High-Income Business Writing Podcast
Ed Gandia
Ed Gandia, co-author of the bestselling book, The Wealthy Freelancer, reveals how to propel your writing business to the six-figure level (or the part-time equivalent). In this nuts-and-bolts, no-nonsense podcast, you'll discover how to get better clients, earn more in less time, and bring more freedom and joy into your writing business. Ed will walk you through the practical, "doable" systems and strategies he has developed in his own writing business — the same systems he has taught his private coaching clients. He'll also show you what's working for other business writers by bringing you real case studies from the field. And he'll share all this information in an honest and transparent way, with no hype or fluff. Topics covered include: getting better and higher-paying clients; banishing the feast-or-famine cycle; doing more of the work that excites you; how to raise your fees and rates; boosting your productivity; making your business recession-proof; discovering and leveraging your strengths; finding your niche; pricing content writing projects; pricing copywriting projects; writing white papers; writing case studies; writing web copy; writing articles; and much more.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 16, 2013 • 34min
#025: Tap Your Network: How to Get Business Through Friends, Colleagues and Relatives
One of the biggest, untapped prospecting opportunities is our own personal and professional networks. But many of us are reluctant to do it. Why? Most common reasons are because you: 1. Have a fear of rejection 2. Don’t want to sound stupid 3. Don’t want to mix business and friendship 4. Don’t want to feel awkward 5. Believe there's no value in it 6. Don’t know how to explain what you do to a lay person None of these have to be true. They’re only true if you believe them — or if you’re not prepared to address them. Let's analyze each of these reasons...
Oct 9, 2013 • 29min
#024: Professional Liability Insurance: Do Freelance Writers Really Need It?
Do you have professional liability insurance? Do you even need it? I mean ... do freelance writers really get sued? In this episode of The High-Income Business Writing Podcast I interview Jared Kaplan, CFO at insureon, a national online insurance company for freelancers and other self-employed professionals. Jared explains the types of insurance policies available, what they cover, when they're worth considering, and what they'll cost. This may not be the most exciting topic in the world ... but it's a hugely important one. So try to carve out some time today to listen to this discussion. The notes that follow are a very basic, unedited summary of this podcast. There's a lot more detail in the audio version. You can listen to the show using the audio player below. Or you can subscribe to this podcast series in iTunes.
Oct 2, 2013 • 38min
#023: Epic Content Marketing: How Business Writers Can Profit From The Content Megatrend
I firmly believe that establishing yourself as a content writer is the surest way to freelance writing success. It's the most realistic opportunity in the world of writing. Especially if you go after the corporate market. That's because the fundamentals of content writing are stronger than ever. Content marketing has gone mainstream — and is not showing any signs of slowing down anytime soon. In this episode, I interview Joe Pulizzi, founder of The Content Marketing Institute, Content Marketing World and Chief Content Officer magazine. Joe is also the author of the newly released book Epic Content Marketing[EG1] : How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less. Joe explains why content marketing is hot and getting hotter ... why businesses need writers desperately ... and how to get hired at top rates. The notes that follow are a very basic, unedited summary of this podcast. There's a lot more detail in the audio version. You can listen to the show using the audio player below. Or you can subscribe to this podcast series in iTunes.
Sep 25, 2013 • 55min
#022: Seven Tips for Developing Stronger Self-Confidence
Lack of self-confidence is one of the biggest silent killers of freelance writing careers. As an independent professional, you have to believe in what you’re doing and what you’re going after. But when things go wrong, how can you take yourself from self-doubt to self-confidence? How can you manufacture that experience? How can you turn things around quickly? Even with his success, Ed still struggles with self-doubt at times. And in this podcast, he shares his own tips and ideas for getting out of a funk and developing stronger self-confidence. The notes that follow are a very basic, unedited summary of this podcast. There's a lot more detail in the audio version. You can listen to the show using the audio player below. Or you can subscribe to this podcast series in iTunes.
