I recently had a chance to watch the original version of Pippi Longstocking with my daughter. I was fascinated to see how many helpful tips it held for freelance writers.

For those who haven’t had the pleasure of meeting her yet, Pippi is a 9-year-old girl who lives alone in her ramshackle, wildly self-painted house, Villa Villekula. Her mother is dead and her father is a sailor who’s usually away at sea. Pippi manages to cheerfully deflect all efforts by well-meaning adults to send her to school or to an orphanage, in part due to her secret weapon: she has super-strength and can easily lift a horse over her head.

What can you learn from Pippi? Here are seven ideas:

1. Don’t look for external strokes. Pippi is functionally an orphan. She’s all alone, with nobody to encourage her, but she is rarely sad. She doesn’t need others to tell her she’s wonderful — she just knows it. When writers don’t get an answer to a query, they need the same sort of positive self-image to keep going.
2. Be brave. From entering a strongman contest to sailing off in a balloon, Pippi is never afraid. She’s out to experience everything the world has to offer. By the same token, writers willing to take difficult assignments often get clips that put their career on a whole new level.
3. Let your imagination run wild. Pippi is not a conventional thinker. She paints her house a rainbow of colors. Some walls are left off half-painted, but that suits her fine. And obviously, to lift a horse, you first have to imagine that you can. Don’t have limits in your head around what you can accomplish as a writer — as a freelancer, the sky’s the limit.
4. Let the housekeeping go. There’s all sorts of old clutter at Pippi’s house, and she wears mismatched, patched outfits. So what? She’s having fun. Most freelancers — especially ones who juggle writing with family — need to let go of the whole Martha Stewart thing.
5. Make friends. Pippi is able to get out of several scrapes with the help of neighbor children and their parents. Writers who network with other writers tend to get more gigs — and can get the feedback that keeps you from taking bad offers, too.
6. Discover your strengths. Everyone has unusual interests and areas where they excel. Find those within writing and you’ll probably find better pay. Then, push your writing to the limit and beyond. See what you can accomplish.
7. You don’t need a boss. Social workers and neighbor ladies are aghast that Pippi has been left to manage on her own. But the fact is, she’s perfectly able to care for herself. She’s an unusual child that way — just as not everyone is cut out to be a freelancer. It may seem odd to those who’ve only ever held a job, but those of us who freelance successfully don’t need a boss standing over us to get things done.

How are you like Pippi Longstocking? Leave a comment and tell us your superpower.

Coming later this week: My Marketing 101 for Freelance Writers series continues. Subscribe to catch the whole series.

Last week, I kicked off a Marketing 101 training course for freelance writers. If you missed our discussion of the critical first step, you might want to go back and read that one first. It’s important.

Because before you start marketing, you’ve got to have your self-confidence together.

Next, you need to realize that if you want to have a freelance writing business — as opposed to a writing hobby — marketing needs to be a regular part of your routine.

Breathe, and accept this. In, out. OK, got it!

Now, we’re ready to start.

Marketing the easy way

There are only two types of people in the world.

People you know

People you don’t know (yet).

The easiest marketing you will ever do always involves that first group — people you already know.

These people already know you! I’m betting they like you, too.

Begin your marketing by contacting everyone you know and making them aware that you are looking for new clients.

Yes, this includes friends and family (unless they’re the sort that keep telling you you’re crazy to be a freelancer and ought to look for a job).

Don’t assume because they don’t have a business to market or aren’t an editor that they can’t help you. Who knows who will hear a business owner griping that their website sucks? Or who will get a new job at a company that needs marketing help?

Beyond current clients, friends, family, and co-workers at a current or recently concluded full- or part-time job — there is one particular group of people you already know who should be your prime target.

Are you in touch with all your former editors?

I’m always surprised at how often the answer is “no.”

Unless you hated each other and it ended in screaming or flaming emails, you should stay connected to each and every one of these people.

Why? Former editors are a great source of referrals.

And referrals just rock.

They’re the marketing that does itself.

Once you let people know you need referrals, they might just send you business.

Beats having to actively market your business, hmm?

You want to get your network working for you, as it’s a real marketing time-saver.

What’s the best way to get started?

My experience is: LinkedIn.

There’s something about this particular social-media platform — it’s the perfect place to get back in touch with former professional colleagues. There’s something casual and friendly, yet businesslike, about the climate on LI.

And sending a message through LinkedIn is a lot less intimidating than trying to call a former editor on the phone. Also more likely you’ll get through to them and get a response.

