As I teased at the end of last week’s post, I’ve published a second paperback book and ebook, titled Help! My Freelancers Are Driving Me Crazy, which provides relationship strategies for the motivation and management of freelance workers. [Read more…]
The real minimum wage
I was talking with a longtime freelance associate yesterday about two pricing issues she’s having. First, she’s trying to find a way to charge a premium for her services when the client wants to buy extensive rights vs. one-time, one-purpose rights. Second, she’s got a potential ghostwriting job and is attempting to calculate an appropriate rate that won’t price her out of the market. [Read more…]
Freelancing in the sticks
Today’s guest blogger is Bruce Farr, a writer in my freelance stable during my staff editing days, a client during his corporate days, and a wise friend for the duration. (He’s a holdout on blogging, but here’s a quick article about his background, which includes writing and recording commentaries for NPR’s All Things Considered.) Here’s his response to a question the Doc received about freelancing in the sticks. [Read more…]
Can this client relationship be saved?
Dr. Freelance: I recently sent a client an email letting him know that a certain task was going to take time beyond the agreed-upon scope and therefore cost more, and asking whether he wanted to proceed. In response, he “reviewed” my services (i.e., enumerated all of the ways that I was falling short, basically questioning my fees. He softened the blow a bit by listing what he considered my “most significant contributions,” but it was still an unexpected blow. Anyway, I responded back with a list of my own honest thoughts about the relationship. I’ve been thinking about dumping him as a client anyway (he’s a chronic slow-payer) so I don’t really care what happens, but would like your perspective on how best to handle this type of thing. — Blindsided
Dear Blindsided: Based on that type of email “review,” not to mention the pay and myriad other underlying issues, I can understand why he got under your skin. It sounds like he is far underestimating how much work you’ve been putting into his projects. I’ve dealt with that type of client relationship many times before — heck, it was part of the disaster I shared the other day on my Jake’s Take blog. [Read more…]
Freelancer, are you good enough?
I recently asked P.S. Jones — freelance writer, owner of P.S. Jones Copy and Design, and the exuberant yet quite sane blogger at Diary of a Mad Freelancer — about the most common question she receives from new freelancers. Today’s guest post is her response.
The most common question I get from new freelancers is how will they know they’re good enough. “Good enough for what?” I usually say. If you’re asking are you good enough to be a writer, you’re asking something that every thoughtful writer asks regularly. We’re a sensitive group, and we spend a lot of time lavishing love on our work because it feels like we gave birth to it. [Read more…]
The benefits of high estimates
On to the always-popular (and sometimes contentious) topic of pricing and estimating for freelancers. More specifically today, I want to address the psychological benefits of high estimates via a lesson I learned over the holidays. [Read more…]