How do White Freelancers Find Out How Much Projects Pay? - youramericanmoney
Author: Michelle
Description: if you're wondering how to get good freelancing clients and how white freelancers seem to be getting some solid gigs-read on.
Date: 2021-07-26T09:00:00+00:00

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# How do White Freelancers Find Out How Much Projects Pay?

posted on 26 July, 2021

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I almost didn’t use this title. But, I decided that it was important to do so because of a Twitter thread that I was involved in. The question was literally “How do White Freelancers Find Out How Much Projects Pay?” But as I watched people reacting to the thread, I felt like there were a couple of underlying additional questions that people were really asking about. The first was how to connect with brands that pay, how to recognize what business doors need to be opened for lucrative projects and what are the strategies that people are using to grow their businesses. Even though I do think freelancing has a lot of headwinds facing it right now, I would like to share how my business works and how allies helped it grow. Also, I decided to have this discussion on my Michelle is Money Hungry podcast because there are a number of people pursuing freelance writing as their side-hustle. I share some insight based on my experience as a member of a closed Mastermind for freelancers. This community is comprised primarily of white members who have been wonderful allies in the freelancing arm of my business. I’m hoping that this episode gives some deeper insight into what to do to grow your business. I will also share some of the actions that I took to grow a more sustainable freelancing business. Listen on!

*In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please read my disclosure here.*

## Show Resource

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## Listen to the Show

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## Show Notes

- I write primarily in 3.5 different content spaces.
  - Personal finance and equity
  - Entrepreneurship
  - Outdoors related content
  - Projects adjacent to the above

- I’ve been in the Personal Finance space for the past 8 years and have had a love hate relationship with freelancing. Initially, the issue was that I had to take any projects that came my way because I was broke and needed all the money that I could get. When I first quit I worked as a VA, social media assistant, freelancing and did brand ambassador work. Freelancing in particular intrigued me because I knew that it could be lucrative in my content space because I knew of people making good money writing for credit card companies, major websites, etc. But, I seemed to be stuck with clients who wanted too much for too little pay or paid me really late. By the way, I’ve never used content mills, Upwork, etc.

- I would eventually take a year off from freelance writing and began writing ebooks. This was a fantastic move because that additional money allowed me to be a lot more deliberate about the projects that I worked on. However, I still had difficulty attracting or figuring out how to connect with better paying clients and then a couple of things happened in 2020.
  - The George Floyd murder occurred and I said something in passing like “Yes, I’m available to work on this…” and the previous years of positioning in my space opened up a lot of opportunities. Also, my ally friends realized that I was still not having the type of access to similar projects and opportunities even though I’d worked and collaborated in the personal finance space since 2012 and had begun freelance writing in earnest around 2017.

## 7 Tips To Grow Your Freelance Income

I did do a number of things strategically even if I wasn’t aware of it. But, having an ally open up more access to information made everything come together. I was working hard but needed more insight.

- Tip #1-Develop at least 3 distinct areas of easily identifiable expertise. Basically, people should immediately associate certain areas of expertise with your name. No guessing. In my case those areas are:
  - Personal finance
  - Online Entrepreneurship
  - Colorado
  - Social Equity conversations

That expertise helped people share opportunities that were an obvious fit for my expertise. That meant I more often got a “Yes” when responding to those leads forwarded to me. Being an expert also inadvertently positively impacted my overall rates.

- Tip #2 Working Your Numbers-Serious talk, have you sat down and really worked your numbers?
  - How much you want to earn for an hour of work then subtract TAXES. I want to earn a minimum of $250-$300 an hour
  - How long it takes you to finish a piece of content plus editing time.
  - How much you would like to earn MINIMUM a month.
  - Factor in
    - Monthly expenses
    - Emergency fund
    - Retirement vehicles
    - Debt repayment
    - Insurance
    - TAXES
  - I know that I need to work a certain number of projects in order to hit my minimum monthly earnings goal.
  - Diversify your income!! I can’t state this often enough. Yes, you’re a freelance writer, but it’s imperative that you diversify your income. This may take awhile to do. You can do this in a couple of ways.
    - Have more than one area of expertise. If there’s a seasonal dip interest in a certain area, you can pick up the slack with other content.
    - Have a part-time job
    - Learn how to do copywriting-always in demand
    - Write ebooks-same skillset, but applied in a different way.
    - Ghostwriting-I know a number of people who have ghostwriters do the initial work on a project than they go back in and add their “voice” to it.
    - Blog content contributor-Blogs make money. There are a lot of bloggers needing help creating content for their websites.
    - Teach online-You may even teach something completely unrelated to your writing career.

- Tip #3 Have a Simple Branded Website-Your website now functions as in the role of a resume. Include backlinks to your projects. Share your expertise and be clear about the work that you are available to do. Also, and this can’t be stated enough, make it incredibly easy for editors to contact you. My website needs a facelift, but it has gotten me:
  - Brand work
  - Freelance projects
  - Affiliate income
  - Speaking gigs
  - TV spots

- Tip #4 Network YOUR ASS OFF. People work with who they know. So, become known to people in your area of expertise.
  - Follow editors on Twitter-I’ve gotten a large number of projects off of Twitter (eve though I rage Tweet)
  - Follow journalists on Twitter-They may need an expert on their show. If you’re picked for a segment make sure to add that to your website.
    - I just landed my own radio show because of my Twitter presence
  - Attend conferences. Don’t have deep pockets? I didn’t for years. But, I was able to grow my business by:
    - Volunteering in exchange for a free ticket. It’s crazy how many people you can meet and network with when volunteering.
    - Apply to speak at a conference-You typically get a free ticket and get to highlight and share your expertise.
    - Speak in people’s online communities about your expertise as a guest. Don’t just randomly spout off-you’ll get kicked out.
  - Attend local Meetup groups that are associated with your area of focus. Or, join the Freelancers Spark Union
  - Create a Mastermind Group fo 5-7 other freelancers at different stages of their business.
    - Encourage one another
    - Share your personal best practices
    - Share leads
    - Collaborate vs. Compete
    - Discuss how you’re growing your client list
    - Who’s a great editor vs. who’s not
    - Tools used, etc.
  - Have candid conversations with your ally friends. If they are truly friends and allies (and secure) they will share what they know.

