One of the results of this is that you spend a lot of time juggling, with the result that when money comes in it may go straight into the household budget to handle any necessary expenses. You can feel good about making a contribution, but there are days when you might like to have some money to spend on yourself.

Just because your income is irregular, it doesn’t mean that you have to forego the treats you allowed yourself when payday rolled around. I remember that at the end of the month, my friends and I would go out for dinner and I would treat myself to a few new books. That was my way of reminding myself what I was working for - and I still need to do that now. I may not spend quite as lavishly as when I was a single woman without dependants, but I still need to pamper myself from time to time - and some of that pampering takes money.

Even if my income is irregular, I believe it’s essential to set aside a small percentage to pay for a couple of non-essentials - my gym membership (actually, that’s essential for health), lunch with the girls, the occasional massage and seeing a movie with my DH. Those things make life worth living. Sure, there will be months when you’ll be waiting for clients to pay up and may cut back on the treats, but when the payment comes in, pay yourself a small amount to do what YOU want to do.

A couple of years ago, I started working with a team of writers. I had good and bad experiences with that team, and the team continued to grow. Then I realised something. It wasn’t working for me. Here’s why.

I was spending more time chasing other writers for work than doing my own writing.

I was spending a lot of time checking work submitted  by people who had mislaid the writing brief.

I spent some time redoing work that was not submitted on time or had been plagiarized.

Don’t get me wrong. I also met and worked with some talented and reliable writers and I’m still in touch with them today, but I reached the conclusion that managing a large team of people wasn’t for me.

Instead, it’s better for me to work with a smaller group whom I can get to know. That gives me more time to spend on helping them to develop and much less stress. Three of the writers in my original team now have successful freelancing careers. A couple more people have other priorities, such as full time jobs. Then there are a few who have turned in shoddy work and whom I won’t be contacting again.

That leaves a core of about five writers whom I work with regularly, and five more whom I call upon for jobs they are specially qualified for.

I work better with a small team. How about you?

OK, I am peeved. Someone that I thought was reliable has let me down. Here’s the story. A client whom I’ve worked with for a couple of years (and who pays well and promptly) contacted me about a job. I explained that I couldn’t do it myself, but that I could sub it out. She agreed.

Since the articles required in-depth research, I divided them among two people. The first person delivered on time; the second is proving uncommunicative. This is unusual. About a week ago, she said she was getting straight onto them, but they haven’t arrived. I have chased and have had no answer - and now my client is chasing me.

So now I am peeved. In fact, I am annoyed. If this person couldn’t handle the work, all she had to do is say so. The other person would have done all of them and would have delivered on time. Now I am embarrassed because I am going to miss a client deadline that I haven’t renegotiated. This person is affecting my reputation. I am still hoping for a last minute miracle, but if it doesn’t happen I am going to have to call in some big favours this weekend.

The lesson is that even if you have worked with someone before, they can still let you down. There’s no way around that, so you have to plan how to handle it. In some cases, you do the work yourself. However, if you know someone who is better qualified, then you need to go cap in hand and ask for help, which is just what I have done. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

writing skills aren’t all you need. In fact, a lack of secondary skills is what sets many freelance writers on the road to failure instead of success.

This is a must-read post, so what are you waiting for? Head over to Poewar and check it out!

It happens to all freelance writers at some time. Since writers always have to plan ahead to manage their workload, they may find that a rush job comes in to disturb their well organised schedule. For example, an established client may need something in a hurry, and you may not want to refuse because it’s a valuable contact. When that happens one of the choices is to sub out work to other writers. This is not something that should be done lightly. After all, your clients are expecting your usual standard of work and there’s just no guarantee that another writer can produce that. It pains me to say so, but not every freelance writer is as good at meeting deadlines as you are, or takes the same care over meeting the brief. I know this from bitter experience. However, with a bit of care, you can find writers you can work with who won’t ruin your rep and will help you out of a tight spot.

Finding The Right Writer

If you have been connecting with other writers on social sites and forums, then it probably won’t be difficult to find another writer to work with. In fact, you may have more applicants than you know what to do with. It’s essential to whittle these down to those who will provide the best fit for you. One tip is to Google the writer and see if they have a blog or have ever submitted articles to an article directory. The reason this is a good move is because that work is likely to be unedited and will give you a clear picture of their writing style and attention to detail.

