What’s on the iPod: 5 Years Time by Noah and the Whale
I don’t know why it feels like March was shorter than February, but there you go. This month’s assessment raced up on me — so much so I missed it entirely. But we’re not going to overlook it. That woudn’t be helpful, would it?
For writers new to the blog, we go through this little exercise every month. We add up our totals (mine is total invoices sent, though some writers base it on total checks collected — you choose) and report it right here. It’s amazing how this little exercise keeps your focus on your writing and earning goals. It makes a huge difference to your marketing when you know you have to check in every month.
So let’s get to it. Here’s what my month looked like:
Queries:
I sent out two to two different magazines. Before I was able to hit send on the second one, the editor got in touch with an article assignment, so I picked up work without any effort, amen. But now she has another idea in front of her for consideration.
LOIs:
I was a little light on LOIs this month. I sent 38 of them. With the conference coming this month, that wasn’t exactly a ton. I wanted to have more, but I was taking a more detailed approach, which is paying off. One LOI resulted in a client meeting and possible ongoing work. Another landed in the lap of a client looking for just what I do. We’re to talk later this month.
Existing clients:
Thank goodness for the regulars. I was able to bill a retainer for one and a few odd projects for another. Not enough to meet my monthly target by itself, but a good foundation. One client, though, has gone completely silent. I need to get in front of them and see what’s up. I suspect there was an internal hire that made me obsolete, but I’d rather hear that personally than assume it.
New clients:
Here’s where long-term marketing plans have paid off. Two new clients this month. Both are from an initial contact I made exactly one year ago. The invoices were sent on Friday for two projects. We’ll see if they turn into more work. Also, I followed up with three clients who’d mentioned projects when I was in touch in January and February. Nothing from them yet.
Earnings:
Not bad this month. I’m slightly off my target, but only just. Since last month’s target was exceeded, I had some room to relax a little. But the earnings target should be met every month or what’s the point of having it?
Bottom line:
Marketing has already been kicked into high gear. I have a conference registration and if I can’t make it worth my while, there’s no point going. I need at least five meetings scheduled and a few article ideas assigned, on top of locating more ongoing work from current clients and those I’m in talks with. If the things in the works all come to fruition, life will get very busy very quickly, and the income goals will be doubled easily next month. Fingers crossed!
How was March for you? What have you done in the past that’s worked well? Is it still working for you? Where are your trouble spots?
You're so good, Lori. I wish I had a fraction of your organizational and planning skills!
When we get to the end of this, you'll see why I calculate earnings based on checks in hand.
Queries – Sent three. One was assigned and will be turned in within a week. The others got the editors' attention. One might turn into a special section of the magazine, the other is just a fun business profile.
LOIs – Sent four. No replies as yet.
Existing Clients – Turned in 5 articles and 1 column; picked up 3 more article assignments.
New Clients – Turned in two copywriting projects to a new client, a custom publisher.
Earnings: If you go by invoices sent, I'm nearly $1K over my monthly goal.
Of the amount billed, far less than half the amount has actually been paid, and about 20% of the remainder won't arrive until May. My actual income was almost $1K under my monthly goal.
Bottom line: I need to find to better balance the revenue stream.
Damn, Paula. I hate those late payers.
So how can you find a more steady revenue stream? Have you approached anyone about ongoing work or retainer arrangements?
Good for you, Lori, and you too Paula.
March ended with a new client and April has presented me with two more… I like that.
(and your captcha is driving me mad today… 5 views before I can see both sides. Only for you, truly.)
I'm still scrambling from the deadbeat clients from last month.
This month was mostly tied up in play rehearsals and new opportunities with mission-specific entertainment (seems I've created a new freelance category), working on the book, and pitching articles, several of which sold within a couple of days of submission, which is very exciting. Let's hope this starts a trend!
I taught less this month, which was a huge relief.
Lots of LOIs out; must do quite a bit of follow-up.
Sorry again about the Captcha, Anne. If I didn't get so many spammers, I'd never use it. Sadly, I was deleting well over 100 a day.
