I’ve been in the freelancing game for a while now. I have seen the content marketing industry go from nothing to millions. And I’ve gone from making $5 in a month to getting paid hundreds of dollars for one blog.
I’ve also been coaching other writers for some time as well. I’m fascinated (and honestly baffled) by the fact that some writers barely get by while others, like myself, are doing quite well.
It’s not just writers who are having trouble getting paid either. I see it all the time with other types of businesses as well. Here are some of my observations as to why these business owners aren’t getting paid and still struggling.
They are targeting the wrong people.
One of the biggest issues I see with small business owners is they target the wrong people. They’ve never evolved out of working with small fish clients even though they know it doesn’t get them paid.
What’s even more interesting is I’ve seen a common excuse come up multiple times. Many of them resist large clients because they feel like large companies are evil while mom and pop shops are somehow not.
Look, you have no control over what companies do. Also, mom and pops can be just as evil and on top of that irritating if they aren’t paying you. On top that, you can’t make a blanket statement and assume that because a client has a large budget that they are somehow bad.
I’ve noticed that my colleagues and I stopped working for clients with small budgets a long time ago and that’s a been a big part of our success. If we were still targeting clients with no money we wouldn’t be able to pay our bills.
They don’t have consistent brands.
Another common issue I see among business owners who aren’t getting paid is they don’t have consistent brands. In fact, they hardly ever market themselves, period.
I know for a fact that my colleagues and I can command larger sums of money because we’ve proven that we are experts in our fields. We’ve done this by building social media followings and consistently putting content out there.
They don’t have multiple streams of income.
Do you want to know what is saving my butt post-Hurricane Irma? Besides having emergency savings, it’s having multiple ways to get paid.
I have money coming in from course sales, affiliate sales and clients. A huge mistake I see business owners making is they rely on just one form of income. Or, even worse, they just rely on one client or one big project. This is detrimental to getting paid because you’re screwed when the project ends.
They don’t have confidence.
The most successful business owners I know are those that are confident. Even if they are just starting out, the sheer fact that they are super confident ensures they are getting paid.
People buy confidence. If you don’t believe in what you are doing no one else will either.
Final Thoughts
Getting paid doesn’t need to be difficult. You need to be in alignment mentally and be smart with where your money is coming from.
