The 3 most common mistakes freelancers make (and how to remedy them)
I recently attended a lecture given at my local Chamber of Commerce. was titled, How to take your business to the next level. The reason I bring it up is that the speaker covered several points that relate to the 3 most common mistakes freelancers make, outlined below.
1. Not targeting a market: I call this lack of focus as a freelancer. Are you driving without a destination? Probably not. Most of us know where we are going when we get into our cars, the train, the bus. We have a specific destination in mind.
Because editorial and creative freelance work spans such broad categories, it can be hard to focus. eg, write. Hey? For what: magazines, ezines, newspapers, websites, newsletters, brochures, direct mail, etc., etc., etc.
What kind of writing for what sector? Legal, medical, technical, scientific, real estate, financial, general (what does that mean?), etc., etc., etc.
What type of client? B2B, B2C.
As you can see, your options are endless. And, you may be talented enough to write in many sectors. However, you’ll have a hard time selling this to potential customers, and will almost always be defeated by those who specialize and have the body of work to prove it.
I know firsthand. I owned Inkwell Editorial, an editorial staffing agency in New York City, from 1996 to 2004. When I was recruiting clients, I ALWAYS chose freelancers who had discipline experience for the task. Because? Because the clients demanded it and they made me look good. I mean, when you think about it, why would I choose someone who was a generalist when I had 15 or 20 qualified candidates who had years of experience in what I was looking for? It was a no brainer.
That’s why I am convinced that freelancers should specialize. It’s not that you can’t get out of your specialty, but if you target a specific market, you build your customer list much faster and can serve them better. Once you have your bread and butter customers, you can choose a secondary market, if you find it necessary.
So pick a niche market and focus all your marketing dollars on it. Feel free to take other things as they fall into your lap, but give your chosen market your “laser focus” eg advertising dollars, promotional efforts, etc.
2. Not creating a business plan: Do not close! Go back. Focus. Pay attention. This is no more corporate gibberish – I promise. I’m not saying spend 6 months to a year writing a 30 page document that has to be presented to a venture capitalist.
BUT, I am saying that you need the bones of a business plan in front of you. For example, who is your target market; how will you reach them; through which advertising medium; what services will you offer; how much you will charge; how much it will cost you to provide the service (remember, as an editorial/creative worker, your “product” is time); what is your advertising budget; How much will you need to achieve your goals (eg, quit your job, earn x additional $ per month)? All these questions, and some more, must be answered.
Many freelancers fail to freelance because they don’t do this kind of detailed thinking before starting. You can take a weekend and develop all this and be done. Just be sure to write it down and REFER TO IT OFTEN.
3. Not creating a marketing plan. If you are building your business on the cheap, as many are just starting out, it will take a lot longer than you think.
Therefore, you will need to make a plan of what you are going to do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to reach your financial goals. Trust, trust, trust me, if you don’t, you’ll make less money and be frustrated with what could be a wonderful career. It ALWAYS takes longer than you think.
Making even an initial marketing plan will make you feel accomplished, especially if you’re doing something every day to market your business. It could be as simple as writing one article a day, pitching to 10 potential customers whose information you found on the web, sending out one press release a week.
Imagine if you did the above, that would be five new articles, 50 client launches, and one press release, all in one week. Now, multiply this by four (one month); 12 (one quarter); 52 (yearly) and you can see how getting even a 2% response rate would get you 52 new customers a year (50 customer launches/week x 52 weeks x 2%).
I could go on and on about this topic because it cannot be repeated enough. Many freelancers think they can get a website, put in a marginal effort, and things will happen. And sure, it will, but it will be little by little.
If you want to do true freelance work, treat it like a real business from the start and you’ll exponentially increase your chances of success.
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