Comments on: 5 Random Freelance Tips to Boost Your Biz

By: Lori

Lori — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 16:44:36 +0000

In reply to Paula Hendrickson. I think you did the right thing by you, and by them. That's a lot of pressure to finish all these other things, then have to learn a new client's style when your attention is divided. Good for you. I hope they appreciate your honesty.

By: Paula Hendrickson

Paula Hendrickson — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 16:32:10 +0000

After that, a new-to-me client also wanted to assign a 1,200-word article (with six interviews) due December 17. I felt awful declining, since it would have been my first article for them, but I was honest. I have several things due that week and would not be able to do it justice – and I am taking the last two weeks of the year off. I said if they have any assignments that don’t need to be started until January, I’d be glad to take them on.

More than 24 hours and still no reply. I hope I didn’t lose a new client, but I’d rather be honest than say yes to something I know I don’t have time to do – especially since Thanksgiving reduces the number of work days between now and December 17.

By: lwidmer

lwidmer — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 15:00:49 +0000

In reply to Paula Hendrickson.

Paula, I love it! And I know exactly the Dan Rather move you’re talking about. 🙂 Good one.

I need to take your example and run with it. I’m off the entire month, but there is someone who wants me to work right up to the last second before I head off. Nope. Boundary is drawn.

By: Paula Hendrickson

Paula Hendrickson — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 14:43:08 +0000

I can’t say I’m that familiar with Bryant Gumbel’s style, but I often steal one of Dan Rather’s tricks (which he uses at the end of every episode of his current AXS TV show, The Big Interview) and ask if there’s something the interviewee wished I’d asked. And yes, when someone says they love that question I admit I stole it from Dan Rather.

Last month I was overwhelmed with lots of short interviews that needed to be Otterized (my word for what you do when you edit an Otter transcript while listening to the recording), so I asked a friend who does some transcribing work how much she’d charge – $1/minute – and hired her to clean up several of them for me. After she’d done a couple, she gave me a great compliment by saying I made the interviewees feel relaxed and comfortable and gainedtheir trust. I always just try to keep it conversational—I never want anyone to feel like they’re taking a pop quiz!

Back to your points, Lori: Just this week a client said they’d soon be assigning articles for December. I explained that I always take the last two weeks of the year off, and already have enough work to see me through mid-December. I said I MIGHT be open to a short, quick, single-source article if he could extend the deadline. Next day he asked if I could take 1,200-word single-source article.

I’m conditioned to write super short things for most of my clients (often with more than one source), so 1,200 words was a bit long, so I passed. Did the editor get huffy or threaten I’d never work for them again? Of course not. He praised my work and said they’d have plenty more assignments to make after the holidays.