I’d Love to Make Money Writing, But...me in ways I didn’t know how to teach someone else to do. Until now. Now I’ve got several surefire ways to land top-notch clients who pay

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I’d Love to Make Money Writing, But…

Where On Earth Do I Find People Who Will Pay Me to Write?

(and if you tell me to cold call companies or enter contests, I swear, I’ll smack you!)

I’ve heard this question a lot.

Ha. I’ve ASKED this question a lot!

My answer has changed dramatically over the past few years, and I’ll spill those guts in just a moment.

It would probably help you if you had a little background…

I started my writing business for real in 2005. A year before that, I’d toyed with the idea of entering the exhilarating world of… book indexing. Yeah.

I even bought software for it and compiled a big stack of index cards with contact information for publishing houses that seemed like they might be good prospects. I had a script to use for calling them.

I made some calls. Pretty much wanted to throw up as soon as someone answered. Got exactly zero leads, but managed to rack up an impressive number of hang-ups (some of them even came from the person on the other line).

Shortly after wisely reconsidering the cold call approach to book indexing, and book indexing itself, I registered with a site called EditFast.com. I just looked, and it’s still around. Butt-ugly, but still around. I actually landed a few editing gigs there – much to my amazement because while I’d always been the go-to “can you take a look at this” person in every office I’d ever worked in, I’d never officially edited anything before. I can’t even remember how the pay structure went, but am pretty sure I made the equivalent of four and a half peanuts.


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At the time, I was married to a guy whose brother was writing ESL materials for Scholastic and McGraw Hill. He needed some help on a massive project – the kind that could easily have you pulling your hair out by the roots and then strangling yourself with it. So, of course when he offered some freelance work, I was all over that!

I did the project, saved my pay, and bought six months’ worth of business coaching from a woman I hoped would be able to answer the question that had plagued me for nearly four decades:

“What should I be when I grow up?”

“Freelance writer,” she said. “There’s a huge and growing demand,” she said. And when I said there was no way, no how I was ever making a cold call, no matter what, she said, “No problem. Go to Guru.com.”

So I did.

And wouldn’t you know it, within less than six months, I was making about $5,000 per month writing little articles, press releases, the occasional ebook, and sales copy. My pricing was pathetic. I had my share of clients from the pit. I worked like a dog (actually, my dog is pretty lazy, but he’s lying right here and I don’t want to start something).

I had friends asking what I was doing, and then asking if I could help them get started, too.

So I wrote a book.

Working Writer, Happy Writer: How to Build a Thriving Writing Business from Nothing

Long title, I know.

I even created an online course to help writers get started. I knew there was more than enough work to go around, and it was exciting helping people build their own businesses and hearing about what a difference that made in their lives.

“Where should I get clients” they’d ask. “GURU!” was my emphatic answer. I shared my proposal template, my pricing, my advice on interacting with clients and prospects there.

I made it to the #1 top-ranked spot on Guru for writers (they don’t rank like that anymore and stopped in late 2008 – a move that nearly killed my business). I scrambled to find clients other places, still sticking to my rule about no cold calling.


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Guru got suckier and suckier. The projects became laughable – not too much of an exaggeration to say there were clients on there looking to get a book written for a dollar.

Okay, actually that’s a pretty big exaggeration, but you know what I mean. Guru became nothing more than a hassle to deal with, and where before I could bid on a hundred projects in a month and land a good 23% or more, all of a sudden I was in competition with writers from all over the world who thought a dollar an article was good pay. To the clients who thought that was okay, all I can say is, “Bless your hearts” (and although I’m a New Jersey girl living in Huntsville, Alabama, I mean that in the Southern way).

For the most part, I stopped promoting my course and book, and just did a little coaching on the side as I rebuilt my business.

People would occasionally contact me with some variation of the question, “So now that job boards like Guru totally stink, how should I try to get clients?” I didn’t really have a system I could share. I mean, I was still getting clients, but they seemed to be coming to me in ways I didn’t know how to teach someone else to do.

Until now.

Now I’ve got several surefire ways to land top-notch clients who pay me well, pay me in advance, and send me a constant stream of new clients just like them.

