Your first step: negotiate.

When a client says something like, “We need to see three concepts by Friday this week”, ask why that particular date is so important.

In my experience, most deadlines are arbitrary. Clients basically pick a date that is most convenient to them.

This is understandable. Busy business owners, marketing managers and agency creative directors naturally want to get their hands on your freelance work as early as possible. It makes things a lot less stressful — for them! — because that’s one less component of the project they have to worry about.

In these cases, you can often negotiate a more realistic deadline that fits both your schedule and that of your client’s. For example, you could say: “I’m booked solid early this week, but I can dive into your project with both feet on Thursday. What would happen if I delivered the three concepts to you by next Tuesday at noon?”

More often than not, the client will agree. And you can breathe a sigh of relief!

Sometimes, however, a client has a very good reason for a given deadline. Perhaps a trade show is looming and the salespeople need a new brochure to hand out to visitors. Or a seminar date is coming up and the web page promoting the event needs to be online next week.

When a deadline is carved in stone, you can still negotiate — a little. If your client wants the job done by Friday, you may be able to ask for an extension to Monday, but probably not much more.

So what do you do if a deadline is just that: the deadline.

Unless you’re willing to say no to your client and accept the consequences, your only choice is the Nike way. Just do it!

Here are some tips that will make working under impossible — well, nearly impossible — deadlines a lot easier.

1. Clear The Decks. Put everything you can on the backburner. Free up as much time as possible to devote exclusively to the project.

2. Add An Hour. Start an hour earlier, or work an hour later, each day. An extra hour of work is relatively painless, yet you’ll be surprised by how much more you’ll accomplish.

3. Close The Door. Ask your friends, colleagues, and family (especially the kids) to limit interruptions.

4. Plan Your Work. Decide, in advance, how much you’ll need to accomplish each day. Then stick to that schedule.

5. Start Now. Don’t procrastinate a few days and then pull an all-nighter. (Not fun.)

6. Avoid Perfection. You don’t have the time for that luxury! Create the piece as quickly as possible, no matter how terrible it is. Then clean it up. Revise it. And revise it again until it’s done. Aim for excellence, not perfection.

7. Do Your Best. Ultimately, that’s all you can do. Your best work, given the time you have available.

Surprisingly, creative work done under pressure — even when the timelines seem impossible and a detriment to quality — is often very good. Go figure.

——————–

Steve Slaunwhite is co-editor of The Wealthy Freelancer and the author of Pricing Your Writing Services.

If it hasn’t happened yet, it will.

You’re having a great day and then BLAM! Your client ambushes you at a meeting or starts yelling at you over the phone. Something is terribly wrong and you are in the hot seat.

Don’t panic! Just remember one word: ANGER.

Each letter gives you a step for dealing with the problem: Acknowledge — Nod — Guide — Execute — Retreat. I’ll explain each step. Then I’ll tell you how this word can help you turn your angry client into a loyal client for years to come.

1.  Acknowledge. It doesn’t matter if your client is right or wrong. The anger is real, so you have to acknowledge it and deal with it. Don’t debate. Don’t get defensive. Say, “I know you’re angry.” Then say, “This is important so explain the problem to me.” This will demonstrate that you understand the emotion and that you take the situation seriously.

2.  Nod. When people are angry, they need time to vent. Don’t throw out a solution right away. Just shut up and nod as your client lets it all out. You can’t rush them into getting over it even if you know there’s an easy fix. You have to deal with the anger before you deal with the problem.

3.  Guide. Once the tirade has run its course, it’s time for you to start playing problem-solver. Ask questions to be sure you understand the problem and find out specifically what your client expects. Suggest ideas. But also ask your client for ideas. You want to work as a team at this stage to arrive at a solution you are both happy with.

4.  Execute. This is where you become the hero. Fixing the problem will show that you are reliable and responsible. Take the solution you’ve agreed to and execute it immediately. Most reasonable people don’t expect perfection, but they do expect professionalism.

5.  Retreat. Once you’ve solved the problem, you may be tempted to apologize and verbally mend fences, but that’s a mistake. It will take a while for your client to get over the angry feelings, so retreat for a while and give your client some space.

