I generally don’t talk about myself as I accept that people don’t come here for my personality. Instead, people like you come for the information I provide that I hope helps you in your life.

From reading other blogs, it looks like many love to hear how writers and freelancers went full-time. So here’s the full story.

In the beginning…

After kid #2 arrived, I started New York University’s online program in Internet Technology while on maternity leave. Initially, I wanted to do web design. After few Web design projects, I discovered web design was more frustrating than enjoyable.

Around this time, an e-mail newsletter for web designers had a contest where readers could submit an article related to web design. The winners received high quality software like Photoshop, so I gave it a shot. Readers loved the article, so I wrote a few more in the series for the newsletter.

The series started my writing portfolio and helped my land my first paid professional writing gig with a web design magazine. Slowly, I picked up more paid writing assignments discovering I loved working as a writer.

However, I was apprehensive about pursuing a career as a writer. I heard from many people how they wanted to be a writer. I honestly didn’t think I offered anything special as a writer. It also didn’t help with many talented bloggers and web site writers hitting the writing circuit. Regardless, I kept my eyes open for gigs and considered writing a sideline since I still had my corporate job.

Furthermore, I never dreamed of having my own business. I feared the sales aspect — getting more clients — because I couldn’t make normal phone calls. Cold calling was always awkward no matter how comfortable I was with making phone calls. Then there was finances, bookkeeping, the usual business stuff.

Returning to the Dilbertesque world

I returned to work a couple of weeks early from maternity leave on a part-time basis in hopes to convince management that I could do the job part-time. Management wasn’t receptive to the idea.

I wrote a memo with various options supported by data. Eventually, the company let me work part-time because there was another part-time employee who joined the team. We didn’t job share, however. Together, we made up one employee.

Eventually, she went with the wireless part of the business and I stayed with long distance retaining my part-time status. This let me build the writing business.

Dot com blah

I lost several clients when dot com went boom. This was a turning point because I could either scramble to get more clients or resign myself to a corporate career.

While feeling a pit in my stomach stomach I hit send and emailed people in my network including those I had interviewed for articles. I landed two new clients, one of which I met in person for the first time after working with him for six years.

I worked part-time until March 2005 when my company required me to return to a full-time schedule. By this time, I had plenty of business writing experience and a healthy portfolio.

The benefits… the benefits…

I couldn’t quit my job yet because my husband didn’t have health benefits. We had three kids, so it was important. My husband landed a job with decent benefits in June 2005. A month later, I retired from corporate America for full-time freelancing.

Just found this article on health insurance for freelancers for those who don’t have the luxury of relying on someone else for benefits.

Other becoming a writer stories…

Mary E. Lyons

Bob Younce

Many at how we became writers

Delaune Michel

Philip McCord

Catherine Shaffer

Catherine Leigh

Geoffrey Zimmerman (video)

Earl Pomerantz, TV writer

Jared Head (video)

Yours?

How often do you get an e-mail from a prospect who asks, “I need help with my web site’s content” or “I need five articles on such ‘n such topic”… “How much do you charge?”

Web content — one page takes less time than five pages. Even on page can vary depending on the page’s content. Will you provide information, content, etc.? Or do you want me to come up with it from scratch?

Five articles. 500 words vs. 1000? About social networking or some obscure medical topic targeted to those in the medical profession? Big difference. Writing doesn’t have a standard process like other jobs.

New writers have emailed me asking how much should they charge for a project. As if I can give them a magic number. Like Deb says, our experiences vary so what I charge won’t work for most people. Not only does our writing experience differ, but also our topic knowledge.

This formula should help most writers get started in the scary world of coming up with rates. Yes, it’s scary. After lots of practice, I’m more comfortable providing quotes — but my stomach still stirs whenever I press, “Send” with my quotes.

1. Start by figuring out how much you want per hour.
2. Estimate how long it will take you to get the job done.
3. Add 10% to that time because there is almost always something to make the assignment take longer.

After gaining experience, you won’t need to focus on how long it takes to do an assignment. You’ll get faster in some assignments. So if you charge $20 per hour and an assignment originally takes five hours, that’s $100.

