I can tell you from experience that not establishing a routine for continuously seeking freelance work and promoting your services and availability is probably the biggest mistake the newbie freelance writer can make.

Scrambling at the last minute, trying to line up more work when your well just dried up is, quite frankly, silly. And yet there’s no shortage of folks I know who do just that (the very same people, by the way, who’re the most vocal about the market being ”tough”). If that’s your MO or strategy, I sure do hope you’ve learned how to make do with less.

Hey, if that’s what you do and you enjoy it, more power to you. Those of you who’re now jaded on the whole bohemian lifestyle thing (hunger can do that), you’ll be glad to realize that it doesn’t take all that much to get things on track.

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I already told you where you can scope for freelance jobs online for free; now, all you need is a routine to work those (and other) resources to get work and clients.

By “routine,” all I mean is “consistent and regular.” Notice how it doesn’t mention how much time and energy to devote to it. That’s completely up to you. Maybe you want to devote a full day to it each week (e.g., every Monday) or just a half-day (e.g., every Monday morning). Or maybe you’d prefer to do an hour or 2 every morning. Whatever. It’s your call.

But once set, discipline yourself to stick to it.

Here are a few been-there-done-that tips that may help you increase the likelihood of this working for you:

• Be very specific. Don’t say “once a week,”  it’s “every Monday” or “every Friday.” It’s not “an hour every morning,” it’s “9 to 10 every morning.”

• Really try your darndest not to miss a single “session.” But when you do (when, not if… it’s inevitable), don’t simply accept or disregard it and block it from your psyche; consider it a very big, personal failure that won’t be repeated again, ever. Make it a serious offense. Because if that first miss is that easy and inconsequential, it’ll be even easier to miss the next one, and the next, and the one after that, and pretty soon you’ll be right back where you started, nowhere and scrambling for work.

• Don’t torture yourself! If you hate this “chore,” schedule it early and get it out of the way quick, just like I used to gobble down the veggies I abhorred off my plate first and fast (no chewing!) when I was a kid. No sense scheduling it for late in the day or week where you build up anticipatory dread (distraction!) and give yourself too much time to come up with one excuse or another not to do it.

• Try not to get distracted while doing it. Very easy to do on the Web, exploring one tangent and link after another as you “research” the opp and prospective client in front of you. Stay focused on the task at hand.

— EES

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