The majority of small businesses fold within two years of opening. It takes five years, on average, for a small business to show a profit. If you’re within the first five years of your freelance writing business, chances are pretty good you’re still struggling quite a bit. While there are no magical cures, there are some things that exponentially increase your chances of success.
Here are 10 ways to push your business through the roof:
1. Plan
I’ve said it before, and it bears repeating. You can be a great writer and a kickass salesperson, but if you don’t plan it out right, you’re going to fail. You need to have a clear idea of where you want your business to go and how you intend to get there. You also need to be flexible enough to change course if your plan isn’t going well.
2. Know Yourself
You need to get a handle on what it is you do. You need to understand what your job entails. You’re not a tortured novelist. You’re not even really a writer much of the time. You’re a small business owner. That means you market, you do bookeeping, you administrate and you might even supervise personnel. Occasionally, you even write. Figure out the parts of small business that you’re good at, and the ones you’re not. Either get good at them or hire someone who is.
3. Know your Customer
Give your customer what she wants, not what you think she wants. If you do, she’ll come back and buy from you again. Yes, you can offer advice and enhancements to improve on what she’s asking for, but if it doesn’t work, she’ll know who to blame.
4. Know the Freelance Writing Business
You can’t get a competitive edge if you don’t know the business. Know the industry. Know what kinds of writing people buy and why. Figure out exactly where in that business environment you fit.
5. Develop Your Brand
Your brand is an important part of your marketing effort. Your potential customers create their perception of your business from your brand. Make sure the message is consistent, from your blog to your Twitter account to your Facebook page to your Elance profile.
6. Price for Profit
If you’re writing $5 articles that take you an hour to complete, you’re better off flipping burgers. Same holds true if you’re writing $10 articles that take you an hour to complete. For every hour you spend writing, you need to spend a certain amount of time in bookkeeping, marketing, sales and the like. That amount of time likely varies from one freelance writing business to the next, but I like a 1:1 ratio.
7. Keep Good Records
If you don’t know where your money is coming from, you can’t go back and ask for more. Good records are like instruments on an airplane. Without them, you’re flying blind. With them, you know which way to turn in order to move toward success.
8. Learn from the Pros
Look, you’re talented. That’s cool. But there are people who have been doing this gig for a long time, who can tell you some seriously important things if you’re willing to listen. They can save you a heck of a lot of headache. Listen to them. Take what works for you and ditch the rest.
9. Follow Up
Repeat business is the key to long-term success. Build up a solid client base, do outstanding work for them that helps their business grow and they’ll come back to you again and again and again.
10. Don’t Give Up
Good old-fashioned stubbornness is a virtue you must have if you’re going to make it in the freelance writing business. The reason so many small businesses close their doors within two years isn’t that they weren’t good at what they did; it’s because they couldn’t tough it out.
All of these are great points, Bob. I particularly like #10. I used the same word “stubborn” in a post of my own on the traits freelancers need. It’s so true!
What an great article full of REALLY useful tips! Thanks for this – you’ve given me the steam I need to push on.:)
@Mary – it’s especially true when it comes to something like blogging. Just outlasting everyone else is often the best way to become successful.
@Kimberly – glad I could help. Steam’s a good thing
Would like to add two more:
1) Treat it as a business. Though my kids are teens now, I started my business when one was 1+ and the other was on the way. Not making a profit was not an option. But Al Gore had just invented the Internet, and only educators and geeks were using it at the time, so there wasn’t as much competition (I mailed in floppies with articles). I never treated it as a hobby, but ran into a lot of others who did — part of that has to do with the pricing you mentioned. I was fortunate that my first two clients were my previous two employers. So any work one can line up before making the plunge (I was “kicked into the pool” my job went away) is helpful.
2. Read a lot of sales and “success” (i.e., Think and Grow Rich) books. I had already started as a result of another venture I was in. I also had experience as a business writer, so learned some sales by osmosis. Even though I was not reading those books in anticipation of freelancing, they gave me a real good base for some of the sales work one has to do to be successful. I still read some of those books now (more in the success realm, like 7 Habits of Highly Effevtive People).
@Phil – you’re absolutely right, on both counts, especially the second one. I’m a big fan of Stephen Covey. For marketing, I like Seth Godin, and for sales I like Dale Carnegie and Zig Ziglar (old school, I know, LOL!)
One great book I’d add, especially for new freelancers, is Rockstar Freelancer from Freelance Switch (link goes to my review of the book). That one has a decent balance between business concepts and the nuts and bolts of freelancing.
Bob,
I’ve read Zig Ziglar and Carnegie, too, but Ziglar might be too hard core sales for some to start with.
I am currently in my second year of internet freelance writing and have just begun to receive a steady amount of money coming in from three website clients that I am writing on a weekly basis for.
The one thing in common ALL my clients have is the type of website they are running: home theater reviews. Writing in-depth reviews of high-end audio components is what I love to write about as well as excelling at it. This type of writing has turned into my basic foundation of financial independence and I am going to expand on that initial client base as much as possible.
So that would be my #11 tip: Write what you actually LOVE to write about and eventually you will find clients banging down your door to pay you a decent income to write about what you love.
I took a couple writing classes, and my teacher said that learning to write is like “beating your head against a brick wall”. If you do it write, eventually the wall will fall. Although he was talking about fiction writing, I feel like the metaphor is definitely applicable to the freelance writing field.
Good tips – many that I need to work on.
I like the “treat it like a business” tip too. I have to fight to have time to do my freelance writing everyday because it seems like everyone wants a piece of me – I have to be stubborn and relentless.
Great information here. Cheril, I love what you said – “everyone wants a piece of me.” I’m a stay-at-home mom homeschooling my three sons and building my freelance business with the hope of being full-time very soon. Things are going well right now, and I’m earning triple what I was two months ago. I have an office set up and work 2-4 hours every evening while my husband spends time with our kids (as well as time in the morning before they get up). You’d think I’d been on vacation, the way the boys act when I come out. They all three grab me, “Mommmm!” Lol!
Phil, thanks for posting this. I launched my freelance writing business less than a year ago but worked in the Communications field prior to that. My husband and I just purchased our first home and the stress has been overwhelming because I still don’t have that regular pay cheque coming in…month to month is different. Did you find that when you started? Does the regular pay ever come? It is stressful but I understand your point about being stubborn. I’ve faced rejection but keep going because…if you don’t persist, you won’t succeed!!
Caroline,
My experience is different than most because my first two clients were my last two employers, so I had steady income right away. Had to, my wife was five months pregnant.
Ups and downs in income are common, especially early. But I’ve run into more of it now after 17 years than ever before. Best way to avoid that is a wide, long client list. But that’s easier said than done.
I try to find clients with ongoing needs rather than looking for a lot of one-shot deals, and provide rate breaks for regular work. Best are retainer clients, but those are few and far between.
You have to be stubborn. Colonel Sanders was turned down several hundred times before being successful.
You might want to buy (or borrow from the library) a few Tony Robbins tapes (he will try to sell you more). I pick up business tapes from library or plunk down a few bucks for them at a book store every so often.
My favourite one is #3. This is where many freelance writers fail. Instead of knowing their customers, they stick to their own ideas and misconceptions. They don’t really try to understand what their clients need. This sometimes lead freelancers to argue pointlessly with clients, which is a mistake to be avoided at all costs.