how to thrive in your freelancing writing career when you can't find clients

​If you've started freelancing for a while now, maybe for just over a year - like myself - and you feel like you’ve hit a static moment, where you cannot find new freelance work, then it’s time to remind yourself of how to run a thriving freelance copywriting business - and more importantly, of what worked well for you before. It’s not exactly like you haven’t won excellent clients before – it’s just now, it feels like they are simply not buying into your freelance writing ideas. Find out what to do in this situation.

The problem is, we got a little too comfortable with our existing long-term clients and we forgot to pitch, pitch, pitch. We forgot to always search for the next deal – after all – isn’t that what every business goal is? To get more business?
There are ways to overcome this hurdle of a quiet period – this is when creating a strategy is perfect, because you need to analyse what you are doing, against what you should be doing.
I’ve had months’ where I have pitched my services to potential clients, but then no one is interested. One month goes by, then two, and then three, that is when yo​u start questioning everything. This is a testing time too – as a freelancer, relying on the freelance income to pay bills, it can get a little stressful. But rather than panic selling – you must use a strategy for your long-term goals and execute the strategy over a consistent schedule. Here are some of the best tips I have for creating and running a thriving freelance writing business that you can include in your strategy:

• Get your name in front of your niche market – if you are unsure of who they are, start creating personas.  To get your name out there, you should start to guest blog on similar blogs or niche’s strategically. Always mention your services and why they work for your clients. Don’t guest blog for websites that aren’t relevant because you will be wasting your time.  
• Ask to be paid for the value of your work – clients who will understand the investment will buy your service anyway. It’s important to remember the value your work is creating for the end client. When I worked at a marketing agency, we charged £500+ for the copy of a sales letter, because we knew that one single lead from this would amount to £250+ for this client. Likewise, if your SEO service is going to bring in £10,000 for a business in the first year, you shouldn’t be charging £10/hr for 4 hours of work. Don’t undervalue yourself – it gives others the chance to as well.
• Similarly, it’s rude to ask for more than the work is worth – always be transparent about pricing and be able to justify why you charge what you do. I’ve won a client in the past, after being told I’m too expensive. How did I do this? Because I justified my price, and the client understood exactly why I charged what I do once I told them. Unless you have some fabulous statistics, reports or data, that shows you are the bees knees, don’t ask for an arm and a leg just because you think the client is rich. Allow yourself to learn as you grow in the early years of your freelancing career, and, once you are experienced, charge more. Trial and Error and challenging yourself will get you to that dream six-figure income. Your arrogance absolutely will not!
• Create a plan for pitching My first paid copywriting gig came via LinkedIn, I then found out about UpWork and applied for freelance work using other freelance job-sites. It’s important to not get comfortable with pitching on just on platform, because your next client can come from anywhere, anytime! You should be passionate enough to tell everyone about your freelance copywriting.
• Charge your client for the time you spend on them – including meetings. Some freelance writers, copywriters and social media experts only charge only for the time they’re actually typing a blog, or composing a tweet. That is bizarre.  You will burn yourself out – think about that client who calls you every other day for 30 mins each time to talk about their plans for marketing in 2018. Or the client who emails you to research a new strategy for lead generation for them. Do you charge for that time? Truth be told – to run a thriving freelance business, you need to charge for every minute you’re thinking or working on your client – be that research, meetings, writing, scheduling or a telephone chat.
• Do create a subscription list – but don’t annoy your subscribers. Also, when you automate messages for things like Twitter, or Facebook, I have realised, they are not very well received. I have an automated message on my Twitter for anyone who follows me; I tell them about my freelance writing and social media – but realistically – having had it in place for 6 months, I’ve not had a single person ask me more about my services from that one automated message. But, I get it now. It’s annoying. (Note to self – remove annoying automated Twitter message). As for emails, stop sending promotion after promotion – buy my course, buy my e-book, buy this newsletter, it’s simply not the way to go. We need to remind ourselves that we need to nurture the relationships with our clients. Offer them useful content, tips and ideas that excite them.
• Revisit your business plan and financial forecast! Have you been doing everything you set out to do? Have your goals changed? It’s time to revisit your freelance business plan and to really find you “why” – why did you start?

• This tip is my absolute favourite – follow freelancers that you aspire to be like

What are they doing that is working well for them? If you like them, follow them. If you like what I do, follow me. Freelance copywriters who are doing well have a strategy in place and are executing their strategy – and it is obviously working. Learn from them.