Once you prove you can save the day when things go wrong, you will enjoy a lot more confidence from your client. And likely, if there’s another problem, it won’t create such an emotional response.

Everyone would prefer that things always go right. But the relationships that have been tested and have survived are the ones that tend to be the longest lasting.

 —————–

Dean Rieck is a leading direct marketing copywriter, designer, and consultant who has worked with more than 200 clients in the U.S. and abroad.. For more copywriting, selling, and freelance success tips, sign up for Dean’s FREE direct response newsletter or visit the Direct Creative Blog. 

That’s the most common question I’m hearing from fellow freelancers right now. And for good reason. After enjoying a steady stream of business for a few years, many freelance professionals are now scraping for work, taking whatever they can find, for whatever fees they can get.

There’s no doubt about it, folks: these are tough times globally. And it may not get better for a couple of years.

But instead of panicking (which won’t solve anything), the question we should all be asking ourselves is, “What am I going to do about it?”

Here’s how I’ve decided to approach this challenge…

First, I’ve made a conscious decision not to panic. Economies go through cycles. This one is no different. So every day I remind myself that this, too, shall pass. (Believe me, when I see the stock market seesawing the way it has, I have to work just as hard as everyone else to stay calm.)

Second, I’ve restructured my marketing strategy to focus greater effort on 3 key areas:

#1: Networking and Word of Mouth. If you haven’t already added networking to your marketing mix, now is the time to do so (and promise yourself that you’ll continue the practice even once we’re out of this economic mess). Fact is, prospects who come to you via networking are usually the easiest to convert.

Most metropolitan areas offer a wealth of networking opportunities. However, try to stick to 2 – 3 organization(s) that are rich with potential prospects. Join committees, get elected to the board of directors, volunteer for key projects. That’s how you REALLY get value from this tactic.

Don’t live near a big city? The opportunities to network online have never been greater! Become an active contributor to industry online forums. Join (and strategically use!) LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and other popular social media sites. A quick Google search on how to leverage these tools for business development will give you dozens of ideas.

#2: Articles. Writing articles for print and online publications is one of the most cost-effective ways to kick-start or revive a freelance business. In fact, just one or two articles in a very targeted publication—one that caters to your specific niche market—can lead to a dozen or more inquiries and more work than you can handle.

Articles that promise to deliver new ideas, insights and information get read—and the author gets noticed. When well written, readers view these articles as a necessary part of increasing and maintaining their knowledge base.

#3: Direct Mail. Direct mail enables you to “touch” hundreds of carefully qualified potential clients quickly and cost effectively. In most cases, it should become your main recurring tactic—the vehicle you’ll be using while you execute other promotional efforts.

With direct mail, try a two-step approach. First, offer valuable, free information as your call to action. This will allow you to “capture” more potential prospects, regardless of their timing to hire a freelancer. From there, you then nurture respondents into an eventual business relationship.

I have a more comprehensive plan in place. But these 3 tactics represent the core of what I’m doing today.

What are YOU doing differently in this economy to attract new business? What’s working? What’s not?

————–

About the Author: Ed Gandia is the co-editor of The Wealthy Freelancer and publisher of the biweekly newsletter, The Profitable Freelancer. To get a free copy of his report, 7 Steps to Landing More Lucrative Freelance Projects, (and 2 other unadvertised gifts) visit www.TheProfitableFreelancer.com.

“If I read a book that cost me $20 and I get one good idea, I’ve gotten one of the greatest bargains of all time.” - Tom Peters

Tom, I couldn’t agree more, buddy.

Every time I scan the bookstore shelves or the Amazon pages, I actually get giddy with excitement about the potential for Return On Investment that lie inside the pages of so many great books. (I’m talking specifically about non-fiction books here, in the Business and Self-Improvement genres.)

Extract just one good idea and – this is the key – implement it in your business, and a book can pay for itself hundreds, even thousands, of times over!

Over the years I’ve read some absolute knock-out books that offer terrific advice on business, freelancing, mental conditioning, time management, goal-setting… the list goes on and on.

Today I’d like to share with you my Recommended Reading List of books that can help you take your business to the next level – either by directly benefiting the way you run your freelance business, or by delivering benefits in other areas of your life that spill over into your work.

