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What to Ask When Hiring a Ghostwriter

September 1, 2020 by Cathy Stucker

Hiring a ghostwriter for your business is the easiest way to gain more time in your busy schedule so you can focus on coaching your clients, attracting new clients, or creating that signature program you’ve been longing to complete for years. However, finding the right ghostwriter for your needs can be a time-consuming journey, one which requires you to ask a lot of questions and be clear on what tasks you need completed.

Here are 5 key questions you should ask when hiring a ghostwriter:

1. What experience do you have?

Anyone can put a website online and claim to be a ghostwriter so you need to play detective here and decipher if this candidate truly has the experience or if they’re a scam artist. Any professional writer should be willing to supply references and samples of their work. At the very least, check out their blog and read a few posts. Are the thoughts clear? Are the grammar and syntax correct? You can even go so far as to copy and paste part of the blog post into Google or Copyscape to check for plagiarism (which, obviously, is a big no no in the online and real life world).

2. Do you have a specialty genre?

In general, writers can write on a variety of topics, from traveling with toddlers to deep sea fishing, but ultimately you want a ghostwriter who truly knows your business inside and out and who can convey your professional voice through every word of copy. Do you really want to train a travel writer about the ins and outs of a coaching business? Do you want give a fashion writer the assignment of writing follow up emails to your clients? Chances are these specialty writers wouldn’t apply for this type of project anyway but it never hurts to ask. Otherwise, you may get charged for many hours of research when a writer who has small business or coaching experience could write off the tops of their heads.

3. Is English your native language?

This question is not meant to discriminate in the least; it’s simply meant to qualify candidates. After all, if this ghostwriter is meant to portray your voice throughout the website copy or in your signature program, it stands to reason the writer should have an expertise in your native tongue, right? You’re outsourcing the writing for a reason…to save you time. If you choose a writer who is fluent in another language, you run the risk of having to do a lot of editing so the copy sounds like you instead of someone who is still trying to master the nuances of the English language. There are certainly bilingual and multilingual writers who can write well in English but the question is worth asking so there are no surprises. That being said, I have worked with some really good writers who English was not their first language. So, ask, and then test them out.

4. What is your fee?

This question can be tricky simply because ghostwriting fees vary tremendously! To prepare for this question, it benefits you to know what tasks you’re looking to outsource right away. The fees to write individual blog posts will differ considerably compared with ghostwriting a specialty program. The same for ghostwriting an ebook versus rewriting your website copy. Do your own research ahead of time and determine a budget for each of the tasks so you can also approach this question from a project fee and see who’s willing to work for that fee. A word of warning, however: you get what you pay for. Don’t simply go for the cheapest ghostwriter you can find. You’ll likely get lots of mistakes or need to hold their hand while they run everything by you for approval.

5. What is your turnaround time?

Keep in mind that ghostwriters have multiple clients, much like you have multiple coaching clients, so it’s unfair and unreasonable to expect assignments to be completed in 24 hours. Another question to ask here is do they have a rush fee if you do need something turned around faster. This is another time when having a calendar of tasks will benefit you because you can then discuss your first deadline with the candidates and ask who is able to complete it by then.

Your Personal Ghostwriting Team

If you find a personal ghostwriter is out of your budget at the moment or it’s just too darned much hassle, take advantage of the personal ghostwriting team at CoachGlue.com and all of the done-for-you content they create. ALL of the content you purchase from CoachGlue can be edited, your name put on it, your website and contact info added, your personal case studies added…it’s all yours to do what you wish. They offer many packages to suit your needs and this is a great way to experiment with outsourcing your writing. They’re available to help you move ahead in your business! From done-for-you blog posts to entire workshops, they’ve got you covered.

Filed Under: Productivity and Time Management, Running Your Business, Writing and Publishing Tagged With: building a team, delegating, ghostwriter, ghostwriting

100% of Nothing

April 11, 2017 by Cathy Stucker

What would it be worth to you to receive a steady stream of new customers with little or no effort on your part? Would you be willing to pay 10% of the revenue they generate? 20%? 50%? Or do you believe that you can’t afford to pay anything?

During a recent discussion, I was surprised that people said they could not afford to ‘give up’ 20% in commissions to reach new customers. If you have more work than you can handle, that might make sense. However, most of the people who take this position do so because they think it is ‘not fair’ that someone else would get a percentage of the money they believe is theirs. My question is: Would you rather have 100% of nothing, or a smaller percentage of something? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Marketing, Running Your Business Tagged With: commissions, referrals

Time Is Money–to Your Customers and to You

March 20, 2017 by Cathy Stucker

Will your customers spend more money if it saves them time?

With all of us feeling more pressed for time these days, it is likely that your customers are making decisions about where they spend their money based on convenience. Yes, price and quality are important, but time has become an important part of our buying decisions. Customers are more willing to do business with companies that save them time, even if it costs them more money.

When I had more time than money, I was willing to spend time to save money. These days I find myself less and less willing to do so. I will pay more if it saves me time–and aggravation.

How does this affect your business? To get and keep customers make it easy for them to do business with you. And don’t be afraid to charge premium prices if you deliver convenience.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Customer Service, Pricing, Running Your Business

Why Doing It Yourself Can Cost More

February 23, 2017 by Cathy Stucker

Should you hire a professional or do it yourself? The answer may not be as clear as you think.

I recently heard someone say that they would not pay $150 an hour or more for professional services. They claimed that all the information you need to do the work yourself is available online, so there is no reason to pay such “outrageous” fees.

We are not talking about do-it-yourself brain surgery here. The fact is that there are many professional fields where the average person could probably do the work themselves, rather than pay rates of $100, $200 or more per hour. So why pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to someone else for work you could do yourself?

Believe it or not, paying the professional may save you money. Here’s why. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Running Your Business, Working Smarter

Find a Job You Love and Never Work Again

January 22, 2017 by Cathy Stucker

find-a-job-you-love
more animals

It isn’t necessarily as easy as the kitty in the photo would have you believe, but it is possible to make a living doing work you love. It takes ingenuity and planning to make your dream career happen, though.

Start by asking yourself what you really want to do. The answer may not be as obvious as you first think. One client told me that he loved to surf, and his dream was to open a surf shop. At least until I asked him this: “Imagine that it is a beautiful day and the waves are cresting just right. A great day to surf. Where are you?” He paused for a moment and answered, “Uh, behind the counter at the surf shop.” Bingo! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Running Your Business Tagged With: career, passion, work

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