For the majority of my freelance career, I simply wrote the content my clients hired me to write. That was it. If I was hired to write a blog post, I wrote a blog post. If I was hired to write a white paper, I wrote a white paper. If I was hired to write a lead magnet report, I wrote a lead magnet report. You get the idea…
Of course, none of this was bad. After all, this is my business. I write content for my clients. But I got thinking that perhaps there was more I could do, ways I could expand on my business that would open up other doors for me. Things I could do to expand my clientele and what I could do for them.
The first and most obvious is to learn to write different types of content. When I started out, all I wrote was articles. But articles alone weren’t going to keep me afloat. Eventually, I began writing a few press releases, some web content, product descriptions. Then I was writing reports and white papers. In fact, there are very few types of content I haven’t written. And you can do this in any freelancing industry. But there’s more because…
Here’s the thing about freelance writing – I learn A LOT.
One of the things I learned a few years ago was Adobe. I was not a subject matter expert by any stretch, but I was working with one – someone who became a dear friend of mine. I did the writing with her guidance and I learned the basics of how to use Adobe Illustrator. Since then I have taught myself the basics of graphic design, and recently, I took this even further and I am now teaching myself how to use Adobe InDesign.
With these tools I can create graphics and covers for clients, and I can also create custom layouts for reports and white papers. This allows me to take a regular writing project and turn it into something so much bigger. Someone might hire me to write a lead magnet report for say $300, but if I do a custom cover and design for them that same report will earn me around $700-$800.
This brings me to the other thing I have started doing, again thanks to what I have learned through my writing work. You see, I’ve learned a lot about email marketing and one thing that works well is to offer different price points (in fact, there are many pricing tactics in this article that can be applied to freelancing). So, when writing lead magnet reports, I offer three levels – Basic, Advanced, and Premium. People who want the extra bling and have the budget for it, well, I can deliver.
This is working really well in terms of expanding what I have to offer. And you can do this no matter what type of freelancer you are. Maybe you’re a graphic designer who can begin to offer writing services. Maybe you’re a photographer who can learn graphic design and combine the two. Maybe you’re a virtual assistant who can start writing some of the content your clients need.
Now, the above ideas can be applied whether you are a new or seasoned freelancer.
However, if you are a seasoned freelancer, you have a couple of other options. You can start an agency. Take on more work than you can handle and bring on other freelancers to take the extra work.
The other option is to start coaching or educating people in freelancing in your industry. Offer courses, seminars, webinars, or actual one-on-one coaching services. The point is, there are ways to expand your business and make it more lucrative. After all, we all want to increase our income, and with these methods you can do that year after year after year.
I absolutely hope these ideas have given you food for thought. I would also very much like to know if you have other ways of expanding your business offerings. Remember, as freelancing women, we need to stick together and support each other. So, please use the comments section to share your ideas if you have ones other than what I have covered. And if you have used an of the ideas I wrote about here, please let us know your experience with them.
Let’s work together to build a strong community of women in freelancing!