With experience, the assignment takes you only one hour. $20 isn’t fair anymore. Instead, charge a flat fee such as $100. You factor in experience.

However, for some clients — I charge by the hour because they’re open engagements. I adjusted the hourly rate based on experience.

Doing enough assignments and quoting will help you come up with rates to use as the baseline. Experience will help you get a handle on rates and feel good about giving quotes.

So when a writer asks me how much to charge, don’t be offended when I don’t offer numbers and point to resources instead.

What works for you?

I admit it. For a long time, figuring out rates and providing quotes was a weak area for me. It took time, practice, and hard lessons to arrive at the point where I can confidently and calmly provide a quote. Before, I’d be figuratively biting my nails as I submitted my quotes and second guessing myself.

John Hewitt has the answer I wish I had when I started freelancing as a writer. It works for every freelancing career. Well, except the per word part. Just remove that or substitute with “per page,” “per design,” etc.

1. Start at $20 an hour or $.20 a word. This is a fairly low level. Feel free to start higher.
2. Increase your fee by 5 ($25 an hour $.25 a word) with each successful gig.
3. When your prospects start telling you that you charge too much, don’t raise your rates for six months.
4. Try raising it again.

Too simple and sometimes the best answer is the simplest one. The day before a state-wide math assessment test, my husband asked our oldest who takes algebra, “Do you remember how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide?”

She responded, “I don’t know. When I do a math problem now… if the answer is simple, I think it’s wrong because it has to be more complicated than that.”

Uh oh. Her mind is starting to work like an adult’s. We forget the answer can still be simple. It reminded me of a riddle I read years ago where kindergarteners (five and six-year-olds) easily answered the riddle while educated adults struggled or didn’t get it. I thought it was this one:

Question: What is greater than God? What is more evil than the devil? The poor has it. The rich need it, if you eat it you will die. What is it?

Answer: Nothing

But research says it was this one where the kids outscored the adults.

I turn polar bears white.
And I will make you cry.
I make guys have to pee
And girls comb their hair.
I make celebrities look stupid.
And normal people look like celebrities.
I turn pancakes brown
And make your champane bubble.
If you sqeeze me, I’ll pop.
If you look at me, you’ll pop.
Can you guess the riddle?

Answer: No.

True or not — the point is clear… we sometimes overlook the obvious.

Simple Doesn’t Come to the Rescue

I’m working on a quote for a client. The problem is I can’t determine how many articles I can write per week. Sometimes more. Sometimes less. Charge by article? Well, that wouldn’t work either as it could be 300 one time, 700 another.

Charge by the hour? I try to avoid that. What would you do?

Frustration builds while reviewing this week’s calendar. Every day this week has something not routine and not work-related scheduled (and most of last week, too). I can only reschedule one appointment, but it’s not enough to lighten the load.

So what does a lone freelancer do? To prevent myself from going crazy and sacrificing sleep (if I do this, then I might as well mark myself as unavailable for the entire day after a short night’s sleep), I work through my fewer hours than usual:

• Cancel or reschedule appointments, if possible.
• Prioritize (Duh!)
• Contact regular clients notifying them of my reduced availability.
• Cut time spent on self-assigned work like blogging, Twittering, and social network sites. While these sound like time wasters — they aren’t. It’s part of the freelancer’s marketing toolbox.
• Be strict about fooling around on the Internet (This is the time waster.).

Even with deadlines, the freelancer should be able to plan the week to meet them while saving less urgent work for later. Most of the time, the freelancer meets the deadlines and then has time left over to work on the lower prioritized stuff.

I feel better knowing I will accomplish a few things this week, though less than usual. It’s better than panicking and getting nothing done.

37signals asks eight questions before, during, and sometimes after working on a project or task. These questions work well for writers and other freelancers. Those of us who work solo rarely have anyone to check with us to make sure we’re on the right track.

So we need to help ourselves figure out if we’re on the right track with a task, project, client. Questioning also helps us gain credibility with clients because we might recommend a faster or better way of doing something or provide insight.

