One of the more frustrating parts of being a freelance writer is dealing with on-again off-again clients. Have you ever had to deal with a client like this? They are the ones who have a job for you today, tell you there will be more next week, and then disappear for a month. But of course, this is not the last you hear from them. After a month or so, they contact you again to say that they need some more work, with a promise that this time they will stay in touch.
I have always said that a client is a client; no matter how much work they give you, or if they disappear for extended periods of time. But my problem with on-again off-again clients is that they take up a lot of time, and can never give concrete answers on what they want.
Over the past couple of weeks I have been dealing with a client like this. Here are three things that have become semi-frustrating with our relationship.
1. The client starts out with a direction for the project, but then decides to change things several times. In my opinion, most on-again off again-clients are indecisive not only with when they want to work with you, but also with the project itself. This can result in loads of frustration and lost time due to changes to the overall scope of the project.
2. Communication started out good, and emails were exchanged at least once or twice per day; this is ideal for me. But after a few days, response times lengthened which made it more difficult for me to deliver work, and ask questions about future direction.
3. This morning I woke to an email saying that the project was abruptly ending, and final payment would be sent right away. Did the client offer a reason as to why they were calling it quits? Of course not. It could have been something that I did, but more than likely, it was a lack of direction and concentration on their end.
It can be difficult to spot an on-again off-again freelance writing client before you start to work with them. If you do run into this sort of client, my best advice is to keep your cool and expect things to be slow. For those of you who do not like to deal with situations like this, you would be much better off breaking ties early on.
It only makes sense that the more productive you are, the more you will get done. To go along with this, increased productivity usually leads to increased profits as well. With that being said, do you know how to increase productivity within your freelance writing career? As a new writer, you may not be concerned with this. After all, you will simply be trying to establish yourself. But as you become more comfortable with your career, you will surely be interested in increasing your productivity.
Here are five tips that I use to stay productive day in and day out:
1. Work during the time of the day when you are most productive. For most, this time is between the hours of 8am and 5pm. Of course, this all depends on your personal life, as well as the schedule that you are used to. Believe it or not, some freelance writers find that they are most productive when they work the graveyard shift; albeit a small percentage.
2. For each project, make sure you brainstorm before you start. I never begin a new freelance writing project until I put together an outline. This helps me to not only get started, but to also have something that I can fall back on during the project. Yes, it takes time to brainstorm, but in the long run it saves you much more.
3. I prefer to work when I can do so in an uninterrupted manner. Personally, there are not too many things more annoying than being interrupted in the midst of an important project. When this happens, I lose my concentration, etc. Of course, this is part of the business. If I am working on a project and another client calls, I do not have a choice but to answer the phone. The best way to combat this problem is to make sure that you set aside large blocks of time to work each day. Again, for most, this is eight or so hours between the time of 8am and 5pm. But remember, one of the biggest benefits of being a freelance writer is that you can set your own schedule. If the only uninterrupted time that you can find is at night, so be it.
4. If you run into writer’s block, there is nothing wrong with stepping away from the computer or working on another project. Since you are trying to stay as productive as possible, it is not going to do you any good to stare at your monitor. Instead, do something that will help you move forward.
5. One of the best ways to kill your productivity is to forget to save your work. A couple weeks ago I was in the middle of a project when the power blew in my office. Even though my work automatically saves every so often, I lost about a page of copy. Was this a big deal? Not really, but it was bothersome. Not only did I have to redo the work that was deleted, but I also lost about 30 to 60 minutes of valuable time.
With these five tips, you will be able to increase your freelance writing productivity.
It is not too often that I ask my readers for anything, but I thought I would give it a try. As you may have noticed, you can now subscribe to my RSS feed via email. This feature has been enabled for a few weeks, and it has helped to push my count to an average of 135.
Of course, my goal is to reach as many aspiring freelance writers and entrepreneurs as possible. By subscribing by email you can ensure that you never miss a post. After all, each one will be delivered to your inbox like clockwork.
Within a couple of months I hope to reach 200 RSS readers. If you have yet to do so, subscribe now, and join the rest of us on our trip to freelance writing success! Â