How to reconnect

A lot of writers have told me they feel uncomfortable reaching out to former editors.

But I’ve done it a lot, and my experience is — it’s fun! Sort of like a high-school reunion, only professionally. And virtually.

Your goal should be to simply check in, catch up and find out what they’re up to now. Then, you’ll drop in your news that you’re looking for clients.

Step one: Send InMail messages to your former editors.

Write something along the lines of:

(SUBJECT LINE): (Long time no talk!)(Hi from one of your writers)(Congrats on your new job)(Just found you — would love to catch up)

Hi (editor name)!

I just noticed you are on LinkedIn — I’d like to stay connected with you on here.

I see you’re (still at X magazine/company)(now over at X magazine/company)

I’d love to catch up sometime and hear about what you’re doing now.

Me? (I’ve been working as a freelance writer for X years now)(I just quit my job/was laid off and have started working as a freelance writer)(Basic facts of your freelance situation here — no sob story, please.)

I specialize in (your specialized industries and/or types of writing here). Recently, I’ve really enjoyed (describe favorite recent client or assignment). If you’d like to see, let me know a good email for you and I’ll send you a couple links. Or you can take a look at my writer site — it’s linked from my LI profile.

(OPTIONAL PITCH LINE:) If you hear of anyone looking for a writer along those lines, I’d appreciate your referral.

Let me know if you have time for a quick phone chat!

Sometimes I prefer to wait until I speak to them live or get an email response to make the referral request. With others, I go ahead and put it right in the connection email. Sort of depends on the relationship you had, and how likely it is that you can line up a phone call or will chat further beyond making that LI connection.

That’s all there is to it. Pretty simple, hmm?

Tip 1: Be sure to remove all the stock language LinkedIn provides. Many busy networkers on LI automatically delete any messages that aren’t customized (including me).

Tip 2: Do NOT put any links in your InMail message. These will cause LinkedIn to reject your message.

Tip 3: Set your message so that the recipient is allowed to see your email address. That will allow you to quickly take the conversation off LI and onto your email, where you can send clip links.

Step two: follow up

Once you’ve connected, try to stay in touch every few months — maybe send them a link to an article of mutual interest.

You might also see what LI Groups the editor belongs to and join, so that you could run across each other in group conversations, too.

Step three: Be patient.

The request for referrals does not necessarily pay off immediately. But it can bring you some great new clients.

Why? Good editors tend to travel in herds — they know each other. So if you liked the work you did for one editor, their referrals will probably be good, too.

Referral work can really add up, and cut back on how much active marketing you need to do. I just did a tally and my editor referrals brought me over $6,000 of income in the past year — from clients I didn’t have to spend marketing time to find. Other writers I know have ended up with tens of thousands of dollars of work from former-editor referrals.

Trust me, this is the most efficient marketing you will do.

Are you in touch with your former editors? Leave a comment and let us know how you stay in contact with past clients.

Next week on Marketing 101: We’ll talk about the most important basic marketing tool freelance writers need — and cheap, easy ways to get it. Subscribe to catch this whole series.

I know, it’s the holiday weekend. So I’d like to take a moment and give you the recognition you deserve.

Why?

Freelance writers work hard.

I’ve been helping new writers learn how to write queries and letters of introduction in Freelance Writers Den lately, and I can practically see the little sweat beads on their foreheads through the Internet. It’s tough to get the hang of these formats.

Marketing your writing is a long slog, especially right now.

Have you ever done work for a client who just sort of disappeared with it? No pat on the back, no ‘good job.’

Or they rewrote the heck out of it?

Or maybe you ghostwrote something, so nobody knows you wrote it.

It can feel sort of lonely. And maybe you start to wonder if you’re really any good at this writing game.

How to get more credit

There is one way you can always get more credit for your work. You can feel more accomplished, more talented, and more rewarded for your writing.

Do you know who can give you that much-deserved credit? As my dad used to tell me, find the nearest polished glass surface and take a look in it.

That’s right.

You can give yourself the credit you deserve.

When I first started out as a freelance writer, I treasured my portfolio. It was a physical book then, with my precious handful of yellowed clips inserted into clear sleeves.

Sometimes, when I felt overwhelmed, or behind schedule — or like I couldn’t imagine how I would write the 3,000-word feature article assignment that was due that day — I would take it out. Just leaf through the pages.

It never failed to blow my mind.

“Wow. I wrote all this,” I’d realize.

