Hey there {{ subscriber.firstName | default('friend') }},

 

Last week, I woke up to an email no freelancer ever wants to receive:

A long-term anchor client let me know that they needed to scale back from four posts per month to only one—at least temporarily.

 

The email was incredibly kind and gracious, and they did let me know that they have every intention of stepping back up again after this brief pause. But even so, it stung.

 

I've worked with this client for a long time—since 2016. And over the course of all of these years, it's been one of my steadiest engagements. I receive my assignments at the start of every month like clockwork. 

 

It's straightforward. It's stable. It's predictable. It provides a decent chunk of reliable income.

 

So of course, I felt a little wounded that something that has been such a steady constant was about to shift pretty drastically.

 

And when I got over the initial gut punch, it didn't take long for the worry to set in. 

 

Honestly, I've felt things shifting in my business and in the industry as a whole for a while now. While I'm still staying afloat and nowhere near out of work, things have just felt…slow? Precarious? Plain ol' weird?

 

I'll have really promising discovery calls only to have to pull teeth for weeks to get anything moving with the client. Assignments will rapidly change or even be pulled out from under me entirely as companies change directions and reprioritize. It's harder to get a response to things as clients grapple with strapped resources and, understandably, collective burnout.

 

Because I know things have been different, I took a look at my upcoming booked worked to see how I'd fare when this steady engagement cuts back. And I quickly realized that my upcoming workload was…well, quite a bit lighter than it typically is. 

 

Instantly, that nagging little knot of anxiety in my stomach quickly exploded into serious panic and existential dread about the future. 

 

Losing a client (especially one that felt like such a touchstone in my business) always brings a mix of emotions, but this is the first time in a long time that I had serious doubts about my ability to replace that work and income.

 

But alas, I'm a woman of action. So after stress-eating a couple of peanut butter cups and spending an evening lamenting to my husband about how I'll never work again and should probably submit an application to Starbucks, I dusted myself off and hit the pavement.

 

I went through my list of past and current clients and zoned in on the ones I still had friendly relationships with but had only given me sporadic work. Our collaborations never got into a predictable groove—they'd send me a random post here and maybe another one a month or two later.

 

I decided that, rather than prospecting for brand new clients and having to go through the whole discovery call and onboarding rigmarole, I'd zero in on these existing relationships and see if I could pull some more work out of them.

 

I'll admit that the process of reaching back out felt like a little slice of humble pie. These were clients I hadn't aggressively pursued work from previously and popping into their inboxes now felt a lot like tucking my tail between my legs and saying, “Please take pity on me and my cricket-filled calendar." 

But I sucked it up and reached out anyway. And you know what? It worked.

 

In sending just a few thoughtful and personalized emails, I booked over $3,000 in projects in the matter of not even 24 hours—and I have a couple of other irons in the fire on some bigger, recurring commitments that could more than replace the anchor client that's stepping back.

 

Wondering what I said in this magic email? It was nothin' too fancy—I tried to keep it friendly, light, and personal. And I took my time to make sure that it wasn't generic, copy-and-paste outreach.

 

But if you want a peek at the general gist, here's what that email looked like (again, highly-personalized for the person I was sending it to):
 

Subject: Saying “hi!” and checking in 👋🏻 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I received a response from every single client—some of which sent me projects immediately and some got the ball rolling for upcoming work.

 

Needless to say, it was an effective tactic. I can't pin that all on the power of a single email, though. Much of that success is owed to the fact that I've done high-quality work for these clients in the past and was always communicative, reliable, and deadline-oriented. TL;DR the foundation was already in place.

 

If you're looking at your own upcoming workload and feeling rising panic, I think it's smart to reach out to past clients before prospecting for new work. But it's certainly not the only way forward. I've seen freelancers do a variety of other things with some success too: 

Losing clients and seeing a lighter-than-normal workload can inspire some chewed nails and sweaty palms—especially with all of the economic uncertainty that's looming.

 

If you're in that situation, give yourself a moment to rant and stress-eat a peanut butter cup or your own go-to treat. You need that (heck, I sure did). 

 

But after that? Pick yourself up and put yourself out there. You don't get what you don't ask for. 

 

RELATED: How to Stand Out When Freelancing Seems Way Too Competitive
 

I usually try to include around 10 solid gigs in each newsletter, but there's pretty slim pickings out there this week! Hopefully things pick up in the coming weeks. 🤞🏻

 

Not a fit for any of these gigs or opportunities? Get out there and proactively pitch the outlets you're interested in. You can do it—I promise. Here's what you need to know and here are some templates to help.

 

Want to find freelance gigs like these on your own? Snag my course.
 

It's been a bit of a draining week so I'm looking forward to some takeout tonight and some R&R over the weekend.

 

Enjoy your own restful weekend and, as always, happy freelancing! 😊