3 Steps Every Freelance Writer Needs To Take To Prepare For The Summer

By Dan Smith

I’m sat writing this at 7.00pm on Sunday evening and it’s sweltering. At least for the UK, it is, anyway — it’s 24 degrees centigrade outside at the minute, a drop from 28 degrees a few hours ago.

Although I was away this morning and unable to do any work at all, this afternoon I’ve put things off and put things off, primarily because of the weather.

It’s not so much that it’s too hot to work — hey, I’ve holidayed in Turkey at least half a dozen times in the last few years and it’s between 40 and 50 degrees centigrade — but that we don’t often get the chance to sit outside in the sun, so I’ve been making the most of it.

This got me thinking about the coming weeks and months, as well as summers from previous years and I realised that there are three steps every freelance writer needs to take to ensure that they are fully prepared for the summer.

1. Have a money reserve you can use

A substantial amount of business see a decrease in traffic / footfall and sales during the summer months, due largely to the fact that there are less people actually looking to make purchases due to people being on vacation and just generally spending more time in the sun relaxing.

Due to the summer being a slow period, it’s important that you have a type of money reserve that you can use, as chances are you’re going to either see a temporary drop in projects or you’re not going to get paid as promptly as you may have hoped or even as you had before — if there’s just one person who signs off business expenditure, you may have to wait until they return from their break, for example.

I’m not saying that this is going to happen every time and to every freelance writer, but it’s always best to be prepared should it happen to you.

2. Spend more time pitching and networking

As summer is very often a slower time of the year when it comes to business, you are more likely to have to step up your pitching and networking efforts to secure new projects.

You don’t have to spend hours extra each day trying to find new clients, but if you rely on a regular turnover of clients, you may find it difficult get any type of confirmation from a pitch or networking method due the person being on vacation.

3. Ensure you have enough time to deliver

While I would recommend that you increase your efforts to secure new clients during the summer, it’s important that you understand it could backfire and you could be left with a number of projects all with a similar completion date, resulting in you spending more time than you had initially planned working throughout the summer.

It’s because of this why, although things might seem slightly more relaxed during the summer, it would be advisable to ensure you are more organised than normal, making sure that you give yourself enough time to complete every project that you believe you have a good chance of securing.

What’s also important to keep in mind here is the fact that you’re likely to head off on vacation at some point yourself and so you need to be certain that you’ll be able to meet any deadlines set that occur during your time away.

Personally, I try and not let going away have an effect on my clients and although I do tell them I won’t be around, I ensure that all projects are completed before I go away, as well as giving myself a few days after I return to not have to meet any deadlines, simply so I can ease myself back into work.

However, I do know that other writers work differently, not taking on any work at all for a few weeks while they have a break and this works fantastically for them.

The summer can be a great time for anyone and a particularly inspirational time for a writer.

I love doing as much as possible outside during the summer, but I do now understand that unless you plan properly, it can affect your work and it’s why I make every effort, by implementing these three steps, to ensure that the delivery of the writing services I provide is unaffected — but also fits in around my own needs — during the summer.

Image: Ed ward (Flickr)