VOLUME 16, ISSUE 3 – MARCH 2017
THIS MONTH’S MENU:
I. APPETIZER: THE PAUSE THAT REFRESHES
Yours Truly Downsizes, Simplifies and Recharges the Batteries
II. “FIELD” GREENS: ARE YOU WEAVING YOUR DREAMS?
Part-Time NC FLCW Stitches Together a Rewarding Writing Life in Needlework!
III. MAIN “MEAT” COURSE: WHAT’S IN A NAME? PROFIT! (Part 1 of 2)
Canadian FLCW Shows Savvy Wordsmiths How to Tap The Lucrative Naming Niche
IV. DESSERT: SWEET SUCCESS STORIES & TIPS
Budding UT FLCW Tries Different Strategies, Makes Mistakes, Lands Small Success!
TIP: Free Social-Network Marketing that Works—Minus the Turn-Off!
I. APPETIZER: THE PAUSE THAT REFRESHES
Yours Truly Downsizes, Simplifies and Recharges the Batteries
I haven’t made any public announcement about it, but on January 15, I left on a nearly three-month trip to Asia and Mexico. The first five weeks found me in Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam (three amazing weeks in the latter). Why? Well, why not?
Seriously, I’ve been at it 23 years, had hit a point of diminishing enthusiasm, and decided that a change of scenery and a break were just what the doctor ordered. While cliché, it’s true: New sights, sounds, tastes and smells are fuel for your life energy.
Last year, I sold my home of 26 years, moved into an apartment, and gave that up at the end of 2016. Along the way, I shed roughly 80% of my possessions, and everything I own now sits in a 10’x10’ storage unit. Interesting place to be.
I’ve been working while away, doing my coaching, and some project work, though not quite so methodical as usual (and that’s okay), and like the idea of being a digital nomad. Speaking of which, a dear friend sent me a link to this cool article about that very thing.
(Interesting coincidence: The pix in the piece were from Hoi An, on the central Vietnamese coast, where I spent 9 days in February!)
Anyway, the past few months have me rethinking a lot of things. Not least of which, how much “stuff” we really need to get by in the world (i.e., a LOT less than we think). Also, how North Americans seem to view everything through the lens of: “Always be producing, accomplishing, achieving, making your mark,” etc., etc.
Nothing wrong with that, but sometimes doing nothing is just fine, too. Of course, to do that, you need to overcome our ingrained cultural proscription against “non-activity,” and that’s easier said than done.
Many friends who knew of my impending journey asked or advised, “So, are you going to write?” or “What are you going to write?” or “You need to do a blog!” As if, because I’m a writer, and I’m traveling, that, of course, I have to write about it. Well, maybe not.
As I type this, I’m down in the Baja of Mexico (and until early April) in a little condo on a stunning, virtually uninhabited beach in Los Barriles, a lovely, quiet little burg between Los Cabos and La Paz. I know, shut up already, right?
I know not everyone has the time and money to just pick and go, but investing in a change of scenery—even for just a week or two—can pay big dividends in focus, productivity and zeal. On that “something-to-look- forward-to” note, let’s eat!
P.S. My apologies for neglecting the WFW Blog for several months, but I WILL return to regular posting in the not-too-distant future!
II. “FIELD” GREENS: ARE YOU WEAVING YOUR DREAMS?
Part-Time NC FLCW Stitches Together a Rewarding Writing Life in Needlework!
I generally run pieces from established full-time commercial freelancers making solid incomes from their copywriting, but I loved this piece from Greensboro, NC part-time FLCW Kimberly Schimmel.
She may not be charging top rates yet, or doing it full-time, but she loves the variety in her professional life. As such, it’s an inspirational submission for all those with an unusual niche and wondering how to monetize it and create multiple streams of income. Clearly, you can turn virtually ANY background into a specialty!
I grew up in the Midwest, where 4-H was a way of life for rural families. I could sew and crochet in elementary school and took up knitting in adolescence.
County fairs gave me experience in judging clothing projects while learning all the technical terms of fashion sewing. Purdue University was my next stop—where I studied—no, not home economics—industrial engineering!
