Week 4: The Rejection Letter Olympics

Good Friday morning Rejection Letter Olympians! If you’re new to the challenge or need a reminder about the rules of the game, you can read Week 1: The Rejection Letter Olympics.

For those of you who have been racking up the points each week, how did you do? Last week, I challenged you to do the uncomfortable thing and venture out beyond your usual markets. Did you experience any interesting insights after taking that step?

I know that moving toward the unfamiliar can be uncomfortable, but I also believe that it’s never good to get too comfortable in your business. Changing things up helps keep your business nimble and better prepared to handle any unforeseen market changes that come along. I liken it to working out. If you do the same workout routine for months on end, you don’t make as much progress from a fitness standpoint as you do by constantly changing your activities and adding new elements to your routine.

Taking my own advice to heart, I decided to try something entirely different this week. Another freelancer I know just sold two poems to a greeting card company, and it got me thinking. I don’t know how many times I’ve stood in a greeting card section and thought to myself: I could do this. So this week, I followed my friend’s lead and sent two ideas to a greeting card company. It didn’t take me long to write these either, so if it pans out, it could turn into another nice income stream for me.

But my biggest news this week happened as a result of a follow-up e-mail that I sent back in August to an area advertising agency. As it turns out, I’ve never been able to help the ad agency out due to other deadlines. But I’ve continued to stay in touch with the owner during the past couple of years. That contact paid off because the owner of the ad agency was kind enough to pass my name along to the regional chamber of commerce last week. So out of the blue, I received a phone call from the vice president of the chamber of commerce, asking if I’d be interested in doing some work for them.

That phone call was another great reminder about the importance of follow-ups and staying in touch with potential, current, and former clients. It pays to nurture those relationships—even if you’ve never worked with a particular client before.

So that said, I’d like to make the theme for this week:

Follow-Up Frenzy

Now that we’re about four weeks into this challenge, it’s time to start following up with some of the potential clients and editors you contacted a few weeks ago. Sometimes it’s easy to think that follow-ups don’t matter or that an initial lack of interest on a client’s or editor’s part means a permanent lack of interest. Most of the time, that’s simply not the case.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sent an LOI (letter of introduction) to a company or publication and received a no response or just plain “no” the first time. Then, several months down the road, I’ll hear back from the same client about a work assignment. It really pays to stay in touch and to continue to build relationships with clients—even if they aren’t providing you with work at the moment.

So this week, focus on following up with the editors and potential clients that you contacted in the first couple weeks of the challenge. And if you get a “no,” just take it as an invitation to try again at a later time. Freelancers sometimes give up too early. You never know when you’re on the verge of landing an assignment or getting a referral! So keep knocking on those doors!

If you participated in last week’s challenge, please be sure to let me know how you did in the comments section below so that I can tally your points at the end of the year. I will announce the top three winners in January. Remember to give yourself 3 points for assignments and 2 for rejections.

Good luck this week!

Jenny

Photo credit: Kevin Lawver (Flickr)