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Bob Proctor was apart of the movie The Secret. He teaches people how to shift their mindset from poverty consciousness to one of wealth. Freelance writers would benefit from visiting his website and taking his coaching program.

Most freelance writers want to earn more don’t because they hold a belief they can’t or have an intention (in the subconscious mind) to attract low paying clients. It may be time to buy a journal and purge your feelings around money. What did your parents believe? What was spoken over you as a child? It’s said that your “mind” is programmed by the time you’re five-years-old. If you grew up with peopel that didn’t have a good financial blueprint, your financial blueprint could be set to lack.

Learn to say “no” to potential clients. Do you value yourself? Do you value your time? Not every person or business will be your client. Put together a client questionnaire to find out if a client is right for you. If they’re not, refer them to another freelance writer. This may be scary at first but it will benefit you in the long run.

Forget about charging what other freelance writers charge. You can only charge based on your experience. If you have a plethora of experience and education, your rates won’t match a freelance writer who isn’t as experienced as you. You could research to find out the average rate per hour and per word. Take into consideration the value you add and create your rates. Stay flexible because you want to be able to increase your rates over the long run.

Remember that freelance writing is a business. If you don’t think you have the stomach to run your own business, you may want to stick to writing your own material. In fact, you may start out as a freelance writer and find out that you’re better off writing for you. For example, if you’ve experienced obstacle after obstacle, the universe could be telling you the following:

• Write for you.
• You don’t value yourself.
• You’re putting out desperate energy.
• You’re not communicating clearly want you want/desire.

Make sure you really want to be a freelance writer. It’s all right if you don’t want to be — just be honest with yourself.

Being a freelance writer doesn’t mean starving. Charge rates based on you and your experience. It’s all right to look at guidelines but you only know what you can charge. Let go of any fears you may have surrounding your fees. If you don’t, you could be in for an unnecessary struggle. Instead, be confident in your writing and the universe will deliver you clients that are right to you. Good luck!

Rebecca

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Sometimes freelance writers will encounter clients that don’t pay on time or at all. How many times have you encountered clients like this? It’s time to say goodbye to these clients for good and hello to solid clients that understand that you’re more than a freelance writer — you’re a business man or woman.

Freelance writers deserve respect. In order to have respect, you must respect yourself. This means saying “no” to low paying clients. Refer them to the college kid down the road who’s just starting out or someone in India charges next to nothing. There’s no reason for you to put up with clients who don’t pay you or pay your rates.

Before you agree to write for anyone now and in the future, tell them your rates and your terms. Also tell them that your rates are subject to change. This is nothing new. Read your cell phone bill if you don’t believe this. In fact, you may want to read the fine print because you’ll be surprised at what you find. You’ll see that rates are subject to change and sometimes without notice.

Being a freelance writer also means that you’re in business for yourself. Yes, you are a business owner. If you don’t think you could handle owning your own business, you may want to forgo becoming a freelance writer. Remember, you’re responsible for marketing you and your services. You’re also responsible for finding and retaining clients. Think about this before you enter the realm of freelance writing.

Here are some steps to follow if you clients aren’t paying:

• Send another reminder invoice. Give your clients the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps they got busy and just forgot. It happens — no one is perfect.
• Make sure your clients know your terms. Do you expect payment up front? Do you expect 50% up front? Are your terms net, 30 days or net, 20 days? Make your payment terms clear.
• Get a signed contract. Before you proceed with writing, lay out all the details in a contract. Who owns the copyrights? What are the payment terms? What are the termination terms? This way there aren’t any surprises.
• Contact a collection agency or lawyer. Do this as a last resort; it’s up to you if you want to take it this far. Depending on the amount of money, you may choose to use a collection agency or lawyer. Sleep on it before you proceed.

Freelance writers deserve to be paid for their services. Be consider in your services and you’ll attract professional clients that will pay you on time. Start being selective about clients and forget about writing for everyone that approaches you. Take time to consider the project. Meet face-to-face with a client in order to get a better “feeling” for them. Sometimes you can’t “tune” into someone via email or phone. Be discerning and discriminating. More importantly, be a smart business owner!

Rebecca

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Some writers are posting excerpts of chapters or their entire book online. While posting excerpts isn’t a bad idea, you may want to rethink posting your entire book on the internet. Why? Publishers may ‘frown’ upon this because they want to be the first ones to read your book.

If you attend a writer’s workshop, the instructor may tell you to remove your book from the internet. One reason could be due to copyright issues. If you’re super paranoid that someone will steal your ideas or copy your entire book, you may want to remove it right now. Another reason to consider taking your book off of the internet is a publisher will want to be the first one to read your book. If your book is already available for the public to see, what’s the point of the agent or publisher looking at it?