(By the way, I’d also like to hear YOUR recommendations. What books have you read that changed the way you looked at life – or your freelance business – for the better?) 

Here are three books at the top of my recommended reading list. (I have no affiliation with these books, authors or publishers.)

Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill

This book is revered by many as the ultimate “success” book and it’s worthy of that reputation. Although published in 1937, the content is timeless. It’s a culmination of the lessons Hill learned from a 20-year study of the world’s wealthiest people, including an intense “apprenticeship in success” of sorts at the hand of Andrew Carnegie, U.S. billionaire. It’s not all about money though. The lessons Hill shares can literally change the way you look at the world.

The Success Principles by Jack Canfield

Jack Canfield is the co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and is featured in the movie The Secret. The book features Canfield’s 64 principles for living a life of ultimate success. Sounds overwhelming, and it is a thick book, but because it’s chunked into so many pieces, it’s very easy to simply pick some of the principles that are most relevant to your life right now and apply Canfield’s advice.     

The Four-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris

By age 28, Tim Ferris had experienced more of what life has to offer than most people do in their entire life! He’s travelled the world, launched and run successful businesses, written a book (obviously) and figured out a way to streamline his life and business so efficiently that he now funds his perpetual world travels by working just a few hours a week. His adventures and advice are definitely outrageous, but they work. I’ve implemented a handful of his ideas and I have honestly never been more productive.

I have many more books to recommend, which I’ll tackle in a future post.  But what about you? If you could recommend one book for your fellow freelancers to devour, what would it be? Do tell!

(Personal request… Hey, maybe it’s because my wife and I are expecting a baby girl any day now, but I personally would especially love to hear recommendations about books written from the female perspective… seems everything I’ve gravitated toward up to now has been written by a male.) 

***

Pete Savage is co-editor of The Wealthy Freelancer. Direct Mail Secrets for Freelancers is a FREE 45-minute teleseminar for subscribers to Pete’s SAVAGE Marketing newsletter. Sign up for free at http://www.savagemarketing.com/. 

Time management is essential for freelancers. Why?

Right now my project list for the next 2 weeks includes redesigning a 16-page magalog, writing and designing 3 direct mail packages, creating 2 full-page inserts, rewriting 3 Web pages, designing a lead generation direct mailer, finishing copy for a quarterly newsletter, and starting work on an array of marketing tools.

And this doesn’t count doing work for political candidates in Ohio, writing numerous articles, dealing with business and family obligations, tending my garden, or cycling 3 times a week.

It’s not about working fast. It’s about working smart. Here are 7 tips for doing just that. 

1. Say no. Nothing will boost your productivity more. Say no to projects you can’t handle, unnecessary meetings, chatty lunches, and all time-wasting activities during your working hours.

2. Make two lists. One is your project list with all confirmed projects. The other is your to-do list for the day. Make your lists. Work your lists.   

3. Prioritize. It’s natural to do what you like rather than what you should. But it’s more efficient to do work in order of priority. Consider the size of the project, the proximity of the deadline, the importance of the client, the price tag, and other factors. Then order your project list accordingly.

4. Create a project portfolio. If you have all big projects or all small projects, you’ll have scheduling problems. You’ll be more efficient if you mix a few big projects with a variety of smaller projects sprinkled between them.

5. Screen calls. Set up voice mail and caller I.D. When the phone rings, glance at your caller I.D. and only answer when you must. Choose a block of time to listen to messages and return calls.

6. Filter and file e-mail. Set up a filter to catch spam. Create folders in your e-mail program into which you can automatically divert certain types of messages: clients, inquiries, friends, newsletters, etc. You’ll be surprised how much faster you can scan, delete, file, and answer e-mail.

7. Finish. Don’t “work on” projects, finish them. Do good work, but get it done. Every project requires a certain amount of time, but beyond that more work is wasted effort. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

——

Dean Rieck is a leading direct marketing copywriter, designer, and consultant who has worked with more than 200 clients in the U.S. and abroad. For more copywriting, selling, and freelance success tips, sign up for Dean’s FREE direct response newsletter or visit the Direct Creative Blog.

