Being deliberate - Writer and Editor Melanie Padgett Powers
About this episode…
Being deliberate — Freelance Writer and Editor Melanie Padgett Powers
Mel’s freelance story began when she walked away from a job that she hated. She had a big network of contacts in her industry, and so she emailed them all to say she was going solo. She got a couple of jobs right away and built it up from there.
Eight years on, Mel’s still freelancing and she says that she’s deliberate in everything she does. From how she plans her days, to the type of clients she takes on and the way she prices her services—Mel’s looking for order and structure in her freelance life.
She tells Steve about how she keeps her eye on the big picture, continues to build her network and avoids the cycles of feast and famine.
Read the highlights in the next tab.
On being a deliberate freelancer
It’s the title of her podcast, and Mel says that being a Deliberate Freelancer works for her because she likes order and structure.
“I'm very deliberate. I know how much money I need to make every month. I have a deliberate structure my day and a wrap-up routine at the end of the day that tells me work is done. And I try to market and network all the time. I think that's very deliberate, to always be thinking about what new work I need to have come in, especially if I lose a client.”
ANCHOR Clients and value-based pricing
Mel says that she likes to have “anchor clients”—those regulars who help to prevent the feast or famine cycle. When it comes to pricing, Mel’s learned to steer away from hourly billing and to factor in her experience and the value her clients are getting.
“Pricing is kind of made up, in the end. We're all just making up numbers. I come up with a rate, I usually sit on it overnight and think about it a little bit. In case they need to negotiate down, I make sure that I know what number I am comfortable with.
“I never do it on the phone because I'll get flustered and just start agreeing to things or fumbling my words around. If I'm talking to someone on the phone, I say, okay, let me think through everything we've talked about and I will email you a rate within the next two days.”
“Be bold.”
“I was taught that you get a job and you work your way up and you do what your bosses tell you. I worked at places that were not fulfilling or where I didn't have room to move up in the ranks in the way that I wanted to and still do the work that I loved.
“And so I wish I had done it way sooner. It wasn't even that I was scared, I just wasn't even thinking about it as a possibility. It seemed so foreign. It all worked out because I am where I am now, but I wish I had done it sooner.”
Melanie Padgett Powers, Freelance Writer and Editor
More from Melanie Padgett Powers
Transcript of the Being Freelance podcast with Steve Folland and freelance Writer and Editor Melanie Padgett Powers
Steve Folland: As ever, how about we get started hearing how you got started being freelance?
Melanie Padgett Powers: So I started freelancing in October 2013 after leaving a job I hated. And I was at the point where I never thought I'd be freelance. I never thought of myself as an entrepreneur, but I was at the point with this job, it was actually a job I'd worked at before, and I had gone back to, and it was not what I had remembered and a lot had changed and I was looking to leave and I was doing some interviews for other jobs and I was not finding anything I liked. And you don't really know what the job is going to be until you get in there. Right? You don't know the culture, you don't know what the bosses are really like. And I was just tired of doing that and finding out that, you know, jobs that I thought were going to be great were not. So I was just kind of sick and disillusioned with the whole employee situation.
Melanie Padgett Powers: And so I thought, well, I'll just be a freelancer. It's kind of arrogant, cause I had no plans. And so I made this decision and signed up for a digital social media conference that was coming up. And the one thing that really helped was I went and sent an email out to virtually my entire network. And luckily I had already lived in the Washington DC area for 13 years doing writing and editing. So I had a very vast network of people that I'd worked with or I'd met and then they moved on to other jobs. And so I just emailed everybody and told them what I was doing and got a couple of jobs right away. So I thought, oh, I could do this. And luckily I had a little money in the bank, although I did not have, you know, the recommended - in the US we always say, oh, you should have six months of money in the bank. I did not have that. But the holidays were coming up and I was able to take it kind of easy. And by January I got a couple of big clients and I was off and running.
Steve Folland: So I was going to ask if you'd been working in a similar thing - so that network was kind of key right at the start.
