The Web Site

You may, in the future, decide to hire someone to create a professional site for you or your business, but if you don’t have the hundreds to shell out in the beginning, there’s no shame in going with a freebie site. I’ve had a lot of success with www.moonfruit.com, as they have 1000’s of templates, endless customization, and it’s all basically WYSIWYG drag-and-drop stuff. Especially nice if you’re looking for something simple—and if you’re a freelance writer, you don’t really need a lot of bells and whistles—this DIY method is not only ideal for those light on funds, but it also gives YOU all the control over content and design. Most importantly, though, a Web site can be the starting point that lets YOU feel like you’re a bona fide freelancer with a presence in the business world.

The Blog

Again, blogs can be created for free with popular sites like WordPress, and with tons of themes and widgets that can do a whole bunch of SEO work for you, your blog can be the ultimate promotional tool AND a creative outlet. Just like the free Web site templates, WordPress blogs are customizable to the nth degree, and can link back to your Web site and any other elements of your “package” you may want people to have a look at. If your Web site is the face of your business, your blog is its heart—this is where content will change and you can get visitors to come back for more.

The Social

You can’t do anything these days without running into someone’s Facebook or Twitter, and for the even more business-oriented, LinkedIn. Setting these up is a snap, and once you’ve created fan pages for your biz, you can spread the word on anything you’re doing. You can also give your Fans and Followers relevant information, unique links, and even offer deals and giveaways to rally interest. You don’t have to rely simply on Social Networking sites, however—become active in communities and forums that have some connection to your field, and whenever you post your witty, always on point comments (nobody likes a troll, nor do they want to read something full of blatant self-promotion), put your Web site info in your signature, which will contain your contact info, which gets your name out there.

See, the key to starting yourself up doesn’t mean you need to dig yourself into a big hole before you ever begin. Take control from the get-go and grab on to all the free marketing the Internet has to offer—you don’t need to be an expert, you just need to know how to connect everything together and get your name out in the Web-i-verse!

It’s a Catch-22 faced by freelancers and traditional job seekers alike—potential employers and clients want to see relevant samples or previous work you’ve done, but if you’re new to whatever biz you’re getting into, your portfolio is probably pretty thin. They want experience, and even though you may have every qualification on their bullet list, if they don’t have anything tangible to read or view, you’re nothing but words on paper. But if you can’t get a job without experience, and you can’t get experience without a job … well … it’s not as hopeless as it sounds.

Be Your Best Client

If you’re a freelancer in the very early stages of your career, why not kill the proverbial two birds with one stone and treat yourself as if you are your own client? If you’re a Web designer, make yourself a site. If press releases are your forte, don’t just write one up announcing your new business, figure out how to get it submitted and noticed with the top companies. Create your own brochures, your own Web copy, your own sales letters—launch your career, and in the process, you’ll gain both the experience of a wide variety of tasks and some samples to show off to move you on to the next level.

Use Your Friends

That’s right—use your friends. Somewhere in your circle, there has to be at least one entrepreneur, one small business owner, one dentist with a practice that needs some exposure. Just like when you made yourself your new client, provide the same services for your friends in need. Actually, they don’t even have to be in need, but if they do or sell something that could in any way make use of your unique skills and expertise, create for them the same types of things you made for yourself—Web site and/or content, brochures, press releases, etc. They may or may not actually use your services, but you’ll have more samples to show REAL clients, and they won’t be only about you.

Volunteer

Chances are, your town is crawling with non-profits and charities. These are, as you might expect from their names, organizations with little to offer in the way of budget, but plenty to give when it comes to providing you with portfolio experience. Most non-profits and charities are thrilled with any help you give them, and you’ll feel good about the work.

Make It Up

Just because you may not have the experience to snag certain jobs just yet, that doesn’t mean you can’t do them anyway. If you see a particular project you think would be fun, go ahead and do it! What better way to show a client you’re interested in working with them than to show them what you have in mind (not the ENTIRE project, mind you, or they might just take your brilliance and run). Same goes for blogging—don’t wait for someone to hire you to write their blog; instead, start up your own and keep it current. Prove to the world that you’re serious and committed to this new career of yours.

What it comes down to is this—for most clients, it’s not the WHO of who you’ve worked for, it’s proving that you can excel in the particular task or subject for which they’re hiring. Show them you can do the job even better than those people with all the experience, and pretty soon, you’ll have to weed things OUT of your portfolio.

