6 Reasons Why I Made Over $100,000 as a Freelance Content Marketing Writer in 2015
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I was raised not to talk about how much money you make. But today, I am going to break that rule (Sorry, Dad). Throughout my career as a content marketing writer I have been grateful to other writers, especially Kelly James-Enger, for their honesty about money and although it’s a bit uncomfortable, I’m going to share as well. When I discovered that other freelancers were making six figures, I realized that it was possible for me and began to up my game. I think that as freelancers it is important to go there and talk about money (in as much detail as our contracts allow) since it really only helps the freelancing community at large.
Ok, so technically, I broke the 6 figure mark by only $300, but six figures is six figures. And I took six weeks totally off from work and worked only a few hours a week another four to six weeks throughout the year. I did a happy dance in my kitchen at the end of November when I made my goal while my co-workers (also known as my three dogs – Hank, Katie and Larry) looked at me like I was crazy.
I’ve been thinking a lot about why I had my best year ever as a content marketing writer and realized that there are some unconventional reasons why I believe that I made six figures this year.
1. I had fewer clients. This may seem counterintuitive since on the surface it is logical to think that you need more clients to make more money. But 2014 was one of my lower years as a freelancer income wise, and I think it was due to the fact that I had a pile of 14 1099’s from 2014 sitting on my desk in January. When you work on small to medium projects for many different clients, you lose productivity because the first few projects always take longer as you learn the client’s expectations, tone and topics. Having long-term clients also decreases your marketing time and downtime, which also dramatically increases your income. This year I have close to half as many clients as last year, but several of my 1099’s will be for $20K.
2. I developed a high paying and in demand niche. I thought that I had a great niche with personal finance and technology, but this year I took it a step further and developed a niche in big data analytics. I added this niche to my website and LinkedIn to help promote my expertise as well. My income increased dramatically because it is an in-demand niche with very few qualified writers. Another benefit is that when are very familiar with a topic, you can write high quality articles in a very short amount of time so you end up with a high hourly rate. Without specializing deeper into the technology niche, I am positive that I would not have broken six figures.
3. I learned to be a better negotiator. I’m a people pleaser and want everyone to like me. While this trait has been great for developing long term client relationships, it has also caused me to significantly underprice myself on many occasions. This first step for me was to realize this about myself and be aware that my initial instinct for pricing was most likely too low. I also learned that I am much bolder in email and much less likely to agree to a low price over email than in a phone call. So whenever possible, I had all of my rate discussions over email. If someone asked for a rate quote over the phone I said that I needed to think about it so I would send my proposal in an email in a few hours.
4. I treated my freelance content marketing writing career truly as a business. This year when people asked me what I did, I started answering “I own my own freelance writing business.” I found that this simple shift in my answer to an often asked question helped change my mindset as well. I began investing in my business by updating my website (I highly recommend Sumy Designs) with a professional design, outsourcing more work to my virtual assistant and attending Content Marketing World.
5. I only worked with nice people. I am sensitive (probably one of the most sensitive people you will ever meet) and find it very stressful to work with jerky people. And when I am stressed, then I am more likely to give into the urge to binge watch whatever I am currently addicted to on Netflix, which needless to say doesn’t help my bottom line. On the contrary, when I work with people that I really enjoy and feel a part of a team, my productivity is off the chart. I started to not only turn down clients that were not very nice, but actually try to only work with clients whose work style and personality brought out the best in me.
6. I made time for writing that I enjoy. For most us being a writer isn’t just our job, but also who we are. Writing is our hobby, our stress relief, our therapy and how we give back to the world. But none of these needs are fulfilled when we spend all of our time writing about ROTH IRA’s, data analytics or whatever other titillating topics that cross your desk.
Over the summer, I began to submit personal essays to The Mid and found that it fed my soul (yes, I know I’m being dramatic) to write about my life and things that mattered to me. The pay stunk, but honestly, it was worth every minute I spent and every dollar I didn’t earn someplace else. I am 100 percent positive that my six figure year was in large part due to me writing these essays, which helped me keep from getting burned out on the dry topics written in a business tone.
While I know I couldn’t have broken the six figure mark without the first four things, I honestly think that the main difference this year was that I worked with nice people and made time for writing that made me happy. I also felt very fullfilled through my volunteer work with the American Society of Journalists & Authors. And when it comes down to it, I think that we are all much more productive when we are enjoying our job and love going to work each day, even if it just involves walking through the kitchen to our office.
