Bad Time For Freelancers? Here’s How To Make It Better
By Andy Strote, photo by Rosie Kerr
As I write this, we seem surrounded by bad news. The stock market is in a tailspin, budgets are tight, and for many freelancers, work appears to be getting scarce.
Sound familiar?
Here are positive steps to improve your freelancing business and your mindset.
Clear Your Head, Take Out the Garbage
This first step may be the toughest of all. If you see bad news all around you, it can be challenging to get yourself into a positive frame of mind. But to move ahead, you have to be clear, calm, and collected.
The first thing to consider is the golden rule of stoicism: you can only control yourself. You can’t control the world around you, and you can’t control the behavior of others.
I wrote about how you can use the practice of stoicism to help you clear your mind, and more specifically, how stoicism can help you deal with clients.
So, try to take control of your mind. Get calm, focus on yourself and what you can do to improve your freelance business.
Give social media a rest. Ignore the bad news, the haters, and the garbage. If people close to you are bringing you down, maybe put them on hold, too. They’re beyond your control, and they just mess with your mind.
How to start? It might be as simple as going for a walk or heading to a café with a notebook and pencil. Think about all the things you can do to improve your circumstances. Make a to-do list that you’ll tackle over the next couple of weeks.
Get in Touch With People You Know
It’s easy to forget about people or convince yourself it’s not worth contacting them. I think it’s a mistake.
Make a list of anyone you’ve interacted with over the past two years. These are the people you’re going to reconnect with. This includes clients, ex-clients, colleagues, friends, and family.
Your goal is to remind them that you’re around, that you have some free time and are available for assignments, or you just want to catch up and help them in any way you can.
Write a few different notes to use as templates and then customize them. For example, for existing clients that you haven’t worked with in the past few months, you might suggest you have some time next week, and if they have any immediate projects, you could help.
For ex-clients, remind them of your projects, how much you enjoyed working with them, and that you’d like to work together again. Sometimes, it just takes a nudge for them to say, “As a matter of fact, I have something here that could use your help.”
For colleagues, let them know you have time and that you could work with them on projects or help them with any of their stuff as a favor, free of charge.
For friends and family, tell them you’d like to get together for coffee, lunch, or whatever is appropriate.
The key to this is that you have to get yourself out there. Put yourself in front of them. In most cases, they’ll be happy to hear from you. People like it when others think of them. It makes them feel appreciated.
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Figure Out How to Warm Up Cold Contacts
Let’s say you’re a writer and have been busy with housing and construction clients. That’s your niche, and you’d like more clients in it.
Think about other companies in the same space but you haven’t worked with them. With some research (Google, LinkedIn), you can find the people you could contact. I wrote a step-by-step guide about how to find freelance work on LinkedIn. It all comes down to who you know that your prospects might also know.
You want to name-drop, to say, “I have experience in your business. I’ve written for companies A, B, and C (names they probably know), and I’d like to write for you too.”
These types of communications open up conversations. They might be curious about what you did for these clients, and who you worked with.
Typically, niches are small worlds where people know each other or know of the others. You want to infiltrate that world, to become one of them.
Do Your Chores
Each day, try to at least start some project that you’ve been putting off. Update your portfolio. Re-write the “about” page on your website. Write a strong intro letter.
You’ll feel better and more optimistic about the future once you cut down your to-do list.
Your goal is to gain momentum, to feel strong and optimistic.
That puts you in the right frame of mind for new business.
Testimonial: Did Not Disappoint!
“Hey Andy! I'm so glad we got to connect. I'm currently half way through the Freelancer Book, and phew it did NOT disappoint!”
Gabrielle Clarke, LinkedIn
Free 1-Hour Consultation if You Bought One of My Books
I’ve been doing this but never publicized it. If you bought one of my books, I’m happy to chat on Zoom, Google, or whatever platform works.
I’ve done it for quite a few people and have enjoyed it. For some, it helps them give their business direction or solves immediate problems.
No proof of purchase is necessary. I’ll take your word for it (but I might ask you what you liked most about the book).
So, buy a book and get in touch. If you already own one of the books and want to talk, let me know.
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