Here's one of the most frustrating things about trying to find clients…

…The process takes time.

Sure, every once in a while, a prospective client responds within an hour and you land an assignment after a few back and forth emails. For the most part though, expect to wait days, weeks, even months before signing a deal with a client. (Heck, one time it took them a year to hire me.)

Consider these cases:

– I reached out to a prospect via LinkedIn and it took them 2 weeks to get back to me.

– It took months of tweeting, Facebook commenting, and sharing before a certain online marketer referred me to one of his clients.

– Then there’s that entrepreneur that I helped out for free when he was just starting out, and he ended up hiring me a year later when his startup finally took off.

*The takeaway*

So what’s the lesson that we can learn from the above-mentioned cases? If you answered “patience” you’d only be half-right. (Patience is pretty obvious here.) The real lesson that I’m trying to communicate here ispersistence.

Whether you’re reaching out to clients or responding to job listings, persistence is a trait that you must always possess. When you’re staring at an empty inbox after hours of sending out queries, or when all you hear is the sound of crickets chirping after marketing your butt off, persistence is the virtue that will enable you to keep going.

Not hearing back from prospects is something that every freelance writer (both aspiring and establish) goes through, and none of the successful freelancers would be here today if they didn’t have this trait.

Image credit:  anna gutermuth on Flickr Reifrapagmen