How to Improve Your Freelance Writing Business Processes

Have you ever had this happen to you? You land a new client (yay!), conduct an introductory call, and then settle on your first assignment. 

Then, you clack away at the keyboard and write something 100% OUT OF THIS WORLD AWESOME.

Next step: Send Google Doc to the client, shimmy, and bask in your coolness.

The next day you get the surprising and dreadful email. "This is great, but it's not quite what we were going for. Could you rewrite it to say X, Y, and Z, please?"

Gasp! All your hard work feels wasted and you have to start over.

If this has ever happened to you, you're not alone. It happens to a lot of freelance writers. I've been freelancing for 10 years, and have had this happen to me a few times throughout the years.

I didn't miss the mark because I am the worst freelancer in the world. I had to re-do my work because I didn't take enough time with the client setting expectations, understanding their content marketing goals, and learning exactly what it is they want the blog post to do and say.

These were my two drastic mistakes: 

1. I didn't know what questions to ask on a kick-off call (oops!)

2. I wasn't sending clients a content brief (double oops!)

After making this mistake a few times in my early days, I decided never again. I did the research and came up with some killer kick-off Qs and a pretty rad content brief.

I cannot begin to tell you how much time fine-tuning my onboarding process has saved me. 

If this scenario rings true with you, I'd encourage you to take a closer look at what you are doing right after you acquire your customers. Do you send new customers a proposal and contract? How about an onboarding email with the next steps? Do you ask them the right questions during your kick-off call? Do you send a content brief? What about sending an outline before going hog wild and writing your whole piece?

If you haven't ironed out your onboarding processes, the time is now to start. You won't regret it.

If you need help, I have good news! I sell guides + proven templates you can use to grow your freelance writing business the right way.

What's the trouble with self-editing?

Writing & Editing aren't the same jobs!

No matter what any client tells you, don't let them tell you that you are responsible for editing your own stuff.

Now, this doesn’t mean a writer can’t be an editor. On the contrary. Writers make the best editors because they are familiar with how to structure a piece, grammar rules, and all the tidbits that go into crafting masterpieces.

My argument isn’t that writers shouldn’t edit. My argument is that writers shouldn’t be responsible for editing the final version of THEIR OWN WORK.

WHAT?!?! WHY!?!?!

Because the brain works in mysterious ways, and neuroscience tells us if we try and edit our own work, we will inevitably miss things we wouldn’t miss if someone else had written it.

Brain scientist, Tom Stafford, provides a more scientific look into why self-editing isn't a foolproof process in "Why It's So Hard To Catch Your Own Typos." You can read the whole article on Wired, but here's the gist.

Writing is a high-level task (aka takes up a lot of focused brainpower). When our brains are working on the high-level job of writing, they do two things. One, they work hard to convey meaning, and they also map out a destination for a story. When our brains are focused on meaning and mapping, they naturally generalize smaller tasks like grammar and spelling, making us gloss over even the simplest of errors.

Seriously. Ever had some hoity-toity Hermione Granger point out an “it’s” where you should have written an “its,” and then you put your palm to your face, and feel like a dummy?

Well, here's some good news. You didn’t make this error because you’re dumb and suck at grammar and need to go back to second grade. You missed it because you’re smart, and your brain is engaged in a high-level task. You rock!

Let's move on to why it's easy to see others' mistakes (and others to see our errors).

When others read our work, their brains aren't responsible for the heavy-duty task of conveying meaning or mapping out a cohesive journey. These readers are relaxed, first-timers with fresh minds.

As such, their brains are capable of seeing those smaller details, and an “it’s” that should have been an “its” will stick out like a sore thumb.

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN? WHAT IS THE TAKEAWAY?

It means every writer needs an editor (one that is not yourself). All writers need an editor. All of them. Even me. Even you. Even J.K. Rowling.

It also means that you should advocate for yourself when you sign a new client and tell them they need to hire an editor.

WHAT’S THE SECOND BEST EDITING OPTION?