Follow that up by asking for samples that relate to the type of writing you are subbing out. A writer should be able to provide these fairly quickly, or something else that will work as well. Even if you’re in a hurry, don’t skip this step. It will help you to determine whether this writer can really help you. Remember that you may have to sub out work again, and it’s good to have a relationship with a writer (or a few writers) who can help you out in a pinch.

Briefing The Writer

Next, provide a detailed brief. If you have been working with a client before, you may know lots of things that are not in the original brief provided. If you do, add these to the brief that you give to the writer. I don’t know about you, but I always find that in seeking to clarify a client’s brief, I have lots of additional notes that came in via email. I always add these to the brief so I’m sure I have all the info - and that’s what I provide to anyone who is doing the work. Encourage the writer to ask questions about anything that’s unclear. It’s always better to clarify things at the start rather than try to repair the damage after mistakes have been made. (If you’re subbing out because you are overburdened, then you don’t have the time to waste.)

Give the writer a deadline that is a day or two before the client deadline. That gives you time to fix things if the work doesn’t go according to plan. If you give the writer the actual deadline, there is no leeway if there is a problem, and you will end up burning the midnight oil to make sure that your client’s deadline is met. (You can add this to the list of things I learned the hard way.) Tell the writer when you expect to be able to pay for the completed work.

Quality Control

When the work comes in, check it carefully to make sure it’s something you would be happy to put your name to. As far as the client is concerned, you are writing it and you owe it to the client to make sure that the brief is met. Check the work for plagiarism as not all writers are as good at citing their sources as you are. If you are happy, send it off to the client. With any luck, the work will be fine, you will get paid and you can pay the writer - and you will have made a contact who can help you in the future.

Freelancing has a lot of hidden costs that are not always reflected in the price we charge to clients. The time you spend making bids and chasing new business is often time where you don’t earn - and it’s essential to do it if you want your writing business to keep on growing. When a client comes back to you because he or she has been happy with your previous work, then that’s one set of marketing you don’t have to do. When that client refers someone else to you, you don’t have to work as hard to convince the new client of your value. In other words, you have been pre-sold, and you can get on with doing the work and take a break from promotion. (Please note: any break from promotion should be temporary).

So, how do you get more referral and repeat business? Sometimes all you have to do to get referrals is to ask. When a client is happy with your services and has paid you, make a referral request part of your followup. I usually thank clients for paying, especially if it’s prompt, and it’s easy to say something like: ‘Please pass on my details to others who need writing services’.

Another part of my follow up includes asking for a testimonial to put on my website. When people find my site, they can see that other clients have been happy, which makes it easier for them to think about commissioning writing from me.

For repeats, all I do is send out an email every six months or so, reminding clients that I exist. It could be a case of letting them know that I’m offering a new service, or simply enquiring whether the last piece of work I did for them had the desired effect. It’s about making contact and getting personal.

This strategy really pays off. So far this year, I have had a good mix of new business from referrals and business from repeat clients. Of course, I don’t stop looking for new opportunities. Today’s new client might give me tomorrow’s referral or repeat business.

When you can’t see people face to face, you have to work harder to let people see who you are. Most of us rely on visual and non-verbal cues for our assessment of people. When we don’t have those, we can be slightly lost. (In fact, I’m sure that’s what scammers rely on.)

Reassuring Clients

So how do you give your clients that added reassurance? There are many ways. One of the things that I do is have my picture on my about page. I also use a photo on many of the social networking and business networking sites. That means there’s a consistent image attached to my name, and anyone who searches for me will find it. (Of course, one of the photos doesn’t do me any favours, but I am gradually replacing that with a much better one. ) I chose the new photo because it was taken when I was happy and you can see a bit of life shining through.

Another way to reassure your clients is to make yourself available. Living in the tropics means that sometimes my internet connection is unreliable. I may be able to download email, but VOIP doesn’t always work as well as it should. Although I don’t publish my phone numbers everywhere, I give them to clients who want to contact me, and I’m prepared to contact them as well. I actually have two VOIP accounts, one with Skype and one with a British provider. I figure one of them will always be working and most of the time, I’m right.

Communication And Chit-Chat

I respond to email promptly, and try to lift my emails above the standard, dry, business fare. In other words, if I want a particular job, I try to put some passion into my bid or application. As I said, since I will never see these people face to face, I need to feel real to them. (Yes, I know I’m real, but do they?) It’s not a crime to inject the personal into an email. If you know someone has had a baby, you can express delight or commiserate over sleepless nights. After all, we’re all human. As long as this is only a small part of your communication, it helps to cement the relationship.

