Top Posts 4 - Be a Freelance Blogger

How to Borrow My Clients and Make More Money Blogging

Freelance blogging didn’t sound like this much effort when you first considered it.

You’re working hard — probably harder than you need to — but damn, those top-dollar clients are an elusive bunch. Most of the time, you think yourself lucky if you can find clients who have a budget and no major psychological issues.

I’ve got a solution for this problem. One you might never have tried before.

Ever think of borrowing my clients? They pay pretty good.

Seriously, borrow my clients. Go ahead.

Is something wrong? You look kinda confused. [No, I’m not watching you through the magical powers of the internet. I’m just imagining the expression on your face right now.]

OK, let me show you how this works so you can start borrowing high-paying clients from me ASAP. [Read more…]

By Sophie Lizard 40 Comments

What to Do When Your Freelance Blogging Career Is Going Nowhere

You got started. Found a few clients.

Remember how it felt at first? The world was yours, the sky was blue, the good life was just around the corner…

Then what happened?

Well, kinda nothing. You’re still doing the same kind of work for the same kind of pay.

And let’s be honest, that fact makes you cringe a little. It’s downright embarrassing. Your family and friends already had doubts about your career choice — you don’t want to prove them right by admitting you’ve failed to make any progress.

So you keep running on that hamster wheel, going nowhere fast.

Problem with the hamster wheel tactic is, it doesn’t work. As long as you’re stuck in the wheel, you have to keep running just to stay upright. It’s exhausting. And you know sooner or later you’ll slip and fall.

What are you going to do?

Give up and cry?

Go back to a nice, safe job in a filing cabinet somewhere?

Hell, no.

Here’s how to break out of the hamster cycle and get your freelance blogging career in gear. [Read more…]

By Sophie Lizard 66 Comments

Why Your Freelance Writer Website Makes You Sound Like an Idiot

Your dream client is visiting your freelance writer website right now, while you’re reading this.

They heard about you, they think you sound awesome, and their budget is huge.

But what they read on your website puts them off the idea. They don’t pick up the phone. They hit backspace, and they go somewhere else.

Do you want that to happen to you?

Of course not. But it happens more often than you’d ever like to think. So let’s do something about that, today. [Read more…]

By Sophie Lizard 52 Comments

You’re an Expert (And Don’t You Forget It)

There’s this thing that keeps happening.

Not to you. To me. For once, I’m starting a blog post by talking about myself… but only so I can talk about you.

Yeah, you. The one who says you don’t know what you have to offer a client, or what your specialist expertise might be.

It keeps happening. I have conversations that go something like this:

BAFB READER: I recently started freelance writing and I don’t really feel confident asking for money because I don’t know much about anything. I’m not an expert, I’m just a writer. And I’m scared to send any queries in case I get rejected. Or in case I don’t get rejected. Or in case I get writer’s block after I’ve been hired. Or in case I just can’t handle the pressure of a writer’s life and go crazy like Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

ME: Oh. OK. So, um, what did you do before you started freelance writing?

BAFB READER: Oh, I was a professor in advanced examples at the University of Examples. Then I spent a couple of years as an examples artist at the Example Institute for Impressive Examples.

ME [With restraint.]: So… did you ever think that maybe you could get started by writing about… you know… examples? [Read more…]

By Sophie Lizard 75 Comments

All Killer, No Filler: 6 Simple Tips for Concise Writing

Brevity is the whatsit of thing.

You know the one I mean. Wit. Source. Other way around.

And conciseness, well, it’s similar only more important.

Conciseness is a skill that not enough bloggers take the time to develop. One that, if you demonstrate you’ve mastered it, will win you plenty of work even when other bloggers struggle to get hired.

It isn’t mere brevity. It isn’t only clarity. It’s a special, sparkling combination of the two that gives exactly the amount of information the reader needs, as briefly as possible without sacrificing any important details.

Say you have 500 words to write. You could write 500 smart, well-chosen words and make everyone (your readers, your clients, your editors, your bank) very happy. Or you could dish up 150 of the good stuff surrounded by 350 of fluff and redundancy.

A 3000-word epic blog post is still concise if every one of those words serves a purpose. Length is not the measure of conciseness. Value is. [Read more…]