On most business days, I usually receive at least one email from a potential freelance writing client. Although not all of these turn into a project, it is always nice to see what people have to say and offer. If you are like me, you will want to take these inquiries very seriously. After all, you never know where your next client is going to come from.
It is very important that you know how to respond to a potential freelance writing client via email. While this is usually simple enough, I have seen how some writers correspond – and it is not pretty. Here are three tips that will help you to successfully answer an email from a potential client.
1. Carefully read the email that you received before doing anything else. In the past, I have been guilty of not doing this. I will browse a long email, and then shoot back a reply before knowing all the details. The end result is the client writing back asking the same questions as the first email; this makes the writer look bad. Do yourself a favor and always make sure that you know what is being asked of you before you respond. Some clients will simply want a price quote, and others will be ready to send upfront payment within the hour. You need to know what you are dealing with.
2. Even if the job is not up your alley, make sure that you are cordial with your reply. If you do not plan on taking the job, thank the person for their time and explain to them why you are passing. Remember, you never know when somebody will come back to you in the future. Of course, if the project sounds intriguing, you will want to be just as nice. It never hurts to be accommodating to everybody who gets in touch with you.
3. In addition to answering questions, ask any follow-ups that may be on your mind. It is better to get your questions answered sooner rather than later. This way, if the client does not agree with you on something, you can either compromise or move on. It is always better to move on early in the process; this way you do not lose too much time.
Once your initial reply is sent, you may correspond via email for a few days. As you know, some freelance writing clients move much slower than others. Every situation is different, and you need to be ready to deal with anything that comes your way.
For the most part, the three tips above should help you to successfully correspond via email with potential freelance writing clients.
Last month, I made quite a few posts about getting off to a good start in 2008. As I mentioned, one of the best ways to do this is to put both short and long term goals in place. Now that we are three weeks into the new year, you probably have a better idea of how your freelance writing goals are coming along. While you have probably yet to touch on your long term goals, you should at least be able to determine if you are on the right path.
There are two situations that you will find yourself in: 1. You had your freelance writing goals set, but have been putting them off for the first few weeks of 2008. 2. You have attacked your goals, and are well on your way to reaching them on time.
If you fit into the first category, there is still time for you to get back on track. Remember, it is only January 22. Even if you wanted to start working towards your goals already, you have not lost too much time. But remember, if you do not start moving in the right direction soon, it will be February before you know it.
On the other side of things, if you are working nicely towards your goals, you should be proud of yourself. In fact, if you have done everything you wanted, why not reward yourself? It does not have to be anything huge, but a small reward will help to keep you motivated.
It may be time for you to rethink the freelance writing goals that you set last month. If you need to make a change, now is the time to do it. The longer you procrastinate the more time you are going to lose. You do not want to look back on your 2008 goals in December, just to find out that you missed on them all.
In order to make small, lower paying freelance writing projects worth your while, you may want to consider spreading them out over the course of a week or two. When I first started my career as a freelance writer, this is not something that I wanted to do. Instead, every project I received, I would try to send back to the client as soon as possible. Over time, I found out that this was not the best option.
Here is a rundown of what I do when I receive an inquiry from a client for what I deem a “small†project.
1. Ask for exact details including the size and nature of the job, while also quoting a price. Obviously, this information is needed so that I can accurately classify the size.
2. After processing all of the information, I give the client a timeframe for completion that suits my “spread it out†style. In most cases I do not receive any resistance from the client for taking a few extra days.
3. I draw up a schedule for completing the job over the course of a week or two. This allows me to put a little bit of time into the project each day. In other words, it helps to ensure that smaller projects do not bog me down.
Take this situation for example. I was recently offered a job writing 10, 300 word articles at $10/each. This is far from being a high paying job, but why turn it down? Based on the steps above, I accepted the job but told the client that it would take five business days to get the work back to them. This allows me to write two articles per day over the course of the week. Since it will only take me about 10 to 15 minutes per article, it works out to no more than 30 minutes out of my day. Personally, I would rather take 30 minutes per day for five days than 2.5 hours all at once.
In the end, I will receive $100 for what is only a maximum of 30 minutes of work per day, for five days. By spreading out smaller freelance writing projects in this manner, it will allow you to accept more work and earn more money.Â
