Fearless Freelancing

They Need Us More Than We Need Them

colin844 — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 14:09:10 +0000

I know I have talked about this before. And I know you have read this from other marketing people. I am talking about the mantra that says “in the service sector, people do business with people they like and trust.”
Let me give you an example.A few months ago I got a call from a senior executive who wanted some help with a convocation speech he was to give. It was strictly a word of mouth referral.

Now of course when he called me I wanted his business.

But you know what? He wanted me to be the right person even more. Why? Because if I wasn’t, he would have to go through the process all over again and hunt for someone else.

A secret truth here. It is much easier for writers to find good clients than it is for clients to find good freelance writers. And so in a reversal of what freelancers usually think, clients need us more than we need them.

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Emergency Work

colin844 — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 14:02:35 +0000

A few weeks ago - at about 10 pm on a Thursday - I got a semi-frantic email from a semi-frantic consultant who was due to give a speech on Saturday - and “would I be free to give him a hand with editing his draft?” He would have it to me by three or four Friday afternoon.
It was one of those instances where I had to make a fast decision. I was working on another speech for a client that was due fairly soon. Although it was reasonably under control, the client you have must never be sacrificed for the client you might have. A bird in the hand - so to speak.

On the other hand, you never have a second chance to turn down a first time client.

This request and the decision to take it on was somewhat problematic. First, I generally only take on “emergency” speeches for my ongoing clients, not for new ones. Second, I count emergency as being 24 hour turnaround time, not the few hours he had in mind. Third, in this case both the client and I were buying a bit of a “pig in a poke”.

I didn’t know if I would be editing a disaster that was unfixable. And he didn’t know if and how much I could help him. He knew of me because he had heard me give a talk on speech writing, but that was it. It was entirely possible that we would be both committed to an enterprise that might all end in tears.

Even before talking to him on the phone I did do a bit of research - the gods of Google be praised - and got relevant background on him and on the sum and substance of the event.

“What the heck”, I thought. The subject matter was interesting and we seemed to talk in the same vocabulary. The process was not without its moments however. The draft I was supposed to get at 3 or 4 didn’t show up until 7 in the evening - so it was a pretty frantic 3 or 4 hours after that.

Fortunately my gut didn’t let me down because the draft he sent me wasn’t a mess. It was actually pretty good. I was able to tighten it up. add a few value-added comments of my own and turn it around by about 10:45 pm.

The job got done. The client was happy. The Saturday event apparently went well.

It’s not something I recommend on a regular basis. But sometimes you go with your instinct and you have the makings of a new ongoing relationship. In fact we had coffee the following week, exchanged war stories about things political, and we plan to keep in touch.

Was there a price to be paid? Well yes. Not financial. I was well paid for the work. But you forget how much this sort of last minute on-the-fly work can take out of your system. The output of mental energy can be physically draining. I sort of crashed the rest of the weekend.

Still, the adrenaline rush cannot be denied.

What about you. Do you take on emergency work? Do you make sure to charge a premium for it? Do you demand quick payment? Do you demand payment in advance?

It’s all in the packaging….almost

colin844 — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 13:47:47 +0000

When I talk to my students about putting together their portfolios, I talk of course about including an appropriate functional (rather than chronological) resume, testimonials, business cards, and work samples. All assembled in a spiffy looking folder of some sort. I regret to say that almost as important as the quality of the words you cobble together - is how good they look as a package. It sounds absurd I know. But as in most things in life - first impressions count.Putting together a good looking portfolio is a bit of an art form itself, and perhaps worthy of commentary another day.

But lest you think I am exaggerating on this matter - let me tell you a little story that is illustrative.

Last year I attended a workshop given by a very well known Internet marketer of information products. He talked about all the material he gave away for free and noted of course how much is given away these days on the internet.

So how did he decide what he gave away for free and what he sold? It didn’t seem to matter that much.

In the electronic universe it’s all basically electrons anyway. But wrap those electrons up with an offer of extra free stuff, add an audio file or two, perhaps a hard copy CD along with some very good copy about the value on the whole bundle and there you have it - a package with a price tag. Perceived value is everything.

Don’t get me wrong - the content has to be very good too. He produces great content and of course, if he didn’t, all the pretty packaging in the world wouldn’t help him very long. But the first sell definitely comes - in part - from the packaging. You best give that some thought as you consider how you are marketing yourself.