Look. Not all clients are going to have an editor on the team. And, even though it’s a bad idea, a lot of your clients will expect you to edit all your own work. Boo.

The next best option is to sign up for the Premium version of Grammarly (affiliate). Grammarly is an online editing tool that catches those silly mistakes your brain doesn’t see. Ultimately, Grammarly helps you polish your work, so sign up for an account.

Whatever you do, remember it's natural to miss mistakes in your own work. To ensure a polished final version, make sure you have a human editor on your team or an AI tool like Grammarly to help you catch mistakes.

Onward, friends!  Please feel free to check out my freelance writing resources if you're interested in growing your business and fine-tuning your processes. Or don't. I'm not the boss of you.

How can freelance writers optimize their time?

What do Amy Poehler, basic economics, and RBG have to do with freelance writing?

I can't begin to tell you how many times I come across social media posts from fellow busy freelance writers dripping with guilt about hiring help.

Here's a short mom-guilt example I recently saw on ZuckerBook:

Maybe it's human nature to feel guilty about hiring help. I don't know; I'm not a psychologist. But, I am a business owner that hires support for EVERYTHING. Hiring help is the ONLY thing that makes it possible for me to make a living and have a life.

If you're feeling guilty about making your life easier, stop it right now. Not only should you NOT feel guilty, but hiring help is one of the best business decisions you'll ever make.

If you're skeptical about why this is a good idea, here's a proclamation from everyone's favorite comedy queen, Amy Poehler, and a quick dive into one of the basic economic principles, opportunity cost.

1. Amy Poehler says, "every mother needs a wife." (This one is for the moms, but the sentiment applies to every busy person)

Look, the FaceBook user in the comment above is right. Working moms take on a shit-ton of responsibility. If you try and do everything, you'll always feel like you're drowning. The only way to "do it all" is with help. 

Amy Poehler says:

“Do you know how I do it? I can do it because I have a wife. Every mother needs a wife… Some mothers’ wives are their mothers. Some mothers’ wives are their husbands. Some mothers’ wives are their friends and neighbors. Every working person needs a wife who takes care of her and helps her become a better mother… the biggest lie and biggest crime is that we all do this alone and look down on people who can’t."

My advice is to STOP TRYING TO DO IT ALL YOURSELF and get yo'self a wife or four. My wives are my husband, Brandon, Adrienne, Brighton, and Rosa (polygamy style). My wives help me with managing my household, daily childcare, childcare during business travel, and housekeeping. My wives free up my time so that I can work and have enough energy to be a good mom when I'm not working.

2. What is opportunity cost?

Not only is hiring help a good idea, but it's practicing one of the soundest and most basic economic principles, opportunity cost. In short, opportunity cost is the cost of what you give up to do something else. In the context of freelance writing, the opportunity cost is how much money you give up to do X,Y, or Z when you could be writing.

For example, you could spend 2 hours mowing your lawn, but at what cost? In the time you spent mowing your lawn, you could have written a blog post for $1000, and paid the neighbor kid $30 to mow your lawn. The opportunity cost of mowing your lawn, instead of working, is $970.

If hiring a nanny, tutor for your kids, or housekeeper while you work frees up your time to make more money, you shouldn't feel guilty. You should feel great about how awesome you are at managing time and tasks while making a decent living.

3. Opportunity cost and freelance writing

I think it's important to point out that opportunity cost doesn't just apply to hiring help with household chores and childcare. You can factor opportunity cost into your freelance business by asking yourself what is the cost of doing X, Y, or Z myself or hiring someone to help, purchasing a training, or buying tools to help me grow my business faster?

For example, you could:

• Spend hours researching how to set up an LLC, or spend a few hundred bucks hiring a trained accountant to do it for you.

• Try and write a freelance contract yourself, or spend $199 on a legal contract template for freelancers, and have it in your pile of business resources in seconds.

