One of the things about freelancing that my husband has never understood is when I refer another freelancer for a gig. I saw this as good karma. He saw this as potentially giving away a job that could have come my way.
Granted, I don’t hand out referrals left and right, and there are certain clients whose whereabouts I keep close to my chest. But I’m a big believer in the notion that the way folks like me stay in business is by referring business to others in hopes that others will do the same for me. And plenty of writers have.
I was pretty stoked to discover that this is Make a Referral Week, a so-called small-business stimulus program to encourage small business owners to refer others to possible projects. So I signed up at the website makeareferralweek.com to pledge that I will refer one other person this week for work.
This shouldn’t be too hard for me to accomplish since I’m used to sending leads to other writers and editors I know. Also, I’m a member of Freelance Success, an online community of freelance writers. Twice a year FLX (as we call it) runs something called a Query Challenge. This eight-week contest is all about marketing yourself (through queries–what story proposals sent to magazines are called) in hopes that more work will come your way.
FLX members join teams and together they work to earn as many points–and freelance projects–as possible. Along with cheering each other on via listserve message, team members usually end up referring gigs to their team members whenever possible.
Just two weeks ago one of my team members recommended I contact the editor of a regional parenting publication with whom she’d worked. You see, I sell reprints to my lifestyle and parenting articles to regional magazines, and this recommendation was to a magazine I hadn’t approached before. While the editor didn’t buy any of my stories (yet!), that referral opened a door for me. Conversely, if I see a job listed on Craigslist or Journalism Jobs that I think would be right for one of my teammates, I send her the link to that gig.
If you’re a small-business owner like I am, will you pledge to make a referral on behalf of another small-business owner you know? Remember: what goes around comes around, and in this sagging economy, we independents can use all of the good work-related karma that we can get.
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