I love to cook. And for many home cooks like myself, it doesn’t get any better than autumn.

The cool, crisp air signals a return to stews, soups, chili and other hearty dishes — meals that require lots of time and patience to prepare.

You simply can’t rush a beef stew, a savory lentil soup, osso buco or standing rib roast.

You have to carefully prepare and assemble all the ingredients, mix them with care and let them simmer or bake for hours.

Only then can the meal give you all the pleasure it was meant to deliver.

It’s no different with ideas. As a freelance professional, your ideas and insights are your most valuable product.

Sure, clients pay you for your time and your contracted deliverables. But it’s your creativity that really adds value and sets you apart. That’s why having a constant flow of great ideas can take you far, quickly.

And just like with your favorite stew, you can’t “microwave” ideas or solutions to complex problems. Their core ingredients have to simmer in your subconscious mind for hours, if not days.

So if you’re faced with a challenge you can’t seem to solve, why not throw it in your mental “Crock-Pot”? Here’s what I do:

1) Take out a sheet of paper and write your problem at the top of the page.

2) List at least 20 possible solutions, regardless of how silly some of them might sound. The first 6 or so will be easy. It gets harder with the rest, but don’t stop until you have at least 20. Often, the best option or idea will reveal itself during this exercise…but not always.

3) Put your list away and go do something fun or enjoyable—any non-work activity that you truly enjoy. Cook a fun recipe, go for a run, read a good book or magazine, meditate, walk the dog, play with your kids…you get the picture. Try not to worry about the challenge. Just have fun.

4) The idea you needed will often come to you during this activity. If it doesn’t, go back to your list the following day. Add more ideas if you think of any.

5) If you still haven’t found your answer, try another fun activity. And if it still hasn’t come to you by this point, repeat this process on a Friday afternoon. Almost always, the best answer or idea will reveal itself during the weekend.

Some of my best ideas have come from this exercise. And more than 80% of the time, these ideas surface during a leisure activity, while I’m relaxed.

But here’s the thing: I’ve come to realize that without doing the initial brainstorming work, my subconscious will lack the ingredients it needs to do its thing. So make sure not to skip that critical step.

What about you? How and when do you get your best ideas?

Sure you have. Epperson, at age 11, invented the “Epsicle.”

It all started one unusually cold night in San Francisco, 1905. Epperson had just mixed fruit- flavored powder into a glass of water, a popular kid’s drink at the time.

How, he wondered, would this taste frozen?

Epperson left the glass on the porch. Lucky for him, it froze (San Fran doesn’t dip below freezing often). And voila — juice on a stick.

He promptly forgot the idea… until 18 years later, with five children of his own in the house, he needed to find a way to make money. The Epsicle seemed like just the ticket.

First hurdle, Epperson was broke.

Second hurdle, like I said, it doesn’t exactly get cold enough to start a Epsicle production line on your back porch every night. And home freezers had yet to be invented.

That didn’t stop Epperson.

He gained access to a commercial freezer. He hunted down a machine that could stamp his name on the sticks. Plus, the perfect glass mold for shaping the frozen desserts.

Still, local ice-cream makers weren’t interested. But Epperson pressed on.

On a suggestion from his own son, he swapped “Epsicle” for “Popsicle,” the name that’s still popular today. Then he applied for — and got — a U.S. patent on the idea.

In 1928, he sold that patent for a tidy sum to the Lowe Corporation in New York. Of course, he could have made an even bigger fortune if he’d hung on.

Point is, he hung in there. And he made it happen.

How, you ask, can this possibly pertain to becoming a wealthy freelancer?

I was in Baltimore recently, meeting with an old friend who happens to be a fine copywriter.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” said my friend, “one thing that’s really made the difference for me is just getting the stuff out there, getting feedback on it as fast as possible, and pushing it through so it can hit the mail.”

This guy, by the way, has written some monumental flops. Of course he has. However, he’s also penned some enormous successes. A few of which, he can point to directly as the cornerstone of his very successful career.

By contrast, I knew a young copywriter who cared very much about quality. He would write a headline and print it out. He’d try it in a couple different fonts. Then he would change one word, move a comma, and then change it all back.

Very impressive.

