Good for you, Nikki! While it sounds like he really needs your help, you’re not running a charity. Sounds like you were friendly, caring, and firm. That’s a great blend for dealing with stuff like that.

I’m going through almost this exact thing right now. I have a client that I worked with last year. When this year rolled around I reached out and asked if he had any content needs. He sends back, “not right now.” Awesome. I check back a month later. This time he says there have been several changes at his company and proceeds to go into them.

When I first began working with him, I finished building the pages on his website, started the blog, and did a thorough run-through for SEO. It had just the mix of things I wanted to do; some website maintenance along with content.

However, now he needs to pivot his business. His investors are upset, the industry he primarily serves (the product he designed specifically for this industry), has taken a hit due to COVID. I make several suggestions surrounding content and the website thinking these are the things he needs to focus on IF he wants to reach new buyers for his product. He’s not there yet – instead, it’s a lot of searching for new business.

I made the mistake of saying yes. However, I didn’t lock myself into a rigid contract. It’s month-to-month. There was no set number of how many leads I’d provide per month, and it was only a small number of hours of work per month. But I said yes because he’s a good client and I believed in the product.

Eventually, he wants to have content in trade magazines and your post has me thinking he will want me to do all the work. Except, like in the case of creating leads for him, I don’t have connections in the industry he’s in or in the ones he wants to expand to.

Tonight I am submitting my report along with my “Good luck” email. I’m going to let the client know that I appreciate the work but this is not quite my expertise. Should he have content that needs to be written, I’d be happy to discuss it at a later date.

I’d buy it! Where do I send the check?!

ROFLMAO! I’d buy that!

Freelancers everywhere need that on a t-shirt. STAT.