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Category Archives: freelance writing

Surviving a Dead Calm – Resisting the Urge to Force Sales

Have I mentioned that I’m married to a salesman? Yep, two people in our household dependent on the approval of others to make a living. I could say a lot here about the insanity of that, but the truth is, it works for us, except when we let the pressure to make a sale take over.

This was a topic of heavy discussion as we wound down from a tough day recently. Long drive, no sale. Blank computer screen, no sale. Over no-sugar-added, fat free vanilla frozen yogurt sundaes (by the way, it sucks getting healthy) we acknowledged the temptation to forget who we are in order to make a sale.

Here’s the picture – you’re out in a sailboat and suddenly the wind dies. I’ve never been sailing, but I hear you deal with that phenomenon by waiting out the wind. When your monthly budget depends on a constant breeze of new sales, it’s hard to be that patient.

dead calm no sales

Dead Calm of No Sales

We acknowledged we could maybe make things happen faster by cranking out more appointments, more ads, more pitches to editors. We could hurry through the appointments/inquiries we do have, looking over their shoulders to the next one. After all, sales does comes down to numbers at some point. But does a frantic flurry of new activity always equal more sales? No, and here’s why.

Whether it’s the words/tone we use to persuade or our eagerness to shift the pressure to the client, giving in to the urge to force sales is rarely  successful. Someone said once that the best salesman is a hungry one; we would submit that signalling, however subtly, that you’re a starving artist or salesman isn’t a great sales tactic.

What can we do, then, to stir up the wind again? The logical answer came to me this week in the form of Jeff Goins’ Writer’s Manifesto. Brilliant little ebook, everyone in sales/writing/artistic endeavours should read it.

Because he tells us we should “stop writing to be read and adored” and simply write to the best of our ability, because that’s what we do as writers. Insert “selling” or “painting” or whatever your art is, and it makes sense. We may be dependent on the approval of others to sell our products, but if their approval (and the need for more sales) is the whole reason we do what we do, we can’t help sounding a little desperate.

Stay with me here. The discussion I had with my husband about surviving a dead calm really has more to do with who we become when sales slow down. If we switch from offering our best to the world, best writing, best connecting with customers and finding out what they really need, etc., into panic mode, it just doesn’t work. We cut corners, we crank out garbage or we offer things we can’t deliver when it comes down to it. We get that whiny edge to our voices that says “You need to feel sorry enough for me to give me money.”

Not an attractive way to build a client base. I am a writer. He is a salesman. We are good at what we do. It isn’t helpful to forget that fact every time we hit a dead calm. We’re fortunate enough to hold each other accountable to keep doing our best every day, no matter how little wind seems to be hitting our sails.

What, faithful readers, are you doing to stay accountable when the wind dies? I’d love to hear your ideas for surviving a dead calm.

photo credit: Elsie esq. via photopin cc

 


How Two Dogs Help Grow My Business

Dog Who Grow My Business, Part 1

Dogs Who Grow My Business, Part 1

Believe it or not, walking my two rambunctious dogs each morning has helped to grow my business as a freelance writer. Getting dressed decently enough to greet the public, dragging out the leashes and forcing myself out the door with two highly energetic canines is a habit that has reaped rewards. Number one reward – my brain gets stimulated by all sorts of things that help make me a better writer. The river that runs a block from my house, the wild creatures the dogs send scattering and the stalwart walkers who brave the early hour. All those stimuli cause neurons to fire better when I sit down back home at my computer.

That’s the kind of habit I need to grow my business into a sustainable freelance writing career. And that’s one of the keys to success – forming habits that stimulate business.  So, what are some other habits we can form to keep us motivated, stimulated and well-compensated?

3 Habits that Help Grow My Business

While learning what it takes to sustain a freelance writing career, I’ve identified habits I’ve formed that could sabotage my business. Most of them center around self-structuring my time and workload. Depending on the type of business you’re growing, you may have a different set of regular bad behaviors that scuttle your ship.

Dogs Who Grow My Business, Part 2

DogsWhoGrowMyBusiness Part 2

But let’s dwell on the positive (see number 1.)  No point in identifying bad habits if you don’t plan to change them, right? Here are three habits that can help us build business

  1. Keep it Positive – Staying positive in the face of business downturns, rejected proposals or shrinking funds is a choice. Take a practical, positive view of life by shutting down that voice in your head that says you’re going to fail. Whether it’s by surrounding yourself with a positive network or listening to podcasts that inspire, it’s your job as the business owner to keep your cynicism in check. Form the habit.
  2. Keep Your Day in Order – It’s tempting, given the heady freedom of self-employment, to let whatever comes each day rule the day. As freelancers/business owners, how we spend our time really is under our control. The many distractions that have nothing to do with growing a business don’t have to throw us off-track. Form the habit of asking two questions when interruptions come: “Will it help me grow my business?” and “Does it have to be done right now?”
  3. Stick to Your Plan – If you’re in the habit of taking out your business plan and checking your progress against it, congratulations! If you haven’t seen your business plan for years and have lost track of why you went into business the first place, you could be in trouble. Make an appointment with yourself to review the goals you set and whether it’s time to set new ones. It’s encouraging to see how far you’ve come and it’s energizing to refocus your efforts on solid goals.

Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, says, “Changing habits isn’t necessarily quick or easy. But it is possible.”

Are we going to let bad habits get the best of our businesses, or form some new ones that help grow my business and yours? Let me know what you decide to do!


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