Writers post their partial or completed books online for different reasons. If you want feedback on your novel, join a writer’s group that offers comprehensive reviews. Having your writing critiqued is a great way to tighten up the plot, find those pesky grammar and punctuation errors, and find out if your story draws people into it. You can join as many groups as you want. Make sure you feel comfortable with the people and receive constructive feedback.

Posting your partial or completed book online could open you up to all sorts of negative chatter. Some writers receive this from their family and friends. Do you really want it from the general public? You may read comments such as, “…your writing sucks, you call yourself a writer, or get a real job.” If you have great self-esteem and self-confidence then these comments will roll off of you. However, it you haven’t developed your self-confidence, these words can hit your worse than a punch to the gut! Think about this before you post your book online.

Writers, it’s up to you whether or not you post your partial or completed book online. If you feel confident in your work and want readers to read it now then go ahead and post online. If you have a voice in the back of your head that’s questioning whether or not to do this, listen to your gut instinct that may tell you it’s not a good idea. You could always write to your favorite writer and ask his or her opinion on this subject. Good luck!

Rebecca

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Many people aren’t fond of organization or they use a system of organization that doesn’t work. You may be in trouble if you have to sort through a bunch of sticky notes for your new client’s phone number. There’s nothing wrong with being organized. It’s amazing how many people aren’t organized because they think it’s not cool or hip. When your clients leave, you’ll probably consider becoming organized.

Organization is a great way to live a stress free life. If everything is in its place, you won’t freak out when you can’t find pertinent information like your client’s proposal. It’s embarrassing if you have to contact a client and tell them you lost the signed proposal. Instead, make a folder on your computer and label it ‘Client Proposals’ and make sure you back it up. You may want to print out a hard copy and stick it in a file folder within a filing cabinet. This way you’ll have the information at your fingertips.

Tips to becoming organized

• Have an organized workspace that’s free from clutter. File papers away and keep you desk clean with the exception of pen, paper, and phone. Keep your office supplies in a cabinet.
• Keep specific hours.
• Most freelance writers read a lot which means they have a plethora of books. Buy a bookcase for all of your books. This way you can grab your reference materials with ease.
• Use Excel or some other program to keep track of client contact and project information.
• Affirm that you’re organized!

Make sure you keep your clients contact information in one central location. Your computer has various programs; use them to record contact information. You could create an Excel spreadsheet. You could use Outlook or whatever the Mac equivalent is. You could purchase a CRM program. This would be a good investment because CRM programs can help your streamline sales and marketing, reduce expenses, and much more. Choose a program and enter clients contact information today and it will be readily available to you.

How do you know which projects to work on for the week? You could use Windows Calendar (or Mac program) to schedule your projects. You could use an Excel spreadsheet or some other program to track your projects. You want to ensure you meet or exceed deadlines. Your clients probably wouldn’t be happy with you if you missed deadlines.

Freelance writers get over your fear of becoming organized. Forget about the stigma that being organized will make you a dependable, reliable person instead of a free spirited artist. If you’re not dependable and reliable, you won’t have any clients. Get organized today and watch how it changes your business. Good luck!

Rebecca

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Sometimes writers struggle to think of ideas, plots, scenes, and characters for novels. You may have a great idea for novel but are stuck on character development. Creating the right name can be particular difficult. This is why a character development worksheet is helpful. There’s also Seventh Sanctum which can help you flush out characters. It could save you time and aggravation. And, it’s free!

Seventh Sanctum offers creativity tools. You’ll find generators for characters, plots, ideas, and more. You don’t have to acknowledge Seventh Sanctum if an idea results in thousands or millions of dollars for you. But, it would be nice if you did give credit to the website and its developer.

How does it work?

When you visit Seventh Sanctum, you’ll see a list of generators on the left hand side of the website. For example, click on Characters and a list appears. Choose from general characters, animal-humanoids, for the fans, specific characters, or miscellaneous. Each generator has specifications that you can choose from to create your character. Let’s look at the General Character.

General Character

• Click on the ‘general character’ generator.
• Select the number of people to generate from the drop down menu.
• Choose the character: regular, regular male, regular female, anime, anime male, or anime female.
• Poof! Your characters are created.

The only aspect the ‘general character’ doesn’t do is give you character names. No problem. Click on ‘names’ on the left hand side of the website.

Names

• Click on the ‘names’ generator.
• Choose the name generator: general, dark/evil names, species/specific, theme, locations, and ships.
• Poof! Your character names are created.

Seventh Sanctum can save you a lot of time, especially if all you want to do is write your novel. Using the generators can cut your time in half. Make sure you have a basic outline for your novel because it can help guide your novel in the right direction.

