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Cruz Santana
Copywriters, journalists, mainstream authors, ghostwriters, bloggers and advertising creatives have as much right to think of themselves as good writers as academics, poets, or literary novelists.
Sara Sheridan
“Oh no, not again! More niche choosing?”
Not exactly. Keep your device glowing for a bit and bear with me.
I know you’re a freelancer who specializes in awesomeness (or some other equally wonderful niche). And you chose that one over any other because everything suddenly clicked for you the day you found your groove.
I’m glad you did! Lord knows it’s one of the biggest challenges plaguing my coaching clients. Some struggle, some get it right away. Others—like my girl, Sally—change it three months in! Point is, all of those are okay. And they’re all part of the process of making this decision. So, yeah, in a way you’re making it a second time. But you’ll be making and re-making it throughout your career.
YOU ALREADY KNOW WHY choosing that niche (or niches), that specific area of focus, elevates you from the pack. Specialists can command more for their services. A master plumber tolls the clock at an ear-ringing $35 to $150 per hour! But if you ever need a plumber, you know you’re relieved to see them at your door, and then thank them for taking all your money.
But (you knew that was coming)...it wasn’t anything like that for the plumber on his first day. Nor will it be for you.
Ever heard the proverb “It’s the rod that bends that doesn’t break”? Same is true here. You’ll last a lot longer in this business, and in freelancing in general, if you can be flexible at least in the beginning.
Does that mean you have to be willing to work for free? I’ve worked for free. Well, it wasn’t exactly free. When I first started out I’d volunteer to help out with whatever I could, whether it had something to do with me or not.
As a result, I scored tons of referrals and totally booked up my 2009 and ’10. With only word of mouth, I made more money those two years than I have any other before or after, combined! Soon I started school and significantly scaled back my workload.
The moral of the story is to be flexible. You never know what’s waiting for you until you say yes.
Accept gigs that are within reason to help you hone your skill set. Get those feeties wet. Expose yourself to niches and types of writing that hover near and around you.
For example, let’s say your niche is B2B ghost-copywriting. It’s been a few days since you’ve hooked a prospect in that niche specifically, so what do you do? Go back to your knitting circle and finish that year’s batch of ugly Christmas sweaters? Nope! You get clever.
Instead of searching just for your primary niche and type combo, try on other combinations when an opportunity presents itself. If you find an opportunity to instead ghostwrite white papers, take it. It’s still B2B, and it’s an opportunity for you to expand your base.
Get rid of aspects of your niche you don’t particularly enjoy writing about. Let’s go back to the B2B example. Say you enjoy creating white papers quite a bit, but you miss the interactions and working directly with your old friends. You don’t necessarily want to take on all your old stress, either, right? Try pivoting over to case studies.
THE OLD SAYING GOES, “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” If you’re considering branching out, do so by sticking to similar niches. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. You’ll learn a whole lot more from sidestepping niches rather than jumping drastically from one to another across the spectrum.
If you’re writing medical reports for doctors and researchers, and you’re curious about ghostwriting novels, don’t just make the jump and start with such a volatile field of writing. Ghostwriting books is a fickle, fickle thing. You have to stay active in your circles or you risk being replaced. Once you’re out, you’ll either have to go looking for a different project or go back to writing medical reports. So instead of taking a giant leap, look for ways to sidestep into the niche you’re curious about. Maybe one of your medical report clients wants to write a book and he’s willing to hire you to help him out. Your existing clients can be your best chance of breaking into a new niche.
I DON’T KNOW OF A PROFESSIONAL freelance writer who hasn’t been scammed or almost scammed at some point. Heck, even yours truly lost sight of the signs and they were all there.
It was 2013. I was wrapping up a manuscript for an indie, a self-published author I regularly worked with. Now, wrap-ups can get chaotic especially when it comes to novels. Editors obsess over each and every little boo-boo and ouchie until the thing is so perfect it shimmers.
Then it gets checked for continuity. Each and every dangling plot point gets dug out and charted. When you’re done with it, the manuscript is examined once more by a different pair of eyes before being sent off for e-formatting. In the meantime, someone like me (i.e., me, who am I kidding?) submits the manuscript file for copyright registration, which takes forever to upload.
It was at the end of a day just like that. My feet—clad in Mickey Mouse socks—were crossed atop a round, break room table when curiosity grabbed hold of the feline. Wondering if there were any new gigs coming up in the pipeline, I hopped on Craigslist using a different browser window on the laptop.
What I thought was a gig writing about nutrition among schools in Mali turned out to be one of those check scams made famous by every news show ever. I wrote the article and was promptly paid with a check delivered by FedEx to my doorstep. The check was real, but it was drawn on a dentist’s account in Trinidad! Not to mention it was made out for almost $5,000 and it came with handwritten instructions to cash it and send $4,500 via Western Union back to my “client.”
I called the authorities and the dentist to tell them exactly what happened. So, yeah, lesson learned. Don’t let your guard down—especially not online when corresponding with strangers. Here are a few red flags to watch out for to help you avoid being scammed:
1. No website or credible online presence. Google your client’s name, biz name, and email address. What pops up shouldn’t be another Craigslist ad. If it does, do some clicking and check out what the ad is selling. If it’s something tangible, fine. If it’s for more writing services, but the ad is hidden under “Shoes for Sale,” run.
2. The client wants money upfront. No client, ever, will ask you for money. No writing agency or literary agent will either.
3. You get offers to be overpaid. It’s a big one, folks! In my case, there was no offer. Quite simply, I sent an invoice through PayPal and got a fat check back with a note. If this happens to you, call the authorities.
4. They ask for custom-written samples. In your freelance writing career, most folks you pitch to will ask you to send over either a link to your portfolio or samples. No client should ever ask you to create a free sample for them.
NOW THAT YOU HAVE AN idea of what you want to do, we’re gonna close out this chapter by adjusting our focus over to the folks who matter. Because without paying clients, all you have, my friend, is a cool hobby.
Start by visualizing the perfect paying client. This exercise will also help you think about how this person would engage with your website, so you can make tweaks if you need to. We’ll dive into your website in our next chapter.
You’re imagining your ideal client’s massive budget, I bet. I can’t blame you. I do that, too!
Rather than head down that way, ask yourself these questions:
1. Would you rather work with an established company, fellow freelancer, or someone else?
2. What kind of clients have you done your best work with in the past? Who did you most enjoy working with?
3. What problems do you want to help your client solve? Is there a niche or writing type you’re super comfortable working in?
4. Are you looking to branch out? Do you want to add a new niche or type to your services?
REVIEW THE TYPES OF ghostwriting in the previous chapter. Then grab your favorite journal (or open a new Word document) and answer the four questions above. Make sure you’re clear on exactly what services you want to offer and who you want to work for.
With that out of the way, hop on over to the next chapter to get the goods on branding and how to use it to help you get leads.