In all my time as a freelance writer, I’ve covered hundreds of subjects, from online auctions to prostate cancer. As you can imagine, some projects are much more enjoyable than others, and as my business has grown, I’ve been able to figure out that my heart lies with entertainment writing, mainly reviews. Roger Ebert is my hero. New release Tuesday is like a tiny DVD holiday every week. I don’t know who my state’s gubernatorial candidates are, but if you need to know who just directed John Travolta’s latest movie and how it compared to his last foray into the action genre, I’m your girl. Movie and TV reviews may not seem as prestigious as a political Op Ed piece or as lucrative as specializing in business content, but for a fan like me, it’s a perfect combination of my career with my passion. (Oh, and I really do know who the governor candidates will be in November, I just prefer to think about John Travolta.)

When I decided to embark on my journey into reviewing, my first step was to research the top entertainment and review sites and see not only what kind of pieces they published, but who the writers were and how one would go about becoming one. If the site seemed like a place where my more conversational style was a good fit, I wrote to the relevant contact to find out what the specs were for writing for that particular site. It’s important from the beginning, if this is what you want to do, to establish your voice and style early on so that you’re not just someone rewriting the press release sent out from the studios. You want to set YOUR reviews apart from the average Mindy Movie on the street, so here’s a basic—have an opinion. Don’t rely on the critical masses to shape what YOU have to say about a film or television show. I admit right here and now that I liked All About Steve, and I wrote it up with flourish, but critical darling (500) Days of Summer left me cold, which I wrote up with equal flourish. It helps to understand how particular directors tend to lean in their films, or if certain techniques are clichéd and overused, but at the center of a good review is a concise point of view that knows what it’s talking about and can back it up with the right amount of praise or vitriol.

Review writing isn’t just an opportunity to throw your opinions around all willy-nilly, however, and if you’re serious about becoming a critic, you need to know your stuff. This means research—you need to know basics, of course, like upcoming movies with big buzz and all the parties involved, but you also need to stay on top of casting news, rumors and happenings on sets, and the ever-changing calendar of release dates. Understand the ins and outs of the major studios, the smaller studios, and how to contact the people that will tell you what you need to know. This may not even be information you need for a review, but building your entertainment writing with a working knowledge of what’s happening industry-wise gives your critique a bit more weight.

But can you make a living ONLY doing entertainment reviews for Web sites? At first, probably not. Many sites, you’ll find, are reputable and well written, but offer no compensation save for a byline. Entertainment writers are often in it for the love of the thing, and for many that byline is enough. Others offer perks, such as free screeners or access to insider events, but again, no monetary compensation. You may need to branch out at first—write for local publications, review in other areas like books or music or food—you can even write up critiques of films you watch for fun just so you can have samples at the ready if needed. The thing to keep in mind is that these days, there may be more outlets than ever to espouse your opinion, but if you hone your style and respect the art of filmmaking, your love of cinema can translate into a rewarding career.

If you’re just starting out as a freelancer, all the ins and outs of those online job marketplace Web sites like Guru, Virtual Vocations, and Elance can seem tricky, like a foreign language that seems almost familiar but not quite familiar enough for you to consider yourself fluent. I’ve used them all, and each has its benefits and drawbacks, but for the freelancer who’s just starting out, they can be an invaluable way to gain experience, client contacts, and business savvy. Read on for a few tricks to navigating the online membership job site marketplace.

WHO are you?

Most of my membership site experience is with Guru, but all the sites have some of the same components, one of the most important being your profile. They want your resume, your experience, your samples, and blurbs about your business and writing methods and philosophies. This is the introduction that potential clients have to you and your work, so be sure that your information is current and your samples are relevant and show off your strengths. Your profile is where you can set term specifics such as your hourly or per word rates, so be as thorough as possible. It’s also smart to really look at the upgrade options and different levels of membership available so you don’t waste money on a bunch of bells and whistles you may not need.

WHAT do you want to do?

It’s not as simple as deciding what type of writing you want to do, or even what category you want to search through. The best thing about these sites is that they provide you with an instant list of employers who want your services, and the worst part is that there are a whole bunch of other freelancers willing to do the job at pennies to your dollar. Don’t do just any project simply because you can if the employer is offering $1 an article or asking you to do something you find unethical. Have a clear idea of your lines and boundaries and bid accordingly. Also, while you’re looking and bidding, take full advantage of the site’s Feedback feature—every site has one, and it can give you an idea of whether or not this is a client you want by seeing what other professionals have said about them AND what they’ve said about the freelancers they’ve hired.

WHY should an employer hire you?