Stop struggling with character development, ideas, plots, and scenes. Give Seventh Sanctum a try and see what it can do for you. Maybe your storyline isn’t quite there yet. Or, you may scrap your storyline and take one that’s generated for you. That’s what I did. Seventh Sanctum provided me with a great title and my characters are developing nicely. Now all I have to do is write the novel and thank Seventh Sanctum for my success!

Rebecca

How long does it take you to develop characters and character names? Share your thoughts.

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This is Part II of the blog What Type of Clients do You Attract? If you’re not attracting the right clients to you, take a look at your personal beliefs around your freelance writing. What is your personal philosophy around attracting clients? What types of clients do you expect to attract? Knowing the answer to these and other questions will help you get clear about who you want to write for.

Getting paid on time is important

The most important aspect of running a business is revenue. Some people will disagree and say it’s loving what you do, providing impeccable customer service, or knowing that you’re the best at what you do. This is true but you must be paid in order for your business to continue.

How do you want to get paid? By check? By PayPal? Direct deposit? How much do you require up front? Knowing the answers to these questions is imperative to running your freelance writing business. Clients want to know what your rates are. Tell them. If they scoff or say it’s too much, thank them for their time and wish them success. There are plenty of writers out there who are charging well below average market rates. Of course, you’ll probably have to fix the work they’ve done. The client that turned you down could come back to you!

Attract the clients you want

Jim Rohn said he didn’t know his personal philosophy which is why he was struggling to make ends meet. After receiving guidance from his mentor John Earl Shoaff, Jim turned his life around. Doors opened up for him that he could only imagine. This could happen to you. Perhaps you need a writing coach or mentor to show the way. Remember, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

New freelance writers may be scared to turn down work. Let go of this thought. All it takes is one time and you’ll become a pro at it. Stop settling for clients who don’t pay, balk at your rates, or want 50 million revisions without paying for them! It’s not worth it. In fact, it’s your self-worth that’s attracting these clients to you. If you have a low self-worth, you’ll attract clients who are less than stellar. On the flip side, it could be a good lesson for you to learn. When clients don’t pay you, return your phone calls or emails, it will help you reexamine the types of clients you’ve been attracting to you. Get serious about your freelance writing once and for all and become the success you want to be. Good luck!

Rebecca

What types of clients have attracted to you? Share your experiences.

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This is Part I of a blog that will examine the types of clients you may be attracting to you. Do you attract clients that pay on time or don’t pay at all? Do you attract clients who don’t communicate well with you? Are you attracting clients who balk at your rates? If you’re not attracting the clients you want, you could have set an intention to “get burned” by clients or that you can’t make it as a freelance writer. Take a look inside of you to find the answers.

Before you embark on a freelance writing career understand that it’s a business. If you have no desire to run a small business, forgo freelance writing. In order to grow your business you must find clients that need you. That’s right — clients need you! Make sure you attract the right clients to you, otherwise you’ll be sorry.

What type of client do you want?

Make a list of the qualities you’re looking for in a client and make sure you match 99.9% of those qualities. Are they in a particular industry? Do they give you creative freedom to write what you want? Do they work with you to develop topics? How are their communication skills? Do they prefer phone or email? What do you prefer? Knowing who your client is before you begin freelance writing can save you from constant stress and worry. Speak to any freelance writer and they’ll tell you their “stories” about when they first started out. The lessons they learned were tough but it helped them become the success they are today.

It would behoove freelance writers to overcome the fear of saying “No!” If a client wants you to lower your price below market value, say “No!” If a client wants to negotiate a price and your “gut instinct” sends you a warning not to do it, say “No!” It’s better to lose a client than to start working a project that makes you miserable. Your health is as important as your salary — it’s probably more important!

How much do you charge?

You probably heard the saying, “…charge what you’re worth.” Some writers laugh at this because they’d charge $1,000,000 for a blog post or article. Wouldn’t it be amazing if a client paid this? Remember what Jim Rohn’s teacher told him, “…profits are better than wages.” Freelance writing is no different from other businesses. You’re in business to provide a valuable service, to market your business, and earn a profit. There’s nothing wrong with earning a profit from doing what you love to do.

This is it for Part I of What Types of Clients do You Attract. The second half will examine “Getting Paid” and “Attracting the Clients You Want to Write for.” Stop settling for second or third best. If you know you add value and have a lot of experience, start charging what you’re worth. You’ll be surprised how this “shift” will take you in the right direction.

Rebecca

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Some writers may faint at the thought of “slicing and dicing” their work. The thought of removing this or that could send them running for the hills! You won’t feel the pain of weeding out extraneous words if you write in a clear and concise manner.