• Set up all your business processes and develop your onboarding materials on your own, or purchase a proven bundle from a freelancer that has spent over 10 years figuring this out for you (check out my store).

Times are rough and busy right now. Don't feel guilty for a second about getting help. It's a great way to stay sane and free up your time to do what you love.

Not to mention, when your time is compartmentalized and you're not multi-tasking every second of the day, you can give more of yourself to your kids when you're with them and more focused attention on your work when you're at your desk. Seriously. Ruth Bader Ginsburg even says so.

"When I started law school my daughter Jane was 14 months, and I attribute my success in law school largely to Jane. I went to class about 8:30 a.m., and I came home at 4:00 p.m., that was children’s hour. It was a total break in my day, and children’s hour continued until Jane went to sleep. Then I was happy to go back to the books, so I felt each part of my life gave me respite from the other.” -RBG

Common freelance writing questions and their answers

Recently, I asked my audience what you would ask a freelance writing consultant if you had one question.

Here are the top questions I received and my rapid-fire answers. I hope it helps.

1. How much should freelance writers charge - $$$?

Knowing what to charge is one of the most difficult things about starting a freelance writing business. You don't want to undercharge and be poor. You also don't want to charge so much that you never get a client.

But, what are those magic numbers?

Last year, I surveyed and interviewed hundreds of freelancers like you and me. I scoured through the data and created a FREE 34-page benchmark report with answers to all your pricing questions. 

This report has been called "so helpful," "well-researched," "baller," "amazing," and only one of those comments came from my mom, so you know it's worth checking out.

Get the report here.

2. What is the most effective lead-generating tactic?

I am taking this to mean what is the best way to get ongoing freelancing clients. Here's what to do:

• Do a good job when you get your first client. Take the lead, give your clients a content brief to fill out, write an outline for approval, deliver quality work, and deliver on time. If you nail the job, you can usually count on additional work. You can also feel comfortable asking the client for referrals. And, do ask for referrals. Say, "Hi! Thank you so much for letting me work on this project. It was so fun to work with you. My business runs on referrals, so if you know of anyone that needs a content marketer, I'd love an introduction."

• Build a community. Freelancing is inherently a bit lonely, but it doesn't have to be completely isolating. Hop on Twitter and start engaging with people that do what you do. If you have a chance to attend an in-person networking event, do it. Your friendships and relationships will help.

• Pick a niche. When I first started freelancing, I wrote about anything for anyone. Most new freelancers do. Over time, find out what you're good at and what you like and focus on that. For example, I personally can write about education, data, and international travel, but I don't. People know me as a SaaS/ecomm long-form writer. When those projects pop up, people think of me. Focusing makes you an expert, makes you "sticky" in others' mind, and it helps you build your portfolio faster.

That's what I got on that for now.

3. How do you track metrics once your work is with the client?

This one is hard. The only way to get metrics is to ask your client to hook you up. I recommend putting together a customer satisfaction survey after you've worked with a client. Ask them how it's going, how to improve, provide a testimonial, and share any relevant results. 

4. What is the best way to secure clients that pay a good rate?

My advice for this question is two-fold. First, don't say "yes" to projects that don't pay well. I have been guilty of this several times (bc anxiety), and it never pans out well. The earlier in your career that you start saying "no" to low-paying projects, the faster you'll start making more money.

My second bit of advice is to tell your clients what you charge, not ask them what their budget is. I tell clients what I charge in the very first email. 

My welcome email goes kinda like this, "Hey, I'm Ashley. This is my process. This is what I charge. If this sounds good, let's chat." 

5. What do you do when you have more work than you can handle?

When I have more work than I can handle, I do one of the following:

1. Refer it to another SaaS/ecomm copywriter friend

2. Hire one of those SaaS/ecomm copywriter friends to tackle it with me

3. Hire a subcontractor

4. Say "no" to bad projects to keep my schedule more open

5. Fire clients that are lame and replace them with new clients

6. Take on the work and then stay up at night working and crying (don't do this one)

Write on!