Melanie Padgett Powers: Absolutely. Yeah. I started out as a newspaper reporter. I have a journalism degree and I was a newspaper reporter in small towns in Indiana where I'm originally from. And then I moved to DC when I was about 27 and fell into a job at a membership association, which there are thousands of them in DC, it's where they are. And journalism really helps because basically, you're doing writing and editing for an organization. And so I had done a lot of writing in the healthcare space and had worked my way up from being an assistant editor of a newspaper at an association to managing magazines. Which is my favourite thing to do. So that's what I do now as a freelancer, I do a lot of editing and managing editing, copy editing a lot of healthcare writing. So I had that experience and network, even though that wasn't the plan, it all worked out.
Steve Folland: And did you then, and do you now, position yourself like that? As in call yourself, for example, a healthcare writer and a membership editor or whatever it may be?
Melanie Padgett Powers: Yeah, it's funny because it depends on the audience because I do say I'm a healthcare writer, but I also say that I am a membership association, editor or writer. Most of my clients are membership associations. I have a really great network there and that's what I like to do. And because people know me, I get a lot of referrals and assignments. I don't have to pitch or really go after work as much because it tends to come to me.
Steve Folland: Ah, but when, cause you say, you know, it depends who the audience is. So how did you get around that when you were, for example, putting it on your website or your social media, you know, like the place where they combine?
Melanie Padgett Powers: Yeah, it's a little tricky. I mean, I, the short version is I'm a freelance writer and editor and then I'll start to say, well, I'm a healthcare writer, but I also work for any membership association. So that means I can work for any membership association but I specialize in healthcare, but I also do healthcare as in, I go straight for hospital blogs or healthcare companies. So the two kind of combined and then branch out on their own. So on the website, I've been clear, I've made sure I have words like membership association and concept writer and healthcare writer sort of sprinkled throughout.
Steve Folland: Does a lot of that tend to be quite recurring work?
Melanie Padgett Powers: Yes. I like to have anchor clients, you know, those regular clients. So I don't have to have that, you know, go through that feast or famine cycle. So I look for anchor clients. A lot of those are magazines. So magazines in the membership association world right now, normally come out every other month or quarterly. But if I can get a couple of gigs as managing editor of those magazines, those are quite regular. And then I have all of the, then I have a few copy-editing clients that don't pay as much, but they're consistent so I can rely on it. It might all add up to a thousand dollars a month. All these little jobs. And then the writing is the idea is to have a lot of different writing clients, because I know as a managing editor, I don't hire the same writer, every magazine issue. You want a diversity of writers. So even though I have clients I've worked with forever and we have a great relationship, they may only hire me for a couple of magazines a year. So I have to kind of cobble together a lot of different magazines and that becomes a little more consistent.
Steve Folland: Now I know you or came across you actually maybe via Twitter, but I listened a lot to your podcast. Deliberate Freelancer, right? Yes. I love the title of that because listening to it, I do get the sense of you being deliberate. But I wonder like how, how do you feel you go about being deliberate about your business?
Melanie Padgett Powers: Yes. So my personality is also one. I like order and structure in my life. So I tend to be very deliberate in a lot of things, which is interesting because as a freelance business owner, you also have to be entrepreneurial. So it's an interesting combination that I've tried to figure out over the last few years, but yes, I'm very deliberate in how I know how much money I need to make every month. I have a deliberate sort of structure to my day now I'm, I'm more flexible with that, but I get up and go into my office and have kind of a morning routine. And I have a wrap-up routine at the end of the day that tells me work is done. Now it's time for your personal life. And I try to market and network all the time. I think that's very deliberate to always be thinking about what new work I need to have come in, especially if I lose a client. So I'm always, I, it's just sort of the way I'm structured. My brain just likes order. And I think in very structured ways.
Steve Folland: So do you like search out data for your business?
