• office manager,
• accountants department,
• meeting coordinator

Today, I’d like to share one of the best secrets to my success. Don’t. Miss. Deadlines.

While this isn’t the only thing you need to find success – we can’t forget about Pricing Strategies or Understanding What the Client Wants, for example – it is one of the most important. When it comes to deadlines, here’s the number one thing to remember.

Clients can, and will, miss deadlines. Freelancers can’t. Ever.

Every project you work on is going to have a deadline. Our job as freelancers is to negotiate the project needs and let the client know how long it will take to complete. The client will need this information for their own timeline, so they can meet their own objectives.

Here are a few Dos and Don’ts that I use on my projects:

·         Do be realistic with the client as to how much time you need to complete the project.

·         Do provide a timeline to clearly communicate when you are going to deliver each component, and how long the client has to get back to you to stay on track (A Gantt chart works nicely here).

·         Do keep the client in the loop – open communications help you be aware of any changes and let the client know you’re on track.

·         Do hustle. There are going to be times when your client needs you to give them a quick turnaround on a project. If you can deliver, you can help them look like a hero. This can be very good for your career. (Be aware of clients who always need a quick turnaround, and work with them to identify ways of getting the projects to you earlier).

·         Don’t make promises you can’t keep. If you tell the client you will have it back to them tomorrow at 3, have it back to them at or before 3 – their time (being specific about deadlines across international time zones is important, too).

·         Don’t call the client on the due date to let them know you need more time. If you have to push the deadline, give them time to prepare for it.

·         Don’t ignore or avoid your client’s calls or emails. If you’re running behind, let them know. Don’t flake out and make your client think you’ve disappeared.

·         Don’t blame the client. You are going to find that some of your clients take a long time to provide you with feedback or approvals. This is normal, and this is why you need to build it into your timeline. Expecting your client to drop everything they’re doing to get back to you immediately is not going to happen – or even worse – will cause the client to think you’re a PITA (pain in the… butt).

Here’s a good article to help you estimate your time accurately.

At the end of the day, if you miss your deadlines you are going to frustrate your client and cause challenges on their side. This is not going to help you earn more business from them, and they are more likely to choose a different freelancer who can deliver on time, every time.

Be clear about the expectations and always focus on completing your projects on or before the due date, and you will find your reputation for delivering on time helps you get more, and better, freelance projects.

What are some of the tips and tricks you use to deliver your projects on time?

As a freelancer, you’re often juggling multiple projects at once, creating one of the most daunting tasks for many: Time management. But if you accurately estimate the time commitment required to complete a project, you can safely meet your clients’ needs while maintaining balance in your schedule. Creating a time outline will help ensure you keep those proverbial balls in the air.

Here a few key components to consider when estimating the time needed for project completion:

Research

Clearly, there’s a research component to making a bid in the first place, but the project may require a deeper understanding once you land the gig. You may want to grasp a better understanding of the client’s target demographic or familiarize yourself with their competitors. The research component should also include an allotment for meetings to review project details, conduct information-gathering essential for the project or brainstorming sessions.

Project completion

Most of your hours will end up in this section. When allocating time for the actual project, consider past projects similar in nature. How long did it take you? What foreseeable challenges will you face? How long will it take you to resolve such challenges, and could they delay the project’s competition?

Consider the complexity of the project in your hourly projections. If this is a topic or design that is new to you, give yourself permission to have a greater learning curve than for projects similar to your past work.

Revisions

Don’t forget to allot some time for revisions. Try to limit the number of revisions you allow to one or two rounds to encourage clients to send revisions in batches, and allot a few hours for each round. This avoids the endless cycle of minute detail changes that end up adding hours and hours to your total time commitment. This can easily happen if these constraints aren’t set forth in advance. Otherwise, you may find yourself working to meet someone else’s unrealistic vision of perfection.

Extraneous Hours

Unfortunately, the nuances of each client may dictate the number of hours spent on each gig. If this is a repeat client, it’s easy to estimate for such dynamics. For example, if you’re designing a website for a client that is very particular on font color, size, typeface, etc., you know to expect more demands than average for revisions and changes. However, it can be difficult to determine if new clients are going to be easy to work with, never asking for anything outside of the project’s scope, or if they’ll be the nightmare client who expects your world to revolve around them. It’s wise to allocate one or two hours (more if you KNOW the level of difficulty) for miscellaneous tasks.

It’s also wise to include details surrounding the project’s scope in each bid and outline added costs for out-of-scope revisions. For instance, if a client agrees on a focus, then changes the entire direction midway through the work, you’ll want to have a contractual agreement set forth in advance which allows you to bill for the initial time spent.

