Treasa Edmond: 0:00

Hi, welcome back to the Boss Responses podcast.

Treasa Edmond: 0:03

Today, my guest host of the week, Lizzie Davey, and I are going to talk about what to do whenever you're having a hard time finding consistent work and are often experiencing the dreaded dry spell. We're going to talk strategies and methods that we recommend for building a steady pipeline of clients and projects. Let's go ahead and get into it. If you're a freelancer, business owner or anyone who deals with clients, you're in the right place. I'm your host, teresa Edmond.

Treasa Edmond: 0:34

I've been dealing with clients and running my business for nearly two decades and in that time, I've dealt with my share of doubt, imposter syndrome and not knowing what to say when a client asked a question I wasn't ready for. I created this podcast to empower you with the boss responses you need to grow your business. Each week, my guest co-host and I will bring you five episodes packed with practical insights. Monday through Thursday, we answer your questions, and Fridays, we dive deep to explore how our co-hosts embrace their role as the boss of their business. Welcome to Boss Responses. We are back for day three with Lizzie Davey. Lizzie, the question today is I have had a hard time finding consistent work and often experience dry spells. I went through this phase and I hated it. When I run out of projects or things get slow, I start reaching out to potential clients, but it always takes a while to build back up to a full project load. What strategies or methods do you recommend for building a steady pipeline of clients and projects?

Lizzie Davey: 1:41

I love this question because I have faced those drive spells. I think it's something that every freelancer goes through and it's completely normal. The first few times I experienced it it was kind of like oh crap, I've got no work on my schedule. And then like a mad scramble to find work, to fill up my schedule, find new clients and the question asker said it takes ages to build back up a full project load and then obviously to get paid because that's afterwards. So it can be really stressful.

Lizzie Davey: 2:08

So what I would recommend, and what I do now, is I'm constantly marketing in the background. So even when I'm really really busy, I'm still doing. I'm doing passive marketing. So I think there's two kinds of marketing freelancers. There's active marketing and passive marketing. Active marketing is when you're pitching people, so when you actively need work, asking for referrals, really putting yourself out there. And then the passive marketing is building your network, growing your visibility and just keeping your name out there so that people are seeing your name over and over again, so that when you do have one of these dry spells, you've already got a warm network to tap into.

Lizzie Davey: 2:47

Because I think one of the things that we do when we get very busy and I know that I'm guilty of this and I'm trying to do it less is we put a complete pause on all of our promotional efforts. So, yeah, I've got a full load of client work. I've got no time to be finding clients to pitch or to be posting on LinkedIn. I've got no time for be finding clients to pitch or to be posting on LinkedIn. I've got no time for that. And then those contracts end and, oh, I haven't got any work because I haven't been nurturing those leads, I haven't been putting myself out there. So I think, even when we're really, really busy, we need to schedule in that time in our week, I think every week, every day, if possible, to do a little bit of promotion, some of that passive marketing. What about you, teresa? What would you do in this situation?

Treasa Edmond: 3:27

I agree with all of that and I used to do the same thing. I would market, market, market. I'd fill up my rosters, I'd focus on the client work and then I'd be like panic mode I need more clients. Or if a project ended early, that was a problem. And I do what you and I don't have to do as much of the active because most of my clients are inbound, which is wonderful. Get to that point, that's just great.

Treasa Edmond: 3:54

I still never stop marketing and telling people that I accept referrals and it's part of my process with every client enjoyed working with me. And if you know of anyone who uses these types of services, I do have some availability in my schedule for new clients. I say that even if I don't have immediate availability. I think the thing that really helped me the most is when I started scheduling work out, so I would get a potential client in and I would tell them I have availability now and we can go ahead and do the project. Or I would tell them I actually am booked up until the second week in July, but I can definitely add your project to the schedule at that time and I was surprised People would wait, especially for the bigger projects and now I book ghostwriting projects, sometimes a year out, and it's wonderful.

Treasa Edmond: 4:50

One of the kind of hidden benefits of that is people are like, oh, she's in demand and people like working with people who are in demand, and then they would start referring people to me, already knowing that I was booked out six months or whatever. So I would have a constant string of projects coming in that way. That created a whole different problem and that I could not get behind on projects. So scope creep was not allowed. I got really serious with my boundaries about the same time I started doing that. But yeah, I loved it and I do that. Do you book out or do you just stick with the current?

