Sunday, February 13, 2005
Truly, Madly, Deeply ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I did a consult the other day with someone who wanted to be a speech writer. He had the usual questions that ran the gamut of how to find clients, whether you needed to have written a lot of speeches to sell yourself as a speech writer, and about how much you could realistically expect to make. These were not unreasonable questions at first glance, but since he was coming from a corporate 9-5 background, he was putting the cart before the horse. He failed to ask the more pertinent questions. What is the day/week/life in the life of a freelance speech writer like? What personality traits should you have to make it?
There is something else more important. If you are thinking of leaving the dark but comfortable side of the corporate world and planning to jump to the freelance side, then you need to look yourself in the mirror and ask "what can I do that I feel truly, madly, deeply about?". If you can't do that you are in for a very rough time.
Freelancing is not for the faint hearted. You may go days on end with no billable hours. You need an understanding partner who has a life of his/her own since, if you are not working in fact, you are working in your head. Finding balance is difficult because you get hooked on the adrenaline of work.
At times you may be scared. But you will never be bored. That's a pretty good deal.
So remember. Truly, madly, deeply. Accept no substitutes.
Floors and Ceilings ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Readers of my last FF newsletter may recall my describing a talk I gave to a group of freelance editors and how they all raised their hands when I asked them how many of them would be happy be earning 75k a year? I said I wasn't too surprised when they all raised their hands. I wasn't surprised because they were editors, and I know that these most worthy of professionals are vastly underpaid for the incredibly valuable services they provide. But of course being underpaid is not just the fate of editors, but of too many freelance writers as well.
But if you are a seasoned pro with a proven track record of providing stellar corporate writing services to your clients, then let me suggest that $75k should be your floor, not your ceiling. A six figure income should not be out of the question.
So what is the ceiling for a sole proprietorship? You would be hard pressed to find a more impressive role model in this regard than Bob Bly - copywriter extraordinaire. He has claimed incomes of up to half a million in a single year. Yes it is true that direct mail copy writing can command good fees. But my guess that a big factor in his income is not just the value his customers place on his services, but the value he places on himself. Check out his web site www.bly.com.
I concede that perhaps poets and proof readers have some built-in limitations to their incomes. And yet...if you pick a genre of writing that has a regarded high value, and you prove yourself utterly reliable, then you have an awful lot of leverage.
Then the limitation to your income becomes more a factor of time over hourly rate. There are just so many hours a day an individual can write. And only so many billable hours you can get over the course of a year. Still, the short story is if you want a six figure income, you likely need to be charging out at a three figure hourly rate.
If you are a good marketer, the much more lucrative route would be to get lots of clients, and sub- contract the work out. But then you wouldn't be a writer any more would you?
Marketing Mantras......throwing down the gauntlet....with a deadline ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok ok the intial response to the marketing mantra contest hasn't been exactly overwhelming. Not in quantity. But they are pretty good in quality. You can see what I mean by going here.
But I want more please. I am itching to give away a great book prize but I want more of your "less than 25 word" mantras that sums up what marketing practice works best for you. Just send me yours via email to Fearle ssFreelancing@telus.net and I will post it on the FF web site. Make sure to include your name/title, company, and city/province/state for attribution purposes. The deadline for submissions is March 15th.
My original plan was to be the judge and jury about the winning entry. But I am going to turn that over to you. With the issuance of the next newsletter in March I will call for your vote on the best marketing mantra. I will tally up the numbers and announce the winning entry in the April newsletter. Are we clear on that?
Non-subscribers can play so tell your friends.
