Writer’s Log #3: Don’t Hang Up

By Joe Dyton

Yesterday, I reached out to a handful of companies via email, so I thought today I’d go “old school” and contact companies by phone.

I’ll admit, I’m much more comfortable marketing my writing services by email, but whenever I cold call companies, it’s never as bad as I think it’s going to be. Most of the time the person on the other end of the line is polite, even if their business doesn’t have a need for a freelancer. Today was no different; I called seven marketing/ad agencies in the area I got put into the dreaded voicemail by four and the other three asked me to send my information to them by email. Whenever I cold call, I always expect companies who do use freelance writers to tell me they have an assignment to give me right then and there. I need to remind myself that it’s very unlikely that’ll happen and I should take a business asking me for my information as a win. It’ll help curb my disappointment when I have nothing to show for all the calls I made on that particular day.

I originally had 10 companies I wanted to call, but only got to the seven I mentioned, so applied for a business writer freelance position and inquired about a couple of copywriting opportunities to make it an even 10. My hope is next week to have 20 companies/publications to contact per day; 10 by email and 10 over the phone.

Also on the freelance front, I finished an article today about effective email campaigns that’ll appear in the U-T San Diego. When I accepted the assignment last week, I was a little nervous because I didn’t think I’d be able to reach anyone this week because of the holiday. Fortunately, I was able to get in touch with two sources I needed. Many thanks to Terry O’Connor of Inteleqt and Tamara Deverell of Esteemed Consulting who answered the questions for my story while she was on vacation. I guess the lesson I learned there is if you have the time, accept the assignment. Usually you’ll be able to find at least a couple people who will take time out to be interviewed; even during the holidays.

The Links:

John Soares asks 19 top freelance writers what their top professional and personal goals are for 2014.

Carol Tice (and other freelancers) offer up 10 tips to help you earn more this year.

Francesca Nicasio gives four tools for finding blogs to guest post on.

That’s all I have for today. Have a wonderful weekend, everybody!

Joe Dyton is a freelance journalist and copywriter in Washington, DC. He can be reached at dytonwande@gmail.com. Follow Joe on Twitter @dyton99

Writer’s Log #2: Hire me (please)!

By Joe Dyton

Well, I rang in the New Year with a cold, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from putting up a post today. As I wrote yesterday, my aim is to write a post every day (fingers crossed) to chronicle what I did to help get my freelance business started. Today, I got back into the swing of reaching out to potential clients. This has always been the thing that’s kept me from going full steam ahead with pursuing this venture. I call, email or snail mail companies and the best response I’ll get is “Thanks for reaching out; we’ll keep your information on file if the need should arise”, and then I’ll never hear from them again. After a few weeks of that, I see my marketing efforts slow down.

I’ve read several (good) books about freelance writing and how to go about finding clients, but I never seem to find the success that the authors had even as I follow their steps. The books make it seem so easy; I always think about that scene in “Swingers” when Jon Favreau’s character who’s a New York-based comic now living in LA says, “They make it seem like they’re handing out (TV) pilots at the airport.” I understand what he’s talking about; the books make it seem like if I stick with it, the clients will come. But, the clients don’t. So, this year, I’m going to see my marketing all the way through; no more getting frustrated and giving up. My goal is to reach out to 10 to 20 potential clients each day. I am a journalist and a marketing copywriter, so I will be reaching out to publications as well as corporations. In the past, my strategy is go to on job boards and search for companies that are looking for writers and send them my resume and let them know I’m available on a freelance basis. I’ll still do that this year, but I also want to look up companies that aren’t on job boards. We’ll see how it goes.

That’s what I did today; I emailed five commercial real estate companies (I used to work for a commercial real estate magazine) and three design firms and let them know I’m a freelance writer looking for work. It’s a little below the number of companies I want to reach each day, but I’ll step it up going forward. I’ll have to if I want to hit my goal of at landing at least six steady clients by the end of the year. Let the games begin!

The links:

Tom Ewer offers tips on how to make sure your New Year’s resolution doesn’t fail.

Jennifer Mattern offers up 20 Blog Revenue Streams.

Jennifer Gregory shows you how to set your income goal for 2014.

Today I emailed potential clients; I may try calling some tomorrow and send some snail mail over the weekend. How do you like to reach out to clients? Do you have a recommended number of people to reach out to each day? Comment below!

Joe Dyton is a freelance journalist and marketing writer in Washington, DC. He can be reached at dytonwande@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter; @dyton99.

The Aspiring Freelancer; Writer’s Log #1

By Joe Dyton

Hello!

As you can see, this is The Aspiring Freelancer blog. I decided to start this because I would like to have my own freelance writing business. I’ve stopped and started this quest over the years, but have never really put all I had into it. I wanted to change that this year. I thought the best way to make sure I stick with it is to make myself accountable. So, my plan is to report on my progress every day this year, starting today, January 1, 2014. Some posts may be longer than others; I may just mention I reached out to 10 clients on a particular day. Other posts might go into more detail; the main thing is that I’m doing something every day to turn my dream of building a business into a reality.

As for a little bit about me; I started writing in 1999. I am currently a full-time marketing copywriter in Washington, DC. I have also written for a few daily newspapers, a national real estate magazine and provided content for several websites. As for my business, I’m looking to write in just about any capacity; articles, marketing materials, websites, press releases, you name it. The hope is by the end of the year, I’ll have a decent-sized roster of steady clients.

I also read a lot about freelance writing; ways to go about it from a business end and ways to improve my writing. When I come across good articles on either, I’ll be sure to include them in my posts. Here are a few blogs I follow that I find informative and inspirational:

Carol Tice’s Make a Living Writing

Linda Formichelli’s The Renegade Writer

Peter Bowerman’s The Well-Fed Writer

Tom Ewer’s Leaving Work Behind

If you’re an aspiring freelance writer like me, these are just a handful of resources out there to help you get started. I recommend following these sites like I do, but I’ll also be adding links to various articles that are posted on them.

So, that should do it for Day One. I just wanted to introduce myself and give you an idea about what this blog is all about. Please feel free to comment and ask questions. I may not have the answer, but I’ll be happy to find someone who does.

Happy New Year! Thanks for reading!

–Joe

Joe Dyton is a freelance journalist and copywriter in Washington, DC. He can be reached at dytonwande@gmail.com. You may also follow him on Twitter, @dyton99.