Rejection is a part of life. But when you’re a freelancer, every “no” can dent your pocketbook just as much as your ego. And let’s face it. Writing is a deeply personal profession.

You may be writing about a toaster, but part of your job is to connect with the reader. That means you have to develop a personal relationship with the toaster and really like it. In some ways, the copy you write about the toaster becomes one of your babies and you’re not going to like it if someone tells you they think your baby is ugly.

But it’s going to happen. You can’t avoid rejection, but you can learn to deal with it better. First, don’t take it personally, because it’s not personal, it’s business. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer. It does mean you just weren’t the right fit. Here are some of the main reasons clients don’t hire you.

• Price – another writer may have been cheaper
• Experience – another writer may have more experience 
• Nepotism – they may have interviewed other writers because of company policy, then given the job to a family member, friend or writer they’ve worked with previously
• Fit – you (either because of your workflow or voice/style) may not have been the right type of writer to work with their company

There are as many reasons as there are clients. Understanding these reasons exist won’t change the facts, but it will help you stop telling yourself you suck. Now let’s look at some tips for taking the sting out.

Remember: It’s Not You, It’s Them

Author J.K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter manuscript was rejected by 14 publishers before it was finally picked up by U.K. publishing house Bloomsbury (bet those other guys are kicking themselves now!). The brand (including books, films and tie-in merchandise) is now worth $15 billion. If such a prolific novel by such a talented author could be rejected over a dozen times, your rejection is certainly not proof you’re a hack.

Solicit Three More Clients for Every One Who Says “No”

According to veteran copywriter James Lindsey, “NO” stands for “New Opportunity.” I’ll let you read his article for more details, but my takeaway is this: if the customer thought you weren’t the right fit, they were probably right. Don’t spend time worrying about what you did wrong. Throw yourself into finding another one… one you’ll probably like better, anyway. 

After my last rejection, I began working soon after for a major online women’s magazine, a job I wouldn’t have had time to take had I accepted a weighty assignment from the other client. Not only is working for for the women’s magazine a lot more fun than a whitepaper for a financial services firm, it turned out to be more money in the long-run because they kept hiring me.

Celebrate Your Rejection

You heard me! Rejection is a badge of honor for freelancers. You’re not really one of us until it’s happened at least three times (if not 100). Call a friend, go for a coffee or beer and toast to the client who gave you another battle scar to brag about!

If All Else Fails…

Rejection often hurts the most when you feel like the client meeting went really well. In those situations, it’s hard not to over-analyze the meeting. “Did he hate my joke about zebras and just laughed to be nice?” “Did she call one of my other clients who secretly hates me?” You’ll drive yourself crazy!

For the next time you can’t get the noise to stop, bookmark this video from BruBearBaby, who posted a video of his 8-year-old son, Micah, laughing hysterically as daddy rips up a rejection letter. If you aren’t in a great mood after this, you should probably seek professional help.

Retweeting is one of the highest compliments you can pay someone on Twitter. Everyone likes to be validated — retweeting is a way you can say, “I like you and I think you’re smart / funny / worthy of my time.”

However, whether your account is for business, pleasure or both, when you’re retweeting, you should be using one of the traditional (or classic) retweeting methods for optimum effectiveness (i.e., RT @username or /via @username). Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you have to refrain from using the in-Twitter button to be a “good tweeter.” In fact, I do it sometimes, too (for example, when editing the tweet would ruin it, but you don’t really want to use a service like Twitlonger).

The next time you’re tempted to hit that funny little recycle-looking symbol at the bottom of a tweet, consider these cons of in-Twitter retweeting.

1. You can’t comment or add value to the original tweet.
   Kind of takes the “social” out of the media, don’t you think?


2. Strange avatars appear in your followers’ timelines.
   We pay more attention to people we recognize, so it stands to reason that if we’re not following the person you retweet, we’ll be more likely to ignore it. Besides, some people find it annoying.

   Also, a recent study shows 79 percent of people on the web typically scan through looking for keywords. This probably applies to usernames and avatars on Twitter, too. I’m looking for your name and avatar, not someone else you follow that I don’t.

3. A lot of people don’t look through their main timeline.
   Many people use organizational tools to make sure they don’t miss important tweets from their favorite people. We have lists (on Twitter) and smart folders and special column views (in our Twitter apps). If you use the in-Twitter retweet, we may not see it because the person you retweeted isn’t in one of the lists, folders or columns we check most frequently.

   In short, you’re robbing us of the opportunity to see something you really liked and the person you retweeted of the opportunity to get to know us when we follow them because we agreed with you.

4. It makes your retweets less track-able.
   A lot of people track who retweets them (and who retweets the people who retweeted them). It’s possible to look at Twitter to see who retweeted you, but you can easily lose track of who retweeted them.