37signals asks the following questions. I’ve added notes to show how it affects writers. I’ll use a Help project I’m working on for a client’s web site as the example.

• Why are we doing this? To help users understand what the site is about and how to use it.
• What problem are we solving? Providing answers to user questions in how to modify their accounts and use the various features. Without the Help, they might spend too much time figuring out something or abandon the web site.
• Is this actually useful? While the web site’s design tries to make things obvious to users, it’s not always possible for them to figure out things without a little direction.
• Are we adding value? The current Help also has special sections for advertisers, product managers, and contributors. I’m breaking out the advertisers and product managers sections and moving them elsewhere. These have little value to the consumers.
• Will this change behavior? Not all writing will change behavior like interface design. In this case, the Help will guide the users to take the right steps to complete their tasks instead of taking the longer route.
• Is there an easier way? Yes and no. The Help uses a wiki. Though I’m not crazy about using a wiki, it has advantages over going another route. One, it would take longer to incorporate it into design based on the current goings-on. Two, the site wants to build a strong community and enabling them to update the Help will support the community concept.
• What’s the opportunity cost? This is why a wiki is a better way to go. the cost of integrating the Help with the design would be higher and take longer. Maybe after finishing the Help, we can integrate it into the design better.
• Is it really worth it? If done right, yes. Some sites have terrible Helps and they make more work for the user.

I took my first break in ages — that didn’t include an illness or a holiday — for a few days last week for spring break. We went to San Marcos and San Antonio and visited Wonderworld, Sea World, and the Riverwalk. Wonderworld contains a dry cave created by an earthquak on the Balcones Fault Zone over 35 million years ago. The web site’s tour information only documents part of its fascinating history.

Though we took a laptop and our smartphones, I rarely checked e-mail (!!!) and returned to over 1000 messages. Of course, spam made up the bulk of the messages. So I downloaded my email and went to work elsewhere while the email client filtered the garbage. Much better.

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Unfortunately, Google Mail went bonkers. Once in a while, GMail sends spam into the inbox instead of the spam and trash folders. It decided to do that while I wasn’t checking e-mail. This created more clean up work.

Several clients went on an emailing binge (it happens, and that’s OK). Rather than making the client wait for me to wade through the messages to get up to speed on the conversations — I sent the client a quick e-mail saying I’ve returned and would address the messages as I work through them. I suggested that if something needs top priority — to let me know.

The steps for catching up quickly…

1. Download e-mail in your primary e-mail client. Let its experienced filters do the cleaning up. Skip any temptation to use the cell phone or another non-primary e-mail client to catch up on email or else you’re stuck looking at a lot of unfiltered stuff and it takes longer to do this than on your primary e-mail client.
2. Scan e-mail quickly filing or deleting newsletters and regular e-mails you only read when you’re caught up or work is slower than usual. Newsletters I subscribe to fall into two categories: Always read/scan (shortest list) and sometimes read/scan (these either get filed or deleted). When returning from a break, I don’t read or scan the “sometimes.”
3. Reply to quick e-mails. Some e-mails may just involve answering a few questions or doing a quick task. Do them and then file/delete the e-mail. This further cleans the e-mail clutter and makes you feel better because your inbox shrinks.
4. Complete bite-sized tasks for each project or client. On the first day back at work, I did bite-sized work for my regular clients rather than only complete work for one or two clients. It’s a way to get something done and touch base with all of them without feeling overwhelmed. Plus, checking off the tasks as completed gives you a sense of accomplishment. I also skipped blogging.
5. Skip administrative work. No balancing the checkbook or doing other business maintenance activities. Those can wait until you settle back in your routine unless you returned on tax day.
6. Skip personal tasks. I have a birthday party to plan, but I skipped personal stuff on the first day back at work (this could be a problem for those who wait until the last minute).
7. Limit meetings and appointments. I had a prior commitment on the first day back that couldn’t couldn’t be avoided, but I sacrificed a non-profit organization meeting today.