And I’d recognize what was lost in the day-to-day grind of writing: that I am good at this. If I wrote all that stuff, I could write some more good stuff, too.

We’re all so busy, it’s often hard to see your whole career and what you’re building. So we get too sucked into what others are telling us.

You shouldn’t rely too much on what others say about your writing career. Your drive, your passion to do this — it all comes from within.

Not every client will love your writing. But you have to love yourself as a writer to make this writing-biz thing work.

So this weekend, if you can, take a moment to look back. See what you’ve accomplished. Read some of your best work again.

Remember that no matter what others say, no one can take that body of work away from you. You wrote it.

Recognize that loads of people wish they were writers. Give yourself credit for actually putting it out there.

You are building your freelance writing career, piece by piece, against all odds.

I recognize you for that, and you should give yourself that recognition, too.

What would you like to give yourself credit for? Leave a comment and let us know.

P.S.: I’d like to thank and recognize all of you who nominated this blog for Top 10 Blogs for Writers 2012! If you find the info on this blog useful to your freelance-writing career, there’s still time to head over there — nominations are open through Dec. 10.

Do you find yourself saying “Yes! Yes! Pick me!” to every possible writing offer that comes your way?

If so, how’s that working out for you — earning top dollar?

Probably not.

Famed actor and entrepreneur Michael Port, author of Book Yourself Solid, advises a different approach:

“You want to put a red velvet rope around your career, like they do at exclusive clubs, to keep out the riffraff. You don’t want to compete on price!

Instead, be very selective about who you do business with. You only want to accept the jobs that will allow you to do your best work. Because that great work will attract more great clients.”

I heard the most gigantic “click” in my head when he said that.

It reminded me there’s a basic principle all freelancers ignore at their peril.

The law of freelancing

This is like Newtonian physics for freelancers. The law:

Work of one kind tends to lead to work of that same kind, at a similar pay rate.

The so-so clients you accept now pave the way for more dysfunctional/low-paying/uninteresting clients in the future.

These clients tend to have mediocre assignments for you. Not exactly Pulitzer-bait.

Then you have mediocre clips, which you can only use to get more mediocre clients.

Low-paying clients mean you need to work more hours, so you don’t have time to market your business.

It’s a vicious cycle.

How do you break the cycle?

If you’re stuck in a crummy-client rut, you need to break out with some better clips. (If you’re writing for content mills, this is especially true, as many editors won’t even consider those as clips.)

A few ideas on how to do that:

• Learn to say “no.” If this is hard for you, practice with friends or in front of the mirror.
• Specialize. The more you build work within a single niche, the easier it gets to get gigs with bigger businesses or national magazines.
• Do a free sample. If you see a chance to write a great project but it doesn’t pay, do it anyway to get the sample. Prospects need never know you did a project free.
• Create your own sample. Be your own client – write a sample of whatever type of writing you want to get paid for, and treat it like a $1-a-word magazine assignment.
• Improve your writer website. A really crisp, informative writer site with your clips displayed nicely makes you look more professional and helps put weaker clips in the best possible light.
• Drop your worst clients. Save up your money, and then let them go. Start taking the attitude that you have standards. Create space in your schedule for something better, so you can attract it.
• Market your a*# off. Make a real commitment to consistently and aggressively marketing your services, targeting your ideal clients. When you have more prospects, it’s easier to be selective.

Keep moving your velvet rope until only exactly the clients you want get inside.

For me, the rope began in 2005 with refusing to write $20 and under blog posts. Next, it was not taking on clients that didn’t have at least $300 per month or per project for me. Then, it was deciding not to work with small-business clients anymore, only big companies. Then, it was a $500 minimum.

I have a writer-friend whose rope leaves out all one-shot projects — she only works on ongoing contracts.

Do you use a red velvet rope? Tell us what gigs you turn down in the comments below.

I knew you had something to share from your own freelance writer’s journey, when I asked you for your best advice last week.

But the number and quality of responses blew me away. It wasn’t easy to pick the winners!

As promised, below are my 20 favorite tips for freelance writers, contributed by readers here on the blog. They will each be getting a one-month free pass to The Freelance Writers Den, my soon-to-open, comfy hangout for freelance writers who want to grow their income.

These winners are listed in the order their comments were received —  no way I’m trying to rank them. I’ve linked to everyone who listed a website.

