Never fails that after a really cool party, you end up with either a headache or a hangover, right? Yesterday was no exception. Still high on the fumes of a Friday full of surprises, I got a rude awakening. One of my regular clients – an association magazine – has lost its freelance budget. No matter how great my ideas, they’re not going to be able to buy any of them for the rest of this year. Gulp. Gasp. Egad.
Okay, Plan B. I have a specialty (not that I can’t do other stuff, but this one pays really well). I started marketing to that specialty last week. Good thing, huh? Now is the time for me to get on the phone and get busy convincing these people they need my services.
Time also to step up meeting and conference attendance. While it may seem counter intuitive to spend money on conference fees and travel when the finances aren’t necessarily there, it’s crazy not to be face-to-face with clients right now.
And time once again to check in with some regular clients (and some whose ads I’d answered and hadn’t heard from). Turn over every rock, check every pocket, look in places in which I’ve not looked for a while. People are hiring. It’s just that some of the folks I’m used to hiring me are struggling due to strains on their industries. Magazines, I’m afraid, may not be the area to look right now.
This isn’t a time to panic and start mortgaging the house. It’s a time to find new ways to create opportunity. Yes, things are tight but no, work isn’t gone for good. Good clients are still out there looking for good writers.
How about you? Where are you locating new opportunities?
6 responses to “The Ultimate Hangover”
Sorry to hear your bad news.
I need to get better about following up on job contacts. I contact so many people, they all start to run together.
BTW I just plugged WWD (no, not Womens Wear Daily) over on the Virtual Vocations forum:
http://www.virtualvocations.com//forum/i/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3667
Thanks for the plug, Kirk!
Yes, the follow-up part is the one we don’t quite do, isn’t it?
I agree that good clients are still out there looking for good writers. So I’ve made a commitment to find them by spending an hour a week on each social network to which I belong (LinkedIn, Biznik). I’m also beefing up my involvement in the professional organizations to which I belong to see how I can better contribute. Seems to me, too, that we should spend some time evaluating our customer service and polish those skills as much as we can to make us the writers people want to work with.
And in the continuing promotion of Writers Worth Day, I turned down a low-paying job that I knew in my gut would be more trouble than it was worth. And I’m glad I did!
Hangover, indeed! That is definitely a harsh reality – but look how quickly you started planning. That’s a great inspiration.
Where am I finding clients right now? Referrals, referrals, referrals. I know that can’t last forever, but I am benefitting from seeds planted last fall.
One tip: you never know who’s paying attention to your LinkedIn and Facebook updates. Several new clients said they had kept me in mind, but it was updates about some of my projects that helped inspire them to pick up the phone.
A Yeoman’s effort, Lori! Keep up the good work.
Chuck
Good job, Cyndy! Felt good, didn’t it? 🙂 And excellent advice.
Jesaka, couldn’t agree more. The updates get you somewhere. Just got a note from an employer thanks to a Twitter note I sent out today. You never know!
Hanging in there, Chuck! How’ve you been lately?