Freelancer Profile: Kelci Lucier
Kelci Lucier
Boise, Idaho
clarendonavenue.com
Q: Tell me a little about your freelance background (how you got started, how long you did it, why you moved on from it)
A: I got started freelancing—I’m an English major and I had been working in higher education—and I was being assigned a lot of projects in my jobs that were not part of my job description, which is normally fine, but it was sort of getting to the point where people were coming to me as a writing and editing resource on top of my job and were then offering to pay me on the side to proofread their dissertation or whatever. Which is very flattering, but it created this tension of “Can I do this?” And I already have my other job, and when I go home I don’t want to do more of your work. So how do you work this out? But I also really liked it, and I was a little burned out form the student affairs crisis response and that kind of dynamic. Realistically, I was married and had a spouse whose salary would help. I wasn’t completely on my own, and that is a privilege that I will acknowledge up front. I was not in a situation where I could just not make money, but I did have a safety net through both our shared savings and his paycheck, was reliable, so given all those factors, it felt like it was worth trying to see what would happen and if it would work.
“One should not charge hourly because at some point you should be able to figure out how much time a project will take and someone is not just paying for your time, they’re paying for all of your experience. ”
I took a month or two to figure out things behind the curtain—what I wanted to do and what services I wanted to offer and just did a lot of research. From there I talked to people and during that time I built a website and got business cards and a logo and all that internal stuff. And then from there I just let my network know, and I think that’s probably something I should mention. Launching as a freelancer without a network would be extremely challenging. Because I could send out e-mails to contacts I had from working already for ten years and say, “Here’s my expertise, here’s my area, you know my work, please reach out to me.” I don’t know how I would have gotten business and referrals without that network.
A key part of freelancing is you can’t just go out and say “I can do anything,” because that doesn’t build confidence with the client. You don’t want someone to sell that. The clients look for expertise and skills that other people can’t offer them.
I had two phases of my freelance life. In the first phase I knew I could make money by offering editing and proofreading, so I did that, but I did not love it. So I also wanted to offer freelance writing and education expertise, but that took longer to build. So the editing and proofreading paid the bills. It wasn’t intellectually challenging for me, and I felt like I just cleaned up other people’s stuff. Which has a function, but doing that eight hours a day…
The education and writing was more my passion, but I knew that was going to take time. That was more I needed to pitch myself and my services, whereas the proofreading and editing I already had a pretty strong reputation for.
I wanted to generate my own content and do more of the journalist side. I started little with the relationships I had. I would write newsletters for universities or fundraising pieces, but all those jobs came through my network. And then I could use those to pitch out and say “Hey I’ve written for Stanford University and the University of San Francisco, and I can write for you too!” So some of that was people contacting me, but a lot of it was me selling myself. Then the second phase of my career I applied for a position—it was About.com at the time it was owned by the New York Times, and they were looking for a college life expert to write online articles. That gave me the platform and the New York Times company name. It was pretty cool. That cracked things open because it gave me exposure and then people could find me online and then they asked me to write other things, and then that’s how I got my book deal and the TV things. It all snowballed from there.
Q: What do you wish you would have known when you started freelancing?
A: One should not charge hourly because at some point you should be able to figure out how much time a project will take and someone is not just paying for your time they’re paying for all of your experience. It’s not “I am a human who can function for three hours on your project.” It’s “I am a human who is very skilled, I’m excellent at this, I have academic training, I have professional training, here’s how much it’s going to cost you.” And then you as the freelancer have to figure out the timing and what it’s worth to you. I got pushback, but I said, “I like to focus my attention on the project, not time tracking. I don’t want to have to report all of this to you, I don’t want to be negotiating half hours. Here’s the cost for the project. I will deliver it on time at that cost.”
“Putting yourself out there sounds vague, but a mentor told me one time, ‘Don’t exclude yourself from a job, other people have that responsibility.’”
Q: What are three key pieces of advice for students considering freelancing?
A: Three key pieces of advice are:
Exploring your network is a good idea. Putting yourself out there sounds vague, but a mentor told me one time “Don’t exclude yourself from a job, other people have that responsibility.” You can also send cold e-mails—e-mail people and say “Here’s what I offer.” Just try it! I would think “If I knew that someone would pay me $10,000 to send that initial e-mail, would I do it? Of course!” And another option is Informational interviews. I found them helpful because it’s part of the network piece and as an introvert I hate networking, and I’d rather sit with someone at a coffee shop than at a cocktail party where I just want to run away. Sometimes it seems like nothing, but sometimes it’s everything, and you don’t know until you have that conversation. Six months from now they may call you with a job.
Have a plan. I gave myself a six-month plan. After six months, I need to figure out if this is going to work or not, and this is how I’m going to tell. There’s always more you can do, so at some point you have to be able to call the question either way.
Understand the value of your work. It’s so easy to accept the offer of exposure. It’s so easy to just help a friend out. It’s so easy to do something for a non-profit. And you can do that, but understand that that can only be a certain percentage of your business model.
Q: What were the best parts and the biggest challenges?
A: The best part was the freedom. The freedom to really plan my day. You still have to keep your clients happy, but there’s a ton of freedom. The flipside is that there’s a lot more of restriction. For eight years I never went on vacation without bringing my computer. When I was pregnant I had to plan around it. There’s no health insurance, there’s no retirement, there are no sick days. If you have something to do and you have the stomach flu, there’s no one to call in. It’s the expected pros and cons. At the same time, it was good for my general and professional self-confidence. To be like, “Hey man, Katie Couric just called me!” It was good to go from not knowing if I could do it and hoping to make $100 my first month to, “Wow, I’m getting flown out to New York City to be on TV!”
Q: Can you recommend any resources for people wanting to start freelancing?
A: Online is a huge resource. I learned a ton by joining freelance organizations. The Editorial Freelance Association had a ton of online links and articles and people you could talk to and rate pages you can refer to clients. I also joined the Education Writer’s Association and they have an awesome listserv and great resources with conferences that have scholarships—they literally paid for my airfare, hotel and registration, and I just asked It was one of the best conferences I’d been to. I could network and meet reporters and hear speakers, and it didn’t cost me anything. I don’t think I ever spent more than $100 on one of those groups, but the benefits were fantastic.
The best class I took was with Debra Gordon called “The Business of Freelancing: Getting to Six Figures.” That class had the best freelance practicing tips of anything I took and my income shot up after taking that class.