Editor’s note: This article was first published in March 2018. The figures and details it gives, including 950 dollars an hour, eight years building the business and clients such as NBC, are as reported in 2018.
Creative people have no limits when it comes to making money in the internet age. As we have said on several occasions, the best asset you can have today is ideas. It is ideas that can now generate a large income while you work from your own home.
That is the case of Laura Belgray, an independent writer whose creativity led her to specialise in advertising copy. She says she earns up to 950 dollars an hour working from home, and she has some advice for people who want to work for themselves.
In an interview with Business Insider, she explains that when she tells people she is a writer, many assume she writes novels or something similar. But when she tells them she has a blog and that her business is copywriting, many of them picture her struggling to make ends meet.
And the truth is that when people talk about writers, they imagine either a famous author with a bestseller or some poor soul who can’t get to the end of the month.
But now more than ever, according to Laura, any creative professional can make as much money as doctors, lawyers and engineers.
950 an hour from her sofa at home
“My business is copywriting. I have no start time and no finishing time. My work lets me pay the mortgage and be financially comfortable. But it took me eight years to build this stage of my career,” Laura says.
Whether you are looking to start your own business or just want to make some extra money from home as an independent professional using your creative talent, here is some of her advice.
1. Don’t use the word “freelance” or “freelancer”
It is a matter of perception. To many people, saying you are a freelancer or independent professional can translate as “I’m getting by however I can and I’ll take any crumbs you throw my way”. According to Laura, it can come across as desperate for money.
So how should you describe your creative profession?
Present yourself as the owner of an independent business or service, or as a consultant.
“Still, if people ask me ‘Are you a freelancer?’, I don’t say no, but I answer: ‘I have my own business, and yes, I’m available for projects.'”
2. Don’t be the cobbler whose children go barefoot
Many creatives are like the shoemaker without shoes: a web designer whose own website is under construction, a social media manager with only seven followers, or a writer who writes articles for others while their own are copied from other sites.
Whenever you say you are going to do something, people will tell you: “There are already lots of people doing what you do and hardly anyone makes money from it.” This is where I always use photographers as an example. They say you can’t make a living from photography, yet for some reason many photographers earn 3,000 or 5,000 euros a month, and others much more than that.
So it isn’t the profession itself, it’s the professional in question.
3. Become an authority or a “public figure”
It doesn’t matter that you are just starting out. To put it bluntly, people don’t know what you know, whether you know anything at all or whether you know a lot. Make yourself known in other places: contribute to popular blogs or podcasts, or give a talk.
In a way, people will think you are famous, and for most of them that is enough. It is also enough to charge more for your work.
In another article we explained how to manufacture a fake expert in just a few days. If you use the right credibility signals, even if you were a complete fraud, people would pay you like a professional. It sounds as sad as it is pathetic, but it’s real.
4. Get some real testimonials from very satisfied clients
Every service website and every freelancer’s blog tends to have those testimonials from happy clients saying something like “So-and-so is a great professional. Since he started advising our company, we use 50-euro notes as napkins.” They aren’t always genuine, and they aren’t always fake, but these days they work. A lot.
If you can get someone well known to give you a sincere testimonial, your bank balance will grow.
5. Raise your prices
According to Laura, what is the best way to raise what you charge for your services? Raise what you charge for your services. It’s that simple. As the owner of your own business, you set them.
When you are getting good results for your clients and demand grows, it is time to charge more for what you do.
We know that raising prices terrifies most professionals, especially when their business is already working. Everyone fears that demand will drop after a price rise. But the truth is that the statistics say exactly the opposite: professionals with higher prices attract better clients and are seen as more professional.
If you compete only on price, you will be a magnet for clients who only care about price, and it is precisely the “cheapest” clients who are the most demanding and cause the most headaches.
As Tim Ferriss said, don’t be afraid to fire some clients. That will let you focus on fewer clients who pay better, so you will do better work and can keep charging more.
An example: can you imagine a top model looking for a photographer who charges 50 euros a session? Remember that one of our brain’s main processing errors is “cheap equals bad, expensive equals good”. A simplistic way of judging, but a proven one.
See also: How this couple makes money on Instagram
6. Build an email list
These days, your social media followers aren’t really your followers, because whether you can reach them depends on the social networks. We covered this in the new social media trends for business.
On the other hand, the followers who choose to subscribe to your newsletter to keep up with your news or posts really are your subscribers. Send them quality content and valuable ideas. Avoid treating them merely as potential buyers.
And finally, remember that you can’t be for everyone. In other words, if you develop your own personal stamp and your own professional personality, like any brand on the market, you cannot and should not target every kind of client. No brand is aimed at everyone.
Basically, this advice is what led Laura Belgray to found her company, Talking Shrimp, and write TV commercials for clients such as NBC and other companies, as well as helping entrepreneurs with her creative copy.
See also: The only 3 ways to make money online without investing anything
Featured image: Mark Hillary, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
