When you decided to become a freelance blogger, did you immediately write up a 5-year business development plan? Calculate a full financial forecast?
If you did, you have everyone’s permission to skip this blog post and order more champagne while you wait for the rest of us to catch up.
But most freelance bloggers start with a talent for writing and then pick up a bit of business sense along the way. If that sounds more like you, don’t worry — you can still grow your blogging into a lucrative business. We just need to fill some of the gaps in your understanding of how your business works.
Here’s the important part, though: you need to fill the knowledge gaps in your business now, because every month they go unfilled is another month you go without the money you deserve.
Value your business skills!
These concepts and skills can speed you to $1,000 per month and beyond if you’re just starting out, or part-timing it alongside a day job. And if you already got your freelance blogging business going without developing business skills first, then you can add an extra $1,000 per month to your freelance writing income.
That means if you wait another year to pick up basic business knowledge, you’ll be down 12 months x $1,000 = $12,000. And that’s probably an understatement, because strong business skills will let you grow your business WAY beyond the $1,000-a-month mark.
I learned from my own screw-ups for the first couple of years, without any business training at all. And it showed. I worried too much and charged too little because I had no idea what I was doing or how to value my services.
What turned my once-amateurish freelance blogging business into a high-paying career wasn’t any kind of big break scenario. I didn’t get discovered by a new media mogul or apprenticed to a famous blogger. I didn’t start a personal blog that went viral, or Insta my breakfast and suddenly get propelled to fame and fortune.
I got schooled [in the nicest possible sense] by several business blogs, then took the big step of investing some of my pay back into my business by joining several excellent training, mentoring and mastermind groups. That’s how I finally started to own my business.
These are the 3 questions I’ve learned to answer that made a real difference to my business and my income:
#1: What’s your business model?
In other words…
- What do you sell?
- What does it take for you to deliver that?
- What (and how) do you get paid?
For me, the first answers I had were:
- What do you sell? “Writing.”
- What does it take for you to deliver that? “Me, writing.”
- What (and how) do you get paid? “Whatever I can get, however the client wants.”
Now, though, I know the answers for my best blogging offer:
- What do you sell? “Website traffic, audience love, and more sales for my clients. Via blogging.”
- What does it take for you to deliver that? “Me, writing feature length blog posts that are useful and interesting for readers, based on intensive research to make sure each post gets the results my client needs.”
- What (and how) do you get paid? “At least $500 per 1,000 words, monthly in advance, direct to my bank account.”
Yours might be different — shorter corporate blog posts paid per item on a net 30 days basis, for example, or quarterly high volume batches of recipe posts with Insta-ready images and paid per word on delivery.
It’s easier on you to charge a decent rate for a smaller number of gigs than a low rate for a large number of gigs. And it’s much better for your cash flow to get your payment in advance, or at least partial payment in advance, than to wait 30 or 60 days after invoicing.
Stating the obvious, right? But these are lessons that come late to a lot of freelancers, and I was one of them. Another thing I never thought about at all in my first year or so of freelancing was my product. Wow, I was really clueless…
#2: What’s your best offer?
Nope, I don’t mean the least amount of money you’re willing to accept. I mean the offer that’s best for you. In other words, which of the products you sell gives you the most profit for the least effort?
The first thing you might think is, “I don’t have any products — I just sell my writing services.” But when you offer one or more services with pre-set details like a price, timeline, list of what’s included, and payment terms, you’ve created a product.
In freelance blogging, it often feels like you create a whole new deal for each new client. But once you look a bit closer, you’ll probably see a pattern in which certain post types, post lengths, delivery speeds and add-on services are more popular than others.
Are the most popular deals also the most lucrative for you? Do they offer a good rate per hour of your time, including all the time you don’t bill to your client such as time spent getting the gig in the first place or communications that don’t get entered on your time tracker?
And how do you feel about that time? Does it bore you to tears or is it the kind of gig you’d do for fun even if you won a gazillion dollars tomorrow? Is it typically rush work that eats into your weekend, or does it fit neatly into your schedule?
If your most popular product is one that pays well in terms of your hourly rate equivalent and involves work you love to do, then you’re already on the right track.
