#103: How Freelance Writer Jennifer Gregory Took Her Income to $100,000 in 6 Simple Steps

Welcome to the High Income Business Writing Podcast, helping you propel your writing business to a whole new level. And now, here's your host, Ed Gandia. Hey there. Thank you for joining me for episode 103 of the High Income Business Writing Podcast. My name is Ed Gandia and this is the podcast for business writers and copywriters who want to take their writing businesses to the six figure level. They or the part time equivalent. As a quick reminder, you can find the details show notes of this episode by going to b2b launcher.com Episode 103 I recently met a freelance writer by the name of Jennifer Gregory. And Jennifer lives in North Carolina and she's had quite a ride in her business over the past 18 months. In 2015, she took her business for the first time to to the six figure level. She earned slightly over a hundred thousand dollars in income. But then shortly after, early in the year, early in 2016, she lost some of her anchor clients and things started to fall apart very quickly. Now what I love about Jennifer is she didn't sit around for very long wallowing in all this negativity. She quickly went back to the drawing board, she drafted a turnaround plan and she took massive action on that plan and within weeks she was book solid. And 2016 is shaping up to be a banner year for her. Now in this interview, Jennifer details her wild journey to that $100,000 income level. It took me a while to get a hold of her. I really, when I heard this story, I wanted to get all the details and I was especially interested in finding out what she did to turn things around when they did fall apart. So in this chat, she's going to reveal six specific things she did that enabled her to get to this level and then she's going to walk us through plan that she executed to replace her lost anchor clients. Regardless of where you are in your freelance business, I think you're going to find some great ideas and inspiration in Jennifer's story. So I invite you to just kick back, relax and enjoy the flight. No, just kidding. Kick back and enjoy this conversation with Jennifer Gregory. Jennifer, welcome to the show. It's so good to have you here.

Thanks so much for having me, Ed. I'm really excited.

Well, so am I. And we've tried to connect for a while and I'm just like, I'm pretty stoked that you're on because you have some great stuff to share with us today. Before we get to that, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, where you Live, what kind of work you do, what kind of clients you like to write for, that sort of thing?

Well, I live in Raleigh, North Carolina and I started out in technical writing and eight years ago when my kids went back to starting school, I started my own freelance writing business and over the years have kind of specialized in content marketing writing because I worked in the software field before I had kids as a technical writer. I honed in on that niche and have been doing a lot of software technology, content marketing writing. My clients typically seem to work with bigger clients. A lot of my clients include IBM, Adobe, Microsoft, Samsung, Ameriprise, State Farm, Allstate. So I write with a lot of big ones and I also have some smaller ones. But I really love content marketing writing and helping other writers find work.

Well, those are some pretty impressive names. And so you haven't been doing, I mean you've been at this for a while, but not 25 years or anything like that. Did you find that it was difficult to get to that level of client in terms of size or were you able to get some wins like that early on?

I got some wins early on. Every now and then in life you kind of end up at the right place at the right time. I got in with American Express Open Forum pretty early. Brightest content marketing was being called content marketing writing. And, and this is 2010, 2011. So I got right at the edge of the curve and it kind of went from there.

Gotcha, gotcha. And have you found that as you get these wins, you're able to leverage them to get other wins or are they completely unrelated?

Typically they're absolutely related. I know that I got the work through Adobe because I had the IBM name and I got the Allstate work because I had state farming. It definitely goes, it definitely builds upon each other and I think that once you get one good name, it really helps. The American Express was a cornerstone of my career, to be honest. It built from there.

Well, one of the things that we're going to talk about today is the success that you've had here last year. So in 2015 we're recording this early in 2016. And last year you had a banner year. You in fact broke the six figure mark and you sat down and figured out what made you get there, what helped you get there. And I love kind of the analysis he came up with and what I was hoping we could do, Jennifer, is maybe go through each of these six things that you identify these six factors and maybe you can speak to each of them in a bit of detail. If it's okay with you, let's just go ahead and start. What did you attribute that huge spike in your income to?

The first one, and this is going to sound totally counterintuitive, is that in 2015 I actually had fewer clients than I did in previous years. It was kind of funny. At the end of 2014, I was overwhelmed with 1099s and I realized that they were all for smaller amounts. So one of my goals in 2015 was to have fewer clients, but to have them be for larger amounts over the year. When you have long term clients, it benefits you in a lot of ways. One is it reduces your marketing and your downtime because you get repeat work if you have a long term client. And the second is that it increases your hourly rate. Because if you know the subject, if you know the client's tone, if you know the process, then you work faster and you have less revisions because you're hitting what they want the first time. So that's the big benefit for having fewer clients that represent a larger portion of your income. And I honestly think that was one of the biggest reasons. I had several anchor clients and I had several W2s that were. There were over 10 to $15,000 each, which really made a big difference.

W2s being, I'm sorry, 1099. Okay, okay, okay. So now I'm curious because a lot of people say, well, yeah, I want that too, but I set that as a goal and it just doesn't happen. So without getting into a ton of detail, because I know we're going to talk more about this later, but how did you actually find those or how did you attract those kinds of clients where before you were getting the small potatoes?

One was, this is going to sound funny, but it's getting on the phone when you have a client that you really mesh with, that becomes a long term client. When you sync up and you can figure out that you're a good fit, both personality, subject and kind of what you want to achieve with the content and the writing. It works out a lot better on both sides. So I have found that having a 30 minute phone call before I take on any client is worth every single minute.

So you make it a point to get off email early on and try to have that conversation with that prospect.

