Pop Quiz: Jennie Phipps
Today I chat with the proprietress of Freelance Success, one of the most helpful resources for freelancers out there. For 10 years she was the top editor of daily newspapers, including seven years working for Gannett Co. Inc., and currently freelances for such publications as Television Week, Health Day and Newsweek International.
Based on your experience as a newspaper editor, what’s the biggest mistake freelancers tend to make when pitching to them?
In the last few years, I’ve worked as a freelance project manager for several companies and commissioned freelancers. When I get responses to ads, I think the thing that surprises me the most is that the letters of application often don’t persuade me that the person can do the work.
For instance, I was recently searching for business writers and got lots of responses from people who sent me clips and lists of publications for which they had written that were wholly unrelated to business. I guess their thinking is that if you can write about one thing you can write about anything. But so much of the available work these days is specialized and to ask an editor to take a huge leap of faith about your credentials is asking a lot.
How did you come to found Freelance Success?
I didn’t start Freelance Success — it was begun as a print newsletter 12 years ago. I took it over in 2000 when it was partly e-mail. Since then, I’ve emphasized its virtual community aspects and eliminated the paper.
I personally came in contact with Freelance Success about eight years ago when I had been freelancing a couple of years and felt isolated and a little stymied about what I could do next. Business-wise I was doing OK – I was paying the bills – but I wanted more interesting work and I wanted to make enough money to go on vacation. Someone online pointed me toward Freelance Success and I became a convert. I credit the people there – some of whom are still with me – with showing me how to make this business really work for me.
I decided to give owning Freelance Success a try when the previous owner decided to give it up. It’s never going to make me a wealthy woman, but it’s satisfying because I still turn to people here for inspiration and advice and I get a huge sense of community, which is practically the only thing I miss about an office job.
What’s the most helpful thing you’ve learned from writers on the forum of late?
There have been a series of really useful discussions on our corporate writing forum about pricing that has taught me a lot and helped me negotiate a better project fee from a really good and long-time customer who, ultimately, thanked me for helping her understand how to fairly set contractor fees. I think it was a win-win all around.
What do you think are the most important lessons new freelancers can learn about how to network and communicate with their fellow writers?
The variety of work people do continues to amaze me. Anybody who wants to make a living in this business will benefit from talking to a variety of professional writers to learn who their customers are and what they do for them. When I started freelancing 10 years ago, I assumed that I would write for magazines I saw on the newsstand, but after years of being part of the Freelance Success community, I know that there is more satisfying work and better money to be made elsewhere and that while having some consumer magazine credentials is valuable in many circles, it isn’t the be all and end all of a freelance business.
What’s the best business tip you’ve learned this year?
The value of leaving on a high note. I’ve been rewarded in spades this year by opportunities that came from people who I worked with previously in circumstances where the business either went south or just stopped offering the kind of work I wanted to do. Our parting was friendly and when things cycled round, they remembered me. Once in awhile, when things aren’t going well, I’m tempted to say things I know I’ll regret later. This year has been a good reminder to yell at poor Spike instead.
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