Your profile is important, but the deal breaker—literally—is your bid. It’s OK to have some of your information set as a template, such as set rates or a small blurb about your business, but every bid should be tailored to the job at hand. If there are questions, answer them honestly—don’t promise things you know you can’t do just to land a job because you’ll just look worse when you hand in shoddy work or miss a deadline. Address the potential employer’s needs and offer suggestions. Tell them what you can do for them and how you and you alone can give them the finished product they need. Also, keep an eye on your details—no typos, no grammar or spelling mistakes, and if the Project Description tells you to mention the word “rosebush” in your bid or to attach specific examples, make sure and follow those directions.

In the end, most freelancers have used sites like Elance or Guru to wrangle up clients, and if you know what you’re walking into, you’ll be bidding your way to success in no time.

If you’ve made the decision to become a freelancer, or even if you’re still considering the pros and cons of your new career, there are a few basics of which I’m sure you’re aware. You know you’ll be setting your own schedule, finding your own clients, and determining how much to charge for your services—in short, it’s all up to you. What you might NOT know, however, is what those things entail; for example, do you know what SEO means? Have you ever written a white paper? How much SHOULD you charge for a 300-word blog? These are all details you need to know before diving in, and while it’s true there is always the dangerous possibility of over-researching the freelance biz, there are some basics you’re going to need to have in your knowledge base before you’re off and running.

Know Your Terms

• There are a lot of industry-specific terms that make up most job ads and project descriptions, phrases such as:

• • SEO
  • White paper
  • Ghostwriter
  • Article spinner
  • Press release

Then there are the differences in terms: are you an editor or a proofreader? Do you write articles or blogs? Some freelancers choose to focus on being ghostwriters, or press release writers, or white paper writers, while others offer a variety of services and products. Before you decide what your portfolio is going to include, however, you need to know what everything is, and a simple Internet search can mean the difference between a long list of happy potential references and a short list of perplexed former clients.

Know Your Strengths

• Right out of the gate, you already know some of the types and subjects of writing at which you excel. Maybe you’re a fantastic press release writer, or maybe you can ghostwrite the heck out of any subject a client hands you. Maybe you’ve worked in finance, and you plan to convert your money skills to writing-about-money skills. Are you going to specialize in marketing copy, such as Web content and sales letters, or are you looking for your piece of the entertainment writing industry? YOU know where your interests and your strengths lie, and you are the best gauge of what you can and can’t do. Don’t bid on and apply for every freelancing job you see, because you might just end up getting them, and some of them may hold no appeal for you, or may be way out of your skill set—believe me, it shows if your heart isn’t into it, and you’ll wind up wasting the time of everyone involved, including yourself.

Know Your Rates

• What you charge as a freelancer can be a tricky puzzle full of weird algebraic equations where x = words per page and y = number of pages, but somehow you’re still working on an hourly rate, but then you have to add in a 12% transaction fee, and then … see how it gets complicated really fast? While it’s not always a confusing exercise in advanced mathematics, the work you do as a freelancer means you’ll most likely be working with a variety of clients, each of which may have a different way of paying and a different method of calculating what they owe you. Again, do some research on average rates for whatever service you’re offering, decide if that sounds about right for you, and keep it as a template for when you’re on the project hunt. It’s part of the very nature of freelancing that prices will fluctuate and negotiations will vary based on project details, but by having a solid basic understanding of what you want to charge per word, per page, per project, per hour, and any other “per” you might encounter, you build a foundation from which you can apply confidently for any project.

So it’s as simple as that—building a foundation. Sure, there is going to be hard work, and long hours, and in the beginning you’ll probably have to work on some projects that aren’t as fun as others, but if you know where your bones are from the start, fleshing out your business and bringing it to life becomes a much less daunting process.

My transition into freelancing was fast. I quit my job on a Friday without any real idea what I wanted to do and on Monday I decided I was going to be a freelancer. I had my first client by the end of the day, my second client by the end of the month, and by the second month of freelance I always had more than enough work each and every month for the years that followed.

My client acquisition method has been refined in the years since I started but at the very beginning I had no plan at all. Here’s what I did:

Knowing that I was “now” a freelancer, I sat down at the phone with a pen and paper. I thought of a colleague I knew at a company and I jotted down some ideas about how I could help his company. Then I picked up the phone and called.

It worked. I still have that client after all these years (in fact, he takes me out for lunch on the anniversary of my first day in business).

