Do You Ever Reconnect With Sources?

Forgive me for my erratic posting schedule this week—I’ve had a lot of non-writing related issues to tend to and the days have been getting away on me!

I just sent a link of a recent article to a gentleman who was a tremendously helpful and gracious source. The article was two-fold—the longer piece was about a farmer who grows some niche crops; the source in question was the main focus of the longer piece’s sidebar. But all the same, this gentleman sent me literally hundreds of photos (and I basically forwarded them all to the editor and said, “Here you go! Pick your favorites!”) and he and the farmer gave up an entire afternoon to speak with me and show me the farming operation.

So I figured the least I could do was send the finished piece.

I do try to send my finished articles to my sources as much as possible. Surprisingly, I haven’t spoken with too many folks who want to see the rough draft ahead of time, although I do get those requests from time to time and I respond by politely dodging the question. Sources are taking time out of their day to speak with us writers, so the least we can do is send them a link so they can use the article for their own publicity kits or what have you. I like to stay on my sources’ good side—after all, I never know when I may need to speak with them again, whether it’s to clarify a point they made over the course of our conversation, or for an entirely different article. It’s a quick but meaningful way to thank them for their time.

And—while this is never my intention—I’ve actually had a source for an article become a writing client. No harm in hoping lightning will strike twice, right?

What about you? Do you reconnect with your sources? Have you ever landed a source as a client?

Is Too Much Networking a Bad Thing?

There are more business networking organizations in my area than I realized. A few weeks ago I received an invitation to yet another new group that’s starting with the purpose of generating leads and connecting business owners. The meetings don’t work with my schedule, so I can’t attend anyway, but I sighed when I saw the notice. I believe 100% that networking and face-to-face relationship building is one of the surefire ways to build business, but I’m not sure that all networking events are truly worthwhile.

I’m also realizing that for the writing business to grow, we may need to focus on landing larger clients rather than focusing so much on small businesses. The small business may need more help, but their budgets are stretched thin and these business owners may simply not be able to afford our services. So we’re aiming a bit higher, and we’re being more selective about the networking events we attend and organizations we might join. I’m sure business owners have landed a fair share of work from these types of events, but, as I did with my writing projects awhile back, I had to trim some of the things I was taking on. I don’t want to accept more just for the sake of doing more. I’d like to focus on fewer, but more lucrative and satisfying efforts.

What about you? Have you had much luck with events focused on lead generation?

What's New?

The past few weeks have flown by in a blur of landing new projects, interviewing, writing, and meeting deadlines; wrapping up an extremely demanding semester of grad school, holding a successful writers’ conference for a 2nd year (more on that in a minute), and basically trying to keep up with the general demands of life. It hasn’t helped that my day job has exploded into a nonstop schedule, which hasn’t left much time to squeeze in any writing-related tasks during the day, so I’ve had to literally do everything either via email or at night or on weekends.

I think the worst of the rush is behind me. Seeing the end of the semester was a huge relief. Not that it’s translated into more time, necessarily, but I have fewer projects weighing on me at the moment.

So here’s a little more specific info on what I’ve been up to lately:

• All 3 of my non-magazine clients have had projects in the last month, which meant more juggling for me, but also some nice added income, which is always appreciated! If my little windfall (and a lot of what I’m reading on others’ blogs), it’s a very good time to be a freelancer, as business seems to be picking up across most sectors.




• Thanks to reading some older posts on Linda Formichelli’s fabulous Renegade Writer blog, I was able to find several assignments for a number of under-the-radar trade and specialty publications. I also connected with a new editor thanks to a “tweep” connection, which restored my faith in social media. (I know that several freelancers have landed work through social media channels—personally, I haven’t gotten a ton of work in this way, but I keep trying and keep my information updated)




• My writers’ group held our 2nd Annual Write It Right Conference in mid-April. Although I was a bit disappointed by the registration numbers initially, it turned out to be a positive thing, as smaller attendance was more conducive to meaningful networking and relationship building. I know there were a lot of emails exchanged between attendees, which is always great to see. We got a lot of compliments on our presenters and the day itself, so we really can’t ask for more than that. Unfortunately, we had torrential downpours that day, and some of our attendees had to drive over an hour to get to the event, so that was a little worrisome. Also, our keynote speaker had been in Texas for the week prior, and he flight was delayed coming back to PA. She arrived in Harrisburg at 3 a.m. and made it to our conference (approximately 2 hours away) in time. Talk about follow through and professionalism!




• This fall I’ll be completing my last semester in the Master’s of English program at Kutztown University. I’m spending my summer reading and researching for my capstone portfolio project. I wish I could just finish the program without having to do anything extra, but I suppose grad school doesn’t exactly work that way (ha ha). I’m really looking forward to getting my degree and seeing what other possibilities in the field might be out there for me.
  

What about you? What’s new and exciting in your respective worlds?

Giving Clients That “Little Something Extra”

Reports. E-books. E-newsletters.

This is just a sampling of some of the free products I’ve seen freelancers offer as a way to retain existing clients and entice new business. It’s a great idea—with so many freelancers out there, clients are going to look to hire someone who has a clear knowledge of their field. More importantly, they'll want to hire someone who will clearly go above and beyond for their business and deliver the results the client is looking for.

My business partner and I are in the process of developing a number of these products that we’re using in our information packets and as a “draw” on our website. We’re using a few different angles with each product:

1. Why a business needs a copywriter (not us, necessarily, though of course we hope they’ll want more information!)

2. What a copywriter is/does (we’ve been getting a lot of questions about whether we can help someone legally protect—i.e. copyright©—their manuscript)

3. How we, specifically, can help their business. We’ll be featuring e-newsletters and the like in the not-too-distant future, but are working on building our client base and getting our name established first.

For new freelancers, these extras can go a long way toward establishing credibility in a particular field. Veteran freelancers can use these products to add a new element to their website or existing offerings. We need to stand out from our competitors just like any other business, so if you provide that little something extra to clients, that’s a pretty good indicator of what a client can expect if they hire you for a larger project.

What about you? Do you provide free “extras” like downloadable reports or other similar offerings to entice clients? Have they worked?

Playing the Waiting Game

We're officially in business. We have a business name. We have a website. We have letterhead and business cards, for goodness' sake!

My business partner and I have been doing some networking. I've been strategically spreading the word via social media, and this week I started sending out some sales letters, which have helped many commercial freelancers land business.

Now, we wait.

I wanted to take this opportunity to pick some of your brains.

Freelancers, how long did it take you to build your initial client base?

What methods did you use to land business?

How did you get the word out among your existing contacts? Plenty of people know I write, but I'm not sure they got the memo that I'm part of a real business venture now.

So, what advice can you offer? How did you get your business off the ground?