Now that you have a workable timeline, double it. Doubling your initial estimate allows for unforeseeable complications, client additions or time management issues. It’s better to give yourself a little more time than not enough. If you’re billing by the hour, this will help give your clients an estimated cost. If you’re billing by the project, it will provide you with a built-in safety net for your own sanity.

Image by frimlik via Stock.xchng

Image by lockstockb via Stock.xchng

Freelance writers are lucky. Really, we are. That’s because writing is the ultimate transferable skill and we can use that skill to cross niches and sectors and make our writing careers even more lucrative. When it comes to freelance projects, there’s no rule that says that you have to stick to writing web content, white papers or press releases for clients. You can also write for yourself and make some welcome additional income. Here are some suggestions.

1. Write and publish an ebook

If you’re already a writer, writing an ebook is a no-brainer. All you need to do is carve out a couple of hours a week from your existing commitments and by the end of the month you could have a completed ebook that’s ready to publish. There’s virtually no limit to what you could write on. From the work you do for your clients you already know what topics are interesting in particular niches — and you have done the research too. Or you might want to reach out to other writers to help them solve the problems you have experienced. Either way, there’s an ebook in you — several, in fact. Once it’s ready for publication, use those same writing skills to market it successfully so you can have a lucrative secondary income stream.

2. Coach writers and clients

If you’re helping others achieve success through your writing, then you can ramp it up by teaching people how to replicate that success themselves. This might mean providing a short training course for clients on how to set up and run their blog or helping writers learn new ways to market and promote themselves. Don’t let the fact that others are doing it discourage you — you have a unique voice and unique experiences, so you have something valuable to add. Not sure whether this is for you? Then put out a call to your networks and trial the service with a couple of willing guinea pigs and get feedback before going for a full-scale launch.

3. Broadcast yourself

Putting yourself on the airwaves, whether physical or virtual, is a great way to increase your authority. Online, there are lots of places where you can start to build up a following (like BlogTalkRadio and YouTube). Your advantage here is that you can already write — and a decent script or outline will help you produce a good show that people want to tune into. With more people consuming media on the move, there’s never been a better time to launch a video or podcast channel. Not only can you help people, but you can make money both directly, with ads, and indirectly, by plugging the resources you have to offer.

4. Book speaking engagements

It’s a short step from having your own online show to speaking to people offline. It’s not difficult to find groups (chambers of commerce, networking groups, schools, career fairs) that are happy to have guest speakers. And since you are a professional writer, penning a compelling speech should be easy. Get some practice, then add this to your list of service offerings — people will then pay you to come and talk to them about your niche or how you built a successful writing career.

5. Provide additional services

Finally, getting back to the nuts and bolts of your existing writing career, why not expand the services that you offer. Instead of pitching a single article to a potential client, pitch a series. If you are ghostwriting anook, offer to write the launch press release as well. When you ghostwrite posts for their blogs, offer to help them build authority with additional posts they can offer to other blogs. While you need to balance this strategy so you continue to do what you love, always remember to upsell when it’s appropriate – it’s a way to offer value and make more money, too!

Image credits: GoXunuReviews; BriYYZ/Flickr

Mistake No. 1: The Cost of Research

When I first started freelancing, I was happy to get a gig writing 100 articles on an aspect of the finance industry. As many new freelancers do, I hunted around for what I thought was a suitable rate per article, placed my bid and was very pleased when I landed the gig. However, by the end of it, I wished that I had charged more. Because of the specifics of the job and demand that the content needed not to flout restrictions about financial probity, I had to do a lot more research on the topic than I would have normally. – That took considerable time; time that I wasn’t being paid for. Of course, I completed the job for the agreed rate, but I never made that mistake again.

Solution: Include a couple of hours of research time when you’re deciding what to bid; more if it’s an unfamiliar subject.

Mistake No. 2: The Cost of Communication

While it would be wrong to charge your client for communication that’s in the normal run of business (things like submitting progress reports and confirming receipt of project details), communication on some projects can spiral out of control. Micromanaging clients or those with whom you haven’t worked out a clear brief can mean you spend extra time on emails, reports and phone calls — and that time is a cost, too.

This was one I learned from an older, wiser freelancer when I was new to the game. We met to discuss a project, concluded the meeting successfully and worked out a project price. Then she said: “And don’t forget to add on an hour for travel and the time spent at the meeting.” That was all it took to remind me to include a missing piece of the bidding pie. Remember, if you are on the phone or in a meeting with one client, you are not actually earning money unless you have included that time in your bid.