Melanie Padgett Powers: I don’t as much for my business, but I do, you know, there's this thing called analysis paralysis where, you know, I do look at my own data and I can get really bogged down in it, but it's fascinating to me. So for example, at the end of every well, at the end of every year, I definitely look at, I analyze my business where the money came from, what segments of my business it came from. Did I enjoy it? I really do a lot of data that way. In fact, this last year I made pie charts, which is really fun. That was super fun. And I started for my podcast this year. I've been doing a lot more for my business. I've been doing a lot more time tracking, a lot more diligently. And so each quarter now on my podcast, I do a time tracking audit at the end to just talk to listeners about where I spent my time, what I learned, what I'm hoping to change for the next quarter, based on what I learned. So yes, I definitely like data.
Steve Folland: I love that, you know, like what you're then looking to change, because that's the thing is you can look at a lovely pie chart and pie charts are lovely, but then it's like maybe figuring out what to do with that information.
Melanie Padgett Powers: I always encourage people to sort of step back and analyze your business from, you know, the big picture, you know, because when you're in it, you might do a project and realize you didn't really like that project, but at the end of the year, you forget, and you might keep doing those types of projects. And then if you really step back and look and think, well, why am I doing this? It doesn't pay very well. I don't really enjoy it. I have a couple of clients, like I could drop this whole service from my business, or I could fire this client or I could raise my rates. I don't think on a day-to-day basis, we either don't think about those things or we're too busy to sort of deal with it in the moment.
Steve Folland: You tend to look at things, was it quarterly?
Melanie Padgett Powers: For my time tracking? I do, but I do have occasional, I call them my solo business retreats.
Steve Folland: Oh, do you actually go somewhere?
Melanie Padgett Powers: Pre pandemic? Occasionally. the first one was kind of a joke. It's why I named it solo business retreat because I did it in my house. I went from my office to my dining room and it was solo of course. And we always think of big corporate retreats. And so it was my solar business retreat where I went to my dining room and I didn't do any client work that day. And I didn't check email and I like colourful things. So I got a lot of post-it notes and colourful Sharpies and wrote all these ideas on paper. And really again, stepping back and looking at my business and thinking about what was working and what wasn't working and what I like. And so I've started doing that definitely at least twice a year. I try to do it more once a quarter. And I did in January, 2020, I actually did go somewhere. I happened to be going to Chicago for a conference and I went there a day early and because Chicago was freezing in January, I got a really good deal at a hotel. And I was able to get this hotel suite a day early and really just sort of camp out there and have my retreat there, which was lovely.
Steve Folland: Nice. And you just sneak to him before a pandemic like that. Good planning how important is going to conferences then
Melanie Padgett Powers: I love conferences. I go to two different types. So I go for writers and editors. So those are my people. And I get a lot of invigoration from seeing other writers and editors, you know, people that know what I'm talking about and also other freelancers who we all work by ourselves all day long. And I learn a lot about running a business or pick up editing skills or writing tips. And those are just really a great comradery. And then I also go to conferences for membership associations. Luckily I'm in the DC area, which is where they all are, as I said, and we have an organization here that is called, well we're changing the name right now, but it was called association media and publishing. And it's basically all the people like me who work out of the association or foreign association who do media publications, communications, marketing, and those are where my clients are. And I make sure to, I'm very involved in that organization. I try to speak at the conference every year. I try to do different webinars throughout the year because that's how I get my clients, is being front and centre at that conference. And with that organization.
Steve Folland: Ah, how did you put yourself at the centre of it?
Melanie Padgett Powers: Yeah, so I was lucky again, I was involved in that organization almost since I moved to DC. When I started working at membership associations, a lot of people had heard of it and I started going to in-person lunch and learns and we would apply for the award Sindar publications offer the awards program. And then I knew, so I had always gone to the conference and I'd made a lot of true friends there, people that I saw outside of the conference, who happened to live in DC too. And then when I went out on my own, I knew I needed to really step it up. And so I started going to a lot of the in-person lunch and learns, even if it really wasn't a topic that I was interested in or didn't relate to what I did just to meet people. I made sure to apply to speak at the conference. And I got accepted for that for a couple of years. And then probably it's three years ago, four years ago. I ran for the board, so I'm on the board now I'm getting ready to roll off the executive committee after two years. And I love this organization. I love what we do, but of course, it's also where I stay in contact and get a lot of work as well.
