Lost In Client Work... 02/18/2022
Happy Friday.
If you're like me, you start the week with a plan. Then somewhere around 9:37am on Monday morning, your 1st fire of the week ignites.
It's a quick one - you put it out in no time. That's when the next fire starts.
But Monday afternoon rolls into Tuesday, and next thing you know - your plan for the week is out the window.
That's the reality of client work!
Things come up. Your clients pay you to be "on call" in many cases. They pay you to prioritize their needs.
Sometimes your clients need more help.
For me, that time is winter.
I work with a lot of service biz owners (carpet cleaners, maids, rug cleaners). In the winter, some of these businesses are pretty slow. You might think, "then they don't need marketing in winter! Take a vacation."
You'd be wrong.
While these service biz owners don't tend to increase their ad budgets during the winter months, they do tend to start "tweaking things."
The smart ones are fixing things up before spring comes. They're fixing NAP problems, making any major planned changes like addresses/phone numbers (better to do it while you're slow anyways!), and coming up with their ad plan for the year. That keeps me busy busy busy.
There are also those clients who, when things get slow, tend to... freak out. (by the way, it's not that these clients aren't smart. It's just that they tend toward worrying).
A good freelancer will help direct these worriers toward productive activities.
"Start taking pics for your biz, ask your clients for reviews, email your old clients, DO SOMETHING." If the client is a go-getter, they'll take some of that advice and run with it. It will keep them busy moving their business forward while they have extra free time.
Again, those clients keep me busy busy busy in the winter months.
But once the spring and summer months get here, it's off to the races!
I tend not to hear from my cleaner clients in the summer at all. Most of them don't contact me even once until we get close to the holidays.
Why? Because they're busy!
If we've set things up right, these clients are firing on all cylinders in the summer months.
They are struggling to keep up with customer demand. They switch focus to hiring - and they stop worrying about their ad spend.
That gives me a long summer stretch where I can:
- Work on my own business (upgrade my tech, update my website, etc)
- Bring on more clients
- Travel and spend time with my family (what's really important)
If you're busy right now, that's a good thing.
I hope you get to take a breather soon. And I hope you can use that time to move YOUR business forward. :)
Have a great weekend.
Best,
Reuben D. Rock
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