questions only, no answers.

Why do you cover yourself in such a suffocating blanket of work?

What work goes into servicing a lead and how much of it needs being done by you alone and nobody else?

Are your clients willing to wait to work with you? If not, why not?

One important note: I’m not trying to meddle in your affairs. I’m only interested. If you want to explore this situation further, I’m all ears.

When I’m operating at capacity, I want the leads to stop appearing – at least those that require immediate attention.

Otherwise, I need to service the lead, and suddenly I’m operating beyond capacity. Nobody’s happy.

The problem occurs when you emerge from under a suffocating blanket of work and find nothing in the pipeline.

To a certain extent I think the problem is endemic to freelancers. We’re our own marketers, with all the problems that implies.

I hear that complaint often, from every corner of Freelancerland. Here’s one thing I don’t understand: why don’t you hire someone to keep marketing for you as soon as you are unable to do it? Teach them the ropes and set them free a few hours each month.

Or have you guys tried that already?

To a certain extent, it’s the nature of the beast, but it’s also an artifact of getting so tied up in several projects that no marketing occurs for several months (or years) at a time.

I’m not convinced that – in my target market – that a blog is truly an effective “client magnet.” To hedge my bets, I’ve got a few other ideas.

And I’m also (finally) looking into revenue streams that are more passive in nature (assuming I ever get a chance to write the damned things).

One thing I can say is to enjoy the good times, but realize that everything is cyclical, so marketing when you’re really too busy to market isn’t wholly insane…