Steve Folland: Nice. How much time does that sort of take up? How, how do you balance that sort of networking? You know, you said that you market and network all the time, but how do you get that balance between doing the work and putting yourself out there?
Melanie Padgett Powers: That is a challenge. This organization I'm talking about, AMMP, I'm very involved in it and I'm actually cutting back a little bit this year. I'm rolling off. As I said, the executive committee, I only have one more year on the board, but it's something I'm really passionate about. And, and not just to get clients, I like a lot of the things that we're doing. There's a diversity equity and inclusion initiative that I'm involved in. And so that's a challenge because that's all unpaid work. And so that's something I kind of struggle with because I really love being with those people and working on these things, but I'm not getting paid for any of it. And unlike an employee, if I don't work, I don't get paid as we know. So, and then there's all the other marketing and networking I do.
Melanie Padgett Powers: And that's a little more organic. I need to do some more intentional marketing this next couple of months because I've lost a couple of clients. And so that's, yeah, that's something I'm definitely working on now because it is difficult to figure out how much time to spend on it and where to focus. You know, it could be like 72 options of how to market, what should I choose? And so I'm going to be spending a lot of time the next month or so to figure out what I need to do. That's something I can do at a solar business retreat. You know, I often have those retreats where I have themes. And so I could do, you know, just even a half-day if I spend four hours thinking, okay, what is my marketing strategy? I need to update it from what it was a couple of years ago. You know, that'll sort of set me on the path for the rest of the year.
Steve Folland: And I mean, the clue's in the title cause you used the word solo, but do you ever discuss like, those kinds of work things with anyone else?
Melanie Padgett Powers: I do some of that. I have a couple of freelance friends that I discuss these things with. I do talk about it a lot with my husband. He also owns a business. And so we were very different in personality, but we talk about marketing a lot, especially when I first started and I always run things by him and that helps just to talk it out. But I, as I said, I do talk about it with some freelance friends. I'm not one, you know, some people like to join accountability groups or they do. I know people, I know a couple of friends that check in every week with a friend and, and have goals and that's just never appealed to me. I don't really want that accountability. And I don't, it feels like one more thing I have to do. So that works really well for some people, but I don't think that's for me,
Steve Folland: I'm intrigued earlier on, you said about having a morning routine, but then you said you have a wrap-up routine to make sure that you, your day, so what's, what's your wrap-up routine at the end of the day?
Melanie Padgett Powers: One thing I do in the morning is I look at my schedule and of course I have a little to-do list of things. I definitely need to get done that day, but I also set alarms for all the things that I have to do like phone calls or meetings. And so I set alarm for five minutes before that meeting. So I don't get wrapped up in writing and I completely forget that it's two o'clock and I have a meeting. And so those alarms keep me reassured that I'm not going to miss anything that I have to do to schedule time. And then at the end of the day. So I try, it's a little influx right now, but I try, I'm not, I'm much better working in the morning. I'm not very productive with like cognitive tasks in the afternoon. So a lot of times I'll stop at three o'clock or I'll just do admin work after three o'clock.
Melanie Padgett Powers: So around three o'clock I start to think, okay, what do I need to do to end the day? Did I look at my to-do list? Is there something that had to be done today that I haven't done? And then I take a look at my email and say, okay, is there anything I have to answer today that it completely, you know, haven't dealt with yet? Or it's just sort of this reassurance that I haven't missed anything, did I do everything that it had to be done today? And then I take the time to write a short to-do list for the next day. And that includes, I try to make them really short because it's a to-do list for every day. It's not this ongoing to-do list and it needs to be doable and not overwhelming. And so I just write down the couple things that I know that I have to do the next day, including, you know, it might say three things and then I'll say two o'clock meeting.
