Back in late September, I posted that I had zero work on my calendar and that I felt panicked. Several other writers shared that they were also slow. And I began feeling a little less like the smelly kid at recess that no one picked for a kickball team. For the few weeks after that, work was steady but still on the slow side. But I never again sat down to the blank calendar.  

October was SLOOOOWW 

I kept reaching out to past clients and staying in contact with other writers in my niche as I tried to keep my sanity during my slowdown. I kept asking for referrals, especially with my agency clients. And I kept spending time away from my computer doing things that I loved – I even hiked 27 miles on the Appalachian Trail the first week of October. Making plans away from work really helped me use the downtime to recharge and feel like I did something meaningful with my slow period.

I decided I likely wasn’t making my yearly goal of $200K again. And I made peace with it. 

The month of October ended with me earning right at $10K, which is the lowest I’ve earned in a single month in many years. I usually earn $12K to $18K each month with January and months where I vacation on the low side, and March to May then Sept to Dec on the high side. 

And then ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE

The last week of October, it literally felt like every single person I have ever worked with in my entire life realized that they had a ton of projects that they needed done absolutely right this minute. Clients had been putting off their projects because of the economy. Then all of a sudden someone reminded them they had to spend their budget or lose it. 

And I had my highest earning month EVER in Nov 2022. I made at least $27,000. And that included taking 3 days off during the week of Thanksgiving. 

I also have three big projects—two whitepapers and a webinar—that I did a lot of work on in November (outlines and interviews), but the drafts will be due in December so those aren’t counted in the November earnings. But if I added half of those project earnings to November, that would add another $3K bringing the new total to $30K. But since I’m taking time off in December, I’ll count all of that as December earnings. 

Yes, I worked a lot, including nights and some weekends. But my approach to the feast and famine cycles of freelancing is to enjoy the “famine” periods by spending time away from work and then working as much as I can during the “feast.” (There will be an upcoming blog post on this as well.) That said, even in November, I took several half days off during the week for dog rescue. 

5 Things that Worked for Me to Make November 2022 Possible

Here were the keys to my turning it around:

• I kept in touch with clients. I kept reaching out to clients letting them know I had availability during September and October every few weeks. Then when things picked up in November, I was at the top of their list. One agency client assigned me $4K of work due to my emails and another $4800 from staying in touch. 
• I marketed to my strengths. I repeatedly told clients in my messages that I loved short turnarounds and was available for last-minute projects. Several of my assignments were short turnarounds and that was great. A VERY last minute project for large tech company in October turned into $8600 in November with a high likelihood of more. They liked my 2AM writing so much that they hired me for ongoing blogs. 
• I reached out to writer friends. Over the years I have referred a lot of work to writers and many of them send overflow work my way. So I swallowed my pride in early November and reached out to a writer in my space. I let her know I was slow and to let me know she had any new client requests or projects she didn’t have time for. She sent me a referral, and I landed my first assignment that afternoon. I’m now earning $1500 a week from the client she sent my way. 
• Check who viewed your LinkedIn profile. I’ve got a new client with $2K of work kicking off next week because they saw my LinkedIn profile. I check every other day to see who viewed my profile and reached out to her. She said she was looking for a writer and got overwhelmed. When I reached out, she was happy not to have to look anymore and set up a Zoom meeting. We hit it off and I’m hoping she turns into an anchor client. 
• Put your website and LinkedIn in your email signature. Over the summer one of my projects was interviewing several marketing agencies for a series of profiles. One of the agencies saw that I was a freelancer from my email signature, checked out my website and asked for an intro call. We hit it off and they are one of the clients who hired me for a whitepaper due next month.   

Breakdown of My $27K Month

Fellow writers always enjoy seeing how a month breaks down in terms of work and where I got it. 

Here is how my $27K month shook out: 

$4800 – Blog Posts for long-time (6 plus years) Anchor Client (Big tech company through agency) 

$2400 – Long form sponsored content posts. Off and on client, but I’ve gotten more work from them since I’ve been checking in regularly. Landed the client through a referral from long-time writer friend. 

$8500 – 8 blog posts of varying length for off and on agency client that I landed years ago after attending an in-person happy hour. I did an overnight project for this client at the agency in October and they loved the work so they gave me 8 posts in November. 

$4350 – Blog posts for agency anchor client for various clients of theirs. At least half of this work was from me letting them know I had availability. 

$750 – Sponsored post for new client through a referral from a writer friend

$4500 – Blog posts for new agency client I landed through a referral from a writer friend

$750 – Annual report for nonprofit that I believe in and do the work at a reduced rate.  

$1200 – Blog posts from direct client who I met on my FB group 

Total: $27,250 

 

Looking Good for December 

I am hoping that my December earnings are somewhere between October and November. The pace of November made me tired but taking off time at Thanksgiving rejuvenated me. I am taking the third week of December off to go on vacation with my college kids so I will likely continue my fast pace for the next two weeks. And then I will pick up any high-paying last-minute assignments that float my way during the last week of the year. I like working some during the week between Christmas and the New Year since it’s usually quiet and, when clients need help during this time, they are usually willing to pay a rush fee.  

It’s now possible for my to hit my $200K goal for this year. It’s not a given. But I am hopeful. And the reason that I was able to turn it around was the network and connections, with clients and writers, that I’ve built over the last 15 years. It was a combination of what I’ve done my whole career (building strong relationships with clients and referring work to other writers) as well as the specific actions that I took when my calendar got empty. 

As my writer friend Leslie Lang said at the ASJA Virtual Conference two years ago, “You have to do all the things.” It’s not a single marketing act that made my $27K month possible, but the combination of all of my outreach and persistence. One tactic or type of outreach simply isn’t going to cut it. But when you “do all the things” then things can turn around pretty quickly.  

How have you turned around a slow month into a big one?