Your Well-Fed E-PUB: July 2018 Issue

I sent out this month's Well-Fed E-PUB a few days late,
to avoid the July 4th holiday. Normal "first-Tuesday"
schedule resumes next month.

Welcome to THE WELL-FED E-PUB!

The companion monthly ezine to the quadruple-award-winning how-to
guide, “The Well-Fed Writer.” Serving up food for thought and tasty
tips for the prospering FLCW*. Come on in, sit anywhere and bring your
appetite!

*FLCW, peppered throughout the ezine, stands for “Freelance Commercial
Writer”—anyone who freelances for businesses (vs. writing magazine
articles, short stories, poetry, etc.), typically earns $50-125+ an
hour, and is the sole focus of this e-newsletter.

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VOLUME 17, ISSUE 7 – JULY 2018
Publishing the first Tuesday of every month since May 2002
Read it online HERE.

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THE WELL-FED WRITER BLOG! Weigh in on, “Good Clients Will Pay
Handsomely for This (Often-Elusive) Outcome”; “Four Client-Repelling
Mistakes, & What I Learned to Do Instead" (Guest Post); "Successful
Copywriters (Or ANY Craftspeople) Don’t Focus on Success; They Focus
on This”; and more!

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THIS MONTH’S MENU:

I. APPETIZER: THE HAPPY OVERESTIMATION
Yours Truly: If You’re Up When “Over,” Don’t Be Down When “Under.”

II. “FIELD” GREENS: A SIMPLE, PROVEN LEAD-GENERATION TACTIC
TX FLCW Shares “The Email Template That’s Landed Me a Lot of Work”

III. MAIN “MEAT” COURSE: ONE NICHE, TWO NICHE, THREE NICHE, FOUR…
OH FLCW Considers 3 Niches Before “Shifting” to the Right One for Her!

IV. DESSERT: SWEET SUCCESS STORIES & TIPS
CA FLCW Re-Contacts Radio-Silent Prospect, Lands Gig & Happy Client!
TIP: Does Your Freelance Attitude Stink? Put the Fear of “JOB” in You!

V. COFFEE, MINTS AND TOOTHPICKS
- MORE WORK WITH LESS EFFORT? Ebook Serves Up “How-To”!
- I NEED ALL COURSES FOR THE WELL-FED-E-PUB! PLEASE SHARE!
- The WELL-FED WRITER BLOG is Rockin’!
- AWAI Copywriting (& Other) Courses: Register HERE, Get Bonus CD!
- How Can My Mentoring Service Serve You?

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I. APPETIZER: THE HAPPY OVERESTIMATION
Yours Truly: If You’re Up When “Over,” Don’t Be Down When “Under.”

Every now and then in our business, a lovely thing happens. We quote a
project, based on our best guesstimate of the time it will take. The
client signs off on our estimate, we get to work, and then we
finish¬—far sooner than we’d anticipated. We just made 50%, 70% or
even 100% more per hour than we’d counted on.

And if it was a flat-rate quote, that extra money is all ours (yet
another reason to quote projects by flat rate, not hourly). It’s only
if we’d estimated by the hour that we’d be obligated to charge less on
our final invoice (I get 50% upfront on most projects).

I had a project like that sometime back. At first blush, it just
looked like a bigger deal than I imagined, and with a client I thought
would be far more of a micromanager than he turned out to be. Just a
few edits on my first draft and we were done. Love that.

The point? Just like we have these wonderful “overestimating”
scenarios, now and then, we’ll underestimate a project. We assumed a
simpler process, and an easier-to-deal-with client, and, well, it
didn’t quite work out that way.

Sometimes, those situations just can’t be helped. Perhaps it’s a fussy
client you want to please, which, within reason, should always be the
goal, and especially if you foresee more work from them. You do your
job, give the client what they want (within the parameters of your
terms), grumble to yourself if need be, and move on.

