90 Days to a Better Freelance Business

I know I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus lately, but don’t be mad, I have a good reason. I had a beautiful baby girl in October, and as you other parents know, life hasn’t been the same since. I’ve learned how to function on fewer than six hours of sleep a night and can successfully type with one hand while feeding, or entertaining my little girl. So, becoming a new mom has taken much of my time, however, preschool is expensive, so I need to get back to work.

Since starting my freelance writing business almost two years ago, I must admit much of my business has been a bit haphazard. I didn’t have specific industries I concentrated on and I didn’t have a set system in place for acquiring new business. I also hadn’t really figured out what my true brand was and how I was going to communicate it to clients and potential clients. So it seems that while I can develop message strategy and come up with killer headlines, I lack in the area of business strategy. (In my defense, they don’t teach this in journalism school.) The result of this business structure has been a lot of ebb and flow. More ebb than flow, it seems. It wasn’t for lack of trying because I’ve read about a dozen books detailing other people’s successes with business and how they did it. I’ve even tried several of their ideas. What I quickly realized was that while these were solid business strategies for the successful entrepreneurs who crafted them, they weren’t necessarily a fit for my business. Well, enough is enough, it’s time to get a plan that is customized to my business and use my free time to play with my baby instead of reading “how-to” business books.

My New Year’s business resolution is to grow my business in a deliberate fashion, meaning no more flying by the seat of my pants or implementing strategies that aren’t right for my business. So what ‘s the plan? I plan to turn my business around in 90 days. My way. What’s my way? My way is true to my brand, my personality, my interests and my goals. And while I plan to go about things in a more deliberate fashion, my craft (marketing copywriting) is creative and a bit haphazard by nature, so if my way doesn’t exactly resemble the business books’ ways, that’s OK.

Here’s my customized-for-my-business-90-day-growth-plan:

Re-position and restructure my business to scale
In the weeks to come, I’m planning to re-brand and restructure my business for growth. Currently, it’s just me. But in the future, I’d like to be able to subcontract copywriting work to other freelance writers based on their specific experience. This way, I can provide my clients with the absolute best fit for their projects.

Network my little tail off
I know that I have done a good job marketing my services, but I get comfortable in my home office, and forget that I need to get out and meet prospective clients in person. My new strategy will be to go out and “collect” as many people as I can for the sake of growing my business. This means, I’ve got to go to a lot of lunches, meetings, happy hours and parties (sounds rough, huh?).

Show prospective clients how I can help them
I know from the work I do for my clients that simply listing my services and telling people what I provide isn’t going to gain me any business, at least not as much as I want. So, I’m going to take my own advice and start showing prospective clients how they will benefit from working with me.

Go after the clients that I want to work with
This will be hard for me, but instead of taking on every project that comes my way, I want to decide which clients I’d like to work with and approach them. This way, I’ll be working on projects that really interest me, which is why I went into business for myself in the first place!

Ask for the work
I read in one of my many how-to books to act like I don’t need the business and more will come my way. Well, I must not be a very good actress, because this tip has not helped me. So, my new strategy is to act like I want the work and maybe more will come my way.

Keep my current clients happy and ask for referrals
I love when my clients are happy. It makes my day when a client loves the words I choose for them. When I feel discouraged, a little bit of client praise is all it takes for me to get up the next day and do it all again. My new strategy is to continue to put my clients first, do great work for them and ask them for referrals.

So there you have it. My plan to turn my business around in 90 days. I’ll be documenting my progress right here with the hopes that my readers (I know there are at least a couple of you) will keep me accountable along the way. Have any words of wisdom or advice for me? Have you vowed to turn your business around? I’d love to hear from you. Wish me luck!