Melanie Padgett Powers: And that just is reassuring to set that by my computer and know that I've looked at everything that had to be done today, I've set my little to-do list for the next day and I'm done. And so I can shut my laptop and leave my office. And I'm done for the day. I don't, nothing is hanging over my head. I'm not worried that, oh, did I forget to do that? And I leave my laptop in my office and I often leave my phone up there, or at least I'll put it back up there at night. And that just means I'm not checking email at night and I'm really unplugged from work for the most part.
Steve Folland: Ohhh... leaving your phone.
Melanie Padgett Powers: It is hard. I'm not going to say I'm not gonna lie. I like baseball and I'll watch baseball a lot at night now and I'll have my phone with me. And I'm, you know, looking on Twitter and my husband says, are you scrolling, scrolling, scrolling? And I say, yes, I am because it's just mindless, right. I'm not doing anything. And sometimes that's fun, but I don't really want to do that for several hours. And so I often will leave my phone up in the office and, you know, read a book or pick up a magazine on the commercials during the baseball game or, well, we watch a lot of shows on Netflix and all the other streaming channels. So we do that at night and I'm not mindlessly looking at my phone at the same time
Steve Folland: Is social media. You mentioned Twitter. Is social media something that you use a lot for your work?
Melanie Padgett Powers: I do. Um, I love Twitter. That's my favourite. I love it both for work. And my just fun. I think the reason it works for work is because I do love it. So I'm not forcing myself to go on Twitter. I'd be there all day long if someone did, if I didn't leave my phone away from me. And so I've connected a lot with a lot of people on Twitter and you know, some people talk about, oh, Twitter's a sess pool. And while it can be that I've really curated it to the people that I follow. I follow a really interesting group of people that I've curated. And so I don't see a lot of the negativity and maybe that puts me in a bubble, but I also have been able to develop a lot of relationships with writers and editors and other freelancers.
Melanie Padgett Powers: I find a lot of podcast guests there, but I've also gotten work from Twitter, from connecting with other editors, other people in the membership association industry. It just, you know, casually talking to people every now and then being really authentic and just having conversations that may have to do with work, but may not do with work. And so people have me through Twitter and say, you know, I've, I've seen that you wrote, you were tweeting a lot about healthcare. Are you in your healthcare writer? Cause that's a nearby IO. And so I've gotten some work that way too.
Steve Folland: Oh, cool. And what about LinkedIn? Because I kind of imagine that this sort of thing you do, but that must be something...
Melanie Padgett Powers: Yeah, I've been on LinkedIn forever, but haven't really done much with it until this past year. And I've been intentionally going over there more often posting commenting, kind of looking around. I still am probably not maximizing how to look for work on there or connecting with other editors. You know, I follow a lot of people, a lot of people follow me, but I'm not as active, but I've definitely stepped that up recently because I do know that's where a lot of my client base is. They're not, I'm not going to find them on Facebook or Instagram. I'm going to find some of them on Twitter, but that's a very small portion. So LinkedIn is more where they might be
Steve Folland: Speaking of the last year. Like how have you found that to like a year of running a business through a pandemic? How, how did you fare?
Melanie Padgett Powers: Well, coming out the other side, I think I'm doing pretty well. I panicked like a lot of people in March. I mean, it was hard, right? Cause you're anxious because what in the world is happening to our world and what's this gonna mean for everyone? And then on top of that, you have to worry about your business. Right? So I lost work soon after the pandemic started here in the US which oh, and that started here in the US but really went widespread which was like mid-March and I lost my biggest client. It was half of my income and I lost a couple of smaller clients and, you know, I was really worried. And so I was like, okay, well you have to get a bunch of work now and make up the income because I'm the breadwinner in my family.