What do you think contributed to you making more or less money this year?
I forgive you.
Dad
This made me smile
Many good points Jennifer. I just cannot bear to write finance and unfortunately that is where many of the lucrative writing jobs are. Even medical writing – – which is what I did for so many years and loved – – drastically reduced their rates. And BTW the caps don’t seem to work with these comments. At least not on this phone.
Yes, sorry! My comments section is acting wonky and I am working on it. But it shows up OK on the blog.
My experience (and what I’ve heard from other writers) is that you can find great paying work in niches other than finance. Only 10 percent of my income came from financial gigs this year, so I still would have made 90K without that work.
When you say you aren’t finding good paying work in medical writing, what type of clients are you talking about? I have heard many writers get great gigs doing content for hospitals or medical trade journals. Do you have sub niches within the health field as well? If not, that is where I would start – find sub niches and start marketing yourself to hospitals, large physician practices and even pharmaceutical companies. Send out LOI’s to agencies as well. I’m happy to help you in any way that I can. I am positive that you can find great paying work in the medical field.
Congratulations, Jennifer. I love this blog post and I also love your dad’s comment. That’s hilarious – way to go Sam!
I’m in a similar place on my income and while some of my reasons are the same as yours, others are different.
I worked to build business with existing clients via add-on services. I offer more packages and they work out to pay a better hourly for me. I also expanded into some new areas.
(I don’t usually write in lower case – I have no idea why I can’t get an upper case letters to appear in this comment – it just seems to all be lower case.)
Anyway, my main wish is to send you congratulations and good luck for the new year, and also I thank you for all the volunteer services you do for me and other ASJA members.
Tania
Thank you for the congratulations! I really appreciate it.
Can you elaborate on your add-services comment? Do you mean more writing work or other work like social media and strategy. I am very intrigued and I can totally see how that would work very well.
Jennifer, you’re a real inspiration. I really appreciate that you took time off, managed your schedule to your benefit, and didn’t have to slave 24/7 to reach your goal.
Thank you for the kind words! Actually think that taking the time off was a big part of making my goal. I hadn’t done a good job of that in previous years.
Great post, Jennifer!
This past year was my best yet as well. I realized improvements due to several factors–becoming a better negotiator was a biggie. I’ve actually added *more* clients, but suspect that I’ll go in the other direction again this year, as several new clients are emerging as bigger contenders. I would love to develop a high-paying sub-niche, but I’m not sure what that would be, as I don’t do finance or tech or healthcare (except from a ‘human interest perspective’). But as always, you’ve got me thinking…. 🙂 Thanks so much for always being so generous with your time and knowledge. *And*, like Tania, I appreciate all you do for ASJA!!
Happy New Year!
–Lori
Congratulations! I am so happy that you have had a good year. You are sweet to thank me for aSJA. I love my volunteer work, it’s my pleasure.
You know, you gave me a good idea for another blog post. How to make money without having tech, health of finance niche. I totally think it’s possible. While I do think it is easier if you have one of those niches since they are traditionally higher paying. But I also think that there are ways to develop subniches in those niches without having those as a greater niche. I got into tech because I had a hospitality niche and then moved into hospitality tech. Let me think about this and come up with some ideas since you are definitely not alone in not having these niches.
Bravo JGG!
I have often referred to your site and previous blog posts when it comes to cultivating relationships with Content Mkt Peeps. And it’s all been crazy helpful. From LOI’s to follow ups, I’ve developed several go-to clients that pay well and are nice and I owe a lot of that to you. (I, too, am ultra sensitive and refuse to work with an editor at a big, high-paying mag BECAUSE HE EDITED MY WORK IN SHOUTY CAPS AND WAS RUDE!!!)
I am thankful that you share your advice and very happy for your kick-a$$ success!
MB
Thank you so much for your kind words! I am so happy that you have landed several good clients from my advice! And yes, shouty caps is a HUGE red flag! I hope I get to see you in May at the conference!
This is GREAT info Jennifer. You mentioned investing in a website and a virtual assistant. Did you still net close to 100K when you deducted out expenses? Also, how hard are you hit by taxes? Great mojo, and thank you so much for sharing!!
I’m so glad that you liked the post and found it helpful! I haven’t added up my expenses yet with the website, the virtual assistant and the conferences, but they aren’t 30K of expenses or anything crazy. Taxes, yes, ugh. I save throughout the year for taxes (putting aside a similar percentage that the government would) and would with a CPA to maximize my deductions.
