You Get What You Pay For

Quantity vs. quality?

There is a saying out there that you have 3 options: Good, Cheap, and Fast — but you can only pick 2.

In the world of freelancing and working remotely, you’ll find that there are a million contradictory articles and resources about being a great freelancer, building your business, and finding clients.

But one thing most of us can agree on is that freelancing isn’t free.

“Exposure” doesn’t pay the bills and bottom-of-the-barrel pricing hurts the entire freelancing industry. It skews the numbers down and gives potential clients the wrong idea — and fails to accurately manage expectations.

I have long been a proponent of never working for free (even for a trial) unless you really want to and it’s truly worth your time.

And unfortunately, a lot of people are looking for writers, artists, graphic designers, and other freelancers but don’t want to pay fair rates. I see job postings on Craiglist, Reddit, Indeed, and Facebook groups all the time offering 1–2 cents per word for writing or looking for a book editor for $500. It’s just not fair compensation for our time.

We work as freelancers to make a living — and 1 cent per word is not a livable wage in most places! It’s not worth the time. TIME is the most valuable commodity a freelancer has.

Quantity vs. Quality

The reality is that in most cases, you get what you pay for.

And I say that as a mid-range-priced writer. I’ve done a ton of research, and I’ve worked with and spoken to a LOT of other freelancers. I know I am neither the most expensive nor the cheapest option.

I intentionally priced myself in the middle of the general averages for various writing services. For one, it suits my purposes and still pays me fairly for my time, energy, and work. For another, I wanted to be able to have some wiggle room to raise my prices or bundle and discount certain services. Also, it’s my business and I can charge what I want to.

Sing it, it’s nice: It’s my business and I charge what I want to! Chaaaarge what I want to, charge what I want to!

If you are constantly asking for discounts or free work from your freelancer, then you are not fostering a relationship where your freelancer wants to work with you more and do their best work.

It’s a fact.

People want to work with those who value them and their work.

In my business, it took time and trial and error and also making some mistakes to learn how to value my time and my work and how to say no to the opportunities and clients who don’t value what I do and are willing to pay fair rates.

Prospective clients or ads looking for 10 articles per week at 1 cent per word are going to get a ton of poorly-written articles (in most cases).

Prospective clients or ads looking for 1–3 articles per week at 10 cents per word are going to get more experienced and better writers responding.

For Freelancers:

The sharks on Shark Tank say, “I don’t even get out of bed for 5%.”

Freelancers must adopt that mindset.

“I don’t come up with a headline for 2 cents per word.”

“I don’t even pull out a red pen for 1 cent per word.”

If you are not able to make enough money to compensate for the time you’re spending on the work, then it is literally not worth your time.

That’s not an insult.

You could be spending that time doing more revenue-generating work, such as looking for better clients or focusing on other projects.

Be part of the solution. If people stopped responding to ads that only offer 1 cent per word, then companies would be forced to start offering more money for the work.

For Clients:

If you want quality, you have to pay for it. It’s part of doing business.

Don’t mistake my happy-go-lucky customer-first attitude for being someone that should bend to your will or be talked into doing something which is unfair to me and my business.

If you want a good and fast writer, you won’t get the cheapest price.

If you want cheap and fast, you won’t get the best quality.

Let’s say it again so the people in the back can hear: Freelancing isn’t free!!

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