I have a weird skill set. Mathematics, drafting, dressmaking, needlework, spelling, grammar, and color theory combine to enable me to write about clothing, test needlework patterns, and publish my own patterns with well-written instructions.
Designers pay me to proofread their patterns or to resize them (an exercise in geometry and arithmetic as well as knitting or crocheting.) Online vendors turn to me for fashion product descriptions, work requiring an understanding of fabrics and the vocabulary of fashion.
In addition to the above avenues for work, I find quick work through fiverr.com, where I offer a quick $5 gig to write a short product description. Once the client gets one and sees my work, this sometimes leads to custom orders where I set my own price for larger projects. Fiverr can work if you use it as a tool to find repeat work and do custom orders rather than $5 gigs.
I also use a splash page on traffic exchanges and a fiber arts blog to get subscribers to my mailing list and drive traffic to my shop on Etsy and to my published patterns on Smashwords and Amazon. Ravelry.com is another resource for meeting knitters—a worldwide social network for knitting and crochet!
My main source of income isn’t yet writing; it’s teaching at homeschool cooperatives, which provide families with weekly specialty classes the parents might be unable to provide at home: knitting, calculus, geometry, writing, literature, grammar, and drafting.
I enjoy my freelance copywriting sideline—writing about topics I love and about which I have decades of accumulated knowledge. I’m sure my strategy would work for other niche topics as well.
III. MAIN “MEAT” COURSE: WHAT’S IN A NAME? PROFIT! (Part 1 of 2)
Canadian FLCW Shows Savvy Wordsmiths How to Tap The Lucrative Naming Niche
A great two-parter on the ins and outs of freelance naming gigs from Niagara Falls, Ontario FLCW LouAnne Reddon. Personally, if I could focus exclusively on crafting names, taglines, slogans, headlines, book titles, I’d be a happy boy. The process of “nuggetizing” a series of ideas, qualities or attributes into one pithy, compact final result is a kick.
In Part One below, LouAnne lays out why the naming specialty is a good opportunity for FLCWs who have a way with “short copy.” Enjoy!
Do you have a knack for nicknames? Or for making up your own words? Helping clients coin names for their products, services, companies, books, industrial processes or developing corporate taglines is one of my favourite freelance activities.
In this 2016 blog post, veteran copywriter Steve Slaunwhite rated it among his top five picks for the highest paying, in-demand freelance services.
If it’s not among your current service offerings, perhaps these ideas will entice you to try it. If you already know the thrill of the hunt for elusive nomenclature, stay tuned for some ideas to help you stand out and possibly command higher fees.
Win/Win: You Get Agency-Type Work, Small Firm Gets Lower Rates
The right name is worth so much money to a company that it’s considered a corporate asset. Companies are bought, sold and merged all the time based on brand equity. The world’s #1 brand is Apple, valued at $154.1 billion (Forbes 2016).
Although other marketing elements and activities, such as positioning, logo and packaging design—and, of course, the product itself—contribute to overall brand image, product naming is critically important. And it takes a certain skill set and mindset to do it well.
For big companies like Apple, that have agencies and internal marketing departments to handle their product naming, the process can be excruciatingly slow (6-12+ months) and very expensive—~$150K at the low end!
Owners of small to medium-sized businesses generally recognize the value of proper naming, but simply can’t afford the luxury of hiring a firm. That’s where the opportunity is for us. Freelancers can provide viable names for a fraction of the price, in less time, and still earn a very tidy profit.
In a previous life, I was on the client side of retail advertising so I’m very familiar with how agencies develop names. Some do a truly brilliant job and deserve their pay, but they’re rare.
Others charge exorbitant rates for what, sadly, often turns out to be mediocre work (because the suits who pitched the biz then handed it off to the juniors) accompanied by an endless parade of Madman-style martini lunches and dog-and-pony shows.
Yes, You ARE Good Enough!
Peter observed in his Well-Fed titles that we freelancers often feel intimidated and tend to put agencies on a pedestal. Believe me, there’s no need! You can do as good or better a job at a price that you and your clients will love.
