Get After It 012: The Five Pillars of Finding Work
Right now, the freelance market is pretty darn weird.
If you’re lucky, you’re busy.
Quite honestly, my client work is moving through a rather slow season after a big jump start to the year.
In a way, this is intentional. I’ve carved out some space to build out my new business, Factual – a fact-checking agency.
And last season, I talked about being a more expensive freelancer on the show with Kat Boogaard. The reality is, once you start charging a premium, it often is more work to identify new clients who are willing to pay that much. I ran an experiment last year where my goal was to identify higher-paying clients in a supposed ‘recession’ for freelancers: Sure, there was work out there that met my rates, but it was a bit slim. I’ve since made the business decision that taking on work that pays less just doesn’t align with what my business stands for. There are always clients out there who will pay less than what I need to make, but then I run into the peril of having to work more while earning the same. In the past, this has led me to feel burnt out and resentful.
So, what to do?
A lot of freelancers I’ve talked to over the last few months and coached have been interested in ramping up marketing efforts. And to this end, I’ve encouraged folks to think of potential work (or clients) within five pillars. Four of these five pillars will likely lead to the most success — I’ll explain how and why!
In the meantime, open up a new spreadsheet and start making a few new tabs.
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