- Tip #5 Always Send More Than 1 Pitch!
  - When I receive a call for pitches I always send back a minimum of 5-10 very well thought out pitches. I almost always get minimum of 3 projects approved with this system. Pay attention to your client’s style guide when doing this and review their content to avoid duplicating what they already have.
    - Also, have a minimum earn per project based on scope of work.
    - Build in raises. You can start small if it makes you nervous.

- Tip #6 Fire Bad Clients FAST
  - This was something that was really hard for me to do in the beginning because I was so broke LOL! Picking up a side-hustle helped me to take a step back in my business and work with clients who:
    - Respected me
    - Paid me (on time)
    - And had a clear scope of work and reasonable edit process.
    - Bad clients will mess with your mind, time and wallet. Get rid of them fast. They don’t even have to know they’re bad clients just stop pitching them and move on.

- Tip #7 Always be Onboarding-You should always be adding in the process of attracting new clients to your roster. Some clients take awhile to get their projects started. I have a huge client that signed me on for one project in March and it still hasn’t started-it’s July at the time of this recording. But, they did work with me on a very lucrative brand partnership and other projects. You may surprised how things work out.

## Bonus Tips

- Be Intentional! Don’t let your business happen to you. Don’t be vague and look for random projects. Look for content that grows your expertise and brand while paying you. I’m known as an “expert” or at least somewhat knowledgeable about the content that I talk about because I pick projects that grow my influence and income.

- Marketing Agencies! Learn what Marketing agencies/writing platforms are partnering with major brands and organizations in the space that you write in. For example, a company like Starbucks is usually working with a marketing agency as an intermediary. Content creators work with the marketing agency, turn in projects, send questions, etc. to their contact at the agency that they are working with. These projects tend to be a lot more lucrative as the companies have budgets for this type of content. They also are looking for “experts” in the space. This elevates the content as well. I love these projects because they pay well, elevate my brand and typically pay pretty quickly too.
  - You will need to do research often to cultivate as part of your system of developing leads. Always be onboarding. Make this basically a non-negotiable part of nurturing your business.

- LinkedIn Strategy-One of the freelancers in my group pitches heavily via LinkedIn. This person finds job listings looking for freelancers and pitches to help out during the interim. These pitches fill a need, are ongoing projects until the position is filled and the organization has a need taken care while going through the hiring process.
  - Search #freelance in LinkedIn to find job leads

- Apply for small business grants-There is a huge amount of grant money circulating. There are grants for almost every type of business. I regularly apply for grants that help with other aspects of my business. I don’t just freelance but there are grants out there to support small businesses. It takes some work but may literally pay off.

- Apply for Professional Development Scholarships-Basically, you want to be in the rooms where professionals in your spaces are networking and having substantive conversations about what they’re doing to build their businesses. A large number of conferences have scholarship or volunteer options. In fact, I signed up to volunteer with a new to me conference in 2020. Obviously it was cancelled. I am still listed as a volunteer for the 2022 event (they opted not to have an event in 2021)

- Nurture your relationships with editors! Editors are people too. They are under a lot of pressure to get a lot done. Your goal when working with an editor isn’t just to get a project done. It’s also to make it crazy easy to work with you.
  - Always do what you say you’re going to do and communicate quickly and early when something comes up.
  - ALWAYS be pleasant and professional-you’re providing a service and your behavior/correspondence is a reflection of YOU as an entrepreneur.
  - Build a rapport or even a friendship whenever possible with your Editors. I truly enjoy working with the editors that I work with now. I also make sure to ask how they’re doing, pay attention when they mention something personal “How was your trip?” basically, build a more natural connection with them overtime.
  - Fire bad editors fast-sometimes the editor is a good editor but a bad energetic fit. Just phase out that client. You DON’T have to tell them why you’re no longer working with them. Just move on.

- Diversify your income-I can’t mention this tip enough times. If you’re only freelance writing in one space, if for whatever reason that space contracts-you’re screwed, even if you have several different clients.
  - Broaden your scope of work and how you share your writing skills to others. Have at least 3 areas where you’ve developed a solid expertise and contribute thoughtfully about in a post.

I’m going to be candid and say that most people struggle with strategy, consistency and focus. Being a part of a community of people doing the same work will keep you focused and on task. Please like, subscribe and review the show.

## Buy Me a Coffee

I spend a lot of time at coffee shops working on my content. In fact, coffee shops helped me make it through the first year of the pandemic. I love supporting these small local businesses whenever I’m able to. Buy Me a Coffee is a quick and easy way to support my work and support a local business as well. Thanks so much and I’ll shout you out as well.

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#### Michelle

I am an obsessive foodie, but not self-righteous with it, love travel, meeting new people, helping you look good, and am freaked out by people who don't enjoying reading...something! Grab a Perrier, read my blog, feel free to drop me a line! Hope to hear from you soon.

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