In the 8th grade I had the highly unfortunate position of sitting far left, front row of Spitting Estock’s algebra class right next to where Mrs. Estock stood to teach.
We called her “Spitting Estock” because, well, she had a habit of spraying copious amounts of saliva as she talked. And she talked. A lot.
While I wouldn’t have dared say anything, I dreaded sitting there, waiting to get spewed upon. For one full school year, every Monday through Friday, I cringed inwardly and thought, “Say it, don’t spray it!” read more
No CommentsI’m thrilled to have fellow writer and new friend Sean Platt as my guest blogger. Sean and I both help others make a great living at this thing called writing.
by Sean Platt
Underestimate the value of your time and you limit your potential by the minute.
Don’t feel bad if you’re not charging what you’re worth right now. This is a common folly among online writers.
Yet you must command your market value as soon as possible. The sooner you do, the sooner you’ll get what you deserve—to make more money for every word you write.
You are a writer. This means that many people—especially when you’re first starting your online writing career—will minimize your time.
But just because other people are willing to minimize you, doesn’t mean you’re obligated to allow it.
I tolerated a lot of time wasting when I first went online. These days, the only people I allow to waste my time are my six-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter, but I usually enjoy every minute of that brand of time wasting.
Time is your most precious asset besides your brain. You can always make more money, but you will never, ever make a single extra minute. The sooner you decide on an hourly minimum, the sooner you will be able command it. And the sooner you command your baseline rate, the sooner you can grow it into something substantial for you and your family.
To calculate your per-hour rate, don’t just think about how much you want to gross per year, consider how many hours you want to work each week as well.
Pay yourself as soon as possible, this means generating enough revenue to afford you with a reasonable amount of time to write for yourself. This might be slightly indulgent if you’re behind in your bills or have a family to feed, and you should always balance your dreams with reality, but working writers should be developing assets whenever they have slices of time between the client work that earns them a regular income and the dreams that need feeding.
Fill your stable with a few steady clients as soon as you can. Once your baseline is covered, reach for something better. As long as your bills are being paid, it’s better to build assets, write for yourself, and safeguard your time. Creating a portfolio of creative is an amazing way to grow—as a writer, businessperson, and all around human.
You’re probably not charging what you’re worth. Few writers do. This isn’t something you can fix in a day, but it is something you can start fixing immediately.
You write your future a word at a time. Start charging just a little bit more for each one.
Sean Platt helps good writers make a great living. Get his free report, The 9 Mistakes Most Writers Make That Are Keeping Them Poor. Follow him on Twitter.
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Ponder this quote from new media thought leader and business consultant Chris Brogan:
If we don’t pay close attention to how what we’re doing fits in with the rest of our life, then we might end up winning the wrong race.
When it comes to my work I’ll admit to thinking sometimes, just sometimes, that I’m running the wrong race.
Twitter, Facebook, blogging, ebooks, workshops, mentoring, writing, client meetings, feature articles. All these things are a part of my daily life. But sometimes they’re a drag.
Don’t get me wrong. I love my life as a freelance writer.
But the truth is, I want to write books that make a difference.
Writing, however, takes time. And I get so caught up in running the new media and “successful freelancer” race that instead of running in the open air on a tree-lined path, I get on a treadmill of keeping up with what a modern freelance “should” do.
That ends. Today.
I’m creating margin in my day to make that happen.
For me, it starts with tightening up my schedule and employing the “un-do” list:
Ready to jump off the treadmill and onto the path? Tell me how you’re going to do it.
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Oh, sure, freelance writing can be hard and lonely, yet rewarding and exhilarating.
We all know that.
But here’s a list of all the other stuff nobody ’fesses up about.
If you’re a freelance writer you will:
Your turn:
I happened upon this post by accident after talking with a friend about my gravitation toward misfits of all kinds and then specifically Googling the words “misfit writers.”
Then, because I am a writer, I did the thing that a writer would do: I looked up the dictionary definition of “misfit.”
I didn’t like it.
I didn’t like it because the dictionary definition assigns blame to the person known as a misfit.
The blame, if there even is any, should not be on the person, but rather on the situation or environment. Read More
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Since this is The Diversified Writer blog, I thought it might be nice to talk a little bit more about diversification. When I first became a freelancer, I got a lot of helpful advice from others, mostly around the idea of settling into a niche.
I fought the idea of owning a niche and wasn’t sure why until a potential client said to me, “Oh, I get it. You specialize in being a generalist!”
Bingo!
My portfolio has print, interactive, long, short, feature, copy and other types of writing. I like writing lots of different things and, frankly, I think it makes me more valuable to my clients to have such a broad base of experience from which to draw.
Now, mind you, fellow writer Kim Stacey is highly specialized, choosing to focus solely on writing and consulting for funeral homes. Until I reached out to Kim online, I couldn’t even imagine there was a need for such a thing. But there is and it works for her.
Why? Read More
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I’m on a productivity kick. Not just getting more done. But getting more of the right things done—faster and easier.
What about you? Are you on a productivity kick? Why? Why not? What stops you from getting more done?
For me, productivity suffers when I’m fearful, unfocused or just plain stuck.
When I was a kid, I was all of those things when it came to this one particular homework assignment.
2 CommentsI don’t know any freelancer that doesn’t want (or need) to be more productive. And even though I’m well organized (hubby would say obsessively so) and highly productive, I’m constantly looking for tips, tools and techniques to manage my time better.
Which is why I follow and engage with other freelancers I admire, like Linda Formichelli, Daphne Gray-Grant, Kim Stacey and Lori Murray.
In fact, it was Daphne’s #3 idea on this list that got me blogging more regularly.
How? continue reading
No CommentsInspiration truly is everywhere—if you pay attention to what’s right in front of you and allow your mind to wander, make connections and generate ideas.
Here’s my not-so-short-list of unexpected places to find inspiration, in no particular order.
P.S. Why 104? Because I accidentally fat-fingered the keyboard and made a typo then thought, “Heck, why not 104?” Why not, indeed.
No CommentsThis interview got me thinking about how to overcome writers’ avoidance.
Writers’ avoidance, for the uninitiated, is the overwhelming need to …
… just so you don’t have to start the thing you know you need to start.
In case you don’t want to click through, I’ll give you the skinny on the tweet.
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