by Leo Wiles
15 August 2014
If you hit the snooze button, write in front of the TV, delay invoicing, regularly experience project creep or overwrite then making money is likely to be far harder than it needs to be.
These habits are right up there with not building in time each week to chase new business or hanging on to bad clients. Because, as we well know – say it with me, people – writing is a craft, whereas freelancing is a business.
Here are my tips for mastering your money no matter if you’re earning 20k or 100k.
Focus on landing higher yielding jobs and retaining clients so you’re not constantly worrying if work is going to dry up. Or, so you’re not stuck chasing piecemeal work that takes longer because you’re constantly starting from scratch.
No, you don’t have to invent a time machine. Just avoid hitting snooze, watching daytime TV and swap lunch-dates for coffee catch-ups and you’ll be amazed at how much more time you have in your day to work.
Writing when distracted by multi-screen or social media surfing increases the time it takes to write, halves your hourly rate and has the potential to reduce the quality of your work.
Learn to say no to family and friends who ask you to write for free. The more unpaid work you do the less paid work you have time for.
If you didn’t understand the brief/scope then you need to ask more/better questions. If it feels like it could be a tricky situation, recap with the editor/client so that you’re both clear on what’s expected rather than having to do numerous re-writes.
Working for misers or disorganised commissioning editors means you’ll work three times as hard for the same bottom line. It can be hard to ditch a client when you’re feeling the pinch, but the real cost may be far higher than you think on your time and mental wellbeing. Instead, target better paying content and corporate sector clients.
When you’re being paid for 750 words there’s no point writing 950.
Working from home has its tax breaks so outsource tasks such as transcribing, bookkeeping, cleaning etc. that suck the time you could be earning money.
Why let your client draw interest on your money? Send your invoices and keep track of them. Regular readers will know that I use Excel to track date sent, date payment expected and a subsequent column for any follow-up action I may need to take with late payers.
While this may seem to state the bleeding obvious, I have a very talented girlfriend who NEVER issues invoices and subsequently wonders why she’s regularly broke…
Are you grappling with cash flow issues? Or have you learnt how to deal with them? No matter how you’re faring, we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Nice tips. I’ve definitely learnt some of these the hard way! Something else I’ve found that works is to get to know yourself. Find those hours when you’re most focused (for me it’s first thing in the morning until about 2pm) and hold onto them for dear life!
Dear Kate, I’m with you. it’s really important as a writer to know when you are most creative and guard it with your life.
Funnily enough writing this blog I thought hmmm ‘words to live by’ and some I need to remind myself to implement! L
Great tips Leo, but I’m not sure I agree with the only write 750 words if that’s what you’re getting paid for. Some writers, and I’m one of them, tend to write long, it’s just the way we are, and it’s faster and easier to let the story come out long and then cut the crap out in the editing process rather than agonising over word length while writing the piece.
Hi Darren,
I wrote this one as a reminder to self as I am hopeless at keeping to the count unless its on the dancefloor.
I agree it’s much easier to hammer out the words without keeping track of length. However I also know as a writer how painful it can be seeing your carefully polished tome cut from the bottom by a sub on deadline trying to make it fit. Also as an editor when I received blown-out copy I can tell you I was thinking browned-off not brownie points.
Hey Leo, I’d never submit a piece that over-length to an editor, that’s just unprofessional and asking to get the piece hacked off at the bottom. While a properly written inverted pyramid structure does allow a sub to do that without ruining the overall integrity of the piece, my rule of thumb is 10 percent over length maximum on longer pieces (1500+) words but on shorter pieces I’ll submit near as dammit to the commissioned word count. But I also know that I write long and a 1000 word piece will start off as rough cut as much as half again over, especially if I’ve got a lot of good material and I’m struggling to work out what to leave out. Still, we all have to kill our darlings as A Q-C said.
Couldn’t agree more Darren – good subs are as important as designers who actually read the copy before deciding on layout options and of course fab writers, like yourself who want to provide a full picture not only to the reader but the Ed.