But if your bestselling product only pays you $15 per hour after all your unbillable hours are taken into account, or it means you have to spend hours late at night on a task that drives you crazy, then it’s time to change the product description.
Here are 4 simple ways to tweak your existing product for your own benefit:
- Increase the price
- Get paid sooner
- Learn to produce the product faster
- Make the product easier to produce
All easier said than done. That’s why it takes most freelancers an age to figure out what’s going on in their business. Hell, it takes most freelancers an age and a half to even start their business.
But you don’t have to figure it out by yourself. Click the links in the list above for more info on how to do each of those 4 things.
#3: Can You Start Today?
This is the key to successful freelancing: get started, then keep improving.
With the experience you gain in your very first freelance blogging gig, you’ll feel more confident (and be more competent) in your second gig. When you’ve been in business for a while and can analyse what your clients need, you’ll be able to make your product even more appealing and even more profitable.
Your answers to these 3 questions will evolve along with your business, so it’s a good idea to reassess them at least a couple of times a year no matter how successful you are.
If you feel like now’s a good time to take a look at your business, or you haven’t really started yet and you’re not sure what to do, scroll up to the start of this post and write down your answers in detail for each question.
Now, write down what you’re going to do about those answers.
Now go and do it.
Image: M4D Group
You are right Sophie; it is damned difficult to take first step but after that you can keep going; this is the approach of pro who knows how to move on the basis of their business plan; while herd instinct says it is so easy to take first step but to continue your journey is difficult; this is viewpoint of those who believe in talking instead of getting things done; what do you say??
Makes sense! Planning a business and starting a business are *almost* the same thing, but if you skip either one it tends not to work so well. 🙂
Writers, please understand that what you offer is business, it’s not personal. Don’t allow your personal insecurities get in the way of your making money! Here’s something else I’ve noticed while working with newbie writing clients: Some of they expect you to offer them deals because they’re starting a new business.
Seriously, I’ve seen and heard of newbie business owners who come across expecting bargain-basement prices on services, outrageous “bulk-deals”, etc. They come across with entitlement to a discount or a price break because ‘they’re just starting out’.
Mind you, I sympathize with newbie business owners who are broke but here’s how I feel (And what I remind myself of): Nobody owes them anything and no one owes me anything. You (Writer) don’t owe it to your clients to give them a price break!
As the post says, it’s harder to charge less money and hunt for more work than it is to charge what is fair to you and hunt for less work.
Thank you for a brilliant Monday-Morning post, Sophie!
These principles really do apply to any kind of personal business – simply substitute your own “what I do for money” for “freelance blogger”.
Bright Blessings and a Beautiful Week to you…
Exactly, Karen. Business is business no matter which way you slice it. A freelancer who doesn’t want to do business will never get far!
Thanks, Terr. That’s a great example of how NOT to make somebody else’s business your business. Your rates should be designed to work for you first and for your client second! I’ve been guilty of the discount dance before, because I feel personally responsible for all my clients, but that’s a bad habit I have to resist.
@Terr (and Sophie) ~
I’ve been on several sides of that discount dance:
~You have a price figured out, and then knock it down to “out of guilt (of some sort)”, whether or not they asked for it(!); or me asking the other-guy for a discount, just because I’ve got a bad case of the “stingies”; or also, benefiting from their un-asked for discount…
It feels icky in the end, no matter how it happened!
Brilliant. I love this. Especially valuable is the idea that I’m selling a PRODUCT. We writers always think in terms of selling services…and thus in terms of hourly rate and client relationships. I like the shift of thinking of a core product — and it’s a really helpful idea in terms of branding and ideal customer, too. I am going to mull on this concept for a while.
It’s a big shift to wrench your brain through, but afterwards everything starts to seem easier. You start to understand the different elements of your product and optimise them until it works just right for you and your clients. It’s awesome!
“It’s easier to charge a decent rate for a smaller number of gigs than a low rate for a large number of gigs. ”
That’s something that took me a few months to realise, but thanks to bloggers like you, it didn’t take too long to hit me.
Unfortunately, there are still lots of GOOD writers out there, struggling on the $5-$10 article range, and wondering why they’re always burnt out and frazzled.
