Freelance Writers: How to Prepare for the Busy Season

Freelance writing has busy seasons and slow seasons. We’re headed into the busy one. Following are some things all freelance writers should be doing to prepare for it — especially if you want to make enough to quit your job, pay off bills, save, etc.

3 Things Freelance Writers Should Be Doing Now to Prepare for the Busy Season

1. Review Pricing: This is one of the first areas I look at because it is one of the easiest ways to make more money without doing more work.

If you’ve been freelancing for a year, for example, you likely priced your services below what you can really get for them. You’ve also gained more experience over this time, which means your value is higher.

So, don’t be afraid to raise your prices a bit. Most clients understand a rate increase. To make it more palatable, make it small (unless you’ve been severely undercharging), and give them a heads up (eg, Starting in October, our new rates will be . . . ).

Assure them that they’ll get the same great quality and that you’ll still meet and beat deadlines. You may lose a few, but never set your ratess based on how your cheapest clients will react. At some point, they’ll leave you anyway. Always base your business practices on what your higher-end clients tolerate, for they are the “ideal client.”

2. Review Service List: Is it time to add more services, do away with others? Have you seen an increase in requests for certain services? Do certain services cost you more to perform than others? Focusing in on questions like this will help you to shape up your list of services.

As an example, this summer, I added meta tag writing to my list of SEO writing services. While it pays less per page than all of my other services, I actually make more per hour with this service because it’s quick and easy to do. And, clients have taken to it like a duck to water.

3. Focus on Ideal Client: As mentioned in Tip No. 1, your business practices should be built around your ideal client. Hence, all of your marketing should be done with this in mind.

Get a really clear picture in your mind of who your ideal client is. For example, mine are small to medium-sized businesses with the following:

i) 1-50 employees;
ii) Earn revenues of 500K-10 million
iii) Do a lot of online marketing

Knowing this, as a freelance writer I can focus my marketing messages more tightly and hone in on how I can help them to achieve their goals.

Most freelance writers never take a proactive approach like this to their business. Therefore, if you implement these tips, you’ll be well ahead of the competition when the busy season rolls around.

Written by Yuwanda Black from Inkwell Editorial
Posted on August 27th, 2008 and filed under Making Money
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