How I Secured a $12k/year Contract in Five Minutes
For most freelance writers, obtaining new clients is the lifeblood of their business. If you are capable of securing new work on a regular basis, you are going to succeed. Of course, you will also want to work hard at keeping the clients you currently work for. After all, recurring business is the best kind.
I have been lucky enough to secure some pretty big contracts over the years, but one of them sticks out head and shoulders above the rest. About 15 months ago I came across an ad on one of the many freelance writing job boards that I check every morning. From what I can remember, the ad was actually posted on several different boards including the one at journalismjobs.com.
The job description was simple and to the point. They were looking for somebody who could write approximately 500 words per day on real estate. Being that I had experience with this type of content in the past, I fired off a quick note with some samples and my resume attached. Not expecting to hear anything back for a few days at the least, I began to move on to the rest of my work. But much to my surprise, within five minutes, I received a call from the company that I had just emailed. They liked what they saw, offered me the job, and gave me some basic details on getting started.
But while all this was going on, I was still wondering about one very important detail. What was the pay for this job? The ad did not mention the rate, and the client had yet to say anything. Right then, he said to me, “What is your going rate for a job like this?†I quickly responded that I would be glad to help at $.10/word. He said great, I said awesome, and that was that.
Each month, like clockwork, I receive $1,000 or so from this client. I always wonder how I got so lucky as to secure this client. It is obvious that the hiring individual was reading emails at that time, and mine happened to roll in. Talk about great timing!
Wouldn’t it be easy if every contract was this simple to secure? These are the ones that every freelance writer dreams about, but of course, the ones that are most difficult to capture!