Except… he never seemed to get past tweaking the headline. He was obsessed with it. All while the other 16 pages of the promo begged to be written.

Sometimes, the only way to get over flops, failures and obstacles is… well… to get over them.

Literally. Rocket right over the top. Or plow right through the center.

Get it done, get it tested. And if it didn’t work, go after it again.

Action and perseverance. It’s the mantra of some of the most successful freelancers I know.

Is it yours?

——————

John Forde is editor of the Copywriter’s Roundtable, a published writer, and a direct mail copywriter since 1992. You can sign up for his free weekly e-letter at http://www.copywritersroundtable.com.

If you’re a creative professional (like a graphic designer, photographer, or illustrator) understanding the basics of good copywriting can put more money in your pocket! How?

Next time you’re looking at a client’s (or a prospect’s) marketing materials, see how the copy stacks up against these six basic copywriting tips. If the copy you read is poor, you can recommend a rewrite. Then, you bring in a freelance copywriter to do the job and you charge an additional fee for project management!

Not only will you add more billable work to the project, your client will thank you for your strategic input, and view you as more of a marketing consultant.  

Six Copywriting Tips for the Non- (or Novice-) Writer

1.  “You” can make a difference.  The word “you” is perhaps the most important word in copywriting because it involves the reader with your message.  So instead of writing about what your company offers, write about what the customer gets. 

Whenever you’re tempted to write something like, “We offer the most advanced…”, stop.  Instead, begin the sentence with “You” as in, “You get the most advanced…” . 

2.  Features tell, benefits sell!  Good copy clearly communicates the benefit that your product or service delivers to the customer.  Poor copy, on the other hand, merely lists features and leaves them dangling, with no explanation as to how they will benefit the customer. 

Here’s how you avoid that trap… as you write about the attributes of your product, ask yourself, “So what?” Your answer will lead you to the benefit. 

For example, “This car comes with automatic four-wheel drive.”  {“So what?”}  “…so you’ll enjoy safe, worry-free driving, in all weather conditions.” 

3.  Reinforce your USP.   Make sure you remind customers of the reason(s) why they should buy from you.  Your Unique Selling Point (USP) is the characteristic of your product or service that sets you apart from the competition.  For example, “…the only downtown dry cleaners with in-by-noon, same-day service!” is a sound USP.

4.  You will not be graded for grammar.  Good copy not only avoids many conventional rules of grammar, it torments the daylights out of them!  This means you can do things that would make your grade three teacher squirm, such as starting a sentence with “And”.  And writing sentences that aren’t proper sentences.  Like this one.   

5.  “That’s” the problem.  Here’s one of the simplest editing tips around. When you’ve written your copy, look it over for all occurrences of the word “that”. You can often make a sentence much more readable by simply deleting this word.  And sometimes, you can delete whole phrases connected to “that” without losing the meaning of the sentence. 

6.  Tell your reader what to do.  How often have you seen a television commercial that ends with, “Now run down to the corner store and buy a Coke today.”?  Never.  Why? Because brands like Coke have decades of user experience attached to them.  By now, their customers know what to do, so Coke can afford to spend millions on an awareness ad with no ‘call to action’. 

Your ad or promotional piece; however, must have a call to action which tells the reader what to do.  Some examples are:  “Call today for a no-obligation quote.”, “Call now while supplies last.”, “Visit our website and enter this password for your free subscription!”

(Another idea for freelancers… why not use these six copywriting tips to evaluate and improve the copy in your own self-promotion materials?)

An e-newsletter is a great way to remain top-of-mind with current and past customers while converting “warm” prospects into paying customers. Even though I have a blog and a well-optimized Website, I still receive calls that begin this way, “Hi Dianna. I’ve been getting your newsletter for a while now and would like to talk to you about a project.”

 What do you need to develop a successful newsletter that makes your phone ring? Consider the following five essentials: 

1. Set a regular publishing schedule . . . and stick to it!

Patricia Fripp, a renowned speaker said, “It’s not your customers’ job to remember who you are.” With an e-newsletter, they won’t forget you – but only if you publish on a regular basis. If you publish infrequently, people won’t remember you when they have a project, and they’ll be more likely to delete your newsletter, or report it as spam, when it does come in.