Though I still have plenty of work to do, I feel better knowing I’ve touched base with my regular clients and cleaned my inbox.

I have a few clients in which the engagements are open-ended. This means helping them with their ongoing content work. As a result, it’s easy to let something drag on without completing it.

For example, a client may ask me to revise the Help documentation and write entries for blogs. Rather than just letting it sit, I prioritize them for the sake of motivating me.

Furthermore, freelancing offers a way for many of us to lead balanced and happy lives. Spend more time with kids, hobbies, volunteer work, whathaveyou.

1. Split Project into Small Tasks
Help documentation can easily take weeks. So I work with the client to split the Help into sections. Completing bite-sized tasks works faster than working on a giant project without any breakdowns. For blogging — set up an agreement with the client on the number of posts per week.

2. Set Rules for Your Own Activities
Having trouble updating your blog because of client work? Struggling to make marketing a regular activity? I used to blog five days a week, which became too much in recent months.

So I shoot for two to three a week. It’s not like readers don’t have other things to read. Two or three posts a week won’t hurt because the blog stays updated without overwhelming readers. Remember, blogging also counts as a marketing tool.

Marketing activities — one way to do it is set aside 10 to 30 minutes a day or some other time that works for you. I’m lucky to have a full plate, but I know things can disappear or take a long time before they materialize. So by the time I set up something with a new client, another project will have ended.

3. Allow One Hour of Non-Work Time Per Day
Exercise? Volunteering? Other things you wish you had more time for since you already eat lunch while you work? It’s OK to take one hour per day (with OCCASIONAL exceptions) to do something away from work. So what if something takes two hours (I have three doctor’s appointments this week — I guess I’ll do some work this weekend)? You’ll make it up the next day by taking a shorter break.

4. Schedule Work Time around Regular Activities
You could even calculate your work for the week WHILE considering the time you spend on exercise or another regular activity. For instance, I play on a tennis team that practices and plays matches during the week day (Saturday league won’t work due to kids’ weekend games).

Tennis triples as exercise, social interaction, and hobby (my love for playing sports). After all, isn’t freelancing about flexibility? It allows me to enjoy a well-balanced life. Sure, you’ll have some weeks where you only work 30 hours and others where you work 60. I believe it evens out in the long-run.

5. Make a Habit out of Regular Tasks
When it comes to a certain time of year, do you crave a specific food? I noticed that mint-flavored things usually appear everywhere in the winter and go away by spring. Is there an unwritten rule that we can’t eat mint-flavored food other times of the year? No, but we tend to associate them with winter and cold.

A regular schedule for tasks and activities helps you keep going at it. You can’t help but start the day reading e-mails, writing a blog entry, or however you want to start your day. On days I blog, it’s the first work thing I do. The first thing I do every morning is drink a cuppa Joe, read the newspaper (the print kind), and do the Sudoku puzzle in the newspaper.

Freelance Folder writes that a successful freelance career requires reliability. Based on my own experience and others, it’s true. Sometimes I want to stop recommending freelancers to clients. I do this as a favor to the client and the freelancer, but I rarely see positive results. Often, the freelancer stops responding or responds when the mood strikes (one week later instead of within 48 hours) — an unacceptable timeframe for clients.

Freelancers wonder why they can’t make a full-time gig or grow their business. Perhaps, it’s because they have yet to prove themselves as reliable. Many tend to have full-time jobs with a corporation and do freelance on the side in hopes of going full-time. If the full-time job gets in the way of reliability, then maybe they shouldn’t be doing freelancing on the side.

For six months, I worked full-time at a corporation and with my business. This on top of managing a family of five — so it’s not like I had all the free time in the world outside a roughly 50-hour corporate work week.

It could also be a thing of fear. I’m guilty of it (rarely, thankfully). I talked to a freelancer who would use me as a writer with her client. She mentioned writing content would involve calling their staff and pulling information out of them.

(more…)

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• Advice to the wanna-be freelancer before quitting the day job: As always, Freelance Folder produces another top-notch article for freelancers. Even those already enjoying the full-time freelance life will benefit.
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