Promotion

My website is one of my key tools. Not just this one, but my professional site (still woefully underdeveloped under my blog troubles last month). That gives clients the facts and figures they need. They can see what I have done and what people have thought of my work. Add to that my profile on LinkedIn, where other professionals have recommended my work, and that adds up to a solid online presence that reassures most clients.

The more you do to promote yourself, the better it pays off. Just as we Google clients to see if they are trustworthy, they Google us, so why not Google yourself and see what you find? Remember that many of your interactions on blogs, forums and social sites are indexed, so make sure that you say things that you would be happy to have strangers see.

So does it work? Absolutely! Yesterday a friend described me as warm, friendly and dedicated. We’ve never met and have only chatted in comments on our blogs and Twitter. Yet he totally got me! And I think my clients do too.

• you thought you understood the brief but the client doesn’t like what you have written
• you didn’t understand the brief, but your requests for clarification leave you none the wiser
• the brief was clear but your client wanted something that wasn’t in the brief.

In any of these situations, you find yourself with work where you have to do so many revisions that it just isn’t worth it, or with a client who rejects the work you have spent so much time on and flatly refuses to pay. So, what do you do?

Clients Have Rights …

Let me say that I think clients are entitled to ask for revisions, within reason. If they give a clear brief and I make a mistake, I am happy to revise it. If I spot a typo, I am happy to correct it. Even if the brief isn’t quite clear and revisions are needed, I am happy to do them. However, when the list of revisions gets longer and longer and the client is impossible to please, you know that you’re going to lose money.

… But So Do Writers

Sometimes you just have to fire the client. This isn’t something that I do lightly. I always try to deliver what the client wants. The clients I write for are generally happy, but occasionally there’s one who isn’t. Today I said goodbye to one of those.

This was a job that I subbed out, with the client’s agreement, as she wanted an expert in a particular topic. The client finds it difficult to give a clear brief. The first time I worked for her she rejected the article, which ticked all the boxes on the brief. I did a revision, but told her I would have to charge more for future commissions because of the extra work her articles needed.

She disappeared for a while, resurfaced and gave us a new job. These were a couple of articles which she accepted and paid for. Then a few days ago, she brought a new job to me. I got the brief, tried to piece together what she wanted and got the writer to do the article. Again, it ticked all the boxes, but the client obviously wanted something that wasn’t in the brief, because she complained again.

At this point I had to decide whether it was worth persisting with this relationship. I communicate clearly and am pretty savvy with client briefs. All of a sudden I had a flash forward to dozens of articles which were more trouble than they were worth. I consulted with the writer, who felt as I did. It was time to say goodbye.

Taking Action

I then refunded the advance that the client had paid by Paypal and wrote her a short, but courteous note, which went something like this:

Dear Client

I really feel that I have supplied you with a well written article that covers the points in your brief. I realise that we seem to have a communication difficulty. Obviously my understanding of the brief does not match your requirements. Rather than go round in circles and nit pick on every single point, I have refunded the money you paid me as we seem to be on completely different wavelengths.  I wish you success with your venture.

I am still waiting for her reply. In the end I realised that this was one client relationship that wasn’t worth pursuing. Not only was it taking more time than the job was worth, but it was potentially jeopardising my relationship with one of my colleagues. Finally, in the long run, it wouldn’t do me any good to have an unhappy client, whether it was my fault or hers.

Technorati Tags: freelance writing,get paid to write,writing,writing business,writing career

Earlier this week, I read a post on Freelance Switch about turning clients into friends. In that post, Andy Howard made the point that when you work in an office, you invite clients over for meetings all the time, so why change your habit as a freelancer? I thought it was an interesting point, though I’ve never thought of doing it myself.

Since there are 3,000-5,000 miles between me and most of my clients, my approach to getting personal is different. I have never met any of my current clients face to face. Nor have I met any of the writers I work with every day, nor the bloggers I interact with daily. Since humans thrive on contact with others, you might think that that’s a disadvantage, but it hasn’t been.

Making The Connection

My experience suggests that we always find a way to make that connection if we want to. I have different levels of connection with the people I have met online. With some of my long term clients, emailing back and forth several times a week has built up a relationship. I may not know everything about them, but I know enough to make the relationship personal, while still professional.

For example, I had an exchange a couple of days ago with an editor about wisdom teeth. She’d had hers pulled; I’d had mine pulled in the past, and we sent a couple of emails back and forth about pain and swollen faces. It didn’t harm our professional relationship and gave us some level of connection.

