A. James Editing, Inc.

I responded to a question on LinkedIn Answers this morning that asked about the various sites like Elance and Simply Hired that churn out low-paying copywriting gigs.


I gave my two cents as a professional freelance copywriter and remembered a post I read a few months ago by Peter Bowerman about this very topic.


He talked about the kinds of jobs that typically get “outsourced” like computer programming and customer service, for example.


But what about quality writing?


Well, quality writing doesn’t get sent overseas necessarily, but certainly the market has been saturated with sub par work by writers who are paid $5 or so per article they write. Obviously if this is going to be any kind of income source for them they’ll have to churn out as many articles as possible in as little time as possible.


It sounds scammish, but it happens. Regularly.


Instead of paraphrasing the whole article, read it here.

When the Universe tells you to.


That’s a cop-out answer, I know, but it’s not far from the truth.


I was working at the Library right before I went full-time freelance and it was a painful awakening. No really, something in my wrist actually popped.


I was working in the Sort Center, the place where all the books from the 19 library branches go to be sorted and shipped back to their home branches, when it happened.


The job involved a lot of lifting, holding and hefting of books and crates full of books. (Ok, you’ve got that picture in your mind?)


Now throw in my history of wrist tendonitis and you’ll see where I’m headed.


One day, I was performing a routine task with a hand truck, moving a five-crate high stack of book crates to its proper place, and


BOOM!


My wrist goes pop and my vision goes white.


I didn’t scream, because I’m not a screamer, but I was definitely in pain.


It’s worth mentioning that not two hours before this happened, I had asked the Universe whether I should stay in my position at the Library, or focus my precious energy on my freelance copywriting career, which had been consuming more and more of my time by that point.


The Universe gave me a prompt response (by way of an appropriate book title, which I have now forgotten) that said I should pursue my passion to be a full-time freelance copywriter.


This made me smile. I decided then that I would pursue my career…but not immediately. The fear of financial insecurity hung low in the air, as the economy was still reeling after the Bush years. I decided I would wait a little longer.


The Universe did not like that and smote me down with an injury that could take a lifetime to heal, and more immediately, prevented me from doing my job.


“Ok,” I said to the Universe, “my bad. I heard you.”


And so I quit my 10-6 at the Sort Center, and embarked on the lovely, never-ending adventure that is self-employment.


Is it easy?


Sometimes.


Is it fun?


Always.


If you’re having difficulty deciding whether you should go full-time freelance, part-time freelance or stay at your office job, try asking your Deity of Choice for a little help with this life altering decision.


You may not like the answer you get, but hey, that’s what you get for asking. Besides, “Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t.” So says Erica Jong.


Truer words were never spoken.

According to Webster’s, a survivalist is “a person who advocates or practices survivalism” or “one who has prepared to survive in the anarchy of an anticipated breakdown of society.”


Being a freelance creative won’t necessarily prepare you to survive a natural disaster or societal meltdown (though I’m positive we have some transferable skills), but it will enable you to take control of your income.


Yeah, yeah, we’ve all heard the term “starving artist.”


And conventional wisdom tells us that being a freelance anything is dangerous because you never know how much money you’re going to make in any given month.


This is only partially true, and far more alarmist than it needs to be.


As freelance creatives, we have the power and the privilege to steer our own careers and set earning goals that could change every month if we chose.


We, not our passive-aggressive supervisors or the faceless CEO of the company, have the power to give ourselves raises, take 20 weeks of vacation per year, work remotely from anywhere on the planet, and climb our industry ladder as quickly, or not at all, as we see fit.


Our position is unique too, in that we can change the course of our business or work as quickly as our personal and client needs dictate. What’s easier, turning your car around or turning it around while a trailer’s hitched to the back?


We just have less baggage, less bureaucracy and way more flexibility in every aspect of our business.


Is being a freelancer really all roses, rainbows and sunshine, as you say?!


Hell no!


Being a freelance creative is hard work and sometimes we don’t make our monthly earning goals. C’est la vie.


But we don’t do it because it’s easy.


We do it because we love it.