So what’s involved in product naming, and what kind of rates can you charge? As with any freelance service offering, that depends on your level of experience and expertise, your client’s budget and expectations, as well as how you structure your offering.
In Part Two of this article, we’ll look at the actual work involved in naming projects and I’ll suggest some value-adds that could help you boost your profit without a lot of extra work on your part. Stay tuned!
IV. DESSERT: SWEET SUCCESS STORIES & TIPS
Budding UT FLCW Tries Different Strategies, Makes Mistakes, Lands Small Success!
TIP: Free Social-Network Marketing that Works—Minus the Turn-Off!
Got this enthusiastic piece from UT FLCW David Whiteside about his early forays into copywriting business-building. I’ve included a few personal editorial asides/suggestions, but I liked his willingness to jump in, try different things, make mistakes and persevere!
After that, a great tip from Hendersonville FLCW J.M. Lacey on doing effective promotion on social networks without getting flamed. Enjoy!
The Well-Fed Writer convinced me I could make it writing commercially. I’ve always loved writing, and needed a home-based business to eventually replace) my numbing office job. After finding Peter’s web site, I decided to lean into marketing and sales. My niche is insurance and financial, based on long experience as an agent.
I am a writing novice, but have lots of hard-earned, ground level sales experience. I decided to look for blogging jobs (short term) while building lists of trade publications (medium) and create relationships with many of the insurance companies & agencies I’ve repped in the past (long term).
Short and medium have paid off. I used a popular blogging job board, visiting often, bidding on jobs within my expertise and improving my “cover-email” skills.
The results? TERRIBLE. A few nibbles at absurdly low fees, or for-free gigs dressed up as “samples” or “show us how you research” etc.
(PB Note: Blogging and article-writing almost always pay crappy rates because those two skills are shared by countless freelancers—thanks to the low barrier to entry on job boards AND the countless ex-journalists flooding the market), and hence, it drives down rates to nothing.
If you want to get into the higher-paying gigs, you need to get good at the marketing-writing projects that NOT everyone can do well: brochures, direct mail, web content/messaging, case studies, white papers, etc.
By the way, in a follow-up email after seeing my preceding comments, David wrote: “I have abandoned Problogger and its ilk, for the precise reasons you enumerate above.” Good move.)
But I kept on, knowing all sales paths take time, and that “SWSWSWN.”* Positive responses could take weeks. Following up on an “out of office” email response from a 10-day-old bid on a “financial education” gig, I resent my original email to the alternate contact they provided, and heard back a few days later.
Negotiations commenced with this prestigious international business school, for ghostwriting web copy. They were very careful and professional, and I did not mind submitting a sample as part of the weeding-out process.
(PB Note: While it’s a free country, I don’t recommend doing free auditions. It sets a bad precedent of client as dog and copywriter as fire hydrant.)
They finally asked me what my “rate” was, and my response was pure Peter: “Tell me what you want, I’ll tell you what it costs.”
I landed one short piece for some good money, but ultimately, that Switzerland-based client didn’t pan out in the long term. But, along the way, I landed a big fee for a trade publication piece—an interesting story in its own right
(PB Note: I’ll get David to provide that for a future issue).
*Some Will, Some Won’t, So What—Next!”
Yeah, we’ve heard it: Market thyself via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. But be careful; sales pitches across these media are uncouth. Use them instead to raise awareness. Post a new article on your blog or print one in a magazine? Just finish an awesome (public) project for a client? Have a new book on Amazon?
Ask questions to prompt people to click: “Have you ever wondered…?” “Want to know more about…?” “Like the idea of cleaning floors only once a year?” – anything that shows readers you are thinking about them and have a great idea/product/service for them.
The product/service will sell itself without you screaming: “Buy Me”!
People need to be engaged in conversation, not sold to. If you post things that aren’t about you, but, rather, what your readers are interested in, they won’t always feel that every link brings them to your sales page. They’ll learn to trust you and will be eager to support you in your endeavors.