Something In Common

I have a lot in common with the writers whom I work with. Many of us have chatted on IM and we have a lot in common. Some of us are parents who work from home, and although we don’t spend much time talking about these issues, they come up from time to time. Even though we haven’t met, some of us ‘get’ each other, and some of us are friends.

I think the same is true of many of my fellow bloggers. It’s true that we only know a particular slice of each others’ lives, but over time you conjure up a picture of people through the posts they write and the comments they make, particularly if you all end up commenting on the same posts. You find that you share attitudes on some things and agree to disagree on others. That’s not so different from offline relationships.

Adding The Glue

So where am I going with this? I think every relationship is personal. Even if you can’t use Andy’s method of inviting your clients to your workplace, it doesn’t hurt to wish someone a good weekend, ask if they had one, or send them a birthday or Christmas greeting. That’s part of the glue that holds personal relationships together and if you’ve never met, you need all the glue you can get. It makes your online working life richer and less isolated. What do you think?

Technorati Tags: blogging,freelance writing,writing business

A writing project got bumped back to me today (not one I’d written, but it doesn’t matter), and it got me to thinking about how writers deal with criticism. The following lines are taken from How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague, and they sum up how many of us feel when our work is criticised.

Does a dinosaur slam his tail and pout?

Does he throw his teddy bear all about? …

Does he mope, does he moan, does he sulk, does he sigh?

Does he fall on top of his covers and cry?

No-one likes to be criticised, but when you’re a writer, criticism is part of life. Whether you are working for an editor or a client, there will come a time when someone won’t like what you’ve written. If clients are paying for your writing, then they will feel free to tell you so.

Sometimes clients are not clear about what they want, and even if you ask questions, you can’t deliver. It’s a hidden brief, which you have no hope of unmasking until you fail to deliver. Sometimes the brief is clear and you may still get it wrong.

Well, guess what? This stuff happens to writers. Even the best and most competent of us sometimes miss a client’s wishes by a mile. It may not always be our fault, but we have still have to suck it up and move on.

There’s no point in behaving like the dinosaur in this children’s story. If you do, you will lose your client. Whining will only reduce your credibility. The thing to do is to say: ‘Sorry, I misunderstood you’ and find out what you need to do to fix it. Make the changes quickly and behave gracefully and you will still end up with a happy client.

When you start writing, you often don’t think past getting those first few jobs. If you do, perhaps you think about getting to the point where you’ve got a fairly reliable income coming in across the year, even if there are peaks and troughs. But what about getting beyond that time?

Making Dreams Into Reality

Let’s face it, we’re all going to get older. When our office bound peers are thinking about retiring to Florida, do we still want to be chasing every writing commission? I think not. That’s why it’s important to have some sort of long term plan for your writing career. What this might look like will depend on the individual, but here’s mine. It may have an element of fantasy about it, but there’s no reason why I can’t make it reality.

Spreading My Wings

My long term plan involves diversifying so that I am less dependent on the income I produce with my own flying fingers. I’m sure I’ll want to slow down at some time, and I’ve already had a couple of wake up calls about how illness can throw your writing career into disarray. My first step in diversification came last year, when I started working with a small team of writers. Not only do I get the satisfaction of helping other writers with career development, but I also have a group of reliable writers who can help me out in a pinch. One person I know who did this now does very little writing herself, concentrating on editing others’ writing. While this won’t suit every writer, as a former editor, I might not mind making this part of my daily routine.

Writing For Myself

The second option is to write not just for clients, but for myself. I’ve already started doing this, and if I can get my act together, I’ll soon have a couple of new ebooks to add to my list. Writing something that might also transfer to print increases the options for this strategy. Creating information products that can sell means a reduction in the daily grind. (It’s not really a grind yet, but will I feel the same in ten years’ time?) I will have to update them from time to time, but that’s a manageable task.

Passive Income

Passive income is the third plank in my strategy. You hear a lot about making money online, and at least some people must actually be doing it. I am already making money online, but it’s not enough to retire on. However, if I add some new sites, or increase the options on my existing ones, and promote some products that I believe in, maybe I can get a share of that ‘untold wealth’ that seems to be knocking around. I’m not looking to be a millionaire, but to have enough for my needs and savings to handle any emergencies.

As time goes on, I’m sure I’ll think of different things that I can do to secure my future. Maybe I’ll get around to finishing one of my novels and will become a runaway success. Maybe not. In the meantime, I am starting my career planning with the things that I can do now, knowing that the plan is likely to evolve. How have you planned for your career as a writer?

