When you’re just getting started as a freelance writer I guarantee you’re going to be tempted to make the following mistakes. Don’t do it! No matter what your potential client tells you, doing any of the following will NOT help your business. In fact, they’ll actually hurt it. Here are 3 mistakes that every freelance writer makes when they first start out:
Mistake #1 – Quoting a price without knowing the complete project requirements
There’s a big difference between writing a 10,000 word ebook about Dog Training and writing a 10,000 word ebook on The Theory of Relativity. It’s easy enough to find a few online resources and use them to tell people how to housebreak a puppy or what’s the best kind of dog food.
But if you’re going to try to explain the Theory of Relativity, in your own words and without copying and pasting the whole thing, then you’re going to have to understand it. And if you don’t, that means you’re going to have to spend extra time researching. So you might want to charge double what you’d charge for that Dog Training ebook.
Mistake #2 – Letting your competition determine your prices
Stick to your guns when you quote a price. If you need to make $20 per hour to keep a roof over your head then don’t settle for $10. Unless of course your client is willing to also settle for a lesser quality article.
You can only write so many words per hour. Say you need $20 per hour and you normally write 1,000 words per hour. If you lower your price to $10 per hour then you’re going to have to write 2,000 words in order to make the money you need. Eventually, you’re going to run out of time and you’ll still be in the negative.
Mistake #3 – Overbooking because you underestimated
One of the biggest mistakes that people just starting out in freelancing make is to overbook. They think all they’ll have to do is type a little faster and they can squeeze in 5 or 10 more articles. But you can only type so fast and there are only so many hours in a day. Overbooking only leads to frustration. For you and your clients.
How to Avoid Making These Mistakes
Calculate how much money you need to make per hour to meet your personal financial needs. Keep in mind – do you want to work 60 hours a week or only 30? Your clients may want you to bid on the entire project, like that 10,000 word ebook. So you’ll need to know how long it takes you to type 10,000 words and you’ll also need to be able to estimate your research time.
Do not waiver from that dollar amount. No matter how bleak things seem, once you start settling for less than you really need to make you’re going to fall quickly behind and you won’t be able to catch up without either killing yourself in the process or losing a few really good clients because you’re overbooked and can’t meet deadlines.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Beamer is a freelance writer specializing in SEO writing and writing articles that are guaranteed to be accepted by any directory online. Visit her at 97 Dollar Ebooks to find out how you can get An Article A Day five days a weeks.
