Quitters Are Winners

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Quitters are winners.

It's true. It's better to quit than to stay the course.

Especially if you’re running a one-person writing business.

Here’s why…

It was August 2019.

I had just quit my 9 to 5 a few months before. That was my first big "quit."

But, that's not what this story's about.

My wife and I were in Thailand at the time.

We were quickly running out of money.

And, we moved to Thailand temporarily to keep our expenses low (as I built my writing business up).

But… we had burned through our savings.

We were living on credit cards.

And I had only made about $1,000 a month as a freelance writer at this point.

Something we were stoked about... But it just wasn’t enough to survive yet.

I even had a recurring client for 4 months.

Every month, he’d assign me articles to write for his niche sites.

But, the pay was so low.

I was getting about $20-40 per article.

Eventually I landed a few other clients on top of him.

And.. they paid a higher rate.

I had to make a decision…

Do I continue working with him at the same rate and RISK running out of money?

Or…

Do I let him know I’ve increased my rates and RISK losing him as a client?

At the time his work made up about 50% of my income.

Eventually, I realized I’d have to raise my rates if I was going to reach the next level in my freelancing journey.

I sent him the email.

And held my breath.

DING

He replied.

I couldn't believe it.

“Hey Brandon, I’m sorry but we can’t pay a higher rate at the time. Best of luck with your writing.”

My heart sank into my chest.

I just lost my main client.

He didn’t accept the rate.

I’m not going to lie, I was scared.

What do I do?

Do I sheepishly crawl back and tell him, “Okay we’ll keep that rate”?

Or do I move on?

When I sent that email, I had already set it in my heart that I was ready to “quit.”
I had to.

Our bank account was still in the red every month.

I didn’t have much time to add on another client.

I was stuck on this freelance hamster wheel.

So...I made the decision.

I quit.

And, quitting turned out to be the right decision.

All of a sudden, I had way more free time to land higher paying clients.

Which meant I had a chance to earn more for every piece of content I wrote.

The result?

A few weeks later, I went from making $1,000 per month to $5,000 per month. And a few months after that, I hit $8,000.

And this was all in my first year as a freelance writer.

So, how do you know when to quit?

If you:

1. Are undercharging for your services

2. Have leverage (like other clients)

3. And (most importantly) you’re providing a ton of value

How do you actually do it though?

Peacefully, and respectfully inform your clients of a rate raise (in the right context).

There are nuances to this rule of course. But the principle is — you need to do everything you can to level up, and sometimes that means raising your rates.

Sure, you might start your writing journey grinding out $20 blog posts like me.

But, you shouldn’t stay there.

There will be growing pains along the way.

Tough conversations.

But, it’s all part of the journey.

Since then, I’ve been able to 10-50x what I charge for that type of work.

“Quitting” your current situation might lead to the breakthrough you need to make your writing business a success.

Whether it’s quitting a client, or quitting your 9 to 5 to give you the time to double down on your writing business.

Just a disclaimer: I’m not encouraging you to abandon your clients or be a jerk. There’s a difference between knowing when it’s time to present a client with a rate increase (if it’s fair) and being disloyal.

And, not everyone deserves to just charge more.

More time with a client doesn't automatically mean you deserve a higher rate.

Better work deserves a higher rate.

You should only raise your rates if your writing is better than when you first started with a client and you’re getting them better results.

Maybe that means your work is:

• More persuasive

• More informative

• More entertaining

• Generating more sales (increased conversions)

• Getting more reach (more traffic)

• Creating better engagement (increased view time, opens, clicks)

• Jam-packed with better research

• More design-friendly with better photos, graphics, videos.

If you're providing more valuable work than when you first agreed on a set rate, it might be time to reassess.

And, be willing to quit (if necessary).

Sometimes that’s what it takes to reach the next level.

-Brandon “I’m a quitter” Storey

P.S. Are you ready to take your copywriting or ghostwriting business to the next level?

My May mentorship is starting soon.

I’m going to be working 1:1 with 4 writers to fast-track them to $5-10k/month.

Right now, 3 people have already paid and are ready to start May 1st.

I have one spot left.

If you’re interested, reply with the word “waitlist” now.