I’ll say up front that I’m not speaking as a bidding expert. In the days when I used to apply for jobs, I used to have a near 100% success rate with landing interviews. Bidding is much harder, in part because the competition is even stiffer. Still, although I get a lot of my work from my other promotional efforts, I’ve managed to win bids when it has really counted. Here’s what I’ve learned.

1. Choose Your Targets Wisely

OK; I’ll admit that the more you bid, the more chance you have of getting a few wins, but there’s no point in bidding for things that you are not qualified for. My most successful bids have been those where I have been able to bid with confidence because:

• I have done that type of work before
• I have published clips I can show
• I know the field well
• I know where to find relevant information

Here’s a recent example. I happened to see a project on GetAFreelancer for someone to write some financial articles. It happened that I had written on this subject for other clients, knew the terminology and knew the sites that would make good sources. That meant that I matched the client’s requirements; all I had to do was prove it.

2. Make A Match

In this instance, the client had a list of points that he needed bidders to address. They related to the subject matter, the keyword requirements, the type of English (UK) and the deadline. My bid addressed all of these issues. Here’s what I said:

I am an expert keyword article writer. I have ghostwritten more than 150 articles on rent back, quick house sales and repossession and I understand both the legal process and how to stop repossession with a quick house sale.

I will provide error free, Copyscape proof rewrites in UK English within the specified deadline. Please see my website (http://sharonhurleyhall.com) for further examples of my work and testimonials from my clients.

My bid is based on a rate of $xx per article, which reflects my expertise in the topic. I look forward to working with you. My rewrite sample is pasted below.

As you can see, my bidding letter was very short. I highlighted:

• my expertise
• my knowledge of the client’s target subject
• his requirements
• additional reasons to hire me
• the rate I required

My bid was a combination of selling myself generally as a writer (establishing my expertise and providing testimonials to support this) and showing how I could meet the client’s needs.

3. Show What You Can Do

Sometimes clients want proof that you can do the job they plan to hire you for. It’s true that sometimes this is a scam, but at other times it’s on the level. You’ll learn to distinguish between the real cases and the BS. I’ve had to provide two samples recently. One was for the bid above; the other was for another site, which said that I would not be paid for the sample, but that I would own the copyright. Under those circumstances, I had no hesitation in writing the sample required. I saw it as an investment, which matured quickly when I got a paying gig.

4. Clarify The Brief

I find it useful to ask a lot of questions up front. Some things may seem small, but in my experience, the more you find out at the start of a project, the more likely it is that you will be able to deliver it successfully. In the GetAFreelancer project, I realised half way through that I would be short one article, so I asked the client if there were any keywords he wanted me to reuse. In fact, I communicated with him throughout the project, whenever I needed clarification. This kept things ticking over smoothly and he was happy at the end.

5. Deliver

Once you’ve followed those four steps, it’s really up to the client. As writers, we are no longer in control. However, once you clinch the deal, then it’s up to you to make it work for you. Deliver what was promised when it was promised and you will get good feedback, referrals and even more work. You’ll also gain the confidence to make more successful bids.

Technorati Tags: freelance writing,writing business,bidding

Three Freelance Writing Scams

Here are some of the potential scams:

• The ’sample’ scam
• The ‘this is urgent, so work with me’ scam
• The ‘I’ve got plenty of work and you’ll get a better rate later scam’.

1. The Free Samples Scam

The free sample scam is one of the most common. If you apply for work through a bidding site or Craigslist, then this is the one that might affect you most. I often see job postings that say that applications without a sample won’t be considered. If someone asks you to provide a sample, you might feel like you have no choice, especially if you’re new to the game.

Some ‘clients’ ask several writers for one free sample each. This is a way for them to get all the articles they want free of charge. Frankly, it stinks! If you want quality writing, then you should be prepared to pay for it.

2. The Urgent Work Scam

I’ve fallen victim to the second scam before. My bad. The client approached me via my website, gave a payscale that wasn’t great but was acceptable, and gave a time within which I would be paid. So I wrote the article. (Note to self: you KNOW better. ALWAYS ask for a deposit.) I don’t know why I broke my own rule, but I didn’t get paid for that one.

3. The Wait For Rates Scam

The third one is where clients try to persuade you to write 100 articles for $100 (or less!) with the promise that there will be more, better paid work later. Don’t hold your breath. They will move on to find someone equally gullible for the next batch of articles.