1. Develop your craft and have a thick skin. It takes hard work and persistence to be successful. There’s no whining in freelance writing (or at least there shouldn’t be).–Wendy
2. If you usually spend your days in your house, make time to go outside or find some sort of coworking space where you can interact with other people. You can’t network if you never leave your writing cave–Kymlee
3. Learn to write proposals and expect to write them on a regular basis. Whether they are cold proposals to business owners, query letters to publishers, or responses to help wanted ads, well-crafted proposals will land you the more lucrative opportunities.–Tammi Kibler
4. Building relationships with editors can’t be stressed enough. Don’t just reach out to them when you have a pitch. Try shooting an email whenever you hear of an interesting story that might intrigue them or a news tip that would help them at work.–Terri
5. Listen to the client. REALLY listen. People have become interrupters to a startling degree. Real listening is rare. Let the client talk until they’re finished without interrupting.–Mardi Link
6. Someone told me at a conference last  year: “EN — everything’s negotiable.” You can negotiate the rate if you don’t think it will work out to a decent amount on an hourly basis. You can negotiate the deadline if you have too much on your plate already. You can negotiate rights if they ask you to sign a work for hire agreement. And if you’re not happy with what you’re offered after negotiating, you can walk away.–Susan Johnston
7. Build your own support network. As a freelancer, you don’t have an office full of people to keep you accountable, so create your own accountability.–Alissa
8. Build in extra time to let your writing “marinate.” Give yourself at least a day inbetween writing and editing.–Megan
9. Make a writing plan for the week on Sunday and then you have a daily task list to follow for success everyday.–Terri Forehand
10. If you want to become a full-time freelancer…then just do it. There is no greater motivation for success than having no other choice.–Erin Hill
11. Trust yourself. I believe each one knows, deep down, what’s right for them…and how to stretch. So trust yourself and go for it.–Anne Wayman
12. Don’t apply for every single job and pitch every publication out there. You’ll waste your time and energy on opportunities that don’t fit.–Brandi
13. Never stop learning. I set aside time every month to find a new site to subscribe to.–Karen
14. Be brave. You are the only thing you can control. Really. So focus on what you can do, what you need to do, to move yourself forward.–Kar
15. Never never NEVER give up. People will secretly want you to. They will sound concerned for your welfare. Smile politely and carry on.–Cate Morgan
16. Before you begin a project, get it in writing.–Candace Schuler
17. Care for yourself, because if you don’t, no one else will. It’s impossible to be a successful writer without your health.–Judy
18. My favorite tip is hanging over my project board by my desk: It is NOT personal! It is very hard sometimes when an article, idea, proposal or query is turned down. We just need to remember that those are not personal attacks on us.–Melody
19. I’ve learned to focus on writing about topics that I’m passionate about, or at the very least interested in. There’s nothing worse than trying to bang out a story you care nothing about, even though the publication might pay decently.–Sondi
20. Don’t waste time on assignments that pay practically nothing and that strangle the soul. I was sure I couldn’t survive without my income from content mills, but the truth is when I stopped writing for the mills, I had more time to seek out better-paying assignments. My income hasn’t suffered at all, and my confidence in myself as a writer has improved 100%.–Debra Stang

When I talk to successful freelance writers, I find we all have one thing in common.

It’s pretty simple — we have goals. We’re following a game plan for what we want to do with our writing career.

When I take on new writers in my mentoring program, my first questions are:

What is your goal for your freelance writing career? (Or, if you’re a blogger — what’s the goal of your blog?)

I find that lack of goals creates lack of momentum. The big problem with freelance writing is there’s no ‘boss’ standing over you saying, “Get 40 cold calls done this month!”

So you don’t.

Without goals, it’s easy to give in to fears about whether your writing cuts it, and not send that query letter, or make those business calls.

There’s also the chance to dither endlessly about what direction you plan to take. Will you only write for magazines? Write a novel? Target legal businesses? Many writers are overwhelmed by all the options, so they write nothing — or nothing that pays.

The change that happens when you have goals

I find when you start setting goals, there’s a shift in your mentality. You start to view your freelance writing business like a business. Which is what you have to do if you want it to pay your bills.

Setting goals creates deadlines — something freelance writers understand. Start making your own deadlines your top priority, over any current deadlines you have for others. In the long run, they’re even more important.

Setting goals doesn’t mean carving anything in stone. I’m always on the lookout for new opportunities that crop up, that might change my direction. If you’ve been trying one approach a long time and nothing’s happening, it may be time to try a new angle.

Stay flexible — but have a game plan to start.

The most important goals

Here are the three questions I like to ask writers about goals:

Where would you like to see your freelance-writing business five years from now?

