“Find freelance work on Google.”
“Write for greeting card companies.”
“Easy way to find magazine gigs.”
Know what all of these have in common? Well, besides being tweets I’ve seen recently. Every single one of these statements is a quick way to get work. But each is also a quick way to go down the low-paying rabbit hole.
Googling “freelance work” nets you search results like Fiverr, Upwork, and the dreaded “home-based freelance work” — the euphemism for getting paid pennies.
The worst part of it is that once you land these gigs, you still have a lot of work to do. You have to keep pitching to keep projects coming in.
Enough.
[bctt tweet=”Tired of piecemeal #freelancewriting work? Shift your #freelance focus.” username=”LoriWidmer”]
It is piecemeal, you know. Good work in some cases, but still piecemeal. Argue with me all you like about magazine work and hell, even greeting card work. Sure, it can be great to have a go-to market. If you love it, do it. Just don’t make those things your largest client projects. Right now, I write for two magazines, one regularly. I love it because it’s a nice break from corporate client work. It keeps my journalism muscles exercised and introduces me to new topics.
But it is not nor ever will be the bulk of my client work.
If you’re staring at a client list that includes more magazine/greeting card or, God forbid, Fiverr and Upwork work, it’s time to make a few changes.
Sell your skills upstream.
If you can write magazine articles, you can write thought-leadership pieces. Don’t let the term freak you out. A thought-leadership article is nothing more than an expert-authored piece that you ghostwrite for someone, usually an executive. Magazines have tight, tight budgets. Corporations, not so much. Change your buyer. I make a lot of my earnings in doing just that for a number of clients. Plus, these same corporate clients need blog posts, newsletter articles, case studies, sales letters …. If you stick with strictly magazine clients, you miss out on that.
Focus on the long term.
Remove as much as the one-off client work as you can. It’s nice to do that stuff occasionally, but only if it adds more skills to your repertoire or gives you a fast payout when things are tight. Look for clients who have ongoing needs. You’re not going to find those clients in want ads or job postings. You’ll find them by making connections and actively seeking to build the connection with them. And that leads to the next point, which is:
Market to the relationship.
No one wants to be proposed to on the first date. Last week, I turned down a LinkedIn connection from someone who wanted me to “share and donate” before I’d accepted any connection. How would you respond to that? You probably wouldn’t. That’s the point. Don’t put sales pitches out there in your initial contact. Instead, express interest in connecting. You want to hear about their business. You’re in the same field and would enjoy hearing from them. Find your unique way of reaching out and making their acquaintance. Then nurture that. At some point, yes. You can ask if they’re in the market for a writer. But that isn’t the primary focus. You’re making a connection and looking to get info from them on their industry.
One of my longest-running connections hired me last year after knowing me for 20 years. He served as a resource for all sorts of articles and interviews. Then he himself needed a writer.
Put the work in.
This stuff isn’t hard, but it takes effort from you, and a rethinking of how you approach prospective clients, who those people are, and what you’re going to say to them. It takes thinking ahead and not just at your immediate needs or circumstances. How are you going to take that gig in front of you and make it better? If you can’t, where should you be concentrating instead? Don’t be afraid to change your thinking. Be afraid to remain in the same spot.
Writers, how have you replaced piecemeal work?
What one thing have you done that’s made the biggest difference in what type of client you attract?