Walt Kania

Write your quote without saying “my fee is” or “I charge” or “I require” or “my hourly rate is.” Leave out words like cost, pay, payment, check or money. Use the word I no more than three times. Your quote is not about what you want, what you demand, what your fee is, what your policy is, how much you want, when you get paid. […]

Is there some aspect of freelancing that you are not very good at? Is there some part of this life that you dread, that you avoid like poison ivy? Something that you know you should be doing much better or more often? Something you suck at? Yeah, me too. I have a bunch of those. My advice: Forget those parts for now. Quit […]

What’s the best way to win over those clients who don’t quite understand? You know, the client who thinks translating is just typing, except in another language. The one who asks, “Why does it cost so much just to draw up a logo, write up some verbage* for the home page?” The ones who want you […]

Are you waiting for a check right now? Here’s a guest post from a freelance User Experience consultant who has waited too long, too often, for clients to pay. Happens to be my brother.   By Chris Kania I never understood the logic of doing work for a large company, and then waiting 30 days to […]

Nancy: Q: Is there a standard rate or range to charge for corporate/business/public relations blogging as a freelancer? A:  I don’t have exhaustive nationwide data here. But based on what I and my cohorts have been offered, the rate for blog posts is pretty low. Maybe a notch below PR releases. I’m guessing that big corporations […]

Making the leap From Kim: Q: As far as freelancing goes, how did you decide to make the leap into being your own boss? What was your first project? A: Gee, I wish I had this neat story about how I weighed the pros and cons of going independent. Of how I sat there in the park […]

Semper Paratus From Molly: Q: I’m going to ASJA next weekend in New York. It’s my first big writing/journalism conference and I’m going alone. Totally alone. What do I bring? Should I have copies of my clips? A:  I’m guessing there will be 100 writers for every editor (buyer) at the conference. But bring your clips anyway. Chicago Sun-Times […]

You’ve been talking to a new client about a project. The client has been disappointed with other freelancers, seems to like you. Has lots of work. The client asks for a quote. You want this project, you want this client. So you think very carefully about the fee. After a lot of head-scratching and figuring, […]

The more you think about the freelance model, the simpler and simpler it gets. Example. If you are a musician or a sculptor or a fine artist, the thought is, you need about 1,000 true fans to make a living at your chosen craft. To live large, you need maybe 10,000. If you aspire to open a restaurant, […]

Sometimes the assignment isn’t what we think it is. In fact it’s often something else entirely. For me, things tend to go a lot smoother when I remember that. I get more work, more referrals, too. Story A while ago, a producer hired me to write scripts for a series of videos for a tech firm. We […]