The Blog Proofreader Update: How I Maintain A Strong Relationships With Clients
This is a follow up story for The Blog Proofreader. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published over 5 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
Hi again! My name is Lenny Bron and I’m a freelance Proofreader/Copy Editor mostly specializing in finance and personal finance content. I work with a variety of clients from bloggers to large content creator companies. I make sure content creators don’t have any mistakes or grammatical errors in their writing because that’s what gives their readers the best experience.
This is very much a part-time side gig for me at the moment because my time is currently limited. With that in mind, I’ve been earning ~$2,000 per month for the last three years with this project.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to! Has the business been growing?
I have not grown my business one bit since we last spoke. I have kept the same amount of clients and have done roughly the same amount of work regularly. And that’s exactly how I like it. My time is limited, and I like to try and spend as much of it as I can with my family when possible.
Of course, if something changes with my full-time job or I would have the time to add more work to my freelancing business, then I’m lucky enough to have the ability to request more work from my clients and get it. I realize this is a luxury and I feel lucky knowing I have that in my back pocket.
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
The biggest lesson I continue to learn regularly is that keeping a good relationship with my clients by providing prompt, quality work combined with thorough communication when warranted is golden. That’s the secret to keeping clients, do the work you say you’re going to do, and keep them in the loop if that changes.
Another lesson I’ve learned is that time is precious. I continue to make time for what I feel is important to me. That includes family, trying to stay healthy, my full-time job, and my freelance work, in that order.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
I do not plan on changing anything in the upcoming year. I will continue making sure my clients put out quality mistake-free content. And I hope I do a good enough job that they want to continue working with me for the foreseeable future.
I can’t think five years into the future at this point. Anything could happen and I like to keep my options open when it comes to my freelancing business and that long of a timeline. I’ve only been doing this work for five years total, so who knows where I’ll be in another five years!
Have you read any good books in the last year?
I wish I had something good to put here, but I honestly do a ton of reading already for my freelance business, so I don’t read many books outside of that. And what I do read, I read for pleasure, and none of those books would be good for this answer.
Keeping a good relationship with my clients by providing prompt, quality work combined with thorough communication when warranted is golden.
There are, however, a ton of writers out there doing great work, and some people I keep hearing pop up over and over are Seth Godin for marketing, Carl Richards and Morgan Housel for behavioral finance, and James Clear and Cal Newport for generally good content on doing your best work. Almost all of these people have blogs that I read and recommend as well.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?
This is always so hard to answer. The things that worked for me will likely not work for many others. So I don’t think it’s fair for me to advise on entrepreneurship. The one thing I can say though is that word-of-mouth is the most powerful tool when it comes to finding work. So doing some work for free to prove yourself to potential clients who can recommend you to other potential clients is a good strategy in my experience.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
I’m a sole proprietor and I’m not looking to grow beyond that at this point.
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
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