We do it because it’s our right livelihood.


We do it because we wouldn’t want it any other way.


We know what to do and where to go to make our dreams come true. We’re certainly not islands, but we each produce enough of our own natural resources, to at least be self-sustaining.


That’s why being a freelance creative is like being a survivalist.


Because we have the skills to survive and thrive, regardless of the economy. Unfortunately, wage earners are not always so fortunate.

In a previous post, I discussed the challenges freelance copywriters face in getting paid what their work is worth compared to graphic and web designers.


So, assuming it’s true that decision-makers think about the design of their website, for example, before they think about the writing (which, IMHO, is indeed the case), the designer will get to name their price with little to no negotiating required, while the copywriter, the second-born/afterthought, has to scramble for the bits of the budget that remain.


This does not have to be so.


I strongly recommend that freelance copywriters form partnerships with freelance graphic and web designers. This way, when they’re contacted to design a website, it’s easy for them to ask their client, “Who do you have working with you on the copy?”


And Voila! You’re in.


This also puts the designer in a unique, value-added position with the client. And very likely, the client will take their designers’ copywriter recommendation without shopping around for the best (read lowest) price because let’s face it: how many decision-makers/business owners know a good freelance copywriter or even where to find one?


Not many in my experience. (Except, of course, those who know me.)


By piggybacking on the success of your designer partners, you’re now able to get more work, in addition to receiving compensation that is closer to your work’s true worth.


(Hopefully you would have let your designer know what your preferred rates are so they can let their clients know what to expect, thus, paving the way for you to be paid what would be equivalent to at least a living wage.)


A freelance copywriter who is near and dear to my copywriting heart, Peter Bowerman, has written an e-book about this very subject: “Profitable – By Design!”

It’s only happened to me twice in the five years I’ve been working as a freelance copywriter. But both times I struggled with how to handle it. One automatically assumes that professionalism demands punctuality and woe to those who do not harken to these standards. (“Woe” and “harken”? Amber, what’s up with the archaic-speak? I studied Latin and Old English in college, alright? Just let me have my moment.)

The first time it happened was a bit ridiculous. We were supposed to meet at Vita Cafe on Alberta Street in NE Portland, OR. I’d been there once before and the cafe I was sitting in seemed to be on the opposite side of the street from where I remembered it. 15 minutes went by with no word from my prospective client. Yes, my phone was on. No, I didn’t have any messages. And yes, I’d forgotten to bring his number with me (Being in Business 101, folks.)

I asked the server if he knew of the location of my client’s business, but he’d never heard of it. I explained my situation to him and he informed me that there was another cafe a few blocks down the street called Vitta Cafe. Seriously? On the same street? And on the same side of the street? Come on, Portland!

So I book it over there, I’m 25 minutes late at this point, and I burst into the cafe to find…that he’s not there. Well, that’s all I had. I lowered my head and drove home. (At this point in the narrative, you may be wondering what my lateness has to do with the title of this post. Wait for it…)

As soon as I got home, 10-15 minutes later, I call the client to express my desperate apologies. He doesn’t answer, I leave a message, he calls me back. He says, “Well, your message put me in a position where I could be honest or just let you take the fall for this…I’ll be honest: I was never there.”

My jaw dropped.

“I actually forgot we were meeting today.”

He was a no-show while I thought I was sitting in the wrong cafe. But it’s ok, now. We’re friends.

Though this situation was stressful while it was happening, I learned a valuable business lesson that I will now share with you:

The Moral of the Story

Send a confirmation email the day before you’re supposed to meet with a client. Something like, “Hi Jordan, I just wanted to make sure we’re still on for tomorrow morning at 11 at Vita Cafe at 3023 NE Alberta.” (I might take out one of the “at”s though.)

The second situation I mentioned would claim a post about this long and I’ve never really been a fan of long blog posts, or long emails for that matter. So, projecting my desires and dislikes onto you, I’ll save that story for another post that will be entitled something like: “When Random Things Happen and There’s Nothing You Can Do But Roll With It.”

Your homework:

What’s one of your late client stories? What did you learn from it that could help others?