Melanie Padgett Powers: I make a lot more money than my husband does and I pay a lot of the bills. And so there's no sitting back and, you know, taking it easy for a couple of months of just focusing on my anxiety. So the first thing I did was I crafted a letter to send out to my entire network and that was friends and former colleagues and clients and potential clients that I'd had some sort of conversation with before. It wasn't a cold email. And so it was this really big network of, I don't know, I think I sent it to maybe a couple of hundred people and it was a mass email to everyone and it was kind of, you know, it was like, Hey, you know, I have some availability now. Thanks, pandemic. You know, it was kind of funny in it. And it was honest that I needed clients.
Melanie Padgett Powers: And what I did is I bulleted out the things that I did because even current clients, you know, they might hire me for writing and they don't even realize I do this type of proofreading of for instance. So I bulleted out all the different services I could provide and said, you know, how can I help you? Or do you know someone who might need my help? Can you forward this to them or send me any leads? And that was great because of my network. I've got a lot of, you know, response from people. I mean, I just, even people that were, it was just nice to hear from people that say, I don't have any work from you, but you know, I really feel for you and we're all in this together and you can do this. And that was just nice and supportive, but I also got actual work out of it.
Melanie Padgett Powers: And I got two really big clients last year that basically saved my butt during the pandemic. One was a magazine and one was an editing job. And both of those came from other freelance friends. One was a writer who worked for this company who said, I know they need editors, I'll put in a good word for you. And because they liked her so much and she'd worked with them so long, I basically skipped the line and they hired me immediately. And that paid really well and was very consistent. It was about we, I edited a bunch of articles about COVID, so it was very relevant and there was a lot of work. And then another freelance writer told me send along a job that she had seen for a managing editor position. And so I followed up with them and got that gig.
Melanie Padgett Powers: So I get, you know, I say all the time, it's really the network that you create and the referrals from other freelancers can be just as great as referrals from clients or, or potential clients. And so I, yeah, I'll just add that, you know, I, I was very open with people that I've never really had anxiety in my life, but I definitely had anxiety during the pandemic. And I even saw a therapist virtually last summer for about a month to help get, give me some tools. Again, I'm very deliberate. I was like, tell me what to do and I'll do it to give me some tools to help me get by day to day, because there were days where I didn't feel like working and I had to. And so that was, you know, I tried to give, I said a lot last year that we all just need to give ourselves some grace and be really kind to ourselves. And that kind of, I try to keep reminding myself of that to get me through the year.
Steve Folland: Yeah, that's great. What do you find works where maybe you're not feeling motivated for a day of work, but you know, you've got to.
Melanie Padgett Powers: I think if I have to, well, if I don't have to that day, I think definitely take the day off. I think freelancers tend to push through and really struggle with the day and try to force themselves to do something. And, you know, they might spend six hours and kind of, you know, forcing themselves to do something it's only an hour's worth of work and maybe not even good work. So it's okay to take the day off and just veg. You don't have to be productive all the time, but if you really have to work I've done some different things. My therapist taught me I do some meditation. I should meditate more often. I do it in the moment where, you know, I use different meditation apps and just really focus on my, but you can do even without an app, just really focusing on my breathing and taking deep breaths and counting my breath and just focusing on that really calms me down.
Melanie Padgett Powers: She taught me how to do grounding, which I find very helpful and that is there are different ways of doing it, but it's really, one way you could do is pick a place that you, or a scene that you really love. So if you love the mountains or you love the beach, or you have a favourite place, really just kind of close your eyes and relax and really picture that scene and go through your senses. So what does the scene look like? What does it smell like? What are you eating? What does it taste like? What does it feel like? For me, I always pick Key West. That's a place that I love and I really like hot weather. And so I feel the sun on my face and I can picture it and I can hear the ocean breeze. And it just really set. I mean, it grounds you, right. It really centres you. And it calms me and it gets me to kind of focus. And then when I really have to do work, a lot of times I listen to Mozart with my headphones on and that also just kind of keeps me focused and calms me a little bit.
