Want More Freelance Writing Clients: Here’s How to Do What Your Competition Won’t

If you’re a new freelance writer, you’re likely scared. 

You’re uncomfortable. 

You’re unsure. 

This is a new thing and it’s hard with a capital H. 

And you feel like everyone and their brother is your competition.  How could you possibly make a good income with all this competition? 

But there’s one thing I see new freelance writers (and your competition) doing every day that turns clients away faster than they can say, “Why isn’t this freelance thing working?”

When I posted a request looking for a subcontractor in a group full of freelance writers, the response was not what I expected. 

I was shocked. I posted the job in the Write Your Way to Your First 1K Facebook group.  It’s the course that originally launched my career, so I KNOW it’s a high-quality course teaching effective pitching strategies. 

What I discovered was this: 

New freelance writers don’t realize they’re in the business of making lives easier.

Many newbies think if they can write well, the clients will follow. 

This is a mistake that’s costing new freelance writers a LOT of money and maybe even their careers.  

Almost every writer can write. 

But if you can learn to make the life of your customers easier from the minute they meet you, you’ll become a trusted asset to their company. 

Making life easier for my clients is how I turned one bimonthly project into 3-4 projects per month every month. 

If you liked this post, you might also like:

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• 9 Critical Questions to Ask Before Taking An Online Freelance Writing Course

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How to Make Your Client’s Life Easier – A True Story

When I took on a new client in 2020, they were sending me one project every 6 to 8 weeks.  As of the publishing of this post, they are sending me a minimum of two projects a month, sometimes four. 

Here’s how I helped that happen.

(I said “helped” above because some of this depends on the inner workings of the client’s business.  You can’t make them need more content, no matter how hard you try, but you CAN become their top choice by making it easy to work with you. Now, back to my story…)

I loved the work and team, but they were going through a growth spurt.  This usually means they need help, but they’re too strapped for time to figure out a system.

With each project they sent me, I was working on my own systems.  As I learned how they worked, I discovered ways I could help.  

I asked the team lead if I could set up a recurring email with my calendar link to go out monthly to remind them to reach out if projects were coming my way.  

I did this for two reasons: 

1. I wanted more work from them.
2. My gut told me this could be a good partnership, but they weren’t giving me much notice when projects were coming my way.  As my business grew, this became a challenge to schedule.

Many new freelance writers will not even consider this because they feel like it’s pushy.  

How to Present a New Way of Working to Your Clients Without Feeling Pushy

“Fake it until you make it.” ← I HATE this saying. 

Lying to anyone in business is a terrible way to start your entrepreneurial journey. 

The lesson: NEVER lie to your clients. 

The honest truth was I needed more notice.  I valued the relationship and loved working with them, so I framed it like this…

“Since you’re an existing client, I want to make sure you get priority over new clients. Is it okay if I send you a recurring reminder email once a month to let me know what projects you have coming up so you get first dibs on my calendar?”

They said yes and I scheduled it out.

What Happens When Life Gets Easier for Your Clients?

About a month or two after starting my recurring email strategy, I received an email from the team lead saying how grateful she was for the recurring email. It was making her process easier and putting her ahead of schedule. 

A short while later, we were so ahead of schedule, she turned it into a monthly call.  She wanted to start tackling projects monthly instead of every 6-8 weeks. 

So instead of ONE project every 6-8 weeks, I now had two projects every month consistently.  

More Ways to Help Your Clients See You as an Asset

This is when things clicked for me.  

Making your client’s life easier brings more work. 

Here are more ways this can work for you:

>> Easy-to-read pitches lead to more jobs. 

>> Helping your client get organized leads to more free time for them to work on new projects that could include you.

>> Making it easy for clients to pay you makes them pay you quicker.

>> Pitching a guest post with a finished draft made will lead to more published posts 

>> Reading the entire job post and including exactly what they need will help you stand out

>> Setting up recurring invoices helps them stay organized

>> Keeping track of deadlines in a shared document helps keep them informed 

You can implement this strategy anywhere in your business. In conversion copywriting, we call this reducing friction. 

This means making it SO easy there’s no reason they wouldn’t take action. 

The Surprising Benefits of Organizing Your Clients

This strategy has helped me across every project I’ve ever had. 

It’s landed me referral after referral.  

I’ve even been offered full-time work several times. 

I now set up recurring emails for every new client. 

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This is an affiliate link (which means I make a commission if you buy the course), but I paid my own money for this course and I highly recommend it to every new freelance writer who wants to stop spinning their wheels and wants to make real money. 

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Even More Ways to Become a True Professional Freelance Writer

Here are some other client management strategies you can use to manage your clients:

> When you schedule a call where you’re gathering information from a client, send an agenda ahead of time.  You’ll look more professional, and remember, your client is really busy, they might forget what the meeting is even for. 

> Record your calls and give the recordings to the client, their marketing team may want to review the conversation.

> Don’t wait for them to ask you questions, take control of your calls and ask them the questions you need to discover what problems you can solve for them. 

> Communicate WELL.  Send reminders of the information you’re waiting for.  

The more you take control, help them stay organized, and make their lives easier, the more clients you’ll get, the better reputation you’ll have (aka more referrals).  

How To Manage Clients When Pitching

When you’re pitching new clients, you’re likely thinking, “They probably get so many pitches.”  

You’re not wrong.  But 90% or more of the pitches they get are REALLY BAD.

Make yourself easy to hire.  

• Send a relevant portfolio.  
• Make the links easy to click.  
• Start your pitch with what’s important to them, not what’s important to you.  

When I was hiring writers, I received so many pitches that started with “I would love to learn email marketing.”  

My first thought is, ‘Okay great, you want me to pay you to learn!?’

This is not the impression you want to give.  You want the client to know you understand their needs and can help them solve their problems. 

Give some thought to the problem they’re trying to solve. 

>Hiring someone is stressful and takes time out of their already chaotic day

>Finding the right person the first time is tough

>They’ll want someone who communicates well

Make yourself EASY to hire.  Become the obvious choice. 

I even had one applicant write out a specific example based on what he knew about the type of writing I was looking for.  

I didn’t hire him because of other reasons, and I don’t recommend you work for free, but he stood out because he was so enthusiastic. 

Use Client Management Strategies to Stand Out

When you’re new at being a freelance writer, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the amount of competition.  

But here’s a big secret:  Standing out among other great writers is SO much easier than you think. 

Think of yourself like the head of your department and you have to report to the big boss (your client).  

If you can run your business like it’s own department of that company, you’ll have almost no REAL competition. 

No client wants to babysit you.  Hiring a freelancer can be very stressful for companies.  When they find someone they don’t have to babysit, they will hang on for dear life. 

You can learn everything you need to learn about starting your freelance writing career inside this course: Write Your Way to Your First 1K. 

This is the course I took when I started.  It’s how I learned to write my first pitches, how to socialize to get organic leads, use social media to get clients and so so soooooo much more. 

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