Make. More. Money.
When I was offered $800 for a long article, I said, “I was thinking of something in four digits.” The editor said, “I’ll get back to you.”
A day later, I got the call: ‚ÄúWe can’t do $1000. The most I can pay is $875.‚Äù
I said, “Sold.”
Now, $75 won’t make me rich. But $75 in my pocket is better than $75 in the publisher‚Äôs. And I made that happen in ten seconds and eight (8) words.
*****
Here’s how you can do it in one (1) word. Just say no.
‚ÄúI can’t pay, but you’ll get plenty of exposure.‚Äù No.
“We pay $25 for 1,000 words.” No.
“You write it, we own the rights.” No.
*****
Here’s another make-more-money word: Instead of raising your rates, you’re changingthem. For more on this one-syllable substitution, read here.
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Seth Godin offers this phrase to change the hearts of tight-fisted clients:
You’ll pay a lot, but you’ll get more than you pay for.¬†
He says,‚ÄúThat’s as useful a freelancer marketing strategy as you can fit in a single sentence.‚Äù
*****
The Olders use a variation on that sentence. When told that an outlet can get a service way cheaper than our price, we say, “You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.”
*****
Effin and I were at a noisy product launch in San Francisco when the call came. A production studio wanted to use one of my minimovies for a new show on the History Channel.
To escape the noise, we stepped outside, me on my phone, Effin standing three feet away. All she could hear was my end of the conversation. It was short — went like this: “Two-hundred dollars? I was expecting twice that much.”
Then I went quiet.
A moment passed. Two.
Then the answer: “We can do $300 and no more.”
I said, “Sold.”
(As far as I can tell, that show never materialized, but the check did.)
Got your own Make More Money strategies? Send ‘em my way, and, unless you specify, I’ll try to share with the Lifeguards.
Jules