Steve Folland: Nice. speaking of wearing headphones, I mentioned your podcast. What made you start a podcast?
Melanie Padgett Powers: Well, I was a big fan of podcasts starting around kind of, I don't know, 2016, 2017, basically like so many other people when serial came out and I started listening to serial and I was like, what is this thing called a podcast? And I found, suddenly found all these podcasts and all these different topics that I got really interested in. And so I became a fan of podcasts, but even since 2013, when I went out on my own as a freelancer, I always, I found out very quickly that I loved helping other freelancers be successful. So whether that was, I was suddenly giving tips about how to think about their business and how to get clients and how to price projects. And I found freelancers who thought of themselves as a business did better. And then other people who quote-unquote thought they're just a freelancer or this was kind of something they were trying out.
Melanie Padgett Powers: They weren't very confident about it. Didn't do as well. And they really struggled with their confidence. And so I really liked helping other freelancers succeed. And I always say, I never want to be an employee ever again. And for those people that feel that way, I want to help you succeed. And so that just kind of merged with my love of podcasts and I was doing different, you know, webinars and conference presentations on how to run a freelance business at these writer and editor conferences. And I thought, you know, podcasts would be so much fun. I'm already a content person. So I don't have to figure out I know how to I'm a reporter. I don't have to learn how to interview. I don't have to learn how to create content. All I have to do is figure out the tech stuff and get it set up. And so I just really thought it would be fun to be able to kind of spread that message and help more people. And so I started it two years ago and I absolutely love it. It's definitely a passion project. I don't make any money off of it yet. I need to create some ways to make a little money. But yeah, I absolutely love it.
Steve Folland: You say to my money out of it, but other than enjoying it, does it help you with your business?
Melanie Padgett Powers: I think it does in a roundabout way. So, my audience is other freelancers, so it's not my client base. If it was, if I created a podcast for my client base, then I would be getting work out of it. That might've been smarter for me. Right. Yeah. You're the same way, right? Why am I doing it for other freelancers? But it is in a roundabout way. It is expanding my network. I definitely get referrals from other people that I meet. It, you know, is putting me out there as sort of an expert on how to run a freelance business, experts not the right word, but you know, this is something I talk about all the time and I am meeting really interesting people outside of writing and editing that I would never have met otherwise. And that's just really fun, and they're also connecting me to other people. So it's not a straight line, but I think I'm definitely getting work out of it in a roundabout way.
Steve Folland: Cool. Yeah. You mentioned pricing as one of the things that you help people with, how did you help yourself with that? Like how, how did you sort of overcome that tricky thing of pricing?
Melanie Padgett Powers: Yeah, I, in the beginning, when I first went out on my own, I had an hourly rate. I thought that's what everybody should do. I thought that's how it worked. And it does in some jobs, in some services and I was talking, I actually hired a business coach. It was another healthcare writer that I knew really well. And so I hired her for a couple of weeks. I hired her with the idea to help me to learn how to pitch articles, because I thought I was going to have to do that. And I never really had done that before. But then she ended up being more of kind of a life coach and therapist. And I told her that I was thinking about charging. This was in 2013, $75 an hour. And she said, that's too low. And I said, what, why, why do you think that's too low?
Melanie Padgett Powers: And she says, you live in Washington, DC. It's a very expensive area. You have all these years, you know, decades of experience, more than a decade of experience, you can charge a lot more than that. And I was like, oh, I don't know. And she's like, what's the worst that could happen? What are you scared of? And I was like, oh, am I scared? Like maybe I am scared. And so she really pushed me, in the beginning, to charge a hundred dollars an hour with this in the end, pointed out that, you know, you can always negotiate down, you can't negotiate up. And I was like, okay. And I really started realizing my fear around that. You know, I'm from the Midwest, we have a reputation for being really nice. I don't like to rock the boat, you know, and it was all these weird emotions tied up in a business decision.
