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“Are you available to work on my project in three weeks? I have a project starting then and I know that you’d be great for it.”

When I received this email from a former client, my current projects were scheduled to end after two weeks. So, I sent back my response. “Sure, I can start a new project in three weeks.”

“Great,” came the reply. My contact also said: “This is a huge project and you were my first choice. It should take up most of your time for the next month.”

I finished up my current work, breathing a big sigh of relief that I would soon be busy again and on a very large project. A few days after I finished the project I had been working on, I received an inquiry about work from a prospective client. I turned that down–believing that I would be starting the huge project from my former client in just a few days.

The three week start date came and went. There was still no word from my former client. I was forced to ask, “When will the XYZ project start? I excited about working on it with you.”

“No worries,” came back the quick response. “We’ve just had a slight delay is all.”

Another week passed. By now, I could have finished the work from the prospective client that I had turned down. I was beginning to wish that I had accepted it.

“How are things going? I’m ready to start.” I asked the former client.

The response was a little delayed.

“We’re not quite ready. Just wait until you hear from us.”

That was not the response I wanted to hear. Another week went by and I sent another email asking about the project again. This time there was no response. In fact, I never heard about the project again. A few months later, my contact left the company.

If you can relate to that story from my early days of freelancing, this post is for you. It deals with the question of whether you should reserve time in advance for a client.

If you liked this post, you’ll probably like 10+ Tips to Help You Close the Freelancing Deal.

Is Twitter a waste of time for freelancers, or a valuable marketing tool?

At first glance, Twitter may not seem impressive. It may seem like another chat room–although a giant one.

Plus, tweets are limited to 140 characters (although some tools allow you to expand your tweets). You may wonder what you can share in only 140 characters.

If you don’t already use Twitter, you may wonder if you should. In fact, you may wonder whether Twitter is just a waste of time or a valuable marketing tool.

How much difference will Twitter participation make in your freelancing business?

I believe that the answer to that question is still “a lot of difference” and I’ll explain why in this post.

“I really, really want to be a freelancer. I’m just not sure whether I have enough talent to succeed at it.”

Is this you? Do you dream of freelancing, but aren’t quite sure if you are talented enough?

Talent is definitely an asset for a freelancer. If a freelancer has no talent at all for what the freelancer is trying to specialize in, then that freelancer probably won’t make it.

But determination is important too. It’s very important to want to succeed, Many freelancers give up too early.

In this post, I’ll discuss the importance of both talent and determination. Then I’ll invite you to share your perspective.

If you liked this post, you may also like 5 Attitudes You Need to Adopt to Succeed at Freelancing.