Would You Share Information About a Client on a Billboard?
It’s not a trick question. Many freelance writers would say something along the lines of “not unless I pretty much wanted to ruin my career.” Being known as someone who discusses their clients in public isn’t a good reputation to have. If I were looking to hire someone to work with me, I would hesitate to hire someone who I discovered was engaging in this type of behavior. To be honest, I wouldn’t want to be next on the list.
If you wouldn’t put information about a client on a billboard, then you shouldn’t be posting it online. The Internet is like one giant billboard where anyone can see whatever you write. Potential clients do search for information about writers online before making hiring decisions. Not only do you need to be careful about what you post on a blog, but you also need to know that your tweets and comments on discussion forums may show up on Google and other search engines.
Why am I talking about this issue today? I saw a thread on another discussion forum where a member had posted an e-mail she received from a client who was not pleased. In fact, this client fired the writer in question. While the client was not professional and the writer is probably better off not working with that person anymore, posting the correspondence online wasn’t appropriate either, even though the person’s name was not published.
I’ve been fired before – in the brick and mortar world and since I’ve started freelancing. While it can be upsetting, I’ve never discussed what happened in a public forum. I’ve taken time to think about the events that led up to that decision to learn from them so that I can do better next time, but it wouldn’t be appropriate to share them with anyone else. I won’t even share the contents of an e-mail I got from a client once where the subject line told me to grab a helmet and a flak jacket before opening it – trust me, it was interesting reading!
So what does this have to do with job hunting? Everything! You need to guard your online reputation carefully. Potential clients can and will check you out before hiring you. They get an idea of who you are and the kind of work you produce based on how you present yourself. Unless you would feel comfortable posting something on a billboard on a busy downtown street in your city or town, maybe you should rethink the matter.
Two Kinds of Freelance Opportunities You Should be Pursuing
When you are looking for new opportunities to advance your freelance writing career, there are two tracks you should keep in mind. The good news is that you can (and should) be working on both of them at once.
Work Available Now
Cash flow is what keeps a freelance writer’s business afloat. When you are starting out, you need to land paying clients who have projects available now. As you develop your business, you may look to content sites or answer job ads to keep you busy and keep money coming in.
Future Opportunities
The second type of opportunity that you should be working in is one where you are looking for work that may not necessarily start right away. You could be spending part of your time pitching ideas to magazines, for example. Chances are that there will be a lag time between the editor receiving your idea and a decision to accept it or not. Once your idea is accepted, there will probably be a further delay from the time you submit it to when you get paid, especially if the magazine pays on publication.
Future opportunities also include making a pitch to clients, whether you know they are currently looking for a freelance writer or not. You may happen to find someone who is looking to hire right away, but chances are that it may take some time before a new client gets back to you with a project.
A third way you can find future opportunities is by promoting yourself and your business. Get a web site and submit it to search engines so that potential clients can find you. Ask your current clients and contacts you make for referrals. Set up a profile on LinkedIn. Use Twitter to build relationships and share what you do. Visit discussion boards where your target market is likely to hang out and start participating.
All of these strategies will help you land assignments down the road. In the meantime, you can fill in your time and gain experience by looking for gigs that will put some cash in your pocket now.
Where do you focus your efforts when looking for freelance writing work – on gigs that pay money now or ones that may take time to develop but could be more lucrative?
How You Leave a Gig is Just as Important as How You Started
We talk a lot here at Freelance Writing Jobs about how to find work and how to treat clients at the beginning of your working relationship. How you behave at the end of the gig is just as important.
Sometimes your relationship with a client ends because you have decided that it’s time to move on. You may have found higher paying work elsewhere or you may have decided not to work with that client for personal reasons.
In other situations, the decision to end the working relationship is made by the client. They may not have any more work for you, or may need to stop handing out assignments due to economic reasons. It’s possible that the client may decide not to work with you any longer because they are not happy with your work.
Whether the decision to end the working relationship is yours or the client’s you have a choice about how you are going to behave. If there is any work outstanding that you have agreed to do, get it wrapped up. Prepare your final invoice and submit it.
If you are the one who has decided not to accept any further assignments and you feel comfortable doing so, offer to refer the client to another writer. Someone you know may be a great fit for the gig, even if it isn’t a good one for you anymore.
In a situation where the client has made the decision to end things, you can still behave with class. If the client is not pleased and you can’t work things out, you can tell him or her that you are sorry that you weren’t able to resolve the situation. The result may be the same, but there is no reason why you both can’t walk away with your dignity intact.
