4 Ways To Scale A Freelance Writing Business
Ways To Grow A Freelance Writing Business — Including … Charging More
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Most freelance writers, particularly during the early years, are interested in growing their businesses.
However, freelance writing is a brain-intensive process. There are only so many hours in the week and so much brainpower and focused writing-time at our disposal. Many freelance writers therefore grapple with how to scale and increase their income.
There are a few commonly suggested ways to do this. To date, I’ve only done the first and second — I’ve slowly but steadily increased my rates over the years while moving towards a retainer-based pricing model.
But I know other freelance writers in my network who have opted for the other approaches listed here, including the outsourcing model.
As with most articles shared on this Medium publication, this is almost certainly not an exclusive list and reflects only the opinions of one freelance writer — namely this one.
Increase Your Rates
The most straightforward way to scale your income as a freelance writer is to simply charge more for your services. If you earn $100 for a blog post, and only write blog posts for a living, then raising your rate to $150 can increase your income by 50%.
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Most freelance writers gradually increase their rates over time as they accrue both writing experience and experience in the art (and craft) of running a freelance writing business.
If you’re interested in learning about the pros and cons of the various ways in which you can charge for freelance writing services, there are plenty of resources on this Medium publication.
Widen Out Your Service Offering
Another option is to scale horizontally: offer add-ons to your core service offering as a freelance writer. This is also a great way to make freelance writing a more varied career and increase the value that you offer your clients.
If you’re currently only offering writing services but have other skillsets that you’re not tapping, you could add those to your core service offering.
I’ve seen freelance writers who also offer:
- General marketing consultancy
- Digital marketing and SEO
- Public relations
- Content strategy
- Marketing communications / MarCom
All the above — and others — can be great complements to a service offering built around a core of freelance writing.
Outsource
Another popular model for scaling up a freelance writing business is to begin outsourcing work to other writers. One of my writing friends recommends beginning with the 70% model — paying writers 70% while you take 30% for bringing in the work and managing the workflow.
I’ve never used this model myself so I don’t have firsthand experience to contribute. If you have used outsourcing to grow, then consider sending in a post outlining how this has worked out for you.
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Interested in contributing? Instructions and guidelines medium.com
Hire A Virtual Assistant (VA)
One of the major drains on my time, as a freelance writer, is engaging in sales and marketing as well as all the admin work that goes into making freelance working work.
Sending over portfolio samples. Talking to leads. Reviewing and signing contracts. Preparing monthly invoices.
As your freelance writing business begins to scale, this kind of activity can quickly start to bog down your time. If that’s happening, and you have some budget to spare, then turning to virtual assistants (VAs) can be a great way to remove this hassle from your life.
Why is this a path to scaling? It’s essentially outsourcing — but the stuff that fits around the writing rather than the writing itself.
Have some other ideas about ways to scale a freelance writing business? Leave a comment — or consider sending in an article.