I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was a pretty smart thing to do. Here’s why it worked:

1. They say “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. That is completely true. I had built good relationships and it was time to ask for something. All sales are made only after the prospect has come to trust the seller and the trust was already established by the relationship I had with the people I was calling.
2. It wasn’t really selling. Selling is hard and not many people like it or are good at it. But what I was doing was not really selling. I was just a guy with an idea. I’d pick up the phone, share my idea, and voila, it resulted in a project.
3. It offered something of value. That’s the key. You can’t just call someone up and say, “hey, Bob, can I do some freelancing for you?” Instead, you have to say, “hey, Bob, I have a great idea that can benefit your company.” That’s offering value!
4. Act immediately. I was fortunate that one of my first calls resulted in a client. That was on my first day. If I did what many freelancers do and wait until the first week is over before finding a client, I might have been out of business before I was really in business!
5. Act persistently. If my first calls didn’t elicit a client, I had a long list of people to contact. I wasn’t going to stop after my second “no”. And once I got my first client, I didn’t stop there, either. I figured out what worked and what didn’t and I went after another one. It was a bigger client and took more work but those two clients together netted me my first month’s income.

Want to know what separates a freelancer from a wannabe freelancer? Clients. Plain and simple. And getting the first client can be challenging if you don’t have the experience. Use these tips to get your first client and start your business off right!

I wanted to be a freelancer long before the internet was around. (Yeah, I might be that old). I’d take books out of the library regularly that were about becoming a freelancer. I read them and re-read them voraciously. Then one day I realized something: I had been reading and reading and reading about how to become a freelancer but it wasn’t getting me anywhere. I wasn’t freelancing, I was just reading about freelancing. 

So I made a commitment to myself: I would stop reading anything else about freelancing until I had actually sold some of my writing. 

Whenever I thought about reading something on freelancing (which was often), I remembered my commitment to myself and I finally did something about it. I sent off a few queries and one of my first pieces was printed in the essay section of a large newspaper. I earned $100 and I had my first freelance sale! I was on top of the world. (By the way, it’s still framed in my office). 

It came easy after that. Turns out, I just had to “pop the cork” so to speak. I had to do it just once to figure out how to do it and to get some confidence. After that, submitting queries was easy. Writing was easy. Selling was easy. 

I see aspiring freelancers facing the same problems today that I faced years ago (except that they aren’t reading books at the library as much as they are going online to find a wealth of “how to become a freelancer” information). 

Now, just so you don’t mistake what I’m saying, this is good information that they are finding, but it’s doing a disservice to aspiring freelancers: Information about how to become a freelancer tricks wannabe freelancers into thinking that they are doing something about their freelancing career. They think they need just a bit more information before they can start. 

But it’s not true. 

Now, you’re probably wondering why I would say something like this even though I write for a freelancing website! Well, here’s the reason: Only a small portion of this site is dedicated to teaching you how to become a freelancer. Everything else is designed to help existing freelancers do an even better job. You’ll also notice that a lot of the “how to become a freelancer” information here is not what you would find elsewhere. 

If you’re an aspiring freelancer, I want to empower you to become a freelancer by providing really useful information. But I don’t want to hold you back by making you think that you need just a bit more information before you start. 

You don’t need more information to start. If you are reading this and you are an aspiring freelancer writer, consider this paragraph a get-your-butt-in-gear message. As soon as you are done reading this article, go out and submit a proposal or query a magazine or call up your local newspaper editor. 

You should read more information on becoming a freelancer, and make self-education a continuous part of your business. But you should never let it replace the business-building action of submitting queries and proposals. 

• I know it’s scary to call up the newspaper editor.
• I know that reading about freelancing is easier than freelancing.

But I’m confident that your desire to become a successful freelancer will outweigh your temporary discomfort at doing slightly more difficult things like coming up with a winning proposal to send to a magazine. 

Your future lies ahead of you at the end of this sentence, so seize the opportunity… right now!

As you get ready to become a freelancer, you may have a few concerns that you need to resolve before you feel like you can actually start. In this post, I’ve outlined two of the most common concerns I hear from other freelancers and I’ll show you how to turn these supposed “weaknesses” into non-issues for you:  

The full-time/part-time conundrum: 

• Although I advise most people who want to start freelancing to just jump right in full time, that’s not always a practical step for some people. Yet, if you approach freelancing on a part time basis at first, you might be concerned that new clients will ask “are you a full time freelancer?” and you’ll have to answer “no” and watch them move on to another freelancer. How do you get enough business to go full time if people only hire full time freelancers?

• Fortunately, you don’t have to answer with just a “no, I’m only part time” when people ask about your work schedule. That’s because most clients don’t really care when you work as long as you do the work and have a relatively prompt email response time.

• In other words, when they ask you “are you full time”, what they are really asking is “will you give my work the attention it deserves or are you only freelancing for an hour between when you leave the dinner table and when you start getting the kids ready for bed?”

