How I 20x My Freelance Rates In Just 6 Months
Stop being a broke artist.
I’ve traveled to the dark areas of Upwork, paid a visit to Freelancer.com, and even walked around Fiverr.
Really, in this personal mission to turn writing into my full-time job, I have tried and tested every content mill in existence. I’ve been there, done that and got the t-shirt.
This won’t be breaking news for most freelance writers but, for those that have not taken the leap yet, let me tell you what’s on the other side:
- A race to the bottom that makes earning real (or even enough) money a tough challenge.
- No actual partnership: most clients will treat you like a band-aid and not recognize your value (aka they’re cheap).
- And finally, a platform that takes 20% of your pre-tax hard-earned money. So 1 out of every 5 hours that you work goes to them.
Writers romanticize being broke.
As a 21-year-old writer, I believed that moving to Spain for a lower cost of living, getting paid pennies on the dollar, and barely making enough to cover my expenses was all somehow part of the process.
I was following my passion, right? I was not supposed to care about my bank account being on red numbers, but the truth is that I did. I want to retire my mom — I just cannot afford to be a broke artist.
Until one day I received an email from UpWork canceling my account and leaving me with no other source of income (I still don’t know why).
Right there, sadly staring at that laptop screen, I promised myself I was going to do it my way. No more content mills. No more platforms. No more getting ripped off.
Six months later, things looked different:
My rates have gone up, and I can finally write for a living. But it goes deeper than that: I now work with clients that appreciate me and value me as their partner. I can now pick and choose to work on only the stuff that I enjoy (no more celebrity gossip, thank God).
The funny thing is that I am the same (un)talented writer I was back then when I would get paid $10 for 500 words.
But everything has changed for me, and it can for you too if you follow these 4 demanding-but-doable steps:
1. Niche down. Then niche down again.
As a freelancer, you can either swim in red or blue water. Red water represents markets with bloody competition while blue markets are empty and for the taking. Doesn’t that sound better?
To get to the blue water you have to pick a niche — not the most innovative advice, I know, but there’s more:
The truth is that most markets are now so crowded that niching down is just not good enough, you have to niche down (at least) twice.
For example, I fall into the large bucket of freelance writers. But that’s a big-time red ocean — no bueno.
So I niched down to being a ghostwriter, but there was still too much competition (hint: red ocean). So I niched down again: ghostwriter for CEOs, Entrepreneurs, and Investors.
I am comfortable where I am but, if I wanted, I could niche down even more. I could be a ghostwriter for just CEOs. Or, one layer deeper, for CEOs of SAAS companies.
The money is in the niche’s niche. And it makes sense:
if you have to spend your money, you’d rather it be with specialists rather than generalists.
2. Look the part.
Here’s the honest truth. You need a website. Not a super fancy website, just one that works.
Why? Because 1) it gives you credibility and positions you as a professional, and 2) it serves both as your landing page and your portfolio (more about this later).
Yes, I hear you, you don’t know how to build a website — well, I didn’t either.
You have different options: you can use a drag-and-drop platform like Wix, Weebly, etc. and you pay around $30/month, they’re extremely easy to set up. Or you can figure out how to build it yourself on Wordpress. I chose that, and it doesn’t look too bad.
(You can also hire a web-developer, but expect to pay him well.)
Now that you’re at it, get yourself a professional email for $5/month from GoDaddy.
If you want pro money, you have to start acting and looking like a pro.
3. Become your own case study.
Most content mill-independent freelancers fall back on cold-pitching as their #1 business acquisition method. While it will help you put food on the table immediately, it should not be your long-term strategy — branding is.
Cold-pitching is a one-night stand. Your brand is a committed relationship.
It takes more work and effort, but the benefits are more sustainable and meaningful.
How can you build your brand as a freelancer?
You need to create exceptional content that adds value and shows your skills. Publish them on all social media platforms that your target audience hangs out on — Medium, Quora and LinkedIn are great places to start.
And you have to do it consistently: one piece of content a month won’t cut it. One or two articles a day sounds more like that.
Eventually — have patience! — leads will start coming in. People consume your content, enjoy it, check your website, learn more about you, and contact you (beg you) to work with (not for) them.
No more chasing after clients on Upwork, no more hunting them on Fiverr, no more getting paid one cent/word on Freelancer.com. They will now come to you instead.
Branding yourself as a freelancer/company/leader will shift your leads from outbound to inbound.
Which allows you to 1) charge much higher rates, and 2) pick and choose what clients you want to work with.
It’s the difference between paying 15 dollars for no-brand shoes or $200 for Nikes.
Or getting paid $7/hour as an Upwork freelancer or $95/hour as a professional writer.
So, what are the takeaways:
- As a freelancer, you need to build a brand around you that adds value to your services.
- Position yourself as an expert by creating consistent content and ticking all professional boxes (website, email, etc.).
- Cold-pitch on the short-term so that you can rely on inbound leads from your content.
- Feel free to charge more and be selective with your clients now that you’re in a position of power.
Thanks for reading! You can follow me here on Medium for more stuff like this.
Marti is a ghostwriter for CEOs, Entrepreneurs, and Investors. He also likes to write about himself in third person. You can find out more about what he does here.
