Problems finding affiliates for your business

We’ve been saying it for years — writers run the web.

The internet depends on a wealth of content that’s worth reading, watching, and listening to.

And writers are the ones who put those words together. Who create and shape ideas, who teach us, who move us to action … while making all of it interesting and engaging.

It’s difficult work, and it’s necessary work if we want to attract and persuade the people who will become our customers.

So why do so many writers have a hard time making a living?

There are two ugly problems that keep writers from making what they’re worth, and I’m going to talk about both of them today.

Ugly Problem #1

The first ugly problem of freelancing is finding enough clients.

It turns out that getting really good at putting words together doesn’t always translate to marketing our own businesses.

Word-of-mouth can be a great way to find clients — but it’s not necessarily how you’re going to find the right number of clients to fill your schedule, or to find them when you actually need them.

We talk about freelancing as though it’s different from other forms of business … but it isn’t. Every business needs to have marketing systems in place, so you’re putting a compelling message in front of enough people, and converting a sufficient number to customers or clients.

“My clients love me” is not a marketing system.

Some day, if you’re very good, your marketing might be able to rest on your reputation alone.

You don’t have to starve before you get there.

Make sure you have a reliable way to get in front of people looking to hire a good writer. That might be spending time on LinkedIn, it might be cold-calling, or you could do the work to get onto our list of recommended writers.

The important thing is to make yourself visible to the kind of people who hire writers.

There’s another reason professional writers struggle, and it’s even uglier than the first one.