Avoiding Freelance Writing Scams

So what do you do to avoid falling victim to a scam and ending up out of pocket?First of all, beware of the client who wants you to write a large batch of articles without payment. If you are going to do a lot of work, you should get paid.

My policy is to ask for a 50 per cent deposit up front. Clients who are not willing to pay this usually melt away. I might lose out on a job, but it separates the clients who value my work from those who don’t. Once a client becomes a regular, then I can afford to be a bit more flexible.

However, clients are within their rights to ask for proof that you can do the job. I approach this in one of two ways. Either I use something that I have already written and mention that it has already been sold, or I write a fresh sample and post it on my blog. That way I can use it to promote myself, even if I don’t get paid. (Incidentally, that’s what I plan to do with the last article I didn’t get paid for.

Sending In The Heavies

No matter what you do, there’s always the odd client who manages to escape your ‘con artist antenna’. If you fall prey to one of these people, then you have a couple of options. You can chalk it up to experience, you can report the client to Preditors and Editors, or you can ask Angela Hoy, who publishes Whispers and Warnings, to help you. This is the writing equivalent of calling in the muscle. Angela wrote to a client who owed me last year and he paid up straight away, so I’m a big fan.

Last Word: It’s Not All Bad

One final note. If you’re a newbie, you may be worried that there’s a scammer around every corner. I don’t think so. In the last three years, I have only lost out on payment for two articles, and only one of those payments is still outstanding. With a bit of care, you can avoid most of the scammers. And remember, if a job posting raises your BS antenna, then listen to your intuition and avoid it. Anyone care to chip in with their tips on avoiding freelance writing scams?

Note: This may look familiar to Writing Lab News subscribers, who got a sneak preview of a much shorter version in the January issue.

Technorati Tags: freelance writing,scam,writing business,writing career,get paid to write

How much time do you spend on writing each week? When you sit at your desk to write, is that all you do, or do you get distracted by other things. I’ll come clean and say that I am prone to distraction. In addition to writing/blogging, I also spend my time reading blogs, maintaining my sites, checking out new advertisers, researching and promoting my sites or blog posts. All of these are essential tasks for a writing business. But …

Rescuing My Writing Time

If you’d asked me a couple of weeks ago - or if you’d asked anyone in my family - you’d hear that I spend all day at my computer. I start at 8am, work till 2pm or 3pm depending on school pickup, and do some more in the evening. But I decided to find out for sure, with the aid of an application called RescueTime.

RescueTime is a time tracker. There’s a lightweight desktop application which sends info to a website to produce charts about how you spend your time. Of course, you have to do some work too.

Tagging And Tracking

The desktop app tracks the applications that you open and how long you spend using them (measuring the application that’s in focus at the time). It also tracks which sites you visit. Your job is to tag those sites with handy labels. If you are a serial surfer, then this might prove too much for you. I discovered that I visit a lot more sites than I thought.

I’ve been using it for the last week and I’ve made a few more discoveries. This was an unusual week for me. I was off site for a couple of days, and busy in the evenings, so I did much less writing than usual - just 11 hours. That included both writing articles and writing blogs. I spent 4 hours on email, 2 hours on site maintenance, and nearly an hour each on advertising and promotion.

What I Learned About Writing Time

Clicking on my most productive day revealed that I spent almost 45% of my time writing, with the rest spent on other tasks, including looking at other blogs. That means that 55% of my time was spent doing other stuff. A lot of this was research for my writing, searching for new gigs, and emailing writers and clients, so this was all related stuff.

And I learned something else. Although I did less writing than I thought, my writing time was extremely productive. In the hours that I worked, I wrote quickly and maintained a high hourly rate. The lesson is that I don’t have to be glued to my computer all day to make writing pay. I just have to use my writing time effectively.

Have you ever tried tracking how you spend your time? What tools did you use and what did you find out?

Technorati Tags: writing,writing business,freelance writing,writing career,time management,rescuetime

Getting Started With GetAFreelancer

First of all, let me tell you why it’s taken me so long to get started.The first reason is because I was busy. I’ve hardly had any down time since I started freelancing. The second reason is because many of the projects on that site offer ludicrously low pay. I’m not just talking about 1 cent a word, but far, far less. Just like Guru, Elance and others, it’s an international freelance marketplace and you are competing with people who think that getting $1 for a 500 word article is a good rate.