• So your answer should be crafted to address those concerns. Of course you should still tell the truth but you should make sure that your answer addresses their real concern. Try something like: “I don’t work 9-to-5 like a lot of other people. I’m far more productive by working 5 AM to 8 AM and then I also work in the afternoons and evenings. So I work nearly a full time day but it’s broken up over several hours because I have clients in many time zones.” See how you answer truthfully while answering their concern?

 The “no previous experience” conundrum:

I was a freelancer for a while then I worked for the corporate “man” for a while then I went back to freelancing when I realized how little I wanted to be an employee. For me, freelancing was the brass ring of achievement. If you are thinking about being a freelancer, it’s important to consider how the world views freelancers and what this means for your career.

To be honest, I had never considered what others thought of freelancers before… until I saw a related question on LinkedIn a few months ago: Someone asked (and I’m summarizing here because I can’t find the question), “If freelancers and independent consultants are as good as they claim to be, why aren’t they employed by a company?”

This question surprised me because it demonstrated the age-old idea that employment is the ultimate goal of a lot of people and the freedom of entrepreneurial freelancing isn’t. 

And while that was on my mind, I was talking to a contact who had sent me a referral she pointed out that the referred business didn’t really view me as a valuable asset but as someone who could simply plug the gaps they had if and when they had them. (Which explains why they had me sign a contract but never gave me work).

What doesn’t help:

• Is the many unethical freelancers who overrun the job boards with cheap bids (and then deliver work that has been blatantly stolen). This blog post from Harvard Business Review talks about an unethical freelancer: The Dark Side of Freelancing.
• Add to the mix are the “just-trying-it-out” freelancers who are hanging out their shingle as a freelancer (but are really just testing the waters to see if they can make a living from it). I personally know of a couple of freelancers who have started work for a client and then disappeared because they got a “real” job.

With all of these scenarios going on, it’s no surprise to me that I’m periodically asked how long I’ve been doing this for and whether or not I’m full-time. And I’m frequently asked, “But what do you do for a real job?” Or “How do you possibly pay your bills?”

The answer that I give to aspiring freelancers who come to me for one-on-one coaching is this:

Freelancing is just like any other small business. You’ll be more successful when you jump into it with both feet and give it 100% and if you remember that successful freelancers sell their services over and over again.

This article, also from Harvard Business Review, Is Freelancing Right for You? has a great list of tips and strategies for the freelancer… but don’t miss that they, too, talk about short-term freelancers who are paying the bills and long-term freelancers who are in it full time.

How does this affect you? Very simply: If you’re going to be a freelancer, BE a freelancer. Don’t waffle. Focus. Sell. Run your operation like any other business. Be ethical. Raise bar on the freelancing industry. Proactively answer those questions that clients have about whether you’re around for the long haul or not.

Getting started as a freelancer? The work is hard – as is anything that’s worthwhile – but it is very rewarding.

One of the differences (although certainly not the only one) was that I specialized in a specific kind of writing the second time I freelanced.

You see, the first time I tried freelancing I accepted every job, no matter what it was and what industry it was in. And it wasn’t very profitable. I hate to admit it but I did a whole bunch of things and not a great job at any of them. Every new project required me to research new things (and that’s time consuming!).

But the second time around I gathered together a bunch of skills I had acquired, as well as some technical expertise in that corporate marketing position, along with a recent industry certification, and I offered a specific set of writing for only one kind of industry.

Some people thought I was crazy: I was turning down jobs left and right because they weren’t in my industry or they weren’t the kind of writing I was willing to do.

But the jobs I was accepting? They were completed faster and far more profitably.

Here’s why:

• Less research time was needed because I knew the industry and only needed to stay current in that one industry.
• There were fewer time consuming rewrites because I knew the industry.
• I could complete my writing assignments with excellence and hone my skills effectively since I didn’t write any kind of assignment but only specific types of writing.
• My marketing was far more effective because I wasn’t trying to advertise everywhere to everyone. I was spending a little more money on marketing, marketing far less, but it was far more effective because it was targeted. I know it sounds counter-intuitive… but it’s true!
• I could charge more because I was an expert in the field. People were willing to pay more because they could trust that I had the experience they needed.
• I could offer meaningful insight to clients who were new to the industry, which allowed me to branch out my services to provide some value-added coaching.

So, if you’re thinking about freelancing, you may want to consider finding a market and specializing in it. You’ll need to make sure that your market is big enough to support your specialization and has enough money to pay you for your expertise. And you’ll also want to cultivate good relationships with other freelancers who can help you if you get a great industry-specific client that needs something that you don’t do.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with being a generalist and if you can provide good quality, high value content and make money doing it, all the better. But in my experience, a specialist is the better way to go.