No, I’m not suggesting we just “C’est la vie” our way through the “under”
scenarios. Hopefully, over time, we get better at both estimating and
reading personalities of prospects, and, when warranted, add an
“aggravation fee” to future estimates for that client. All with an eye
towards having ever fewer of those negative scenarios.

But, perhaps, you do one more thing…

You remember that really sweet deal that went so much more easily,
smoothly and profitably than initially imagined. I guess I believe
there’s no free lunch, and when life gives in one moment, it might
just take it away in the next. And vice versa. Call it the Zen view:
It all evens out in the end. On that “mildly-woo-woo” note, let’s eat!

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II. “FIELD” GREENS: A SIMPLE, PROVEN LEAD-GENERATION TACTIC
TX FLCW Shares “The Email Template That’s Landed Me a Lot of Work”

Got the following piece from Denton, TX FLCW Victoria Cayce, who
generously shares a template she’s used with some non-trivial success
over the years. As she notes, it’ll likely work even better for those
with a well-defined niche, which, by definition, will drive a more
targeted marketing approach. Enjoy!

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One of the more reliable ways I’ve found to land new work is via email
marketing. First, craft a compelling email (use all your copy magic to
write something that sings) and send it to marketing/ad/design
agencies. They tend to have ongoing needs, AND, they understand what
you do and why they need you—no explanation necessary.

This can be an especially effective strategy if you have a well-defined
market niche, since niche writers are harder to find, and hence, in
greater demand. Just Google “Ad/marketing agencies” in your area.
If you work in a niche market like I do, add that into your search.

For example, I might Google “pharmaceutical marketing companies near
me”, or “bio-medical marketing in Dallas.” Tailor your search to your
specific skills and interests.

Google will happily spit out a list. I use a spreadsheet to help keep
track of contact, address, phone number, email, etc. With list in
hand, contact them via phone or email.

Here’s a version of email that’s garnered me a lot of gigs (edit for
your circumstances). Like Peter says in TWFW, assuming you’re
contacting the right kinds of prospects, it really is a numbers game.
Just hit as many as you can, and then get ready to work your butt off.
I get a ~10-15% response rate.

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Hi There: I’m not sure if you use freelance medical writers to fill in
the gaps, but I am interested in partnering with you to help with
critical projects when your in-house team is swamped.

I am an experienced, degreed medical (fill in your niche market
experience here) writer with a varied portfolio. Over the years I have
crafted books, training material, CEO letters, consumer/patient
information packets, investor presentations, press releases, marketing
emails and much, much more.

Let’s talk about your needs.

What I bring to the table:

• Degrees, awards, etc. goes here.
• Strong experience in crafting compelling content
• Dependable (no dog-ate-my-copy-excuses)
• Able to meet tight deadlines
• Want a re-write? Not an issue
• No ego or prima donna attitude

Thanks for your time!

Sincerely,
Victoria Cayce

P.S. I've included links to some previous projects for your review.

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III. MAIN “MEAT” COURSE: ONE NICHE, TWO NICHE, THREE NICHE, FOUR…
OH FLCW Considers 3 Niches Before “Shifting” to the Right One for Her!

Finding the right niche for you isn’t always an easy process, as this
great piece from Cincinnati, OH FLCW Holly Helscher shows. Can you
relate to her struggle? As Holly points out, for a niche to be an enduring one,
it can be about something other than one's “passion.” Enjoy!

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As a kid you probably learned the playground rhyme, “One potato, two
potato, three potato, four, etc., etc.” That’s how I felt deciding upon a
freelancing niche.

When I first started freelancing, I believed picking a niche would be
the easy part. That’s how it’s represented in a lot of courses. But it
wasn’t. Not if I wanted to earn a living.

I wanted to freelance for companies needing copy for education. I even
named my business Copywriter for Education (don’t look it up; it’s no
longer a website). I’d spent 20 years in that field, so I knew it
well. But, when I evaluated the niche, I discovered it wasn’t going to
earn me the annual income I needed. So, I started over.

