Uk Talent Agencies

1. Develop a website with an overview of your services, experience, resume, education and links to your articles written online.

See previous article titled: A Working Writer’s

Website: Publish, Promote and Profit?

2. Write articles and then offer them to publishers for free See previous article titled: Top Ten Reasons to Write Articles for Free Publication Online

3. Create a signature file to include at the end of every email message you send.

Here’s mine for example:

Take Care & Keep Writing!
Danielle Hollister – BellaOnline Writing Host
Email – writing@bellaonline.com
Site – http://writing.bellaonline.com
Zine Online – http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art157.asp

4. Subscribe to a Discussion List for Writing and post messages about your work on the web and/or respond to others’ postings using your signature file.

See previous articles titled: What’s The Deal With Discussion Lists For Writers

5. Advertise your services using Free classified boards for writers.

Below are a few examples of websites that offer this opportunity online:

Writers Only FREE Classifieds
http://www.pifmagazine.com/writers_only/

1st Step to Get Published – for writers, agents and publishers
http://www.rosedog.com/classifieds.asp

Artist Resource – Seeking Jobs
http://www.artistresource.org/jobs.htm#Seeking

6. Submit the URLs of your personal website and/or pages where your work is published to search engines and online directories.

You will find a good list on this page – http://www.allsearchengines.com/ and you can submit your site to several search
engines and directories from this page – http://www.add-url.net/

7. Sign up for ezines/newsletters that offer free advertisements to subscribers.

You can get some helpful links to directories online at this website – http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art12836.asp

Resource Box – © Danielle Hollister (2004) is the Publisher of BellaOnline Quotations Zine – A free newsletter for quote lovers featuring more than 10,000 quotations in dozens of categories like – love, friendship, children, inspiration, success, wisdom, family, life, and many more. Read it online at – http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art8364.asp

Creative professionals often meet with clients for “free consultations” with the hopes of turning that consult into a paying client. Though this thought process is common and may make sense on the surface, it’s actually contradictory to the behavior of great paying clients.

By giving away the initial consultation for free, you are diminishing the value of your talents and your services, and in turn hurting your chances of closing a great deal. Potential customers who get the initial consultation for free are less likely to value what you do and will more likely balk at your fees.

You should absolutely charge a healthy amount for your initial consultation. This approach will help eliminate “bad clients” or clients who are just price shopping or looking for free advise. It will also increase the value of your creative services in the mind of the prospect. Any potential client who is “offended” by paying for the consultation was most likely never really a potential client in the first place. Turning away these types of people will help reduce the number of wasted consultations you present.
If you are already charging for your consultation, you should re-examine the amount you charge. If you are not charging at least $100 for the consultation, you are probably going out on far more wasted meetings than you should. Increase your consultation fee and tell the prospective buyer that you will put the consultation fee towards their project should they choose to hire you. This approach reduces resistance to the higher amount. It also increases the quality of your potential client and your chances of closing the sale.

Try this approach out on the next person who calls to set up a consultation and keep in mind that a major part of effective marketing and sales is weeding out bad clients and wasted initial consultations. Stop giving away your consulting and you will change the value of your services in your mind and in the mind of your clients, which will help you increase your income, decrease your wasted time, and get better clients.

Kirstin Carey is the author of “Starving Artist No More: Hearty Business Strategies for Creative Folks”. Kirstin knows that most creative professionals hate sales, contracts and discussing money. She consults creative folks on the business side of creativity so they make more money, attract better clients, and love what they do. Get proven strategies and insider secrets to help creative types like you get the business help you need at www.MyCreativeBiz.com