Overcoming Lack of Motivation

For the past month my freelance writing accountability partner has been struggling with the very serious issue of lack of motivation. She recognizes that she’s fallen into a potentially destructive cycle of inaction when it comes to follow ups and marketing her business, and the result is a significant reduction in client projects and income. She’s no newbie to freelance writing – she’s successfully worked as a freelance web copywriter for over 10 years. She’s experienced the expected highs and lows of entrepreneurship before, but is really having trouble pulling herself out of this slump. I know how she feels.

Last year around this time, I was experiencing my own struggle with lack of motivation and enthusiasm as I traveled back and for between states trying to balance caring for my dying father and my own four children. Thankfully I had a pretty steady flow of projects coming in, and could continue working rather seamlessly thanks to my trusty cell phone and laptop. Still, getting through each client project was a struggle as I fought for focus, and my waning motivation resulted in stalled personal writing projects and marketing fail. Thankfully I pulled myself out of that hole before things got too far gone.

When you first start freelancing, or any new venture, you’re all charged up and raring to go. You’re high on possibilities and can’t conceive that a day will come when you don’t feel the way you do in that moment. But it likely will, and to make sure you don’t suffer too many consequences (financially and otherwise), it’s always a good idea to be prepared. Running a business can at time be a stressful gig. Here’s a little of what I’ve learned about maintaining/reclaiming enthusiasm for your business:

Take five

Or take the weekend off. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, sometimes the best thing you can do is step away from everything for a day or two to get your bearings and clear your head. Don’t fall into the all too common trap of saying you can’t afford to take time off. You really can’t afford not to if you’re not operating up to speed. Stepping away will give you a fresh perspective.

Surround yourself with positive people

And put some distance between yourself and any naysayers. The last thing you need when you’re down is someone kicking you or encouraging you to give up, turn away and get a “real job.” Positive people will give you the feedback and support you need, lift you up and help you get through challenging times.

Join a group of like-minded individuals

This great idea for networking, support, and constructive feedback from others in the profession. Forums and mastermind groups can provide valuable advice to help improve your business, marketing tips and innovative approaches to doing business.

Do you take any special measure to stay motivated and keep writing?

Getting Back to the Business of Freelancing

I’m still here. The kids and I (finally!) relocated to our new home about three weeks ago – just in time for the first day of school. It also just happened to be during the first days of the month of Ramadhan, which was a bit stressful at first. My husband is still in Atlanta dealing with contractors and the property management company we'll be using to get our house in tip top shape to be rented (that man is truly a Godsend, I tell you). How I wish I could just put it on the market and sell it, but the Atlanta real estate market is beyond horrible, but that’s another story for another blog. Luckily our house is located intown, in a historic neighborhood, so we already have a few interested candidates. I figure we’ll at least break even and won’t have to struggle to pay both a mortgage AND rent.

The house we’re renting is meh, okay – for now. We need more space so we’ll be moving again next June when the kids are out of school for the summer. Yay… The unpacking is going slowly but surely. Although we are still living among boxes and my office is only semi-organized, I’ve been busy working (the self-employed can only take so many days away from work, right?) on client projects, personal writing projects and marketing here and there. I admit it - I need to step up the marketing. I’m feeling the pinch. I put more time into marketing and following up with past clients last week and it’s already brought me two new projects this week. That’s all the incentive I need to keep it up.

I’m behind on reading my favorite blogs, so I hope to begin catching up this week. Of course marketing to bring in more paying projects will be my priority. How’s business been going for you this summer?

Countdown to Moving Day

If only you could see the boxes piling up in my house. We are in the last days of packing. On Wednesday my husband and I will travel to our new home a state away to unload furniture and and begin a new adventure in our lives - at least that's how we choose to think of it. We're moving to be closer to my mother - she needs help since my father died. If it weren't for freelancing I can't imagine how we would be able to do this.

I’ve been ghost around here because for the past months because my focus has been on packing, marketing and wrapping up client projects. Moving means I’ll be without Internet for at least 48 hours once we get there, and I can’t lie – I’m feeling a little bit of anxiety over that. Between my Blackberry and Starbucks Wi-Fi , I should be able to maintain communication if anything crucial pops up. My regular clients have all been informed that I’m unavailable to work this week.

I hope to be back to posting on a regular basis by August 1. Until then I leave you with some of my favorite posts written by some of my favorite bloggers. I'll just get back to packing now...

Writing Mistakes I See Too Often
3 Types of Savings Every Freelance Writer Needs
Avoiding Ethical Dilemmas
The One Where I Do a 180
Good Advice for Every Freelancer: Never Say Never

The Importance of Making Time for Your Personal Projects

This year I’ve committed to making time for a couple of important personal writing projects. One has the potential to become a source of residual income, which has also been a long-term freelance writing goal of mine for some time. Finding time to devote to these projects while also keeping up with client projects and the marketing required to keep the lights on and food on the table can be a serious challenge.

These projects are a part of my business plan, so although I don’t rely on them (yet) to cover my living expenses, there will be a payoff in the future if I stick to my plan. Yes, I need to generate a consistent income, but I don’t want to cheat myself out of a promising long-term opportunity for short-term cash. Based on the research I’ve conducted, passive income can help stabilize and increase a freelance writer’s income which reduces those feast or famine cycles.

