{"id":9351,"date":"2016-11-04T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewritelife.com\/?p=9351"},"modified":"2016-11-04T14:38:14","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T19:38:14","slug":"pitch-your-dream-clients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/?p=9351","title":{"rendered":"Pitch Your Dream Clients: October Income Report from Nicole Dieker"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you started freelancing, did you have <\/span>a vision of where you wanted your career to go?<\/b><\/p>\n

Does your current career match that vision? <\/span><\/p>\n

Today, we\u2019ll look at a reader\u2019s question about pitching \u201cvision clients\u201d and discuss why <\/span>your freelancing vision might change over time.<\/b><\/p>\n

First, my numbers for October:<\/span><\/p>\n

Completed pieces: <\/b>61<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Work billed:<\/b> $11,734.33<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Income received: <\/b>$11,774.81<\/span><\/p>\n

In October, I earned <\/span>over $10,000 in freelance income<\/b> — a new milestone — and I should earn over $10,000 in November as well. <\/span><\/p>\n

These earnings are due in part to a large project that\u2019s scheduled to complete by the end of the year, so I don\u2019t anticipate $10K monthly earnings being \u201cthe new normal.\u201d However, it\u2019s a nice temporary normal. <\/span><\/p>\n

What am I doing with these high earnings?<\/b> I\u2019ve paid off my last outstanding debts, I\u2019m putting aside a little extra for taxes and I\u2019m saving as much as I can for the future. Freelancing is unpredictable, so I want to be prepared for <\/span>income downturns, as well as upswings. <\/b>It\u2019s what the financial advisors would recommend, right?<\/span><\/p>\n

Advice on pitching higher-paying clients<\/span><\/h2>\n

On the subject of advice: A reader recently asked if I\u2019d give some <\/span>advice on pitching higher-paying clients<\/b> as well as pitching what she called \u201cvision clients:\u201d the clients or publications that represent where you want your career to go in the future. <\/span><\/p>\n

I have a lot of advice on pitching, so I\u2019ll start with two links. If you\u2019re looking for <\/span>advice on how to write a pitch,<\/b> please check out my Write Life <\/span>\u201cPitch Fix\u201d<\/span><\/a> series, where I workshop real pitches from writers and make those pitches stronger. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking for a specific and actionable guide on <\/span>getting better clients and earning more money,<\/b> I wrote an ebook for The Write Life called <\/span>\u201cGet Better Clients and Earn More Money.\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

(Seriously. It\u2019s worth reading.) \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But let\u2019s look closely at this reader\u2019s questions: how do you pitch higher-paying clients, and how do you go after those clients that <\/span>represent the next stage of your career?<\/b><\/p>\n

The short answer is that you pitch higher-paying clients the same way you\u2019re pitching your current clients. You craft <\/span>smart, tailored pitches<\/b> that focus on how your skills and ideas can benefit that client\u2019s audience. You also <\/span>highlight your previous work<\/b> to prove that you can deliver a quality product. <\/span><\/p>\n

I often reference Shane Snow\u2019s video <\/span>\u201cHacking the Freelance Ladder\u201d<\/span><\/a> for a great analysis of how a writer can use the <\/span>clips and connections<\/b> they build with their current clients to move \u201cup the ladder\u201d to better-paying clients. (Watch the video. It\u2019s so good.) <\/span><\/p>\n

From my experience, <\/span>the first steps on the ladder are close together, <\/b>and don\u2019t always represent a significant increase in pay; I remember feeling like it was a huge deal to go from 3 cents a word to 5 cents a word, for example. As you continue to build your freelance career, the steps on the ladder might feel more like jumps; instead of getting $100 more per piece, you might get offered $500 or $1,000 more per piece.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I moved up in my freelance career, I spent <\/span>less time pitching potential clients<\/b> and <\/span>more time working with clients<\/b> who had contacted me. When you\u2019re pitching a client, they have most of the leverage; although you can negotiate, you often have to take or leave what they\u2019re offering. When a client reaches out to you, you\u2019re the one with the leverage and they\u2019re the ones who have to take or leave your rates. <\/span><\/p>\n

Finding your \u201cvision clients\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n

Which brings me to those \u201cvision clients.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s one of <\/span>the hardest truths about freelancing:<\/b> you might have a vision of where you want your career to go, but there\u2019s going to be a lot that you can\u2019t predict. I would never have guessed that <\/span>my primary freelance beat would end up being personal finance,<\/b> or that I would become an editor, as well as a writer. I didn\u2019t plan to <\/span>earn<\/b> much of my income through content marketing,<\/b> either; when I started freelancing, I didn\u2019t even know what that term meant. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you had asked me who my \u201cvision clients\u201d were four years ago, I probably would have named a few<\/span> highbrow publications that focused on intellectual and cultural commentary. <\/b>As it turns out, my greatest freelance success has come from <\/span>the areas where my skills match a client\u2019s vision;<\/b> in my case, my willingness to be open about my finances and my earnings, or my ability to quickly research and analyze a subject in a way that is interesting to a client\u2019s target audience. <\/span><\/p>\n

So here\u2019s my advice: if there\u2019s a client or publication that represents where you want \u00a0your career to go, absolutely pitch them. But <\/span>pay attention to the clients and publications that are interested in you,<\/b> even if they might be taking you in a slightly different direction. Sometimes your career might not match your vision — and that\u2019s a good thing. <\/span><\/p>\n

Four years ago,<\/span> I couldn\u2019t have imagined the career I have now.<\/b> I didn\u2019t know the freelancing industry well enough to know which opportunities were available to writers, or <\/span>which opportunities might be the best match for my skills.<\/b> But I kept climbing the ladder, paying attention to which clients were most interested in my work, and my vision changed as my career grew.<\/span><\/p>\n

Expect your vision to change as well. That\u2019s the best advice I can give.<\/span><\/p>\n

What was your first \u201cfreelancing vision?\u201d How close or far away are you from that original idea? <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This month, Nicole reaches a new financial milestone and answers two reader questions about freelancing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":7299,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[208,420,744,169],"class_list":["post-9351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-freelancing","tag-freelance-writing","tag-freelance-writing-rates","tag-income-goal","tag-income-report"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}