Writers Unbound

I don’t know anyone who really enjoys it, but for some of us it’s nerve-wracking to the point of trauma. Cold calling. We hear the term and break out in hives. We start fidgeting and twitching, and our hands shake so much we can’t even hold the phone. Cold calling just isn’t always the best option.

We need clients, though. We need new jobs, new gigs, new projects, new people. Freelance writing is a job that requires constant marketing. The flow must keep flowing, and I don’t just mean creatively speaking. The financial aspect is (just as?) important.

I spent a little time brain storming to come up with alternatives to cold calling. We love the job boards, but that’s the first place we all go look. Too often there is either nothing that is a fit, or it’s a great job except for the pay rate, or two hundred other freelance writers are also applying for the great job with the great pay rate at the same time, so chances of being the chosen one grow very small. In the meantime, we eye the phone nervously. Must we? Oh, please no, must we?

Try one (or all) of these ideas instead:

• Rework your current clients.
  No, I don’t mean double charge them. I mean look at what you’re providing for them and think about what else you could do. Are you producing website content? Maybe they also need a newsletter. Are you writing catalog descriptions? Maybe they need a flyer. Don’t just wait for your clients to come up with all the ideas. Make proposals, offer suggestions, throw around a lot of (good) ideas. They may not all bite, but some of them will.
• Create a flyer highlighting your writing services, expertise, and experience,
  and leave it everywhere you can, mail it to potential clients, air drop it over island nations… Make it professional, catchy, and clear. Put your rates on there, or at least some inkling of your rates. Offer free consultations (thirty minute maximum) for potential clients. And pass those little jewels out everywhere you can.
• Create customized sample writing packets and send to potential clients.
  Be proactive, but do more than be just another voice on the phone wanting something that involves money. Instead, give before you ask. Produce a few paragraphs, or even a few pages, of sample writing specifically for the potential client. Print it out nicely, along with a cover letter (and a flyer?) and send it on.
• Follow job boards past the initial leads. Go a little deeper in your digging for jobs. Find the parent companies behind those great (or not-so-great) blogging offers and see if they have other writing needs. If there’s a great-sounding ad but it is area-specific, and not in your area, look for similar businesses that are in your area and check them out.
• Read the local want ads.
  Seriously. When was the last time you did that?
• Network constantly.
  Don’t be a brag or a conversation hog, but talk to strangers and mention what you do for a living. Most people are very interested in what it means to write for a living. Dazzle them with the vast array of possibility inherent in the freelance writer.
• Listen well.
  No illegal phone taps or overt eavesdropping. Not good. What is good, though, is really listening to the conversation you’re in, or, when you’re not in one, to the conversation flowing around you. Inspiration - and information - come from unexpected places. Be ready to hear it instead of caught up in the roar of your own voice.
• Get business cards made with lots of contact options.
  And, of course, once you have them, pass them out. Pin them on bulletin boards. Send them in letters. Leave them in coffee shops. Nah, on second thought, don’t leave them in coffee shops because it’s just a lot of other freelance writers coming there…
  Okay, okay, you get the idea. Use them appropriately, and be sure you provide multiple contact options to make it as convenient and comfortable as possible for your potential clients.
• Find a need in the businesses you frequent.
  You go to the same restaurant every weekend with your spouse, and every weekend you think there menu looks terrible. But their pasta con broccoli is exquisite! Well, hello, freelance writer: how much would you charge for a menu rewrite? Ask. Propose. Do up a little sample (not the whole thing). Offer. See what happens.
• Do something for free.
  I’ve done seminars and taught writing classes for a local home education group for, yes, free. No money. A pretty significant time commitment. I didn’t walk away with cash then, but I was repaid later through the people who followed up with me, wanting tutoring sessions, manuscript critiques, and seminars (paid) at other school groups.
  Don’t disregard opportunities from non-profit or small organizations which can’t afford to pay you. Many times the service you provide brings you in contact with a lot of other people who will be impressed with the quality of your work and the goodness of your heart.

Make it a good day.