Hello friends! First, some personal news: I won a tennis tournament this weekend! Sure, it was a tiny, local little tournament, but a win’s a win! And as we always say in this newsletter, take time to celebrate your wins. (Also, lol, if you’re uh in Denver and looking for people to hit with until the weather turns, hi hello I’m right here!)

Anyway! Today we’re talking about what to do after wrapping an assignment. The work is done, and after weeks of reporting, writing, editing, working with your editor, hammering out the details, invoicing, promoting your story, and everything else that goes into an assignment, your work is now out in the world.

Woo! All that work you put in has finally paid off, and you got a (hopefully great) byline, a (hopefully great) paycheck, and/or published a story you were (hopefully) super passionate about. (Maybe even all three!) It’s time to savor the result of all your effort. You did it!

But once that exuberance (or relief?) wears off, it’s time to answer the more difficult question about that assignment: Was the outcome worth the input?

Getting commissioned and published is only the first half of the equation in building a profitable and sustainable freelance career — emphasis on sustainable. You’re building a business, after all, not just a string of gigs, so it’s important to recognize when parts of that business just aren’t working, even if they may be fun or interesting. Sometimes that tradeoff — whether the driving factor is time, finances, or emotions — just isn’t worth it. 

Here are some questions to ask yourself after every assignment.

Yes, rates generally suck, we all know that. But even the ones that appear decent may cost you more than you’re getting. Sometimes the time and effort it takes to put a project together far outweighs what you’ll eventually earn. Sometimes that publication or editor is just so difficult to deal with that ultimately there’s no rate in the world that would make you want to go through that again. Other times still, just getting a certain byline may pay dividends in ways other than money in your pocket.

Obviously you want to negotiate for the highest rate possible — here’s advice on how to do it — but you also need to take into account the full labor picture going into this assignment: reporting, transcribing, writing, editing, emailing, invoicing, tracking, chasing down payment, and so on. As we all know, track your actual hours worked for every story, then calculate what your real rate was.

(And while we’re at it: What were you paid for your last assignment? Add your rate to the FWT database here, I’ll be publishing an updated version very soon!)

A good editor and an editor who is a joy to work with are very often not the same thing. You may have found the best editor in the world who totally gets your style, voice, approach, vibe, and knows exactly how to improve your stories to make them shine. But if they make your life miserable, it’s rarely worth continuing to work with them.

Setting aside the “Are they a dick?” of it all (see below), the best editors who are also wonderful to work with not only make your story the best version of itself, but also show you exactly what they did and why they did it. You want an editor who is willing to take the time to invest in your growth and show you how to improve your work, not just an editor who will go in, change everything, and leave it at that.

Good editors make stories better; great editors make stories better and teach you how to do it yourself.

Stop working with editors who treat you poorly! A simple questionnaire for you:

Obviously, the answer to all of those (minus that last one, of course) should be yes. If it’s not, dump the editor and tell all your friends what it was like working with them.

Don’t shrug off the importance of doing work that makes you feel satisfied, fulfilled, proud, and motivated. What’s the point of any of this if it just makes you miserable and suffocated? There are lots of less stressful ways to make money than freelance journalism, so if you’re lucky enough to be in the financial situation where you can turn down work you hate, it’s worth the tradeoff every time.

On top of tracking money amounts, direct labor, and the mechanics of building a story, also track the energy data around your work as a part of your process so you can evaluate the whole picture in your postmortem. Some assignments are difficult but in a way that’s engaging and inspiring. Some are difficult because you just hate the work/editor/process/etc. Sometimes you end up with five fresh ideas you can’t wait to pitch around. Maybe getting that prestige byline was worth the emotional torture you went through to get it.

This is all useful information to have! While obviously there are some paychecks or bylines that will never be worth the emotional sacrifice, there are countless nonfinancial and career factors that play into everything we do. Because again, you’re building a sustainable business, not a collection of one-off assignments.

(All that said: Always remember that no paycheck or byline is worth your dignity, and it’s never the wrong time to fire an abusive editor.)

It’s pointless to think about this stuff if we’re not going to grow from it, so how will you use all of this data moving forward? Maybe next time — with this client or another — you want to be clearer about scope. Or you realize that you loved this new line of reporting and want to dive in headfirst. Or maybe you found your Golden Editor and want to hang on forever.

Whatever it is, use all of this self-reflection and introspection to make your career, and life, a little more enjoyable and manageable. The goal here isn’t to beat yourself up, it’s to sharpen your game and suss out the patterns you never notice until you take a step back and look at the whole landscape.

And maybe get paid a little more along the way.

Good luck out there!