Niche #2? I chose adventure-type vacations—the ones where you hike,
climb or do some other action-experience recreation. Whitewater
rafting, anyone? It would’ve been a fun niche, but I realized there
weren’t enough potential clients. Scrap #2.

Third time wasn’t the charm, either. Healthcare. I’d spent a decade in
the industry. It was lucrative, and with plenty of potential clients.
Except when I tried to write some samples, I quickly realized it was
boring writing about it. Off the list it went.

By that point, I was six months into my new career. I’d generated a
lot of paper, a lot of ideas, and a lot of research. But still no niche.

I returned to my original list of, oh, twelve million niche ideas—fashion,
pets, parenting, kids, grandparenting—all things that interested me.
But none of them hit the “passion” note that all the copywriting courses
insisted was an essential ingredient in the equation.

Then I heard a little tidbit from a mentor. If I hadn’t been paying
attention, I’d have missed it. He said sometimes a niche can be a
skill you have. A skill? I took that concept and made a new list. It
proved to be a highly valuable exercise.

My 40+ years in corporate America gave me a unique skill, one that
most businesses would appreciate; my talent translated to one-stop
shopping: I’d held every position from entry-level to executive vice
president. I could write in an authentic voice from each perspective
while maintaining a consistent message from piece to piece. Bingo.

If I focused on the services I wanted to offer and presented myself to
the business community in B2B style, I’d make progress. And, in fact,
I got my first clients that way.

By looking at the niche challenge from a different perspective, I ended
up with a niche, services and USP all rolled into one. You may not have
that specific skill, but if you take the time to make that kind of a list, you
may be surprised at what you come up.

If you’re struggling with the niche question, while passion may be nice,
skills might be the thing.

Today my biggest client has me writing medical education articles.
That shift in thinking got me right back where I started—education! I
couldn’t be happier.

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IV. DESSERT: SWEET SUCCESS STORIES & TIPS
CA FLCW Re-Contacts Radio-Silent Prospect, Lands Gig & Happy Client!
TIP: Does Your Freelance Attitude Stink? Put the Fear of “JOB” in You!

Very cool success story from Santa Clarita, CA FLCW Robyn Kurdek.
I seem to be hearing this same message again and again these days:
Keep following up on prospects!

After that, a great (and no-doubt wildly effective) tip from West Yorkshire,
UK FLCW Hannah Giles. Just thinking about it gives me the shivers!

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Originally, I connected with this client last fall. We had a great phone
conversation, I signed an NDA (non-disclosure agreement), and
things seemed like they were moving in a positive direction. Then she
went silent. For months.

I reached out to her last week, however, and she responded within
days—with a project that had a quick turnaround. It was a blog post
she needed written for one of her clients. We sent a few emails back
and forth on payment, and I had a few questions on the direction and
focus. Then, I dug in and got started.

I delivered the post ahead of schedule, and she was very pleased. Her
email response: “This is excellent - great work!" Not only that, I got
paid THE SAME DAY via PayPal!

Just proves that sometimes the fruit is in the follow-up, and that reaching
out to past prospects is ALWAYS worth the effort.

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I’ve recently been through a phase where I’ve been demoralized and
unmotivated with my freelancing. I wasn’t earning much money and the
work I was doing was of little value. As a result, my other projects
(like fiction writing) suffered because I was struggling to get
through my workday.

Things got to the point where I had to give myself an ultimatum: shape up
or you’ll have to give up freelancing. I threatened myself with a real job!

The idea of returning to an office-based job with all that it entails, such a
long daily commute, was enough to jolt me back into a disciplined and
organized state of mind. If you’re going through a low period, for whatever
reason, think about why you wanted to freelance in the first place.

I feel lucky to have the freedom of a freelance lifestyle and to be able to write
for a living. I just need a dose of reality from time to time!

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BOOST YOUR FREELANCE ATTITUDE (& INCOME!)
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MORE WORK WITH LESS EFFORT? Ebook Serves Up “How-To”!
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