One of the more dispiriting aspects of being a freelancer is waiting for our marketing efforts to pay off in the form of paid work. But there is a secret to not going off the deep end if no one seems to be returning your phone calls, answering your emails, or responding to your blog.
The rule is this. Simply don’t be attached to the outcome of your marketing efforts.
Now you probably have heard this one before, but perhaps …
My friend and colleague Ian Griffin has written a first class article on the factors to consider when hiring a freelance Annual Report writer.
It can be found here. …
Throughout your freelance career, from time to time, you will be asked to work for free. Trust me on this. You will. Before you consider any such requests, you have to set up some ground rules for yourself. This is my take on the subject.
First, if you undervalue your work, you are telling the world that it has little worth. And if you give it away, you are giving it zero value. In the first instance, you will attract …
In no particular order here are 12 strategies that can lead to more money in your pocket from more clients.
1. Don’t fight your client on process, but push back on product. It is counter-productive to fight your client on their process. If they want to micro-manage every word, or if they are so hands off that you are spending a lot of extra effort tracking down information, remember it is their dime. And it is all billable time. Do …
If the U.S. economy tanks, I mean really tanks big time, how will that affect the lot of freelance writers? No matter where they live.
In the normal ebb and flow of economies this is what usually happens. In bad times the first thing corporations do is downsize – that wonderful euphemism for throwing their workers on the trash heap with little thought to the human side of the equation. They have to preserve shareholder value don’t you know. Fools …
I know I have talked about this before. And I know you have read this from other marketing people. I am talking about the mantra that says “in the service sector, people do business with people they like and trust.”
Let me give you an example.A few months ago I got a call from a senior executive who wanted some help with a convocation speech he was to give. It was strictly a word of mouth referral.
Now of course …
A few weeks ago – at about 10 pm on a Thursday – I got a semi-frantic email from a semi-frantic consultant who was due to give a speech on Saturday – and “would I be free to give him a hand with editing his draft?” He would have it to me by three or four Friday afternoon.
It was one of those instances where I had to make a fast decision. I was working on another speech for a …
When I talk to my students about putting together their portfolios, I talk of course about including an appropriate functional (rather than chronological) resume, testimonials, business cards, and work samples. All assembled in a spiffy looking folder of some sort. I regret to say that almost as important as the quality of the words you cobble together – is how good they look as a package. It sounds absurd I know. But as in most things in life – first …