A couple of freelancers I know are spending the next month turning down work. Yep…they have more work and commitments than they can handle, so they’re telling prospects “Sorry, but I can’t work with you right now.” None of them play when it comes to their marketing.

With more companies shaving down their employment rosters, I genuinely believe a LOT more freelancers could be in the same position…they just have to respect the process of getting new clients.

We’re rounding out Getting Clients month with a post on the essential points to get started on bidding sites. If you’ve been having a hard time getting your freelance career off the ground, you’ll definitely want to give this one a read. If you haven’t been able to keep up with everything going on on the site, or want to review at any time, all the posts will be here under Monthly Themes and you’ll get another chance to participate live next time it rolls around!

Just getting out there and checking for jobs can be a difficult habit to keep, so I’m adding a new section to the newsletter to help you out. It will include simple search links that you can click on and see what’s going on on a few job sites. You can either scroll through or even add on a couple of your keywords to refine, and you’re ready to start bidding! Also, remember that any company posting a job likely has other needs (and is obviously open to working with freelancers), so if you see something interesting that might not be a perfect fit, consider adding the company to your prospect list for future potential work.

Indeed: Work for copy editors, contract writers, recruiters, and writers in every area from real estate to products.

Monster: Looking better for writers with work in automotive service, R&D technical writing, grant writing, and finance. 

CareerBuilder: Some interesting positions in graphic and UX design.

Upwork: Higher paying jobs in website redesign, book writing, screenplay writing, graphic design, eLearning development and more.

We’ve been having some nice chats about charging per project vs. hourly and how follow-up really plays out in practice. (A bit of honesty…I’ve been so busy ramping up a new project that I’ve scaled WAY back on marketing time and haven’t written out my applied marketing plan…it’s definitely something for me to get back around to though.)

Getting Clients month ends tomorrow, so come on over and review the forums…and start getting ready for a month of Keeping Clients Happy!

See you around BlackFreelance!

Megan.