A few years ago, I was in conversation with a potential client over a few projects they were looking to complete. The conversation went well. However, I didn’t agree to work with them. Oh, they did ask me to take on their projects, but I turned them down cordially. The reason: They didn’t pass the…
Author: lwidmer
Free Advice Friday: This Job, Not That Job
What astounds me these days isn’t that the job offers are so pathetic; it’s that they are rampant across all genres. If you’ve not noticed, far too many of my posts lately have been This Job, Not That Job posts. Why? Because there are far too many lousy job postings lately. This one comes from…
How to Look Like a Dweeb to Potential Freelance Writing Clients
There’s plenty of freelance writing advice out there to help you get clients. But not a lot of it is telling you what not to do. I cruise around social media a lot. That’s where many of the worst offenses occur because, for some reason, people do not realize that everyone and his Uncle Fester…
Wednesday Wisdom: This Job, Not That Job
Just when you think it couldn’t get weirder, it does. I’m talking about job postings. Let’s not call them “freelance opportunities” because honey, they’re not. They’re employer/employee listings. Someone is looking for a writer, but is dictating the salary. That’s not a freelance writer at all. But I digress. This listing, which is probably the…
4 Ways to Get Your Freelance Writing Client to Yes
A while ago, I had a client who liked to talk about how well we might work together. Trouble was that’s all he did — talk about it. It never amounted to anything. Call it analysis paralysis or just lack of knowing how to go forward, but sometimes clients just can’t pull the trigger on…
Cutting Ties with Freelance Writing Prospects
A number of years ago, I had connected briefly with a client prospect at a trade show who showed interest in working with me. Let me rephrase that: I connected repeatedly with that client prospect, first at the trade show, then close to two dozen times over the years via email and in person. After four years…
This Job, Not That Job: Learning Via Collage
Sometimes I see one job posting that’s so bad, it sets my hair on fire. Sometimes I see several. There are so few hours in a day (or a life), so instead of examining them one by one, I thought I’d pull out elements from some of the worst. We can learn from these. Mostly,…
Writers Worth: This Job, Not That Job
Some days you’re the windshield, some days you’re the fly. If you’re still cruising job boards as your primary source of work, you’re the fly meeting the windshield. With rare exception, job postings work out in favor of the poster, not the writer. And if I’ve not preached enough on the subject, job postings give…
The Marketing-Is-Not-Hard Marketing Guide
There I was, staring at the computer screen, growling. Once again, someone on social media was talking about how incredibly hard marketing is. Know what’s hard? Cement. Rocks. Building a rocket launcher using straws and kindergarten paste. Heads hitting desks when people say uninformed things like “marketing is hard.” Marketing is not hard. Please, can…
Professional Jealousy and the Freelance Writer
A number of decades ago, I had an interaction with a new person in our writers’ group. We had posted a notice in the library announcing our group and welcoming interested writers to join. One person answered the call — a writer who had a monthly column in the local paper. We greeted him warmly, and…