MISTAKES: I've made a few

A recently acquired friend and I have lunch periodically. Both of us spent our careers in public relations, with a lot of writing as part of the job. Now that we're seniors (what we used to call "old people"), we're navigating the waters of being useful – and adding a few coins to our retirement income.

She's taken on the task of completing a writing project she began many years ago, and we talk frequently about that project and her desire to do more writing work. Despite her wealth of experience and excellent credentials, she's finding it a challenge to break into the freelance world.

I can relate. Despite having freelanced part time for a great deal of my working life, I found it tough going when I took the leap into full-time freelance editing as a retiree, and I made a lot of mistakes in the beginning. I discovered that you can't swing a dead cat without hitting someone who has hung out their shingle (OK, their website), saying they're a "qualified" editor. (Based on some of their social media posts, their qualifications are dubious at best.)

But the average person-on-the-street seeking editing services may not be savvy enough to know the difference between someone with boatloads of hands-on experience and someone who did a two-week online course and got a certificate that proclaims them ready to take on any and all editing jobs.

Eager to get work, any work, those newbies often significantly undercut professional rates to build their credentials, and those less-than-savvy customers seeking editing services are lured by those pennies-per-page offerings.

One of the first things I learned, something newbies aren't taught in that certification course, is to vet your customers. To spare my writing friend some freelance angst, I shared with her a few disasters from my early days – like the client who stiffed me, claiming it was obvious that I hadn't read a single word of his manuscript, as well as the one who got put into time-out (no new jobs until a long-past-due invoice was paid in full) – that could've been avoided if I'd done due diligence before taking them on as clients.

I also made the mistake of letting clients dictate payment schedules, deadlines and other terms; that was evidence of my naivete as a freelancer. It took me a while to realize that I was running a business of one and that I needed to act like it was a business, regardless of size. I learned to formalize my business practices and policies, which helped me better serve my clients – and myself.

Another thing I learned as a full-timer was not to lowball my rates. That was a mistake I didn't make. Potential clients get a lot of expertise and experience when they hire me, and that doesn't come cheap. But you get what you pay for. When I started out, my rates were cheaper than they are now, but they've always been in the median range for my services and experience. (I do research on salary studies to ensure I'm not undercharging. Or overcharging, for that matter.)

I'm hoping my friend will be able to move into a writing gig successfully without making the same mistakes I did. I'll help any way I can.