by Janis Ramey
I've been asked on occasion for advice
about running a successful freelance writing
business. To me it seems to boil down to
attitude. You need to approach a new project
or (especially) a new client with enthusiasm.
You need to have the confidence to say-
"Sure, I can do that."
Scenario 1:
Late Friday afternoon, just as you're hoping
to rest your weary bones (and eyes), Jeannine
calls. Jeannine is famous for asking for quick
turnaround on short notice. She needs a cost
estimate to take to a meeting with her on
Monday afternoon. Can you give her an idea
("rough" will be fine) of how long it will take
and what it will cost to write and produce a
user manual for their new release. She'll fax
you some material their programmers put
together for a presentation to their board of
directors. Probably the working outline the
sales people put together will also help. No,
they don't really know how long they expect
the manual to be-probably between 30 and
150 pages. Yes, you'll have to capture some
screens-don't know how many, maybe 45.
How many copies? Um... maybe 1500 at first.
Of course, that will really depend on the
discussion at Monday's meeting. Color? Well
probably, but we'd better have a price on
black and white, too.
.
How do you respond? You say, "Hey, Jeannine,
thanks for calling. Sounds like a great project.
I'll call you Monday morning with some figures."
(Sure I can do that.)
Scenario 2:
You're sitting in the conference room with a
brand
new client. He got your name from someone you
worked with last year. His company works in a
technology completely foreign to you. In fact, the
words coming out of his mouth make absolutely
no sense. The acronyms are multiplying at a
dizzying pace. You quickly stop trying to take notes
since you can't even spell the words. (Too bad you
didn't pull out your little tape recorder; too late now,
too obvious. Whew, it's hot in here.) Will you be able
to pull together their proposal for them? Due date is
the 15th of next month.
.
How do you respond? You say, "I can't see any
major problems. It looks like you've pulled together
some good people and some good ideas. And I'm
really glad you called. I've been wanting to dig into
your technology." (Sure I can do that.)
Scenario 3:
Suddenly the project is falling apart. What seemed
to be a simple editing project has turned into a test
of your technological flexibility. None of the graphics
they sent you on disk will convert into the program
you're using. The few that could be imported were
coming in as mirrored images. You don't want to
redo the project in another program at this late date.
Why didn't they send them sooner so you could test
them? No use moaning. You're stuck. You'll have to
spend hours trying all possible tricks and kludges.
The phone rings, your client Rick wants to know if
he can change tomorrow's meeting on the project to
9:30 and can you bring the finished document so
they see it?
.
How do you respond? You say, "Rick, did you ever
see a graphic come in mirrored? No? Well, some of
yours are coming in mirrored and I'm trying my new
conversion package. Should fix it. See you tomorrow."
(Sure I can do that.)
Copyright (c) 1997 by Janis Ramey
This article appeared in Blue Pencil, the newsletter of the Pittsburgh Chapter, Society for Technical Communication in May 1997