2. Build your mailing list.

You’ll quickly grow your subscription list if you follow these simple strategies: 

• Add a subscription form to every page of your Website – not just the home page.
• Offer an incentive to subscribers – for example, a free e-book or report.
• Add your newsletter URL to your e-mail signature and to the boilerplate of your press releases and articles. Heck, I added an entire *page* promoting my e-newsletter to my latest e-book.

3. Offer high-value content.

Offer relevant fresh content that includes your original slant on things – and that showcases your expertise and passion. One thing I’ve done over the years is not write about copywriting, which I consider pretty boring. Instead, I write about events in the business world, I interview other B2B experts, and I even include personal stories if they’re marketing related. I received dozens of responses, for example, when I wrote a humorous article about trying to order from IKEA’s Website.

4. Offer your newsletter content for reprint to other media.

Since 2000, I’ve let anyone who asks reprint my newsletter articles – as long as they include my name and a link back to my site. It’s easy to get others to reprint your content. Simply add a few sentences to your newsletter boilerplate explaining your content is available and how people can reprint it. (Just today I received the Machine Design e-newsletter from Penton Media. The newsletter had links to two of my articles plus my e-book.) In addition to getting exposure – and looking like a real expert – you also build inbound links, which helps your Website rank higher in the search engines.

5. Include a call to action.

It’s ok to promote your services in your e-newsletter; however, I usually include my “sales pitch” at the end of the newsletter, *after* the useful content. Make sure your call to action includes your email address, Website URL, and your phone number – and make sure they’re easy to see. I purposely make my phone number in a big bold font so that it stands out.

———————

Dianna Huff is a B2B marketing communications consultant and copywriter. She’s also the author of the e-book, “36 Ways to Grow Your E-Newsletter Subscriber List,” which can be found at: http://www.dhcommunications.com/grow-your-list.htm.

There is a devastating pricing mistake that almost every freelancer has made. (Me included.)

Here’s what typically happens.

Say a potential new client calls you. She is the marketing director of a large company and has a project she wants you to quote on. It’s right up your alley. You’re excited! You want the work. And, if you do a good job for her, she could potentially send a lot more work your way in the future.

But first you have to quote the job. Hmm. How much do you charge?

You don’t want to take any chances. So you quote a low fee, a real bargain, just to ensure you get the work.

Big mistake.

Why? There are two reasons.

First, when you quote too low, you look like an amateur. It’s a red flag. The client thinks, “This writer is a beginner.” She wants to hire a professional who can work independently and write great copy, not someone just starting out who may need a lot of direction and hand-holding.

In a quick survey I did of writing opportunities posted at elance.com (an online job board where freelancers can bid on projects) virtually none of the low-ball quotes ever won. Not surprising.

But what if you do get the job?

That’s the second reason why quoting too low is a big mistake. You get locked in at that bargain basement rate. You see, when a new client receives a first-time quote from you, it’s like a calibration setting. That price level becomes fixed in her mind — and it is very, VERY difficult to raise your fees to that client later on.

Think about it. If you charged a measly $250 to design a logo, what are the chances that you can get $500 form that client for a similar letter later on? Zero. The client would balk at your 100% increase in fees. Even if you explained that you gave her a great deal on that first job, she would still feel ripped off.

Trust me. You don’t want to be locked in at a low rate with a client. I can tell you from experience, there is nothing more miserable than toiling away on projects that are paying you far less than you could have been earning.

Now, I can understand how tempting it can be to quote a low fee. There are a lot of issues that come into play. You want the job. You may feel uncomfortable or even too shy to quote a higher rate. You may not even know what the market rate is for a particular writing project. (And if this is the case, do some research and find out!)

But, despite the temptation, know that a client is MUCH more impressed by a writer who confidently quotes an accurate, professional fee than one who comes in at a low price (as if begging for the work.)

So quote the right fee (hint: it’s probably much higher than you’re quoting right now) and clients will take you more seriously. You’ll have a much better chance of getting the work. And you’ll earn more money, too.

—————————
Steve Slaunwhite is co-editor of The Wealthy Freelancer and author of the popular manual Pricing Your Writing Services.