Every now and then business begins to act like the deep south in late August… It gets dry. Really dry. You begin to wonder where all those clients who filled your inboxes went and Outlook and Gmail begin to resemble a ghost town. 
It happens to just about every freelancer; business booms and then it slows, sometimes to a near stand still.
That’s what has seemed to happen to one of the media companies I worked steadily for this last year. I checked in and looked at their forums which seems to be so quiet you can hear a pin drop in there. The writers had been promised that new work would be coming in but that was last month, and the month before that, and the month before that. Many of the company’s freelance writers have moved on, as well as yours truly.
This happens all the time but it’s still frustrating to freelancers, especially when you could on that weekly or monthly list of needs to roll in to your email inbox.
I’ve learned to stop counting on those companies and so should you. Writing for the Internet is still a fickle business, I don’t care what anyone tells you. Yes, web 2.0 is big and getting bigger but the fact still remains that as a freelancer you can’t afford to pay loyalty to one or two clients just because the pay is right or the work is steady… because as fast as you can click the mouse, all that can change.
I did that for too long and in February and late March the content companies I worked with stopped calling. They no longer had enough work to be freelanced out and were able to fill requests in house. My reluctance to branch out and really promote myself before all of this happened really came to a head. It became harder to meet my bills and well, you know what happens when you can’t pay your bills, plus I was dealing with Kelly drama and actually listening that I wasn’t good enough as a professional writer, self doubt, lack of support, and mounting bills started taking its toll.
Up until Mid June I had really been treading water. Barely bringing in enough to pay what needed paying and still have a little left over to meet the demands and needs of those heathens I call offspring, I was panicking and stressing out. I had two faithful and decent paying clients that were helping me scrape by.
Where am I going with all of this?? OH Yea…
If you aren’t going to take the time to promote yourself, to get out there and wave your flag to potential clients then you might as well dry up like the content sites and media companies because I can guarantee that someone will come along who is willing to promote and boast their services, and guess what? They will get the gigs. They may not even be a better writer than you but because they are out there and showing off their stuff (in this case it’s a good thing to show off a little), they will get picked and you won’t. No one will even know you exist.
I’m not saying you have to spend your days tolling over applications, your resume and clips, but I am saying that if you do nothing with what you’ve built thus far… Well then be prepared to watch it turn to dust.
I spent a little time on a professional site (which I will be adding information and selections from to this site hopefully soon) and I joined some forums full of like minded people and have been putting my name out there… and can you take a guess what happened next?
That’s right. People started inquiring. From one inquiry through a forum by a wahm who was looking for someone to help with blog posts, I have turned her into three clients thanks to her referrals. From there I picked up another client. Call it confidence, call it good writing, call it a combination of both (and some help and ass kicking by my writing buddy), but I have garnered a long term contract with a fourth client this last month paying my rates.
Yes, that’s four new clients in a little under a month. It’s not a miracle, it’s not overnight success, it’s what happens when you refuse to stick out the drought with the rest of the group and move yourself forward.
By the end of August, I hope to be able to announce the launch of three sites that I am a part of. Two of which I have been writing for since February and the last one I became a writer for recently. They are all great opportunities, great gigs, and excellent clients.
I know I tend to ramble, I know you all suffer through it sometimes but hopefully at the end you click away feeling like something you read, made you laugh, made you angry (though not at me 
) or helped you learn something… I hope this post was one of them.
Hey, good to see you back to posting. Although it’s never fun losing a client you could steadily depend on for income, from experience I can tell you that it usually opens the door to better new clients. ;o) Sounds like you’re already beginning to find this out for yourself.
Thanks for stopping in! No losing a client is never fun – but I’ve learned that just like the bidding sites, the money with content sites isn’t as great and I don’t have as much control over the work.
I am learning that moving on and keeping myself open IS bringing the better clients and that’s the whole point of growing a business right?
I felt your pain many years back, when internet writing was going through a boom, and sites were everywhere and the checks rolled in, but then that all came crashing down. Now I write for me, and have not yet stepped out to try my hand at the freelance gig again, though I am interested to see what you have to say about the sites you are working with. Good luck with the new prospects, and just keep writing.
Welcome Sassy Mama Bear! I am fairly pleased with the sites I contract with now. I was foolish in my early days (like three years ago was an ETERNITY – well it is on the Net I guess) and counted on those companies but I’ve gained lots of experience (the hard way) and now I just take them as every other client.
In other words, I don’t rely on them any more than I do some other client. To do that is just not practical or wise.
Congratulations! Every cloud…silver lining…and all that. Sounds like things have picked right up! You GO, girl! :0)
Nichole,
This is such a great post. It really is a mistake to rely so heavily on these content companies – here one day, gone the next.
Continued success,
Kim (a.k.a. “blueladybug”)
Well, that picture definitely brings “dry” to mind!
I’m fortunate enough to make a living writing for my own blogs, but I’ve definitely noticed that some topics are seasonal. Early on I made a site on hot tubs and swimming pools, and despite great traffic (and money) in the spring and summer, it was quiet in the colder months. So I started a blog on fireplaces, heh. That one really gets going in the fall and winter.
I don’t know if that’s at all applicable to freelancing, but maybe there are some companies you can find to work for that need seasonal content during times that are dry spells for other topics.
@K Yes, things are definitely changing and I’m working on establishing regular clients as well as a few one time gigs to keep things fresh – but as with anything, those one timers could become regular as well!
@Kimberly – Nice to see you stopping in! You know we all have to learn about the content sites some way or another, I just hope new writers can learn from my mistakes.
@Lindsay – I love the idea of seasonal blogs because even when traffic is low you can do some cross promoting! I think it’s definitely applicable to freelancing – Good luck with the blogs and thanks for sharing your thoughts!