GAF Gets A Second Chance

So, why did I even bother giving it a second chance? Well, I decided that I needed to bid more to meet my ever increasing income target. Part of my motivation came from participating in the Inkthinker Query Challenge 2008. I figured if I needed to query more then I needed to check out more bidding sites, and I decided to give GAF another chance.

A Quality Project

I happened to log on and see a financial rewrite project that looked promising, so I decided to bid. This wasn’t the usual $1 a rewrite nonsense, but a project from someone who was prepared to pay more for quality. However, there was a snag. I only had the basic membership, which was free. If I wanted to bid for this project I needed gold membership, which is $12 a month. I decided I could afford to invest $12 in my career, paid up by Paypal, and submitted my bid with the required sample. One PM and phone call later, the project was mine.

Making Sure You Get Paid

Now, here’s one place where GAF scores - the escrow system. Once the buyer awarded the project, he placed the agreed funds in escrow, so I knew I would get paid on completion - and I did. But then there was another issue - your first payment from them has a 15 day delay on it (I can’t figure out why). This means that even though the buyer released the funds straight away, it will be another two weeks before I can transfer them to Paypal. That sucks, but at least I know they will pay up straight away for the next project.

Another plus point is that I only have to pay for what I use. When my gold membership expires at the end of February, I won’t bother to renew it until there’s another gold member only project to bid on.

GAF Profile

The profile feature is pretty basic, but probably tells everyone what they need to know. Mine has not been updated since I originally signed up, and I’m sure I could do something to make it more appealing. That said, I’m pleased to have found a decent paying project on what seems to be a low paying site. GAF takes a $1 fee for transferring my funds to Paypal, so all in all, my project expenses are $13. It was worth it.

A Final Tip

Most importantly, I now have that all important client review - and here’s a tip. Even when bidding on multiple sites, there’s nothing to stop you from referring clients to your best positive reviews, no matter where they are located.

Technorati Tags: bidding,getafreelancer,writing business,writing career,freelance writing

That seemed to fit well with a post on Skellie’s new Anywired blog about leveraging a blog. This post is all about adding value - and making money while you do it.

Freelance writers are often overworked, so I was interested to read a post on FreelanceSwitch about the work life balance. The post gives 12 tips to help writers get themselves back on an even keel.

One of the suggestions in that post is to learn to say no. If you’re wondering how to do it, then the Web Content Copywriting blog has a whole post on this topic. Meanwhile, Dana Prince advises us not to let our manners get in the way of getting paid to write.

Finally, here are two useful resources to round out the list. The first is a list of other freelance writing job sites. It’s no secret that Freelance Writing Gigs is my top choice, but it never hurts to have alternatives. (Thanks to Freelancing Journey for the tip.)

And there’s something for all the non-US writers who are looking for the right paperwork to fill out. Sometimes companies ask you to fill out a tax form. If you don’t pay taxes in the US, then they may still ask for a form to meet their reporting requirements. The form you need is a W8-BEN - and here’s how to fill it out. The instructions are for the UK, but they work for everywhere.

Technorati Tags: writing,writing career,writing business,resources,blogging

Yes, the system had some advantages. I could access my calendars wherever I went. However, since I work at home and carry my laptop with when I leave home, this was not quite as useful as it seemed.

As the year went on, I found that I needed to supplement the information on the calendar with little paper notes. Google Calendar is not a good to do list. Pieces of paper would blow away or get lost and that wasn’t very satisfactory. And if the calendar crashed while I was updating, the information wasn’t always up to date. It just didn’t work as well as I had hoped.

So for all those reasons, I decided to go back to a desk diary for my writing work. When a job comes in I note it in my spreadsheet, then I write the deadline in my desk diary. I also write a reminder for two days before - for most projects that’s enough time for me to play catch up if I have to.

So far, it has worked well. I can see the week’s work at a glance, and it’s easy to tell if I am fully booked on a particular day. There’s space for me to make notes and list tasks as well, and it’s easy to cross them off when I’ve done them. Best of all, I no longer have lots of loose paper on my desk.

I still use my online calendar, but I only use it for personal appointments now - and I’ve amended my holiday calendar to show all the major holidays in the places where my clients are located. But for freelance writing, the paper diary looks set to stay.

Technorati Tags: freelance writing,writing business,writing career

1. Tidy Up The Business

First of all, I have completed most of my outstanding work and delivered it to clients. At the time of writing, I have two articles left to write, and I will have finished those by the time you read this post.

