precise description is better.  At other times, using examples may be best, and generalizing your lessons could also be a way of teaching and providing information.

To decide which of these methods to use, focus on the delivery. What are you trying to convey to the reader?

• If you have a step-by-step list of instructions, it’s probably best to use a numbered list.
• If your lessons require exact measurements or very detail-oriented instructions, maybe a combination of lists and descriptions is best.
• If your lessons are technical or hard to grasp initially, use examples to further explain your point.
• If your lesson could be applied to several different fields, consider generalizing your post so the reader can see how to apply that information in other cases.

Draw general lessons from specific mistakes

Make sure your lesson could be applied to a larger lesson within your subject, in everyday situations, or in a way where the gist of the lesson can be easily remembered. Like this…

• The mistake: Touching an exposed live wire
• The specific lesson:  Turn off power before touching exposed wire
• Specific delivery: “Don’t touch live wire!”
• The general lesson: Take precautions when handling hazardous items
• Generalized delivery: “Being aware of your surroundings is critical.”

There’s nothing like experiencing things for yourself, because you gain an understanding that helps you teach many valuable lessons.

Everyone is looking for easier, faster and better ways of getting the information they need. This is where you come in.

Your lessons from your mistakes are in demand, because people want to start off on the right foot. Learning the hard way is not what most people want to do; teachers exist because we like to acquire knowledge with little or no risk.

Now use your past mistakes to become the go-to person in your niche, and keep future generations from handling exposed live wires!

Image: jazbeck