   Also, since some people manage social media with third-party services / apps like Hootsuite or Socialite, they may have to take the extra step of logging onto Twitter just to see it (because some apps don’t support viewing it), which is kind of a pain for those who use those same programs to manage LinkedIn and Facebook (among others), too. Make it easy for them by just using traditional retweets.

5. It reduces your potential for exposure.
   It may sound selfish, but if you use a traditional retweet, your name usually stays in the tweet later when someone else retweets it (unless it gets so long people have to make cuts). This way, when someone else agrees with you and retweets it themselves, more people are exposed to your name and you may just get some new followers. 


6. Being (traditionally) retweeted is better than being #FollowFriday-ed.
   This is somewhat related to point five. Seeing that someone I like or respect has retweeted another user is actually how I find most of the people I follow. It’s much more powerful than having your name listed in a series of someone’s eight #FollowFriday recommendations. Keeping in mind that I’m more likely to pay attention to the faces / names I know, when you use a traditional retweet, it’s like you’re introducing your friends to one another. 


7. In-Twitter retweets aren’t indexed.
   In-Twitter retweets aren’t searchable (meaning it will never appear in a Google search with your name on it) and prevent you from being listed as someone who has similar interests if someone’s looking for people to follow. 


8. It reduces your value as someone to follow.
   Remember how we talked about strange avatars in people’s timelines? Well, there’s more to it than just the strange avatars. The more often people see your name / avatar associated with a tweet they like, the more it ups your perceived value as a tweeter. Why give that advantage to someone they may not have even bothered to follow? 

Traditional retweeting only takes a few seconds longer, but its benefits outweigh it’s additional time commitment. If you’re really concerned about it, try using a Twitter service or app that makes it simple. You’ll be doing yourself, the people you follow, and the people who follow you a huge favor.

I’m sure there are other reasons to use traditional retweeting. What’s on your list? What apps / services do you use to make traditional retweeting easier?

Just to save time for all my non-industry friends who are well aware of my rather *ahem* quirky sense of humor, I'm not talking about undies. If that's what you were expecting, my feelings won't be hurt if you click the back button. Go ahead. You know you want to. 

If you're still with me, that means you're probably a creative professional or work in or around the marketing or advertising industry. (Either that or you're my mom. Hi, mom!) As everyone but my mom has probably guessed, I'm talking about a creative brief. For my mom's sake, a creative brief is a document that outlines the instructions a creative professional needs to complete a particular job. It usually has all the research, deadlines and specifics and is often used as an addendum to a standard contract. Basically, the contract spells out the rules we'll follow working together and the brief gives me the nitty-gritty on each project. 

Larger business have either a brief or a request for proposal (RFP) already prepared before they start contacting potential creatives. Small businesses usually don't. A lot of creatives (myself included for a time) try to push through with small businesses sans a brief because that's easier than trying to explain it. In my experience, that's a bad idea.

Smaller businesses can quickly turn into "scope creeps" without realizing it. They don't always know how to work with us or what we need. Using a creative brief gives them direction when putting information together for us and defines the scope of the project. It makes it much easier to point out to them that the work they're now asking for isn't included in the brief (which means it wasn't included in the price) and they'll have to pay more to add work to the project.

I've recently revised my creative brief based on the MarketingProfs University Marketing Writing Bootcamp I attended recently. If you have any suggestions for improvements, comment below or @-reply me on Twitter (@HireHeather).

You can download my brief template below (click the "download" text under the embedded version) to use as is or as a basis for your own. This one's obviously written for writers, but it could easily be redrafted for other creative professionals. If you aren't used to using creative briefs with your small business clients, check out my list of tips below the download. 

Click here to download:

ScopeofWork.doc (25 KB)

(download)

Click here to download:

ScopeofWork.doc (25 KB)

Tips for Using Briefs with Small Businesses 

• Some people may want to fill this out themselves, but many find it intimidating. Bring your laptop to the meeting and ask them these questions out loud, then type their answers as you go. You can always polish it later.


• If they seem reluctant to sit still while you ask this many questions, buy them lunch or some coffee (or a drink if it's that type of relationship).


• Get your clients to sign off on the final version of the brief if you're the one who fills it out.


• Use a standard contract with your non-project-specific terms and use the brief as an addendum for each project. Your contract language should make it remain in effect as long as the relationship does. This way, you can use the brief for each project without a new contract.


• Explain carefully (and in writing if you can) that the brief is part of the agreement and that anything they ask that's in addition to what's in the brief may be an additional charge. 

