Ready for a raise? If you’re a freelance writer, getting one can be a challenge.

After all, as freelancers, we’re trading hours for dollars and there are only so many hours in a day that you can spend on projects and assignments. Sure, you can work 15 to 18 hours a day instead of 8 or 10, but that’s not really giving yourself a raise, now, is it? That’s just working overtime. If you’re like me, you’ll quickly discover that all work and no play makes you dull, less creative, and absent from living your life. Work you love suddenly becomes work you hate and you have no one to blame but you. You cheat yourself, your family and/or friends, and your clients from having someone who is fully engaged.

If you want to give yourself a raise that doesn’t include slaving over an already overused keyboard, it’s time to start treating your writing business as a real business. Here are three small steps you can take to scale up your income by scaling up your freelance writing business:

Use vendors

Just because you serve clients doesn’t mean that you can’t also be a client. Figure out the time-eating tasks that slow you down and suck the profit right out of your rates, then find someone else to do them.

For example, I tape all the interviews I conduct for my projects. I spent years transcribing those tapes myself. It finally dawned on me that the smart “business” thing to do was to hire a freelance transcriber to do them. Instead of spending whatever my hourly rate was at the time on transcribing tapes, it was a much better business decision to hire someone who did it for a fraction of my rate. This freed up my time to take on an additional project or two that, in turn, increased my income without increasing the hours spent working.

The tasks you hire out don’t have to be project related. Do you hate doing the accounting? Hire it out. Do you waste time running errands to the post office, office supply store or playing messenger? Hire it out. If you can hire someone to do something for less than your hourly rate… hire it out.

Find collaborators and subcontractors

Do you lose business because you’re a great writer but a lousy designer? Do you have to turn down a highly lucrative project with a short turnaround time because you already have a full schedule for the month? Has a client who loves your work asked you to do something outside your expertise and you had to decline the work? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, it’s time to build a collaborator and subcontractor network.

Freelance writers willingly accept that they are sole service providers. Yet, when a client likes and trusts you to do great work, having to say “no” chips away at that relationship. You may unwittingly hand over your hard-earned top-of-the-mind position to someone who offers the client what you cannot.

Your writing talents can easily be enhanced by the talents of others. You will become more successful, be able to take on more projects and give yourself a raise just for having a network of complementary talent to help carry an expanded workload. Designers, photographers and even other writers who specialize in something you do not are great relationships to find, nurture and solidify. As a bonus, those collaborators may reciprocate to fill their clients’ unmet needs. Just remember that your reputation with your clients is on the line so take enough time to choose your partnerships wisely.

Increase value

Well-deserved raises in a traditional work environment come with the increased value, experience and knowledge of the employee. Writers can increase value, too, which allows you to increase rates. For example, rates usually go up when you switch from being a generalist to being a specialist. Instead of promoting yourself as a freelance writer who does a little bit of everything, promote yourself as a specialist if you have above average knowledge and experience in a certain industry or type of writing. Or if you can position yourself in a consultative role or provide project management for a creative assignment using your subcontractor network, your value to the client skyrockets and so can your rate.

When you choose to be a freelance writer, the future of the business is in your hands. So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and grab yourself a raise!