Before I take on the client. Yep. And I've gotten a lot better at figuring out what clients are going to like me. I mean, I have things I'm not as good at and things that I'm better at and if you can find a client that really values your strengths and is willing to work through your weaknesses, and then you're going to get long term work. And so by having that conversation up front and finding good matches, being better at spotting them, that was one of the ways that I got long term clients perfect.

Okay, so really fewer clients, being more strategic, more selective. And I know that's easier said than done sometimes because you get an inquiry and it's good money, but if it's not the right fit, then you have to say no. So you have room for the bigger clients.

I also think it's important to realize what's an ideal client for you. For some writers, they like an ideal client that gives them a longer lead time. One of the things that different to me is I'm happy to turn things around pretty quickly if I have the time for my clients. So that's not a sticking point for me. So you want to represent, figure out who's going to be for you specifically.

Okay, very good point. So let's talk about. The second reason why you did so.

Well last year is that I developed a high paying and in demand niche. This was kind of another thing that right place, right time. Because of some good decisions that I had made previously, I ended up getting a gig working for an agency I had done work for before, writing about data analytics. And data analytics became a very hot subject in the past year or two. And it's a specialized subject that not everyone can write about. So when you have a niche that there's less writers and it's in demand, you can command a higher rate and you also have less competition. I think this is so important for every writer to strategically figure out their niche. And, and I also think that you have to pick a niche that you're interested in, you're good at, and you enjoy writing about. Because if you try to pick something that's not a fit, you're slower, you're not as good, and it just doesn't work. It has to be authentic. It has to work for you and work in the marketplace.

Great point. I would add that it should be a niche or a target market that has a demand for writing, for content marketing, copywriting, whatever it is you do, and pays well. Because when I hear people talking about, well, I guess what I'm interested in is sewing, for instance. I mean, that may not be the best niche, right. In terms of getting good money for your work.

I totally agree with you. And I want to add that if you can find a way to also add a B2B component to whatever niche you have. That typically increases the demand and the rate that you can ask if you can have a B2B niche that works even better.

Great point. The high paying in demand niche. Let's go to number three in terms of negotiation. What's that about?

I'm a terrible negotiator. It was kind of funny. The turning point for me was my son who was about 10. I was on the phone with a client and and he listened to me basically go off my starting price $200 in three minutes. And I got off the phone and he said, mom, why are you worth $200 less than when you started?

Ooh, sharp kid.

Yeah, it was kind of a reality moment. And if a 10 year old could figure that out, I was obviously doing a terrible job. So this is really understanding your strengths and your weaknesses like I talked before. So for me, I am not good at negotiating on the phone because I want people to like me to be happy, which is not a good business strategic trait. So what I say is, let me think about this and I'll get back with you in email. And I do negotiations over email, which has worked much better because then I have an accountability buddy who's a fellow writer and so I can bounce ideas off with her as I'm negotiating and she always tells me to go higher and I have time to think about it and I'm not put on the spot. So email works best for me. So it's figuring out what works better for you to be a better negotiator based on your personality.

And you notice a difference just by taking it off the phone into email and having that time to process some of the ideas and what you'd come back with.

Absolutely. Over email, I have much more courage and I've asked for higher rates and gotten them. That I would not have done over the phone. This may not be true for everybody. Exactly. The email versus the phone. But the bigger point is figuring out if you're not a good negotiator, what you can do to work to your own personality and strengths.

That's a very good point. I think the standard advice out there is no, you need to get on the phone or in person, of course, which is not practical for most of us. But I disagree with that. I think you have to play to your strengths. And I'm kind of like you. I tend to be a better negotiator once I've had time to let the information sink in and simmer for a while. And I'M not quick on my feet when it comes to this sort of thing. So it is better if you can think about it. I think for most of us, yeah.

And I think a lot of writers, writers are a little different than other business people. A lot of writers are introverts. A lot of writers love what they do. And this actually goes into the next point. So I think that that tip will work well for a lot of writers.

So let's talk about this next point. What was this about?

I treated my freelance content marketing writing career really as a business and it was a switch in my head and how I presented it to myself. When people asked what I did, I used to say, I'm a writer. At the beginning of 2015, I changed what I said and I started to say, I own my own freelance writing business. It sounds simple, but it changed how I view my business. In 2015, I did the things that you do if you own a business. I finally invested in a high quality website and previously I had just had a very basic site and I started outsourcing more work to my virtual assistant. And I paid to attend Content Marketing World, which is one of the biggest conferences for where my potential clients go fishing, where the fish are. So I really started investing in my business and viewing it as myself, as a business owner, not just a writer.

Those are huge moves and I agree with you. They may not sound like a lot, but that's important. It sounds like you notice the difference right away.

Absolutely. I was able to start making. When you view it that way, you make different business decisions. Decisions.

What's an example of that?

Let me get back, let me think about that and I'll get back to you on that one.

Okay, cool. But I do agree with you. I mean, I think that Investment in Content Marketing World, for instance, just to comment on that, that is not a cheap conference to go to. The ticket alone is pretty expensive. It's over a thousand bucks. So the fact that you did that, that is not the kind of move that someone who thinks of themselves as a writer for hire would probably make. But someone who sees it, knows they run a business, sees it as an investment.

And interestingly enough, that move has paid off tremendously. I'm actually speaking this year, so because I went, I learned a lot about the conference and was able to organize a panel through asja and I'm actually a speaker. And because I'm a speaker, I was also asked by marketing profs to help teach a course on content marketing writing. So that one move has snowballed wow.

But it all started by shifting your.

Mindset and paying to go to the conference. And I anticipate that if you asked me that question after content market.