Becoming Business Savvy

A freelancer recently emailed me, asking for advice on how to market her coaching services. Whether you are trying to market yourself as a freelancer for magazines, a copywriter or writing or editing coach, here are a few simple steps to help you become more business savvy.

1. Review your Rates. Take a look at how much you've been charging (or getting paid) in the past five years. Were you making more or less five years ago, and how much has your pay increased or decreased? Should you consider changing your rates (or changing your goals for how much you want to get paid) to accommodate the plummeting economy? When considering a change in your rates or your goals of how much you want to make, talk to other freelancers and compare your own rates/payment goals to theirs. Then decide if you need to make any changes to your original plan.

2. Find a New Target Market. Is there a specific market you'd like to target, or have just overlooked? I've been working mainly with beginner writers. I find that college students are a market that are often overlooked - this is a great group of people for you to target your services toward. Call the head of a local college's journalism department and see if they are interested in hiring you as a guest speaker. Even contact a local high school and ask if they'd be interested in having you speak to students in a classroom. The more people you can tell about your services, the better.
If you want to make yourself known at the national level, you can try using the same tactics by contacting different colleges throughout the U.S. Many college students (especially journalism) don't necessarily know the benefits of freelance writing or how to get into writing, and may be interested in coaching services! If you're a freelance writer looking for more work, you need to do the same thing - find a new niche magazine that you can target your services to. There are many out there to choose from!

3. Become Involved in the Community. If you aren't already involved in your local Chamber of Commerce, this is a great way to network with people in the community and make yourself well-known. Donate coupons for your services through contests in the community, or if you're just starting out as a writing or editing coach, become involved with your local library by offering a free class once a month, or once a week. Many smaller organizations (I belong to the American Horse Publications, www.americanhorsepubs.org) hold contests at their conferences and would accept donations such as coaching services, or would be willing to hire successful freelancers as a speaker. For the more experienced writing/editing coach: Media Bistro (www.mediabistro.com) offers classes at discount rates and often hires professionals in the industry to teach classes on anything from "Intro to Copy Editing" to "Getting Your Fiction Book Published". There's something out there for everyone!