Mistake No. 3: The Little Extras

There are always extras in every freelance job. For writers, it might be an extra round of revisions because there was a misunderstanding about the brief. For bloggers, it might be the expectation that you will be on hand to answer all comments for your post. And generally, many clients like it when you give the articles you write for them a bit of social media love (unless they are ghostwritten and sometimes even if they are). Let’s be clear — all of this takes time and time is money. If this is going to be part of the package, then include some time for them in your bid. Tweeting one article might only take a couple of seconds, but what if it’s ten, one hundred or more? And let’s not forget about health insurance and tax — as a freelancer your project rate needs to take these outgoings into account.

Solution: Build in remuneration for those “extras” into your bid.

Bonus Mistake: Undervaluing Your Skills

This mistake often affects freelancers who price by the hour, rather than by the project. The more you develop your writing skills, the faster and more accurate you will get and the quicker you will be able to do a project. Pricing by the hour focuses on the time element and ignores the skill element, so you actually lose more money the better you get. When you pay big bucks to your doctor, you’re not paying for the 10 minute consultation, but for the 10+ years of training that got him to that chair. It’s the same with freelancing skills – and you’d better remember that when you set your price.

Solution: Price by the project, not by the hour.

The overarching lesson in all of this is to be clear on what a project really involves. To do that, the next time you do a typical project, write down the different steps from start to finish. Keep track of the time everything takes. Is your rate reflecting the actual time you spent? If it is, then you’re on the right track with project pricing. If not, check your bidding process again and see whether you’ve made any of these mistakes.

Killing the Excuses

I’ve been freelancing full time for a few years now. I’m fortunate that my social circle, online and offline, feels that I’m a good person to talk to about the freelance life. Freelancing is one of my favourite topics, so when I’m asked to meet somebody who is looking for information on making the switch from a corporate job to a freelance option, I try to make time to meet with them to answer their questions.

Generally, my advice to them is similar to what I’ve already shared here; how to build your brand, how to set your rates, and how to write kick-ass proposals. Some of them listen to the advice and find a way to make it work.

Unfortunately, some of them spend more time making excuses that keep them in their current job.

Today, I’d like to take a look at a few of the main excuses that might be preventing you from finding freelance happiness.

Where Do I Find Clients?

Everywhere. This excuse is easy to address because your clients are in your community and around the world. You don’t have a lack of clients; you have a lack of confidence. If you don’t think you’re worth it, your clients won’t either. You’ve got to be confident in yourself to charge the rates that work for you (you’re not a charity, you’re doing this to make a living) and you’ve got to be confident to ask your clients to give you their business. They need help, and if they don’t get it from you, they will get it from someone else.

“Fake it till you make it” or “Give a little to get a little” – choose whichever works best for you, and go find your next client.

DoNanza is a fantastic resource for you to find your next project. As you build your portfolio, you start to build your confidence. You will soon find that your projects will start to get bigger — and more frequent. Remember to add your projects to your portfolio on your Freelance Profile page, so your new clients can see the projects you’ve done in the past.

My _______ isn’t ______ enough

This is my least favourite game of Mad Libs. Too often, I’ll hear “My computer isn’t fast enough”, “My office isn’t big enough”, “My website isn’t nice enough.” I’m sure you’ve heard these excuses too, and maybe this is where you’re sitting right now. Sure, you need a decent computer and a semi-quiet place to work, but you don’t need the fastest computer or a private office overlooking the park. If you really want to freelance, you need to find a way to get past these excuses so you can focus on getting your projects completed. As you build your client list, you can start saving up to buy the equipment you need to git ‘r done, but if you’re reading this post, chances are you’ve got the tools you need to start freelancing.

I Don’t Have the Time to Freelance

You’ve got time to spend 40+ hours a week, plus the time to commute to and from a job you don’t like, but you don’t have time to work on your freelance business? How effective could you be if you were using that time to spend on your own business? Freelancing is hard work, and it’s a serious business, but there are some pretty awesome rewards that you can enjoy if you choose to treat it like a business. In the beginning, it will take some extra time, but this is an investment that you need to make in yourself, and it’s one that will pay off well.

You might hear people saying “the economy sucks” (it doesn’t – that’s just another excuse) or “there’s too many people working at a rate I can’t compete with” (you guessed it – just an excuse). There are clients with projects in every industry, at every price point. Choose one that interests you, and show that client that you are the best freelancer to handle their current and future needs.

If freelancing is truly the direction you’d like to go, you will find a way to do it. Don’t let the people that say it can’t be done prevent you from doing it.