The Power of Presence III

colin844 — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 07:14:48 +0000

In previous articles on this subject I have talked about how the internet - email and blogs and web sites - have given us a powerful marketing tool that was unavailable a decade ago. And that we would be crazy not to take advantage of them. I also talked about the importance of joining at least two associations - one writing-related so you can share in the wit, wisdom and warmth of your colleagues who are in the same boat as you are. And one association that has nothing to do with writing but everything to do with the niche market you are trying to service.
I suggested that there was futility in sending out unsolicited hard copy marketing materials willy nilly hoping to get a hit. Dumping your junk mail [and that’s exactly how your brochures/resumes/work samples/testimonials will be regarded] on someone else’s desk unasked is a big no-no.This takes us back to the basics of marketing, the purpose of which is to develop one-on-one relationships with potential clients. Because in the end of course, that is where your business is going to come from. A single individual making the decision to buy from another single individual - specifically and hopefully you.

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The Power of Presence - Part II

colin844 — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 07:11:14 +0000

Last issue I suggested that the power of presence via the Internet (email - web sites - blogs) has really changed the face of marketing our services. They all allow us to very easily and fairly passively market our services and information related products.
Certainly there is no excuse not to have customized signature lines in your emails. And if nothing else your blogs can serve as an online repository to some of your writing samples. That way you just direct potential clients to your work with a simple hotlink. As for your signature lines, you might want to consider having more than one, depending on the point and purpose of a particular message to a particular client.All that said, that is a relatively passive way to market your services. If I were starting my business all over again, I would get my butt out the door and meet people- for no other purpose than to start the process of developing dialogues.

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The Power of Presence

colin844 — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 07:09:19 +0000

I don’t do any marketing anymore. I market all the time. Huh? A little contradictory.

The second statement reveals a basic truth about the freelance life. You are marketing all the time whether you intend to or not. If you choose to answer the phone and talk to a potential client you are marketing. If you let the answering machine pick it up, you are still marketing your message - such as you can in a short annoying machine message. And if unplug your phone entirely, you are still marketing, albeit in a very negative way by your silence.

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Starting Over

colin844 — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 05:25:40 +0000

Pretend for a moment that you were starting over. That you were setting up your writing or consulting business for the very first time. What would you do differently? It’s a brand new world out there. Or is it?If you are slightly fossilized like me, then perhaps when you first hung out your shingle, fax machines were so “de rigueur” that you actually charged your clients for each page you faxed to them. Not for the content, but for the cost of toner! You think I’m joking right? Not so. In the mid-80s I worked for a PR firm that did exactly that. Apparently this was quite common “back in the day” - when email and the Internet were virtually non-existent. And a corporate web site was unheard of, well, because it was unheard of.

It’s a little ironic. At one time, not having a fax number would be considered very strange. In the fast-paced world of the 80’s, a fax machine gave you the edge over your competition down the street that depended on courier service. Then everyone got fax machines and the playing field got level again. We still have these anchor weights around, but they act mostly as dust catchers because email and Acrobat have made them almost redundant.

So here we all are in 2008 chained 24/7 to our cell phones. Our Palm Pilots are our diaries of choice, and our BlackBerrys are not just a food choice anymore. We get anxious about conversion rates on our web sites; we wonder whether our intranets are worth their high cost of maintenance; and is anyone reading our double opt-in newsletter anyway?

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The Good News About Freelancing

colin844 — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 05:21:39 +0000

Last month I received three very similar e-mails. What they had in common was a disheartened and disheartening plea for advice on how to fix their sagging freelance careers.They were all bright people. They were all more than competent at the services they were offering. Since they had been successful in the past, all had been down the marketing road before and knew the rules. Yet somehow, as their businesses were in a bit of a down period, they were feeling “the fear”. So much so, they were even considering going over to the dark side of corporate employment.

There is not a freelancer alive, yours truly included, who doesn’t go through this from time to time. Every once in a while, a recruiter will approach me, dangling the possibility of a fat paycheck and lifetime benefits, and I am tempted by the siren call of security. Then I think of my stomach. Having been there before, I know I would have a knot in it the first day I stepped on the elevator to go to my new job. That snaps me back to reality right quick. So if you have always hated an office environment you should resist too. Listen to your gut….it gives you a very strong signal of who you really are. (more…)