A New Mentee

I am so, so pleased with my latest mentee: my cabinetmaker husband, Ed. Newly self-employed, he's diving right into doing all of the things I advise my other mentees, who are all freelance editorial professionals, to do:

1. He got his business cards and letterhead professionally designed and printed.



2. He's continuing his research into who, beyond his former employer and a couple of other ready-and-waiting-for-him clients, he wants to become his clients.



3. He spent a large part of yesterday and today cold-calling potential clients from his list. He introduces himself, states any connection, however tenuous, that he and the prospects have, and lets them know that he'll be sending out a letter of introduction to them because he wants to find out how to best meet their subcontracting needs. Now, he's gregarious, so he enjoys talking with people, but just like many freelance editorial professionals, he doesn't enjoy cold-calling. So he asked me to help him come up with a script, and he modified it as needed for each contact. Cold-calling still isn't his favorite thing, but he's developed a rhythm and is relaxed while on the phone.



4. He mailed a small batch of those letters today, with several business cards attached (for recipients who want to pass along the cards to staff members or colleagues). He'll be mailing small batches for a few days.



5. He has plans for a brochure that he'll use in future mailings. Guess who gets to write the copy. ;-)



6. He has calendar entries set up to remind him to recontact in a few weeks the people to whom he's sent mailings.



7. His web site is under construction.



8. He carries plenty of business cards with him wherever he goes, and there are extra stashes in our car and our minivan.

Not many cabinetmakers, especially solo practitioners, do marketing, so they end up with long spells without work. Because of that, Ed's name should stick in his potential clients' minds, which will help him keep the income coming in. And one of today's cold calls resulted in his getting a request to bid on a kitchen job. Yessss!

Moral of the story: If my guy, who's not used to this "marketing stuff," can make it work, so can freelance editorial professionals.



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