I often talk about the start of the pandemic as a time when I really burned myself on work as an emotional thing that I had to work through.
The truth is, I was burnt out because I was not smart in how I priced and accepted projects.
When I looked at my books at the end of June 2020, I realized I was on track to make six figures for the first time in my freelance business by the end of the calendar year. Incredible! I thought. It would be great to show my parents – who, up to that point, had not supported the idea of me being a freelancer – that it’s possible to earn “real money” doing the work that I wanted to do.
But was it incredible to hit that oft-lauded freelancing milestone while working 35 to 40 hour weeks and feeling incredibly burned out?
Here’s a peep into the type of assignments I took:
The New York Times paid me $500 for a ~1500 news feature that involved a day of field reporting on what was arguably a breaking news story
Huffington Post paid me $800 for a ~1500 word news feature that involved multiple interviews
I was fact-checking a book on an hourly basis and I charged $60/h for that
I did a day of stringing for The Daily Beast for $400 (up to 8 hours)
The NYT piece ended up breaking down to around $30/hour. The Huffington Post piece, $50/hour. Stringing broke down to $50/hour. If I were averaging $40/hour on all my freelance assignments, I could make six figures before taxes if I worked 40 hour weeks with like, two weeks of vacation in a year.
That wasn’t great!! Especially when working 40 hours a week was already becoming a detriment to my mental health.
The rest of that year was spent in therapy (to understand that the burnout I was experiencing had been built up over the course of three decades) and with a business coach (to help me make actionable changes in my business moving forward so I would no longer feel burned out).
As the year wound down, I was impressed that I did end up making over six figures – and I decided I wanted to hit that same income the next year. The only thing was: there was no way I’d be able to repeat my methods from last year. Some projects paid really well, but others didn’t serve me. I had to put some intention behind it.
So, I filled out a business plan. What would it look like for me to work a little less, but earn about the same? Answer: I had to raise my rates! When I did the math – it looked like I could charge no less than $100/hour.
Then, I audited my business: what clients were already paying me that much? And what clients missed the mark? If clients missed the mark – but I really enjoyed working with them – what would it take for me to keep them on?
Here’s what happened after I ran these assessments; I cut out a lot of my clients. (Eight, to be precise.) I asked some of my other clients for a raise. Many said no. But three of them said yes – and to this day, I still work with them on a regular basis. I changed the payment structure for one of my main services and switched to project fees, which helped tremendously. I broke out of the scarcity mindset that drove many of my decisions in the early days of the pandemic and came to understand that I set my rates, not the market. And saying no to clients who couldn’t pay me what my business needed created more space for clients who could.
In 2021 and 2022, I continued to make six figures. But one thing changed: I started working less and less. In both years, I averaged about 10 weeks of vacation per calendar year (compared to three weeks or so in 2020!). The thing that has made the biggest difference for me here was PRICING – and that’s why I’m dedicating an entire three-week masterclass to it beginning in June.
Raising your rates and setting other boundaries such that help you maintain these rates is a critical part of running a freelance business and it helps solidify the value that you bring to your clients. For me, coming up with a new pricing structure wasn’t just essential for my business - it was a huge boon for my mental health.
If you are starting to feel resentful about some freelance projects because you intuitively feel like you’re not charging enough, or that you feel what a colleague of mine calls “pricing angst,” this is the course for you.
Over three weeks, we’ll be using some of the same tools to help you get clarity in your freelance business. We’re going to talk about project rates and value, why time tracking will help you with pricing, how to ask your clients for a raise, what to do when you’re coming up against a clients’ budget, how to get the most out of discovery calls, and so much more. The best part will involve talking through real pricing scenarios and how to handle them with another veteran freelancer. You’ll get a coaching session with me to tune up your pricing strategy. And with regular meetings, accountability is built in so you can slowly begin making changes in your client base and business strategy.
Click here for more details! We meet June 1 / 8 / 15th from noon-1pm. Registration closes May 25. I hope to see you there!
NOTE: The masterclass is on SALE for the next week! Patreon members get a discount on top of the sale, so sign up today at patreon.com/twcpod to snag those codes.
Feel free to email me with any questions: thewriterscoop2@gmail.com
Wudan