Category Archives: Running the Biz

Ed Gandia

#268: Master the Fundamentals

Every profession, hobby, sport or other worthwhile endeavor has its own set of fundamentals. Fundamentals we must master if we want to excel in that area. But fundamentals are often boring and difficult. So when we’re starting out—or …
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Ed Gandia

When You Forget to Talk Money

A coaching client of mine recently faced a dilemma. She had a call with a CEO who wanted her to create some content and help them with content marketing strategy. After their chat, my client wrote up a …
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Ed Gandia

#266: Give Me 20

One of my favorite things is to tackle big challenges. Don’t get me wrong: I’d rather have things be easier than harder, given the choice. But there’s nothing like a big, complex challenge to get the creativity …
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Ed Gandia

Should You Throttle Back or Step Up Your Marketing?

Should you overdo your marketing and just deal with the overflow if it happens? Or should you throttle back, so you come in below your capacity? Most writers play it safe and throttle back. But usually, …
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Ed Gandia

#265: Should You Post Your Fees?

For as long as I can remember, writers and marketing professionals have debated whether they should—or should not—post their fees on their website. They worry that if they post their fees, they’ll scare off prospective customers. But …
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Ed Gandia

#264: How the Right Music Can Make You a More Focused and Productive Writer

If you’ve been listening to my podcast show for a while, you know I don’t use it to promote specific products. We get those kinds of pitches several times a week, but we always say no. That’s …
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Ed Gandia

Don’t Hang on to Bad Clients Because You Need the Money

Do you have a client who’s difficult to work with? Maybe they’re constantly violating your boundaries. Or have ridiculous expectations. Or don’t pay on time—ever. Or maybe you just hate the work. It’s become dull and boring, …
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Ed Gandia

#263: You Have to Trust: Thoughts on Transformative Ideas, Detachment and Inspired Action

When I look back at my career over the past three decades, some important themes emerge. One is how I react when confronted with a new idea. Unfortunately, I spent many years shooting down great ideas. Somehow, I …
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Ed Gandia

How to Quote a Miscellaneous Editing Project

What do you do when a client asks you to quote on a mixed bag of project work that includes some editing? One of my coaching clients recently faced this situation. Her client asked how much …
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Ed Gandia

#262: How to Set the Right Client Expectations from the Very Start

You start working with a client. And almost immediately, you realize it’s a mistake. The client starts asking for things that are way out of scope. Or they’re setting timelines that are wildly unreasonable. Ugh! Ever been …
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Ed Gandia

How Do You Recover From Underpricing a Writing Project?

What do you do when you goof up in pricing a project? And I mean REALLY goof up! Hopefully, this doesn’t happen often. But it can happen. And it happened to a coaching client of mine recently. A …
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Ed Gandia

#260: You Don’t Have to Answer Your Prospects’ and Clients’ Questions Right Away

Too often, writers feel pressure to respond to questions from clients and prospects . . . even when they don’t have enough information to respond adequately. Questions such as: How much do you charge for X? Can …
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Ed Gandia

A Powerful Way to Engage More Prospects … and Turn More of Them Into Clients

It sometimes seems like the stars have to align to land a new client. Think about it. Four things have to happen at the same time: The prospective client has to have a problem. They have …
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Ed Gandia

#258: Why You Should Trust Your Sixth Sense When Qualifying Prospects

Qualifying your prospects is important. So is understanding your ideal client avatar ... and knowing what questions to ask them. But most important of all is having the discernment to know which prospect is going to work …
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Ed Gandia

What Should You Do When You Have TOO Much Work?

The thought of being booked solid (and even beyond booked solid) sounds awesome. And it is awesome …  until you’re in that position for few weeks or months at a time. Which is ironic. Because you used …
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