Happy Valentine's Day! As you can tell from my lack of posting, I've been hard at work for my clients recently. While that means fewer blogs, it does mean more fun stuff to share, like this article for SheKnows.com. Do me a favor and rate it, like it on Facebook and tweet it. They tend to like me better when you do! Enjoy.

I recently wrote an article for SheKnows.com on Winter Activities in Dallas, Texas. This one was a challenge because in Texas, you can pretty much do anything you can do in the winter all year round. But despite the fact that it really doesn't snow much here, it does get bitterly cold; so I turned that challenge around by finding things you could do to stay warm during the winter. 

Do me a favor and rate it, tweet it and like it! 

Click here to read it now!

I recently wrote an article for SheKnows.com called "Dog's Day Out in Dallas, Texas." As a pet-lover and dog owner (or rather, person owned by a dog), this one was a lot of fun for me, so I thought I'd share it with you. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Do me a favor and like it, tweet it and rate it.

Click here to read it now!

"Give me a tight deadline, then don’t return my calls or emails"

What Clients Should Know

Sometimes there’s just nothing you can do about it. (I feel your pain.) But you can do a few things to reduce the impact. Keep in mind that we run a business. You’re not our only client and if you don’t communicate with us, not only do you affect your own project, but you could throw off our entire production schedule and affect other clients’ projects, as well. So, if you’re so busy you don’t know what day it is (or what city you’re in), what do you do?

• Call or email us, even if it’s just to let us know that you’re slammed. We really do understand. Sometimes, we might even be able to help you by adjusting your deadline or our business hours.

• If you know something is happening that will affect our deadline (whether it's your fault or not), just let us know. Things change and you're not always in control of it. In this case, honesty is the best policy. It happens to our business, too. We won't judge you, but we will appreciate that you didn't leave us hanging because you didn't want to admit you didn't have it as "together" as you wanted. That happens at least 50 percent of the time. Trust me… you're not alone. 

• Are you one of those people who just procrastinates no matter what? Let me tell you a secret. Some freelancers are, too. Even if your freelancer is a task-lister like me, we understand that we may be the weird ones. Just be honest. I can be flexible with a deadline if I know it’s coming (freelance = flexibility) . If you don’t mind if it’s two days late, I won't either.

• If we’re having trouble reaching you, don’t later try to hold us to the original deadline. Things come up (for every client), but we’re mere freelancers, not superheroes. 

• Keep in mind that we're creative professionals. We seek collaboration and insight by our nature. We want to know enough about your business to accurately portray your company in a positive light. That's how the best stuff is created! Sometimes, we have no choice but to seek your input. Sometimes, we need you to be involved. Trust me when I tell you that we won't ask you questions unless we NEED additional input. If freelancers were superheroes, we’d be Batman… we work alone for the most part, but sometimes we work with Wonder Woman because we don’t have the cool invisible jet and Lasso of Truth.

What Freelancers Should Know

First, it's important to realize that usually, clients really aren't doing it on purpose. Keep in mind they have a business to run (just like you do) and as much as it can suck for us, we aren't the center of their universe. They have problem customers, problem employees, and yea, sometimes they have problems in their lives. You can't change it, but you can mitigate its impact you your performance. 

• Do your best to find the answers to your questions on the web and do as much as you can without their input. You won’t get everything, but that’s all you can do until you can talk to them.

• Call or email the client and communicate your concerns (well in advance of your deadline). Let them know that you understand they have a business to run and that, while it’s not an issue for you, it will affect the deadline. Give them a clear directive, but don’t be pushy or mean (it’s not professional). Just tell them that if they don’t communicate with you by a certain specific time, you won’t be able to make the deadline (be clear and precise). You’ve now put them in control of the fate of the project.

• If possible, offer to meet during off hours (evenings and weekends). Some clients just have trouble finding time during the business day, especially if they’re small-business owners who perform multiple tasks.

• You do use a contract, right? These days, its a necessary evil (in most cases). Write language into your contract that explains that your milestones and deadlines are based on timely and thorough communication with them. If you don't use a contract, at least communicate important facts via email.  After speaking with clients, email them a summary of your conversation.

• Remember that you have a business to run, too. Don’t spend too much time and energy trying to communicate with someone who may be too busy. Work on other projects or hit the streets and find new clients.

• If you have a client who’s a repeat offender and it’s starting to cause you issues, you might have to consider firing them. If it’s not causing issues, just know that’s their M.O. and be prepared to deal.

One of the most important things writers can do to improve their skills is read. As such, we tend to be addicted to our blogs, and and we happily tap into our favorite reader app or social media account every time a client says, “I need to take this call.” When you’ve been doing it as long as I have and have accumulated as many sources, it can get overwhelming. 

