What’s on the iPod: Nothing. Too busy to listen.
I’m still on overdrive post vacation, but the guests are leaving one by one. I’m stealing a few minutes now to share my monthly assessment. If I don’t, I’ll never do it, which means you may never do it, and that’s not good. So here goes:
Short month for me with all the vacation time and guests showing up. I worked seven days. Guess how this is going to look?
Queries:
I sent out six queries despite the abbreviated time I had. So yes, you can market for work even when you’re busy. I’m living proof. Nothing has come of it yet, but I have two ideas in particular I know are strong enough.
Job postings:
None. I don’t know why I keep this category because for me, there aren’t enough hours in the day to weed through the garbage.
Existing clients:
Last month I survived on existing client work. Two ongoing projects made up the bulk of my income, and a few occasional clients have added the rest. I finished the major project and cashed the check. That’s always good. And another regular client came to me during vacation for more project work, which will help alleviate any fears of what November will look like.
New clients:
I contacted them through queries, but so far, nothing new.
Earnings:
Despite having only seven days of work time available, I kept to my earnings schedule. I earned over one fourth my target, which is a feat given the fact I was packing, planning parties, and booking B&Bs until the moment we left.
Bottom line:
All signs are pointing to my earning much more these last few months. Sure, they’re the slower months, but I’ve been able to earn under some pretty stressful conditions. If I concentrate on proactively searching and securing more work, I’m certain it’s there to be had.
How about you? How was your October?
8 responses to “Monthly Assessment: October 2010”
I sent a referral your way a day or two ago. Hopefully they contact you and don't completely suck — a prospect who approached me, not a past client I have a lot of experience with. *crosses fingers*
Income-down in October, but mostly because I was working on bigger (aka-better-paying) projects where I'll get paid the balance this month.
Queries-heard from 2 queries-one asked for a return call this week (on the schedule for today). The other hasn't responded to follow-up.
Clients-one new client surprised me by being slow to pay (paid deposit right away, then slow on balance)= may have lost that one for future projects. Another client where I was supposed to have 2 articles/month, flaked for November, but has a history of doing that. Good news-existing client threw another project my way when I thought we were done for the year.
Marketing-getting ready for 3-Day, 60 Mile Walk for Breast Cancer-yikes 2 weeks from this Friday, so I am hitting marketing hard to get some projects for closing out the year.
Walk on!
My October pretty much sucked earnings wise. Some of that can be blamed on the fact that I've been focusing more on personal writing. Some of it, however, is simply because it was a slow month. I kept up the marketing though and still have a lot of prospects to follow up with. There have been a lot of "I'll get back to you when the project is ready to move forward" instances lately, and I never count my chickens until they're in the bag. SOOOO, we'll see how the rest of my year pans out, but I'm expecting it to be a weak fourth quarter all around.
Not too bad, I think. New clients, but one of them won't pay until Dec. The other one is still in progress so I haven't billed yet. I guess that'll go on Nov's income.
November may be a wash because I'm losing some hours on one of my steady gigs. But I'm tired of working 6 days a week AND I'm trying to replace it with higher-paying work. So we'll see.
Need to continue to work on getting more referrals. I have a friend who's been sending some my way, but so far none of them have worked out. Usually after they hear my rates. *sigh* (But honestly, they're unqualified leads to begin with, so that's kinda hit or miss most of the time anyway.)
Hi Lori.
October was good for me income wise, but still not generating enough new business.
Those two sources I spoke with in September have been half-in. One gave me work that I was able to kick out quickly, making their low pay good on an hourly basis.
The second with bigger name and better pay was about ready to give assignments and now has gone silent for a few weeks. I'll keep politely poking him, and we'll see how that works out.
I queried some long-term clients and got a bunch of assignments that way. I like that, but it's crickets in terms of new clients. I'm not giving up, but I'd like to be adding more new clients.
Oh, and as for job postings,like you said, they're all crap. I still look at them, too, but they're really for low-paid writers. I refuse to become one of those!
I'm so glad the year is almost done…next year someone else can play along. LOL.
Queries – I only sent one query in October. I really need to get back on track.
Job Postings – replied to two decent postings. But I don't dig for them. I scan two or three reputable boards every morning and if something looks good, I'll reply. I keep my search time to less than 15 minutes a day. (To be honest, five minutes is closer to it.)
Follow Ups – I checked in with the new editor of a magazine I've written for in the past; she gave me details on what they need for February & March. I sent that one query to her. but have more ideas I'll send her later this week.
Existing clients – One client kept me busy with a lot of little projects I could fit in between larger projects. Love it. I knocked out five columns, but only two blog posts (the knitting blog has been a bit backed up, and with four posts in the queue with dozens of posts from the other bloggers, I felt I could take a break).
My favorite long-time client called a couple weeks back to break the news that their December issue was going to be really short due to budget restrictions, so she couldn't assign any of the stories I'd pitched. She said they loved several ideas and plan to "revisit" them once the 2011 budget kicks in. I thanked her for calling to tell me, since most editors never reply unless they're assigning a story. She said she'd let me know if any little pieces came up. Two days later she had one! A week later, it was turned in. That 350-word-or-less front-of-the-book piece paid more than a 1,200-word article I just finished for another client.
New Clients – I turned in a 1,600-word article to a new client. The 1,200-word article was for another new client (actually the two new clients are different titles owned by the same publishing company, so is that one or two? Two editors, one publisher.). Both pieces were pretty straightforward work, and I'll gladly work with either magazine again, but only when when I filler work. After all, who doesn't want their 1,200-word articles to pay more than a 350-word article?
Earnings – October earnings were low. Too low.
Bottom Line – Things are looking a bit rosier. I have over $2K invoiced, most of which should be paid within the next two or three weeks. While I have a little work in the pipeline, I need to do some serious marketing.
Jenn, thanks! I appreciate the referral. We'll give them the test. 🙂
Walk on, Cathy! Good to hear you got paid on the one right away, but not so great news on that other one. Keep pressing….
My fourth quarter will probably be weak too, Kathy. I love that you're focusing on personal writing. That's something I should do with the free time. And I suspect right before the holidays, you're going to get a lot of urgent requests on those wait-and-see ones.
Good to hear things are improving, Becky. You had that one disappointment with that local company, and I'm glad something else arrived. Probably better conditions anyway.
Poke in other directions too, Gabriella. I think you'll find more work about the time this one decides to get started. Being busy often brings them to your door. 🙂
Hang in there, Paula. Sounds like it's been a short run of bad timing. The earnings aren't bad, even for a bad month.
Lori – for the record, I don't count invoices as earnings. Yes, I've worked to earn the money,but I haven't received it yet. Once the checks have cleared, it's officially earned income.
Translation: The actual total of my October "earnings" is less than the grand total of my outstanding invoices. So yeah, the earnings are bad this month.