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Surefire Negotiating Tactics Freelance Bloggers Can Learn from FBI Agents

Surefire Negotiating Tactics Freelance Bloggers Can Learn from FBI Agents

Most bloggers freak out when they hear the word n-e-g-o-t-i-a-t-e.

Why? Well, for many bloggers (at least for those I know personally and the ones honest enough to admit it), negotiating is pure torture.

I get it. It was torturous for me as well! Or it was… until I discovered the technique I’m going to share with you in this article.

In my early years as a freelance blogger, whenever I’d sit at the negotiating table, my palms would sweat, my guts would squirm… I’d be at a complete loss for words.

Sound familiar? Yes? No worries. Keep reading, and I’ll help you become a better and stronger negotiator.

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5 Steps to Make Hourly Rates Profitable as a Freelance Blogger

5 Steps to Make Hourly Rates Profitable as a Freelance Blogger

As a freelance blogger, you might have heard that you should get paid per project. Or per article, at least. That this way you won’t be penalised for working more efficiently after spending time and money improving your skills and knowledge. Better you get, faster you deliver, right? But we all know that some clients insist on paying per hour.

One of the reasons behind it is that the financial aspects of freelancing can be very confusing, and not only for the clients. And if it isn’t one of those cases where you would rather lose the deal than accept an hourly rate, your only option is to make the arrangement work for you. So here is how you do it, step by step.

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5 Easy Ways to Get Paid Faster as a Freelance Blogger

5 Easy Ways to Get Paid Faster as a Freelance Blogger

We all know: freelancing blogging is great. You’ve got your freedom, you’re doing something you’re passionate about (most of the time) and you’re proud of your work (most of the time).

You put in the hours, a little bit of elbow grease, a whole lot of energy, and you send off your post to your client, along with your invoice.

And then you wait. And wait. And two weeks later you check your bank account, and then you wait some more. And then two weeks after that you get an email saying it will come in two more weeks.

Sound familiar? Even if you’ve got your invoice basics covered, late payment is unfortunately a part of life for freelance bloggers.

Luckily, there are ways to minimize the likelihood of that happening to you, and there are things you can do today to help you get your invoices paid faster.

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How to NOT Be Your Freelance Blogging Client’s Fool

How to NOT Be Your Freelance Blogging Client’s Fool

Yes, I’m aware of the date. No, this post is not a joke. In fact, it’s as serious as they come.

I couldn’t resist doing a post about “fools” on April Fool’s Day. After all, there are so many ways clients can make fools out of us freelance bloggers.

Sometimes we play the fool when a client refuses to pay. Other times, we’ll be made a fool when a client keeps piling on work that we didn’t sign on for. Or maybe, you’re that sad fool whose had the misfortune of working for an abusive client? Ah, yes… the saddest fool of all, perhaps.

Well, it’s time to take a cue from Cinderella and become “Nobody’s Fool.” (Feel free to play that song in the background while you read this to get in the proper mindset).

The Client Who Makes You a Fool by Not Paying

This is one of the most common ways a client can make a fool out of a freelance blogger. It happens, on occasion, to even the best, most established freelance bloggers. It’s nothing to be ashamed of… but it is irritating as all get out.

The first step is not to panic, or let rage consume you. You absolutely must stay calm.

From there, try resending your invoice, with a little reminder that it’s past due.

Still no response? Then it’s time to send your client a carefully-worded e-mail about the situation.

Try something like:

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5 Steps to Take When You Lose Your Best Blogging Client

5 Steps to Take When You Lose Your Best Blogging Client

Before I became the Managing Editor of Be a Freelance Blogger, I was a reader, just like you. And I’m still an avid reader of the posts here to this very day.

One of my all-time favorite posts here on BAFB is this one on preparing for the Feast or Famine Cycle. It details how you can prepare yourself ahead of time for the “Famine” part of the cycle so that, when it comes, you won’t take as much of a hit financially or mentally. It’s great stuff!

But what about those times when – WHAMMO! – you find yourself in the “Famine” part of the cycle unexpectedly?

As freelancers, it’s not uncommon for us to be let go with little to no warning from contracts that were supposedly “steady.” It happened to me just last month! A company I was working for suddenly went under and laid off all of their employees (including me!) with zero warning ahead of time. None of us had any idea anything was financially wrong with the business until we found ourselves suddenly jobless. And that’s not an uncommon story among freelance bloggers.

First of all, don’t panic. What you’re going through is normal, and you will find another job.

After the bone-chilling realization that you’re suddenly “unemployed” sinks in, remind yourself that you’re a freelancer and that you’re never truly “unemployed.” You’re your own boss! The only way for you to be truly jobless is if you quit freelance blogging altogether. And you’re not about to do that, right? Yeah. I didn’t think so.

So, after you’ve come to grips with your new situation and reassured yourself that everything’s going to be fine eventually, there are a few steps you should take…

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