What if no one hires me?! 😰

A dry pipeline with no prospective clients is a common fear for freelancers, even those who have gotten a few clients already. But there are ways to insulate your business against such dry spells.

Photo by Kyle Broad on Unsplash

Being a freelancer requires intestinal fortitude, for sure. First, you gotta get that first client, which is not easy.

But even after you get your first client…

There will be cold sweat and this thought: what if no one ever hires me to write for them again??

The thing about this fear is that it is actually pretty rational. There are plenty of freelancers out there who are merely scraping by or not even that. A while ago, I came across a statistic that made me faint with anxiety: the median yearly take-home for freelance writers is $20,000.

Now, granted, that number includes people who write listicles about 15 Amazing Ways to Be More Like Kim Kardashian, but even within more specialized and technical writing, there are more of those who don’t make a good, steady living than those who do.

So, why is it that some freelancers flourish and some don’t?

Here’s the main reason:

Most writers don’t treat business-building as the full-time job that it is. 

Business-building has both a marketing component (which is how you get your clients in the first place) and a retention component (how you build relationships with existing clients so you can ease off the constant need to find clients and have a choice about which clients you’d like to work with).

Marketing can take many forms, and it changes depending on what stage your business is in. When you’re just starting out, you’ll have to do a lot of focused direct outreach. 

Once you’ve built a foundation of repeat clients, you can take a longer view of marketing and begin to create client-attracting content that will eventually lead potential clients to reach out to you. 

Once your direct outreach bears fruit, and you start working with clients, creating a stable base of repeat clients requires a retention strategy and an understanding of how to provide huge value to your clients. Not only do you have to do great work and take edits and criticism in stride, but you have to think about your clients as your partners. 

Getting into the habit of solving your clients’ problems - rather than just being a pair of writing hands - will virtually guarantee that you’ll stand out and become their go-to freelancer (and it will allow you to charge higher rates, too, because you will no longer be seen as a generic and replaceable medical writer - you will be a valuable member of the team). 

So, if you’re worried about where your first (or next) client will come from…

And if you’re not sure how to grow your business…

Ask yourself whether you’re concentrating on the right actions in your business and on thinking about the value that working with you brings to your clients.

Discovering the value that you can provide to your clients and learning the effective and efficient ways to market yourself is what our small coaching group is all about.

Get all the details about it, here.