VOLUME 17, ISSUE 7 – JULY 2018
THIS MONTH’S MENU:
I. APPETIZER: THE HAPPY OVERESTIMATION
Yours Truly: If You’re Up When “Over,” Don’t Be Down When “Under.”
II. “FIELD” GREENS: A SIMPLE, PROVEN LEAD-GENERATION TACTIC
TX FLCW Shares “The Email Template That’s Landed Me a Lot of Work”
III. MAIN “MEAT” COURSE: ONE NICHE, TWO NICHE, THREE NICHE, FOUR…
OH FLCW Considers 3 Niches Before “Shifting” to the Right One for Her!
IV. DESSERT: SWEET SUCCESS STORIES & TIPS
CA FLCW Re-Contacts Radio-Silent Prospect, Lands Gig & Happy Client!
TIP: Does Your Freelance Attitude Stink? Put the Fear of “JOB” in You!
I. APPETIZER: THE HAPPY OVERESTIMATION
Yours Truly: If You’re Up When “Over,” Don’t Be Down When “Under.”
Every now and then in our business, a lovely thing happens. We quote a project, based on our best guesstimate of the time it will take. The client signs off on our estimate, we get to work, and then we finish¬—far sooner than we’d anticipated. We just made 50%, 70% or even 100% more per hour than we’d counted on.
And if it was a flat-rate quote, that extra money is all ours (yet another reason to quote projects by flat rate, not hourly). It’s only if we’d estimated by the hour that we’d be obligated to charge less on our final invoice (I get 50% upfront on most projects).
I had a project like that sometime back. At first blush, it just looked like a bigger deal than I imagined, and with a client I thought would be far more of a micromanager than he turned out to be. Just a few edits on my first draft and we were done. Love that.
The point? Just like we have these wonderful “overestimating” scenarios, now and then, we’ll underestimate a project. We assumed a simpler process, and an easier-to-deal-with client, and, well, it didn’t quite work out that way.
Sometimes, those situations just can’t be helped. Perhaps it’s a fussy client you want to please, which, within reason, should always be the goal, and especially if you foresee more work from them. You do your job, give the client what they want (within the parameters of your terms), grumble to yourself if need be, and move on.
No, I’m not suggesting we just “C’est la vie” our way through the “under” scenarios. Hopefully, over time, we get better at both estimating and reading personalities of prospects, and, when warranted, add an “aggravation fee” to future estimates for that client. All with an eye towards having ever fewer of those negative scenarios.
But, perhaps, you do one more thing…
You remember that really sweet deal that went so much more easily, smoothly and profitably than initially imagined. I guess I believe there’s no free lunch, and when life gives in one moment, it might just take it away in the next. And vice versa. Call it the Zen view: It all evens out in the end. On that “mildly-woo-woo” note, let’s eat!
II. “FIELD” GREENS: A SIMPLE, PROVEN LEAD-GENERATION TACTIC
TX FLCW Shares “The Email Template That’s Landed Me a Lot of Work”
Got the following piece from Denton, TX FLCW Victoria Cayce, who generously shares a template she’s used with some non-trivial success over the years. As she notes, it’ll likely work even better for those with a well-defined niche, which, by definition, will drive a more targeted marketing approach. Enjoy!
One of the more reliable ways I’ve found to land new work is via email marketing. First, craft a compelling email (use all your copy magic to write something that sings) and send it to marketing/ad/design agencies. They tend to have ongoing needs, AND, they understand what you do and why they need you—no explanation necessary.
This can be an especially effective strategy if you have a well-defined market niche, since niche writers are harder to find, and hence, in greater demand. Just Google “Ad/marketing agencies” in your area. If you work in a niche market like I do, add that into your search.
For example, I might Google “pharmaceutical marketing companies near me”, or “bio-medical marketing in Dallas.” Tailor your search to your specific skills and interests.
Google will happily spit out a list. I use a spreadsheet to help keep track of contact, address, phone number, email, etc. With list in hand, contact them via phone or email.
Here’s a version of email that’s garnered me a lot of gigs (edit for your circumstances). Like Peter says in TWFW, assuming you’re contacting the right kinds of prospects, it really is a numbers game. Just hit as many as you can, and then get ready to work your butt off. I get a ~10-15% response rate.
Hi There: I’m not sure if you use freelance medical writers to fill in the gaps, but I am interested in partnering with you to help with critical projects when your in-house team is swamped.
I am an experienced, degreed medical (fill in your niche market experience here) writer with a varied portfolio. Over the years I have crafted books, training material, CEO letters, consumer/patient information packets, investor presentations, press releases, marketing emails and much, much more.
Let’s talk about your needs.
What I bring to the table:
- Degrees, awards, etc. goes here.
- Strong experience in crafting compelling content
- Dependable (no dog-ate-my-copy-excuses)
- Able to meet tight deadlines
- Want a re-write? Not an issue
- No ego or prima donna attitude
Thanks for your time!
