Five Ways to Turn Your "Professional Liability" Into A Marketable Credential (Part 2)

In my previous article, I have talked about how aspiring freelancers can deal with time constraints. Here's the next professional liability that may hinder the growth of a freelancer's career:

Professional Liability Number Two: Not having any specialty

If you've heard of the term "one-stop shop," where you can buy practically any item, that's probably the closest description I have for a freelancer who hasn't taken time to hone his skills and specialize. 

To illustrate, as an aspiring freelance writer, you may have submitted a few manuscripts and got published in a corporate or community newsletter. And then there were also your guest blogging gigs. You may have also accepted a few requests to ghostwrite speeches.

So my point is, if you keep scattering your efforts and running in different directions, you may have accumulated a year's worth, or even two years of experience, but boil down to not having any specialty at all.

And being a "one-stop shop" does not just apply to aspiring freelance writers, but nearly every other skill as well. An artist can work in graphic or web design, create company logos, or render illustrations for books and magazines.

Here's another one: If you're an editor or proofreader, you can edit book-length manuscripts, company manuals, corporate resumes, and academic papers. That certainly is quite a diverse selection of projects.

Now, how does being a one-stop shop, or generalist, work against you?

First, spreading yourself too thinly will result in a feeling of accomplishing less in spite of having a lot of work done. You have every right to be rewarded for your efforts, so it's better to direct your efforts to honing just a few skills.

Second, in the field of freelancing, it's better to be an inch wide yet a mile deep, which translates to having no more than three specialized skills for a faster turn-over rate and the right to command a higher fee compared to other freelancers.

Third, having just a few specialties can prove to be more cost-effective in the long run, particularly when it comes to creating marketing materials. If you plan to have a three-fold brochure designed to serve as a "teaser" for your freelancing services, you can simply state your full name and under that, your specialty, like "Advertising/SEO Copywriter" or "Resume Writer." You can also be more creative with your business card. 

If you were able to figure it out, there's no need to come up with another brochure to present another set of skills you may have but has nothing to do with writing. Potential clients won't end up confused, and they'll have you in mind as soon as the need for your services comes up.

Now, having mentioned the disadvantages of being a generalist, how do you get more specific with developing your skills? I'll talk about this in my next article.

Five Ways to Turn Your "Professional Liability" into a Marketable Credential

You may have been freelancing for a year or two, or even more, and you want to keep going. But it's also a fact that the majority of people who aspired to freelance went back to being employees after merely a year or two of trying to make it. 

There may be less stress in freelancing, but it's still a business, and you have to keep your business up and running, especially if there are bills that need to be paid.

And more than a lack of experience, marketable skills or credentials, there remains to be only one thing that is far more limiting than any other reason. And what is that one thing?

It's a negative attitude.

Time and again, a negative attitude has proven to be the only recurring hindrance, not just in freelancing, but in any worthy endeavor or field.

Now, let's look into five of the most common "professional liabilities" perceived by most aspiring freelancers as hindrances to their career growth.

Professional Liability Number One: Time constraints

You waited for several months before quitting your job in order to save up for a year's worth of living expenses, and then you started working on a few projects on the side while you were still employed to build a network of clients. But as soon as you left your job and plunged full-time into freelancing, you realized it takes more work and effort than you originally expected.

In addition to that, your spouse may still be working, and with a reduction in the family income, you would need to assume some of the household responsibilities in order to cut back on expenses incurred for hired help. You also need to make sure that your kids get more attention from you now.

So how can you juggle it all?

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

• Plan your calendar in advance, or according to what you'd like to achieve every month, quarter, semi-annually, or annually (e.g. make 20 percent more from magazine writing by emailing queries twice instead of once a week, bid for web development jobs that pay USD500-USD1,000 per project, etc.).
• Create a weekly schedule on Sunday afternoon or Monday morning. Set aside large blocks of time for your projects and assignments.
• Shoot two birds with one stone by having one day every week for laundry, and then draft your cover letters, proposals, or marketing strategies afterwards. You may be washing less items of clothing now, because you don't need to get up and put on corporate attire everyday.
• Turn off the TV, or drastically reduce the time you spend in front of the boob tube by being selective about the programs you watch.
• Have enough discipline not to turn to social media sites like Facebook or Twitter, unless you use them as a form of marketing strategy.
• Keep yourself healthy by spending two to three afternoons a week exercising. Or, get a good workout by sweeping and mopping floors or pulling weeds from your backyard.
• Cook food in bulk and freeze them in your refrigerator. And then, when meal time comes, heat just enough to serve the entire family.

For Copywriters: Should You Allow Free Rewrites?

Writing advertising copy for flyers, catalogs, brochures, websites or blogs can be one of the most lucrative and rewarding field in freelancing. If you "write in order to sell," so to speak, or review new products or existing brands, you may be aware of freebies being offered. And of course, nothing can gauge the pleasure of being able to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses.

And yet, I always aim to balance the good and bad side of any aspect of freelancing. Be forewarned that there are -- and there will always be -- unscrupulous clients out there who will not think twice about banking in on your talent and taking advantage of you.

You may be thinking, if a client isn't satisfied with the final draft of the copy that you wrote for him, should you provide him with free rewrites?

The answer is yes, you should. But this is a tricky area that needs skillful negotiating, because as I've mentioned, some clients can easily claim dissatisfaction only to get you working on the project again without additional charges.

So the solution is, you should provide free rewrites only within reasonable parameters. Consider the following:

• In your collection email, state that your client is allowed free rewrites only if he gets in touch with you within, say, 48 to 72 hours after the finished draft has been dispatched to him. This is proof that your client checked on the quality of the finished draft immediately. 
• Decide on the maximum number of free rewrites. I recommend not more than two.
• If the client emailed you and 72 hours have already passed and yet would like you to make revisions, state that you are charging additional fees. 

I hope you will think carefully about how dealing with dissatisfied clients could take a toll on your schedule, and possibly, your productivity. Two weeks is more than enough for you to take care of a "problem project." Always remember that for every single day spent stalling, that's also a day lost that could have been spent looking for new assignments or projects, or negotiating with other clients who would like to hire you.