When the reason for the client ending your working relationship is due to economic reasons, tell him or her that you understand and that you are sorry that they are having a difficult time. If you would be interested in working with the client again when the situation changes, tell them that. You could also ask the client for referrals to other people who may be hiring.
How do you handle the end of a freelance writing gig?
The Letter-Resume: An Alternative to the Standard Resume Format
If you are responding to an ad or are preparing a pitch for a potential client but you don’t want to include a formal resume. There is are a way that you can tell the client about your experience without using one: the resume letter.
Here’s how it works:
- Start your letter off in the usual way to introduce yourself and explain why you are making contact with the client.
- Then include a list of points from your resume that show the client why you are a good fit for the ad you are responding to or the role that you are interested in filling for them
- Finish with a good closing, thanking the client for taking the time to consider you and that you hope to hear from them soon or when you will be contacting them to follow up.
Why Use Bullet Points
Rather than use a paragraph style for your letter-resume, using either bullet points or numbers draws the reader’s eye directly to that section of the letter. Keep each point relatively short – two or three sentences will do. Make sure that what you list in your letter-resume is relevant to the writing gig you are applying to or hope to land.
I’m in favor of using whatever strategy works to present yourself in the best possible way to a client, as long as you are following the instructions in their ad. Part of doing so is giving the client all the information they need to determine if you are qualified for the gig and if they can work with you. If they don’t want to see a resume, that’s fine. You can tell them about yourself in this way instead.
Your Freelance Resume: Focus on Experience
One of our readers has recently started working for a new client and is wondering how soon to list that experience on a freelance writer’s resume. Here’s my take on it:
Working as a freelance writer is not the same thing as being an employer. When you are preparing a resume for a job using a chronological format, you list the names of your previous employers and the dates when you worked there. When you are preparing a freelance writer’s resume, keep in mind that you are working for yourself, and the way you tell a prospective client about your work experience is a little different.
A prospective client is more likely to ask how long you have been freelancing and what kinds of work you have done than how long you have worked with a particular client. (It’s a good policy to make a point of not discussing your clients with each other anyway.) Some of your assignments are going to be one-time or short-term arrangements only, simply because that’s all the client needs.
If you’re wondering how soon you can list a new client on your resume (if you choose to name names, that is), I would say that you can put this information on your freelance writer’s resume as soon as you like. Rather than listing any of your clients by name, you can focus on the kind of writing you did and the topics you have written about, if appropriate.
You aren’t required to reveal how long you have written for a particular client. Your freelance writer’s resume should focus on what you have done, not who your clients are.
How To Stay Motivated in Your Job Search
I thought I would try something different for this post. I found about this new tool that lets people make their own animated movies. I made my own short film about staying motivated when you are looking for freelance writing gigs. Hope you like it!
How Often Should You Update Your Resume?
A resume is an important job search tool for freelance writers. Not all prospective clients ask to see one. For those clients who do, we want to present ourselves in the best possible way, and an updated resume is a must if we want to do that.
How often should this important document be updated? Ideally, you will update your resume when you have new experience or updated skills to add to it. I’m the first person to admit that I’m not always right on top of things when it comes to my resume. I do take a look at it very few months and make changes as necessary, though.
When you take a look at your resume, do more than just add your new experience to it. Go through the whole document carefully. You may want to make changes in the way you have described your previous work experience or other parts of your resume. As you add more freelance writing work experience, you may want to shorten or change the descriptions of your previous employment experience to keep the employer’s focus on your experience with writing, editing, blogging, etc.
If you have been applying for a lot of freelance writing gigs that you feel you are a good fit for but you aren’t getting hired, it may be a sign that you need to revamp your resume. This document may be the only opportunity you get to show a potential client who you are and what you can do for them, and you need to make sure that you make the best first impression you can.
If it’s been awhile since you’ve gone over your resume, review it and make changes as needed. This step is just as important to your business as any of your other marketing efforts.
Google Alerts as a Job Search Tool
When it comes to looking for freelance writing job opportunities, I’m of the “Leave No Stone Unturned” school of thought. Along with checking out job postings and preparing pitches for potential clients, you may want to consider signing up for Google Alerts.
The process is very easy. You visit the Google Alerts page and fill out the online form indicating whether you want to receive Alerts from Google News, the Web, blogs, or groups. Choosing “Comprehensive” gives you Alerts from all sources.