Sincerely,
Victoria Cayce
P.S. I’ve included links to some previous projects for your review.
III. MAIN “MEAT” COURSE: ONE NICHE, TWO NICHE, THREE NICHE, FOUR…
OH FLCW Considers 3 Niches Before “Shifting” to the Right One for Her!
Finding the right niche for you isn’t always an easy process, as this great piece from Cincinnati, OH FLCW Holly Helscher shows. Can you relate to her struggle? As Holly points out, for a niche to be an enduring one, it can be about something other than one’s “passion.” Enjoy!
As a kid you probably learned the playground rhyme, “One potato, two potato, three potato, four, etc., etc.” That’s how I felt deciding upon a freelancing niche.
When I first started freelancing, I believed picking a niche would be the easy part. That’s how it’s represented in a lot of courses. But it wasn’t. Not if I wanted to earn a living.
I wanted to freelance for companies needing copy for education. I even named my business Copywriter for Education (don’t look it up; it’s no longer a website). I’d spent 20 years in that field, so I knew it well. But, when I evaluated the niche, I discovered it wasn’t going to earn me the annual income I needed. So, I started over.
Niche #2? I chose adventure-type vacations—the ones where you hike, climb or do some other action-experience recreation. Whitewater rafting, anyone? It would’ve been a fun niche, but I realized there weren’t enough potential clients. Scrap #2.
Third time wasn’t the charm, either. Healthcare. I’d spent a decade in the industry. It was lucrative, and with plenty of potential clients. Except when I tried to write some samples, I quickly realized it was boring writing about it. Off the list it went.
By that point, I was six months into my new career. I’d generated a lot of paper, a lot of ideas, and a lot of research. But still no niche.
I returned to my original list of, oh, twelve million niche ideas—fashion, pets, parenting, kids, grandparenting—all things that interested me. But none of them hit the “passion” note that all the copywriting courses insisted was an essential ingredient in the equation.
Then I heard a little tidbit from a mentor. If I hadn’t been paying attention, I’d have missed it. He said sometimes a niche can be a skill you have. A skill? I took that concept and made a new list. It proved to be a highly valuable exercise.
My 40+ years in corporate America gave me a unique skill, one that most businesses would appreciate; my talent translated to one-stop shopping: I’d held every position from entry-level to executive vice president. I could write in an authentic voice from each perspective while maintaining a consistent message from piece to piece. Bingo.
If I focused on the services I wanted to offer and presented myself to the business community in B2B style, I’d make progress. And, in fact, I got my first clients that way.
By looking at the niche challenge from a different perspective, I ended up with a niche, services and USP all rolled into one. You may not have that specific skill, but if you take the time to make that kind of a list, you may be surprised at what you come up.
If you’re struggling with the niche question, while passion may be nice, skills might be the thing.
Today my biggest client has me writing medical education articles. That shift in thinking got me right back where I started—education! I couldn’t be happier.
IV. DESSERT: SWEET SUCCESS STORIES & TIPS
CA FLCW Re-Contacts Radio-Silent Prospect, Lands Gig & Happy Client!
TIP: Does Your Freelance Attitude Stink? Put the Fear of “JOB” in You!
Very cool success story from Santa Clarita, CA FLCW Robyn Kurdek. I seem to be hearing this same message again and again these days: Keep following up on prospects!
After that, a great (and no-doubt wildly effective) tip from West Yorkshire, UK FLCW Hannah Giles. Just thinking about it gives me the shivers!
Originally, I connected with this client last fall. We had a great phone conversation, I signed an NDA (non-disclosure agreement), and things seemed like they were moving in a positive direction. Then she went silent. For months.
I reached out to her last week, however, and she responded within days—with a project that had a quick turnaround. It was a blog post she needed written for one of her clients. We sent a few emails back and forth on payment, and I had a few questions on the direction and focus. Then, I dug in and got started.
I delivered the post ahead of schedule, and she was very pleased. Her email response: “This is excellent – great work!” Not only that, I got paid THE SAME DAY via PayPal!
Just proves that sometimes the fruit is in the follow-up, and that reaching out to past prospects is ALWAYS worth the effort.
I’ve recently been through a phase where I’ve been demoralized and unmotivated with my freelancing. I wasn’t earning much money and the work I was doing was of little value. As a result, my other projects (like fiction writing) suffered because I was struggling to get through my workday.
Things got to the point where I had to give myself an ultimatum: shape up or you’ll have to give up freelancing. I threatened myself with a real job!
The idea of returning to an office-based job with all that it entails, such a long daily commute, was enough to jolt me back into a disciplined and organized state of mind. If you’re going through a low period, for whatever reason, think about why you wanted to freelance in the first place.
I feel lucky to have the freedom of a freelance lifestyle and to be able to write for a living. I just need a dose of reality from time to time!