Touch Base with a Former Client

And the Blogathon continues! About 100 bloggers are participating, so check out some of the other blogs when you have a chance. 

On Sunday, I asked whether you were a lazy writer. (And admitted that I am.) Today's topic is a lazy-writer technique I like to use and yet many freelancers overlook it. It's reaching out to former clients. 

Your former client may have been an editor you did last year. A ghostwriting client you worked with three years ago. Even a reprint market that bought rights to a story several months ago. Regardless of who the person is, you've worked with them before--and I will assume you did a great job, right? So why wouldn't this person want to hire you again? 

He very much may want to hire you again--and may even have an assignment for you--but he may have forgotten about you. By touching base with him, you remind him about your existence. That's the purpose of touching base. You don't have to come right out and say, "Give me work!" even though that's your end game. Simply getting in front with him may result in an assignment. 

Your assignment: look through your old assignments from a year or two ago and make a list of former clients to touch base with. 

**If you're a new reader of my blog, you may want to check out one of my books on freelancing: Dollars and Deadlines: Make Money Writing Articles for Print and Online Markets is written for brand-new freelancers in search of their first clips. Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer's Guide to Making More Money, Second Edition is a freelancing classic that helps both new and experienced writers boost their bottom line. And my latest book,Goodbye Byline, Hello Big Bucks: Make Money Ghostwriting Books, Articles, Blogs and More, Second Edition, shows how to break into the ghostwriting/content marketing field.