Why is finding my first client so hard?
Curator’s Note: The author struggles to find their first writing client, using AI tools for assistance due to financial constraints. Past experiences with seasoned writers ended in upsells, leading to frustration. They face challenges in cold-pitching and accessing potential clients, especially after being banned from LinkedIn. Although they’ve published extensively on Medium.com, results have been disappointing, prompting a reevaluation of their stories. Despite setbacks, they plan to continue writing and sharing content across various platforms like podcasts and YouTube, viewing it as an educational journey. Inspired by Randy Pausch’s insights, they remain determined to persevere until they secure their first client. This story was written by Lawson Wallace a writer and editor on Medium.
AI is helping me find writing clients. I was at a loss. The money isn’t there to pay for a class offered by a more experienced writer. At one time, I reached out to them on social media. They would be cordial, then they would move in for the upsell. The conversation and relationship end when I tell them I don’t have the money. Like everything else, I have to learn it the hard way.
Cold-pitching isn’t the problem; finding emails of prospective clients is the problem. This is where AI comes in. The first thing I did was ask a chatbot to write a pitch. It’s a generic pitch I can change as I see fit. The second step was creating an Excel spreadsheet. I keep track of who I email and whether I received a response. I don’t want to send a prospect many emails.
I was on LinkedIn for many years with no problem. LinkedIn banned me for unknown reasons. The clients I’m looking for are there, but I can’t contact them. To make things worse, I can’t get in touch with a human. They resend the same email response over and over.
After hundreds of published stories on Medium.com. I’m ready to write for clients, but I can’t find them. I haven’t been pitching long. I need to send more. Social Media seems like the likely place to find clients, but I had to leave social media for the sake of my sanity.
I gave up on Medium a long time ago. I grew tired of not getting reads, so I began removing my stories one by one from behind the paywall. I add a CTA at the end of every story with my email address. If my Medium stories can bring me clients, I will keep my subscription. SEO is the only reason I remain on this platform.
For a long time, I talked about my writing to everyone who would stand still long enough to pretend to listen. My wife got after me about it, wanting me to stop. She kept telling me people weren’t interested. I started noticing people’s eyes glazing over when I started talking. It dawned on me that my wife was right. She’s right often, and it’s so annoying. So what do I do?
I’m going to keep writing free stories on Medium. I’m going to keep making my podcast. I will keep doing my YouTube channel. I will keep going because it’s fun to do. I will treat this the same way I treated writing on Medium. It’s a school with hard lessons to learn, and when I learn them, I will be better off than I was before. The hard part is dealing with the frustration, but I always manage to do it, and this time will be no different.
Final Thought:
In Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture. He said something that still resonates with me: ” Obstacles are there to make you work harder.” Once I latch on to something, it’s hard to get me to let go. I will keep plugging away. One day, I will be able to mentor a writer for free. It would be an honor to teach someone who will outshine me. That’s the plan, but I need my first client.
Lawson Wallace is a freelance Premium Ghostwriter who specializes in emails, blog posts, Resumes, and cover letters. He can be contacted at lawsonwallacewrites@outlook.com
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