Courtney Danyel has been a freelancer for about nine years. It took a long time for her to figure out how to charge $100 or more per hour for her services.
She then decided to change her strategy in an attempt to earn hundreds of dollars per hour as a freelance writer. Here’s her story:
Humble beginnings
Courtney began freelancing in order to fulfill her passion to travel. She’s an anthropologist with a desire to relocate to her field site in Ethiopia (still living there, by the way). Therefore, she started doing very low-paying writing work on Fiverr. She used to write press releases for $5, and while it was enough to keep her afloat in rural Africa, she couldn’t keep doing it. She was entitled to more money.
So, she began pitching her own clients and gradually increased her income. She was getting paid $40, $50, and $60 per hour. She rose to the top of her niche as a writer and realized she deserved more money. However, few of her clients could afford to keep her on at a higher rate, so she was always on the lookout for new clients.
Finally, she revamped her strategy, and things became much easier. New clients were willing to pay $100 to $200 per hour for her services. Here’s how she went about it:
Change your pricing strategy
She used to work on eLance (now Upwork), where she charged an hourly rate for her writing skills. She’d also charge by the word. In her own words, “When I changed my strategy, I stopped using freelancing platforms and started cold pitching potential clients offering a flat-rate fee for my services.”
The truth is that no one wants to pay a freelancer for writing services at a rate of $100 or more per hour. It’s not like you’re going to hire a lawyer or anything. But she was able to achieve just that once she started charging a flat cost.
For example, for each article she wrote for a customer, she formerly charged a flat fee of $440. One piece would take her around an hour and a half to complete. That works up to $293 per hour! She never earned less than $100/hour after she started doing this with all of her new clients.
Make sure everyone you pitch is a millionaire
Courtney had perfect control over the types of clients she pitched because she wasn’t applying for work on job sites anymore. Cold pitching requires a lot of time and effort to land a client. You can send out 50 emails without receiving a single reply. With that in mind, she didn’t want to waste her time pitching clients who couldn’t afford to pay her pretty money.
Som she started looking for and pitching clients with a lot of cash. Digital marketing is her writing specialty. As a result, she created Google Alerts for phrases like “digital marketing finance” and “digital marketing expansion.” Then Google would provide press releases from businesses in her niche that had just made a profit:
She’d go to their website and look at their marketing content, and if it was interesting, she’d pitch them and ask if they needed a writer. This strategy has gotten her all of her highest-paying clients throughout the years.
Never negotiate
Once Courntey started talking with her clients, almost all her prospects agreed to her stated costs. Some people would occasionally ask for a discount or package service in order to get more work from her, but she always declined. They could either accept her prices or look for a lower-cost freelancer elsewhere.
She stood firm no matter what they did. After all, why should she waste hours of her week working for less money when she could be finding better clients who will pay more?
She also gives herself a raise every year with each client, as should all freelancers. 10% is a fair starting point, but if you’ve worked with them for more than a year, you can go much higher.
Happily ever after
Courtney is still living in sunny Africa and working as a freelance writer after nine years. If she was still earning $50 per hour or less, she probably wouldn’t have continued with it. With this freelancing method, she could become a millionaire, but she won’t because she only works part-time. She is, along with her husband, the proud parents of three adopted children who are the joy of their lives. She devotes most of her time to them, and only works 10 to 20 hours per week as a freelancer.
However, by working hard and using the tactics she mentioned, you may increase your freelancing income to a million dollars.
Takeaway
Okay, here’s what you need to keep in mind if you want to start increasing your freelancing income like Courtney:
- Stop charging by the hour
- Pay attention to how long it takes you to write content and charge a flat amount based on that time
- Seek out potential clients who can afford to pay you handsomely
- Don’t ever negotiate your freelance rates