One year from now?

Next month?

You need a big picture and a near-term picture. Then it’s time to break it down into a to-do list for this month. What, specifically, do you think you could realistically get accomplished in the next 30 days that would move your writing career forward?

I find the one-month span allows you to avoid overwhelm — after all, it’s only 30 days, so you can only do so much. It frees you to find small steps you can take to try a new marketing angle, get a writing project finished, send a query.

Ultimately, that’s the most important step to take — break down your freelance-writing dream into some actionable, simple steps you can accomplish right away. Then next month, do that again.

Keep doing it until you’re earning what you want.

If you have trouble sticking to it, find a writer’s group, a friend, or a mentor who will hold you accountable for meeting your goals.

You know what’s coming next:

What’s your goal for this month for your freelance writing business? Leave a comment and let us know.

If you enjoyed this post, consider subscribing. I send subscribers special offers only they can see, and I’m getting ready to do it again.

In recent weeks, I’ve heard a lot of writers confess their fears about taking the plunge into freelance writing. Today, we’re going to talk about something that’s even scarier.

It’s having a job.

Workplace experts have been watching how employers hire workers since the downturn began in 2008. Here’s their conclusion: Roles like writing are going to be done freelance in the future. Many of those jobs aren’t coming back as full-time gigs.

Freelancing is the new normal for writers.

While struggling to survive the downturn, many companies tried outsourcing. They liked it. Websites such as oDesk and Elance have made it easier to connect with freelancers, monitor their work, and pay them reasonable rates (or rock-bottom ones). This accelerated a trend that pretty much began the minute the Internet was invented. The fact is, tools exist now to make working remotely easy — Skype, Basecamp, email, PDFs, videoconferencing…it all makes it easy to plug use freelancers.

I spoke recently with a small-business expert, Steve King at Emergent Research. His firm’s estimate? Currently, 25 percent of design/writing/coding type jobs are being done freelance. By 2020, Emergent expects that figure to rise to 50 percent. That’s right — half of all the writing work will be done freelance, soon. Or, put another way: Twice as much freelance work will be available a decade from now.

If you’re wondering, King considers Emergent’s estimates conservative. Other industry pundits have forecast 75 percent of creative jobs being done freelance in future.

Which is really riskier?

Since 2008, I’ve watched friends of mine lose their jobs, get divorced, go bankrupt, have heart attacks from the stress, and lose their homes. Having all your income tied up to a single employer, we’ve learned, is actually very risky. That gives one company the power to devastate your family and destroy your lifestyle, overnight.

Finding another single, big fat job to replace the one you lost could take years, or may never happen. People who don’t know how to survive without sucking off the teat of Big Momma Corporation are facing radical changes in their quality of life.

By contrast, during the downturn, every editor I worked for either left or was fired from their job. All my gigs shifted around. But not all at the same time. I kept finding new clients to replace the old ones, because I’d learned how to market myself. Result: I lost gigs, but my income kept rising. My family life remained stable. I’m still living in the same house, eating out, sending my kids to camp, and putting away money for retirement.

After 12 years in staff-writing jobs, and now five as a freelancer, I can say I feel far more secure now than I did when I got only one paycheck instead of many smaller ones. I feel secure because I know how to find assignments now, no matter what. Also, my earning potential is unlimited, where at a job it was always capped at my salary. Maybe I could squeeze out a tiny raise each year, but that was it.

Still think freelancing is too scary? Here’s the reality:

Freelancing is the future.

The longer you hang on, fantasizing that things will go back the way they were, the more of a disadvantage you create for yourself in the marketplace. If you’re not freelancing now, you’re not out learning the vital entrepreneurial skills you will need to earn well in the years to come — skills like how to market and manage your freelance writing business.

I believe there’s never been a better time to learn how to be a successful freelancer. By getting started now, you’ll position yourself to gain experience, while many others are still clinging to their day jobs. You’ll be more established when more writers get laid off, and are scrambling to catch up.

How can you get started? Come find out at my upcoming Webinar, How to Break In and Earn Big as a Freelance Writer. Register by Sunday, Jan. 30, and you can enter to win one of four door prizes we’ll be offering, by providing one of the most interesting answers to the question on our registration form.

Prizes include:

• A free half-hour mini-mentoring session with me! ($50 value)

• Free copy of my 200+ page ebook, Make a Living Writing: The 21st Century Guide.

Come learn how to jump into the freelance game — hope to see  you there!

Photo via stock.xchng user brainloc