I was thrilled to see my friend Jennifer Mattern’s latest Well-Fed Writer newsletter (here’s the link to sign up and see for yourself). In it, Jenn talks about the gold mine that lies within commercial writing opportunities — those “boring” projects that pay well. She urges readers to reconsider these gigs as they can be quite lucrative.
AI and Clients: A Freelance Primer
Not long ago, I had a client who handed an article draft to me. Proudly, they announced that they’d “written” it with the help of AI. They wanted me to edit it. I refused. I told them why, and this is something I think we all need to caution our clients about because they are…
4 Freelance Personas that Don’t Work
I’ve been writing professionally since 2000, freelancing since 2003. Friends, I’ve seen some shit. Maybe you’ve struggled with the same issues over your freelance career. Some of the things that frustrated me are pretty universal, I suspect. The know-it-all freelancer I’ve had a lot of people tell me what I’m doing wrong in my freelance…
Your Stalled Freelance Writing Career (and how to un-stall it)
Once upon a time (2003), I was thrust into the world of freelance writing when I lost my job. Through connections I’d made on the job, I was able to start working independently the very next day. This freelance stuff was going to be easy. Yes, I was that naive, my freelance friends. What followed…
4 Fairly Surefire Ways to Increase Freelance Income
Let’s face it: We’re in the era of AI, which means some people will be looking to take shortcuts while writers who target these potential clients will be bemoaning how “dead” freelancing is. It’s already started. A few friends have already been asked to edit AI-generated content or worse, train AI to basically take their…
Removing Freelance Roadblocks
In a conversation with a fellow creative not long ago, I realized just how often we creatives put roadblocks up. I greeted this creative, whom I’d met previously, and asked how things were going. Ten minutes later, I now knew more about how things weren’t going. And I was done. The conversation went something like…
4 Rookie Mistakes Freelance Writers Make
A writer friend and I were discussing LinkedIn yesterday. She runs a popular writing group there, and she was telling me some of the post requests and connection requests she’s had to reject. I get it. When I was first on LinkedIn, I saw immediately that it wasn’t like Facebook or Instagram. It was a…
How You Could be Losing at Freelancing
Of all the freelance writing advice (or just plain freelance advice because sweetie, we’re all in this together) out there, some of the most useful isn’t “how to start a freelance writing business” or “where to find freelance clients.” It’s the advice that points out those things you may be doing that are sabotaging your…
Losing the “I Sell Words” Mentality
Know those times when you look at someone’s profile on LinkedIn and immediately, that person is in your email asking if you want to hire them? That happened to a writer chum of mine recently. She happened upon someone who claimed to be a writer, so she looked. The response came shortly after. “Hi (person’s…
When Freelance Prospects Hesitate
I was talking with a writer chum the other day when the topic of prospects came up. Prospects — those people and organizations that you want to have as clients. My friend has a long list of potential clients they have talked with and discussed projects with who could all become clients within the immediate…