At first glance, it may not appear that your freelance writing clients and your values are related. The types of gigs you go after, the people you decide you would like to work with and what you have decided is most important to you are very closely related.
Good Income
As a freelance writer, if you have made a decision that you want to make a lot of money (and there is absolutely nothing wrong with deciding that making a high income is one of your goals), you will make a point of seeking out clients who have deep pockets. To reach your goal, and get the thing that you value, you may decide that you are willing to do whatever it takes to attract and retain the types of clients who are willing to pay what you have decided you want to charge.
You may need to work longer hours to get the amount of money coming in that you have decided you want to make. Your marketing efforts may need to be directed toward a specific market to make it happen.
You would have to make choices about the kinds of writing you are going to take on. If making a lot of money is your goal, you will also need to be firm when someone approaches you about a project and isn’t willing or able to meet your financial requirements.
Flexible Schedule
Some people are drawn to freelance writing because they want to have a flexible schedule. They may be going to school or looking after young children or their parents. Since they value flexibility, they may want to work on short-term projects that they don’t need to devote much time to. They will target clients who can provide them with this type of work.
Building Relationships
Another type of freelance writer is a person who is interested in developing long-term relationships with clients. This is someone who may be more willing than the person whose main focus is on making money to work with a client’s budget when quoting for a project.
Start-ups and small business owners may not be able to pay huge amounts of money for writing, but if/when their business takes off, they will remember the people they worked with at the beginning who were willing to be flexible about pricing. As they are able to pay more, they will do so, and they are more likely to contact someone they have an existing relationship with than a person they don’t know.
These are examples of how your values shape how you run your freelance writing business. Whether you are conscious of it or not, you choose the opportunities you want to pursue based on your values. One is not better than the other; and a person can value different things at different points in his or her life.
When you are looking for clients or answering ads, what kinds of things do you value? I know that one thing that I value is my independence, so a client who wants to micromanage things wouldn’t be a good fit for me – no matter how much they were willing to pay. I also value the relationships I have with people I work with, and I try to be as flexible as I can when they need to make changes to the type of work, the volume or rates (without selling myself short).
When you are thinking about things that you value, don’t forget to put yourself on the list.
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