In the past I’ve been guilty of setting aside my personal writing projects for client projects, and the result was that my projects eventually fell to the wayside. Someday will never arrive unless I take active steps to make it happen. Whether you have dreams of writing a novel, creating information products, classes, webinars or some other project that could financially benefit your business, you’ll have to make time for it. Think of it this way : you are your most valuable client, so you deserve to be treated as such. I’ll share a few things I’m doing to meet my personal project goals:

Setting Aside Time Each Week

As you know I’m the mother of four children, and I freelance full-time. This requires me to create and work on a schedule. I make sure to also schedule time for working on my personal projects.

Setting Deadlines

Deadlines are serious business for me. If I set a deadline I do everything in my power to meet it. Setting deadlines forces me to move beyond the idea stage and start taking the actionable steps required to turn my dreams into reality.

Not Getting Caught Up In the Perfection Trap

I am sooo bad about this. I want everything to be perfect or I don’t want to do it. But it’s not so much about my project being absolutely perfect as much as it is about me on some level doubting my ability. I have to remind myself that I’m human, everything may not be perfect in the beginning, but I can’t allow self-doubt to hold me back from trying.

Have you been working on, or thinking about working on a personal project that could financially benefit your business? How do you keep yourself on task?

Freelance Writers: Uncover Your Profit Potential

It’s my second week of summer break and I’m knee in a couple of client projects and a mass marketing frenzy while also trying to squeeze in a couple of personal writing projects and acting as referee to four hot, irritable kids. Good times…

Before I lose it completely, I wanted to give you a heads up on a new webinar: Writers Uncover Your Hidden Profit Potential. Today is the last day to receive an 11% discount so if you’re freelance writing business is stalled or you want to know how to kick off your freelancing career on the right foot, these are the ladies to learn from. Have a productive and profitable day!

Anticipate Lulls in Your Business and Plan Accordingly

he summer months tend to be slow for my business. I’ve been marketing on a fairly steady basis, but that’ not good enough when I anticipate business slowing down, and I know it. I should have planned to increase my marketing efforts earlier. It’s not like the lulls my business experiences aren’t fairly predictable.

No use beating my head against a brick wall over it now – what’s done is done. Now I need to move ahead and ramp it up. I’m putting a few ideas into action.

Email queries

I’ve had some pretty good luck with email queries in the past. A couple of months ago I signed up for a paid webinar about email marketing. I felt the investment was worth it. I used the instructor’s tips to revise my standard email query letter (I use a standard format but tweak it as necessary). After doing this I got an immediate response from a California company asking if I’d consider working with them as an employee instead of freelancing, so I think the webinar instructor’s tips were pretty spot on. I’m going to commit to researching companies and sending out a certain number of queries every day.

Direct mail campaign

Earlier this year I came up with an idea to reach out to a certain local market here in Atlanta. My idea has profit potential, but I need to buckle down, get started and set a deadline. This is actually an ideal time for me to launch a direct mail campaign. I’m redesigning my brochures, drafting a sales letter, and choosing samples to mail as a package.

Utilize the local phone book

My family and I will soon be relocating to another state. I grew up in the city we’re moving to and know that the people there like dealing with other locals when it comes to business. I’ve been following Anne Wayman’s super duper marketing series for freelance writers and her post about using the phone book to find clients stood out. I’ve been spending some of my down time thumbing through it to find ripe markets to target.

Utilize Social Media

I’ve been using Twitter to get exposure for a new blog project I’m working on, but I’ve done very little my writing services. I need to participate and engage other in conversation more.

When you need to drum up business, what techniques do you employ?

Educating Difficult Clients

A writer friend of mine has been having trouble with a new client. She was hired to write web copy and supporting marketing material (brochures, etc). The client is ready to send over the down payment and signed agreement, but my friend is having trouble getting the client to focus on a target market.

The client doesn’t understand why it’s so important and is annoyed with the writer’s insistence that they focus on this detail first. The client wants her web copy and other materials yesterday. My writer friend is beyond frustrated. “She just doesn’t get it, Kim. I feel like we keep having the same discussion over and over. I can’t get her to understand how important it is to focus her marketing message.”

I think most of us have worked with this type of client before. In my experience this client doesn’t really understand marketing. They just want you to write something amazing that will result in more business. It just doesn’t occur to them that there is a process involved. They over simplify the services and value we provide.

In my experience, getting a client to understand the importance of something like focusing their marketing message on a target audience involves quite a bit of education. In the past the time I spent educating and convincing a client to provide me with necessary information was much more than the time I’d allotted for research and writing.

My friend, however, is much smarter than I am. She asks lots and lots of questions in the very beginning – before she sends out her agreement or accepts down payment. She sends interested prospective clients a questionnaire to complete first, and they discuss it in detail by phone – because one question often leads to another. This gives her a much better idea of what she’s dealing with and she adjusts her contract and payment accordingly.

Thankfully she saw the signs early on that this client would require more time to help her understand the basics of marketing. She very wisely included a certain amount of consultation time and included it in her rate. And just like that I’ve learned something new from this writer that I will apply to my own freelance writing business.

Even though we are writers, we may from time to time be called upon to provide professional consultation. The knowledge we possess is valuable. Do you give it away freely, or offer fee-based consultation in addition to the writing services you provide?