Freelance writers know that a blog post is between 350-700 words, unless a client specifically asks for 500 words. Make good use of the space by getting to the point. Take out words such as so, just, because, really, and other words. Say what you want to say!

Writers write from the heart. It makes sense they’d want to keep every word they wrote on the page. Thank God for editors; they’ll trim the fat without thinking twice about it. Articles are written with precision to alleviate spacing issues in publications.

Cut down on these extra words

• So
• Just
• That
• Also
• Seriously
• Really
• Because
• Usually
• This

It’s a good idea to put your writing away and come back to it with a fresh pair of eyes. Read it a few times and see if you can find words to cut. You may only find one or two words to remove; it’s better than nothing. At least you’ll have the satisfaction of taking out unnecessary words.

Freelance writers love what they do. Trimming words may be a challenge for some of them. It’s as if they’re taking a piece of their soul out of the writing. Or, they need the words in order to reach the specified word count! You may want to go back and reread your writing if you’re using “filler words” to guarantee a set amount of words. Remember, you’re a professional writer.

Ask any travel writer how to pack for vacation and they’ll tell you, “…when in doubt, leave it out!” Approach your writing this way. If certain words don’t make an impact on your article or blog post, take them out or replace them. It’s better to have a well written piece instead of one filled with puff!

Rebecca

What words do you eliminate from your writing? Share your thoughts.

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A freelance writer knows how much time and effort they put into your writing. Therefore, you wouldn’t want someone to take strong>your or your client’s entire blog post or article without permission, would you? Artists that upload stock photography probably feel the same way. They would appreciate credit and a link when applicable. After all, they took the time to create a perfect photo that ties your blog or article together.

When you purchase stock photography from sites such as iStockphoto, Dreamstimes, Getty Images, or some other site, you own the right to use the photo. Of course, it’s best to read the license agreement twice in order to understand your rights to the photo. Since you own the photo you may not consider giving credit to the artist but it would be nice if you did. It’s a great way to acknowledge their work and say “thank you.”

FYI: Some artists require you to give them credit along with a link to their website. They’ll also request that you send them a link to your work so they can see how you used their photo.

Give credit the artist to avoid copywriting issues. Freelance writers that use Stock Exchange may be shocked to know that some artists do require you to give them a link to your site so they can see how you used their photo. You won’t know this if you don’t click on their profile. Most people who download photos probably don’t click on the profiles. The next time you download photos from Stock Exchange, make sure you click on the artist’s profile.

You can find images on Google but this isn’t recommended for many reasons. The photos are usually low res and won’t look good next to your post. The obvious reason is copywriting issues. You may not have the right to use the photos. Contact the owner of the photo to make sure you can use it.

Another alternative for freelance writers is to purchase Art Explosion. This art CD is available in 300,000, 600,000, or 800,000. You’ll receive vector and photo images. Some of the photos have been updated while others have not. If you’re looking for modern pictures this may not be the CD for you. Some of the pictures look like they’re from the late 1980s and the 1990s. Cell phones aren’t as gigantic as they used to be!

Before you use photos, make sure you have the right to do so — due diligence goes a long way. Freelance writers who know graphic artists may be able to get customized photos for a great price. Whatever you do, credit the artist and appreciate how their photo enhances your blog or article.

Rebecca

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Some people love DIY projects. From putting in a new floor to painting the entire the house, these folks persevere no matter what. That’s great but what about when it comes to DIY websites and templates. These can be websites or templates that are already created but require a few tweaks here and there (think WordPress templates). What happens when you’re not thrilled with the color the schemes? How do you change them? What about font and line spacing? There’s nothing worse than small font that you can’t read!

Web design can leave freelance writers feeling lightheaded. It’s overwhelming if you don’t know what you’re doing. Perhaps you don’t know what “HTML h1 to h6 tag” are. What about CSS style sheets? The thought of this language may leave you feeling defeated.

Freelance writers who understand HTML could “tweak” templates without any problem. But they may not be exactly what you want, especially color schemes. Sometimes you can’t upload a custom logo because you don’t understand how to do it. This can be frustrating.

Where to find templates

• WPSkins
• TopWPThemes
• StyleShout
• Free CSS Templates
• Themes Preview

If you’re lucky, you’ll find a template that was created by a web designer who was thoughtful to include “instructions or “Read Me” text. Sometimes designers will include their email address and website. You’ll be able to contact them if you have any problems.

If you’re thinking about creating a web design from scratch, make sure you know what you’re getting into before you proceed. Hiring a web designer may be more ideal for you if the thought of web coding makes you swoon. There are many web design tutorials on the internet. If you feel up to it, design or redesign your website. Good luck!

Rebecca

Who designed your website? Share.

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