And I’m going to share three of those tactics with you right now. Trust me, still no cold calling. No dollar an article projects. Just nice clients with regular work, who value my services and are delightful to deal with month after month.

Ready?

Here’s what I’ve got for you right now:

Freelance Client Getting Tactic #1: Reverse the Buying Cycle ................................. 6

Freelance Client Getting Tactic #2: Dig for Gold Where It’s Laying in Plain Sight 10

Freelance Client Getting Tactic #3: Mix and Mingle to Earn Some Jingle .............. 12

Looking for More Resources? ..................................................................................... 14


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Freelance Client Getting Tactic #1: Reverse the Buying Cycle

You have a very solid circle of prospects surrounding you right now. They are business owners you know, like, and trust. They run thriving businesses, and likely spend some good money on marketing already. They know you, possibly very well. They’ve shown themselves to be upstanding members of your community. Their gatekeepers (receptionists, administrative assistants) probably know you on sight. They are business owners who probably know other business owners.

It’s the business owners you already do business with… as their customer, client, or patient.

Money has already exchanged hands – and maybe now it’s time to make that a two-way street instead. It’ll take just a little bit of chutzpah (so I picked up a tiny bit of Yiddish growing up in New Jersey) to start the conversation with them, but it’s not that awful. These people, while maybe not your friends, are certainly your friendlies.

You could stop in and ask to speak with the owner, whom you know. Or, you could tack this conversation onto an appointment you’ve already got scheduled. Or, you could invite these business owners out for coffee or lunch. You could even position the appointment as an opportunity to ask their advice as you launch your new writing business.

Oh, the wheels are turning, right?

You know a lot of people – I guarantee it. Unless you’re a hermit, which I get. But even then, you know a lot of people; you just might not want to talk to them all at once. That’s okay, you can take this at your own pace.

Here’s a memory jogger to help you get started. We won’t even start with family, because that can be a mixed bag.

Think about who you already do business with…


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• Accountants • Bankers • Dentists • Doctors • Lawyers • Hair stylists and barbers • Automotive repair • Insurance brokers • Real estate appraisers, title companies, realtors • Churches • Civic groups • Gym owners and personal trainers • Chiropractors • Veterinarian and kennel • Home repair and improvement • Heating and air conditioning • Towing • Limousine companies • Carpet cleaners

OK, I’m tired of bullet points. You can take it from here. Just go through your phone contacts list, your calendar, or even on a drive through your city or town. There are businesses out there that you’ve already got an in with, and that need good writing.

Essentially, your conversation goes like this:

“Hey, I’m starting to do some writing for small businesses and I’d love to get together with you over coffee to ask your advice as a business owner.”

Then take them for coffee (or lunch) and ask the following questions:

• How long have you been doing _____? • What do you like best about it? • Since I’m going to be out meeting some other business owners and will

eventually have some clients in our area, I’d like to send business your way. How would I recognize someone who’d be a good customer for you?


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You might also want to ask how they get their clients, what lessons they’ve learned along the way, what their greatest aggravations are in business, how they stay in touch with their customers to keep them loyal, what tasks they love and hate most in their business.

They’ll probably ask you what kinds of writing projects you’ll be doing for businesses, and I’d bet you a donut they’ll ask if you’d like to write something for them. Even if they don’t, you’ll have gotten some excellent information.

If they DO ask you to write something for them, they may ask you to do it for free – or you may feel like offering them something for free, and that’s fine if you approach it as a way to gain a solid testimonial and a referral to other (paying) clients. And obviously, you don’t keep working for free. Most likely, though, they’ll ask to hire you to write something.

Now, here’s the kicker – be especially focused on business owners whose clients are the ideal clients you’d want to work with. Those, we call centers of influence. You land one of them, and they may refer their clients to you – especially if your services would help their clients to make more money. For example, an accountant might refer you to a client who owns a pet store because if that pet store had a better website, it would have more sales. The pet store makes more money, the owner of the store needs more accounting services, the accountant makes more money, and you are the hero (who also happens to be making some nice bank).