Here are my top three books that I think can help every freelancer, regardless of industry, should read:

The Principles of Successful Freelancing

This step-by-step guide walks wannabe freelancers through the steps to successfully transition from the 9 to 5 to the freelance world. Written by Miles Berk, this book delves into 12 key areas of freelancing including organization, budgeting, sales and marketing and achieving work/life balance. But, perhaps most crucially, it poses questions each reader should personally consider when becoming a freelancer.

One reader summed it eloquently saying the book is 20% pep talk, 20% reality check and 60% great advice and useful information. It’s an easy read, casually written and enjoyable book that many will refer to throughout their career.

Available: Paperback and Digital

The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle

Whether you’re just starting out or you’re struggling to pay the bills, this book will help both new and experienced freelancers find the recipe for success. Author Steve Slaunwhite takes a look at real-life examples from successful freelancers, crafting tips and tricks that nearly anyone can incorporate into their business model.

Many readers go back to the book for inspiration and instruction or just as a quick refresher. Others find the advice worthy of instant implementation, many finding success with the tactics. The Wealthy Freelancer is a quick, interesting read and its business suggestions are relevant for nearly every industry.

Available: Paperback and Digital

My So-Called Freelance Life

This book has become a mainstay on the bookshelves (or Kindle folders) of  female freelancers for the past four years. Although author Michelle Goodman offers tips, advice, how-to’s and general information on freelancing specifically for women, any person entering the freelance world will find this book full of useful material.

She provides suggestions to help build motivation, overcome loneliness lonlinless and handle rejections. And with nearly 20 years in the freelancing industry she has plenty of suggestions and humorous aneccedotes to illustrate the good, the bad and the ugly of the freelance world.

Many readers have found this book the go-to when they need a little motivation even after years of freelancing success. Others have said this was the catalyst that helped them take the leap into freelancing. Regardless, it is a must-have for any freelancer.

Available: Paperback and Digital

These books have been helpful in my freelance career. What books have helped you?

Images via Stock.chnge by Kylpyamme, Cjcj and garytamin

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis

Disguised as a true story about baseball, Moneyball may be the “best book ever written about business,” according to The Weekly Standard. The challenge facing Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane is one that many freelancers recognize: How do you compete against rivals who have higher profiles and more resources than you do? According to Lewis, Beane approached this by understanding conventional wisdom and tacking in the opposite direction. By reconfiguring the methodologies behind player valuation, Beane developed new tactics for recruiting, coaching and mentoring both young players and older players who were passed by or let go by other teams.

The book isn’t simply about the business of baseball. Beane’s strategies and philosophies, his unconventional tactics and the belief in his processes can easily be incorporated into the business plan of any freelancer.

This book, from beginning to end, can be broken down into a multitude of business lessons, but here are my two favorite that transcend baseball and cross over into the freelance world.

“Think Differently”

Billy Beane wouldn’t have led the A’s to success by spending what little money he had on one or two big name players. It was his off-the-wall, long-term strategy of recruiting and nurturing the crop of up-and-comers through the club’s farm system and revolutionizing the way player’s strengths were evaluated that allowed the A’s to be competitive despite budgetary hurdles. His theory was to buy wins, rather than players. He understood the bigger picture and realized immediate satisfaction is sometimes sacrificed for the good of the goal.

Freelancers often find themselves trapped, working on projects simply for the paycheck, winning the bid simply for the sake of winning it. Seeing a clear vision of the future is just as essential in freelance.

Sometimes, it’s the little wins that keep us in the game. But, each baby step must be part of the greater picture; otherwise you remain on a treadmill, stuck in rut of complacency just simply working for the paycheck. It’s a process that ultimately leads to success.

“If you’ve got a dozen pitchers, you need to speak 12 different languages”

Replace the word pitcher with customer and you have a strategy that every freelancer should be incorporating into their business plan. Each and every customer speaks a different “language” and your business model should be customer focused. Nothing should be stock or at the very least everything you do should be customizable based upon the preferences, style and voice of the customer. When you fail to speak their language, you fail to communicate, and regardless of the product or service you offer, you fail meet the needs of your client. Thus, striking out, and stalling you’re game plan, leaving you questioning what went wrong.

Being customer centric allows you to remain competitive in an otherwise over-saturated market of freelancers and big-name corporations. Not many large companies can truly say they tailor their business plans to each and every client.

Moneyball is not just for the baseball fan. It’s for the freelancer who needs to find inspiration from an uncommon source, all while enjoying a great story.

Let us know your thoughts on Moneyball, Billy Beane and his Oakland A’s. What were your favorite takeaways?

Next up in the DoNanaza Book Club: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. We’d love to hear from you what books you’d like to see as part of the Donanza Book Club. If you’ve got any suggestion, let us know!