1 Top Freelance Switch for Better Clients

I saw an article promoted last week on Twitter that was labeled “excellent” by the poster. It was writing-related, so of course I clicked.

Should have saved my digits the energy. It turned out the article was the basic beginner freelancer stuff. Not that there’s a single thing wrong with helping freelancers get started. I just wish the article had shared something other than what’s been written to death and isn’t terribly effective at building a strong freelance writing career. Guest blog, job listings sites, Upwork ….

Basic, yes. Excellent, not so much.

You, freelancer, can do better. Much better. And you don’t have to rely on the same warmed-over advice that’s been recirculating for close to a decade.

I mentioned this in my post a few days ago:

Market to the relationship.

That’s how you’re going to build a better freelance writing business. Right there. Build that network.

[bctt tweet=”Want a better #freelancewriting business? Market to the relationship.” username=”LoriWidmer”]

Okay, so how?

1. Fish from the right pond.

Where you look for clients matters. For me, clients come from one particular industry. Even so, not every company in that industry is a match. Let’s use the example I know well — insurance. I could go to almost any conference or any trade magazine advertiser list and find plenty of potential clients (which is where you can find them, too). What I can’t do (because I know my limits) is go to the side of insurance that is heavy on actuarial analysis and mathematical information intended for people who work the numbers behind the scenes.

You can still build relationships in an area where you don’t see prospective work coming from because everyone is connected in some way. But when you’re starting out, stick with areas in which you’re comfortable working.

Fish in these ponds:

• Advertiser lists or ads
• Twitter hashtags
• LinkedIn groups
• Sources quoted in articles
• Conference exhibitor lists
• Newsstands & libraries (magazines, newspapers, trade journals, etc.)

A word about selecting a particular focus — you do not have to specialize to do this. But it helps to build little segments of client prospects in areas that you enjoy writing about. Be it the pet industry, theater, project management, cannabis, retail, politics, or any other area, you can build out whatever areas of your general business that pleases you. It helps to get you going.

2. Nurture, nurture, nurture.

When I get a new contact or new client, I get friendly. Example: I’m hired to write for Company A. The contact and I had a lovely conversation on the phone, but his emails are a bit short. My responses are always ones thanking him for feedback, asking if he has plans for the weekend, or just wishing him a happy Wednesday. The first few emails, he responded in a way that suggested he was pleasantly surprised. Now he greets me in the same way.

We’re all busy, but it takes no more effort to connect with someone on a more personal level. Even new contacts — ones you meet at conferences, talk with on the phone, exchange emails or tweets with — enjoy when someone takes one sentence to ask how they are or share something that isn’t work-related. I mentioned a long-time contact who hired me last year for some projects. He became a long-time contact because I’d met him at a conference, and I called him regularly when I was on staff at the magazine. We exchanged friendly emails, shared industry-specific gossip, you name it.

Do that.

3. Keep the conversation going.

I’ve had conversations with successful book authors that surprisingly moved to personal emails. I did that by being myself and treating these people like humans. One author was mentioning some feedback that some grumpy human had left, and I quipped something my father had said once: “Some people wake up every morning and if their obituaries aren’t in the paper, they’re crabby all day.” She wrote to me privately and thanked me for the laugh. Then we chatted a bit.

If I can do that, you can do that. It’s not hard and there’s nothing special about me other than I suspend fear (and fandom) and treat people like equals. When you’re on Twitter or LinkedIn and a potential client thanks you or interacts with you, be smart. Don’t fawn over them and beg for work. Keep that conversation going with observations or whatever relevant response you can come up with. Don’t be afraid. I once asked a pretty famous physicist if he could answer the age-old question that’s on everyone’s minds: Chicken or egg? He loved it, and more importantly, he interacted more when he saw me online. The point of interacting is to make it an enjoyable experience and to enjoy it yourself. Building a natural rapport is where your work is going to come from.

Writers, how did you amp up your client prospects?
What’s your top way of finding quality clients?