Fingers crossed for your play and that being your trend, Devon! I wanted to make it to your first performance, but we'll be running from Manhattan back to Philly on Saturday. I won't have the steam. 🙂
I noticed the missing end of month, but with as lousy as the last several months have been, I didn't mind the lack of reality. 🙂
I'm with Paula and never count invoices in income until I have it in my hot little hand.
Remember that slow-moving public entity with the big project? They contacted me in January and I still don't have the deposit. Long story, but until the check's in my hand, the big deposit stays off my income.
So, March. Best month of the quarter for income, but still below target. And, yes, that big deposit would have put me over target.
I have had regular contact regarding a possible partnership should health reform activity ever get off the ground.
I am also keeping the conversation going with another prospect I hope will bring business. She has indicated she wants to find a project for me so we'll see.
Existing clients continue to funnel steady work with blog posts, resource documents, and web content. I echo your Thank goodness for regulars, Lori.
Also, a former client (with two different employers in the past) has landed a marketing executive position at a 1 Billion company and has promised to be in touch once she gets acclimated.
Bottom line – better, but definite room for improvement.
P.S. I feel Anne's pain. For me, the toughest CAPTCHA is the one with the numbers. It's typically on a colored background and the figures tend to be blurry – or it's my eyes! 😀
Queries – I sent one. I'm told that if I actively pursue business related to my travels, I can expense those travels, even if I don't get the business. So I pitched some articles about my upcoming trip to Belgium to a travel site. No response.
Existing Clients – One sporadic client got in touch and is signing me to an ongoing contract for work. May not turn out to be much in the long run, but I like that this contract makes them think of me first.
New Clients – None.
Earnings — Pretty good. Right in the ballpark of where I need to be to pay the bills–including taxes–and put a nice chunk of dough in savings. Yay.
About everybody's late payers, I had one that was five months out from the date of my more-than-$3,000 invoice–and they actually got in touch to ask me to do a new project!
Since they're the middleman, and there's a third-party client, I actually cc'd the third-party client and said I couldn't as a good businessperson justify beginning work on another project without being paid by the first.
I kindly suggested they overnight a check.–And they did!
Finally, that damn late payer paid. I know I'll have trouble getting paid this time, too, but I'm less shy about letting the third-party client know of the middleman's intransigence.
The payments that won't be here until May aren't late payers, Lori. (I dumped that bozo.) A longtime client has a new owner who came up with a "streamlined" payment process. Yeah, I get that it means they only issue checks once a month instead of every week, but why only put invoices into the system once a month?
The new system means all invoices for work done in March will go into the system in April and will be paid in mid May. Ugh. But at least they actually pay when they say they will.
The other invoice I'm assuming won't be paid until May is for a newer client that pays on publication. I turned the work in about a week ago, it runs the last Sunday of April, so the check probably won't arrive until after May 1. (That client will have ongoing work all year…but the pay isn't great so I only fit it in when I have time.)
My Favorite Editor supplies a steady source of ongoing work, but it's a bimonthly publication, so some months are better than others.
How does one go about getting retainers? I'm not even sure how those work. Perhaps you can do a post or three about securing and working on retainers.
(And Cathy, it's not your eyes. Those numbers are always blurry – can't tell if the one below right now starts with a 3, 5, 6 or 8.)
Cathy, I feel for you. If there were another way to get that damned Captcha off the page that didn't result in 100+ spam messages, I'd do it. The only other option is a password-protected site, but I want it to be easier for everyone, not harder.
I don't count those deposits, either. If I've written an invoice, I do, but that means they've also received a contract. That means they still owe.
Way to get payment, Gabriella! Good for you. Bet that felt good!
Paula, I hate those payments held in escrow. I get that they're trying to increase their interest earned, but come on. How could it make that much difference? Seems pretty inefficient, too.
This year so far has been great, with regular clients keeping me basically as busy as I want to be! The biggest change I've made in 2013 is using a timer to track my working hours. Every time I go to Facebook, blogs, etc., I turn the timer off. It's really shown me how much time I had been wasting and helps keep me focused.
On a somewhat negative note, I signed on for a year-long project last summer that will soon be coming to an end, so I'll need to ramp up the marketing soon to fill what will be a rather large hole in my schedule.
Krista, that's great to hear about it being busy for you.
Ramp it up now, sister! It's better to be doing two things at once than nothing.