Jennifer, good for you! And great post. I can relate to a lot of this. I am also very sensitive and aim to work only with nice people. And I definitely treat my services as a business; I’m constantly encouraging other freelancers to introduce themselves and think of themselves as small business owners. Other things that work for me: I budget and schedule several vacations each year because they feed my soul and rejuvenate me. They don’t have to be big: For example, I visited my parents on their Florida vacation in March (staying with Mom & Dad + a cheap flight = great, cheap vacation and SUNSHINE that I desperately need at winter’s end). I also spend two weeks in my beloved small Indiana hometown, working from my parents’ house, which allows me to continue to work while getting out of the city and the rat race and hanging out with friends and family. And, as you might have guessed, since we met at ASJA and saw each other again at Content Marketing World, I make sure to budget for several conferences a year. One new job can often pay for the conference, and not only do I get back so much in education and networking, but conferences rejuvenate me and ignite my creativity.
VERY good points (sorry Molly for the shouty caps)! I totally agree on the vacations. I add that as point 7, but the post was getting two long. I took four weeks completely off and went part time several other weeks. It makes a huge difference to me. In December I totally shut off my work brain, which is so rare when you own your own business.
You are totally right about conferences. I think that especially in today’s digital world that face to face contact really means something. I have gotten several clients from conferences, most notably a 15K so far client from ASJA’s NYC conference last year. I also think that conferences help you meet other writers and I think that networking with writers is as important. I get referrals from other writers, usually those I’ve met in person. And I met my writer buddy who challenged me to make 100K and helps my productivity as well.
Are you going to Content Marketing World this year? I need to sign up.
Jennifer,
An excellent post that was both interesting and informative. Thanks for the advice and am happy for your success!!
I acknowledge that you have taken a smaller client base on board, but could you please tell me how you acquired these clients in the first place?
I hear that most work is from repeat business, but getting their business to begin with appears to be the challenge!
I have a (relatively) impressive portfolio and website but am still uncertain of how to approach clients.
Thanks a bunch,
Cal
Thank you for the kind words! I looked at your website and you do a very impressive portfolio. It looks like you have done primarily copy writing. Are you looking to move into Content Marketing or are you looking for copywriting gigs? I can definitely point you towards blog posts that I have written with lots of ideas as well as give you some more based on your situation once I know a little more about what you are looking for. Do you have any specific niches that you are especially knowledgeable? I saw you have done SanDisc – can you write about tech?
This sounds like my kind of heaven.
Thank you very much!
Welcome to the blog! I’m glad you enjoyed the article.
Hello Jennifer! First of all, I love, LOVE that your dad made the first comment. :o)
Second of all, I’m laughing about your very first point. My husband (an engineer type) recently sat down with me and looked over my current client list. He noted the amount of money I made from each of them and then told me which ones to stop writing for.
Even though I don’t really have any PITA clients, the money I’m getting for certain projects just aren’t worth it when I consider the time it takes me to complete them. But it’s really hard for me to turn down someone holding out cash for something I know how to do, just to send out LOIs instead. But he tells me I won’t grow my business to a real full-time income level if I don’t. And in my heart, I know he’s probably right.
I really appreciated this post! My income has historically been pathetic. Really pathetic. I finally realized a big part of the reason was because I simply wasn’t marketing enough. So I’ve been working to rectify that. But even so, I keep suspecting my niches just aren’t the high-paying kind. I actually did what you did with regard to tech. I have a travel copywriting background and have begun working with a travel tech company. But every project totally stresses me out! They definitely pay me well, but what was I thinking?! I’m not, nor ever will be particularly tech savvy!
But I digress.
I’ll be most interested to read your future post on making money without having a tech, health of finance niche.
(Oh my gosh! I’m sorry this comment is so long. I don’t think I’ve ever left a comment this long in my life!)
Hi Holly,
Welcome to the blog! Great to have you hear. Your husband is right about dropping the clients that are not worth it. Do you know how much you make per hour for each client? To figure this out, divide how much you earn by how long it takes you. You want to be aiming for around 100 dollars an hour. If you aren’t there, then first aim for 50 an hour then move up to $75 and hour. But the goal is to get to $100 (which is where you earn a solid living wage) as quickly as possible.