With each of these coffee meetings, be sure to get referrals, too. Now, it might sound pushy – and it might be if you were asking them to commit their contacts to doing business with you. But what if you asked for something smaller – like someone who could advise you on a particular topic. Ask who they use as an accountant, an attorney, an insurance agent – that kind of business. Then you can call these people and essentially have the same conversation, leveraging the fact that your business owner friend recommended them.

Also be sure to pass along referrals every single chance you get. Say you’re meeting with an accountant, and she says you’d recognize a great client prospect for her if you ran into a business owner who’d just opened their doors, or who was complaining about taxes, or who was weighing an important business decision. Think you might run into someone like that as you make the rounds among the business owners you already do business with as their customer?


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Here’s how you do that: Take at least two business cards from everyone you meet with and keep them somewhere safe in your purse, car, or briefcase. When you meet someone who’d be a great client for someone else, give them their card and say you’ll also pass theirs along to that first business owner. Then call the first one and give them the info over the phone, or stop in to drop the business card off. This puts you in a position of helping and serving, and demonstrating your commitment to the success of the businesses in your community. Plus, they’ll likely send some referrals your way when they see the opportunity.

If you’re not careful, you may end up becoming mayor. Seriously.


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Freelance Client Getting Tactic #2: Dig for Gold Where It’s Laying in Plain Sight

What if you could land a client who had five, ten, or even twenty clients who all needed your writing services? And what if they were highly motivated to pay you well so you wouldn’t go away? And what if they did all the legwork to get all those clients paying for your services month after month after month?

Oh yeah, and what if they kept needing more types of writing projects as you went?

You land these clients and I predict you’ll be mailing me jars of Nutella to thank me. ☺

They are SEO firms (search engine optimization) and marketing consultants. Some are called local online marketers – that’s the hot term. They already have clients. Those clients desperately need good content to help them attract website traffic, and then to convert that traffic into buying customers. The SEO guys (we’ll just lump them all into that category – just be careful to refer to them as they refer to themselves… some now get offended by being called SEO guys) have tried outsourcing the content overseas and gotten awful results. They’ve tried automating their content (spinners) and wanted to smack themselves in the head with shovels when they saw the results. They’ve probably tried people on Guru and Elance and Odesk and the other sites – and either gotten content that stunk or found a great writer who very quickly became too busy to work with them anymore.

You show up and do what they need, and they’ll keep you as busy as you want to be. I know, because just one of my SEO clients has 14 sub-clients my firm has written website copy and press releases for – plus, 4-22 blog posts per month, depending on the client. It’s wonderful knowing that month in, month out, I’ve got these projects lined up (and some have been on-board for more than 19 months straight).

How do you find these guys? One of their top priorities is making sure they can be found online easily (obviously!). Do a Google search for SEO company and any city, and you’ll find some.


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They’re used to being pitched by truly horrendous content services from who knows where. If you call them (best, but not an option everyone’s comfortable with) you’re likely to land a meeting at least – if they don’t hire you on the spot to write for their clients during the call. You can certainly mail them a letter or send an email – it’s just not quite as likely to yield results as quickly as if you can drum up the nerve to call.

Remember, your goal with the initial contact is not necessarily to get them to hire you. Aim for a coffee or lunch meeting first.

Also, you’ve got to understand that these guys speak a language all their own, and you need to learn it. The writing projects are not all that different from writing for non-SEO clients, but it’ll be important to get their specific keyword placement and density requirements so you create content the way they want it.

It would be very smart to read up on SEO just so you get familiar with the challenges and goals involved in this field. I wrote a book called “Sweet! Juicy Online Leads for Your Business” which is on Amazon – it’s aimed at business owners and explains all that’s involved in generating leads online. It would be a good book to give you an orientation to SEO – but of course there are others out there that are excellent as well.


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Freelance Client Getting Tactic #3: Mix and Mingle to Earn Some Jingle

(Do me a favor and don’t look that up in Urban Dictionary, okay? Let’s just enjoy the rhyme and leave it alone.)

