Yesterday I got up at 5 am with every intention of being done with one of my client's writing assignments by 1 pm at the latest. I worked as fast and as hard as I could. But, by the time I was closed to finished with it, it was nearly 6 pm and I had to stop.
I started really evaluating my time and is this even worth it. The thing about freelancing is that you don't always know how to price things. You might assume you can complete one client's project in the same amount of time as another client. Most of my clients on Upwork are SEO or SEO writing clients. On top of freelancing on Upwork, I am an Albuquerque and Santa Fe SEO consultant. So, I have my own clients too.
Plus, I do web design. I go back and forth about which I like more my Albuquerque web design business or my SEO business. I have sort of an addiction to SEO. I like it because it takes strategy. I write a lot and I get so excited when clients email me and tell me they got a lead from Google. Plus, I am competitive. I am determined to take the other Albuquerque SEO companies by surprise. I work harder than most people and I am really good at content strategy.
Web design is different. I have a little more fun with it. I am really trying to get more feminine web design clients. I like making websites for ladies because I get to be creative and have fun. But, I think there is more potential with SEO. And I really do like it.
What frustrates me the most is my low-paying SEO clients and some of the work I get on Upwork. Clients I find through my own website tend to pay better, although they are not necessarily less demanding. Upwork clients usually find Upwork because they know a little about SEO. Upwork is like the main freelancer site for SEO work. So, I sometimes like it better because at least the clients I get there know what SEO is and expect content that's written for Google. But, because they are more educated on SEO, they can also be more demanding and nitpicky. And what drives me the craziest is they all think they are the expert. A lot of them haven't actually done SEO as a business, they've just taken a course or watched some YouTube videos.
Those of us who do it for a living have done experiments, have tested different theories, and understand the work involved. Some of my clients expect me to write high-quality content (that takes several hours to write) but only want to pay you $25 for it. You sorta get what you pay for. You can have cheap or you can have quality, but expecting someone to write top-notch, well-researched content, well you're not going to get Pulitzer prize-worthy content for $25.
Anyway, I decided to blog today. This is pretty cathartic even if this blog doesn't get much traffic.