Here is a post I wrote on how to do this and how to drop the client. https://www.jennifergregorywriter.com/2015/01/14/challenge-drop-your-lowest-paying-client/ You have to drop the client first, to be honest because then you hustle to find a new client.
Yes, the lifestyle niches just aren’t as high paying. But there are some decent gigs out there. I have one client (huge national insurance company) that pays me $1 a word for lifestyle blog content. I think that the best strategy is marketing to companies that create lifestyle content as content marketing. I know that Ford has a lifestyle magazine as does Costco, etc.
Yeah, I hear you on the travel tech copy writing gig. You have to decide if it’s worth it. Sometimes it’s worth it to have a higher paying gig that isn’t your absolute favorite so you can be pickier on others. Other times, it’s not worth it. I feel that way on the lifestyle content, since to be honest, that stresses me out much more than the tech.
Let me know if you have any specific questions. I’m happy to help you in any way that I can. It is very possible for you to be earning a lot more and have a living full time wage.
Thanks for the advice and link to your other article, Jennifer. That was really helpful! (I’m also laughing AGAIN because steps 1, 2 and 3 in the linked post are exactly what my hubby did with my client list. He had me keep one low payer because they make up such a significant portion of my overall income – pathetic as it is! ;o)
Now, I’m off to poke around a few more of your previous posts. Great stuff here!
You are a rock star 🙂
Thanks for sharing these tips. I love how you included the ‘feeding my soul’ aspect — I, too, sometimes take on these lower-paying gigs, but ONLY if they don’t take long to do (we always have to remember that if an online market pays you $150 for a parenting essay that takes you 60-90 minutes to do, you are still making a great hourly wage, so no shame in that, especially if you enjoy that type of writing!)
One tip I can offer: if you have a great corporate anchor client, ASK THEM TO REFER YOU TO OTHER DEPARTMENTS! I did so two years ago, and it has resulted in two other managers now regularly booking me for work.
The same is true for editors of trade mags: often, they work for a company that publishes a bunch of other things. ASK who can also benefit from your services.
Hands down my favorite piece I’ve read this year. Total epiphany moment and agree about the “nice people” bit. And your dad’s forgiveness as a comment? So cake-icingly awesome!
Just saw this post on Twitter and I really appreciate you sharing your steps to success! I especially love your comments about becoming a better negotiator and not working with jerky people. I’m a sensitive soul too, and conflict really stresses me out–so I’m loving the idea of handling negotiations over email and dropping clients that aren’t worth it.
Thanks for sharing!
[…] your decision. I was very glad I did this last year at this time because otherwise I would have fallen short of the six figures by $300 and that would have stunk. This way, I was able to grab a single assignment that put me over the […]
I have to say, I really just want to shake your hand. I did blog articles for clients via Fiverr and made great money at it but I was neglecting my own writing, which didn’t make me happy. So, as jobs were dipping, I decided to do the same and focus on writing stories. I also wanted to make my money via e-commerce so that I could have less pressure on writing for money. I have to tell you, as hard as it was, I don’t regret it as my e-commerce plans are working but I’m writing more on other sites and have this strange feeling that I MAY wind up writing for others again but this time, it’ll be on my terms. You mentioned negotiation as a key to your turn around. Is there any data that shows average rates for topics? Thanks AND congratulations again!
[…] much hesitation, I wrote a blog post about making six figures. I was very nervous. It was my most popular post I have ever had and was very widely shared […]
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[…] my post about breaking six figures last year and my recent post about making 19K in a month earlier this year, I have gotten the […]
Hello Jennifer
Great to see you cross a personal milestone. I am bit struggling on my personal path and have realised that developing a personal niche is vital. So my question to you is how did you develop big data analytics into a niche for you?
Thanks 🙂
[…] and hired a WordPress designer to help me with my website when I got stuck with coding issues. Freelance content marketer Jen Gregory outsources certain tasks to a virtual assistant so she can concentrate on larger projects. This could also be translated […]
Hi, Jennifer,
I came across your site on google when I searched for “how much content marketers make”. I love the way you explained what you did to reach the $100k mark. However, I have few questions. I have loved the idea of freelance writing since when I got to discover ways to make money online. However, the challenge here is that I don’t have money to spend in building websites, doing marketing and ultimately building a portfolio since I will be enrolling in a content marketing course in the early parts of this month. So, how do I get clients who will like me to do content marketing for them?
Cheers,
Nnamdi