Did you know there are business owners in your local community who pay very hefty fees every year just for the opportunity to hang out with other business owners and send business their way? Of course, it’s a two-way street and the reason they practically line up to do this is that it’s a highly profitable marketing tactic for them. In some cases, I’ve known business owners who made thousands from a single referral, so they couldn’t care less about spending a thousand dollars on their membership.

We’re talking about structured networking groups – namely the Chamber of Commerce, BNI, and to some extent, MeetUp.

Almost every county has a Chamber of Commerce – even if you live in the sticks (like I do now). BNI (Business Networking International) has chapters all over the world, and probably has one near you. There’s also a group that’s similar called Glazer Kennedy (I’ve never been, so I can’t share particulars) – and of course, there’s Toastmasters.

All of these groups are frequented by business owners looking to expand their businesses. They are eager to pass referrals to other business owners because the rules of the game at these groups is to bring business to your co-members and most likely they’ll return the favor.

Here’s the hitch: BNI and Chamber can be pricey, just to join. Plus you’ve got meals, drinks, events, all kinds of expenses outside just the annual membership fee. (MeetUp doesn’t have any of that usually. Most of the time you just pay for your meal at an event, although sometimes there’s a nominal fee for being a member.)

But there’s a great way to get involved without having to shell out money you don’t have yet. Chamber almost always has mixer events (Networking After Hours, or something similar) – and those are events where the Chamber is not only helping its members to connect, it’s trying to get new members as well. You can probably go to that kind of


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event a dozen times before anyone even raised an eyebrow. BNI allows you to visit any group twice as a guest. There are lots of rules with BNI, but they are really good people and very eager to help each other succeed.

Again, you don’t go with the sole goal of landing writing clients. You go and aim to make yourself useful, to begin and build relationships with other business owners. You will have complete success at any of these networking events if you come away with a couple of people you can take for coffee or lunch. Just remember to present yourself as someone who’s truly interested in their business, always thinking of who else you can connect them with, and to get them talking about their business as much as possible.

You could do worse than reading Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” to prepare.

Alright, so that wraps up my three fastest ways of attracting truly excellent clients. Remember, you don’t need to have hundreds of clients – you can build a highly profitable writing business with just a handful of clients.

I hope this has been helpful to you, and would really love to hear what you think about it. Have you tried some of these client-getting methods? Are you excited about one in particular? Are you planning to implement one of them right away?

Let me know what questions come up for you as you use these tactics. Just post them on the Working Writer Happy Writer Facebook page.


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Looking for More Resources?

You Write, They Pay My Latest Book

Available on Amazon and Kindle

Check out You Write, They Pay, my tried and true guide for building a thriving writing business from nothing.

Here’s what Ed Gandia, author of The Wealthy Freelancer and co-founder of the International Freelancers Academy and B2B Launcher says about it:

“Even today, it's challenging to find practical advice on how to get started as a freelance writer—advice that's grounded on reality, is based on the current outsourcing landscape and is focused on the best available success paths.

That's what I love about You Write, They Pay. In this book, Susan Anderson details what's actually working today in the world of freelance writing. It's based on reality, not some theoretical or outdated scenario. And her advice is clear, sound and simple, which makes it easier to consume and implement.

I also respect the fact that Susan has "been there, done that." She endured enough struggle as a budding freelancer to remember what it was like to start from scratch—the mistakes, self-doubt, confusion and fear. Plus, the fact that she still works closely with new writers keeps her grounded and in touch with her readers.

And as you'll soon discover, Susan is a great teacher. She's done a masterful job of taking a big, complex topic and distilling it into actionable steps anyone can follow. And she's done it with a friendly and encouraging tone (and a good dose of humor!).

Study this material. But above all, apply it diligently. It will work if you work it.”


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Working Writer, Happy Writer Home Study Course

COMING SOON TO:

www.WorkingWriterHappyWriter.com

This step-by-step course takes you by the hand and shows you exactly what you need to do to land clients you’ll love, writing projects they’re desperate to hire out.

You’ll learn:

• How to decide which kind of writing client to go after first, based on your unique situation.

• What these clients want you to write – and how you can learn to write it so you both make money.

• How to work with job boards, and actually make money – if that’s the strategy you want to do first.

