30 Posts In 30 Days - Day 11: Mistakes

This is Day 11 of the 30 Posts In 30 Days Challenge I set for myself to start writing online. This post was originally published on X.

Like most freelancers, I made the following mistake early on in my career.

For every project, I would follow a process like this:

But I skipped one very important step.

At first sight, there is nothing wrong with the points mentioned above.

But after a project, I always felt like I was right back at zero.

Of course, with time I was able to build some momentum by lining up as many projects as possible in advance.

But the amount of effort I had to put into acquiring new clients, was huge.

I was missing an important piece of the puzzle.

Taking care of a client after launching a project.

The end of a project, shouldn’t be the end of communication with your client.

I missed the chance to build a stronger relationship with the client.

But even worse, I completely missed out on the opportunity for new projects.

I discovered the many benefits of following up with my clients.

Here are a few ideas for things you could do after you’ve launched a new project:

I’m only scratching the surface here and I could write a post twice as long on each of these.

The point is, that keeping in touch with your clients isn’t difficult.

Add reminders to your calendar so you don’t forget to follow up with them.

And don’t ever assume they don’t need your help simply because they aren’t reaching out to you.

Sometimes you just have to ask if there’s anything they need help with.