Real Words

I mentioned here in yesterday’s post that I enjoy the fact that the writing business means constant change. It’s true that I enjoy the changes that happen in this line of work. However, I have to admit that sometimes the changes mean stress. The biggest cause of this is what I call the swinging door of freelance writing. Clients are constantly opening doors and closing them on us due to their own situations and financial restraints.

This affects me more than other writers because I strive to take on jobs that are going to be ongoing. I don’t apply for one-off jobs or short-term jobs (like writing a single batch of articles). I just feel that it requires too much effort on my part to learn the terms and style of a client that I’m only going to write for once. Also, I really like to promote my own work to improve web traffic for my clients and that’s hard to do when you’re only writing for them once or twice.

Since I take on jobs that are designed to be ongoing, I get hit harder when those jobs end. It’s frustrating to build up a portfolio with a client, get used to using their system, get good at promoting their specific type of work to the right industries and then to be told that they just don’t need you or can’t afford to keep you on anymore.

I counterbalance this by steadily applying for new ongoing jobs. I check freelance job boards on a near-daily basis and apply to all of the ongoing jobs that appeal to me. There are only about 1 or 2 per month that I actually get all the way through the hiring process of and decide to work with them. Still, this means that there are 1-2 clients per month that I’m learning a whole new system for (and often a new industry as well!)

And each month there are 1 or 2 existing clients who need to lighten the work load or let go of me altogether. So the swinging door continues. I’ve learned to accept this and to not get too worried about it. I know there will be other jobs when one ends. Nevertheless, I would say that this is one of the bigger sources of stress in my life as a freelance writer.