What’s the toughest part of freelancing? Sometimes it’s the work that doesn’t arrive. We talked last week about not playing a waiting game with clients, but this is different. There are times when no matter what you attempt, you can’t find clients or projects. So what then?
If you’re a long-time freelancer, you’re used to the bi-polar nature of the job. The fruitful times are great, but the fear of that dry spell is always lurking. For beginning freelancers, that’s an all-too-real fear.
Those of us who are road-weary, so to speak, have been through the feast-famine cycle enough to have ways of surviving them. Here are some of the ones I employ/employed:
Don’t spend. It’s really tough to look at that windfall you just deposited and not want to buy something in celebration. Don’t. Or limit yourself to a specific dollar amount. I reward myself after especially difficult projects, but I try to keep the reward within the context of the payout. It’s why I have so many pairs of shoes – cheap, satisfying rewards.
Pay the bills first. Boring stuff, but necessary to save you that “Oh my gawd!” feeling later.
Temporary work. If you’re lucky enough to live in a metro area, you may have access to temp agencies that hire creative talent. If not, temp agencies are usually looking for data entry clerks, typists, receptionists, and the like. No shame in earning a living, and you can drop in and out of the jobs as your freelancing job dictates. One word of caution – don’t rely on them to the point where you’re not marketing aggressively. Treat your freelance job as your only option and you’ll be more committed to it.
Send out numerous queries to fast-paying pubs. Try online ones, but avoid like hell the content mills. They’re not writing jobs – they’re marketing tools making someone other than you a lot of money. The amount you have to write in order to make a decent hourly wage is suspect – who can do that without rewriting someone else’s article (which is unethical and smacks strongly of plagiarism)? Stay with jobs that have reputable companies behind them. I write web copy for insurance brokerages, for online versions of print magazines, and for company blogs. Yes, they’re marketing tools too, but they have a defined audience and need. The pay is often in line with your rate, too.
How do you fill in the gaps?
10 responses to “Mind the Gap”
Fiction and plays. They're my priority anyway, but I up the short fiction output if there are too many gaps.
Because I'm especially good at press releases, I'm also aggressively pursuing press release writing jobs right now — those are quick turnaround, and, if you don't fall into the Craigslist trap of "I'll pa $50 for a press release", the ones who pay market rate are pretty darned good.
Super idea, Devon. For those who don't know, what's your market rate? I've gotten anywhere from $250 on up for them.
Great ideas, Lori. I market like crazy when business is slow, but thankfully my slumps never last long. I'm trying to just enjoy the brief respites they bring, but I just can't seem to let go of the idea that they might endure. They never have but there's always that slight possibility that nags and refuses to let go. Some people have a guardian angel on their shoulder. I have a freelancing nagger on mine. ;o)
Great ideas. On the slow days or weeks, I tend to write essays. I also read a lot, look for new story ideas, and pitch like crazy.
Great info! Thanks for all your insights. Keeping this in mind for the future 🙂
It's been about 8-10 months since my last real lull. I consider more than a week without a real article assignment to be a lull. It's now been three weeks since I turned in my mot recent article. Yes, I've done blog posts, columns, and some quick-turn-around jobs, but it's been much slower than I'm used to.
I try to use the down time to research and approach new-to-me markets. Right now I'm looking into trade mags and trying to see which ones might be the best match to my skills and experience.
Just this morning, I told myself that instead of watching my in box waiting for that next assignment or a response to one of the queries or LOIs I've sent out, I'll focus on finding more things to throw into my neighbor's garage sale. (Last night I had a dream that I found a treasure trove of great garage sale items hidden in the top shelf of my closet. Sadly, none of the things in my dream actually exist.)
I thought Demand Studios was where all the writers (and journalists) went when business was slow. Man, I gotta start getting my information from better sources! 😉
Warm/cold calling is what I've been trying my hand at in the last few months. It's only worked once, but that's not too bad since it was a big one.
Kathy, I know a freelancer who has never marketed. Ever. He's the exception to the rule. He's the type of guy who walks into a room and people just hand him work (I've seen it!). The rest of us? Yea, we market. 🙂
Good idea, Mridu! I'm using a brief idle spell to work on book edits.
Did you bookmark it, Sarah? Makes it easier to find later.
Paula, you use your idle time to knit more car coats – I know you! I hope your dream means you'll make a fortune selling your stuff. 😉
Yo, you mean the National Enquirer didn't tell you the truth?? 🙂
Wendy, whatever works, right? Congrats!
I'm in the process of kicking the content mills to the curb now. Thanks for the ideas of where else to go to avoid going back to them when things get slow!