Taking decently paid jobs means that you no longer have to deal with too many clients, no longer have to rush work, and no longer have the frazzled and frustrating feeling when you’ve put in a lot of effort into your work.
Many people just don’t realise that the business side of freelance writing as important as the actual work itself.
Hope you’re enjoying your Monday Sophie!
Thanks, Daryl, you too!
Yes, this “test & learn” phase is definitely one of those business development lessons that I wish I learned years ago. Glad to hear it reinforced again here. Now, on to compiling that list of ways to do it effectively! 🙂
Yeah, it’s easy to think that all this lean and agile business stuff is just… well, business stuff. Not applicable to a little freelance writer like you or me. But it’s vital if you want to keep levelling up.
Oh, and when that list’s finished, I’d love to see it! 😉
It’s like eureka but it was there standing in front of me. I should have read this hours ago when I just said yes to my first gig!
Keep looking forward, Rob. How can you develop your product and get an even better contract on your second gig? 😉 And congratulations, by the way!
Hurray! for a first gig, Rob ~
…and learning this just in time for your 2nd gig is awesome, too ~ instead of sometime in your 3rd month, or 5th year!
Nice seeing you here Rob. 🙂 …and congratulations on your first gig!
Sophie the way you made things clear is really awesome; I am quite new to blogging but your contents despite of being hi-fi are so simple in narration and I never feel any difficulty to understand the message between the lines; are writing an ebook to teach blogging or content writing.
I got lost at the end there, Edison –are *you* writing an ebook, or are you asking if *I’m* writing one? Glad you liked the post!
Spectacular, Sophie!
The paradigm shift of having a PRODUCT instead of just having services to offer as a blogger is a complete surprise to me. Come to think of it, a product is much easier to price and much easier to market.
I’m thinking, how come I didn’t realize this earlier? I could have gone far now selling the product I’m most comfortable to sell; and, sell it at a much higher price range too!
I love coming here. I always come out carrying a bag full of goodies!
Having a product in addition to your services is a great idea. It’s a nice way to make passive income during the lulls when you don’t have as many clients coming in. Something simple–like an e-book–can get you some nice pocket change. So can affiliate sales for products you truly believe in.
Or you could start thinking of YOURSELF as a product: http://littlezotz.com/2013/05/thinking-of-yourself-as-a-product/ 😉
I think people tend to forget that their only constant, and most important, commodity is Time. If you run your business ineffectively, not only does it effect your hours, and your results, it will also effect your personal life.
Very good point, Ragnar. People tend to think of time as being “free,” but it’s really not–especially for freelancers.
Multiple offers, occasions are there, various, and the free lance blogger writing must at time be selective. Like when going to market. I want to feel at some level of agreement I control how I will make, determined by what I can create, express and suggest to the client, I hope will consider keeping within the payment plans that will offer be a fair payment! If it too complicated or I feel uncomfortable or have been taken advantage of, well, I chalk up as a ‘lost’, and move along!
One question, I live in japan and need to make 2,000 as soon as I can, do you think I can do this with free lancing?
My goal is to run my tennis consultant business online, thanks.
Love his blog too.
It’s time freelance writers understood their worth. Thanks for opening the eyes of so many of us Sophie.
I stumbled upon this article and it is one that made me re-evaluate and restrategize my business strategies as a freelancer. This time, I will be very selective so that in the end I can have control over the clients while maintaining a good relationship. Quite a nice read.
“Get started then keep improving.” A wonderful take home message. Thank you for your sagacious counsel Sophie.
As a former freelance writer, transitioning into a solopreneur, I didn’t know what I was doing to myself until I read this post and took detailed notes in my journal. The first thing in my mind is to offer a simple 20% discount on my products until I get used to the business realm. Now, I believe I need to go back and redo everything.
Another side of me enjoys reading and discovering your website because I am still learning this trade years later. Yes, I know how to produce traffic, and working on making that traffic consistent. However, this is my first time going into business online, and I slip up and forget my worth, knowing I deserve $50 to $120 per piece of work I sell.
Thank you for writing this. I need to sit down and seriously reflect with what I am doing and make sure I don’t mess up too badly in the first several months of working my business. Please, keep writing your posts! I know I am several years late to the comment section, but I also believe in purrfect timing.