Fear not my fellow junkies! There’s a tool that makes it easier than ever. Make no mistake – Feedly is more than just a simple RSS reader. It’s a customizable, magazine-style feed-o-rama that helps you organize all your favorite blogs (and discover new ones). 

Nuts & Bolts

Feedly operates as a browser extension and is available on Mac or PC for Chrome, Firefox and the most recent version of Safari. (Sorry, Internet Explorer users! IE doesn’t support an official extension framework and they don’t have the level of support for HTML5 Feedly requires. Besides, it’s 2010 – why are you still using IE, anyway?) Because it’s an extension, they can support more users and keep the service free (everyone likes free, right?). 

Feedly is based on Google Reader and Twitter. That’s where a lot of its powerful functionality comes from. Since your browser (through the downloaded extension) manages authentication using a Google account you already have, you never have to share your log-in credentials with Feedly. Also, any changes or additions you make to Feedly are made directly to your Google Reader account, so any other applications you have that also use Google Reader (i.e., NetNewsWire’s iPhone app) are also updated.

Features

The first surprising feature is Feedly’s ability to use your browser and social media habits to help you add and organize sources. For example, if you take a look at my Twitter account (@HireHeather), you’ll notice that I have a list called “Nerd Fun.” The first time I used Feedly, it actually created a category called “nerd fun” for me! Because Feedly lets you add your own categories, you can categorize your blogs and organize and view your pages in a way that works for you, even marking your favorites as must-reads to ensure they don’t get lost in the noise.

It doesn’t stop there, though. Feedly lets you share your favorite articles directly from the Feedly interface. You can tweet it, post it on Facebook or email it without leaving the page (it also supports Ping, Instapaper, Diigo, Evernote, Posterous, Tumbler, Del.icio.us, Google Reader and Buzz). It doesn’t support LinkedIn, yet (LinkedIn just recently added an API), but they have it on the to-do list. In the meantime, you can always just hashtag it “#in” if your LinkedIn is connected to your Twitter. I’m also a really big fan of the “save for later” feature – so you can always share things with Future You (who would’ve otherwise forgotten to read it or where Past You found it).

I could easily go on, but I won’t take all the fun out of it for you. The only negative things I’ve found about Feedly are that it’s a bit more difficult to add your sources on some browsers (which they’re working on) and that it does lack full documentation. If you do have a question, you may have to search the web or ask someone else (feel free to email me). But Feedly is actually so easy to use and so intuitive, these are small flaws when compared to the benefits it offers.

New Developments

I asked Feedly’s very own Edwin Khodabakchian (@edwk) what goodies they might have in store for us in the future. Edwin says they’re working on an app for iPhone and iPad (which I assure you I’ll download in a New York minute – at least as close to a New York minute as this Texan can get). Edwin also says they’re working on a feature called “mix.” No specifics on that yet, but the feature will allow users to embed part of their website as an HTML widget or Ning open social app. (Stay tuned to the Feedly blog for updates).

I also asked Edwin why they created Feedly. According to Khodabakchian, “There is a lot of great content available on the web. We wanted to create a better way to track and organize that content." Mission accomplished!

If you want to see Feedly in action, watch this video from user Heidi Allen. What’s your favorite feature of Feedly? Leave your comments here!

DISCLOSURE: I love Feedly and I wasn’t paid for this review. I just want to share great new services with my readers.

Just noticed this post at Men with Pens about how to get more from your freelancer. I hope all my clients read this (though most already abide by it, I'm happy to say). As guest blogger James Hipkins points out, we freelancers are only asking for what every business professional wants.

The only comment I'd add is about item three. I expect to get paid fairly for the work I do and have set my rates based on local market value, my level of experience, etc., but I don't mind haggling within reason. Asking me to give you half off a $200 project the first time I work with you isn't kosher. But asking me to come down $50 on a $750 project in order to fit into the budget your boss gave you isn't unreasonable (nor do I think that's what James was trying to say).

If you don't already, I highly recommend you subscribe to the Men with Pens feed. Either way, take a look at the article in question at Men with Pens.

I read an interesting article last week on the importance of copywriting in design. Graphic designer Joshua Johnson, the article's author, made a great point about many designers' attitudes about copywriting. You can read the whole blog here, but his conclusion was that copy is at least as important, if not more important, than design and that a lot of freelance designers ignore it. Basically, Johnson encourages freelance designers to learn to write copy. I agree with Johnson wholeheartedly. But... 

The Solution

 Your clients are paying for copywriting whether you do it or a copywriter does it. So why not hire a pro and focus on killer design? Find one or more copywriters online or in your area to be your go-to source(s). You can just quote the writing (with the writer's input, of course) as part of the design package and outsource it or simply encourage your client to hire one of the writers from your list. 

The result will be better quality work for your client because both of the people working on the project do one thing... really, really well.