Sep 18, 2013 • 47min
#021: Email Newsletters: A Steady and Lucrative Writing Opportunity
Most freelance writers I talk to never want to go back to a regular job. But many of them do miss the steady paycheck. (Usually that's the only thing they miss!) Which begs the question: How can you add more predictability to your freelance income? I'll be showing you several ways to do that over the next couple of months. Because, frankly, there's no single way to ensure predictability. It requires smart strategy and hard work. But let's get started on that discussion by addressing one potential solution to the income variability dilemma: adding email newsletters to your list of services. My colleague Michael Katz has made a great living over the last 13 years writing, producing and managing email newsletters for clients. He's also taught many freelance writers how to do the same. And in this lively interview he details the opportunity — including what it entails, what you can charge, how to lock yourself in with great clients who can pay you $700 to $2,000 every month. The notes that follow are a very basic, unedited summary of our interview. You can listen to the show using the audio player below. And you can also subscribe to this podcast series in iTunes.
Sep 10, 2013 • 50min
#020: Hourly Rates: When Do They Make Sense? And How Do You Keep Them High?
If you've followed me for a while, you already know that I'm NOT a fan of quoting hourly rates. At least not when you're a freelance writer. There are many disadvantages to the hourly rate model, and I still believe that in most cases it's much better to quote flat project fees. However, there ARE some situations where it makes more sense to quote project work by the hour. And if you do it right, you can still earn a great living and keep your client happy. I recently corresponded with web content writer and SEO specialist Katherine Andes. Katherine quotes most of her work by the hour. And one of the many things I admire about her is how successful she's been with this model. In this episode, Katherine explains why she's chosen the hourly rate model. How she makes it work for both her and the client. And how she handles pricing objections and pushback.
Sep 4, 2013 • 46min
#019: How to Launch a Successful Side Business When You Freelance Full Time
Many freelance writers get to a point where they want to scale their business in some way. Or they want to diversify their income stream by launching a new side venture or project. Mike Stelzner is a classic example. From 1996 until just a few years ago he was a freelance writer. Today he is the founder and CEO of Social Media Examiner (SME), an online magazine for business owners and marketers who are trying to figure out social media. In less than 4 years, SME has attracted 222,000 email subscribers and 800,000 website hits per month. And Mike's podcast, The Social Media Marketing Podcast, has 21,000 listeners! As if that weren't enough, Mike recently launched a new website: My Kids Adventures.com -- a site for parents looking for fun things to do with their kids. We’ll come back to this one later.
Aug 28, 2013 • 45min
#018 Guerilla Prospecting Tactics That Work
It's great to have a formal prospecting system in place. But sometimes the best opportunities come to us through unconventional means. In this episode of The High-Income Business Writing podcast you'll hear from Angus Stocking, a successful business writer who specializes in the infrastructure industry. Angus has had great success landing good-paying writing clients using low-cost "guerilla-style" methods. The notes that follow are a basic, unedited summary of our interview. You can listen to the show using the audio player below. And you can also subscribe to this podcast series in iTunes.
Aug 21, 2013 • 42min
#017: How to Earn $300 – $500 Writing LinkedIn Profiles
Over the past few years, LinkedIn has evolved into one of the most important social media platforms. The site boasts more than 225 million users as of this recording. Even though much of the conversation about LinkedIn revolves around drumming up business leads or new jobs, there's an opportunity for business writers that's not often discussed: writing profiles for LinkedIn members. Who in the world would pay a writer to write their profile? Turns out that many business professionals do! Not only do they pay handsome fees for this work, but it can also become a great way to build trust and land additional projects. To learn more about this opportunity, I interviewed Victoria Ipri. Victoria started as a copywriter in 2006, and her business has evolved over the years into Ipri International, a Linkedin training consultancy providing telephone coaching and on-site group training. What follows are some notes summarizing the information in this week's show. You can listen to the show using the audio player below. And you can also subscribe to this podcast series in iTunes.
Aug 14, 2013 • 29min
#016: The Niche Myth: Why You DON'T Need to Specialize to Launch a Successful Writing Business
One of the biggest factors that holds back new and aspiring freelance writers is the idea that they have to find their niche before they launch. This "niche quest" tends to do more damage than good. It creates confusion, stalls progress and kills momentum. Don't get me wrong. Having a niche or a specific target market is a good idea. But it's not a prerequisite for launching your commercial writing business. In this episode I give you a simple framework and a series of questions to determine if you should define a niche ... how to find one that makes sense ... and what to do if you can't come up with anything viable.
