I’ve been self-employed almost 24 years, and my experience tells me what other self-employed editorial pros have said in various venues: building up a clientele takes time. There are no methods that work instantly. It would be lovely if there were.
But keep marketing, to make your presence and skills known. This involves doing things like these:
- Blogging
- Commenting on the blogs where potential clients hang out (without doing a hard sell)
- Participating in professional associations
- Contacting clients (past, current, and desired) to talk about how you can help lighten their project load—and not starting by reciting all of your academic degrees and training
- Sharing your professional knowledge (without doing hard sales pitches)
- In email discussion groups
- In Facebook discussion groups
- On Twitter
- On LinkedIn
- All over the place
- Doing presentations to share helpful knowledge at meetings where potential clients hang out
- Teaching courses in person or via the internet
- Finding ways to build up the number of word-of-mouth referrals you get
If you don’t take the time to do at least some of those things on a regular basis, clients just won’t land on your desk. There are ways to do them without using up all your editing time and without spending lots of money.
I know you can do this. I’m an introvert, and I do it.
