Be a Freelance Blogger

Recently, I had the unfortunate experience of royally screwing up a relationship with a freelance blogging client–in a Defcon 5, nuclear kind of way. I hesitated so long to write the apology email that it was too little, too late, and I lost any relationship that could have been salvaged (as well as my writing fee.) Not being the type to sit there and cry (for very long,) I wrote myself a template to make writing difficult emails easier, so that I’ll be prepared with an apology should I ever need one again.

So, here’s what happened: I was working on a project with a buddy of mine to write some blog posts and web copy. The buddy and I had worked together before with no hitches, and the buddy had known the client for years, so it was important to keep her happy. That’s… not what I did.

You see, I was frustrated with the project because the client was doing a lot of ‘midnight editing’ and requesting fixes for copy she had already signed off on. One day, in frustration, I replied to only my buddy out of the email thread where all three of us had been talking. I told him that I wasn’t willing to do any more revisions just for the sake of revisions.

I’m just going to come right out and say it: I love going to conferences.

Out of all the expenses for my freelance business this year, spending money to attend conferences was never something I regretted. I’ve been to three this year alone, across a couple different states.

In fact, conferences have proven to be the best return on investment in my business’s entire history, even above educational courses, time spent cold pitching, or any of those silly certification programs that claim they can get you thousands of dollars in new clients and income. (Seriously, I’ve yet to hear of a single freelancer who’s had certifications pay off for them.)

For example, I invested about $500 into attending VidCon this past summer, and met a video marketer who eventually hired me to do some blogging work. This garnered me $1800, which means I recovered everything I spent attending VidCon, and even made an extra $1300!

I want you to experience the same benefits in your business, and in the rest of this post, I’ll show you how.