Spring Cleaning for Freelancers

It’s March 20, which means spring is finally here!

I don't know about you, but this winter has been particularly harsh. No major snowstorms to speak of, but the frigid temps have made it difficult to get outside. I’ve been having more trouble getting and staying motivated than usual, too. Now that it’s officially spring, it can only mean better days and better weather is on the way.

Spring is traditionally a time to do some deep cleaning. I made some great progress on this front over the weekend, and it occurred to me—the same strategies can work to “spring clean” a freelancing business.

Here are a few ideas:

· Declutter your client list. Just as you might finally get rid of the sweater you haven’t worn in five years, it might be time to thin out the client list. Maybe it's finally time to let go of the low-paying, time-consuming client(s) to make room for others who pay and ultimately fit better for where you see your career.

· Organize your marketing strategies. Let’s start here—what is your marketing strategy? How do you plan to add those "better fitting" clients? I admit, I struggle with marketing consistently. I am making a solid effort at blogging regularly, and mixing up the types of things I post on social media to show different skill sets and abilities. Although I’ve written about a range of topics over the years, my core focus continues to be small business, higher education, and pets, so I am leaning in to those areas. I have a mix of past projects on my website to show my range.

· Find that “better fitting” client. Pay rate, type of project, industry, time commitment—whatever a “better fit” looks like for you, it’s time to focus on landing those types of clients. I’ve been wanting to take on more content marketing projects and cut back on the features. It’s been a tougher shift than I imagined it would be, so I’ve had to continue focusing on feature writing. I continue to promote my content writing interests and services through social media and through an in-person networking group I joined last summer.

· Dust off the contact list. Is there an editor you wrote for once, ten years ago, and you haven’t written for the editor or that market since then? It might be worthwhile to drop them a line. Another freelancer posted something to this effect on LinkedIn a few weeks ago, and I took it as a sign to get moving. I’ve already written about how I’ve landed the bulk of my assignments over the years from a basic follow up email, but there is something to be said about “touching base” with an editor you haven’t worked with or heard from in some time. If you are trying to get back in with a market you haven’t written for in a year or more, I always check out the publication’s website to find out if there has been a change in leadership. Silence sometimes means there’s a new editor on the job, so it’s wise to send them a letter of introduction and basically start from scratch. If it’s an editor you work with occasionally but not faithfully every month (or bi-monthly, or however their production cycle runs), sometimes a simple “Just wanted to check in to see if you have any writing assignments you may need covered” is enough to land an assignment (or two).

Just as spring cleaning rids your home of unwanted items and gives your space a freshening up, “deep cleaning” your writing projects now and then can have the same rejuvenating effect.

Freelancers, how often do you “deep clean” your marketing and lead generation strategies?