• How to tap into a nearly-endless stream of writing projects you can do without ever having to handle clients, spend a bunch of time and money on marketing, or even sweat the details of setting your prices and collecting your money.

• How to get started writing for local businesses right in your backyard, including my surefire tactics for networking (even if you’d rather puke than talk to strangers).

• How you can make money as a freelance writer without having a single client. • How to build your portfolio of samples, so you AND your clients can be confident

you’ve got what it takes to write for them. • Helpful tips for setting your freelance writing rates (EVERY business owner

struggles with setting prices, and most have to learn the hard way… but you’ll have a head start after this lesson).

• How to get your freelance writing business website started. It’ll always be a work in progress, but this lesson will show you how to take your first steps and build a site you can use in your marketing.

• Tips and tricks for improving your writing – plus, I’ll share the resources and shortcuts I use, and the books I require my coaching students to read.


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Freelance Writers Bootcamp Home Study Course COMING SOON TO:

www.FreelanceWritersBootcamp.com

Once you know how to get clients, if you don’t have a background in freelance writing for business, you’re going to want to learn how to DO the projects your clients are most likely to ask you to write for them.

Sounds logical, right?

As I built my business, I learned on the fly – and it was scary. There’s no more terrifying moment than when you deliver a writing project to a client knowing you’re not completely sure you did it right… or that it’s even close to what they wanted. It’s not like there’s someone right there with you letting you know you’re headed in the right direction, after all.

There are dozens and dozens of types of writing projects your clients could ask you to create, and even after being in the business for ten years, we regularly get requests for projects we’ve never done. It’s probably impossible to prepare for ALL of them! Plus, there’s that whole “jack of all trades” thing.

At some point, you’ll land on a niche – either industry-related or project-related, and that’s when you’ll find your business really takes off (and you make more money). Meanwhile, it’s a smart idea to become proficient at the most commonly-ordered writing projects… and then to get really good at a few of them.

That’s what Freelance Writers Bootcamp is all about. I’ll share everything I know about how to pitch, price, plan, and do the ten most frequently ordered writing projects that my own firm does. You’ll learn all you need to know to do it like we do – which is at the very least, a solid starting point.

Here are the projects we cover:

1. Website content 2. Blogging 3. Articles


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4. Press releases 5. Newsletters 6. Email marketing messages 7. Ebooks and special reports 8. White papers 9. Case studies 10. Video scripts

Learn how to do these ten projects, and you’ll have enough know-how to build a thriving writing business even if you never learn another type of project. Plus, you’ll find it a whole lot easier to market your services, because you won’t have that dueling set of voices going: “I hope I get the gig!” vs. “Oh no! What if I get the gig?!”

Coaching I also offer one-on-one coaching – but only for writers who’ve gone through the Working Writer course and Bootcamp. The reason is, when I’ve offered coaching in the past, sometimes people bought the coaching who really weren’t ready. They didn’t have the basics down yet. Getting the basics through the first two levels of training is a much more cost-efficient way to do it! Coaching is expensive, yo. ☺


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Stay in Touch?

Here’s the best place to get in touch or ask questions: https://www.facebook.com/workingwriterhappywriter

While most of my work time is devoted to writing for clients, I’ve vowed to become more active on FB. And by “more active” I mean, a daily post – maybe a post and a picture of bacon. I’ll be sharing client-getting tactics, cool writer resources I find, sage bits of advice, and probably the occasional snarky comment.

Now and then, I might email you if there’s news to share that’s not fit for FB. If I’m about to release a new book or product, the folks on my email list are the first to hear about it – and most often get a free advance copy to read and review. If you’re jiggy with that (my kids HATE when I say that, so I do it whenever possible!) make sure you’re subscribed via www.workingwriterhappywriter.com.

Oh, and if you have Gmail, you’ll also need to make sure my emails come to your Primary tab instead of your Promotional tab. (It’s Google’s little way of sort of controlling what you see and what you don’t.) You can fix that by dragging my email from the Promotional tab over to the Primary tab.

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I’d Love to Make Money Writing, But...me in ways I didn’t know how to teach someone else to do. Until now. Now I’ve got several surefire ways to land top-notch clients who pay