As a freelance writer, I am always searching for long term clients that offer steady work. This is the best way to grow my income, while also making it easy to plan my money from month to month. But of course, there are times when a client will only offer one job and then move on. While there is nothing wrong with this, I have found that keeping in touch with these clients is a great way to garner future business.
Last year I completed a large project for a client that I met on GetAFreelancer. At first, this was a one time job, and I was fine with that. For 10 articles of 500 words I got paid just about $1,000. Once the project was over the client told me that he had no more work, but would keep me in mind for future jobs. So what do you think I did? About once per month I emailed him just to check in. And up until a few days ago he would always say the same thing: “nothing yet, but I will get back to you when I have something.â€
Finally, he did get in touch a few days back, and I am quite happy about this. His new company just signed me up for a one year contract worth $8,000. This consists of nothing more than writing 20-25, 500 word articles per month; this is less than one per day.
The point is this: you need to keep in touch with past clients. Even when I feel that they have nothing for me, I always send a quick email just to make sure. You never know when something will come up. As long as you are fresh on their mind, you will more than likely get first dibs on the work!
One of the most difficult things about being a freelance writer is earning a steady income. When I worked in the corporate world, a set amount of money would show up in my bank account twice per month. But as you probably know, self employed writers do not have this luxury.
Through my experience, there are three reasons that ones freelance writing income may begin to decline.
1. You may see a decrease in income if you decide to start working on other projects outside of your primary career. For instance, this blog has taken a bit away from my freelance writing income. Even though I made nearly $5,000 last month, this is several thousand less per month than earlier this year. While I am not happy about this, taking the chance to build this blog is something that I hope will pay off in the end.
2. Losing a big job can greatly affect your freelance writing income. For instance, if I were to lose a $1,000/month job, my income would drop to $4k/month right away. If this were to happen, I would immediately begin to search for a way to make up some or most of this money. My backup plan always has been, and always will be Associated Content. I know that I can write for them whenever necessary, and if I can do so in quantity, there is money to be had.
3. Simply put, when the quality of your work decreases, so will the amount of money that you make. This may not happen right away, but shoddy work will lead to clients dumping you. In turn, your income will suffer.
Some of these things are unavoidable, so it will not do you much good to worry about them. Instead, do your best to build your freelance writing income to a steady level. This way, you can at least have a ballpark figure of the money you will earn each month.Â
Freelance writing can be a very lucrative career, as I showed everybody at the beginning of the month with a post on my July income. One way to reach a solid level of income is to leverage existing clients into more work. This is not always easy to do, and of course, not always possible. After all, there will always be those clients who only offer one project. But even then, there are ways that you can turn one job into many others.
Generally speaking, there are two ways that you can get repeat work from an existing client.
1. The easiest way is to get your client to give you more projects in the future. Without repeat work, it is safe to say that my income would not be nearly as high. In fact, of the $5,000 I made in July, I would estimate half of it as being repeat work. These jobs will not repeat forever, but I will keep taking them as long as they come in.
2. Your other option is to ask current clients to refer you to others who may need your service. I know what you are thinking; you hate to ask this, right? But remember, you do not need to be pushy. When asking to pass my name onto others, I usually send an email that looks something like this.
“Thank you once again for the work. I had a great time working with you, and hope to do so again in the future. If you happen to know of anybody who would benefit from my writing services, feel free to pass along my contact information.â€
As you can see, you do not need to be pushy in order to get your point across. A nice note letting your client know that they can forward your information to others is all that it takes.
When you begin to garner repeat and referral work, it is safe to say that your income is going to increase. I am going to leave you with two tips that will give you the best chance to succeed with this.
1. Always do your best work. When you do, clients will never hesitate about sending new projects your way, or referring you to others.
2. Take the time to let your clients know that they can forward your info to others. You may be surprised to know that a little nudge like this can go a long way.
