Hi Sara — sorry, your comment was lost in my spam folder. Glad I found it! You should have no issue going forward, but if you do, feel free to reach out to me privately.

Don’t beat yourself up over not doing these things sooner. Now is as good a time as any! And the accountability will help immensely. It’s that notion in the back of your brain that you have to report in that keeps you on task a bit. You may be doing great without that, but even so, it gives you that much more of a boost.

You’ve found your sweet spot. And hey, anytime I’m around a group of like-minded writers, that’s a damn sweet spot. 🙂

You might be right — it may be more about personal interaction at this point, especially here. And since there are so many artists and creators who are here temporarily, in various residencies, it takes my work farther than LOIs would.

Maybe the LOI isn’t what you need anymore, Devon. Maybe you’re getting more mileage out of personal interactions and social media networking? It’s tough to say definitively what works best for each writer. You know it when it happens.

I like your experiments with each social media outlet. It’s a great primer for us all to hear your personal experiences.

As far as social media channels, I’m still on too many, as I learn which ones do what best, and where to focus which projects. The ones I enjoy most and the ones to where my audience has scattered might not be the same. I keep reminding myself that I built my presence on Twitter over 13 years. It won’t happen in 13 hours on a different platform.

I dumped a bunch of the channels I tried and don’t miss them at all, so I know I dumped the right ones! 😉

No 5 – I’ve never thought of having an accountability partner. Usually, I plod on by myself, ticking things off my to-do list.

Thank you!

You’ve earned the praise, Dava!

Great story! You just never know who is going to be your next client or give you your next referral. I remember a particularly odd man I had to work with for a week. He was incredibly hyperactive; nice guy, but wore me out mentally. I was not sad to see him go. But imagine my surprise when he referred me to a client. That turned into a three-year engagement.

Had either you or I gone into those first encounters with selling in mind, it wouldn’t have happened. No one wants that!

Fingers crossed that you come to an agreement soon.

Lately I haven’t been reaching those very big goals, and have even been shying away from setting them. And still, Paula encourages me to do what I need to do.

A networking story: a long time ago, when I first started my business, I went to a couple of Chamber of Commerce events and met a fellow named Doug. He was an engineer turned salesperson, very personable, and encouraging. There was little chance he would ever become a client, but we connected on FB, saw each other at occasional local events and generally just became acquainted. A couple of years ago, I got an email from him, introducing me to the director of marketing at the company where he works. They aren’t a client yet (I need to follow up again, as they’ve had some personnel changes) but it was amazing to me that networking a decade before resulted in a potential client.

That’s very motivating, isn’t it? She would be a great partner, for sure!

As are you, my friend. You’ve helped me be better at what I do. Thank you. 🙂