I have got some posts ready for the places where I blog, and am currently preparing a few for my own blog,which I will future post over the next couple of days. I still have some jobs left to manage which members of my writing team are handling, but there are only a few of those at the moment.

2. Show Me The Money

Second, I have invoiced for all work delivered to date. I’ll follow this up with a final round of pre Christmas invoices at the end of the week. Christmas will be merrier if I know that the money I have earned is heading for my bank account.

3. What Do You Need?

Third, I have emailed all my clients to check what they will need over the Christmas period and have made sure that those jobs are allocated. In some cases, the work has been done in advance so that team members can also enjoy a break.

4. Taking Care Of Next Year

Fourth, I have started bidding for work for the new year. I want to hit the ground running in January, and I already have a few jobs in hand for the first couple of weeks of the year. I am no longer booking in work for December, though if an existing client has an emergency I’ll find a way to fit it in.

5. Season’s Greetings

Fifth, I have sent out a Christmas greeting to the people I have worked with in the last year. For those whom I work with regularly, it’s a way of thanking them for our excellent working relationship (and friendship, in some cases). For the others, it’s also a way of reminding them that I exist.

6. Clean Up The Computer

Sixth, I have begun to tidy up my files. All of this year’s writing work will go into 2007 folders for each client. I’ve also been looking at my work spreadsheet for this year and seeing how I can improve it. There are a few columns I’ve hardly used that I’ve deleted - we’ll see how the new version works next year.

I’ve also been taking care of festive preparations with the usual round of gift wrapping, card sending, food shopping and just-in-case buying. Of course, I may have forgotten something, but I feel prepared. How are you getting ready for next year?

Technorati Tags: writing business,writing career,writing,freelance writing,get paid to write

Someone said to me recently: ‘Freelance writing is not like other jobs; you never really get away.’ She was referring to the fact that I work at home, and it’s always easy to think about the jobs that are waiting for me - or to work instead of doing something social. But her comment also made me think about planning for the Christmas holidays - and other holidays - for freelance professionals. For those of us not in the US, the whole of the Dec 24th to Jan 1st period is a holiday, so being able to join in the fun takes some planning.

Challenges For Freelance Writers

As freelancers, if we don’t work, we don’t earn. Not for us the luxury of knowing we’ll get a paycheck or a Christmas bonus. Instead, if we want to buy presents and enjoy the holidays, we’ve got to do a lot of work - and can sometimes end up taking on too much. I know that’s happened to me in the past. I spent most of last Christmas working - and I vowed that I wouldn’t do that again.

As work at home parents, there are also challenges relating to the school holidays. When our little darlings are at home, much as we love them, we get less work done. Less work means less money and less spending power, which is bad news for everyone.

Achieving Balance In The Writing Life

So how do you balance the demands of parenting, writing and enjoying the festive season with the rest of your family? Here are a few things to try.

First of all, if you don’t already have one, invest in a laptop. This means you can travel to any festive family occasion and still sneak off for an hour to do a little work. Failing that, arrange to grab some computer time anwhere you go. If you have work to do, this will allow you to keep up with it and still enjoy the holidays.

Talk to your clients to find out what their writing needs will be. Some of them may not want to bother uploading content during the holidays, which may let you off the hook. If they do want content, see if you can split it so that you do a bit extra just before the holidays and postpone the rest till after the holidays. Most people expect you to have some down time at this time of year, so make the most of it.

Budgeting Writing Time And Money

Set a cut off date for finishing your outstanding work. Mine is December 21st for new work. If it can’t be delivered by that date, then that’s it till after Boxing Day (December 26th). I plan to spend a couple of days doing the regular weekly writing and blogging tasks ahead of time so that I can take a full week off.

If it matters, let people know that you will be unavailable. For me, this consists of telling people who send me work regularly when I’m working over the Christmas period. I will also put a Christmas vacation responder to let others know that responses to email will be slightly delayed.

Of course, there’s an even easier way to handle holiday time, and that’s to budget for it. When you are setting your earnings targets for the year, assume that there are some times when you won’t be working. That will help you to get a more accurate picture of what your take home should be. If you manage this successfully, it won’t matter too much if you take a week off from time to time.

Finally, don’t get stressed about it. I decided that it was important to make time for my friends and family instead of being attached to my laptop with an invisible - and very short - leash. Sometimes that means that I’m a few dollars short of my target, but I’m happier because of it. Remember to keep things balanced and you’ll have fun during the holidays. You might even find that you’re more successful.