Lizzie Davey: 5:29

Yeah, I try and book out, so most of my clients are reoccurring anyway.

Lizzie Davey: 5:34

I don't call it a retainer because we're not signed into a set amount each month, usually because that's my choice and I don't like that level of commitment.

Lizzie Davey: 5:43

But we do have like we will have a six month working relationship with a certain amount of pieces per month that we decide at like a month month in advance. So I'm usually booked up maybe two to three months in advance, definitely, and then I have my core client base and then I have gaps in that where I can fill in ad hoc projects, new clients. So I often start filling those gaps in two months in advance, because I often find it takes a little while to get contracts going as well. Yeah, so a client will get in touch and I'll be like, hey, we need a writer, and I'm like, cool, let's get going. I'll, we'll have a discovery call, I'll send all the contracts and documents and then a month has passed and then, yeah, so it takes time to set up a proper working relationship. But, yeah, I am booking out more in advance than I used to and it gives me comfort knowing that I've still got work in a few months time.

Treasa Edmond: 6:36

It really does, and it also helps with cash flow. You have a general idea of what's coming in the next couple of months and I think that's also important. A lot of what we do for our business is for peace of mind and we need to realize that a lot of those systems really help with that and we need to realize that a lot of those systems really help with that. I really like what you said about the ad hoc projects, because I intentionally leave room in my schedule for last minute projects. I also hold a block of my schedule. I like retainers.

Lizzie Davey: 7:04

Do you?

Treasa Edmond: 7:05

Yeah, and it locks you in with a client, but I am so careful with who I choose as a client that I feel pretty safe with that. What I like about them, though, is my retainers are all paid at the beginning of the month, so I don't have to do that thing where I wait for 30 days or 60 days or 90 days or whatever their weird payment process is. That's one of the reasons I do that, because I don't like that not knowing I'm really I'm not scatterbrained. I am incredibly focused on what I'm doing in that moment, and if I finished a project for a client, in my mind I finished a project for the client, so I will forget to chase down payment, unless I have a system set up that reminds me hey, check to see if I've received the payment on it.

Treasa Edmond: 7:48

Now I use Bonsai, and it reminds me. It'll say I have an outstanding invoice. It'll tell me that it's sent a reminder to the client already, which is wonderful. Standing invoice It'll tell me that it's sent a reminder to the client already, which is wonderful, but I learned that I couldn't do that, so I switched to retainers. So if I had the payment up front, then it was done, and then I could just do the work and relax and enjoy life, and that's where that went. Do you have a kind of set payment system that you have set up, where they have to pay within 30 days or whatever?

Lizzie Davey: 8:14

Yeah, so my payment terms are net 30 and I invoice on the last day of the month, or as opposed to the last day of the month, and I've got it automated to go out and then it will also automate reminders throughout the month so that they pay Automations are awesome, so one thing that we're seeing here is a trend.

Treasa Edmond: 8:33

It takes sometimes 30 days to onboard a client, to get them even to where we can start the project, and then very often we have 30 days after that month is complete before payment comes in. So if you are entering a dry spell, if you have not been marketing for clients and you reach the end of a project, it could be three months before your next payment comes in.

Lizzie Davey: 8:58

Yeah, and that's a major thing. It's scary when you think about it like that.

Treasa Edmond: 9:02

Yeah, so don't experience stress pills so consistently market that. I think that's the lesson here. It's not just something you should do, it's something you must do if you want to keep your business running smoothly absolutely yeah, I always try.

Lizzie Davey: 9:18

Even now. I've got so many clients and I'm booked up until september, but I'm still taking time out of my week to post on linkedin and to check in with potential leads, keeping people warm, like researching potential new clients, still taking referrals, still taking discovery calls, still doing all of that even though my calendar is chocker for the next couple of months.

Treasa Edmond: 9:41

I'm so proud of you. I think that's great, all right. So dry spells the best way to not have them is to just never stop marketing, and that's inbound and outbound. Just keep the clients coming and start scheduling out. Don't be afraid to tell a client they have to wait. Some of them actually really like that. All right, come back tomorrow for day four with Lizzie.