Comments on: 5 Scary Freelance Writing Business Mistakes

By: lwidmer

lwidmer — Fri, 29 Jul 2016 13:38:48 +0000

In reply to Ashley Festa. Enjoy your time off, Ashley! And do yourself a favor -- turn work off entirely. Sometimes we just need that disconnection.

By: Ashley Festa

Ashley Festa — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 15:15:30 +0000

Pretty soon I’m taking an extended … vacay 😉 But I’ve alerted all my clients about my pending absence, so they know there’s no point in contacting me for assignments for a while. I’m going to try to answer emails periodically, but access will be limited. I did see a big uptick in assignments when I first told my clients I would be out of the office for a while, but those are winding down, just in time!

By: Paula Hendrickson

Paula Hendrickson — Fri, 15 Jul 2016 15:40:09 +0000

In reply to lwidmer.

Well, the Emmy nominations were yesterday, so at least one client might be knocking soon – as long as they don’t need an immediate turn-around, I’m happy to take it on.

Right now I’m sending LOIs and checking in with past clients hoping to round up a but more work for when I’m back. (Seriously, I’ll only be away from my desk for three workdays.)

By: lwidmer

lwidmer — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 19:07:37 +0000

In reply to Paula Hendrickson. Well, if you're anything like me, Paula, the work will hit your in box on Friday after lunch. :)

By: Cathy Miller

Cathy Miller — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 16:32:25 +0000

In reply to lwidmer. Not completely, but I'm getting there, and have some good-looking prospects. I hit up some existing clients with ideas and got them to bite on a few. Also, I subscribe to the Lori Widmer school of marketing so I've never stopped marketing. Thus, the good-looking prospects. I have a couple of direct mail campaigns I'm interested to see where they go.

By: Paula Hendrickson

Paula Hendrickson — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 15:48:03 +0000

Hmm…I’m going to be away from the office a few days next week. Wonder if the same will happen for me? (I did get a new assignment yesterday, but it isn’t due until September. And I know I have a big project coming up in late July.)

By: lwidmer

lwidmer — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 15:04:10 +0000

In reply to Cathy Miller. Isn't it just the life of freelancing? I think I remember at least two of those instances. The large one was pretty unsettling, I'd bet. How did you fill in the gap? Have you?

By: Cathy Miller

Cathy Miller — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 12:45:18 +0000

I can attest to the clients disappearing. In the last six or seven months, I’ve lost three clients. Two were single projects and not a huge deal. One was just a flake (and one of those ignored my gut, but because I required payment upfront – which never came – it was no big deal). The second one is a long-time client who has gone through an acquisition that has stalled everything. The last one was huge. A year’s worth of projects where the business is growing like crazy and the writing projects (like they so often do) became a non-priority.

So, 2 out of 3 were just circumstances. But, this is the life of freelancing.