• “I’m new-ish to the game. How do I charge: per word, per hour, per job?”
• “Do you charge different rates for different sectors – like a higher rate for corporates and a lower rate for community newspapers?”
• “My friends and family always need work, and I tense up when it comes to quoting/invoicing.”
• “I’m a creative. That’s why I went into freelancing. This admin stuff kills me: quoting, invoicing, chasing money, keeping books. Can you help?”
• “Clients often ask me to quote and then say, ‘Well, we’ve only got [R2000 less than I quoted]. Can you do it for that?’ What do I say?”
• “I’m not sure what other freelancers’ payment terms are, but I find 30 days challenging on my cash flow! Do you have any guidelines?”
• “I’m skaam when it comes to chasing money. Help!”
• “Sometimes there’s such a long wait to get paid that I think client never will. But I don’t want to make waves and have them use someone else next time.”
• “When do you, eventually, write off a bad debt?”

My latest Bizcommunity article, entitled ‘Get the most out of your freelance copywriter or editor‘ went live today. It deals with teaching clients how we work and what we need from them, in order to deliver the best job possible. It also provides a short list of questions for the client, to be used by clients in briefing their writers/editors or by freelancers in trying to locate the Holy Grail that is a clear brief. This is what Jo Duxbury of Freelancentral had to say about it:

“Tiffany, you’ve got this spot on… Many clients don’t see the value of getting their copy professionally written or edited, but it truly is a skill and can add so much to your communications. There’s no point spending thousands on beautiful design or a great web site, only to undermine your credibility with text that’s peppered with spelling and grammar mistakes, or copy that’s clunky and difficult to digest. Getting an outsider – a professional writer/editor – to review your copy may also help you spot the little gems in your offering that you perhaps can’t see as you’re too close to your business. At the very least, clients should hire a professional copy editor to ‘sanity check’ and proofread their copy. The Facebook group ‘I judge you when you use poor grammar’ is nearly half a million members strong… that’s pretty telling.”

Seasoned freelancer and regular Bizcommunity contributor Tiffany Markman has launched a revised training menu of writing, editing and business workshops. Specialising in disseminating skills and practising techniques that can be used immediately in the workplace, the 12 different workshops are hands-on, witty and focused on producing real results for attendees…

There are several delighted students going through the coaching programme currently, as well as corporate training sessions and mixed group sessions coming up in Feb, March and April. For more information, give me a shout.