Next, set up the frequency you would like to receive Google Alerts. You can choose to get them once a week, once a day or as-it-happens. I would suggest as-it-happens so that you get leads sent to your promptly.
I use “freelance writer” as my search term because I want to see all the results with that phrase. If I chose “freelance writer wanted,” or something like that, I would be limiting myself to Alerts with that particular phrase. Keeping it simple means that I get updates that include job leads, news about freelance writers, as well as links to some wonderful blogs written by my colleagues.
If you are open to turning over a few rocks on your search for freelance writing jobs, you may end up finding a diamond or two for your trouble. Have you tried setting up Google Alerts as a job search technique? How has it worked out for you?
5 Tips on How to Ask a Freelance Writing Client for More Work
I wanted to follow up on the suggestions I made in my post about asking a client for more work with some more specific tips.
1. Make sure this is someone you want to work with again.
Don’t ask someone for more work if you really would rather not work with them again. If this client is someone you find difficult to deal with and you cringe at the thought of doing anything else for them as opposed to being excited or at least interested in getting started, skip the request for more assignments. Just thank them for their business and move on.
Asking for more work as a matter of course when you’re not interested amounts to the “I had a really nice time. I’ll call you” thing in the dating world. Don’t go there.
2. Mention the project(s) you have worked on for the client when you make your pitch.
Your client may have a number of writers working for them on various projects at any given time. While we all like to think that we are so stellar that a client couldn’t possibly forget us or our work, it does happen. Give them a gentle reminder so they can place you before moving on to your request for a new project.
3. Tell the client what else you can for them.
If you don’t share the other things you have in your bag of tricks, as I like to call it, the client doesn’t know. You may have submitted a resume when you applied for the gig, but once you were hired, the client probably hasn’t looked at it again.
Say you were hired to write some press releases. Being the professional freelance writer that you are, you have done your homework to find out about your client and what they do. Consider where they might need more writing services and make a pitch for them.
For example, if they don’t have a blog yet and you have experience in that area, contact the client to explain the benefits of having one. Since you already have a relationship with the client, you are in a good position to be hired for the gig – without having to go up against a hundred or more other candidates if the client were to place an ad. You can do the same with web content, copy for web and print, technical writing, white papers, etc.
4. Rinse and repeat.
If you ask for more work and the client doesn’t have anything for you at that point, it doesn’t mean that the source of work has dried up. Make a note to check back later. The client may even give you an idea of when they may need a writer and you should follow up with them slightly before that point. That way, you are well positioned to be chosen for the next gig.
5. Make asking for more work a regular part of your routine.
If you get it the habit of asking for more work when you finish a project, you are more likely to avoid down times in your freelance writing career. It’s far easier to convince someone who you have worked with already to hire you again than to start trying to build a relationship with a new client. A stable of regular, loyal clients who can keep you supplied with work and refer you to other people who can hire you is gold. Treat them like the precious resource they are and watch your business grow.
Why a Targeted Job Search Works Best
As freelance writers, we spend a certain amount of our time in search of new projects. When you are looking for work, do you apply to ads blindly, or do you limit your search to those that closely match your skills and abilities?
Sometimes we can get caught up in wanting to stay busy and we think that if we keep applying for available jobs that we will keep our plates full with plenty of work. This isn’t the best strategy, though. A highly-targeted approach to looking for work is going to be more successful.
I know that I have written that applying for freelance writing jobs is partly a numbers game, and it is. The more opportunities that you apply for, the more you will end up getting hired for. However, you will also increase your chances if you are applying for gigs that are a good fit for you.
Read the ad carefully to see if you can picture yourself doing the job. Some ads seem to be written with you in mind, and by all means throw your hat into the ring and tell the client that you would like to be considered for it.
Why You Should Skip the Ads That Aren’t a Good Fit
If you come across an ad that isn’t really a good fit because of the subject, type of writing, or pay, move on to something else. It’s important to value your time as a freelance writer. You only have so many hours in the day, and the time that you are spending preparing cover letters and getting your resume and samples ready to submit to the client is better spent looking for something that will fit your needs better and help you reach your goals.
If you are spending a certain portion of your day looking for freelance writing gigs and you don’t find any ads to respond to that day, then use the time to make cold calls, prepare a pitch for a potential client that you are interested in working with, or contacting previous clients about their writing needs.
Do you target your search when looking for freelance writing jobs?
