Feel More Confident On The Phone

Dreading Your Next Client Call? Here are 6 Tips To Feel More Confident On The Phone

Michelle Christina

It’s 2:45 PM. An alarm on your phone goes off. It’s a reminder for your client call at 3:00.

You feel that familiar pang of “ugh” in your gut. A tinge of anxiety. An urge to find some excuse to reschedule, or better yet, just cancel!

At 2:59, your heart is racing. You start doubting yourself.

Will you be able to answer their questions? Will they hear that you’re nervous, or somehow uncover the fact that you have no idea what you’re doing? Will they hang up when you name your rate? What is your rate anyway?

Then, the phone rings.

Aaaaah!

This scenario might make you feel like the only noob writer in the world who can’t handle phone calls like a boss, but don’t be hard on yourself.

Many freelancers feel this way when they’re starting out. In fact, even outside of a professional setting, most of us prefer texting to getting on the phone these days. It’s not just you.

Unfortunately, even in our plz-text-don’t-call society, getting clients on the phone is as important as ever. It’s one of my most reliable strategies for closing the deal once I’ve done the initial outreach via email.

Recently a member of our community, Amanda, asked us how to shake the phone call dread.

I used to feel this way myself, so I wanted to share some tips I’ve personally used for overcoming these nasty feels—and the unprofessional vibe they emit.

If you’d rather feel calm and collected than like a frantic rookie on client calls, check them out below. By the time you’re done with this blog post, you may actually be looking forward to your next call!

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Write Better Business Emails: A Freelance Writer's Guide

Write Better Business Emails: A Freelance Writer’s Guide

Krystal Raydo

Fact: You need to write better business emails.

An engineer named Ray Tomlinson sent the first-ever email in 1971. He opened the floodgates for limitless communication in the modern era.

No doubt, email is intended to make our lives easier. Over time, however, it’s transformed into a tool with boundless potential for annoyance and sloppy correspondence.

Bad emails are rampant, my friends.

What is a “bad email”, you ask? Apart from chain emails and blatant spam, the worst kind of email is one that fails to achieve its goal.

Usually, that means they’re simply indirect and lacking pertinent information. Occasionally, this also includes abysmal fonts and massive attachments. (Please don’t.)

Corporate emails come to mind, actually. Perhaps you’ve worked in an office where team members are trying to organize some kind of meeting or outing, but leaving the plans completely open-ended, inspiring endless back-and-forth?

Or maybe you received a crappy PR email that’s missing contact info or a website address?

I can’t count how many times I sat in my swivel chair, clutching my hair in both fists, willing myself not to pull a panda.

Bad emails happen to good people all the time, but you don’t want to be the one writing them. You’re a writer, after all, and you make a living on the internet! If anyone is writing excellent emails, it should be you.

I’d go as far as to say that writing effective emails is the first step to being taken seriously as an online professional.

A good email can increase your odds of growing your network, initiating great business relationships, and so much more.

Whether you’re cold-emailing a potential client, pitching a story to a news site, or tapping out everyday communication, these tips will help you write better business emails.

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What To Do When Clients Don't Pay

DJO Podcast 003: What To Do When Clients Don’t Pay

Michelle Christina

Non-paying clients are the worst, and freelancers deal with them often enough that there are now widespread campaigns to end this epidemic.

If you landed on this post, it’s possible you’re in a non-payment predicament right now.

So what do you do when clients don’t pay?

Whether you’re just beginning on your freelance career path or you’ve been working for yourself for years, it’s time to brush up on how to protect yourself. We compiled some steps you take right now to ensure you don’t fall trap to a deadbeat client.

In this podcast, we’ll tell you what to do right now and give you some tips for making sure you get paid in the future.

Hit play on this episode and empower yourself!

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