Good Clients Will Pay Handsomely for This (Often-Elusive) Outcome…
The ‘APPETIZER’ Series: The original version of this piece first appeared as an Appetizer course in The Well-Fed E-PUB in June 2016, and was one I wanted to run as a blog post (with minor alterations) in order to get input from many voices.
Got this note from a successful commercial writer recently:
Another new client asked if I have any wiggle room on my price for 10 emails (at $100 each). This will probably take me a few hours total, so I dropped it to $750, which will still be plenty profitable. Lesson learned: Start high so you can come down if you have to.
He said he works with another writer who charges $50 an hour (ugh!) but would rather work with me. Lesson #2: Do great work so your clients love you and will gladly pay your higher fees for the quality!
Now, if that isn’t the very picture of the ideal copywriting client we all need to be pursuing, I don’t know what is: one who’ll pay more—and sometimes far more—than they’ll pay another copywriter, just to have it done right and done well.
Someone for whom the predictable superior outcome is the goal. The outcome trumps money (within reason) every time.
Think about that: Good clients can and DO perceive the difference between a great commercial writer and an average one. Sounds obvious, but to some writers trying to get traction, they look around at countless other writers asking for $5-10 per article, and ask, “How in the world can I compete with that?â€
Of course, the answer is: You’re not competing with that, and if you try to, you’re either going to lose, or go broke winning.
You don’t compete. You distinguish yourself in some way: by having a niche or specialty, by simply being a better writer, but first and foremost, by looking in different places for work.
Yes, you have to be a decent writer to make money as a commercial freelancer, but I’d wager good money there are plenty of writers out there with modest writing skills—skills little better than those struggling on the online job sites or writing for the content mills—but they’re making a decent living (i.e., making at least $50+ an hour or more).
How? Simply because they stopped hanging out in those low-rent writing ghettos, and stopped bidding on projects with a zillion other writers (a surefire strategy for driving rates down to nothing) and started proactively hunting for writing clients.
Could giving yourself a raise be that easy? Absolutely.
Now, those modest skills are unlikely to propel you into $90-$100-$125/hour+ territory, and far higher than that, like our friend above, but improve them, redirect them into narrower directions, and deliver that predictable superior outcome, and watch what clients will be willing to pay.
Have you experienced the kind of client I describe above—for whom the superior, predictable outcome is something they’ll pay handsomely for?
Have you had clients tell you they prefer working with you, even though you charge more than other writers? If so, what is it they like about you?
Have you spent time in the low-pay writing world, while knowing you were a better writer than most you were competing with?
Have you been able to boost your income just by looking for work in different—and more proactive—ways, and in different places?
Speaking of improving your skills… If you’re interested in giving your commercial-writing skills a serious upgrade, and in the process, give yourself the confidence to take on ANY high-paying commercial writing project, I invite you to check out Well-Fed Craft, my new self-paced course on how to actually write the most common copywriting projects. For full details, go here.
Want to be a guest blogger on TWFW Blog? I welcome your contribution to the Well-Fed writing community! Check out the guidelines here.
My house is under renovation right now, and it’s a hassle for everyone involved. My husband is redoing our kitchen and building us a real laundry room. It’s a hot mess and will be for a couple more weeks.
I’m in charge of laundry and the idea of sitting at a laundromat makes me want to cry because I usually have our three kids in tow. It also takes time away from my work. When I’m doing laundry at home, I can work around it.
So, as part of our renovation budget, I’m having someone else do my laundry. It’s making such a difference in an already frustrating process. And let me tell you a little secret, it’s not costing that much more than doing it yourself at the laundromat. It’s about $2 more per load. My time is worth that extra $5-$10.
That’s what I think about when I read about writers who take less than they are worth. Your time is your most valuable asset, and a good client understands that. If you make their job easier, they will pay you your worth. I liken their jobs to hanging out in laundromats with three kids. Nobody has time for that.
Thanks, Amanda! And I can relate to life during renovation. No fun! Just focus on how lovely it’ll be when it’s all done!
Great point. Yes, you know you understand the value you bring to the world (and the $ value of it) when you start thinking in terms of that value, and you start outsourcing tasks anyone can do, and for a fraction of what you charge for your services. Those who continue doing those things clearly have not internalized their own value, so unconsciously, they’re saying to themselves, “Why pay someone to do this, when I can do it myself?”
Even if they’re not yet making, say, $75+ an hour, I say that “living” like they are, and outsourcing time-intensive tasks will send a message to the universe that they’re ready to make that kind of money.
Thanks for sharing it!
PB
Great questions, Peter.
Yes, I currently work for clients who pay more for my services because what I deliver is what they want. They know I’m reliable, that I hear what they want and deliver it, and that I’m easy to work with.
I had one client actually come back after they attempted to breach the contract by paying me less for something. After their “horrible” experience with another writer (you get what you pay for sometimes), they said they’d pay whatever I charged. I humored them for a few months, but soon they were back to trying to redefine contract terms. We ended amicably, but I was clear on why.
Yes, I’ve been in the low-paying world. I hated it. I hated the passive approach to getting clients (job boards). I hated giving all control of my wages and my skills to those clients, who rewarded me with some of the more awful behavior and shady tactics I’ve ever witnessed. I decided to raise my rates, and they disappeared. Amen. The clients who filled in those now-empty spaces gave me something the low-payers never did — respect. And not one hassle at invoice time.
My whole approach is proactive. The minute I realized I was holding myself back unnecessarily simply by relying on job boards, my business results changed. Drastically. I’m making $150 an hour and my clients are repeat customers. Because I’ve established my business as a serious one, I can now select whom I’ll be working with. Do I still get tire kickers? Sure. But they’re just not my clients. Do I negotiate? When I want to and when the project or the client is interesting to me.
I’ve never regretted raising my rates or setting up and defending my boundaries. It’s only brought good things.
Great stuff, Lori, as always!
Love it when clients come back after discovering that their oh-so-clever plan to get the “same” project done by a much cheaper writer turned out to be not so clever after all. They end up paying the bad writer AND the good writer.
It’s interesting the mindset shifts you’re talking about here… Arguably, it gets in the realm of a leap of faith. Meaning, once you stop dealing with low-paying clients, and draw your line in the sand on rates and terms, though there’s no proof or guarantee you’ll get better clients by doing those things, that’s in fact what’ll happen.
As you note: “I’ve never regretted raising my rates or setting up and defending my boundaries. It’s only brought good things.”
But, most people won’t trust themselves (or the universe) enough to make those changes, and trust that those good things will then come their way. Instead, they try to “control” situations, but that control amounts to little more than cutting rates to nothing in order to land a job.
So, they “stay in control” (if you can call it that) and stay poor. All because the illusion of control is more comfortable and certain (even if impoverishing) than uncertain (in their mind) abundance.
A little Wednesday philosophizing…;)
Thanks again, Lori, for weighing in – always enjoy and appreciate your contributions!
Hi Peter,
This is gold! Raise your rates periodically around the same time. Offer existing clients discounts for loyalty.
Christopher Melotti
Melotti Media Copywriting