Melanie Padgett Powers: And so that just got me thinking about pricing a lot and somewhere along the way, I don't remember how, but I realized that pricing projects rather than hourly rates was a much better way to go. Because if you price hourly, you're penalized for working faster and which you probably do work faster, if you have more experience and project rates also take into account the value that you're bringing, it recognizes the experience and the years you have the value, the clients getting out of it you know, depending on what you write, they might be using what you write or edit to make money on their end and they shouldn't, they should be paying you for that. And so I just think there's a lot more that goes into pricing projects. Yeah. So I have what I call now, my secret hourly rates that only I, you know, I know it I'm actually, I'm pretty open about it with other freelancers.
Melanie Padgett Powers: So right now it's $125 an hour. And so what I try to do is I just start a project rate from there trying to estimate how many hours it might take me. And that's where time tracking has come in really handy because it tells me how much like projects, how long they actually do take. And then I multiply it by 125 and I come up with a number and then I just start increasing from there. You know, I look at, is this a corporate client that has a lot of money? Is it something they want really fast? Is the scope of work very is it a really big scope of work? Is it something that requires specific expertise? You know, they can't just hire anybody to do this again, my value, you know, their value. So there's a lot of sort of, you know, things that I take into account to come up with a final rate.
Melanie Padgett Powers: It's kind of made up in the end. We're all just making up numbers. So, you know, I come up with a rate, I usually sit on it overnight, you know, and not send it off right away and think about it a little bit and then make sure that I always make sure that what number am I comfortable if they need to negotiate down, what number am I comfortable with that I would do it for? So I don't get in the trap of setting this rate and then they want to negotiate down and I don't want to do it for any less than that because of all the work it will entail. And I never do it on the phone because I'll get flustered and just start agreeing to things or fumbling my words around. So I always say, you know, if I'm talking to someone on the phone, I always say, okay, let me think through everything we've talked about. And I will email you a rate, you know, within the next two days or something,
Steve Folland: Just the best answer.
Steve Folland: But one thing there, do you say, out of interest, do you say this is the fee, including a rush fee, for example, or whatever word you might say it, i.e. If you came to me with a bit more time, it wouldn't have cost this much. Like, do you bring that up or is that just in your secret head?
Melanie Padgett Powers: I haven't had to bring that up cause I don't get a lot of rush fees. A lot of times it's in my head where, you know, I'm super busy and normally I would get four weeks to do this type of project and they're giving me like two and a half. And I don't really have those conversations a lot of times if it's something like that, but I know other freelancers who, you know, if someone comes to you on a Thursday and says, oh my gosh, I have to get this. You know, it's a really quick turnaround for whatever reason, can you get this to us first thing Monday? I think when they already know it's a rush and it's like two days or like it's so extreme. The timeline is so extreme. I would definitely charge a rush fee and say, okay, I can do this. But you know, especially if it's a client who knows kind of what your normal rate is, you know, and they know what you normally charge and say, okay, I can do this, but I am tacking on this much more. I haven't really had to do that, but I definitely have freelancer friends that do that. Yeah.
Steve Folland: Now, if you could tell your younger self, one thing about being freelance, what would that be?
Melanie Padgett Powers: Be bold. You know, most of my career I was taught, you know, you get a job and you work your way up and you do what your bosses are told. And I was always kind of that good kid, right. And I just worked at places that were not fulfilling or where I didn't have room to move up in the ranks in the way that I wanted to and still do the work that I loved. And so I wish I had done it way sooner. I mean, it all worked out because I am where I am now, but I wish I hadn't been, it wasn't even that I was scared. I wasn't even thinking about it as a possibility. It just seems so foreign. And I wish I had done it a lot sooner and was a lot braver.
Steve Folland: Melanie, it has been so good to talk to you, all the best being freelance.
Melanie Padgett Powers: Thank you. This was a lot of fun and I'm glad to be on your show, which I do listen to as well.